Dragon held firmly onto the reins of the wind, curving his body such that it hugged the wind's back, as if he was riding on a tiger, or a dolphin, and not moving air. His free hand reached over and cupped the beast's chin, raising its head. The wind understood his silent instruction, and it ran at a more inclined angle.

He turned his head to check on the girls. The rushing of the cool air against their faces had coloured their cheeks pink, and each girl clung for their life to the wind's skin. He smirked at their naivety; what shape did they think the wind took?

"Hook your legs under the wind's body," he called. "Else you'll find yourself crashing against the pavement!"

"The wind has a body?" questioned Bom incredulously, but she knew better than to ignore his words. Dara hugged the wind's neck like a piggybacked child does to her father, noticing how thick the wind's neck was, and admiring its broad shoulders. Dragon turned his head back to the front.

"Whoops!" He hurriedly pulled on the reins, and the wind quickly swerved away from a stray chimney, its tail whacking the tip and sending clouds of dust hovering around the chimney. The wind groaned, and Dragon laid his chin against his head in apology.

"Up," he whispered. The wind shot straight up into the sky, and the girls shrieked, suddenly finding their legs dangling in mid-air. It was not a feeling they liked, and they tried desperately to hook their thighs around any stirrups that the wind might have had. Dragon sat securely on it, digging his knees into the wind, his eyes darting around the night sky, searching.

"Dara ah! I'm falling!!" wailed Bom.

"Do this, Bom! Do this!" Dara demonstrated how to grab onto the beast's neck.

Bommie flung her arms around where she thought the wind's neck might be. To her relief, warm, pumping air met the skin of her arms, and her elbows were supported upwards. Instinctively, she let her body follow the shape of the wind, allowing her to merge with the wind. A sense of security flooded her, and Bom's face brightened.

"I feel so ninja!" She shrieked. Dara burst into giggles.

"Hang on! It's coming!" warned Dragon, pulling himself closer to the wind.

The colour drained from Bom's face, and her heart pounded with adrenaline and fear. She begun to realise that the wind was speeding, racing faster and faster, towards a cloud embedded with stars that glowed silver against their velvet blanket. They went faster, faster, faster, until the darkness tearing past them grew dizzyingly bright, and until the stars seemed to grow rapidly in size, bigger, bigger, until they were as large as all the world...

WHAM! The silver light of the stars swallowed them whole and they were into an orange sky. Apparently, the wind couldn't follow them this far. They floated there in silence, blinking from the shock. Dara patted down her skirt as it started to float upwards. Dragon smiled and pulled himself upright, smoothening down his bangs, which bounced defiantly back up.

"We made it."

Dara looked about her. "Why is the sky orange?"

Dragon blinked at her, surprised that she should ask such a question. "Because the sea is purple."

"Then why is the sea purple?"

"Because I want it to be purple."

"Really? You can control the colour of the sea?"

"Ha! Of course not."

"But you just said that the sky is orange because the sea is purple because you wanted it to be purple." Dara looked confused.

Dragon raised his eyebrow at her. "What are you talking about? I never wanted the sea to be purple. And what has the sea's colour got to do with the colour of the sky?"

"What are the both of you talking about?" demanded Bom.

"Your sister says that the sky is orange because the sea is purple because I wanted it to be purple."

Bom gaped at her sister in shock. "Really? You said that?"

"No!" Dara scowled at the accusation. "That's what he said!"

"Then why is the sea purple?" Bom cocked her head at Dragon.

"Because the sky is orange, that's why."

"Is that so?"

"Yes," confirmed Dragon. He offered his palms. "Come. We have some way left to go."

---

Moving through the air was a little like swimming. Dragon said that the air would get lighter when they came closer to the island. The purple sea seemed to stretch on and on, with waves furrowing its smooth surface, and red foam splashing up at intervals. The sky remained orange, and once, Dara spotted a flock of birds in the distance.

"Look, Bom! We must be getting closer." Sure enough, the sea beneath them seemed to be turning into a lighter colour, like blue, but not quite.

"Oh, we are," reassured Dragon.

"Fishies! I see little fishies!" squealed Bom all of a sudden, pointing downwards. Flickering shoals of fish surfaced, and a few of them sprung out of the water like playing dolphins.

"I see an island!" cried Dara. Dragon laughed, twisting and flipping beside the girls like he did in the nursery.

Bom shrieked. "Where, Dara, where?"

"There, there!" Dara grabbed Bom's finger and pointed. A little speck of green bobbed up into view, and Dragon did backflips in the air.

"Oh! It's an island!"

"Of course it's an island!" scolded Dara.

"It's Neverland!" cheered Dragon. He shoved his way between the sisters and grabbed their wrists. With a jerk, he drew them upright beside him, poised himself, and then dived downwards, plummeting headfirst towards the island. The girls allowed themselves to be dragged with him, their dresses flailing behind them, and exhilaration pumping through their hearts. The island swelled and swelled as they headed straight for it.

"I see trees!" yelled Bom.

"Of course you see trees! It's Neverland!" chided Dara.

"Get ready for a rough landing!" sang Dragon.

"What? No! No no no no NOOOO!" screamed Bom, imagining the three of them smashing through a canopy and bumping ungracefully along boughs. She scrunched up her eyes to shut out the sight...

To her surprise, they landed feetfirst on soft sand.

"Gotcha," laughed Dragon breathlessly.

"Tch!" Bom bared her teeth in disgust. Dara stifled her giggles; she had seen it coming and hadn't been fooled. Dragon dropped their wrists and stepped across the sand before turning around to face the girls with a boyish, welcoming smile.

"This, sisters," he raised his arms, his body outlined by the luxurious stretch of fauna from the jungle behind him. "Is Neverland."