His child has disappeared from the borders of his home, and the Aurelight can scarcely breathe with each day she remains on her journey. He regularly follows the trail she has left, a thousand worries occupying his thoughts and days. She has never ventured this far before, never cast her wings to the sky to take her away from him, from the protections of the Falls. Now he knows how Resplendence and Quilyan felt, all those seasons when Rue had disappeared. He only prays, a broken and crippled father, to the saintly patron of his herdland that she will return to him. Safe, alive. He cannot bear to imagine her hurt in any way, can't even think of anything worse, anything more permanent, without feeling so ill he fears he may vomit. 

Days are spent pacing the borders, frazzled and sleepless. The soldiers have likely never experienced so many days off of duty, with how Kaj continually takes over their rotations. There are no friends, brothers, or sisters to remind him to take it easy. To breathe. Resplendence is gone. As is Quilyan, wherever the amnesiac had wandered off to. Archibald and Brisa have far more on their minds than Kaj. And he is alone, without Sohalia or his beloved daughter. His little lightning, his angel. 

When he hears her call for him, he thinks he is hallucinating. But he races for the sound of her tremulous voice regardless, willing to take any chance and believe in any mirage if it brings her back to him. And it's her, she's there, and the relief that spears through his heart could bring him to his knees if his love for her was not driving him powerfully forward to envelope her in the safe cocoon of his wings. He can scarcely restrain himself from truly touching her, but as a father he cannot cause her that kind of physical pain. Instead he bows his head until their hornless brows are almost touching and breathes his little air-kiss against her nostrils, the sound catching on a hitched breath that he will not allow to turn into a sob in her presence. 

"Aleta," he cries, eyes stinging. "Mijn vrienden, mijn geliefd, where have you been? Oh my angel, why were you gone so long?" And he curses the season that had given her such frailty, because he longs so badly to touch her, to ascertain that she is real and safe, unharmed. But instead he slowly drops his wings from where they shield her, looking deep into her dual colored gems, sensing her despair. He will reprimand her for her foolishness later. For now, Kaj cannot let her continue spiraling into whatever pit she has fallen into. 

"Aleta, what's wrong? Tell me, sweetheart." Whatever or whoever had harmed her would face his wrath without prejudice or restriction. Nobody would cause his daughter pain of any sort. He would stand before her as a buffer, a shield, and he would be her defender in any battle of the mind or body. Kaj was utterly devoted to her.