Oh, the dramatics she employed. Yet she used them in a sincere manner, for in her mind they were warranted. Kaj merely shook his head in quietude, casting aside her frantic apology, knowing there was far more hiding behind those two simplistic words and awaiting when they would come flowing out. He respected her for withholding them, no matter the duration, for she had learned a great deal of control and responsibility in her time as Queen. Perhaps not as much as others, himself included, thought she might need. But it was still honorable that she had grown up from her naive mindset in any way.

He is weak to her in many ways, and he goes without a fight as she nudges him with hardly the pressure of a butterfly landing upon his skin. He does not intend to bathe, knowing it would do nothing but wash the drying blood away and reveal the gore of his wounds to her. She does not need such a sight, not when the warble of her voice revealed to him that she likely could not handle the additional reminder of the violence they'd both suffered through. "Healing will come in time, Kahlua. I do not wish you to see my wounds beyond the blood." His eyes are sincere as they turn to her, words soft and calm as if caught in the eye of a storm she cannot possibly see. The Storm Bringer indeed...and it seemed he would suffer through the same storms he brought about. If it meant preserving what was left intact of her innocence, he would not bathe until a Doctor tended to his wounds.

In the silence as he dipped his legs into the stream to appease whatever worry still gnawed at her mind, the beginning of the stream gushed from her lips. Turning he let pale blue eyes settle upon her form, watching her in a silently attentive manner, hanging on her every word as he always had and likely always would. Often he wondered if the Moon Goddess made Kahlua Queen only because she knew Kaj would do anything, give everything, if the painted maiden asked it of him. But her self-deprecation would always pull at his heartstrings, no matter how tired he was, in every manner of the word. Turning, he caved into the pull that demanded he comfort her, attempting to brush pale lips against the bare expanse of her forehead, smoothing dark tresses from her pained features. "I deserve better? Kahlua, you are a fine Queen. You love your people and give them all the time you can muster. You befriend them all, commit every face and name to memory. You are a Queen of Queens, Sunshower. And in your title lies your true gift; you bring light to the lives of all those around you. And when we are so gripped by at times dark circumstances...it is a magic all in itself."

His name is the beginning of it all, and the true pain eating at her tumbles free in a rush that nearly sweeps him off his feet. Her emotions are so volatile and warrant to change that the simplistic Storm Bringer often found himself drowning in the ever-shifting tides, but he had learned how to be buoyant in the seasons he had grown close to her. Shifting back to regard her seriously, attempting to catch and hold similar blue-hued irises, his voice rumbled like the thunder he wielded to command her attention in a somber manner. "Kahlua, you are not the soul-bonded of Aurelia's serpent. You would have never brought a babe into battle at your side, I know you would not, no matter the size nor prowess of your companion." Kahlua's heart was too pure to demand a companion aid her in an arena of challenge, of intentions of usurping and commanding a crown Aurelia did not deserve.

"It was Aurelia's choice to bring her companion into the challenge. It was Aurelia's choice to not command her companion not to strike you. I do not believe you would ever have intentionally attacked her snake- it was self-defense, it was instinct to lash out against a bite. When a fly bites, you flick it away without a thought because it is pain and reaction." He is blind to her realizations, to whatever is going on in the silence where her tiny chest heaves and tears prick at dark lashes fluttering with every blink like obsidian butterflies. Even in her agony she is stunning.

"Aurelia did not stop. Like you said, it was an accident. Aurelia's serpent may deserve a reserved mourning, yes, for no companion deserves to suffer death at the will of a foolish bonded. But there is nothing you could have done, Kahlua. Do not upset the memory of her companion by holding it in your mind when it is not due." Kaj reached forth in a motion to place his muzzle beside hers, to dip his crown and let her breathe the same air as he in a cloud of warmth and comfort. Tilt crowns together and form a bubble of peace and solitude.

"I would have done far more for your safety, Kahlua. I would have killed Aurelia herself had they not stopped me. You did all you could, and the death of her companion while a sorrow in itself was not and never shall be your fault." There was no room for argument in his tone, nor any shame in his admission. In the moment of rage when he had found them at the precipice...Aurelia's blood would have been splattered across the pale flesh of the rock in moments had his herdmates not contained him. He did not regret nor deny those desires, for he would make the same choice a thousand times over should he ever be sent back to change his behavior. Kahlua's physical and mental safety was worth worlds more than Aurelia's life in the eyes of the Storm Bringer.