“I love you too,” he murmured to her as she settled back down into the water from her brief embrace of him.

Elann settled onto his shoulder and fell asleep, something he didn’t quite expect of her. Noah stayed awake, making sure she didn’t slip too deep into the water since she mostly using his grasp as her support in that moment, along with what little hold she had on his body. Noah busied himself quietly as she slept on him, running his hands along her back and sides gingerly or playing with his hands under the water.

A bell passed before Noah felt the need to wake her up, no longer wanting to sit in the slowly cooling bath. “Elann,” he whispered into her ear, “I need to wash up so we can get out.”

He waited to see if she would respond to just his voice in her ear. If not, he would nudge her gently, as if he was wanting to get up without committing to the action.