Thinking...

"Fading away!" exclaimed Dree.  "But I have so many questions and had hoped to have long talks with you about being a Moon Dragon."  The Monacle sadly smiled as he spoke.  "I am old Dree.  Part of me doesn't want to go, but part of me wants to see what the adventure will be when I do.  Everything goes through a cycle and Dragons are no different.  Even the 'Outies' know that energy never goes away, it just changes into a new form.  I am ready to see how that works."

Dree hung his head in sadness as he realized that he was going to lose someone that he was already considering as 'family'.  Using his Dragon speak, Dree asked the Monacle something so the others could not hear, "Is there anything I can do to help you?  I don't want to leave you now."

"My regret is that when I fade, the Tree will perish and then magic will disappear across the realms.  I hate to think that I failed in keeping the magic alive," answered the Monacle.  As Dree and the ancient Moon Dragon were Dragon speaking to each other, Arnie noticed in the silence that Dree was looking like when he would talk to the Oracle when no one else could hear it speak.  "He must be wanting some privacy," she realized as she decided to give him that privacy.  "Meerher.  Can you and Ellie show me more of the Tree?  I would like to see the other side."

The Monacle smiled again as Arnie led the Moonies away from him and Dree.  "You are fortunate to have such good friends," he told Dree as they watched the others starting their long walk around the Tree.  "It will take them a little while to go around the tree and I am sure Arnie will ask them all sorts of questions to keep them busy."

Dree had been contemplating what the Monacle had said about magic disappearing and realized that was what had called him in the first place.  "You said that once you fade, the Tree will die and magic will disappear.  That is why you stayed.  To save the magic.  Would the realms be worse off if the magic disappeared?"

The Monacle suddenly looked very sad.  "Yes, that is why I came.  At first I thought I would be able to fix everything and the magic would stay.  But it was vain and foolish of me.  The Tree is the real magic.  It's roots spread to each of the realms and the magic flows from it.  If magic dies, Dragons become only lizards.  Wishes remain only desires and hopes.  Many of the magical creatures that you know will no longer exist or will become mundane.  Sameness will become the norm and being different will make others jealous or feel superior.  Things would survive, but hope and dreams will not be as powerful as they can be."

Dree stood for a moment in thought.  Slowly he started to speak.  "I don't want to see the magic leave," he said.  "I don't know the other Dragons, but I don't want them to lose their magic and be less than they could be.  This goes for all of my friends.  If everyone loses that touch of magic that each possess, the realms will all become a little more gray and colorless.  Isn't there something we can do?"

​If a Dragon could shrink up into itself, then that is when the Monacle did it.

This was the question he had both hoped Dree would ask but knew he could never ask of it himself.  "I am sorry Dree, but there is only one way for it to not happen.  A new Moon Dragon must be found to replace me.  Only a Moon Dragon has the power and ability to maintain the Tree."  As the shock of what the Monacle was saying sank into Dree, the Monacle continued.  "I did not ask the Moonies to bring you here.  I knew where you were from watching you since you were a wee dragnet.  What you had become may have been the magic setting things in motion but I did not tell the Moonies because I knew they would try and convince you to take my place."

As Dree stared at the Monacle, he realized that a decision must be made.  "Again you remind me that you can only start the path, it is my decision where to tread.  Do I stay or do I go are the real choices I have aren't they?"

The Monacle sadly swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat as he nodded his head.  "How long do I have to decide?" asked Dree.

With a tear in it's eye the Monacle answered.  "We will not meet again in this form."  It was then that Arnie and the others appeared from their journey around the tree.  "Dree, the Tree is huge but it doesn't look well.  Its like it needs a good trimming," said Arnie.  It was with those words that Dree made his offer.  "Monacle, would I be able to take your place?"