It's a little embarrassing and ridiculous how any sort of praise right now is absolutely and completely welcome, how Sheena agreeing to his simplistic trick with the fire being neat already pulls Zelos into an illusion of being actually wanted. He laughs at it, a little in awe at himself, and lowers his hand to his side. Looking at the fire is a better than looking at literally anything right now, so he sets his sights on the flame he created and parses Sheena's next question.

Keep the conversation flowing, Zelos, just use it as a safety rope to get yourself out of this hole. He's still holding his side of the resonance link, but the terror and despair slowly die down to make way for a full-on hit of shame and desperation instead, so he's not exactly ready to let it go just yet. He'll work on that, though. He will. So, sorry, Sheena, but you're going to have to wait.

Just don't call attention to it, please.

"Nah, not really. Blades are hyper-sensitive to ether, since we mostly function on and are made up of it. And ether is everywhere, so it kinda becomes second nature to manipulate it for us," Zelos starts to explain, one hand gesturing at the fire. "Imagine taking a scoop of water in your hands and throwing it at someone. You just do it, right? Barely any thought behind it." He shrugs. "That's kinda how it is."

The words simply leave his mouth, somewhat comforting in the way they come and go, the way he's allowed to sink into the topic change no questions asked. Explaining blade and ether basics to his own driver wasn't something he'd ever pictured himself doing, but for some reason, now that he's here, he finds that he doesn't mind it as much as he thought he could. It's a good excuse to not talk about anything else, at least. And Sheena's willing to learn, willing to listen, looking genuinely curious with every little question and interaction they have that dips anywhere into blade basics.

It kinda gives him some sense of purpose, in a way. That's kind of nice.