Were she not already glowing like a star brought down to earth and woven into her coat, Kaj would have deemed her lighting up from within as he extended to her an escape. A safety net. She latched onto it, prostrate and defenseless, beneath the weight of his mercy. Had any fouler soul waltzed upon her, perhaps her ending would not have been so optimistic. Sometimes all it took was the nudge from even a stranger to end the gossamer thread connecting one to a life they did not intend to continue living.

Her kisses ghosted across his muzzle, like velvet and gratitude. Warm, sweet clover breath washed across his paper thins and he categorized the underlying scent of her existence into the little journal of family and friend he'd kept since arriving new and washed clean in Helovia.

She seemed struck by his motions, by the words he melted into her ears and let cling to her frame like tentative butterflies perching on her skin. Whatever it was he had said to paint upon her delicate visage such a surprised expression was beyond him, clueless as to what he had done or said that surprised her so. Had she come from a land as foreign as his own, and he had somehow offended her? Though no blow nor crinkling of brow came, her ears remained alert, attentive. So Kaj let his curiosity boil into the back of his mind, to be asked at a later date. Perhaps on the lengthy walk back to the Edge, the few days it would take.

Except then she began to cry, and at first he panicked, eyes wide and ears swiveling about, attempting to figure out what he'd done to force her to tears. Had it not been for her sudden cooing of words he understood, Kaj likely would have leaped towards her and despairingly questioned what he'd done. Whether he could atone for whatever sin he'd committed. Instead, his chest warmed to hear the silken slide of her voice, overcome with emotion. Relief sagged his mighty shoulders. No wonder he never went to the Threshold, he was horrifically bad at it.

A slow smile spread on his handsome face, endeared by her snuffling and adorable manner of speech in that moment. His heart had always been weak to those trampled and trodden upon. "Speak not of debt, miss Azaneen. You owe me nothing but your friendship and company," he assured, eyes warm like summer nights. Kaj had never asked anything more from his kin, and they had in return gifted it to him freely, securing his position as king with their love and loyalty. Kaj knew no other way to rule a herd but with the thickest of ties to his flock.

"Come. Let me take you home."