Fracto flickered. The dream was starting!

Something flickered at the side. Chex looked, and saw the dream playing on the surface of a hard-cheese rock, as if it were a hyp-nogourd. She could monitor what Fracto was experiencing. That was nice.

The Princess was meeting the Prince. The weather was nice. Fracto, watching from the vantage of a dark cloud, was trying desperately to get over there and drench their encounter. They would not find each other nearly so attractive if her hair were plastered across her face and his suit was shrinking rapidly out of fit! But Fracto couldn't move; he seemed to be boxed in by adverse winds, unable either to get into the action or to float away from the scene.

When the Princess made her arduous climb up the mountain to the castle, Fracto strove to get above her and dump a bucket of water down her décolletage; that sort of thing really made princesses angry! But his motion was like molasses, and by the time he got there, she was inside the castle. He was so frustrated he hurled a thunderbolt at the castle, but it only bounced off harmlessly. Now, close to the castle, he couldn't get away, and had to listen to the Princess's dumb dialogues with her father and mother. He rumbled in rage, but no one paid attention, which made him madder than ever.

Then the Princess walked to the escarpment. What an opportunity to soak her down! But somehow he was able only to follow, his raindrops pattering harmlessly behind her. The Princess got hot, not wet, and didn't even hear his ominous rumbling.

Then she saw the dragon and warned him away from the ambush. Fracto tried to drown out her cries in thunder, so that her warning would not be heard, but he was frustratingly muted. The dragon heard her, and used his fire to scorch the soldiers, which was a fun scene. But what Fracto really wanted to do was blow the beast out of the sky, and he couldn't. The Princess leaped off the cliff, the dragon caught her, and the two flew away over the horizon, while Fracto followed helplessly. Even when they landed on the isle, he couldn't blow them away, because it was protected by enchantment. He was so frustrated that he was ready to explode.

Then they became two stupid unicorns and lived happily ever after, munching the sweet grass. And he still couldn't touch them: not with a lightning bolt, not with a frigid blast of air, not even with a stinging hailstone. It was too much; Fracto detonated. His vapors spattered across the landscape, and he was nothing but foul mist. Ugh! What an awful dream!

Chex peered into the darkness. All she saw was stars and the lights of houses in Xanth. The evil cloud had dissipated.

"It worked!" she cried. "The dream broke him up!"