Just as Reichet collected a handful of deep green leaves, he shot up so fast the bush nearly pushed him back them. A faint noise, but he didn't need to hear that to know. He felt it inside of him like a swirling mix of hot and cold water. Riel! The lake! He ran and dived in, finding the dragon as much by sense as anything else, then dragged him out. Tossing Riel onto the bank, he crawled out himself and rested on hands and knees, panting with panic written clearly on his face. "Is it impossible for you to listen?!"

The dragon took in a great big gulp of air the moment he was safely out of the water. He ended up spitting out part of the lake. "I ..." Riel shifted upon the ground so he could look at the forest spirit. "I was careful ... Walking on the stones, not touching even a blade of grass, but then I slipped when I got to the lake." He hadn't expected the rocks to be humid. Their surprising wetness had made him fall in, even tough that had been the last thing in his mind. "Reichet, I'm sorry." He looked away.

Reichet was barely listening though. He was on his feet in a second, pulling on his hair as he paced. "You drank the water? O-oh god...!" He stared at his arms, nearly ripping his sleeves in his haste. Were those marks appearing on his skin. He couldn't even see straight to know. "The promise has been broken! Ah, I'm gonna die!" Run, he needed to run. No, bathe. Where to go? What to do? He twisted about, his mind blanking when he tried to think.

Riel sat up with a groan. "I was drowning! I told you I can't swim." The dragon stood up, and marched on trembling limbs to the panicking man. Without any warning, he reached out and smacked Reichet's arm lightly. He would have aimed for the other man's face, but the guardian was moving too much. "Get ahold of yourself!" A growl to his voice, the dragon then proceeded to shove Reichet into the water, assuming that it would bring no harm to him.

Reichet felt the smack first and his panicked words stopped, but not his flailing motions. That was, until he was unceremoniously knocked into the water. He fell backwards into it, too shocked to stop his fall. Cool water closed over his head. It pillowed around him like a dazzling blue silk cloth. Every pore of him felt alive and tingling. He emerged from the water after a number of seconds. He blinked his eyes until they focused on Riel. "You...what? But why hasn't anything terrible happened?"

The dragon let a sigh of relief escape his lips when Reichet appeared, safe and sound and of calm mind. "I have no idea. This is your lake. I know nothing about it." He shrugged and settled down on the lake's edge, careful not to touch the water, or any plants nearby. "Unless you tell me why you thought you were dying?" It was all just so odd. Then again, he was a clumsy cursed dragon who had no idea how to swim. He had no right to call anyone or anything odd.

Reichet hung his head. He hesitated to explain, but he'd already revealed this much. He wanted answers just like Riel, so staying quiet would do no good. He stayed sitting up to his waist in water and eyeing the grass. "The promise I made...I said before it was done with strong magic. Because I had to make sure he would not misuse the power of this water. He had to go away though so he made me promise on my life that I would keep the forest for him. The first to break the promise would..." He refused to consider he was not the one to break it.

"The first to break the promise would ... what, Reichet? " The gentle words probed the air, rested there. Riel shifted to lay upon his stomach, and held a hand out over the lake's surface. Light and shadow reflected from the waters reflected there, played across the dragon's skin. Perhaps there was ... at least a little beauty to be found in the world, in this other skin of his.

"Would forfeit their life, okay!" Reichet snapped. He instantly regretted yelling though and his shoulders slumped. His voice quieted as he continued to speak. "It was that kind of promise. The sort neither could run from even if an eternity should pass. Until the promise is fullfilled or broken, it will remain to anchor us to life. I do not understand why what just happened did not break the rules." He stayed seated a little longer as he thought. Then he rose and stepped in front if Riel. "Regardless, you should not remain here!"

Twas a puzzle, most certainly. The dragon twisted around so he lay upon his back, staring up at Reichet. "Has it ever crossed your mind that for a mortal, eternity means rebirth as another? Or so some of the human priests say. And if that had happened, he could be anyone, and have no memories at all of this place." Riel would stay, he decided. At least for a little while. For now. For the moment.

Reichet crossed his arms though he didn't have the fight to tell Riel to leave again. The dragon looked quiet content where he was laying so Reichet finally sat cross legged next to him. He didn't want to admit that he hasn't thought through every angle of the old promise, but Riel's words had him curious. "But that would be awful. How could the promise be fulfilled? I...do not think the magic was designed that way..." But did he really know?

The dragon lifted himself up so he could peer at the other man. He cocked his head to the side, and smiled. "He would probably be drawn here inexplicably. And then .. I suppose it would be up to you to figure out if it was him, and let him enter here at your discretion." Riel shrugged a bit. "For all you know, you may have chased him away more times then you know. How ... " He sighed. "How would you know it was him? Is there anything that would tell you it was him?"

The thought that Reichet could have chased away his most important person sat heavy on him. It wasn't possible...was it? He rubbed his arm as he thought, stealing glances at Riel as he did so. "I'm sure I would know his heart anywhere. No one else ever came to me without looking for something. Nathaniel, he wanted no more than to spread the love he'd learned from the temple teachings." Reichet shook his head softly. He'd surely know that smile even if he changed a thousand faces.

White hair shifted as the dragon moved ever closer to Reichet. "You wouldn't if you chased him away before ever giving him a chance. " He shrugged his shoulders. It was so annoying, acting like he had wings even though he had none. Not anymore. "But ... I'm certain he would always come back. No matter how many times you turned him away." And the dragon knew it was all true. Riel was sure of it. That a bond like that endured from life to life without ever fading. It was the kind of certainty a dragon was born with.

Reichet didn't even know anymore. He shook his head again, as if he hasn't already done that enough today. Riel moved closer and Reichet shifted away again. "P-perhaps, but why do you even care? None of my mess has anything to do with you, so why are you so sure?" No one Reichet turned away returned. In fact, Riel was the only person stubborn enough to ignore his warnings. Which really...didn't make sense at all.

"Dragons have a sense of things, when it comes to spells and curses. An ... instinctive knowledge you might say. It goes hand in hand with hoarding treasure. It helps us know how to disable curses on objects, and if something is simply magically endowed." The dragon reached out and grabbed Reichet's hand. Careful of his claws, Riel tugged the guardian closer. "And I care, because I think what you do for him is extraordinarily romantic, and I believe in what you are doing." He released Reichet with a nod of his head.

"You are...very surprising..." Reichet managed to say even though his throat and his brain were both struggling to form words. "I will trust your knowledge for now because it is true that dragons know many things that even I do not." He'd heard this, but never seen evidence until now. He stood and dusted himself off despite there being no dirt on his clothes. The fact that Riel thought Reichet's actions were romantic fried his brain. He simply chose not to respond.what would he say if he did? "We were ah, going to swim. Although at this point, we've already swum in the wrong body of water. I don't know if you want to anymore..."

Riel laughed. "You swam. I drowned." With a shift of his hands, the dragon pushed himself to his feet. "And you were going to teach me how to swim. Would you still like to?" He shifted on his feet. They were bare ... He could only imagine how horrible his fall might have been if he'd been wearing boots. "I would like to learn how. Maybe it would help me appreciate this body more."

The distinction between swam and drowned had Reichet cracking a slight smile. Riel did have a good laugh that surely others would consider contagious. "Then I shall teach you, but not here. The river is much shallower. More of a stream with its lazy pace." He took one step away, before something else occurred to him. "Oh dear. We came here to get something for your hands but-" He glanced at the lake water where the leaves he picked now lay. "Should I fetch more first?"

The dragon looked to his hands. Their stinging had stopped the moment he'd slipped them into the water. He didn't know why, only that it was so. Silently, Riel held them out for the forest guardian to see. "I would rather learn how to swim, thank you." He edged nearer the other man with a smile. The forest was such a beautiful place. It was only right that the place's guardian was just as enchanting. A dragon knew how to judge such things, after all.

Of course, all of this was from a purely neutral position. Riel wanted Reichet as a friend. A companion to speak to while he willed away the days of his long life. It was a rather pleasant thought.

Ah of course, the lake had its own abilities. Next to that, a few leaves were nothing. Reichet got so wrapped up in other thoughts that even that basic knowledge slipped his mind. "Of course, then it is best to walk this way," he said, gesturing. His finger pointed to the waterfall, or more precisely a deceptive easy path that lay nessled in the cliffs which rose steeply all around. He skirted the lake, careful to leave good distance between them and it. "Wouldn't want anyone falling in again..." he muttered under his breath.

The dragon nodded and stood. He did end up walking towards the spirit with a growl. It hadn't been his fault he'd fallen in! Riel had half a mind to start raging at the other man, but decided against it. Instead, he walked silently towards the winding path. For a brief second he thought he saw an all too familiar shadow fly by in the sky, but ignored it. There was no way the other dragons had found him so soon. And even if they had, Riel saw no reason why they would decide to bother him.

Up through the path they went until they stopped on the river banks where it curved and created a still pool in front of some boulders. He stepped into the cool eddies up to his ankles and gestured for Riel to join him. "Come on, you. This pool only goes waist deep." Riel seemed distracted though and Reichet had no idea why. "Aren't you being strangely quiet?"

The dragon's head snapped up. "You don't know me enough yet to say something like that." His clothing fell to the ground in a heap as he rid himself of it all. Riel didn't want anything to weigh him down while he tried learning how to swim. Besides, he was a dragon. There was no reason for him to be worried about things like decency. To him, his skin was the most decent thing of all to wear. His scales sparkled in the sunlight as he stepped into the water. He knew there had been no reason for him to snap at Reichet as he had, but fear had him wanting to lash out.

Reichet's mouth snapped closed. He stared at Riel until the dragon ditched his clothes. "Perhaps so," was all he said. He wouldn't deny he'd only known Riel for a little while, but he'd just wanted to make conversation, something he hadn't had a lot of practice with. Once they were both in the water, Reichet continued naturally. "I've never tried to teach someone to swim before, but I suppose I should start with treading water and floating around a bit." He didn't mind that Riel stripped. Reichet was a part of nature, but he did let his eyes linger on the glittering scales which were so unlike anything he'd seen.