Many hours after he had disappeared, Dragon Father appeared on the deck of Bonny’s Revenge.
He looked around.
“Oh, Joy!” he shouted, and ran to the helm.
Bonny’s Revenge rose into the air and flew at a speed that matches a dragon’s to where Dragon Father had left his daughter the previous day.
Dragon Father stopped the ship and looked down. The archipelago had returned as soon as he had reappeared on the ship, but his daughter was not there.
“Oh, no…” he whispered.
He flew Bonny’s Revenge in widening circles and found her within minutes.
She was sleeping atop a giant sea turtle.
“Oh, Joy!”
He lowered the wooden ship into the water gently, threw a rope ladder over the railing and climbed down.
He looked closely at her, clearly checking to see if she was breathing.
When he saw she was breathing, he put his free hand on his face and cried.
After a minute he paused, forced himself to calm down, and reached out for his daughter.
“Come on, Joy. Come on. Wakey wakey.”
Dragon Little woke up in his arms as he climbed up.
“Joy, Joy, how are you?”
“I’m okay, Dad. How was the quest?”
His face twisted and he almost cried again. “It was fine,” he said. “It doesn’t matter. You know, sometimes I forget that you’re just a kid. I will never ever leave you again like that. Do you hear? Never!”
She nodded absent-mindedly. “My head hurts.”
“Water! You need water and food!” As soon as they were on the deck, he handed her a bottle of water that appeared in his hands. “I will never, ever leave you again!”
Dragon Little took the bottle and stood up to peer at the turtle through the railing. “Goodbye, Thank You!” she waved at it. “Thank you!”
Thank You the turtle nodded its head at her, turned around, and dived into the depths of the ocean.
Dragon Father breathed a sigh of relief and almost cried again.
—Told by The Red Dragon