Dragon Father led Dragon Little back to Bonny’s Revenge. It had been a rough adventure, frightful for both of them. Dragon Little had been kidnapped by the deadly Space Octopus, and Dragon Father could not save her in time. Dragon Little, only four-and-a-half years old, had to fend for herself against a deadly monster with insufficient weapons. 

She won, but was shaken as badly as I had ever seen her. 

Dragon Father took her in his arms once they were on board. She hugged him tightly. 

He walked to her cabin, opened the door, and put her in her cot. 

I could not see them, for the window was in the opposite direction. But my sharp dragon ears could still hear them from my hiding place. 

“Look at you,” Dragon Father said. “I’m so proud of you. You are so amazing. My little girl, do you know I love you?”

I heard silence. 

“I love you more than anything in the world,” he continued. His voice was calm, full of warmth. He sounded shocked at his own feelings as he thought about them. “I think… No, you are… You are what I love most in the world.”

“The most?”

“Yeah,” he sounded surprised. “More than…” and he stopped, apparently thinking about many things. “Yeah. More than anything in my life. You are the best thing in my life. Did you know that?”

I heard her move her head. Then I heard a gentle ‘pop’ as Dragon Father disappeared. That’s how dreamers leave the dream - they vanish. They ‘wake up’, whatever that ist, and return to their life, whatever it ist. I do not know what Dragon Father has in his life in his waking world, but I believed him that he loved it less than he loved his Dragon Little, his… Joy. 

And I wondered, Did he talk about her in his waking world? Did he think about her? What was he doing there? 

—Told by The Red Dragon