Like a startled mouse, she jitters backwards away from his descent, and a look crosses his handsome face that is something akin to shame and apology. He hadn't meant to scare or startle her. He was raised a gentleman after all, and she reminded him so vividly of his baby sister that his heart ached painfully. Even when his soft, glowing smile came into play an answering twist did not curl upon her lips. She watched him as a cat may eye a snarling dog, and it saddened him. What had happened to the petite dame to make her so fearful? Even when she gives her name, a sweet lyric of 'Resplendence' in her feminine vocals, she steps away from him and curtains herself in caramel-strawberry locks. With it came the allowance to shorten her name into anything he found appropriate. "Resplendence? A fitting name. I admit, I am far from creative with nicknames, m'lady. You seem to be a kleine aardbei to me, but perhaps something like Cece will sound better to you? It is a language I have not used since colthood, I admit." My, had he even spoken the language since he had entered Helovia? How long had it lingered on the fringes of his conscious, awaiting the time when he could speak it once more? It was his native tongue after all, but the Mages had always despised the masculine language due to stallions being the muscle and not the magically inclined. It was old and familiar upon his tongue, old syllables he could hardly recall if he thought too hard, but which flowed like water when he relaxed and let himself remember soft utterances he'd whispered into his sister's ears from birth to death.

In his thoughts, her nervous silence was wasted away without awkwardness or impatience on his end. The pale warrior was hardly ever impatient either way. When she confessed, her breath tinting the air with moisture in the frozen tundra, it was to tell him that she was indeed lost but thankfully free from illness so far despite the unfavorable conditions they stood motionless in. Her explanations made sense, the wintery tundra was an evil mistress, and her ways were subtle and hard to understand or learn in the first place. He was far more concerned for her warmth at that time, but watched in quiet observance as she shuffled her hooves, clearly still unwilling to give him much more of a chance. Kaj couldn't find it in his heart to blame her.

At last she accepts his wing, but her story is saddening when she explains how the Foothills sanctuary had been ripped from beneath her hooves, and how her loved one was apparently injured and seeking aid. "Is there anything I can do? Even help you look for your beloved?" Concern and sympathy crinkled his proud features, wondering why life had been so hard on a being with such small, incapable shoulders. In his shrunken, crown-bowed state he watches her with clear azures, completely still. She is shaking, trembling delicately with something far more than chill. Afraid to frighten her, he kept every inch of his large canvas still, allowing her to make the moves and decisions, unwilling to pressure her. Kaj had always been infinitely patient and unfalteringly gentle in his treatment of females, and the fear in her eyes only endeared her further to him.

A gentle butterfly kiss is pressed to his brow like a goddess blessing a lowly knight, and he blinked up at her owlishly in surprise. Her sweet soprano lyrics brought him out of it, smiling both at the brave action and the words she spoke. Slowly he uncurled himself, straightening and watching her carefully to judge if at any point it became too much. "You're welcome for both, kleine aardbei. There is a grove of evergreens not far from here, I spotted it overhead. Walking will keep you warm as well, may I lead you?" As he spoke he moved, hoping to comfort and calm her with his soft voice while he draped one massive wing over her side to shield her from the wind and snow, allowing her to press either towards his side or his feathers, knowing that she was more aware of her boundaries than he could ever be. Craning his neck he kept his eyes on hers, a habit he had as a form of respect, and awaited her tremulous vocals once more.

---
Hehe <3 love you too