She backed away. "So… So you're a ghost? Why can I see you?" Her heart was racing. I've never been able to see ghosts before. If I can see him, does that mean that I'm more of a monster? I already have these powers, so is this just an added part of the curse?
Rhys shook his head, a strand of hair falling in front of his face and he twiddled his staff in his hands, "No, I'm not a ghost. I'm real, just… more of a forgotten story then anything," He shrugged, "You can probably see me as we have the same abilities."
She took her hands down, but readied her mind in case she had to defend herself. "You're…you're like me? No one's like me. No one's a monster like me. Everyone else is normal. I deserve to be alone. Because I'm a monster."
Rhys frowned a little and leaned against his staff, "You're not a monster, Miss. Just because you're different doesn't make you a monster. And no one deserves to be alone," Yet I've been alone for hundreds of years… "Your abilities make you special, you just need to learn how to control them."
"No, I am a monster. Everyone tells me that. I've been told that since I was a little kid. I hurt my sister. I hurt my kingdom. I deserve to be alone." She shot some ice down to create a sort of barrier between herself and this stranger.
"Well, I'm telling you as someone who has been in your position, you are not a monster. It takes time to accept who you are and even more so for others to accept it," He created a small, delicate snowflake and sent it over the barrier, "Please, Miss, if you want help, I can help."
Kallista shrank slightly from the snowflake. She knew it couldn't hurt her, but it was more instinctual fear than logicality. "Who…who are you?" She asked, the barrier slowly going away but remaining there.
"My name is Rhysand, but I go by Rhys." He replied, smiling a little and glad that the barrier was disappearing. They were getting somewhere, "What is yours, Miss?"
"I'm…Kallista," She answered, slightly freaked out that he was smiling, even though it wasn't scary. She hadn't seen someone genuinely smile for a while. It..frightened her a little.
Rhys was slightly upset that she hesitated for a second but could understand why. He didn't want to push her too much, "It's nice to meet you Kallista. You castle really is a work of art, by the way."
She glanced around, her expression softening a little. "It's better than the one I was trapped in for my whole life. At least in this one, I can't hut anyone. I can be free, be myself."
He hummed his agreement, "It's always better to be free then trapped. And this place," He spun in a circle, "This place is a work of art, it really is. I applaud you." He put his staff over his shoulder and clapped a little before resting his hands on the wood.
"Normally I would say thank you but I still don't really know you," Kallista smiled slightly. "To be fair, I don't really know a lot of people. It's funny, being Queen of a kingdom and not knowing a single one of the people living there."
Rhys chuckled quietly, starting to pace round the room casually, "You're a Queen? Should I bow and kiss your shoes or is that something you don't do anymore?" He raised a brow and grinned lazily.
"I'm a Queen who doesn't want the throne," She replied. "And it would make me very uncomfortable if even my sister did that, let alone a stranger who I only know the name of." The ice pulsed softly, but it was barely noticeable.
"Makes sense, the second part, that is," He dragged the hooked end of the staff across the floor, his own ice shooting across the floor then up a wall before he returned it to the spot on his shoulders, "If you want to know more about me then please, ask away. Also, why don't you want the throne?"
“If I stay here, alone, I can’t hurt anyone. They’ll move on. They have to. Because I’m not going back. Elina can be Queen. She'd be better than me. She'd probably be better with these powers than me."
"Now that's where I think you're wrong. No one gets over a loss of a Queen. Also, you can't compare yourself to someone else. You're your own person. Being Queen will take practice, controlling your powers will take practice. Believe me on the latter."
"You don't know what it's like to hide from your powers. My room in the castle is full of ice! I hid away my whole life because I hurt people! I could have killed my sister! Do you know what that's like?!"
"I know what it's like to loose people, yes, yes I do. I lost my entire family," Rhys replied, calmly yet there was still a hint of anger in his voice, "I have gone hundreds and hundreds of years alone because of my powers. And yes, I did hurt people at the beginning trying to control them so I do know what that's like."
"At least you had a family. I didn't. I was shut away when I was five and forced to live alone in my room. I had barely any human contact for 16 years. My parents died when I was 18 and still I stayed where I was. People started wondering if I was still alive, if I was still sane."
Rhys sighed, now calmly perched on top of the staff with his legs crossed, “Look, if you want help trying to control your powers, I’m happy to help. Hiding away isn’t going to help you learn, solitude is going to drive you insane and thinking about what you left, the people that you loved, will make you upset.”
"I'll be fine alone. I always have been." She turned to walk out onto the balcony, looking down at the kingdom in the distance. "Being alone is my solitude, my escape. I can be who I am without the fear of hurting anyone."
“If you get control of your powers you can be who are you just down the here with everyone else,” He shrugged and sighed again, “And I can help with that.”
"What if…what if I don't want to stay down there? I'm finally free here. I don't want that taken from me." She created a rock of ice, tossing it down the mountain. It shattered, and the ice pieces rolled away.