"I really should visit, then," he reiterated wistfully. The idea of being with the Dragons, with a race so close to the origins and realities of magic... it was, as always, an attractive thought. More than attractive. Almost enrapturing. "All that and tight-knit too. I think Humans can stand to learn a lot from your people." He gave a sidelong glance down the hallway, but no green or dark-blue faces were peering down at them. "Orcs too."

He listened curiously as she explained the familial bonds between her clan: he did his best but some of it was difficult for him, foreign, even alien at times. He had grown up without any family to speak of, after all, his teacher the closest thing he had to a mother or a father or anything, really. And she had always established very clear boundaries.

"It sounds..." he struggled for the words. "Nice," he said at last, feeling how utterly insufficient the word was but unable to supply anything else. Even just saying it took a lot out of him, as if it had been a magic spell only barely within his ability.

He looked aside again, unable to meet her eyes. How was she able to so easily say such embarrassing things? He supposed it was the naivete in her he found so compelling, so endearing. So enchanting. Gareth reached out a hand and clasped her shoulder, squeezing lightly. Surprised at the cool feeling of her skin and her icy scales. "We are," he said thickly. "We are much more together than we were separate, I think." He struggled for another word. Just one.
"I was so much less," he said, and could not continue.