"About a date," he said. "Yes, I guess I was thinking of a dinner date with you. We had one once, but it never quite came off. Would you like to try again?"
"At the Pig and Whistle?"
"If that is what you want."
"Without Oop and Ghost. Without any troublemakers."
"But with Sylvester, of course."
"No," she said. "Just the two of us. Sylvester stays at home. It is time he learned."
They got up from the boulder and started back toward the castle.
Sylvester looked up at the dragon perching on the castle wall and snarled.
The dragon lowered its head on its sinuous neck looked him in the eye. It stuck out at him a long and forked tongue.