The wind was friend and family to him, but the power with which he had once called it to dance with him was barely a trickle of what he'd once known. He had grown (reluctantly) more used to it the longer he spent here, but it still ached in his chest to realize how brief his command of it was. At least Hotaru was kind enough to ask after him, the first to have done so, and the amber eyes he turned on her were bright with gratitude. "Fairly uncommon, but... we did happen." It was a hesitant admission, the honesty about his life feeling strange but also a relief after so many weeks of near-silence. "Most humans didn't know about the Hidden, and most Hidden... well, wouldn't um. Lie with a human for any reason." He tried to be delicate with the topic, unsure of what would offend the siren of the sand. "But one did catch my mother's eye. I wish... I could say it was a fairy tale love. She did love him, for a season, but she... the anemoi can't stay in one place for long," he tried to explain, struggling to find the right words. "Being trapped in one place it... it saps them of something. She'd known it wouldn't last, I think. She said he never knew what she was, just that one day she was gone... and a few months later she realized that he'd left her with something... unexpected." A child, one she hadn't wanted, one his father never knew existed, but Kel didn't seem saddened by the tale. He told it with the simple straightforwardness of one for who it was simple truth, and the calm confidence of one who had grown up loved, even if it hadn't been in the traditional way.
His smile turned wistful at Hotaru's kindness, the justice and fair play she displayed further proof that her beauty was more than skin deep. Her attention to his clothing had him ducking his head in embarrassment again and he nodded shyly, his smile warming at her offer. "I'm... not sure. I'd like that, yes, but..." He shrugged, glancing away, ashamed of his fear. "I'm not ready, yet. To go through another portal after... the last one." The one that took him from his home, his family, and all he knew.
He could only nod in agreement to the turbulence he'd experienced since arriving. A sideways glance caught the way the light reflecting through the cathedral glass caught highlights in her blond hair and flawless skin, her empathy as well as her casual grace bringing that flicker of warmth back to his eyes and the softness to his smile. "A guild?" he asked, uncertain if it meant the same as it had on his world. "And... Halo? But if you ruled a kingdom does that mean... you're a - you were a - queen?" A breathless question, a sudden tension in his frame; not of fear but of anxiety that he hadn't shown proper respect, even for a queen-in-exile. Even so her wistfulness tugged at his heart and he wished he knew the words to comfort her. All he could do was shake his head and send dark tresses momentarily flying at her apology, meeting her eyes with an earnest expression. "N-no, it's alright. I guess Haulani is my home for now... at least, I don't have anywhere else to live. I've been staying in a room above a bar but... maybe I should find someplace to call my own while I'm here. But, if you don't mind... What was it like? Being Queen, I mean?" Like something out of a fairy tale, for a young man who had been friends with faeries but never met human royalty before.
His smile turned wistful at Hotaru's kindness, the justice and fair play she displayed further proof that her beauty was more than skin deep. Her attention to his clothing had him ducking his head in embarrassment again and he nodded shyly, his smile warming at her offer. "I'm... not sure. I'd like that, yes, but..." He shrugged, glancing away, ashamed of his fear. "I'm not ready, yet. To go through another portal after... the last one." The one that took him from his home, his family, and all he knew.
He could only nod in agreement to the turbulence he'd experienced since arriving. A sideways glance caught the way the light reflecting through the cathedral glass caught highlights in her blond hair and flawless skin, her empathy as well as her casual grace bringing that flicker of warmth back to his eyes and the softness to his smile. "A guild?" he asked, uncertain if it meant the same as it had on his world. "And... Halo? But if you ruled a kingdom does that mean... you're a - you were a - queen?" A breathless question, a sudden tension in his frame; not of fear but of anxiety that he hadn't shown proper respect, even for a queen-in-exile. Even so her wistfulness tugged at his heart and he wished he knew the words to comfort her. All he could do was shake his head and send dark tresses momentarily flying at her apology, meeting her eyes with an earnest expression. "N-no, it's alright. I guess Haulani is my home for now... at least, I don't have anywhere else to live. I've been staying in a room above a bar but... maybe I should find someplace to call my own while I'm here. But, if you don't mind... What was it like? Being Queen, I mean?" Like something out of a fairy tale, for a young man who had been friends with faeries but never met human royalty before.
