down to Tanner to take his tiny pocket-handkerchief, and then flew back up to wipe away Ray Ann's dragon tears.
They all turned as Bran began to crawl back into the garden through the hole under the fence. He liked to spend a lot of time with Victor, the brownie from the garden next door.
Bran scampered over to look up at Ray Ann. 'Why Ray Ann be crying, Tanner? Who made my friend sad?'
Tanner explained about Colby, Stilton and Cheddar, and how Stilton had said something very unkind to Ray Ann.
Bran looked grave. 'Victor teach Bran all about Pixies, Tanner. Pixies not nice, but they no know better. All they want do is dance and sing and play. Pixies are like brownies who never growed up.'
Tanner and Rhiannon both groaned softly. They knew a brownie was like a gnome who refused to grow up, meaning that pixies must be ten times worse. Tanner asked Bran whether Victor had told him how to make Pixies behave.
Bran nodded. 'Victor say Pixies afraid of one thing: dragons.'
Rhiannon looked at Bran very hard. 'Why was Stilton so unkind to Ray Ann if pixies are afraid of dragons, Bran? He made her cry.'
Bran shrugged a little brownie shrug. 'That's the way pixies are, Miss. They talk ugly to dragon. Dragon must then breath fire at them. Not burn pixie, but scare them. Then pixie behave.' He looked at each of his companions to make sure they understood.
Ray Ann sniffled and snorted once more. 'Thank you Bran. You are a good brownie now.' She reached out her little dragon claw to scratch the top of Bran's head through his cap. 'Can I make pixies behave by myself?'
Bran shook his head. 'Bran not sure. Bran think maybe it takes two dragons. But where we find other dragon?'
Tanner asked Rhiannon to have a word with Tara's father over breakfast next morning. Rhiannon was a very polite little faerie, quite the most polite of Tara's little people, and also the easiest to hear, for she liked to flutter up and speak directly into human ears.
However Rhiannon's plans were unpleasantly overtaken by events, for Colby, Stilton and Cheddar were first at the breakfast table the following morning, gobbling up their food, and making a mess all over the tablecloth.
Tara's father looked at them very sternly. 'Colby, Stilton, and Cheddar, I realize you are new here, but we do not begin breakfast until everyone is seated. Please wait.'
Colby huffed and puffed up. 'We are hungry now. We eat now.' With that, he grabbed the sugar bowl and dumped a good portion into his teacup, then filled it up with milk. No tea at all, just milk and sugar. Then he and the other pixies began slurping loudly from their spoons.
Tara's mother looked at Tara's father helplessly. However Rhiannon fluttered up and whispered to her softly. 'Missus Jennifer,' for Rhiannon was ever a polite Faerie, 'these are not gnomes. They are pixies, and they do not know any better. If we had another dragon, they could make the pixies behave, and we could all work together to build the gazebo.'
She then whispered the same message to Tara's father. Tara's father stood up, and looked at Tara, who was struggling to keep her cup of breakfast chocolate away from Stilton.
'Tara, please come with me, and bring your toast. We are going to the garden center to find a new friend for our garden, and this time I promise to listen when you tell me something.'
So Tara picked up her toast with marmalade and followed her father to his car, and he told her about their need to buy a second dragon to help Ray Ann with the pixies.
However, Tara grabbed her father's hand when they reached the garden centre, before he could even find a trolley. She began to tug him along an aisle, and they went all the way into the back of the centre, amongst the rakes and shovels and other garden tools, until they reached a shelf with more pixies like Colby, Stilton and Cheddar.
Tara's father eyed them in alarm. 'Tara, we are not going to get any more pixies, are we?'
Tara pointed upwards. 'No, Daddy. Look.'
He looked up to see on the topmost shelf the fiercest looking dragon he had ever seen. The dragon was quite small, perhaps just a bit bigger than Ray Ann, and he had the same colouring. But he was really most peculiar looking, for his scales all formed a very attractive tartan plaid.
Tara's father stared up at the tartan plaid dragon. 'Is this the one we want, Tara? We can try and find another one if you don't like him.'
Tara shook her head. 'No, Daddy. We must take him. He says his name is Tannihill McGregor, and he will be just right for us.'
Tara's father smiled down at his daughter 'Very well. What other family can say they have both a paisley girl dragon and a paisley tartan man dragon in their back garden?'
Tara's father set Tannihill McGregor in the snapdragon bed alongside Ray Ann when they arrived back home. Ray Ann, Tanner and Rhiannon, were busy trying to keep the pixies amused, and the pixies kept admiring themselves in a little mirror Tara's mother had set in the flowerbed. But Ray was most pleasantly surprised when the moon came up and she found a handsome young dragon waiting for her.
Tannihill McGregor introduced himself to Ray Ann. He spoke with a very strong scots accent, peppering his words with 'wishts' and 'och, ayes' and she thought him quite the nicest man dragon she had ever met. But Colby, Stilton and Cheddar popped up from behind the yellow snapdragons and began tossing pebbles at Ray Ann just as was getting to know her new paisley tartan friend.
One of the pebbles caught Ray Ann quite a sharp blow, and she let out a small dragon yelp of pain. McGregor eyed the pixies fiercely. 'What are these wee small creatures?'
Ray Ann explained they were pixies, and told him how Victor had said it would need two dragons to make them behave.
Tannihill McGregor smiled at Ray Ann. Then the two little dragons took very deep breaths, and blew two great breaths of flame out over the pixies' heads.
The pixies were terrified. First they scattered, and then they grouped together behind Tanner. 'Oh, please Mr. Tanner,' Colby squeaked, 'don't let the dragons blow flames at us. We'll be ever so good if you stop them.'
Tanner smiled at the two dragons. Then he frowned at the pixies very fiercely. 'Will you promise to behave at breakfast and wait until everyone is seated before you start?'
The pixies all nodded.
'And will you promise to be polite at table and not slurp from your spoons?'
They nodded again.
.'Good.' He frowned a little less. 'We are going to help Mr. Freddy build a gazebo right after breakfast, so we will have a warm place to sleep in this winter. Will you help with that as well?'
Colby stepped forward. 'Mr. Tanner, we will be the very bestest of helpers. We will carry wood. We will paint the gazebo. We promise we will help and do everything you and Mr. Freddy tell us to do. But please don't let the dragons throw flames at us.'
Tanner smiled. 'All right. But one more thing. I want you all to go tell Ray Ann how sorry you are that you made her cry.'
Stilton began to say something, but Colby poked him with his elbow, and the three pixies turned to Ray Ann to speak in chorus. 'We are so sorry, Ray Ann. We won't make you cry ever again.'
Ray Ann forgave them, because she was really a very kind paisley dragon at heart, and Tannihill McGregor smiled, so that all his scales positively glowed. He felt that he had done a good deed, and made a new friend.
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