[IC] Journey to the East

[snelss0]

Elann could feel the eyes of the driver behind them staring, particularly since there was nothing more entertaining than watching two people fight. She doubted they were the only eyes and ears on them. She was sure that Aimee was even hearing everything inside the wagon.

Regardless of what he had thought, she did not take him outside the wagon to corner him in the conversation. It was something readily on her heart, and she felt as if betraying him by keeping it there locked away. He started by saying that it didn't mean he didn't love her and the statement caused her to look down and forward. She knew it didn't. Although it didn't mean it didn't hurt her. In her mind, it was related to love. He essentially flat out refused to hear her plea that he speak kinder in love to her and she didn't know how to take it.

Elann began to feel like an abused dog. She would plead with him to love her during such fights, but instead he would rebuke her. He stated that he only thought of her as annoying, confusing, and frustrating part of the time; as if that would make her feel better; did he not hear that she had said that every word 'might' make her feel that way. She had never said that she felt like she would assume that all the time. It caused her to look away in pain as he stressed as such to her, despite the quiet way he did it. A sniffle could be heard from her and that same flare seemed to come every time he spoke the words that followed it. It was very clear that he had wounded her, even if he tried to help her understand.

As he essentially stated that her problem was the content of his words, but it wasn't true. She didn't care if he disagreed with her at all. She figured he would, but it was the origin of intent behind said words. His refusal to use 'soft' words as he had put it. In her mind, there was a such thing as civility and an ability to drive home your points in the same honesty he desired without making the other person feel assaulted. It was hard on her, very hard, and very hurtful to feel the brunt of them. What made it worse was his half apologies, stating he was sorry for her pain, but he was going to cause it anyway. Elann held herself about the waist. She debated for a short moment on whether or not to even talk to him anymore, to see if she could take any more pain from him and she wiped her eyes as she looked up at the flap covering the back of the wagon.

"I opened my heart to you, saying how estranged I felt because of my lack of knowing you better, because I felt you were focusing a lot of your attention on being animalistic instead of human. You could have opened your heart in love and told me how you wished I wouldn't feel such a way. You could have told me how you love me, you understand how I feel, and how you desire to work on this until I am happy in mutual understanding of why I feel that way. As bondmates we could have felt love for each other and grown in respect for each others opinions, even if we disagreed. What went wrong? Instead of feeling compassion for me and love, you showed your disdain for my opinion. You told me how you felt confined in Syliras, that the people there didn't understand you, that your family made you feel free...but then you said that you didn't want to say my worry was dumb, but that you didn't know how to feel about it. Why did you have to say that? Couldn't we have continued in a civil, kind, and honest conversation? So naturally, right away, I felt like you didn't like what I was saying. Passing it, I treated you with love and a kiss. I showed how you had greatly changed and how proud I was at that, encouraging you through my words to continue in your change to human-like ways. I spoke of how your sister and mother seemed to be very human-like in hopes that you could see how good it is to continue to be human-like, to the point where when I'm talking and laughing with them, I can't tell they are Kelvic at all, which with you I could...even though I didn't know what a Kelvic was. Fearing you would feel that I was just pushing you to be like me, I showed that I didn't just want you to be only human-like, but that I did in fact lovingly encourage you to be that brilliant eagle you are as well. I expressed in a loving way that I don't want you to think I am caging you in this relationship, that I do want you to be free, but I want you to try to be free as a human just as much as with the eagle part of you. You know what you said? Both are not free...the human side has rules, that it's stupid to even try because you shouldn't have to bother being nice when someone is offending you, and you know what...I agreed, even if it was said in such a way that if I was opposed to it it would have felt offensive. I think you don't have to bother being nice to someone if they are mean to you- 'to grin and bear it' as you put it. You then stated how you kind of aren't giving up being human and that was sweet of you to say, because you listened to me and considered what I had to say. You understood how I felt, and because of that, you weren't going to give up on it. That made me happy. You said some great things about your family and I was happy listening to you, but then you know what you said? That you doubted my love for the eagle side of you and that you really did not like the conversation we were having, and that I was being impatient to your change...stating that a year has only passed. Your body language and your words grew cold, and showed how frustrated you were with me. So conceding, I said that I knew how you were feeling. I expressed how I didn't ever say I wanted you to change overnight. I expressed how in my original feelings I was just trying to tell you what was on my heart, to tell you how I felt, that I liked you trying to be human, even if you think it's stupid at times. You know what I felt then? That you were annoyed with me!" she exclaimed quietly. "I ignored it, and the painful words of you saying that you disliked our talking about the issues in my heart. You had said that you wanted me to enjoy being out there with your family and I said that I do, that I love it all, which is true. I said as much also to help heal our conversation, to make you feel closer in love instead of that feeling of annoyance and your forward gaze away from me. I asked if we could work together on understanding your world and asked if you would be patient with me, and you know what I felt in response? Frustration from you. Not love, not compassion. It hurt, but I expressed then how I felt estranged by your behavior in rejecting humanity, and how I wanted to make sure I didn't make you feel that I was your cage, like Syliras. By that point, already my heart was hurt by your honesty of our conversation and how much you didn't like it. Already I could feel your frustration and annoyance growing as every word was said, so when you said that I wasn't a cage, that I was just sometimes frustrating, very, very confusing, and kind of annoying, that that was extremely hurtful to me. It felt like you were saying that right now I was being that, and clearly other times as well. How am I not supposed to be hurt by that? How am I to know or not to know when I'm annoying you? I wasn't even trying to. I was being loving!" She exclaimed quietly once more. "That wasn't all though, you then told me how unsure you are that your family is even going to like me...so ...I just felt ...crushed!" she said, taking his hand in hers and looking to him. "I know you love me Noah, but it hurts so bad to hear the way you speak to me at times and what's worse, how to feel toward me when I speak to you about the problems I have in my heart. It makes me not want to! You shouldn't talk to me like that. You should never hurt me in any way, whether you mean to or not."

[Illumin0sity]

Again, Noah listened to what Elann had to say, eyes on her all the while. She took his hand saying she knew he loved her but that it hurt her to hear him talk to her in such a way, hurt her to hear how he felt about her when she voiced her concerns. It made her not want to say anything at all, but was that his fault entirely? He shouldn’t talk to her like that, she said. He should never hurt her in anyway, whether he meant to or not.

Noah withdrew his hand from hers, pulling it into a fist so that she couldn’t have it anymore. “Stop asking me to lie to you,” he said. “You accuse me of not having love or compassion in my words, and while they aren’t exactly compassionate, that doesn’t mean there isn’t love in them. It would be dishonest to not tell you what was on my heart, but I’m not going to soften my words just because you think there isn’t love in them. You aren’t in my head, and I can’t help how you interpret my words, but I’m not going to lie and tell you what you want to hear.”

“I said I didn’t want to say your worry was dumb because it wasn’t dumb, but I didn’t know how else to feel about it. I was being honest! Do you want me to lie to you?” he questioned with a deep crease of his brow. “This is civil, this is honest. I haven’t yelled at you, I haven’t intentionally tried to hurt you, so stop it! You felt like I didn’t like what you were saying because it was the truth! I’m not going to pretend I like what you’re saying when I’m don’t, I’m sorry.”

“You tried to mention my sister and mother to make an example out of them, but you hardly know them. Did you ask them how they felt about acting human all the time? You didn’t, did you?” he shot in hushed angst.

“I doubted your love for my true side because I don’t understand how you can love something you hardly have seen and interacted with!” Noah said, huffing from his nose. “I didn’t give you my bond until I felt like I knew you enough to do that. I can count on one hand how many times we’ve been together with me like that, with me being an animal.” He shook his head, one of her points making him particularly annoyed. “I didn’t call you impatient! I was just asking for a little consideration on your part for how long we’ve been together. You took it the wrong way.”

“You felt that I was annoyed with you, because it was true! I was, and I still am annoyed with you, Elann,” he retorted. “I was frustrated already by that point. You asking for my patience didn’t do that. Am I not allowed to feel annoyed, frustrated, and confused?”

“You are not a cage to me, but you can be annoying, Elann. You can be frustrating, Elann. You can be very, very confusing, Elann,” he explained. “I tell you these things because they are true. You can be them to me, my mother can be them to me, and Aimee can be them too. Everyone can frustrate, annoy, and confuse me, just like everyone can annoy, frustrate, and confuse you. You can’t stand here and tell me you have never felt that for anyone or to me.”

“Like I said,” he said, quieting, “I am sorry if my words made you feel that way, and I’m sorry that you feel that way towards them. Yet, like I said, that wasn’t my intention.” He drew a big breath and heaved it out. “I don’t know how you’re not supposed to feel hurt by that; I am not you. You know you’re being annoying when I tell you. That’s why I’m telling you, Elann, so that you know!” He seethed a grunt of frustration. “I know that you were being loving – you’re always loving – but, what you were saying was annoying me. That doesn’t mean your love annoys me, just the words that you said. That is not your fault, just like my words making you feel this way isn’t mine.”

Whether she was looking away or not, his gaze bore into her. “Do you want me to lie and tell you that every single member of my family is going to like you?” he asked, humming to cement the question. “I’m not going to do that because it is untrue, it is dishonest. I’m sorry that you felt crushed by them, but I cannot take back what I said. It is out there, and you have already felt that way.”

“I should never hurt you ever, you said,” he repeated, looking at her. “Do you understand how ridiculous you sound? If that’s the case, you should never hurt me either, Elann, but you have! What kind of hypocrite are you?” he spat in mounting anger. “I can’t control how you feel! I can’t, so stop acting like I can!”

“The one time I stay here to have this conversation with you, you can’t take what I have to say. You believe it’s unfathomable for me to have emotions of annoyance, frustration, and confusion. That’s being human, isn’t it? Having these emotions towards anyone, right? You know, so far, even before we were married, I’ve felt like you’ve blamed everything on me, or on being Benshira, or on Yahal’s rules. When have you blamed yourself for something? Stop making me a villain!” he shouted.

Noah clicked his tongue in irritancy, looking away from her finally. He muttered an obscure Fratava phrase in his annoyance. After a moment he took a breath. “It’s always about how you feel,” he said. “You assume all these things about me without asking because you’re afraid of how I’ll react. I got annoyed with you because you keep making these assumptions or speaking in falsities that make no sense.”

He looked at her again. “Aside from now, when was the last time I asked you to change anything? I appreciate you helping me act more like a human, but you expect me to never get frustrated? You expect me to never get annoyed or confused? How unrealistic can you be? You want me to feel emotions, but you only want me to feel certain ones for you, but that’s not possible. You just sound like a hypocrite when you ask me to be more emotional, but at the same time ask for me not to feel certain ones for you.”

“I can’t believe you, honestly. I apologized to you, but I’m not going to lie to you. I’m not going to hide what I’m feeling because that’s what’s in my heart, and we promised to say what was in our hearts. We promised! Now, you want me to break that promise because you can’t handle what I have to say?” he questioned rhetorically.

“I won’t,” he spat.

"You're not even listening to me. You're hearing everything that sounds bad to you without looking at everything else. That's annoying because if you just listened to me, this wouldn't be a problem. I've heard what you were saying, and I've said what I was thinking. Don't make me seem bad because you can't take what I'm saying. That's not my fault," he said, much quieter than everything else.

[snelss0]

Elann looked down at their hands as he pulled his from hers. She felt hurt by the action, but understood that he had gears turning in his head in regards to all she had said.

"Okay, you've made your points very clear," she said softly. He could feel love in their bond, as well as compassion, but also sadness and loneliness. His extreme signs of anger had closed her up and she continued to pour tears down her cheeks. Noah had confused how he felt with what was on his heart. Elann wouldn't tell him everything she felt because it wasn't what was on her heart. It was times like these she was glad for that because he was acting like someone she didn't even want to know and she didn't want to crush him by telling him as such. It hurt, but it wasn't how she felt about him in her heart. Love was on her heart, he could feel it through their bond even at points in his rebuttal that she wanted to slap him in anger. Ultimately, she knew she couldn't stay quiet, she had to be the responsible one and fix it even though his anger would likely only tear her down further.

"You say for me to stop asking you to lie to me. Okay. I won't. I will trust that there is love behind your words, even though I don't feel it through our bond in these times. I will trust that your love is in your mind, that you are telling me things through a love for me despite the feelings I feel of anger, frustration, or annoyance."

"I am thankful that you haven't hit me," she said, as he was currently in the process of yelling at her, "I won't use your family as an example, because you're right. I do hardly know them. I'm sure they don't want to be human all the time, but in fairness, that wasn't my point. I never said that they nor you need to be human all the time. In fact, I encouraged both parts of you. I know you don't believe me when I say that I love the eagle side of you, but you are wrong. Me knowing you as a human, while you seem human in appearance, you've always acted much like an eagle. I have grown in the past year not only falling in love with the man you are, but with that eagle side. So when I've seen you while we were hunting, and you changed into that eagle, I did have love for that side. I adore your presence in the sky, your might as you tear into something. It reminds me of how you tear into the food I make you," she conceded a small laugh, though it was clear she was still pained and crying. "You may not understand my love for that part of you, but you have to listen to me. I am being honest with what is in my heart, and that is great love for your true side."

"I have thought, since knowing you were Kelvic, that there were two sides of you. But you say that there is a true side, and a false side of you. I understand I'm asking you to lean more into learning that false side and you don't like it. You aren't going to sugar coat that it is stupid, but you are going to try, because that makes me feel good. I appreciate that of you. It's hard to press and do something you don't want to do."

"You say that you didn't call me impatient. That's fine and true, you didn't utter those specific words. Maybe I did misunderstand when you said that it had only been a year in correlation to how much I was pushing you to change. I am sure you did want consideration for how much you changed. I'm sorry. I do recognize how much you have and like I said, I love it. I'm appreciative for every ounce you care to give me. I do love you as you are right now or I wouldn't have married you. Just as I want to better myself in your eyes by being more closer to your true self, I do however have a desire to grow more in love with you by you becoming like my true self. I think that's what people do when they love each other. They grow closer to one another until they are some like-minded person, much like Lanna and your mother were. I want that for us so badly I dream about it all the time."

"I admit, I can be annoying, confusing, and frustrating sometimes to you, and I never had in mind that you thought that of me all the time. I understand your point that everyone can frustrate, annoy, and confuse, nor am I saying that I have never felt frustration. You know I have, you've felt it in me before. Like I said, I felt you were titling me as being those things right now as an insult, because I could feel those emotions within you right then. When anyone else calls me annoying and I can tell they are feeling it inside of themselves and hear it on the words they tell me - such as when you said how little you liked our conversation - then naturally I will feel insulted. With you, I know in my mind that you aren't insulting me, that you are just trying to speak what is on your mind, but in my heart, it still hurts. It can be hard sometimes for the two to work together because I have an entire life around me that acts differently from you." She still just couldn't believe how much difference there was between Aimee and Noah in understanding this. "I'm sorry for my failure in doing this."

"I accept your apology that it wasn't your intention to hurt me. My opinion on my words differs from yours and it is what it is. I feel that I am responsible for my words within reason. As I speak harshly to someone, I expect that person to feel assaulted by my words. I am responsible for that assault on their person. I speak kindly, yet honestly, because I don't want to be responsible for making you or anyone else feel bad unnessesarily. Right now you feel stressed and angry at my words, despite my doing everything I can to stop you from feeling that way. I am not saying that in my opinion I should feel responsible for that that I could control what you feel. If I however intentionally spoke harshly with you and you then felt bad, yes, I would feel bad because I made you feel that way. It is how most people I know work, and I won't change that. I will however try to understand how you work and though it's out of what I know as normal, I want you to understand that I do understand why you say what you say and regardless of how I feel toward it, I do know you don't intend me harm."

"I also don't expect your family to all love me. I understand that. My problem was with the timing of which you said it. I had my reasons for feeling that way, but once again...it was a disconnect from how my mind and heart are working with your words. I have never intended to hurt you, and if my words have, I apologize...sincerely. I love you. I don't think it's ridiculous to never seek to hurt the one you love and I haven't ever intentionally spoken to hurt you."

Recalling what he said, and the hurtful way he said it, she felt like she was arguing with a ten year old, which was probably more accurate than she realized. It was a hard lump to swallow and she just continued with her apology.

"You are also right, we did promise, and I will honor that promise, to tell you what is on my heart, just as I did here. I expect you to get frustrated, annoyed, and confused at the subject I brought up. It wasn't an easy subject, which you voiced clearly that you didn't like it. I am sorry for not listening to you, for failing to hear and only hearing what sounded bad in what you said. It's all my fault."

Just because she had apologized didn't mean she didn't still feel the hurt from his anger, from his emotions sent through the bond every time they fought. She had sincerely tried to repair their relationship, to repair the conversation, and if he sought to continue in his anger, she likely couldn't continue with him she thought, yet tried desperately to ignore such feelings and thoughts. His continued anger would scar her deeply; that she knew for a fact.

[Illumin0sity]

Despite Noah being angry with Elann, he soon calmed himself as she spoke. Even in his heightened state of annoyance her voice did wonders on his mood. It was the way she spoke that did, not the words within. He had made his points clear, and there was a small relief in him to hear it. Regardless of what Elann thought of his points, it was comforting to see that he had been heard… maybe. He listened acutely to make sure, quieting the guilt he felt in her tears. He was truly relating this conversation to many of the other arguments that had been had, and with his memory he believed it was pristine in his ability to recall what she had said and felt in the past.

She trusted there was love in his words, though she didn’t feel it in their bond. It wasn’t because love wasn’t there in the bond, it was overshadowed by the great sense of annoyance he had for her. It was a quiet love, it was his love, and it was a whisper amongst the yelling. In truth, he was asking for her to trust his words because they were honest. When he said there was love in his heart for her, there was. To him, there was no doubt about it. As he had said many times before, if he did not love her, she would not be the bearer of his bond, nor would have even thought of giving it to her to hold in the first place.

Then, suddenly, she said something that was absolutely incredulous in his mind. She was thankful he hadn’t struck her?

Noah shot her a look as the words came out of her mouth. Never had the thought ever graced his mind, and never would it have ever, yet that came out of her mouth. Is that what she expected from his anger, him to strike her? He was an animal, not a monster, and the fact that she had said that was more than enough for him to glean what she thought of him in that moment. Apparently, if she was comparing him to a man of abuse, it was low.

Noah couldn’t believe her at that moment and it was clear by the shock on his face. That shock softened into a quiet hurt that resided within his core. Because of the hurt he stayed quiet the entire regaling, listening as his mood fluctuated between points of hurt, disagreement, and irritation. He felt as if she was attempting to place the blame on him once again, yet quietly in language that didn’t directly say that he was the one at fault, even going as far as distracting from the point by saying that it was her fault.

Noah didn’t want her to admit fault; that wasn’t the point he was trying to put across and it wasn’t the outcome he was wanting. All he wanted her to do was acknowledge that he had been trying, that he had done a lot in the few months they had been together as bondmates, never minding the fact they were married. Their marriage wasn’t his motivation for changing. In fact, it was the outcome of his changes, of him even considering the idea of marrying her, and of him accepting her spurning of his romantic advances. All of it came from the bond, and it was something he understood more so than Elann understood him or it.

Despite his quiet dejection, he listened on. At least she accepted his apology, that was something that brought a little light to the darkness and lessened the stress that the issue caused on his bond with her. He could feel it there, tautly pulled as they writhed in their loneliness. That was what was creeping up in his mood then, a sense of isolation. At least she had said she would try to understand how he worked, but her actions would speak volumes louder than her words because that was how he navigated the world..

Her problem was timing, and that was his problem with her too. The words she had said about him striking her stuck to him like a brand on cattle. She said she had never intended to hurt him and tried to apologize for it, but that apology fell on deaf ears. He had looked away from her again long ago, looking elsewhere. It was clear that she thought lowly of him, regardless of who she thought she was arguing with, or what for that matter. Whether she thought him a child or a monster, or anything else, that was enough to finish the conversation for him.

Noah felt as if she still wasn’t hearing him. She didn’t think it ridiculous to never seek to hurt the one someone loved, saying she hadn’t sought to hurt him intentionally. He had said, many times, that he did not attend to hurt her with his words nor the tone in which they were spoken. She took them as daggers when they actually were paper with plain writing. It was ridiculous to expect hurt to never happen, that was what he responded with, not that it was ridiculous to not seek to hurt the other, but she didn’t hear that, again.

She was backtracking, and he could hear that. Elann kept attempting to villainize him saying he didn’t like their conversation, but it was a statement of truth. It was clear she couldn’t understand his body language; thus it was easier to say he didn’t like something than to react otherwise. He had not lost his temper until he had yelled, and now that he had did that she was attempting to make him feel bad for it by placing the blame on herself when that wasn’t what he wanted in the slightest. She expected him to get frustrated, annoyed, and confused, yet she didn’t act like she did, and that bewildered him all the more.

Suddenly he found himself appreciating Caesarion’s approach to their bond much more than this one with Elann, and again the silver cord between them was relaxed. It wasn’t lax because he was forgiving her, but because he was done resisting and fighting in something that he could not win. He felt as if he was talking to a deaf person, or someone much more wicked than that. In this moment he could not see what Yahal saw in her.

Noah didn’t say anything but he quieted everything about himself. He didn’t dull the bond between them because it would be hypocritical of him to do that because he requested she didn’t do that. It was, though, suddenly gone all together. Feelings swallowed up and shoved away, and even the weak love that he had for her was barely a whisper on the thread. The fire for this engagement had all but gone out, doused by her incredulous statement of her thankfulness for him not hitting her. Ridiculous, he thought quietly.

When his feelings were all but dead, the quiet buzzing of his bodily activity remained being communicated on their bond. Like a storm suddenly giving away to quiet skies, he took a breath and nodded a few times.

“I understand, and I forgive you,” he lied. “I'm sorry. Can we talk about something else?”

[snelss0]

In reality, Elann had spoken as she felt. She thought his words were about hitting her. He had said that he hadn't yelled at her, that he hadn't intentionally hurt her; hurt being the word that to her had been interpreted in that moment as not hitting her. It was in no relation to what she thought of him. She didn't think that he would ever hit her, nor did she think that he had even thought of it and she was expressing her thankfulness for it. It was simply what she thought he had meant. His face, his quieting, had happened at that point. As his bond dulled, she blinked and looked up to him at his words.

There was no love flowing in his apology. If anything it was a tiny trickle. While her bond strongly flowed with love for him and trying to understand, she had been hurt so badly that she just wanted to end it along with him at his wish. It took all of her faith in Yahal to trust in their bond and their marriage to ask him to go further.

"Something...something is still wrong...was it something I said?" she asked with pleading voice. For the first time in a while, she set her brilliant eyes upon him. Her tears had stopped after her apology and she wiped them away to better see his face.

[Illumin0sity]

Noah set his teeth around his tongue, thinking. The cord connecting his heart to Elann’s glinted softly in his mind against the darkness. The cord had recently been repaired by Elann’s loving hand, and he all too well remembered how crushed and hollow he felt when Caesarion had torn their bond asunder. It was a wound that had been healed but the scar was still there, a dull grey mark on the gleaming silver of the thread. It was further down the way, telling of his growth with Elann. He wasn’t sure if he could suffer another break like that, and so he had conceded. The stress put on his bond because of their arguing was enough to translate itself as palpable tension in his person. It affected him greatly, and he didn’t want to risk another break in the twine.

The Kelvic had hoped that the conversation would shift but it didn’t, Elann’s pleading voice coming to keep it around. Noah looked to her and tried to see the brilliancy in her eyes, and the bright glint that could reside in his could not be found without a little searching. He showed her a small smile of reassurance and shook his head.

“I just don’t want to fight anymore,” he said softly, “that’s all.”

It was a true statement. He wanted it to be over so that he could have the person he fell in love with, his bondmate, back. It wasn’t that she was gone, she was still there in the way she was sending compassion his way, but he did feel as if it was his own behavior which caused the rift between them. His mind said otherwise; it was her misunderstanding of him was what was the cause of the rift, and her assaulting and then withdrawing behavior that served to confuse him all the more.

Noah felt as if his bond was endangered by their fighting, and even if he did win, the victory would be too bittersweet to bring him any sense of peace. The bond would remain strained. He could foresee as much, and the last thing he wanted was for it to be broken or stressed constantly. He couldn’t play this guessing game of Elann’s position, her meanings, and emotions without causing himself trouble because it would erupt into more fights. He wouldn’t be able to take it in the long term, and in the short term it would drive him insane.

Noah brought a hand to his head and tugged on one of his curls idly, a rushing breeze coming from his back full of comforting warmth from Zulrav. He felt his deity in the air now even though the skies remained mostly clear. There was a cloud above that caught his attention and, as he looked up, there was an intense familiarity to it. He recognized it as Zulrav and found comfort in that. Sometimes, he thought, the wind had to stop when it met walls. The rain could be blocked out by roofs, thunder could be dulled behind stone, and lightning could be ignored when one’s eyes were closed. That’s what his god’s presence told him.

“I’m sorry that I made you cry,” he said to Elann, looking at her again. “I love you, too.”

[snelss0]

"Okay."

Noah had bottled up his pain, but Elann was none the wiser. He looked to her in all honesty and affirmed he just didn't want to fight anymore. Her eyes had never seen him lie, and she trusted his words completely, so he escaped with it. As he apologized to her, affirming his love for her, she couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Licking her lips, she came closer to him and wrapped up into his arms.

"I love you too," she stated with grace and love toward him. Her eyes closed as the warm breeze blew on them. It had been warmed by the sun and despite her feelings of cold when the wind blew, this time she was warmed by it. Intense feelings of thankfulness filled her heart toward Zulrav at it as she had been freezing, particularly because she was alone. All the more, as she began to steal heat from her husband, she began to feel comfortable.

"Noah, thank you for staying with me."

Her hands gave him a little squeeze. He had felt her weak hugs, and he could tell that she likely squeezed him with all her might at that moment, yet it was still hardly anything compared to what he could do to her.

She would walk with him, warmed by the sun and the winds. Despite her pain and emotions she had felt during the conversation, she had remained faithful to him, had not been harsh in their vows, and she pleased Yahal by being true to her promises. It was a hurdle, and it was a wonder in the depths of her subconscious mind if she was with Noah to test her resolve in being faithful and pure. Regardless, Elann walked with him in relative silence, letting his eyes guide them as they walked. Hers shut and she rested in his presence.

The show was over, and the people behind them likely would be talking about it for a little while, given there was nothing else to do, and Elann would walk for a good four or five hours. It was clear that the woman had an ability to cross huge expanses of distance without tiring, and she likely would have continued regardless of where he would end up.

[Illumin0sity]

“Okay,” she said, none the wiser to his internal plight.

That was a good thing, he thought. The conversation would move on and he’d be allowed to keep his feelings where they were now, shoved away into some void he didn’t think he had within him. She sighed in what he believed was relief, probably just as thankful as him that the conversation was done, that he had conceded it and let her take whatever victory she could from, if there was any at all. There was comforting in hearing her sigh, surprisingly enough. If her breath were a wind it would’ve felt cold on his skin, warmed by the sun or not.

Noah smiled weakly at her voicing her love and welcomed her into him, allowing her to take the warmth he produced without fail. The breeze that went over him was warmed by his god’s love and near pity for him. It was sent to comfort him, but Elann felt the warmth of Syna on the wind. Noah knew the true intention and so he was thankful for that as well. His love for Zulrav found new boundaries to soar to and he let them. It was all he needed at the moment, the embrace of Zulrav, because Elann’s touching of him did little to bring the same warmth. Still, he didn’t act like it. He held her in the same way he would’ve if there was never an altercation.

He walked with her for hours, reveling in the fact that was he outside where he could see Zulrav and Zulrav could see him and continue to grace him with breezes of love. When night came, there was nothing extreme on his part. He stayed around the camp, letting Aimee go off by herself in order to hunt her night’s dinner. He ate with Elann as he did for the next three nights. The past days went on without much from him either. He didn’t show much interest in his stormgems, resolving himself to be defeated by them for the moment. In the past few days Elann also taught him about Yahal, but his interest in the god didn’t match hers. He didn’t necessarily give off that he was disinterested either though, absorbing all that Elann was planning to teach him.

Noah was rather consistent in his behavior in the few days that passed as well. He never dulled himself to Elann, but the strength of his emotions didn’t soar to any grand heights either. He didn’t hunt, staying mostly in the form of falseness. He could be comfortable in either form, but the experiences in both were extremely different. The twine connecting him to Elann stayed lax and shimmering whenever looked at by either of them, but it wasn’t afflicted with overwhelming feelings from his part. He was quiet as well, speaking when spoken to or when he needed to talk to someone about something, and the conversations were made brief whenever they were needed. Despite it all, he didn’t treat Elann any differently, showing her the same gestures of love he would otherwise and he was contently doing so.

For the first day in three he decided to meddle with his stormgems again, only taking the largest of the cluster out to hold in his hand. Below him the wagon’s floor jumbled him around, rocking him back and forth with a sway. His end of the bond was quiet and buzzing with his murmuring life. His was focused on the gem in appearance, but his mind was wandering elsewhere. After a quiet moment he got up and carefully walked towards the edge of the wagon, opening one part of the flap and sitting some small ways from the opening so he could feel the breeze outside.

Aimee was gone again, walking outside of the wagon to feel the breezes in her own way. Over the past few days she had distanced herself a bit from Noah and Elann, speaking more to the people of the caravan since she was tasked with taking care of some of the children at night. In the night she usually didn’t sleep outside of the tent that was Elann and Noah’s, instead choosing to either stay out all night with the wild and sleeping the day away, or sleeping in the wagon.

[snelss0]

Likewise, the warmth of Noah's body did little to bring the cold out of her heart. While it warmed her skin, that was all it did. She likewise didn't act like it though, and enjoyed the rest of the walk with him. Aimee was silent the first evening and night, and her usually trips out of their tent would find her not present. She would go through the normal acts of attention to her husband, kissing him goodnight with genuine love, but she could hardly feel his own soar in great heights. She would lay in silence through the night as normal and when awaking the next morning, would make him breakfast and kiss him as normal.

It was easy for her to forgive him in words, but hard to do so in her heart, and it wasn't until the morning of the second day did she begin to feel love for him in the similar grand heights she normally did. She took mostly to silence, sensing in his minor actions and ways that he would like to be left that way. She too preferred the peace of silence between them, as it seemed that each of them when they talked, would fight. It didn't stop her from begging for small kisses and attention before leaving him in the wagon to walk, but by the second day, she began to feel a little lonely. Most of it was on part of his sister.

Elann knew that when Aimee had a problem with Noah, she'd slap him or yell at him, but when she seemed to agree with Noah, she didn't want to approach Elann. It made her feel like Aimee was against her, which was probably true. Whatever the reason, Elann let her have her distance, but felt badly about it. It felt bad to feel like she avoided her, that Isabella had gone, that ahead of her was a family who would not likely accept her, and a husband that had seemed almost to detach from her compared to the one who would follow her incessantly with buggy eyes. Now they seemed present, but dim.

Still, it didn't bother her too greatly and she kept to herself until that night and he wouldn't likely feel anything until that point. When Aimee wasn't there again, she knew for certain she was avoiding them, or her more specifically. She quieted the worry for Noah's sake and because the feeling would likely cause fights between them, and until the third day, she would mostly be sleeping apart from setting up and tearing down the tent. It was the light from the flap that woke her, finding herself on the seat, bumping lightly back and forth as they rode along. Aimee once again was gone, and Elann sat up and rubbed her eyes. She looked down toward the floor in silence as she woke up.

"Hello," she said to her husband quietly and squinted an eye in his direction. She could see the gems on the ground. "Working on the storm gems?"

[Illumin0sity]

Noah was ignorant to his sister’s motivations, having not had the chance to talk to her about anything. He figured she had heard parts of their conversation and drew her conclusions off of that, or Aimee was actually content with keeping her distance and engaging in more interesting folk than Noah and Elann. She could be social, this he knew. There were many ways he was like his older sister and there were many others in which he was not. Their socialness was one of those ways, but she had done little to bring him into the same likes as her. If they were together it was likely they were alone together, how Noah preferred it. Though there were times he would go out with her to give her something she enjoyed to do as well.

Elann’s voice came from behind him, the flap and unmuffled noise from outside probably serving as an alarm for her to awake. Noah sat at an angle, the profile of his being plainly able to be seen by Elann. He nodded at her words, affirming that he was working on the stormgems. He raised the largest one in his hand, the one he had brought with him to the entrance of the wagon.

“Stormgems,” he repeated before expressing it in Fratava, something that loosely meant ‘the stones that hold the storm’.

Noah looked to her then, giving her a slow lookover that told of his studying of her sleepy person. “I’m sorry if I woke you,” he said after the examination. “I can close the flap if you want to sleep more.”

He truthfully didn’t want to. Zulrav wasn’t blowing his breezes hard through the area so it was difficult enough to feel them as it were. With the flap open he could at least see a world he nearly yearned to be in by that point. The thoughts were dismissed nonetheless, one of his hands coming to tug at one of the frizzed curls atop his head. His sights refocused on Elann. Though, they had never really left, just glossed over in his brief thoughts that resided between his question and her answer.

[snelss0]

"Stormgems," she repeated back to him a couple of times, working with the word until she got his particular twang down on the word. Her failure to match due to her Benshira accent made her smiled slightly. Eventually she got the unique word and tried to remember it, though she had just woken up.

He was looking directly at her, holding the stormgem and asked if she wanted him to close up the flap.

"No, it's okay. I feel like I've been sleeping for days anyway."

She reached down to grab the brush that had been left on the floor and brushed the wild loose curls that danced about with the shaking wagon. A chime or more passed before she was finished and she had kept her eyes closed the whole time, as though sleeping while brushing her hair. Elann never was quick to wake up unless she had to.

Shortly after finishing, she moved to be on his side of the wagon instead of in the dark up front, but sat on the other half to lift up the other side of the flap. There she looked out and not too far behind she could see the next wagon and the driver. She gave him a little wave and he waved back before she seemed to ignore his presence and look to the forest and for Aimee.

Sleepily a moment later, she looked to him and leaned back into the canvas.

"Did you figure anything else out about them?"

[Illumin0sity]

Noah nodded in approval at her pronunciation of the new word. He was unsure if it was an actual word though; he had made it up himself using the laws of the Fratava language which was quite a literal meaning. He was sure, though, that many other translations for the stormgems could be made depending on who was asked. He was no linguist, just someone fluent enough in his language to be confident in creating new words for it. There was a slight humor in her not being able to pronounce them just right though because of her Benshiran accent. Still, he was approving of how close she got despite the limitation.

It was okay to keep the flap open, and he nodded at her words. She had been sleeping a lot in the past few days while he hadn't. The times she spent sleeping he spent in quiet liveliness. He really wondered quietly about his connection with his deity, a deity who had been all too present in the days following him and Elann's last fight. Zulrav hadn't left the skies, probably keeping a watchful eye over his Stormwarden. Sure, the deity was storms was omnipresent in the skies all over the world, but his presence was too strong for Noah to believe his attention was concentrated elsewhere but here primarily above him. The closeness of his god brought him constantly flowing comfort but he hadn't been to the skies to speak to his god in some time. Whenever he was outside messages came his way, the winds carrying clearer words than he had ever heard Zulrav utter before.

As Elann brushed her hair he looked out of the flap, setting the stormgem on the ground but resting his hand over it so that it didn't roll out of the wagon. He tuned out again as she was quiet, not really propelling the conversation anymore forward than it had went with his nodding. She was by him in the next moment, opening the other side of the flap to allow more air and light into the wagon's belly. Her question came to which he shook his head at.

"Not really," he said.

Despite Zulrav speaking to him much more than usual He still had not told Noah about the stormgems, leaving them as something to be figured out by the Stormwarden's own wits. Perhaps he wanted his Warden to be passionate about them, something to distract him a little more. Zulrav did not say, so Noah did not know for sure.

"They're still a puzzle," he continued after a short moment.

[snelss0]

Zulrav to Elann almost seemed playful at times like Noah. His refusal to speak to his stormwarden about the gems showed as much. She wondered when he would figure them out, and how far he would have to go to figure them out.

Elann couldn't spot Aimee from where she was, and in her sleepy weakness, she didn't feel she could hold the flap open much longer. Instead she tied it up so she didn't have to and rest on the backguard of the wagon with a hand. She rubbed her face slightly and looked over to her husband. He seemed so distant. She knew it was probably all in her head, but she didn't like it. Her feet snaked his way along the floor and she pressed her toes to his. As normal, they were cold.

"You should go," she said, as if reading his mind. She nodded to the wind and nature. "Spend some time with Zulrav, maybe he is not telling you because he wants you to draw near to him? It could be he just wants you to figure them out, but maybe just spending some time in his presence will reveal something to you."

Elann could better feel the breeze of Zulrav now that she had opened her flap, and in the meadow, the warm breeze blew little bits of warm air into the wagon. She didn't know what time it was, but it was late enough to be significantly hotter than that morning. Elann took a moment to appreciate Zulrav's warm air and then if Noah had nothing else to say, she would begin her prayers to Yahal.

[Illumin0sity]

Noah couldn't see Aimee either and figured that she was somewhere else walking alongside the caravan. He hadn't talked to his sister about any of the argument, nor did he think he would either. There was something else up in the air causing her to be distant from both of them and Noah didn't know what it was. He hadn't asked, leaving her to deal with whatever she was dealing with by her lonesome. Like him, if she wanted to talk about it she would come back. He took her distance as a non-matter and didn't bother her about it, letting her figure it out if there was anything to even figure out. He didn't act differently in interaction with her either, but he was sure his tacit behavior was probably sensed in some way by his siblings.

Noah drummed his fingers on the floor as Elann told him he should go, encouraging him to spend time with Zulrav in order to unlock the secrets of the gems. He shrugged slightly in reply, shaking his head afterwards. "I don't want to," he said, looking out of the flap. "I'm just thinking, that's all." He looked down at their touching toes for a brief moment before moving again in the next breath.

He picked up the stone his palm was laid over and raised it, the glow obvious despite it already being light outside. The driver behind their wagon had probably taken notice of the gem, and thus Noah pushed himself to stand. Until he figured the things out he really didn't want anyone else to see them. They were immensely precious to him despite his waning interest over the past few days. Still, he didn't want to tempt anyone's greedy hands with something that he didn't even understand himself. He was appreciative of Elann's quietness when it came to the matter, allowing him to figure out the secrets on his own.

"I'm done for right now," he said, moving to collect the rest of the stones. He lowered himself to his knees and hovered over the slightly discarded sack, piling the rest of the stones into the bag. When they were all done clinking against one another he tied the bag up and stood with it - more clinking ensued and continued until the bag was put away.

Noah stood there a moment with his bare back to her, a hand resting idly on his hip as the other trailed up to hair to play in the brunette depths. His eyes look over the inside of the trunk for something interesting. The book he had been reading was starting to bore him, having been burnt out on it early in the trip from constantly reading it. The hand on his hip fell limp as he pivoted on his heel to turn to face Elann again. All he really wore were a pair of his shabbily torn shorts and nothing else. It was one of the few pieces of clothing he felt entirely comfortable in but purely because they were old and loose.

He sat down on the bench and leaned back against the tautly stretched canvas, his eyes falling to Elann again. "Did you sleep okay?" he asked genuinely.

[snelss0]

The thought had crossed her mind that Aimee's own fights in the past with her lovers held a similar bite, but if that were the case, why would she not be more supportive to Elann who had remained quiet and loving during their argument instead of angry? Elann supposed it had to do with a little bit of pain in remembering, and thinking that Elann was wrong to a point. It likely didn't help that in their last fight, Aimee had supported Noah and essentially been shut out. She was far too hurt to want to hear that she was wrong. Even now, the thought of her coming back and agreeing with Noah would support Noah's thoughts that her family wouldn't readily accept her.

She knew his words weren't meant to hurt her, but they did create a doubt in her mind, and that doubt had been wreaking havoc since he had said it. Noah didn't care that words injured. He just cared if they were truthful. She couldn't relate to him how words could relate truth in a kind unabrasive way and it was why for the most part people treated him so oddly. Elann considered how exactly Liam had become a good friend to him, and likely figured both of their personalities just clicked, but didn't honestly know much about the man. Her thoughts were brief, dancing back to the fight that was starting to dull within her, though there now was a deep chasm where there once was surety. She wasn't sure they would make it even to the end of the trip, let alone when they got to a family who would possibly reject her.

Not very much was different about Noah, except he had been lingering near her more. She wondered if it was in response to her asking him to try to be more human-like, sort of a passive aggressive "here I am being human" stance, because she thought it strange that he didn't want to fly with Zulrav. He said he was just thinking, and she nodded silently, withdrawing her toes from him as he moved to stand and hide the orb.

She looked out the flap toward the rear of the caravan train as he put the gems away. The familiar clinking settled and her mind recalled the often soon to be closed chest lid, however it didn't come. Rotating her head back to him, he seemed to be looking inside. She knew her newly crafted garment was on top, but other than that, she wasn't sure what he was looking at. She figured he was just looking for something to do, so she lazily looked back out behind them.

She could feel the familiar bumps of the wagon as he came back to sit. Elann seemed to like him in shorts. She thought they were a nice compromise between him being his naked true self and what she wanted; a clothed husband that didn't draw eyes of disdain upon them. As he asked if she slept okay, he could tell she was still in that border between sleep and alertness, as she didn't even look at him. Her eyes were hazy and closed frequently as she took in a breath to answer.

"Mmm...yeah. My back hurts though from the wagon. I should have slept on the floor of it, not the bench. I was really tired though. I don't even remember falling asleep."

Calmly she slid her hands up to her stomach and then down her legs to her knees as she sat up more to look at him. Another deep breath came, bringing her closer to alertness. The air seemed to draw her more and more awake.

"Have you seen your sister?"

Her speaking Fravata only brought back to mind his phrase of anger he had spoken toward the situation the other day and she pushed it away.

[Illumin0sity]

Noah listened as Elann answered him in Fratava. He was used to hearing her accent, having been forced to become acquainted with it the day they met. In Common it had been really thick and it was almost hard to understand her, especially with her limited vocabulary and substitution of words that were often odd in the context she may have been speaking in. Her accent in Fratava was lighter, but the implied emotion of the phrases did a little to bring up her roots. There was a twang in her words but at least she was trying to learn the language he was fluent in.

As he watched her speak he recognized the telltale signs of her sleepiness, the phase where she rocked between wakefulness and dozing. He hummed at her words and nodded to show he had listened and not just stared. Noah drew his legs up onto the bench and crossed them, holding his hands over his shins to drum lightly on the bone. Her question came on the whereabouts of his sister and he shrugged in reply, humming in ignorance.

“Not since this morning,” he replied in Fratava, keeping the phrase plain and literal in its meaning. “She left the wagon while you were sleeping and said she was going for a walk. That’s all.”

He bit down on the inside of his bottom lip idly, waiting for what else she had on her waking mind. Noah, himself, had little to say in the matter of propelling the conversation. He was considering taking a nap even though he didn’t feel or appear sleepy. It wasn’t because Elann was awake and he wanted to avoid her, but because there was nothing else to do that particularly interested him. His bondmate was there with her cold hands and feet though, so he stayed awake.

[snelss0]

It seemed he had not seen or heard from her since the morning hours. Aimee had separated herself from them for an unknown reason, but she felt convicted in thinking the worst of her. She elected to hope for the best, as well as toward Noah's family.

"Oh, okay."

She too had little to say, not only because there were long expanses of time on travel where one didn't say anything to anyone, but also because of their recent fight had been fresh in her mind and she didn't know what she could talk about that wouldn't annoy him.

"I was thinking about walking ahead of the caravan and maybe doing some hunting in the direction we're heading. Do you think I'd run into anything by the river?"

It wasn't likely she would find anything close by. The wagons were quite loud and so any normal large sized animal would be far from them, but up ahead, she figured she might just run into something.

"Would that be something you feel up to, or do you want to stay here?"

It took a little motivation from her study of Yahal to motivate herself to invite him. Part of her just wanted to chance it and go ahead herself, but she knew it wasn't faithful to their marriage to treat him as such. She was seeking any way she could to repair their relationship, but she could feel how hurt it was. With his stubbornness and unwillingness to change, as well as hers, it was likely set for only pain ahead. Yahal's word gave those who don't worship him the right to leave the relationship of those who do, but for her, it was asked that she stay with him no matter what.

[Illumin0sity]

Noah hummed softly as if he was agreeing with Elann's acceptance of his answer. It was just a hum to tell of no further words to come from his mouth on Aimee's disappearance because he had nothing else to say. He didn't know why his sister was suddenly away from them both, but felt she would return whenever she wished. Because his passive stance on the issue he seemed rather set apart from it, distant like he was on a lot of things.

He was going to drift away into his thoughts, eyes open, until Elann piped up about doing hunting by herself, asking him if he thought she'd encounter anything near the river. Noah assumed she was talking about encountering something dangerous or deadly. "You shouldn't," he said. If he were a land predatory he wouldn't have approached the loud and noisy caravan, and so he inferred that other predators lacking his man's mind would keep their distance for fear of encountering whatever was making all the noise. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that the caravan's scent was very present in the air, but the sheer amount of noise and commotion it caused is it strode through the woods was enough to deter anything.

She invited him along surprisingly, though shock did not show on his face. There was a small murmur of activity on his end of the bond at the mention of the invitation. He thought selfishly on how he could be close to Zulrav while staying within the sights of Elann without it necessarily seeming as if that was his motivation. He was slightly hungry and could go for something to eat too, and that feeling of quiet hunger was probably louder than the undefined emotion that perked up when she invited him out for the hunt.

"I'll go with you," he said in quiet Fratava, pushing himself up from the bench to move towards the front of the wagon where their luggage was.

It was a simple movement to slip off his shorts and turn to face Elann again with his fully bare body. Noah rolled his shoulders back, the upper parts of his back popping audibly. He stretched his arms afterwards, his eyes not entirely focused on much despite Elann being in front of him. His mind was surveying his body and its condition, taking up all his concentration. He took a few steps forward when he felt primed and transformed, the magical light shining bright inside the wagon. The dust was settled by his wings opening to grant him a gust of enough to settle on the edge of the bench, his dangerously sharp talons gripping into the wood to keep his balance.

His head twitched in a way to view Elann briefly, his usually light eyes, suddenly deep gold in color, harboring intensity. Just as quickly as his eyes settled on his bondmate they were looking at the open flap of the wagon. He leaned forward, pushing off his perch and opening his wings to propel him towards the exit. With a single contraction of muscles he was off the bench and shooting towards the exit. It came upon him in a half-second, forcing him to tuck his wings in order to slip through, only to open them up against immediately after he was on the other side. Afterwards he shot past the driver of the wagon behind them, knocking off his hat with a clip of the eagle's wing. Noah didn't so much as flinch at the near collision, his airborne stride too true to be deterred. He rounded the wagon Elann was still in and found perch in a tree, facing the caravan as it continued onward. There he sat to wait for Elann to come out.

[snelss0]

It seemed she wouldn't likely face any opposition as she went hunting by the river, but given her experience in the past, water always attracted predators. Still, he thought it was safe for her and so she would trust him. He intended to go with her and moved to change as she still sat there. Despite the rift between them, she still found her husband's body attractive and there were passions stirring within her, yet they were a murmur. She still had to wake up a little bit, and thus why she had not moved yet, but as he transformed and flew out the back, she watched as she buzzed the driver and spooked his horses a bit. A sigh came from her and she could see the driver behind them kind of pissed.

"Sorry," she mouthed to him, knowing she could scream it at him and he'd likely not hear it. Elann took in another breath, relaxing any tension in her and then reached up to the flap behind her and began to lower both sides. She went about changing into her furs and she strung up her bow, equipped her wrist guard and just about everything she had used to hunt in winter. The last thing she wanted to feel was cold. She also took a knife with her, sheathed in a belt to cut any meat they did find.

It was then, she headed out of the wagon and looked around for Noah and Aimee. She couldn't immediately see them, so she just climbed down and though it was her wish to approach the other driver to apologize for Noah's behavior, she was afraid of him swooping the man for some reason. She didn't understand still why exactly he had done that to the cook and his sister, but the last thing she wanted was a fight. Part of her was glad to get him up into the air to enjoy Zulrav. She was sure he would give his stormwarden a clue if Noah listened.

Elann obviously got some looks from the driver behind them, having not seen the cutesy Benshira in essentially battle gear, but there she was. Elann headed up to their own driver and told him they were going hunting up ahead. The man nodded and she began to walk faster than the lazy caravan over the road. It wasn't long before she began to outdistance them, pulling ahead of them greatly in distance. She had to get to where the sound began to dull and then she would head toward the river.

[Illumin0sity]

Noah saw the flap to the wagon’s exit close as Elann went to get dressed, or so he assumed. The man whose hat he had knocked away had done a quick search for the Kelvic but the bird was beyond finding, and Noah doubted the man would approach him once night came. While that remained to be seen, he didn’t hold his breath for either outcome. What he was waiting for was Elann and when she emerged from the back of the wagon, he took off from his perch to follow after her once she outpaced the caravan. He followed above her, his wings able to be heard by those below due to how close he was to the ground and treetops.

As if in greeting, the winds came to Noah and filled his wings. The eagle rolled in them, swaying back and forth as the winds played underneath his feathers and streamline body. He had missed the winds greeting him. Even though they often came to him when he walked on land, there was something else about the winds that filled his feathers. Perhaps it was that Zulrav marked him while he was in this untamed form, or perhaps it was that he was able to benefit moreso from the winds in this way than in the other. Whatever the reason, he was content.

Once the caravan had been outpaced greatly, Noah took on a more leadership perspective and ascended further into the heavens to acquire a more advantageous vantage point. In the distance, farther still, he could make out Aimee’s feral frame alongside the road, walking. He wanted to go to her, to ask her about her distance, but knew that he wouldn’t want to be asked about it. In that regard they were alike, so he let her be, wondering if Elann could see the maned wolf walking far ahead of them on the edge of the road.

Noah gave the area a onceover from his aerial sights and determined that nothing dangerous was in the area. Satisfied, he dipped back down and circled around until he was within hearing of Elann again. He spotted her easily and predicted her advancement enough to angle himself to a point he would cross her path. He didn’t dip down into her eyelevel though, his wing beats would announce his proximity to her if the bond didn’t. What he did was swoop down into the largest tree directly in front of her path and perch himself on the lowest branch that would support his weight without straining. He awaited her arrival and then waited for something that would resemble an order.