His presence did not go unacknowledged for very long, there was no chance to sneak away without her noticing him. The good news, at least, was that she did not seem angry or offended by his interruption. There was still peace in the meadow even without the complete stillness, a fact he appreciated greatly. She moved slowly at first - well, she hardly moved at all but the stone did - fractures splintered down the statue and it started to crumble away slowly before. It was just as fascinating watching it fall apart as it had been to watch it grow - small splashes jumping from the water as the rock fell into the stream. Did it go into the rock bed or get absorbed back into her? Or did it just disappear?

But these questions were put on hold because she was speaking - stating the same fact that he had realized upon noticing her there in the stream. He shifted awkwardly at first, remembering freshly the pity he had been shown by Aithniel when she had spoken to him in the woods that day. Not easy to put behind him but he was not willing to give those dark thoughts precedence over the other thoughts in his mind. Hadn’t he come here to enjoy the sunlight, to enjoy the warmth, as much as his physical presence was nothing more than a black hole in the sunny afternoon.

A small smile appeared though and he nodded his dark head to her, taking a couple cautious steps forward now that she was no longer as still as she had been. “That’s right, while we were looking for water for the Earth God's ship. Your partner was Aithniel, right?” He wondered if she had known the sun demi-god before or if they had met that day… but ultimately another question followed that clarification. Following the train of thought that he had before she had spoken, before the movement of one feathered leg had caused the final collapse, he blinked those pale, pupil-less eyes of his as he looked back at this skull-faced girl that fit in so much better than he did in the sunlight. “Can you control it when you turn into stone? Or just it just sort of happen?” Magic wasn’t a new concept to Mesec, it was something that had always been present for him, but this particular magic was new and it made him curious - he just hoped she didn’t mind the stream of questions. Perhaps it was a little rude of him but, well, Mesec wasn’t going to meet anyone new by fretting about whether they’d appreciate questions or not. He had missed out on a lot of chances to interact and learn with those that weren’t his mother, and he wanted - even needed to make up for that loss.