Patty would burn down all of Londinium if she could. The Gear in their tower doesn't care about lowlies like her in the factories. Helpless girls ground down like the coal they shovel.

Until she finds something that should not exist: a dragon's egg. Dragon's fire and coal dust – just the tools she needs. All she has to do is hide the dragon until he's ready to fly and strike back for the lowlies.

Londinium will burn.

***

"Once upon a time, the barons decided they should own the world. That they should keep all the coal for themselves. That the lowlies, they didn't matter none. "

My little dragon looked up at me. He lashed his tail back and forth and growled. It was a tiny sound, like me shouting at the sky, but it was full of all the venom I felt.

"But these barons who ruled in the Central Gear messed up. See, one day, an orphan with a last name got a new friend. A dragon. And the dragon grew big and strong. And he decided to do what no one else ever could: He toppled the Central Gear. Knocked it right over and burned it all down."

I chuckled as I pictured the city without that tower. It would feel empty. It would feel right.

My dragon roared his agreement.

"Now us lowlies, we won't ever be ground out. 'Cause we got our dragons. The end."

Someday me and my dragon would make that story a reality. Someday Londinium would burn.