Lulu can hear animals and heal with warm golden light, so her village brands her a witch and drives her into the snow. There she saves a wounded king, who carries her home to a castle that never wanted her. She wakes his dying son, picks the gray egg the court mocked, and hatches the legendary Dawnlight Dragon. The King calls her daughter; half the court calls her a curse. Poison at a royal banquet, a faked death on the battlefield, and one small girl who still hears her father's heartbeat.