He held no qualms with how she kept her gaze from his, allowing her to mull through his words as she desired. Kaj had already figured that she was unique (never strange, never weird, he would never call her something so horrible, something he knew would stick in her psyche no matter how special she was), and he would happily, patiently, wait through whatever systems she had to digest what he'd given her. He only hoped that it was something of value, something more than the awkward, stumbling phrases his family might have offered her. He knew they meant well, knew their hearts almost as well as his own. But that also meant that Kaj was well aware of how their words could stumble, their meanings lost in the awkward emotions they couldn't traipse through elegantly. He also knew how much it could hurt, those blurted accidental phrases. Had she been wounded by them, as well?

Finally she began to speak, giving him pause from the worries that had begun to breed and fester in his breast. He hummed softly, contemplating them, trying to find the right angle to explain it to her. Once upon a time, he had stripped from himself and blocked off all entangled emotions. Perhaps he could see it from an impartial, mechanical view. Or perhaps he would end up confusing her ever further. Kaj vowed to at least try his tongue against the subject, for her sake.

"Kahlua is scared of foals, of children of any intellect. She is terrified of being depended on, and this is not merely speculation, she's told me so herself," he made sure to clarify as he went on, not wanting her to dismiss him with a psychological analysis done by someone not in the right field or with the right amount of skill in the area. He tried to stick only to facts, to not let his own row with Kahlua bleed into what he was telling her. It would be unfair to them all. "What I think she needed wasn't a physical support, nor anyone to help her with you in the way that you think. You are a very independent soul, Namloos. Not most foals are, as I'm sure you know. She likely needed help emotionally, to help her heal from what she would see as a traumatic experience - giving birth to you, having you supposedly chain her down." God, if she had found words hard to find when asking him the questions, then Kaj knew exactly how she felt. His tongue felt thick even when he carefully thought out his words, but he simultaneously attempted to keep her from waiting too long for his answers.

"Also, most equines are emotionally dependent upon friends, family. No, I could not have shouldered the pain that the physical birth would have put upon her. But having another there would have made her feel less lonely, given her courage through whatever physical pain there was." Taking a deep breath, he realized it was easier than he had expected to think of, even speak of, Kahlua in an objective way. Perhaps the child really was wiser than he or any others gave her credit for. Life, at least, was simpler without those qualms. But Kaj had also known the beauty, the strength that could be given with those emotions. It was a double edged sword. He had cut those feelings from him once; would he ever be tempted to again?

"After the birth, it's also an emotional problem. She does not see herself as a fit mother, she would want the herd and those close to her to help her raise you into a fine young mare, which she did not believe herself capable of. Others to love and nurture you, rather than reject and isolate you as she might have, which would have horrible effects on most foals who are born underdeveloped and malleable." Was that even a good explanation? Kaj remembered how Aniela had been, when she had first been born. Even the most basic of sounds had been a challenge for her, and words hadn't cropped up for even longer. She had been weak, pitiful, and not nearly as brilliant as Isopia was the moment she was born. Yet they had both turned out to be so amazing, Isopia had just hit her stride far earlier. Why was it that so many others found her to be odd, then?

His brow furrowed the moment Alysanne and Brisa were brought into the situation, the conversation. "I'm sorry, Namloos. I don't know why she would apologize to them, I can't give you an answer to that." Though he felt mildly as if he had failed her, he let it slip past him to give him room to focus on her next words, strained and uncomfortable though they were. Instinctively they drove him to desire, wanting to move closer and wrap his mighty wing round her ever-sprouting frame. But it was not a discomfort that he could chase away in that manner, and he regretted that in some secretive part of himself. "The relationship extending to Alysanne and Brisa is the only thing I understand. If you are close with someone, you desire to know more about their life. Those three are very close, and because Kahlua and I were once involved together, they likely spoke of me because I was suddenly important to Kahlua as well. Because they are friends, they are privy to information about Kahlua and I - not as King and Queen, but as Kaj and Kahlua. But as for the apology...as I said, I have no idea. If it soothes your mind any, it seems odd to me, as well," he offered with a light smile and a soft chuckle aimed her way.

It was returned, though on a different matter, and Kaj inhaled the salted air gratefully. It reminded him of Thor's accusations, that Kaj was so absorbed in his status, his title, that he was no longer the man he supposedly once was. And it took the poison from those words, one little girl's ramblings, and gave him a little bit of peace to cling to. "Yes," he agreed on a delighted breath. "You are wise in a way even old stallions are not," he laughed softly with a wink sent her way, seriousness wrapped in a joking end. The workings of the cosmics that he could never understand, world, the continent, the region, the herd...the importance dwindled with each denomination, and they were merely little specks that temporarily aided a machine that could easily go on without them. Though, that was also why Kaj believed in doing his best with what little time he had, enjoying everything he could, feeling so intensely that others frowned upon him. But why not? With such a small importance, why not go a little mad?

And then they were back to the waiting game.

But Kaj had raised Aniela, and helped with various other foals born before Isopia in the Edge. Dithering, hesitancy...it was something that even the brilliant star before him could not help but fall prey to in her youth. So he waited, until like a clam believing itself safe she pried herself open again to reveal her pearl of truth. And he saw in her the same scared, fearful question that so many other foals asked their parents; am I normal?

"No, Namloos. You are not normal. But hold no shame to your heart because of that," here tone of voice turned stronger, pressing deep into her, wanting to brand that one sentence deep into her mind if nothing else. "Foals, and equines in general, have a very large dependence upon their emotions. It consumes them, it drives our hearts and muddles our minds. You have a distinct distance, I believe, from what a supposedly normal heart feels. But it means that you see things clearer, that you cannot fall prey to things that would manipulate or fool you. It is a good thing, in some ways." He was careful not to phrase it as 'normal' directly, to make her feel as if she was somehow not. She was simply divergent from what they were used to. And what they were used to was not always right.

"But it is a double edged sword, Namloos. Emotion can be a beautiful thing, and I do not know you well enough to know how deep you feel, how often. But even if you feel only inklings, child, that does not make you any less special. To see with such clarity is something many, myself included, would envy. We all seek balance. You merely are tipped on the other side of the scale. We feel too much, you in contrast we believe to be too little. But what we're used to is not always right, Namloos. And the current that we ride in is always capable of change." Whether or not she found any comfort in it, or whether she needed comfort at all wasn't information Kaj was privy to in that moment. But he tried his best, mortal man that he was, and hoped that he had done her some sort of good.

"Nature has no emotion. Not truly. It is a machine, it could live with or without us. It is uncomplicated." He cast his eyes across the horizon with an appreciative smile, then directed it to the lost soul at his side. "Why wouldn't you like it better?" he laughed quietly, hoping to settle her mind, draw away her guilt like a siphon. "We are all crazy creatures, otherwise. Horribly complicated. I'd certainly like nature better to; in fact, I do. That's why I ended up here, alone." Until he had found her, of course. And he was grateful that he had.