I had reason to be afraid. There was a meeting with someone I did not want to talk to. I had spoken with him times before, and so many of the times had been painful.
I had been accused, judged, misunderstood, harassed and rejected. More than once! It was a reliable thing with this fellow.
And I had to talk with him again.
I was afraid. Trying very hard not to be afraid. Shaking, bravely quaking.

And I found this:

The mechanisms were always exactly the same, whether political, religious, psychological, philosophic. Dragons guarded the entrances and exits of each layer in the spectrum of belief, or opinion; and the dragons were always the same dragon, no matter what names they went under. The dragon was fear

I had a dragon to face. And I was not the only one. Dragons–fear dragons–guard treasure.
I had to face this dragon-conquer this dragon-to achieve my heart’s treasure.

If fear saps passion, then passion trumps fear. I want what the dragon is guarding! And I might not even know for sure what that monster is keeping, but if I’m scared of something as silly as talking to someone…there must be something there.