its not too late to pick up the pieces

Almost immediately she answered him, stating that she had no real reason to think he knew this place. He hadn't meant to make her feel like she'd been wrong to think that, not necessarily, but really he'd just wanted to be difficult for a moment - and apparently he'd succeeded. "I do happen to be familiar with this place, actually. Quite familiar." He hadn't really considered this place his home, but he'd visited it enough times to say he was familiar with it... the eastern lands of Boreas were ones he'd spent quite a bit of time in, before he'd gotten tangled up in the whole slavery mess.

Kai's gaze followed her own, shifting to get a better look at their surroundings. The slope of the volcano was quite barren, though he wasn't the least bit surprised at that fact. To someone just visiting for the first time, they'd likely be surprised at just how desolate this place seemed.. like something out of a dream, perhaps. She spoke up, curious about whether it had erupted recently, or if things were just normal; but she seemed inclined to think she'd been disturbing him, and turned as if to leave. He let out a sound, a weird mixture between a scoff and a laugh, as he turned to slowly follow her. Kai might be in a less-than-pleasant mood, but he'd been painfully lonely lately - more lonely than he cared to admit - and she seemed decent enough company for now. His younger self likely would've wondered when he'd gotten - well, like this - but he didn't care to question why he turned and followed her, however slightly.

"It hasn't been that long since it erupted. I think it happened... last winter." Everything had been a blur, though, and the winter that had settled in after the eruption felt like it had lasted for an abnormally long time. It was hard to pinpoint just when it had happened. The north felt like it hadn't even gotten a true summer; at least down here, further south, things were much milder. "Things down this way were.. hellish, to put it lightly. I'm lucky I was so far north when it happened. Likely would've turned to ash," Kai commented lazily, letting out another chuckle at the grim thought as he kicked at some loose ash, watching it crumble and fall to the wind. Maybe being in Winterfell at the time had been to his advantage - he very well could've been here at the time, and who knows what would've happened to him then? Once he'd thought servitude a worse fate than death, but he was beginning to realize he quite enjoyed living.