A real smile brightened Reichet's face. He normally smiled soft, but now his smile made his eyes sparkle. "I am happy. Truly." I think you already offer me much more than that. How much have I already changed back to who I was before I made my promise? All because of this one person and such a tiny amount of time, especially to one who had an overabundance of time. He glanced back at Riel before he handed over the pile of berries and nuts brought to him by two kind squirrels. They were more than willing to help when Reichet made sure they always had more than enough to eat in the winter months. "Here. I do not know how much one such as you eats."

The dragon accepted the berries and nuts with a nod of his head. His hands were full, so he ended dropping his bounty into part of his shirt, used as a sling. "This is more then enough." Berries burst in his mouth. Juice dripped slowly down his chin as he stuffed himself. It truly was delicious fare, different from the meaty things he was used to.

Riel cracked a nut with his bare hand, and held his prize out to the forest's guardian."What was your love like?" Did Reichet even eat? Did he need to? Riel was more interested in the person who had made such an impression on an immortal, but he still did want to know about wether or not Reichet could eat too.

Reichet watched Riel eat with amusement. He ate like he'd never eaten such things before, but of course, Reichet grew his plants to be the ripest and most healthy specimens. He was quite proud of that. When Riel offered him a nut, he took it without hesitation. One of his eyebrows quirked ever so slightly though. He ate it while tasting the make up of the nut all the way down to its basic elements. Those he absorbed into himself back where the plant had come from.

"Hmmm..." Reichet pondered with a long hum. "He was also the sort to offer me food although I do not need it. Still, the gift always makes me happy," he added with a fond and distant look. The gesture touched him as it had many years ago when his lost love wondered the same thing.

"Do I remind you of him, then?" The dragon tilted his head. "That could be why my ... mishap yesterday was far from disastrous." A problem like that, well he couldn't simply forget it! Magic from within the lake had created the other man. It was no wonder that the waters were so special, and doubly so for the promise Reichet had made. The question remained. Why hadn't the spell reacted to the breaking of the promise?

"You do, very much in some ways and not at all in others." Reichet pondered that. He really didn't understand what happened that day and a part of him didn't want to think about it. The lake and his promise were so special that he never wanted to share them with anyone, but he already started to share so much with Riel. Not thinking about what happened yesterday wouldn't mean it didn't happen. "Even though I'm the one who cast the spell, I'm afraid I don't know much about it. It was ancient magic, the sort that doesn't come with explanations." Maybe somewhere in a far distant place books existed on it, but he could not travel there.

Riel glanced at the sky. Clear, blue, no signs of rain and with just enough wind to make things fun ... It was a flying day. "It would help if I knew more about the spell's specifics. It would be easier to work through the tangle of it all. Even a spell like that can be ambiguous at times, depending on the wording." His heart beat just a bit faster, knowing that he reminded Reichet of someone so very dear to him.

Reichet hummed. It was Nathaniel who introduced magic to Reichet's life. Even being a magical being and one that had been a round for a long time, he didn't touch the world of spells often. His own magic was a natural sort that came without words. Nathaniel learned magic in the temple. When Reichet heard about the spells, he understood he and his love were meant to use them to be together. He remembered only a little about the magic.

"There was an religious sort of order many years ago. Ah...I wonder if it's still around." Reichet shook his head, figuring he'd never know. "The magic was passed down within the group and that's where the spell came from. Nathaniel...he said the magic was given to them by a winged god of fire and wisdom who protected the humans in wartime before giving them the knowledge to protect themselves. It is a very interesting legend, but perhaps it is true. I know nothing of gods and war."

He grinned and laughed a bit. "A winged god of fire and wisdom? That certainly sounds like a dragon to me. Wouldn't you say?" Riel shook his head some more. What a strange coincidence ... But was it really? "That could very well explain why the spell didn't activate, and nothing happened to you. In fact, me simple being what I am does. Magic very rarely affects dragons, though we have our own spells. It's our scales, our inherent nature, to be protected from such things because of our collecting habits. It's a natural evolution."

It did sound like a dragon now that he thought of it. Maybe then the legend did refer to a real event in a long forgotten past. What Riel said sounded very interesting. "I did not know that about dragons," he mused. "But if it is simply because you are a dragon that nothing happened, where does that leave us?" It conveniently left him with a companion and he'd forgotten how much he liked the presence of others, but then the spell he and Nathaniel wove should still be active. He still had to protect him oasis just in case. "If only I knew what happened to him all those years ago..." Reichet finally sighed more to himself than anyone else.

Riel glanced at the lake, at the shining waters and their echo upon the man beside him, or rather the lake itself. Nature spirits, well he hadn't met many of them, only one. The dragon shifted closer to Reichet, leaned in to take a whiff of his scent. "I could leave this place, try to find out what happened to him. If he did indeed worship dragons, there is a chance that he met someone of my kind, someone who would remember him." It was unlikely, but there was a chance, and now with the scent of the dragon in his nose, he would be able to find Reichet the moment he was close enough again.

Reichet eyed Riel oddly when he sniffed him, not understanding the purpose of it. Was this a strange dragon thing? He did just say he knew little about Riel's kind so he decided that made sense enough. Before he could ponder anything, the dragon spoke and left his mind blank. "You would do that for me? I could never leave myself so I've always..." He shook his head. He always stopped himself from wondering before because of his blind faith and love. The idea of finally learning the truth left him a little afraid and if Riel left, then he'd be alone again. "You....you don't have to do that."

"Why wouldn't I?" The dragon glanced at the near cloudless sky. Wind rushed through his hair, tugged at his clothing. He brushed strands of pale locks away from his horns, untangling them. The forest was so calm all around them. The animals went about their business, entirely secure in their safety with Reichet there to protect them. Riel felt safe there too, for the first time in years ...

He sighed. "It would be the very least I could do, after all the trouble I've caused you." The near death scare alone warranted it. Besides, he had other reasons for wanting to leave. It felt wrong abandoning his search so easily, without one last desperate attempt to find the fruit.

Reichet supposed he had no right to tell Riel not to go. He didn't have any real command over the creatures of his forest, and Riel had become just that. They could come and go as they pleased. Mostly simply chose to stay because where else could you possibly want to be? He nodded his head. "Very well. But you will come back won't you?" he asked with a small note of hesitation. He didn't think he could take it if another person walked out of his life never to come back, the reasons unknown.

He smiled a bit. "It almost sounds like you want me to stay." The dragon laughed. "Weren't you the one who tried to make me leave yesterday? Tried to chase me away? " Had it only been yesterday? The sky seemed brighter, wider, somehow. Trees, they were less menacing all around, less frightening ... Though he would never try to climb one again; his skin still hurt, and he was certain the soft flesh was coloring with bruises, and some might even had found that attractive on him ... As they always foud him attractive.

The thought of facing that kind of attention sent unpleasant shivers down his spine. He shook his head, growled; if anyone approached him again he would claw their eyes out and make them regret it!

Reichet frowned and crossed his arms. "T-that's beside the point! And I didn't say I want you to stay," he complained. He did, but he didn't say it. Would never say it so explicitly because he had tried to chase Riel away not so long ago. Honestly he forgot how recently that had been. Maybe time just had no meaning to him. Maybe so much just happened. "I will be here when you get back then." He glided across the ground over to the lake to indicate just where he would be. He walked to the center of the lake, his bare feet leaving ripples on the lakes otherwise serene surface. There he paused to watch Riel leave.