All right. Let's begin with the world situation. "I'd prefer a more cheerful subject—like cancer." - Keith Laumer

Are you all right? Mellia said.
"It's nothing a month in the intensive care unit wouldn't clear up."

Him and his pet dragon—
"More folklore, I take it?"
"Well, I never actually seen this dragon."
"Hmmm. Funny how nobody I've met has seen it, but they all believe in it."

I know it’s hard to grasp at first. I seem to recall I was a bit difficult to convince once. We are accustomed to thinking we know everything. There’s a powerful tendency to just disbelieve anything that doesn’t fit the preconception.