Though it had arrived far too soon for the Czar's liking, the day for Ilios to depart had finally come. Though he had carried the boy's comment inside his heart since the moment it had been uttered, Kaj could not help but still feel sorrow when he recognized that Ilios would be leaving. Leaving and not returning. Boys had to branch out on their own regardless, and Kaj was aware of that, but Ilios had been much like his own son and the Falls would be a little emptier in spirit and heart without the soulful boy there to color it up. Nonetheless, Kaj would support him, and so he had set out on the lengthy trek with Ilios and Areli under careful, somewhat mournful watch. The Storm Bringer was aware of the fact that he would not be seeing Ilios for some time, at least while he settled, and he drank in the image of the boy throughout the entire journey.

Waking up to both children beneath his wings as they traveled had become an addiction, filling little holes in his heart he'd never realized were there. Something inside him ached to be a father, and though he held quite a hand in raising the pair all things considered, they would never be his by blood. It made him long for a mate, foals of his own, a huge family that he could surround himself with forever. Kaj was a man who held family as an integral part of his makeup, and it killed him to be in Helovia sometimes. Though his herdland was harsh and unforgiving, kinship held great deal and weight there, and touch was far more freely given. Loyalties unquestioned. To be without immediate, blooded family was wearing on him more than he had expected, as it had so fully escaped his notice.

And when he at last had grown to love and appreciate waking up with both foals beneath his wings and against his sides, Ilios was leaving and Areli would be returning with him to the Falls where she would be reunited with her mother once more. It was painful, but he plastered on a smile each morning, not wanting to worry the young filly or lead Ilios to think Kaj did not support him in his newly desired independence and freedom.

They arrived far too quickly, sand easily gathering in places Kaj did not find comfortable at all. Ilios asked a quiet question, and Kaj rumbled an assent when he turned imploring, searching eyes upon the Czar. But Kaj was mostly involved elsewhere in his mind. The scents, the sights...it was heartbreakingly familiar. Kaj had spent nearly three seasons in this land, beneath Kri and alongside Rishima. It had become a secondary home to him, and its familiarity brought with it both a pang of bitter longing and a comforting cloud that settled over him. There were no doubts that Ilios would be safe, would prosper and thrive beneath Gaucho and Megaera. Perhaps one of those two would even arrive to accept Ilios, Kaj sorely hoped so because he was not sure any others would recognize him nor care for his rather intimate ties to the desert.

When Ilios slowly returned from where he'd flown across the channel in hopes of attracting attention, Kaj turned to the boy with a quiet, encouraging smile. "Take a breath. Everything is going to be okay, Ilios," he assured, certain that the boy was probably feeling jitters in that moment. He was leaving home, going to live alone in a new land with no friends and no support. Kaj was proud of him.