After Dragon Father and Dragon Little discovered the unicorns and stared at them for a few minutes, Dragon Father said, “Come on, we have a villain to catch.”
Dragon Little stood up. “I think they’ll like me.” She took a step towards them.
The four unicorns looked up in unison.
“Joy…” he whispered.
Dragon Little took another slow step forward. “That’s all right…” she said softly. “I’m not scary… That’s all right…”
The unicorns took a few steps back.
“Joy,” Dragon Father whispered again. “If we don’t catch the pirates, they’re going to kill the hostages.”
“I just want to touch them!” She took another slow step towards them, her hand forward. “Want to smell me? Want to smell my hand?”
The unicorns’ guard seemed to go down. They lowered their heads.
“I just want to pet you,” she said softly again and took another step towards them.
“Joy…” Dragon Father’s whisper grew louder.
One of the unicorns started walking towards Dragon Little.
“That’s right…” she said. “Come on…”
“Joy!”
The unicorn stopped a few steps in front of her, hesitating again.
“One more step…”
“Ah-choo!” Dragon Father sneezed loudly.
All four unicorns jumped back.
“Sorry,” Dragon Father said.
The unicorns ran away and disappeared into the forest.
“Dad!”
“I’m sorry. It just happened.”
But of course it did not just happen. Dreamers never have a reason to sneeze. In all my time with them, none of them had ever sneezed.
“Ah, well,” Dragon Father said. “Time to go save the hostages!”
“You did that on purpose!” She shouted at him. “I want the unicorns back! I want them back!”
“They’re gone, Joy. Time to go!”
“You did that on purpose! You did that on purpose!”
“Joy…”
Dragon Little sat down defiantly. “I’m not going. I’m waiting for them to come back!”
“Joy, we have to go!”
“NOT!” she screamed at him, “GOING!”
And there she sat, angry, with arms crossed.
—Told by The Red Dragon