[IC] Journey to the East

[Illumin0sity]

Noah didn’t bother to grab the cup and hold it under the spout of the pitcher. Instead, he chose to lift up the pitcher with his left hand and pour slowly with the bounds of the wagon as to not make a mess. He got his glass partially filled and set the pitcher down, grabbing the cup in the same motion with the same hand and drinking. He felt near useless with his right arm because he didn’t know how much he could put it through now. Every day he was testing limits subtly yet he was also afraid of doing anything to harm the stitches.

He heard the faint movement of the blankets behind him, feeling the buzz of Elann’s wakefulness in their bond, and it compelled him to shimmy enough on the floor to slant his body towards her enough so he could see her clearly. Her waking routine was predictable and was kind of funny to him. Her squeals and little moans reminded him of small woodland critters, mostly as they would squeal as he snatched them up; it reminded him that she was something of a prey creature in his eyes. Her personality matched it, as did her mannerisms and small stature in comparison to his own.

Noah was silent in his watching of her, bringing the cup to his lips to swig from consistently as he observed her painfully slow movements of waking. She turned to face him, meeting his bright eyes with her own of squinting. He looked blankly back at her, blinking in the half-moment it took for her to start her bizarre movements under the blankets. His eyes drifted down to her legs as they shifted, shook, and jiggled before stopping.

“What are you doing?” he asked, looking back to her face. “That looks silly.”

Even to Noah it looked weird, what she was doing, and he wondered the motivation behind it. In the time it took her to answer Noah set the cup down on the floor in front of him and reached for the pitcher again, drawing another cup of water out of it before setting it back in the corner with the pitcher of tea. He took the cup up again and looked to her, sipping, but still looking over the cup at her.

[snelss0]

Elann had seen in her sleepy gaze at Noah that he had poured himself the drink and was drinking now. It was enough to tell her not to worry about him. As her leg jiggled, her face was buried into the pillows, but she heard him.

She let out a breathy moan from her nose in response and began to jiggle again as now she was thinking once more. More often than not, she woke up, rose up quickly and mostly still asleep, would go about her day until she properly woke. This time she didn't rise, didn't get ready for anything, and yet her brain was telling her to get active and ready, thus the twitching. It was a conscious behavior and she knew she was doing it, but it felt good against the soreness of her body.

Having still not answered her husband, she could hear him sipping and the jiggling grew in intensity as she slowly began to move again. First her arms came from her side to prop her up as she slowly came to her knees. With eyes closed, she leaned forward onto her hands and remained there knelt and slumped slightly to the side. She looked like she had slept hard and was still that way.

"Water..." she said with an addition moan again, this time giving a little tug to the bond as she flopped down again onto her side and rolled to her back. She smacked her dry lips together and rose a hand to feel them. It had been a long long time since she had water and her body was telling her it was time. Noah would notice that she only ever drank water when needed, and only ever ate when hunger truly had set upon her, and then only in small amounts.

[Illumin0sity]

Noah’s face didn’t show any immediate judgement, he was just watching her and her shaking leg with a grand sense of quizzicality within him. She didn’t exactly answer his question, leaving him none the wiser to her actions. All she did was moan and lie there with her shaking leg. He sipped from his drink and she seemed to get even more active in her peculiar movement. She propped herself up, leaning down onto her hands and putting her body in a weird position for him to even look at. It was then that his brow perked, quirking to denote just how unusual he thought she was behaving.

She groaned out for water, instilling the trickling urge in him to come to her. He looked into the depths of his cup. Seeing it was empty, he set it back on the floor and poured another cupful for Elann. He grabbed it with his right hand, using his left to crawl his way back to her and setting the cup near her head. “Here,” he said as he set it down.

Noah sat back on his heels at her side as he examined her body beneath the blankets again. The wind rippled against the flap lightly, drawing his attention there. The sun wasn’t shining as brightly as it once was, the slit in the flaps now emitted a pale blue light of dusk instead of the bright yellow of midday.

“It’s getting late,” he pointed out. “We slept all day.”

It wasn’t a problem in his mind but he did feel rather lazy having done nothing with his day but sleep. The lethargy in him due to his wound was annoying, today less so because of the goodness instilled into it due to him and Elann getting along. The fact remained though, he hadn’t done anything with his day.

“I think we’ll be stopping in a few bells,” he added quietly.

[snelss0]

Thankfully to her, the cup came quickly, and she didn't like making Noah do anything, but it probably in a small way made him feel like the kelvic he was, being able to help her for a change. She slowly sipped the water and patted her lips with her hands as they began to heal from the cracks upon them.

Her husband's voice at her side told her it was getting later and she slowly rose with the glass in her hand. It was clear that her actions were all groggy and weak, even the bumps of the wagon knocking her off balance. Quickly, she sat on the bench of the wagon before she could fall and hurt herself and then sipped some more water. It was then she smiled.

"Thank you for the water."

There was another little moan as the wagon shifted and she finally cracked her right eye open to view him where he had settled. Another little moan came as she exhaled the last of her sleepy breaths from her and she nodded to him about the stopping. Elann finished her water and then would want to come curl up in his arms like she had done earlier before their nap. It was entirely possible that she was not exactly awake. If able to come into his arms, he would find her asleep in not even a few chimes.

Slowly her breath would become heavier and then the wagon would shift, showing the lack of tension in her neck, and she would let it fall wherever was most comfortable. Much like the little girl Alena who had slept at his side and finally woke to be carried away, she did not fully wake, only enough to get what she wanted and then was back to the realm of dreams. If he left her be, she would start to go deeper into her sleep until her brain told her that she was sleeping. It was a delayed process and would at most take five chimes, but in the end there would be an even deeper intake of breath and she would wake up with a confused look on her face.

[Illumin0sity]

Noah turned to face Elann readily as she went to the bench. He fell back onto his bottom, resting his arms over his knees with legs slightly spread. She thanked him and he nodded in welcoming. It did make him feel good to actually be doing something for her instead of her doing something for him. On the base level it was because he was the Kelvic to her bond, on a deeper level outside of his race’s spiritual need, he felt good because he was her friend, lover, and husband for what that meant to him. It was taking time, but he was getting to warm up to her as his mate in the animalistic sense and felt longing in wanting to work together because they were family and would build theirs larger in time.

Noah was right on the floor in front of Elann looking up at her as she cracked her lids open. He met her sleep filled gaze. She gulped down the rest of her water and came to him, setting the cup aside. He moved to accommodate her again, loosely attaining his cross-legged sit to make a hollow in his lap for Elann to reside in, her body cradled by his arms and into his chest. He didn’t put up a fight and didn’t say a word, simply turning to face the back of the wagon, the flaps, as he watched them shift and shuffle against one another with each bound of the wagon’s wheels and ripple of wind.

He felt her falling asleep in his hold, her head lulling to rest over on his torso. They were both lightly weighted individuals but she was lighter than him still. It wasn’t hard to lift and maneuver her body and it made it that much easier to pull and tug her towards him in their aggravated affections. He felt the near whole of her weight there in him. It grounded him in that spot because he dared not moved for those few chimes it took for her to fall back into the depths of sleep. He was awake so his breaths failed to match her deeply taken ones to a tee but they were around the same pattern.

It had grown as quiet as it could grow with the wagon rumbling under and around them, so the sharp and roving intake of breath Elann performed brought his attention fleeing from the flaps in the back to her. The look of confusion on her face made Noah want to shush her and tell her to go back to sleep; she looked almost childlike to him, adorable in the way that brought on a sense of protection, as if she couldn’t defend herself. It was the same feeling he got when Alena fell asleep on him the night of the bandit raid. The feeling was acuter though, fueled by her being his bondmate and best friend.

“Sleep,” he mumbled over her, tilting his head to rest his cheek on the top of her head, the brown locks soft on his skin. He took a breath then and recalled a song sang to him in his own childhood, the lyrics clear and the song about the sea. His voice was soft, carrying as much as a melody as he could, given he had just woken up as well. Planning to wake her up when they stopped, he sang:

“Hush-a-bye, my little child,
Hush-a-bye, though winds blow wild;
While the storms rage o'er the sea,
You shall sleep in serenity.
Hush-a-bye, hush-a-bye,
Sea winds whistle a lullaby;
Hush-a-bye, hush-a-bye,
Sea winds whistle a lullaby.

Child of fisherfolk by the shore,
Winds shall sing to you evermore;
Winter gale or summer breeze,
Fill your dreams with their melodies.
Hush-a-bye, hush-a-bye,
Sea winds whisper a lullaby;
Hush-a-bye, hush-a-bye,
Sea winds whisper a lullaby.”

[snelss0]

The accommodation of her husband leant to her comfort, and Elann before nestling too deeply in his embrace, used the fur blanket to cover her feet. Being in his arms provided a blanket of warmth to her that was very soothing at the worst of times, but in her sleepy state, she would not likely move again, and so the blanket over her feet would allow her to not turn them into frozen icicles while the rest of her body was warm. There she settled and began to fall asleep, only to wake a short time later, but his soothing words and voice invoked yet another sleepy response.

Elann curled all the more into him as his words came, singing to her and she could not restrain herself to give him a kiss upon his chest before her eyes finally closed. The words rapidly became jumbled in her mind as she drifted away, not to remember that she had even awakened, drank, and eventually moved about the wagon.

It was only when the wagons stopped and there was the loud thunderous sound of chains, clomping hooves, and raised voices did she startle in his arms. Shock took her a little as she realized how warm and comfortable she was, and how she was there within his grasp. In response, the limped body of Elann tensed to curl into his grasp once more where she had lazed and she brought a hand up to rest in his hair.

"We stopped?" she voiced in question to him. "I slept all evening..."

Upon her voice it was clear that she still had sleepiness there, but it was revealed that she was more awake than before with her simple mutterings, moans, and groans.

Slowly she moved to shift from him, giving his arms a break from holding her, and there she sat up on her knees in front of him rubbing her face. Once done, she would happily - filled with love - wrap her arms about him and kiss him romantically to show her love and affection for him. It was common upon her waking to give him a brief kiss, but this had more meaning to it. In her mind, the last she recalled she was in his arms and they had lowered to the bed, but upon waking, it was clear he had picked her up once more. It was endearing to her and she wondered that she slept through the action, but however she ended up in his arms, she knew it was by love that he kept her there close to him, and thus the kiss.

[Illumin0sity]

Noah looked down to Elann to assure she was sleep before he went on to just hum the melody of the song. There were only the two verses, the rest being hummed to soothe a distressed child back to sleep or peace. Though Elann wasn’t a child he still recalled the song sung to him by his own mother when he needed to be put to bed. He wasn’t a fussy baby or child in his youth, the song was sang purely out of love and bonding with his mother at the time. It had been so engrained in his memory that it naturally came to mind when Elann was showing signs of sleepiness, though it was the first time he had exposed her to it and his singing voice in full and open mind.

Elann barely moved while Elann slept, only shifting when it became uncomfortable, even then he only shifted the smallest amount as to not wake her. Before Elann came into his life it wasn’t uncommon for him to completely detach his mind from the moment and drift elsewhere. He could daydream for hours on end or recall and relive deeply rooted memories. His mind was fantastical and just as flighty as his being, being a bird meant his head was constantly in the clouds. It took Elann’s earthier being to ground him in some minor ways, enough so that he couldn’t always recede to the height of the clouds with his lack of concentration.

Just like Elann, Noah was startled by the wagon’s coming to a halt, having not even felt the wheels go off the road. The hollering, the hooves, and the chains came and drew him out of his dreamy state to only be drawn out of it further still by Elann’s wakefulness. She curled into him and voiced her questions, to which he hummed in affirmation. “You did,” he added quietly.

He let her pull away from him, sliding out of his lap and onto the floor before him to rub at her face. Then she came back to him, embracing and kissing him. Aside from the apparent love in the action he almost thought it was a form of thank you as well, as if she was thanking him for taking care of her in that moment or allowing them to stay close that entire day, even if it was only slept away partially by both of them, completely by the other.

“You’re not going to be able to sleep tonight, are you?” he asked when she broke their kiss.

Noah’s attention shifted to the back of the wagon as the flaps fluttered and parted, Aimee’s head peeking through. He met her gaze and her smile with a placid face. His hand came up to wave instead.

“Good evening,” she chimed in Fratava, the smooth language flowing from her lips.

The wolf hoisted herself into the wagon, her bare feet padding over the sanded wooden floor. Her hand came through her hair, tussling it from the roots and on out down the lengthy strands. She walked passed the couple on the floor, stepping gently over and around the bed to get to her chest. From it she produced her hair brush and began to course it through her dark locks, turning her blue eyes towards the two.

“How are you two?” she asked in Common, attempting to start a form of conversation since they hadn’t spoken all day, especially her to Elann.

[snelss0]

"Probably not for a while," she voiced to her husband. She settled back onto her knelt position and rubbed her sides. It was then that the flaps were heard and Aimee bounded up the back of the wagon.

Elann flashed her a kind smile and chimed the greeting back to her in a similar flowing way, however with a Benshira twang at the end.

"I can't believe it Aimee, I slept allll day. I was so tired."

She rubbed her face again then and took in a few deep breaths as she was clearly still just waking up. Though Elann couldn't see what Aimee was doing as she rubbed her own eyes, she could hear that Aimee was brushing her hair from the wildness that had taken it. People had left them alone since the fighting, and she wondered if it was in part because of their display given, most people being distrusting and even hateful toward magic. Elann had not really left her husband's side, but Aimee had.

"How are you feeling? You seemed very tired after the battle."

Elann shifted to get some more water to wet her dry mouth and it seemed like it was the first they had seen her drink of the liquid in a good few days. She then deposited the glass there and came to sit by, and snuggle up to her husband's side. Soon she would have to start making the tent. People wouldn't appreciate her pounding stakes into the ground after they had all gone to bed.

[Illumin0sity]

Aimee smiled and nodded at Elann’s words, looking to Noah as he said he was doing alright. The walk had done wonders for her own mental fatigue, lifting it as she was swept away in the naturalness of their path while she walked a small distance ahead of the caravan, nothing so far to be out of sight of the lead wagon and guards. The evening just after the battle she had slept it away, slept far into the night and then into the morning past the bird’s calls of waking. She didn’t wake entirely until the last few chimes before the caravan started moving again. She rebuilt her energy reserves in her sleep and then walked to get everything flowing and proper once more as it was before she used her Reimancy.

“I’m doing alright,” she answered in Common. “I was exhausted after the fight. I just had to rest and get a little exercise. I’m feeling much better today, thank you for asking.”

She kept coursing the brush through her hair, holding it firmly in some places as the brush was repeatedly pathed through the tangled ends. She did that now as she looked back to Elann.

“How’re you feeling after sleeping all day? I get headaches if I sleep for too long, aside from yesterday,” she said with care in her voice.

Noah investigated his side full of stitches again as the two women talked. He poked at them once more, testing the acuteness of the pain with each prod by his fore and middle fingers. Since he was expecting the pain with each poke he wasn’t impacted outwardly, only a small wince coming when he did so. It was for curiosity’s sake though, so he could judge how far he had come since the injuries were first inflicted.

“Me too,” he chimed in while he was investigating himself.

“I’m surprised since you don’t even sleep that deeply, do you?” Aimee asked. “Or has that changed? You used to wake up at the slightest noise but then go back to sleep like nothing happened.”

“It's the same,” he went, turning his head to engage in the conversation in full. It was idle chitchat but it was welcome from how sporadic their last few nights had been.

[snelss0]

Elann smiled softly to her sister and was about to answer when her husband chimed in as well. It seemed he was poking at his sides because she too could feel some minor acute pain there.

"I have a headache, but it is just a small one. Normally I don't sleep deep at all, I just must have been very exhausted. I didn't exactly sleep much at all last night and I don't even remember, but I think I was just so comfortable."

Her eyes flashed to Noah, as if saying he had made her feel so comfortable. She didn't touch on why else she slept so long as it was inappropriate to discuss, but there were other reasons as well. Changing the subject, Elann leaned up against Noah.

"The change will be small. Don't mess with it. We'll get the doctor to look at them tomorrow morning to see what he thinks."

Looking to Aimee, Elann asked, "Did you see anything interesting upon your walk today? Or rather, that I would find interesting?"

It was a prod at her failure to understand nature and see certain things. Even just witnessing a deer crossing the path would be highly interesting to her, whereas to Aimee this would likely be normal.

[Illumin0sity]

Aimee looked around the wagon, noting the various pillows and rugs. It looked comfortable at least, there was no denying that. In her brief examination she missed the look Elann gave to Noah but when her eyes settled back on the two before her she understood Noah could’ve brought Elann comfort in her sleep as well, he was her bondmate after all. It did appear as if the couple were getting along, it remained to be seen how long that would last though. Aimee hadn’t talked to her brother since that morning, unable to dig deeper into his perspective of things. From what they spoke of that morning, things seemed to be fine, Noah even suggesting that the party for Elann’s sake be still put on.

Noah looked to Elann as she told him not to mess with his injury. As a lie, he nodded to say he wouldn’t mess with it. He would again, just to sate whatever piquing curiosity that would come later on.

“Okay,” he quietly said in reply to the doctor being involved tomorrow morning.

That was something he was looking forward too, hopefully getting a more concrete time for when he’d be able to get his stitches removed and then hopefully when he could be able to fly again, though that was probably further off still. The thought was almost depressive so he tried not to think about it, turning instead to look to Aimee as Elann spoke to her.

Aimee shrugged, passing the brush a few more times through her head of hair. She had to consider the second part of Elann’s question in order to draw the difference between what she saw as mostly normal and unintriguing to be the opposite for what Elann saw.

“There was a herd of deer off to the side that travelled just ahead of the caravan,” she revealed. “There were a couple of foxes on the other side scavenging something. I couldn’t see it but it smelled pretty good whatever it was. I think it may have been one of the deer, which would explain why they were on the other side of the road.” She paused, patting the back of the brush in her open palm. “Other than that, it was a pretty normal day.”

“I want to hunt a deer,” Noah muttered to himself.

Aimee turned on her toes, twirling slightly, making Noah’s shirt she was wearing flare up around her waist. She went to her chest and put the brush into it, lingering as she looked over some things vaguely before turning again.

“Are you setting up the tent tonight or staying here?” she asked Elann, disregarding Noah for the moment because his head was turned back towards himself, his hands playing with one another in his lap, fidgeting.

[snelss0]

Elann believed Noah had every intention of not scratching his wounds again, but she knew the temptation that came with such things. It was hard to feel pain and not assess it. It was a normal part of healing, but in his fragile state, Elann didn't want him playing at the skin, testing the stitches. It would only make his healing prolonged. Once the wounds for the most part closed, he could do whatever he wanted as long as it wasn't a violent action.

As Aimee expressed what she saw, it was clear she did so in a wonderful way that piqued Elann's interest. Her eyes went wider at the sound of foxes taking down a deer, but then she remembered she said 'scavenged'.

"What do you think killed the deer?"

Elann rubbed her husband's knee as he muttered to himself, she being close enough to hear, though she didn't say anything on the subject. She couldn't fully understand, but got the gist of the statement. It was more in the way he said it that she knew he longed for something.

"I'll be setting up the tent. I just need to wake up a little bit," she said with grin as she rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes. There was a little stretch in her back and with her arms, playfully invading Noah's space with her stretch and fluttering her fingers in his face, and then she slowly moved to rise.

"Did you want to join us in the tent? It'll likely be chilly tonight. It will be a lot more comfortable than here."

Elann moved to the chest and pulled out the playing cards and her most recent journals. Having it in her hands, she anxiously waited until Aimee responded and then gleefully looked to Noah and then back to his sister.

"I saw Noah's artwork of you when you were a little younger. You were so cute! And goodness he is a good artist isn't he?"

[Illumin0sity]

“Sickness, maybe,” Aimee said as she put the brush away. “Could’ve been a festering injury. I didn’t check as much as I wanted to.” She turned back to them. “Could be anything really but I doubt something big would be this close to the caravan. It’s too loud.”

Noah looked up briefly from his own hands messing with one another to Elann’s as it rubbed on his knee. He did speak with longing, deeply missing the chance to fly around, and the fact that Aimee was talking about the wilds made him yearn to be there more. As thought before, he wanted to show Elann what he often referred to as his first home, but now he couldn’t and he wouldn’t be healed until the trip was over, or nearly was over, he presumed. It was disheartening and annoying to think about.

Aimee shook her head, smiling at Elann’s offer. “I like to be outside. I’ll be alright. It’ll feel nice,” she answered.

Another part to it was so that her brother and Elann could keep to their privacy. Obviously things were going well enough between the couple, the scents on them and how they smelled of each other was enough to tell the wolf that much, so she made her assumptions in confidence.

Aimee moved to the side as Elann approached her and the chests, playing with the hem of Noah’s shirt with her fingers idly before the Benshira spoke up again. When she did, pointing out she saw Noah’s artwork, the wolf smiled warmly, her eyes going to Noah who was still enthralled by the workings of his fingers.

“I’m surprised he showed you. I’m glad mother asked him to start drawing again, I thought he’d stop forever. He’s not above putting down things for something else,” she said aloud, seeing as Noah was barely paying attention. Even if he was, she wasn’t apologetic with her words though they were said with cheer. “He won’t sell them either; I’ve already tried asking that a long time ago.”

Aimee took a moment and looked Elann up and down, noting she was standing and had said she was going to put the tent up. “Did you want help this time?”

[snelss0]

The mere thought of Aimee's saying that it was unlikely that there was something large that killed it brought back to mind the terror of coming face to face with the lumbering bear, the primal roar of the woman of the woods, and the drawing doom of the dire bear as it crept closer to kill her. Elann wrapped her arms about herself and nodded. Disease sounded like a much better thought and the terror seemed to fade from her.

Moment's later, comfort took over the terror to calm her husband's mutterings, but happiness replaced it as Elann thought to Aimee staying out in the cold.

"Well, I am leaving you a blanket regardless and if you want to snuggle up into it, then you can."

It was playful defiance, and she knew that Aimee would - like most often - become her true self and have fur, but she always slept so deeply and comfortably curled in a nice nest of warm blanket.

"They are his treasures," she commented as Aimee spoke to her husband's paintings. It made sense. Everything else he kept were baubles of shiny pretty things, even her. She had learned that morning that even though there was desire in their bond, it was not out of pure attraction for her or because he admired her in the way she wished he did, but in many other ways. Still, she too was a treasure of his, if not the chiefest treasure.

Her near glowing eyes shimmered in what was left of the light as she looked to her husband to confirm, and likely finding him still caught away in thoughts, she focused on Aimee, setting the things down on the bench and nodding to her offer.

"Sure. It'll help my headache to not do as much."

With that she would take the tent from the wagon and hop out of the wagon, showing some liveliness, but a moment later held her forehead a moment before her hand returned to the tent binding. Lugging it over to a spot away from the fire, she laid it out so it faced the blaze, but was far enough away to not disturb them should people wish to stay up late into the night. It had become common for people to enjoy song and dance, but that tradition was not likely to come this night given the recent losses.

[Illumin0sity]

“Thank you,” Aimee said in regards to Elann’s defiance to her wishes. There were no hard feelings in her words. There was actual gratefulness there, returning Elann’s kindness with some of her own.

After that she nodded, knowing the paintings were Noah’s treasures, having learned as much long ago. In many ways she was the same way, not to the degree in which Noah hoarded baubles though. She had a few things she kept to memorialize certain events in her short life. Noah didn’t have that attachment to a majority of what he had. What was collected was simply collected because it caught his attention long enough to be deemed worthy of keeping around. In more ways than one Elann was the same before they bonded, the bond being a statement which said Elann had passed the tests of his short attention span to draw from the font of his affection.

As Aimee went to follow after Elann she caught Noah’s hands raising for her. She helped him up in his silent plea and led him to the edge of the wagon where he slid down to sit. Aimee hopped down, having pinned one of the flaps open, then helped Noah slide the rest of the way down to the ground. She let him go after that, letting him make his own way behind Elann, though she stayed close enough to be of assistance after he fell, if it happened.

Thankfully, it didn’t and he made the slow journey between the wagon and the tent site. Aimee came up and offered herself entirely to Elann while Noah stood around the flame, shirtless and curious in the ever-growing darkness, the flame’s orange lights licking at his tall frame. The wolf hadn’t set up a tent before, only watched it happen various times enough to have a general idea of what she was doing. She knew she wouldn’t be as fast as Elann but did want to lend some kind of aid if only for social bonding’s sake.

[snelss0]

Elann hadn't noticed Noah's plea for help as she zipped out of the wagon, but upon looking back as she started to set up the tent, it was clear he had descended. It seemed to always brighten Elann to see him walking about and knew for a fact it was helping him heal. She only wished she could lay her hands upon him and heal him instantly. She hated to see suffering and death, pain and misery. In her mind they were a form of life, but impure from what could be.

"You are up," she voiced when they finally drew near. The tent was laid out already by that point but hadn't been erected yet.

As Aimee sought to help her, she would naturally explain her people's secret ways of doing things. It was all very scientific, and every fold or crease in the tent walls had a purpose. Every peg had its place. Each place was meant for optimum wind/rain/flash flood resistance to keep the tent from being swept away and in case there were bandits, would allow some minor protection in giving you a place to run through the chords; protecting you mostly from incoming sword swings.

All in all, even though they started after everyone, they would set up the tent long before anyone else got done. Elann tried to not geek out too much on Aimee, only teaching her as much as she seemed willing to learn, but Elann had a lot of information to give.

When it was all said and done, she thanked Aimee for the help and then she came up beside Noah to wrap around his waist. She then gave small waves to those who had gathered around the flame with him in silence and it seemed her cheeriness brought smiles to their otherwise long faces. The fire kept away the bugs in the area and emitted a wonderful smell. In the distance, the cook was preparing the meal by his wagon and would soon bring a pot over to cook over the fire, and in the woods nearby people were chopping some wood to replenish their supplies, taking only from the fallen trees in the area.

"Are you doing okay here?" she asked, looking up to him.

Noah and her standing there, and wherever Aimee ended up going to brought fresh to people's minds the strange otherworldly powers they had witnessed the other night, and only because Noah and Elann both had divine marks upon them did they seem to be more settled. Magic however had a bad stigma and fortunately for Aimee, they were grouped in among the 'divinely chosen' people who were among them. People didn't speak about it, but any influence by the gods, whether large or small was appreciated, where as by magic, it was feared.

[Illumin0sity]

Aimee was as quick a learner as she could be between Elann’s explanations, extrapolations, and minor tangents. It was clear the Benshira was a passionate individual, even expressing as much in the mundane task of putting up shelter for the night. Aimee implied Elann’s culture was heavily based around the tents, though the only Benshira the wolf encountered were in Zeltiva and they were city-washed or used to the grandness of Zeltiva’s vast apartment complexes and single family homes. There wasn’t a need for the tents, nor was their much room for them inside the city limits. That said, the Benshirans usually kept to their own part of the city, not for antisocial purposes, but because of the familiarity of it and for those deeply entrenched still in Benshiran culture.

Aimee hadn’t been there enough to learn anything about the tents until now with Elann giving her this crash course. Surprisingly, despite Aimee being a complete newbie when it came to creating tents, they finished their tent before anyone else got theirs up. Aimee paid it no mind, just giving it up to Elann’s capabilities as a teacher and Benshira.

After replying to Elann when she noticed him, Noah stayed standing around the fire, watching a few others come to join around him. He didn’t speak to any of them, simply smiling when smiled to, if at all. Even in his injured state of being he had his air of unapproachability, mostly because they had seen what he was as a Kelvic, and they were unusual enough as it were because of their rarity and borderline unacceptable behavior until it was learned they were actual Kelvics. Noah wasn’t uneased by them or by himself because he was unashamed of what he was. What uneased him was Elann’s previous want for him to be more human-like, that meant conversing with the people set out before him. He didn’t, instead letting his eyes and mind wander to the surrounding wilds.

Elann drew him out of his wandering thoughts when she came up and spoke to him. He looked to her and nodded softly at her words. “I’m fine,” he said.

Noah wasn’t particularly knowledgeable of the difference between their gnosis magic and a mage’s magic. He wondered what made his sister want to get into Reimancy in the first place but she had a more potent sense of curiosity than himself. His curiosity was virtually harmless, his own flightiness preventing him from dedicating too much time to something that caught his fancy for a brief moment in time. Aimee was much more focused, often to her own dismay, and here it was acting up against her.

Noah could perceive his sister’s discomfort and how she was distant from the rest of the caravan, isolated herself probably to avoid the stigma set against her as a magic user. It was disheartening for him to see and, if anything, he didn’t feel entirely okay because his sister didn’t. Now that he thought about it, it was probably the reason she said she would stay away in the wagon that night. All the more he just wanted to be in Zeltiva, for the unfortunate trip to be over.

Aimee didn’t go away that time entirely though, coming up on the other side of Noah to stand with her arms crossed under her bust. She was hugging herself, gazing into and soaking in the warmth of the fire. At her arrival and steadfastness, the rest of the folk seemed to lull back into their quiet states of being, still assessing the recent deaths. Aimee met the eyes of the little boy and his mother she helped save and, for the first time, received a warm smile from both of them. It lifted her heart to see the mother probably not holding the stigma against her because it was Aimee who did save their lives, regardless of her means, however merciless and brutal they seemed to be.

[snelss0]

Elann wouldn't ever title herself a teacher, but she had taught the children at the orphanage various arts, math, writing, and many other things to a lesser degree. While she wasn't a teacher, she had certainly taught a lot. The near year of doing so obviously had rubbed off on her and she was able to clearly teach Aimee how to set up the tent properly and yet educate her in an interesting way.

Noah seemed to be doing fine, and with her wrapped about his waist, she too felt more comforted, but she could even see his sister and her silence. It wasn't until the family smiled at her did life seem to breathe back into her. While there were those who didn't know the difference between magic and gnosis, they did know Elann previously as a very kind woman, and Aimee as well. Whatever their issues, their aid likely would cause some inner turmoil over their natural dislike of the magic/gnosis users.

One such woman came up to the three of them and looked mainly to Elann with little eye flashes toward Noah.

"I'm glad your husband is doing better. It's good to see him out of the wagon again."

That was all she said before she headed off and went toward where some people were helping her set up a tent for her. She had lost her husband and essentially whole family and was all that was left. The somber tale tugged at Elann's heartstrings as both her and likely Aimee would know the woman's story. There she was, congratulating Noah on his recovery, and Elann couldn't help but feel a little sad for her.

"Thank you," she said as the woman passed them and then looked up to Noah with a soft smile, then looked over to Aimee.

Her piercing eyes studied her pose, her body language, and compared her to how she was before. Giving her a soft smile, Elann voiced, "I'm glad you were there to help us. You saved a lot of people's lives. We're all thankful."

Noah didn't know that even Elann knew some pretty deep depths of what it meant to be a Reinmancer and the cost and toil it took on your body. How one would have to live a life where part of them was secretive, and the worry and threat of people finding out. It was probably rare that someone would ever thank a Reinmancer, but she had done so much for them.

[Illumin0sity]

Noah looked to the woman who rose and came towards him and Elann. He eyed her with the unintentional hardness his gaze possessed considering he didn’t know anything about her. She came up to him and Elann, looking briefly to him but mainly regarding the Benshira with condolences and well wishes. It was all done in passing, Elann giving a thanks before looking up to him with her smile. He met her sights and showed a small smile in return, bringing his arm around Elann to rest his hand on her shoulder.

Aimee’s eyes trailed after the woman who spoke to Elann and Noah, turning her head slightly to look at Elann as she regarded her with thankfulness as well. Aimee showed an uneasy smile; Elann’s thanks were appreciated and lifted her heart all the more just like the warm grateful looks she received from the family she saved. It wasn’t until after the battle did Aimee learn the family she saved had lost their husband immediately before Aimee arrived on the scene, setting the assaulting bandit ablaze with the fire held in the firepit just in front of that tent. Aimee wasn’t a vengeful person but was glad she was able to exact some form of exchange for Dira, the death goddess. The bandit had broken the already unsteady cycle and Aimee corrected it while sparing other lives before it was their time. The wolf found a little solace in her minor faith of the gods of life, death, and fate, letting her mind rest a little easier following Elann’s thanks.

Around the fire were the few women, men, and children who couldn’t help with putting up the tents for that night. The camp was very intimate in this area, the tents sharing the large fire instead of spreading out and hosting smaller sections. Noah could feel it around him, their grief and the heaviness in the moods. The air was thick with sorrow and it was a weighted feeling he was trying to stick around because he felt Elann would want to try to alleviate it in some way shape or form.

Idly, he stroked Elann’s hair at the tips coming down over her shoulder and back, partially thankful she hadn’t fallen or been lost or injured like himself. He recalled the attack vividly, recalling how much he strained himself to emit the gust powerful enough to throw the arrow away from its intended path, Elann, and how he vengefully did channel the lightning through his now discarded stormgem to punish the men for trying to harm his bondmate. It was at the cost of their lives but it meant very little to Noah so long as his bondmate was unmarred.

“I’m going to help the cook,” Aimee announced quietly to those who heard her over the crackling fire.

She departed then, hoping she could reintegrate herself into the camp’s good graces and dispel the belief that she was a witch or mage with ill intent. She used her ability to end lives in order to save more valuable ones, it was not a crime in her mind nor did she think she should be treated like a criminal because of it. It took a lot to not harbor anger for others’ misunderstandings of her. Aimee had a lot of practice though, being a Kelvic where the occasional ignoramus would attempt to bash her or her family about it.

[snelss0]

While Elann wished she could alleviate the feelings of those in the center of the camp, she stayed with her husband. She didn't neglect that he too was injured. He had nearly lost his own life, lost his wife, and was suffering from brutal injuries to vital parts of his body. However it happened all before the attack. It didn't mean to Elann though that he should be left alone. She had already comforted those who suffered loss, used her gift upon them, and helped them process the grief. They didn't look it, but they were healing.

Soothed, she sent waves of comfort through the bond to her husband as he played with her hair; sending tickles through her divine marked skin as the hair danced along her back. She herself was lost in the blaze of the fire after looking to it. She had spoken to Aimee, comforting her, but now she had settled into this moment of relaxation and thankfulness to her and their safety.

Soft fingers danced along his stomach as she romantically and soothingly caressed Noah's skin. Aimee's voice piped up quietly that she was going to help the cook and Elann looked to her and nodded.

"Make something amazing!" she said with a playful smile, encouraging her on.

Elann's eyes then stole up to her husband's and lingered there a moment in silent communication of her love for him.

"Come on..." she said softly to him a few moments later, backing a step away from him with a hand sliding into his. "Let's walk down the road a tiny bit and back."

The road had the least hills and bumps that he could trip on and would seem nice in the pale moonlight to walk on. She positioned herself on his weak side with the most injuries so that if he did fall, he could use her as a cushion there, and if he was willing, walked with him down the road.