"D'athe." Jack rolled it around on his tongue, tried to add the extra whistles. He didn't quite say the whole thing correctly, he was sure.
Permanent, he understood.
"Ness?" Jack laughed at the drenching story, despite himself. "Wouldn't happen to live in a huge lake, in your world, would he, or she? Pretty sure we've got something similar on my Earth. Except, even we can't find him or her."
Lonely? Oh, hell, yes. "I do get lonely, D'athe," Jack admitted, stil stroking the dragon's fur. "Love and appreciate my people when they're with me, then put the memory of them in a box, without a lid, that's all I can do. All I've been doing since 1869."
Jack realised he was crying, just a little. A change of scene was needed. "C'mon," he said, easing D'athe away, standing up, "Let's see you fly."