That ordeal took up a better part of that day. Every once and a while, Starre came upon little quizes that tested her knowledge so far. She got 100% on each one, she was reading the manual so carefully. She desperately wanted to be a perfect owner for her Bishel.
She was almost through the entire book, when the doorbell rang. Starre and Stevan met halfway to the door, and they both struggled to get there first and open it. They were saved the trouble, however, when Nina came bursting in, followed by a beaming John.
"Who...what...?" Steve asked, staring past his mother at John. Nina gave Steve a hug, but he only half-noticed.
"Oh, nobody," Starre said in the same lazy voice as before. "Just...MY DAD."
Steve blinked a few times, looking just as confused and incomprehensive as ever. "We'll explain," John said, grinning and showing off a new, ear-length haircut.
"So...?" Starre asked as Nina kicked off her shoes. "Did you get it?"
"Got it!" Nina said, and they hugged each other, jumping up and down. Steve and John were left staring at them, looking a bit frightened of them as if they were terrified of falling victim to hugs next.
But they didn't, and everyone trooped into the living room to fill Steve in on recent happenings. Starre decided to bring the egg with her, and share some news of her own as well.
**--**--**
Starre, yet again, lay thinking in bed. Steve, once he knew the whole story of what had happened on their vacation, was quite impressed. He kept saying, "No, Starre and Nina wouldn't do that! They're sissies!" However, after a furious kicking attacks by Starre, he stopped that. He had then welcomed John like a long-lost friend, and immediately began to ruthlessly question him on life in the Kin prison.
Nina and John had been just as happy as she was when she showed them the egg and manual she had received. She read the letter yet again, and, this time, noticed the form attatched to it. She was to send it in when she had decided on a name for her Bishel. It also included fields for things like its color, temperment, and attitude towards humans. She was, however, still stuck on the first field. The name.
Now that she had a Bishel, what would she name it? She'd thought about this a long time ago, back in Saxvistan. She still wanted to use Kynnish, but now 'little flower' didn't even seem to suit a wyrm. She wondered where she'd go to get more ideas.
Then, it came to her. Her father! Of course! She swung her legs over the side of the bed, and scurried into the living room. Just as she thought, John was still up. He was staring at the TV as though there was nothing more miraculous and wonderful.
"Hello, Starre!" he said, turning to see her. He pointed to the TV. "This television is amazing! Look at this, it's called 'Saturday Night Live.'"
Starre turned to the screen. A comedy skit was going on - something about cheese and celery. She turned back to John, heartily agreed, and said, "I have a question."
"Yes?" John asked, carefully using the remote clutched in his hand to turn off the TV. After smiling in triumph, he returned his full attention to his daughter.
"Um..." she began. "I've been thinking about naming my Bishel something in Kynnish. Since I was too young to remember the language when I learned it, could you help me translate?"
"Girevuali," John said to his amazed daughter. "Sure I will, I mean. What are you thinking?"
"Well..." Starre said, thinking. "I don't really know. I mean, I haven't even seen the wyrm yet, so how do I know -"
"Exactly," John said. "I suggest you see the Bishel itself before you go about naming it. Now, you should be in bed."
Starre yawned involuntarily, as if to prove his point. She grinned softly, and nodded. As she was getting up, another nagging question struck her.
"Dad?" she asked, "what exactly does...Starre mean? Spirit, right?"
"Absolutely not!" John said, startling Starre. "It means 'valiant dragon!' Now, to bed with you."
With that, the TV popped on again, and John gazed, entranced, at Jimmy Falon and Tina Fey giving the 'Weekend Update.' She heard him burst out with laughter as she pulled her bedroom door closed.
So she was the Valiant Dragon? She decided that she liked that much more than spirit, and she drifted off to sleep, visions of wyrms and shrapes and spirits of valiant dragons dancing through her dreams.
**--**--**
Several weeks passed, during which Nina, Starre, and Stevan spent fun, if not demanding, hours teaching John everything about America that they possibly could. The Kin was fascinated by everything from hamburgers to libraries.
"There are no hamburgers in Eurasia?" Stevan asked in astonishment.
"None for the Kin," John said darkly, which put an end to that conversation.
It pleased John very much to see Kin functioning in the society. They mingled with humans, displaying their wings proudly. John was still a bit twitchy when anyone he didn't know spoke to him, but he got over it soon.
Starre, however, had another major priority in her life, and that was her egg. She cared for it like a mother cares for her child. She talked to it all the time: in the shower, on her bike, reading.... Sometimes she would lie in her bed, her ear pressed up against the shell's surface, listening for some kind of reply. To her dissapointment, she never got one.
Until one fateful night, when everything in Starre's life changed.