The Last One

Prologue

It began when an elf met a dwarf. The elf, Vana, was a princess of the Dagnir, the legendary dragon slayers of all races, dwarves, men, and elves alike. Her and her people saved the dwarves from a dragon centuries before Smaug was born. Tauren, a dwarf amongst the survivors found himself trapped beneath the rumble, death was certain... until she found him. As fate would have it they fell in love and became the king and queen of the Dagnir. To ensure that their people would have a ruler should either of them fall, they had a child. Tauren had prayed to Mahal to bless them with a strong lad who would have the strength and wisdom to defend their kingdom and become a dragon slayer. It was late in the evening when Vana went into labor, all through the night Tauren paced outside his beloved wife's door listening to her screams of pain until the break of dawn when finally he heard the soft cries of a newborn baby.

Vana laid spent on her bed, towels and bowls of warm water strewn across the room. Sweat beaded across her forehead and her golden locks damp and unruly. She watched on with weary eyes as a young woman cleaned and wrapped her newly born child in blankets.

"Congratulations my lady, you have a daughter."

The midwife laid the little girl gently in her mothers arms leaving the bedside to let the child's awaiting father into the room. The young woman stepped outside the room and congratulated the king as she did the queen though deliberately did not tell him he had a daughter thinking it was better to be heard from his wife. Tauren all but sprinted to the bed where his beloved wife and new child lay, the queen rose her head and look at her husband with a weary smile. 

"We have a daughter, my love." 

Tauren was speechless, many nights had he prayed for a son only to be given a daughter although he was pleased he could not help but think of the kingdom and its need for an heir. 

"Worry not Tauren, she will be everything the kingdom needs. She will be brave, and wise, and strong, and kind, and will one day become the greatest dragon hunter to ever live."

Tauren visibly calmed upon hearing Vana's words. For the first time he gazed down on his daughter, little wisps of her mother's golden hair could be seen on her head and light pink dusted her chubby cheeks. Slowly the little princess opened her eyes and peered up at her father. Tauren gasped at her eyes, while they were blue like her father's one was slightly greener like her mother's. 

"She's as beautiful as you my darling, I'm so proud of you." 

Tauren lightly kissed his wife's lips and rested his forehead against her's like his kin had done to him. 

"What shall we name her?"

Vana thought for a moment and gazed around the room, to one side of the room a fire still burnt wildly in the fireplace despite the long night it has been. 

"Ruive. Her name is Ruive, for she will be wild and fierce, she will be our wild fire."