Dragon Father popped his head into the Infinite Prison and yelled, “Joy! We’re being attacked by witches! They’re your favorite! Coming to help?”

It was less than thirty minutes before that everything I had told you about that day happened: The fact that Dragon Little accidentally sliced her father’s eye, his miraculous recovery because he ist the dreamer, her thinking she would be just like him, his hurting her to prove to her that she ist not invulnerable, and her deep pain at that. 

Within seconds, Dragon Little emerged from the Infinite Corridor ready for action. 

She ran to the cabinet with all the weapons, chose a small sword and a laser pistol, and joined her father in defeating the evil flying witches. 

Throughout their adventure, they did not speak of what happened once. But they clearly had fun and enjoyed defeating the witches. 

Once the adventure was done and the witches defeated and their leader imprisoned, Dragon Father tucked Dragon Little into bed. 

“You know, today…” he said in a soft voice, “when I squeezed your shoulder… Do you know why I did that?”

She shook her head. 

He sighed. “It was wrong that I did it and I will never ever ever do it again. But I’ll tell you why I did it. You were talking about how you couldn’t be hurt. That you couldn’t be shot or hurt with a sword or anything. And for a moment I imagined you going to battle and getting shot and getting cut… And I was so afraid for your life. I was so afraid for you, Joy, that I wanted to make sure that you would never ever do that. At that moment, the only way I could see to save your life, because I was just so afraid, was to show you that you could be hurt. Do you understand?”

She nodded. 

“It was not the right thing to do… But I was so afraid, that I thought it was the only way to save your life. Okay?”

She nodded. 

He kissed her forehead. 

“Okay. Let’s go to bed. Do you want a story?”

She nodded. He told her a story.

—Told by The Red Dragon