[IC] Journey to the East

[Illumin0sity]

Per usual, Elann’s actions revealed her answer and intentions withheld in her mind before she spoke in confirmation of it all. Before she spoke she removed herself from the blanket, slipping herself from it entirely and atop it with him. His question was an invitation extended to her to say she could have him and to make love, and be made love to by, him. Whether he wanted to or not, the question would have shaped his answer to be in tune with her own. Should their relationship had been like that, then that would’ve been the case. As it were, any attempts at giving her direct control over his body and actions were spurned or had faltered.

She spoke to confirm as much, leaning down onto him, her breath on his neck as she whispered the same question for him to answer. Noah didn’t answer immediately, forced into a pause by the way her breath rolled down the soft skin of his neck before her lips pressed there deeply. A sharp intake of air came from him as he fought to not shy away from her kiss but to angle his head up for her, granting her further access to the tender place if she so desired to continue. The sensualness was riveting but not overwhelming for the Kelvic. It was enticing the intake of air to come out as a soft and whispering gasp.

“Yes,” he answered in the same breath as she pulled up.

Meeting her gaze with his, his own was void of the usual predatory intent to have and take as what was usual for when they first started laying with one another. He was soft and seemingly vulnerable under her there, perhaps smaller than he ever had been in such situations where they were going to make love. It was an unspoken testimonial to just how safe and secure he felt with Elann, being under her and having her press her lips on his neck. There was a deep sense of trust he was instilling in her in that moment, the night allowing him to shed another layer of the wall long erected against her as a stranger to the deepest and tenderest emotions residing in his core being.

Leaning upwards, he met her lips with his once more, his hands grasping softly at her being beneath the dress though his hands failed to invade the fabric and touch her skin beneath, as much as he wanted to. He urged as much with his look, not saying to hurry up, but asking her to be rid of it so that he could touch and be touched by the bareness of her body. Noah pulled back from the kiss and brought his chin up a small ways, revealing the delicateness that was his throat to her in another display of trust in the situation.

Lately, due to his injury, she had been the one in control when it came to their lovemaking, but Noah thoroughly enjoyed it, just as Elann enjoyed him being a more dominant in the same situation. Naturally he was submissive, living under a dominant male for a large chunk of his life, then binding himself to another dominant figure in Caesarion. Elann was the first chance in which Noah was allowed to be on top, so the speak, and he enjoyed it. He also enjoyed when she took the reins, admiring the strength of a woman he knew she could be. Maybe she could learn to admire herself in such aspects as well?

[snelss0]

It was clear Elann had the tools to at least drive her husband to pleasure, and coupled with their bond, she too felt the riveting emotions that drove through him. Reveling in them and his answer of "yes", she began to fuel the fire within her. His hands lay dormant at her side, but she wanted him to help her. While she was clearly in charge by the look of love and submission to her, it didn't mean he couldn't be part of their love making.

Her hands reached for his and she pulled them to feel at her back. There he could undo the hooks of her dress, and by example she showed him how to press the dress closer together so the hooks disengaged. He then could do so with the rest of them until her chest was nearly so loose she was bare before him. It was then she slipped off the dress and brought his hands to her bare chest.

There after shedding all that remained, they would make love, her guiding him in dominance but sharing the mastery with him in a binding act of love until her husband was satisfied with her. She had given him her heart on her wedding day and in their bond too, but only recently in their making up after their vicious fights was she learning truly how to love her husband. His gifts were many to give her beyond a life and love, and she wanted to take them all into herself and love him more.

Where before she was freezing, a warmth now could be felt in her. Their love making sending her into a crumpled heap of satisfaction upon him as she lay there. Not a sound was heard from her all through their lovemaking, something not normal for her, but her pleasure was nearly triple what it had been in their stone bedroom in Syliras. It was as if some force held her tongue for her and now she lay in silence upon him, just reveling in their bonded feelings shooting back and forth. It had been a beautiful evening, threatened for a moment, and redeemed. She could only hope that the morning would come and they could make it to the river safely.

A few days passed after then. The spring days marched on and battered them with rains and storms, as if Zulrav himself was celebrating the coming return of his Stormwarden. The day previous, Noah had a difficult time with the removal of his stitches. In the morning they had removed them and he was jostled all that day by the rough roads. However the doctor bandaged him and stated by the next day, today, it was likely he could maneuver better and likely transform without any injury due to the closure of his wounds. It didn't mean her husband wouldn't be without pain, but she knew it wouldn't be long before he was on the wind again.

[Illumin0sity]

In the days after their lovemaking Noah found himself wishing for rain and storms. Zulrav answered his wishes by granting those storms, large bucketing drops or drizzles or just thick cloud cover with thunder rumbling in the sky. It was all he wanted and was what he got. It was like his deity could spoil him with storms, all he had to do was ask since he could not conjure them entirely himself. The storm was particularly absent the day his stitches were removed, leaving in a state of seemingly suspended animation, as if his mind was processing what had happened and his body was growing accustomed to the sensation of the stitches being no longer there. While he was happy, Noah was extremely quiet that day.

In the past few days he thought on the night in the tent, how it had been threatened with unravelling if such a recovery had not been made. Though he probably shouldn’t have felt like it, he was taking a grand gamble in opening himself to Elann in such a way, bondmate or not. What she thought as being a ill-behaved wife he saw as a disrespectful bondmate, and in his mind it was a much graver crime. Sense told him to keep her at bay still but the bond begged for the gap to be closed in order for the bond to thrive in an nonthreatening environment. It overpowered sense, to his conflicted dismay.

It was drizzling today and the Kelvic was quiet still, lying on the bench on his stomach as he listened to the wheels slosh in the wet road. There was low thunder overhead sending occasional vibrations down to the ground they trod but nothing akin to the storm that lashed out at them the day before his stitches were removed, were the caravan was threatened to halt if the rain and wind continued to beat at them like it did for hours during the beginning of that day’s trip. It only seemed to get worse as they trekked, eventually ceasing as Zulrav’s attention had to turn elsewhere.

Noah swung his arm down over the edge of the bench, letting it sway back and forth while he looked out into the wagon before him. Aimee was on the other bench on her back with a blanket over her lower body as she napped, her head lulling towards the canvas of the wagon so Noah couldn’t see her face. The rain, while she loved it, made the wolf want to do nothing but sleep since she usually couldn’t do much else in it. Noah, on the other hand, could be awake in vibrant no matter how dangerous the storm or could sleep through the loudest thunder because he knew it was his god’s causation.

It was the first bell after the noon one, or somewhere between the first and second. Time was beginning to really blur together for the Kelvic and he failed to keep track of the days until his stitches were forecast to be removed. The day came to his surprise and delight, now he was enjoying his improved mobility. As he listened to the wind come at the wagon from his side he did realize though, he was hesitant to be back in the skies. It had been a long time since he felt it under his wings and the last memory wasn’t exactly a good one. That day blurred together, how the falcon assaulted him, how Elann yanked on his soul to be her savior, how he was down along with the bear Elann managed to kill before it killed her.

He was truthful when he told Elann he was always afraid. Their mortality was shaken that day; Elann faced a brutal death at the hand of a mother bear and Noah faced a slow death by bleeding and injuries if Elann wasn’t able to quickly get him back to the caravan. The memory was beyond tragic to him. It was what he thought about as he absentmindedly looked about the wagon’s interior. Per usual, Noah was nude this day, underneath a blanket like Aimee was, though Aimee wore a large shirt and tights, sticking to the style since Elann complimented her on it many days ago.

[snelss0]

Something about Aimee's style just seemed to appeal to Elann. It had a modesty, a loose fit, and showed her figure with the tights. To Elann it was cute, even if it looked as though she just had come from a man's bed. Elann was near her husband, a place she hadn't left in the past few days for even a moment. It was there, dangling off the back of the wagon in her Zeltiva styled dress, were her legs swinging in the drizzling rain.

Unlike normal, he would have noticed that Elann had taken trust in her husband and in Zulrav, and whatever dreaded fear was there in Syliras for the rains and lightning, now was a healthy respect. Her dress naturally came down to her knees in length, being the shortest of all her dresses, and yet was hiked up a tiny bit more so as to not get too wet. Her feet stuck out straight at times, her toes wiggling as the droplets splattered over her skin, and then she would lower her legs briefly to swing again.

The driver behind them thought it was funny but kept his eyes from Elann due to the remembrance of Noah's intense, and what seemed to be, threatening gaze. She sat there humming a tune of her people. It was not one Noah had heard before and had a mysterious, haunting air to it. It wasn't that it was scary, just that it involved lots of changes in pitch as her music often did. The Benshira had a great skill with music, and their alluring voices could be very tempting to those they sought to entertain. Elann was simply humming out the back in delight though, wondering if and when the rain would let up.

She leaned up against the legs of her husband as she sat there, and hearing the subtle shift of him looking about, she looked up and behind herself to him with a smile. Upon seeing him, she lovingly rest her head there on his leg. Feeling her legs were frozen enough for the moment, she got up from the edge and came to sit next to Noah and climbed under his blanket to keep warm; but kindly kept her legs away from him in their cold, clammy form.

[Illumin0sity]

Elann’s closeness was welcome. He wasn’t adverse to her, simply quiet in his own thoughts and mind as was his usual, only interrupted to speak when spoken to. In the past few days Aimee had been attempting to help Elann along in her Fratava all the more, going through the basic alphabet, not because Elann didn’t know it, but because the letters made up the various sounds of the words within the language. Working them into Elann’s vocabulary and around her accent was a challenge for the Kelvic but she didn’t show frustration since it wasn’t something Elann could exactly control. Elann’s speaking had improved greatly since they set out from Syliras, even more so than when she spoke the little bit in the castle city. Aimee was satisfied with herself.

Noah looked down to Elann as he felt her head on his legs, looking over her briefly, hearing her hummed tune just over the dropping rain outside. The sound was curious to him but didn’t bother him with its haunting tone. It was a tune which came from her and, reaching into the bond, he didn’t feel anything that would spur him to act upon his curiosity. So, he went back to gazing over his sister from time to time or the rest of the wagon as their luggage shifted and swayed because of the sloshing wheels. Noah was lying there so long he started to ignore the wagons entirely, focusing what he could on the rain pattering against the canvas backing wrapped around the car’s frame.

Again his eyes with to Elann as she moved from near the edge of the wagon, coming up into his space and lifting the blanket to set herself underneath it. Noah carefully turned over onto his back, unsure if the movement would irritate his closed wound or if the stitches had just forced him into habits time would have to break. He moved to sit up then, drawing his legs to hold there with his hand across one of his shins over the blanket.

“Hello,” he murmured in greeting, it being one of the few words he said all day. “What’re you humming?”

“How are you?” he asked in the next moment, though he could easily reach into the bond for the answer.

[snelss0]

Elann was a good teacher, and being a good teacher, it came from the ability to learn well. Elann may be a cutsy goof who forgot many things - even important things - but she was very wise and intelligent underneath it all. Even as Aimee taught her, Elann began to show signs of adapting to the language change. Relearning the alphabet was a particular handy thing, as she had learned it in brief before, and this time, learning it and perfecting it in the accent of a true Fravata speaker really changed the game for her.

It was nice to see her husband be able to lay on his back without the spiky stitches causing him pain, nor the open wounds. Now would only be a long period of general soreness and the occasional sharp pain until he was healed completely.

"Hello," she said in her normal cute way. Normally she would steal his heat, but she knew she was particularly cold, and he was nice and warm under the blanket. It would be particularly cruel of her, so she just kept to herself, warming up.

He asked what she was humming and she stated, "Nish Remat Yahim. It's a song about an evil ladies man who stole that loving part of the hearts from women and left to abandon them. There is a change in him as he sees how he destroyed these people's lifes and how his own life is destroyed after the fact. He finds each of the women he hurt and each have not been able to find true love since he left them and have become cold, so its verses tell how he helped them and was redeemed by finding each of them that part of themselves they had lost long ago."

He asked her also how she was doing, and she smiled.

"I'm doing good. I'm a little cold. A little bit anxious to get to the camp tonight and to be around a warm fire. How are you feeling?"

Now that she had her husband sitting up facing her, she viewed as if looking over his shoulder to indicate she was going to talk about his back. "How is it? Still painful?"

[Illumin0sity]

“Nish Remat Yahim,” Noah repeated softly as to not interrupt her. She spoke on what it was about and he committed both the name and the meaning to memory like he did names and faces when meeting someone for the first time.

Noah nodded at the end of her words to show he understood her. It was an odd song to him and very complex. At least it had a happy ending, which couldn’t be said for a lot of Zeltivan songs sung in Fratava. A great deal of them came from the seafaring Svefra who found humor in darkness, jovial songs sung about sinking ships was a norm, as were joking jestful hymns about seasickness, which translated to the drunken subculture of Zeltiva’s shores relatively easily.

Elann said she was cold, prompting him to look over the parts of her body under the blanket with him. As she went to ask her question he scooted towards her, pausing as she inquired about his wellbeing and the status of pain due to his back and side. Noah reached his arm over his shoulder, feeling at the edges of his wound lightly before looking back at her.

“It still hurts,” he admitted, meeting her eyes. “Not as bad as before, I can lay down without it hurting a lot. I like that.”

He considered her question on his wellbeing for a moment, drawing quiet as he looked passed her outside to the rain as it splattered on the edge of the wagon, splashing weakly inside. The trotting of the hooves belonging to the horses leading the wagon to their wagon’s rear caught his attention for a moment and he admired the great animal he had seen few times before.

“I feel... sick,” he revealed. “My head is foggy, like there is something in it. It hurts a little here.” He brought his hand up to his left temple, the fingers poking lightly at the side of his head. It was only a slight discomfort but enough for the Kelvic to know he wasn’t entirely healthy.

[snelss0]

It was strange to hear another person talk in her language, even if it was just a repeat of what she said. So rare was the speech of her people that she had a mind set on common now. He scooted closer to her, and if he felt any of her skin, it would feel not just like a dead person, but a cold dead person. How she was not shivering was amazing given her common response to when it got cold. It was clear however she held fast to the blanket.

A shared feel of sympathy was in her for her husband as he admitted his pain still prevailed, but joy was hidden in it as he expressed he could lay down now. She had seen him doing so and was sure he was far more comfortable before. It seemed that only when he was on her makeshift bed was he able to lay on his back with any small comfort. What it must have been like to not have that freedom she wondered.

"I'm sure tomorrow it will feel even better," she stated matter-of-factually.

He expressed he felt sick and she rose, stood before him and said, "Let me feel your forehead. My hands are really cold though, so maybe it will help you feel better?"

If he let her, she would scoop a hand in through his hair at the base of his neck and then one gently placed on his forehead. She wanted to make sure he wasn't getting a fever. The last thing she needed was for him to be bedridden from something else. She wanted him healed, cried and prayed for it, and wished she would have some way to bring him peace. Whenever she had a headache or any head pain, cool hands always felt good, particularly in the desert.

[Illumin0sity]

Noah was assured by Elann’s matter-of-fact speaking. He had been clinging to the hope that once his stitches were out he would only continue to get better. The hope was what made him even walk with as much determination as he had shown in the past few days when it did come time for him to walk. To his own surprise he managed to trek the distance between the camp despite his discomfort, driven onward by the promise of a clean body and a clean body was what he got. With no more caked -on sweat and dirt on his skin he felt leagues better, his mood lighter since the weight was no longer on his skin. Another one of his freedoms was taken away by his injury: being able to fly and bathe whenever he pleased.

At him stating his physiological discomfort Elann stood before him, moving her chilly hands over his heated being. The coolness on his head did feel good, he felt the heat from his head temporarily defuse and then be slowly replaced as it fought against her icy hands to regain his temperature, a temperature that was normal for the Kelvic. Noah felt just as hot as she usually felt him to be, though she might not have known he ran hotter than the average man simply because of his avian nature, the core temperature being several degrees hotter than a human’s.

Patiently he looked at her, peering past her arm and the hand above his brows for her diagnosis. She reminded him of his mother in that instance and how she would take his temperature in the same way, comparing it with her own. It was one of the first indicators to say he was an avian like she, how he seemingly operated with a body heat that would kill a normal human child.

“You look nice,” he commented idly, taking the moment to observe her features as she took his temperature.

[snelss0]

Elann had noticed her husband's higher temperature. It in fact was one of her most thankful attributes of him as she was always cold. The constant heat coming from him could make her warm in no time. He didn't feel as though he had a fever. If he ever did, it would be surprising to her. Given his higher temperature, it was unlikely anything that would affect her, could affect him, but perhaps what could make an eagle sick, could make him sick.

A brilliant smile came upon her face as he complimented her. She hadn't done anything special except brush her hair, so she assumed the natural chill of the air had reddened her cheeks and he enjoyed her wearing the shorter dress. She had to admit to herself. Less clothing felt much nicer when it was warmer out. It reminded her of being a little child and running around with next to nothing on in the tent. That all changed when she reached her age of womanhood and a bit before it.

"Aww, thank you."

In response, both of her hands came to his temples and she leaned down to give him a quick kiss in thanks.

"Does that feel a little bit better now?" she asked as she stood tall once more, referring to his head pain. It was a rhetorical question not only because she could see enjoyment on his face that her cool hands had brought, but because she could likely feel it herself if she had focused through their bond. As it was, it was easier to ask and involved less pain.

With that, she sat down so she was closest to his back, and there she could lightly scratch it around his closed wounds, still not taking the chance to incite pain by scratching them directly. She then looked to Aimee as she did so.

"Will your family mostly speak in Fravata when we come?" she asked, speaking Fravata herself.

[Illumin0sity]

Noah smiled at her thanking and awwing, feeling slightly proud of himself for drawing it out of her. Elann gave reason to give idle compliments, her reactions filling herself with appreciation for him and thereby warming him in conjunction. The way her face lit up was a sight for him to see, one that made him smile in return because he knew he made her happy.

Regarding his temperature in sickness, it was unlikely anything that affected her would affect him. It explained why the fever she was stricken with in Syliras all those days ago didn’t make him skip a beat in his own step.

What did was her resistance in lying down and resting like he had asked of her. It was one of the first few times Noah had gotten stern with her, already he was concerned because it was a short while after their bonding and he couldn’t control how his own body reacted to what she felt. Seeing as she was an earlier riser than him in Syliras, her fever shivers and chills made him feel just as cold. Being one who didn’t get cold easily, especially within the confines of his own home, the Kelvic immediately knew the cause was Elann. He went to her home and saw her going about her day as if nothing was wrong with her, even though with one look he could see very well she didn’t feel up to be doing much of anything.

Noah hummed in affirmation at Elann’s question, his eyes remaining open and on her as her cool hands went over his temples, temporarily alleviating his headache. The ache began to grow again when she ceased, moving to sit behind him and scratch at his back. The scratching made him slouch slightly in relaxation, only perking up straight again when she asked her question.

“Uh,” he started, peering back at her to see her looking across the wagon at Aimee. “We speak more it than Common in the house from what I remember. It sounds better, my father says.” The language was so emotive it made the emotions the Kelvics felt quietly be able to be expressed in a much more apparent form.

“Why do you ask?” he wondered in Fratava, peering back at her still. “Are you worried?”

[snelss0]

Elann enjoyed the question, and had no idea whether he really truly thought she looked nice, or if he was simply stating so to make her feel better. Honestly, she didn't care which it was. While she would prefer he actually think of her as attractive or nice to view, and she would like to feel that through their bond, she was not picky. Her understanding was that he was slowly developing his social skills, and it was rude of her to assume that he was changing too slow, even though she thought he had changed much since she knew him. It was enjoyable regardless to hear him speak to her in such a way, and the response was surely felt inside her. Where before there was a faint humming of concern for him and joy, it steadily grew now the more she lingered near him as she relished in the thought that he saw her as nice.

Noah responded, looking back to her, not knowing she had asked Aimee, but regardless, the question was answered and she nodded, letting out a little hum showing she was thinking.

"Oh, no. Not worried. I just couldn't remember if you guys said so or not. I don't know if I'm ready for full on conversation, but I can try...but no, not worried."

She scratched a little lower, bringing her other hand to meet the opposite side of his back as she focused more on it. When she would feel through their bond a good spot that he was taking pleasure in, she would linger for a small bit and then would move on.

"I'm sure your mother is glad to be back hmm? She would have arrived by now right?"

[Illumin0sity]

Noah’s eyes went to Aimee as Elann answered, noting the wolf still asleep on her back, the blanket strewn over her tight-wrapped lower body, her head still lulled away from both of them to face the opposite wall of the canvas. He looked back to her as she said she didn’t think she was ready for a full conversation. Noah agreed silently. The two Kelvics had been speaking to her in a handicapped way to make sure she got the basics of the language before they expanded upon it. Fratava was a language spoken in a very fast paced way, the words seemingly blending together and would easily lose someone not well versed in the patterns of Zeltivans. Svefra were far worse than the mainlanders though, sometimes speaking circles around the most practiced Fratavan speaker if they so wanted to.

“When Aimee wakes up,” he said in Fratava, “you can try it.”

Across the way the wolf groaned and brought her hand up to her face, rolling her head to face upwards as the hand slid down from her forehead to her chin. “I’m awake,” she groggily announced as Elann’s hand went over Noah’s back, pausing then asking the question about their mother.

“She should be,” Noah went. “Aimee said she left to see father, they haven’t been away from one another in a long time.”

Another groan came from Aimee as she sat up and turned about, throwing her legs off of the bench so the tips of her toes resided on the floor. Her arms were put above her head as she stretched and yawned, her back arching and something resembling a whine coming from her as she yawned, opening and closing her mouth sleepily. Her eyes, the same pale shade as Noah’s, looked to the wagon’s exit as she noticed the pitter patter of the raindrops.

“It’s still raining?” she sighed. “Noah make it stop.”

“I don’t want to,” he answered in the clearly disagreeable Fratavan tone though his mood was soft.

“You’re no dove at all,” she retorted, combing through the flattened side of her hair to breathe new life into it. Her eyes went from the wagon’s exit to Elann. “I expected her to be back by now but all this rain probably stopped her.”

[snelss0]

With the darkened skies, the silence that had passed between them all for so long, it didn't even dawn on her that Aimee was sleeping there. She had thought she was just lying down for a little bit out of boredom, but when Noah illuminated that she was asleep, Elann covered her mouth with a big grin of apology. Perhaps if it was lighter she could have viewed her face, but as it was, the keen eye of her husband helped her.

There was no stopping the already calling to the woman, and she rose with a groan. She kissed her husband's back for his charity.

"Aww, I'm sorry to have woken you," she voiced in response. "I thought you were just laying there."

Noah answered Elann and she nodded in reply, scratching down to his sides. It seemed then that Aimee was getting up and the two had a little squabble.

"Yeah probably."

"Love," she leaned over his shoulder. "Is it dangerous to fly in a storm?"

She didn't know the mechanisms for lightning and how it would strike, nor did she know the power of upper atmospheric winds. Storms in general were a very weak subject.

[Illumin0sity]

Aimee waved Elann off dismissively. She had been sleeping off and on all that day, unable to fully wake up due to the consistent dropping of rain that would soothe her back to sleep each time she did managed to crack open her eyes. Sitting up now, she went about waking up entirely if only to engage in conversation with Elann and Noah for a little while. Today was a very lazy day for the Kelvic though the consequences of using Reimancy had long since passed into obscurity. She hadn’t taken too many chances with rekindling the wavering trust between her and the other caravan goers, keeping to herself and residing closely to Elann and her brother since she was unable to hunt given the rain.

Noah hummed at Elann calling him, peering back at her as she leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. At the question he looked back out into the rain, the drops were light but the wind was blowing in occasional gusts that would throw even him off trajectory if he wasn’t anticipating them. Given his Stormwarden capabilities, the gusts usually went in tune with him, not against him. The same couldn’t be said for his mother, he knew, but she had taught him to learn how to fly with Zulrav rather than against, making flight for him that much easier.

“Sometimes,” he answered. “It’s uncomfortable to be in it for long, it’s easier to just rest in a tree until the storm passes. The storm you got hurt in, your hands and feet, it was difficult getting to you. The wind was really strong and I almost couldn’t fly in it, but you pulled me so I had to.”

He remembered the storm which was conjured due to his heart aching sorrow, how heavy the drops were and how angry the winds whipped to convey his mood to the world, lashing out at the forest. It was the first glimpse into just how the skies would quake because of him being upset, his seemingly impossible influence over weather systems. Even though he couldn’t summon the storms himself, Zulrav would apparently move heaven and sky for him, if only to show the Warden he was appreciated when he otherwise felt as if he wasn’t.

“I had to fly above the clouds,” he revealed, perhaps giving Elann the memory of when he appeared as but a small speck against the dark grey of the clouds, sweeping down on Elann in the farm fields.

It was unknown to him if Elann knew just how much control over him she really possessed. If she pulled the reins tightly enough he’d have no choice but to oblige to her every wish and command. Her first execution of power, unknown to her probably, was when she commanded him to look at her in the hotspring, and how, despite his own unwant, he immediately set his gaze on her with no real will of his own. She had never commanded him though, and if she had, controlling him would have been several times easier. As it were, either her heart was too good and kind, or she never knew to exercise the power.

[snelss0]

Noah had expressed to her the ability of the bond, and even if he hadn't, there came with it some rooted understanding in it. As he mentioned her pulling him, she knew and could feel the silvery thread connecting them. She knew she could sever it at any moment, could use it to lay commands into him, and pull him to her. While she may have laid the command to look at her in the hotspring, and knew its effect on him, even without the bond she would have commanded him to look at her. It merely went in conjunction with the ability. Elann actually took great care to not control him. Her forcing him to be the way she wanted him to be was purely by accident, and how impure would she be if she forced him to be what she wanted intentionally?

The storms it seemed could be violent and she hummed to show she heard him before focusing more on his back scratches.

"That storm was crazy compared to this. I thought all Syliras was going to crumble."

"So your mother is probably likely sitting in a tree somewhere waiting all of this out. I still can't get over what big eagles you two are, especially you. I see the little birds, like the one that landed on your hand and I see how much bigger you are. I don't think I've seen a bigger bird than you, ever."

Sure it might puff up his ego, but he had just complimented her, plus it was true. Elann lay her head gently on his back, bringing her hands about to his front to hug him gently as she looked toward Aimee.

"Do you dream when you sleep Aimee?"

[Illumin0sity]

Noah hummed as he remembered the storm. It was extremely fierce, probably akin to the storm in which he was brought into the world with. That storm he managed to conjure indirectly was the sole reason man was afraid of Zulrav from the day they emerged from their caverns deep underneath Mizahar’s surface. It was why he was who was called the One Who Hissed in the Night, the Slap of the World, and much more. Noah was honored to be his Stormwarden, knowing that the deity dubbed him worthy enough to one day wield the very storms summoned by the god was immensely humbling to the already modest Kelvic.

“Or at home,” Noah added about his mother. More than six days had passed between her departure from the caravan for Zeltiva, she should’ve been there by now. The few rains that came over the area had arrived in from the direction of Syliras, probably not reaching Noah’s mother for some time after it began to crash down on them.

Elann’s compliment made Noah nod. He knew he was a large predator, one of the largest in the sky, if not the largest. “I’m supposed to be smaller than my mother,” he informed. “The females of my species are larger than the males.”

“It’s because of our father,” Aimee added as Noah drew breath. “He’s valterrian, or dire, which means he’s much larger and stronger than normal animals of his species.”

“He’s a wolf,” Noah put in.

“He’s near the size of a bear,” Aimee continued. “It’s why me and Noah are so big, our other siblings too.”

“Momma’s normal,” Noah went again. “So I’m bigger than her.”

“You’re bigger now than when you left,” Aimee pointed out. “You were smaller than her when you went to Syliras.”

Elann asked Aimee if she dreamt when she slept, to which the Kelvic hummed spritely. “Most of the time. If I remember them, they are usually about the forest or singing. Sometimes I dreamt I was singing while I was a wolf, which is impossible, but I swear I was singing. No one can tell me any different.” She paused, shrugging. “I hardly remember my dreams though. Why do you ask?”

[snelss0]

"Mhm, probably. I know that if I was apart from you for so long I would want to spend a while back home with you. Are we going to have some stories to tell her hmm?"

Elann hoped that Isabella wouldn't feel too badly about their mishaps seeing how everyone was alright in the caravan that she cared about. Only time would tell.

"Oh, I never knew that," she voiced about the females being larger. It wasn't a surprise that she didn't know, but as Aimee informed her why, there was a slight chill of fear within her at the mention of being as large as a bear.

"I see."

She took in a deep breath, trying to overcome the fear in her mind and looked to her husband as Aimee pointed out that he was smaller than he was now. It was likely he grew at increased speeds from her as a human, given his life cycle, but she would think it weird to visually see the rapid growth in him.

Elann in the meantime was enjoying that she could now softly run her hands down down his back flatly without harming him or tugging at the stitches. It was strange to feel the newly added lumps, and in time - like the scar on his leg - it would be yet another thing for her to play her fingers over...something that made him unique to anyone else out there. She could easily go blind now and recognize him as her husband even without sight. She cautiously rubbed him though and looked to see if he was far too sensitive still, or if she could complete the action. Her hands were feather soft, and she hoped that it would alleviate the weeks old itching desire he perhaps had where his direct wounds were.

"No wonder all the other birds had a respect for you in Syliras. I don't doubt you are a great fighter in the air too."

It was likely his distracted nature, his eye on her, and her yanking the bond as hard as she did that gave him the injuries he had. She knew it, having seen him dive and correct his flight pattern in an instant, she knew he was an amazing aerial combatant.

[Illumin0sity]

Noah shrugged at Elann’s mention of potential stories to tell his mother. The scars along his ribcage and back would be story enough to provoke her worried rambling, of which he didn’t want to hear. It would be short lived, he knew, it would last longer than if she discovered his older brothers had been injured though. He was the baby, her little dove, and the one most akin to understanding her entirely because of them being of the same species and sharing many of the same mannerisms. He figured his mother would be self-loathing in a way upon the discovery, because of her inability to protect him like the mother she was. Noah knew if his mother was around his injuries could have been either avoided or reduced by a great amount, so he shared a sense of guilt as well.

Aimee rose from the opposite bench at Elann’s expression of understanding, letting her counter-question linger away unanswered as Elann was probably lost in her own fears in the memory of the bear that once confronted her. The wolf went towards the head of the wagon where their things were stored and shifted through her trunk.

Elann’s feather-light caresses were felt on the Kelvic’s skin and they didn’t bother him. They did relieve the week old itches he hadn’t be able to scratch due to his limited mobility. The scars she may have been admiring, Noah was loathing, wishing them away and gone, not liking them to mar his skin and person. He hated the scar on his leg most of all, he could see it every day and could feel it with his own hands. It felt foreign despite it being his own healed skin. He wondered about the ointment Emery mentioned to reduce the scarring of the wound once the stitches removed and the wound allowed to breathe for a day or two longer. He hoped it would smooth his skin out once again and allow the normalcy to retake it.

His mother told him stories about healers is Riverfall who would stitch wounds with their magic. He wondered if any of the healing priestesses lived in Zeltiva and what the cost of their services would be to magically erase the evidence of his missteps and faults.

Elann’s compliment brought him out of the thoughts for the moment. Since his last faltering he had begun to doubt his own aerial combativeness. The falcon was far too quick for him to catch but with the aid of his gnosis mark he felt he could’ve bested it and came out on top. Elann’s tugging and her panic served as a way to totally distract him from using his own arsenal to its fullest extent, not that he blamed her.

“I suppose,” he said in reply. “I don’t know anymore, it has been a while.”

Aimee sat back down on the opposite bench, a small cloth sack ruffling in her hands. It was the size of her palm. She unstrung it and reached in, pulling out a small caramel candy, of which she plopped into her mouth and sucked, her sights looking towards the pattering rain as it came down outside, splashing weakly into the wagon.

[snelss0]

Elann did get lost in her own thoughts, and as Aimee dug about, she snapped out of it and said, "Sorry... I got lost in thought a moment there, Um...Well I was just wondering. I dream all the time, usually about the same thing, singing and dancing, but for me, I am usually walking in a desert."

It was interesting that their dreams were so similar to each other, though occasionally Elann's dreams would be very strange indeed and would have implications in real world events.

Her husband doubted himself, saying he didn't know anymore if he was a great fighter. She didn't see how such a large eagle could not be a great fighter. His claws alone were enough to scare her into thinking he could easily kill her; what was a tiny bird to him?

"I'm sure you are. One day I want to see you fight too. Boxing. I want to see how you do it and how good you are."

Her hand left his back to give his bicep a squeeze, having seen his strength in how he could carry her easily and in the various tasks he did which showed his strength. She couldn't wait to see him fighting and knew he was likely pretty good. His attentiveness to detail meant he likely could read his opponents attacks better than most people could.