[IC] Journey to the East

[snelss0]

Elann nodded a little as he said maybe. It was better than his doubt, but it didn't do wonders to cheer her up. Elann had authentically desired the storm and wind, and yes, even rain with it, which Noah revealed was Makutsi. She had known as much, but Makutsi didn't work without Zulrav very often she imagined. Still, her prayer was to her husband's God and she accepted whatever he would bring. The last time it had rained, she had found peace in the storm and it had seemed her fears over the destructive qualities of it had faded a little within her to a healthy respect.

"Yeah, I know. I kind of asked for it all though, even the rain from Makutsi, but from Zulrav the lightning, the winds and whatever he had to bring. I don't know...I just felt open to him and for the first time in a while I guess I didn't feel afraid. When you were messing with the Stormgems, I don't know...I felt happy. Kind of at peace in the storm."

Elann shrugged and chewed on her lip. The storms also reminded her of her fighting with him, but that wasn't all; it also reminded her of the times they sat in each others arms on stormy days. She had been afraid of the lightning then, but if it was truly in Zulrav's hands and he had spared her already, why was she still fearing it? She had been thinking of many things lately and trying to fix them.

He asked about Yahal and she nodded. "I talked to him, but he has been silent to me...except in my dreams and sights...I keep feeling this looming shadow above us and before us on this road. I can't say what it is, but there is a desire for harm among us ahead. That's what I feel anyways. I have been worried about it a little," she confessed. "But I just don't know if it's in my head, or if it's true. It's so hard to tell this time."

[Illumin0sity]

Noah considered what she said about Zulrav and how she felt open to him for the first time. It was a start, he supposed, but he knew his deity and knew what Elann was doing wasn’t enough. It was a start though, as he thought. Zulrav, upon marking Noah for the first time, confessed he had been watching the Kelvic since birth. It confirmed Noah’s mother’s inkling that the storm in which Noah was birthed in was Zulrav’s presence and announcement of Noah into the world.. Even then, it took six years for Noah to get a mark he wasn’t even initially seeking out.

With the thoughts on his mind he watched her shrug and chew on her lip quietly, thinking on how Zulrav saw his bondmate. They had fought a lot and he had been hurt a few times by Elann. He knew Zulrav was watching that, and seeing as the god was ever attentive to his only stormwarden above all else, he was sure Zulrav had drawn his own opinions of the Benshira in front of Noah now. Having that thought cycle through his mind made Noah look at Elann with a sense of somberness.

Elann recounting what was professed in her dreams made Noah uneasy. He shifted, stuffing his hands into the hollow of his lap, denting the blanket that was strewn over him, until he felt the hardness of the floor beneath, softened by the blankets laid overtop it. He tilted his head at her confusion. The last vision he remembered her telling him about was the one with the house on the cusp of the forest. Seeing as he recalled seeing that house when he lived in Zeltiva, he was afraid of the trueness of her dream because she was confused and worried. Compelled, one of his hands rose from his lap and rested atop her thigh.

With his other hand he reached for the set aside cup of water and took a sip from it. The thumb of the hand on her thigh rubbed affectionately with light action. Bringing the cup down, his eyes went to her and he wondered if she had anything else to say on the matter. In his lulling look, he licked his lips. He had slept all that day and he was alert and rearing with energy which resided quietly inside of him.

[snelss0]

Elann had never even knew the mark she had existed. The priests always wore clothing designed to cover themselves and so it was a surprise to her. The fact she had been wearing dresses lately was the only reason people would ever see the top tips of the angelic wings on her back. It was even less likely to be seen because of her hair which was always down. She had worshiped Zulrav from a point of almost near opposition, though unintentional, and had made an almost near turnaround. Even if he didn't care about her, she wanted to pay homage to the God of her husband at the very least.

Because Noah loved the wind, she wanted to love the wind, and because he loved the lightning, storms and Zulrav's other qualities, she wanted to love them as well. It started out that way, simply because of her devotion to Noah, but now it had become her own worship to the god. Perhaps she was an annoying, clanging cymbal to him after what she had done to Noah, but her heart was pure and really wanted to know him as Noah did.

Back in the wagon, he had finished his food and together they sat there, her professing her dreams to him, and as she looked down to her lap in worry, he comforted her by laying a loving hand on her. As he rubbed gently, it caused a small smile to return to her.

Content with him, she looked to his right arm on the outward side closest to her where she would normally lay her head against him. There lay his stitches and she resisted the natural urge to lay her head there. Instead, she continued to pet his hair, trying to feel content with the situation they were in with his injuries.

"I'm glad you felt good enough to lay on your back," she said in a sweet voice. "I'm sure even the small changes like that have been a blessing." She then looked over her shoulder to the plates by the edge of the wagon. "Are you still hungry? If so, I should go now before it's all gone. Those children are hungry little kids," she chuckled softly at remembering how swamped Aimee was.

[Illumin0sity]

Noah followed Elann’s gaze enough to see she was looking at the stitches in his arm and ribcage. She didn’t say anything on her wants but he could infer that she wanted to lay on him since it was what she often did. The stitches impeded that and he wished they were gone all the more. Enjoying her petting, he listened to her sweet voice with a plain face, nodding to tell her the small changes were a blessing. He watched her look over her shoulder and then ask if he was full, chuckling at swarming children. “I’m fine,” he said in regards to him being hungry still. Having two plates of food had filled him up but not to the point of discomfort.

Elann bringing up hungry children made him think on the conversation they had a long while ago in the confines of Elann’s apartment. He wondered about their own eventual children or if they would have any at all. Elann had expressed her fears of being a barren wife, unable to have any children of her own, and Noah hoped that wasn’t the case for her sake. He didn’t feel particularly strong about having children one way or another and was content with it being just him and Elann. That said, they had coupled a few times already and he was open to the possibility of them having children. Yet, as had been brought up before, he was perfectly alright with adopting a child or two, if it was what Elann wanted.

The more he thought quietly about potentially growing their family the more he found himself wishing their children to be Kelvic like him as well. Most of all, he wished to carry on the seemingly inherent gene of his which made predators of all his siblings. In addition to that, he yearned for one of his potential children to be a golden eagle like himself and his mother before him. If he could get nothing else, that was what he wanted most of all. He also wondered what the chance was for his children to be Kelvic given his apparent pureblood heritage. His father’s blood seemed strong enough to strain out most traces of his mother in all his siblings, including himself. None of them had her blonde hair or cyan eyes. They all had their sire’s dark locks and blue, easily impressionable eyes.

“Are you going to take the plates back?” he asked curiously. He figured she would and would be back again. Following his question he looked towards the flaps of the wagon and wondered where Aimee was. Seeing as there was a collection of small, quick moving critters for dinner that night, he couldn’t help but think she leant her hunting prowess to the camp’s cook in order to secure more diverse food. It wasn’t above her to help others like so, he thought, especially lately it seemed.

[snelss0]

Elann nodded a little to him as he asked if she was going to take the plates back. The Benshira took the opportunity to slip from him and slide off the back of the wagon.

"I'll be right back. It should only take a minute."

She gave him a parting grin and with plates in hand, moved toward the bonfire where the cook was dishing up the last of the night's helpings to people who wanted more. He liked Elann and Noah particularly because to him, they seemed courteous. Most people would rudely come back for seconds or thirds, but because Elann ate so little, it seemed like they only ever took one plate each.

"Here are your plates."

"Thank ye doll," he said in a gruff voice, one laden with years of tobacco smoke and heavy drink. "You settin' up your tent tonight?"

"I am not sure, but I don't think so."

She handed them over to him to put in a dish bin to be washed and she then looked around for where Aimee had gone off to. If she wasn't to be seen, then Elann would head back to the wagon. If she was, she would quickly ask if she got something to eat or if she had been swarmed to death by the kids too much, and then Elann would head back to her husband.

Climbing into the back, she flopped onto his bedding on her side of it and looked to wherever he had ended up. He seemed quite awake, so she wondered if he wanted to go and walk around.

"Are you feeling well enough to get out of the wagon and walk around a little? Do you want to sleep back here or in the tent tonight?"

[Illumin0sity]

Noah watched Elann as she left him with the plates. As he figured she was going to turn the plates into the cook, or whoever took them, and would return, or so she said. He pulled the blanket off himself and revealed the trousers he was wearing beneath. He had half the mind to take them off since he had worn them to sleep. Though clothes usually discomforted his sleep, and he had gotten enough of that from the days he slept on Elann’s couch, it didn’t bother him earlier because he was under the influence of the herbs. Now they almost annoyed him to look at and have on his legs any longer. They remained though, seeing as Elann didn’t exactly like him being nude all the time, or, at least, it was what she gave off.

Outside, Aimee was tending to the remaining children who weren’t helping their parents with the tents that evening. She was testing their knowledge of Fratava and, aside from the trade-speak, a few of them knew the simpler words she was saying. To teach them more she slowly went through a Fratavan nursery rhyme and translated it once she was done. Her seamless switching of languages was enough to amaze the inexperienced children. Even though it was possible their parents spoke fluent Fratava as well, it seemed Aimee captivated the children. To many of them, it had been their first experience with Kelvics and the fact that Aimee possessed so many talents and abilities was awe inspiring.

The she-wolf turned to Elann when the Benshira came up to her and told her she had eaten already. She also added that she would be staying out that night, figuring that her in-law and brother would welcome the relief of privacy after she had been around and hovering over Noah’s wellbeing as if she was a doctor. There was also the point that she had overheard the morning’s proceedings and inferred that the reason the presses had been stopped was because of her unfortunate presence. Still, as it were, she thought on what Noah had told her about Elann that morning as well.

Aimee kept the thoughts in her mind, bidding Elann a good night with a smile and polite wave before returning to the children and testing their Fratava with the nursery rhyme. Inside the wagon, Noah had set a pillow in his lap, having had been hugging it, before his attention was grabbed by his barefeet. Idly, he picked at the nails of his toes until Elann showed up at the back of the wagon again, coming through the flap to set herself down across from him. He sat up to give her his attention as she asked her questions, both of which were answered with hesitation.

“I can try,” he said, thinking Elann wanted him to be up and about. He, too, wanted to be up and about but wasn’t looking forward to the discomfort it would bring. He felt well enough to not lean on her for support but he also felt as if that would change once he was on the ground outside.

“Would you just want to stay in here?” he suggested about the sleeping situation. “You already decorated it and made it comfortable. You don’t have to put the tent up again.” Noah believed he was saving her energy and effort, though it didn’t take her a long time to even put up the tent in the first place, he still figured he was suggesting something favorable. He was attempting to be considerate.

[snelss0]

Elann on the contrary loved to see Noah nude all the time in the privacy of their own home. Her problem with his nudity was that the world itself had a problem with it and she loved him. She didn't enjoy others thinking ill of him, even if he didn't care himself. Kelvics got a break at time for being nude, Noah didn't have the displayed care a lot of Kelvics took when it came to their nudity. He was open and could run into camp being naked like a kid who didn't know any better. It was one such thing she wanted to change about him and he evidently knew it, but inside she had all but given up scolding him for not wearing clothes; purely figuring he would change if he wanted to.

Elann came upon her sister and smiled at their shared desire to help children learn. Elann in part wished she could be there with them as night settled in. It wouldn't be long before they all went to sleep; passed out from running around the wagons all day. Elann pulled her aside just briefly and it seemed that she was actually fine and was in fact going to stay out that evening. Elann would certainly stay with Noah then. The reminder of her husbands loneliness came back and she left Aimee to her lessons with the sounds of discordant Fravata chiming out of each of the kid's mouths behind her.

Noah's hesitation in his answering made her a tad nervous, but she just nodded, prepping to make it easy to get him up off the wagon and able to return. She had asked him if he would want to sleep there or in the tent, but he had a valid question.

"The effort doesn't bother me. I've been setting up these tents all my life. It's very easy for me, and the bedding is already piled up nice for me. I just need to pick it up and flop it on the ground in there. I just figured it'd be nice for you to be out more in nature a little bit, to have the grass closer to you than sanded wood, or to be able to lay of soft squishy earth instead of hard planks. I'm sure the rugs and pillows help, but I don't mind really. Any sort of additional comfort I can give you would be easier on me. You know how I am," she said coyly, as if admitting she were clingy. "I was just thinking too that it would be much easier for you to wake up and go to the bathroom in the morning. You could go by yourself if you wanted, get breakfast yourself or with me if you wanted...stuff like that. I don't like you being cooped up in here."

[Illumin0sity]

Noah listened to Elann’s explanation on how she didn’t have a problem putting up the tent, pointing out her own habit of putting his needs before hers. At least the both of them didn’t like him being in the wagon day in and day out. He did wish though, that she spoke with more confidence instead of leaving it up to him whether or not the tent got put up. He assumed it was she who was being considerate of what he wanted given he was the injured party, so he let it be.

“Okay,” he said in regards to the tent.

Then, Noah began to move, standing to ease towards the end of the wagon where he waited for Elann to help him down. His face showed his discomfort and it all persisted until he was on the ground again, the grass underneath his feet. He took a breather, resting with a hand on the edge of the wagon’s frame as he waited for most of the ache to subside. As he stood there, he considered the feeling of the grass beneath his feet and how he had missed it. The outside breezes were encouraging, though they were light and spoke of how Zulrav was absent from the area at the moment.

Noah continued on with careful strides, his head watching his feet as they stepped onward to carry him towards the wagon parked behind theirs. He ignored his discomfort for the most part and kept his pace slow enough to not need to use Elann. It was just walking, he told himself to continue on. He made it to the canvas side of the other wagon and stopped, pressing his shoulder to the frame of the wagon’s car.

“Have you seen Alena?” Noah asked Elann, looking to her.

They stood on the side of the wagon facing the forest. On the opposite side was the camp and many of the people. As it were now, there was no one on this side with them since everyone was setting up their tents or getting ready for bed.

“Do you know when I can get the stitches out?” he added, knowing it would be a sign of progress aside from his walking and slow decline of pain.

[snelss0]

Elann nodded and moved the tent bundle to the edge of the wagon after Noah got out. She would set it up after they got back from their little walk. She waited there by his side with a loving and knowing look on her face as he seemed to familiarize himself with nature once more. He didn't give her much credit in knowing him, but for someone like her who had spent her life in a tent, she sure had grown to know at least a bit of what made him tick.

The breezes outside made Elann breath them in and fill her lungs as she looked up into the night sky to see the moon. It was then he slowly stepped forward and began to walk toward the wagon behind them. She remained close, but not hovering. If he went down, there was nowhere really to grab that would not hurt him less than just letting him fall. She remained by his uninjured arm as something he could cling to for balance if he needed to, but really if he was off balance, she would topple over with him.

As she moved with him, Aimee's words resonated in her head and she hoped that she had not damaged their relationship beyond repair. Noah was not a human like her. She had a forgive and forget mentality, and even if she didn't like many humans, the fact she had been treating him with love would usually turn a normal human from their discomfort, but Noah was not like man. He was an animal who had been hurt, and animals at first would ignore the pain, but if it was repeated, that pain would rarely leave them. She had hurt him for a long time and her love and compassion didn't factor into the equation, that was how she understood it anyways, and she hoped that if anything could help them, it would be his distant human side. She wasn't filled with sadness at her thoughts, but instead he could feel she was hopeful a little bit, which was not an uncommon emotion with her.

"She was with your sister last I saw her, but that was earlier."

Elann met his eyes with a kind smile and her own, but as he asked about his stitches, she leaned up against the wagon on his left side and looked into the ominous darkness of the trees. Who knew what was inside? The woman with the bear roaring at her in an unearthly powerful way made her shiver slightly with fear.

"Unfortunately love, it may be another half of a week to a week. He says you are healing nicely though. In my tribe, when someone is hurt, the more active they are, the quicker they heal. Maybe if we walk a bit more like this, you can get better quicker?"

[Illumin0sity]

Noah nodded at the whereabouts of Alena. He had made a personal promise to her, unbeknownst to her, that he would see her when he was up and walking around again. Though this barely counted as walking in his opinion, it was enough to qualify as the prerequisite to fulfilling his promise to her. He thought of the promise and Alena as he met Elann’s eyes. She leaned beside him, looking to the treeline not that far from them. Because of the darkness the trees looked ominous, eerie, and almost evil in their natural state. He followed her gaze into the trees and saw nothing, just the shadows cast because of the moonlight above.

The Kelvic’s gaze was downtrodden to the ground when Elann told him how long it would be until his stitches were to be removed. It was disheartening and he really didn’t want to keep walking around everyday. If anything, it spurred him to want to laze the next week away in a numbing haze that he would be pulled out of by his stitches being removed. The dip in his mood caused him to hum ignorantly at Elann’s question encouraging him to walk more in order to get better quicker. “Maybe,” he said lowly to her.

Noah looked down at his trousers and played with the fabric over his thighs with his loosely hanging hands. It had been a week since their fight and he still held conflicting feelings regarding it. The fight was the last straw in his opinion and arguing with her never brought him any satisfaction; it either ended in one of them crying and hurt. Elann always cried and he always took it as a plea for cessation and comfort, of which he gave until the most recent argument. It had been a brutal blow to his bond with her and it was stressed beyond belief. It was a wonder, in his mind, that the cord didn’t snap because of the tension, but he realized he held onto the hope she would understand him as he had been trying to do her.

Forgiveness was toyed with in his mind but was always bought out by reminders of repeatedly inflicted wounds. Though the physical healed and the mental and emotional could be ignored and covered over, the scars had been irritated and inflamed and then, eventually, the wounds reopened. Open wounds gave way to infection, contempt, if not closed and healed. Noah hoped he could avoid further infliction by unwillingly engaging in any other conflict with her. Perhaps selfishly, he was sparing himself or, perhaps damning himself to something else.

Noah took a breath and looked up from his hands playing with the fabric of his pants. He didn’t want to walk as much as he wanted to stand and enjoy the breezes he hadn’t felt in full in a while. It was nice to fill his lungs with the wind he was so grateful for. He looked intently into the woods, knowing the prey he was wanting to pursue was behind the trees presented before him and Elann.

[snelss0]

Noah kind of drew silent from what she could tell. His gaze became down trodden at her words and he spoke lowly to her in a single word. It could have been that he was thinking, it could have been that he was sad, it could have been that he was simply agreeing with her in a lowly way, but all she knew was that he was speaking one word answers that didn't communicate much to her. She didn't think her words were pushing him away, but it was possible. She didn't understand how encouraging someone could be so bad. Really she was just confused but tried to not make a big deal out of it.

Having taken what he said at face value instead of flinging wild conjecture, emotions, or thoughts through their bond, she settled in next to him as he stood there. It was a quiet moment between them and she just let him enjoy the moment, standing outside in Leth's light, feeling the breeze. He needed it in her opinion.

She wouldn't bug him for a while unless he wanted to say something, but after that long period of time, she would stretch upward toward the moon with a little squeal and upon coming back down would say, "Ooof...well...I should probably start setting up the tent. Do you want to stay near me while I do it? Do you want to stay here?" She flung random questions of what he could possibly do because she didn't really know what was on his mind.

[Illumin0sity]

There was nothing said in reply to Noah’s silence and he was allowed to wallow in his thoughts. Elann settled into her stance beside him and let the unknown chimes tick on past. He listened to the world around him and ignored the people on the other side of the wagon. Again, the hooting of an owl could be heard and it was the heartbeat of the woods there before him. He pictured the rodent that would become the owl’s catch and it led his imaginative mind into the skies of his old domain just outside of Syliras.

Before he had met Elann, he would go hunting two times a day and flying just for the sake of it whenever. His job as a courier was always finished early so he could escape the confines of the grey castle city in search of the freedom of his woodland home. There were several trees he would perch on to view the world from and he remembered the feeling of deep security because he was the ruler of that demesne. Here, at night, he recalled soaring high in the sky above the trees and observing the shadows that Leth forced the trees to cast onto the dimly lit forest floor. It took a year to stake a claim that large and he had been ruling it for two more before Caesarion and Elann came into his life. For the first time he had understood what it meant to be atop the world and unchallenged and understood the position his father probably felt as if he were in.

Elann’s whining stretch and words brought him back to the present and he looked over to her as she spoke. “I’ll stay here,” he uttered. Having remembered what it felt like to be that high instilled a sort of pride in him, one that made him reluctant to show himself to the rest of the people of the caravan because he was so low now.

It was saddening to think about his past. Not even his dreams were filled with his memories of the past. When he did dream they were vague or sad, the most recent being the nightmare he had. Whether Elann left or not, he put his attention back forward towards the darkened trees and let his vision blur because his focus was in his mind and not there around him physically. He brought his arms up to hug himself as he thought on the night-terror.

[snelss0]

Eventually standing there a while, the cold got to Elann and after her quick stretch, she wrapped her arms about herself. It seemed her husband was torn out of his thoughts by her. She managed to peel his eyes from the woods and by her questions, he indicated he wanted to stay there.

Still not sure how he was feeling, if he was irritated with her or had some other reason for staying, she just nodded, gave him a small smile and turned to walk past him the way they came. As she passed him he could see her eyes were searching his with a small smile on her face, but then they came in front of her so as not to trip on the grass tufts in the darkness once she left. As she left his sphere of space, she slowed her walking and looked over to him over her shoulder. Her hair rolled down the side of her, and coming into the golden light of the fireplace, her face shone her soft skin. Her smile flared a little as she eyed him there in the darkness and her hands lowered to hold at her side. Over her shoulder she spoke to him as she continued forward.

"I should have it up in a few minutes."

Her right hand then came up as she turned to watch once more where she was going and brushed her loosed hair back behind her ear. Her cute little frame hopped over a grass tuft and she almost seemed to break into a little skip. Moving to the back of the wagon, she snagged the tent bundle from the edge of the wagon, she seemed to labor with it a little as it wasn't light, and then holding it securely in her arms, she strode out of sight into the interior of camp where she set it down. Before she started setting up though, she lingered at the fire for a moment to warm up and spoke to some people very briefly.

Her eyes traveled over those there at the fire's edge who had all but set up their tents and to those who had already finished. It was a time of relaxing and merriment for them. The man who played guitar started up a finger-picked song that had a late night mysterious air to it and Elann shortly after moved away from them to set up the tent.

Whether or not it was Noah's eyes on her or someone else's, she felt like she was being watched as she set up her tent, but purposefully didn't look toward the direction Noah had been in. It wasn't long before the tent was erected and she had put the cover over it for rain and dew should it storm like she had prayed, but then she turned toward the wagon's back once more and began heading that way toward Noah once more. It was then she looked to see if she could see his feet illuminated under the wagon's edge by the light, but regardless of what she saw, would just head to the back of their wagon to grab all the rugs, pillows, sheets, and blankets. It would take her a couple trips where she strained a little, but she wasn't annoyed at all; in fact she was somewhat relieved to be setting up the tent. It was hard work. Elann was a worker bee. She had sat in the back of the wagon far too long, and like Noah, would feel relief the more she would do. It also felt good to provide for her husband in some way, even if it was possible that she had annoyed him. It was hard to tell without their bond active; his short words not giving her any insight into how he felt.

[Illumin0sity]

Noah’s attention went to Elann once again as she moved away from him, the air cold on the side she was once standing on. He looked at her with softness to indicate there wasn’t irritation or anger on his mind just thoughts; when he was angry it often showed, and his moods were often discernable based on how his brows and eyes showed. She left his space and he followed her with his eyes, meeting her gaze as she looked over her shoulder at him. Though he didn’t return her smile, he nodded to say he heard her words. When she was gone around the front of the wagon he turned back to face front and watched the wood again. A wind swept in from his left, chilling his side. It held no message this time around, but Noah’s eyes went to the sky anyway where clouds were rolling in from the direction of Syliras.

Noah didn’t move from his spot, simply shifting his weight from chime to chime. His feet could clearly be seen from underneath the wagon when viewed. In the camp, Aimee had bid the children goodnight. Having had thoroughly enjoyed her teaching session, she moved with the cook to put away his dinner making tools for that night. She wore the same outfit as she put on that morning, her barefeet cool against the soft grass and worn road. The winds that blew in from the east were welcomed by her and they blew at her mane of hair.

When such cool winds blew in Aimee usually looked to the sky and it was what she did now. She saw the clouds rolling in and inclined her head to sniff the air. She couldn’t smell rain on Zulrav’s breath but there was an unease in her that forced her to hurry along the aiding of the cook. She bid him a tentative goodnight and turned back to the camp. The air was being twanged away by the guitar of one of the campers and the beginnings of a woodland hymnal were being hummed by the people as they gathered around a large fire. She walked on by, waving to the people whose eyes followed her. The fire flicked and licked at the air as the wind pushed on.

Finding what she was truly searching for, she hurried over to Elann, her quick walk turning into a jog as she came upon the Benshira who was finishing her tent, having just made another trip from the wagon. “Elann,” Aimee said cautiously in a whisper.

Above, the clouds seemed to advance far quicker than Aimee had seen before. There was lightning in them and as it crackled far above in the sky, the rumbling that came was menacing. The wind shifted from the east to blow from the southwest and it gave the wolf a total pause in her movement. Her speech stalled and her head inclined once again to sniff the air. The wolf rubbed at her wrist. On her already fair skin was a barely seeable set of pale scars.

“Where’s Noah?” Aimee asked Elann, slowly turning her gaze to the thicket around them.

[snelss0]

It was funny to Elann to hear the common goodnight whine of the children. In a way, they had slowly been growing closer with them, and given the fun that Aimee brought to them that night, it was interesting to hear their particular whines. Even though the children by that point could hardly keep their eyes open, the thought of ending the day seemed a crime. It really reminded her of Noah and in some small aspect, herself.

Having worked all her life, she never lived like the children lived here. She was put to work from before the rise of the sun until often the rise of the next day's sun, only having naps in between. It was a hard life to survive in the desert, but children here had it so easy and much of their life was filled with joy and play. Elann would have likely heard the call to turn to bed and welcomed it gladly instead of offered up a whine.

Aimee was seen coming over to Elann as she was finishing her tent and her shadow arched over the ground from the fire pit as she moved closer. Elann looked up to see her and gave her a smile. Her cautious tone whisper caused the Benshira to stop what she was doing and she hummed curiously.

Above them lightning cracked across the sky and made Elann jump, but at the same time smile slightly. Elann's eyes, like Aimee's went skyward. Aimee asked where her brother was and Elann innocently looked back to her.

"Oh, um, he should be right there on the other side of their wagon."

She pointed to where his feet were barely seen and she wondered what was going on with Aimee. Her stance was one of caution and fear and Elann took in her frame and whole being under close study with her eyes, seeing the pale scars even in the semi-darkness.

"We got up and walked a tiny bit and he came to rest while I set up the tent."

The winds ripping over the tent fortunately wouldn't bother the Benshiran made construction as they were designed for the highly paced winds that swept in microbursts across the desert. Still, even though it chilled her, there was an excitement in Elann and she wondered if Zulrav had come, having heard her prayers. Elann had prayed much of her young life away before Yahal finally tested her and marked her, but it was worth the wait to get to properly know and understand him as best she could. With Zulrav, her knowledge of him was infantile and inexperienced. She had never heard his voice and didn't know that he cared to listen to anyone but Noah, but she hoped he had heard her as it would solidify her faith in him greatly.

[Illumin0sity]

Aimee looked to where Elann pointed and noted the shadow her brother’s legs cast on the ground. She watched her brother shift his weight, one foot coming up as the other took on the bulk of the Kelvic’s light frame. Looking back to Elann, the same uneasiness was in her eyes, seemingly unperturbed by Noah’s safety. The winds change was unhinging because it didn’t make sense that the clouds were advancing if the wind wasn't pushing them. Atop that, there was the fact that lightning and thunder roamed and rumbled yet no rain was in the air. It could’ve been a dry thunderstorm, surely, but she would’ve felt at ease otherwise.

The first verse of the campfire song was started, the lead singer was a woman with a pleasant yet soft voice. To Aimee it was almost horrendous and ringing in her ears, some form of hyper-alertness taking her over. She kept rubbing her wrists, her eyes wide and flicking as if she was Noah. They flicked to Elann, an urgency in them.

“Go to him, please,” Aimee urged. “I don’t feel well.” It was a grand understatement. Aimee’s stomach was flopping about yet felt as if it was bound by belts at the same time.

The flapping of the tent because of the wind made Aimee’s sight shoot there. Should she have been a wolf, her ears would’ve been fluttering this way and that. There was a deep sense of apparent paranoia in the maned wolf and she was pressed to the tips of her toes, like a coiled spring ready to bolt. She looked to Elann again and nodded her head firmly in the direction of Noah before pulling away from the Benshira altogether.

Aimee went back towards the bulk of the camp but disregarded the people entirely. The guards whom were preparing for their nightly shift sat around a fire finishing their dinner. Their weapons were near them as they stood or sat around their own open fire. Even though there were fires around her, the orange flames dotting the camp slowly, Aimee’s skin was chilled. Initially she wanted to blame it on her short sleeves and lack of insulated leggings, but there was something she felt was physically crawling beneath her skin causing the goosebumps.

Noah looked to the sky as another rumbling spat of thunder came, the lightning etching through the rounded bellied clouds. The wind was blocked by the caravan at his back but he listened to the thunder. As if compelled, he turned back towards the front of the wagon, the way Elann had went, and used the wagon’s frame as a crutch until he came to the harnesses that held the horses who drew the vehicle down the road. He rounded it entirely, walking slowly towards the back of the once decorated car that he had slept in that day. He didn’t stop there though, continuing on until his frame could be seen peeking towards the camp and the woods in the background.

The wind surged at him, the tents flapping because of it, and he was filled with a sense of unease as well. It was apparent in his eyes and how they intently shot back and forth from one end of the camp to the other. The little birds in the trees were sleeping but he called out to them anyway, a series of high whistles to jar them awake.

[snelss0]

Elann had never seen her sister act like she was now. Her body language spoke of someone who sensed impending doom. There were such people in her tribe who could sense when things were about to happen, her being one of them (though it was rare). This however was beyond her senses and despite what was going in Aimee's mind, Elann took note that it bothered her greatly.

"Umm...Okay," she said affirmatively with a slight brush of her hand on Aimee's shoulder. With a bit of a run, Elann moved to the wagon and grabbed her bow from under the bench along with her arrows and wrist guard, but she wasn't sure if she'd need them, but it couldn't hurt. Elann didn't know what was going on, but just the look on her sister-in-law's face seemed to unnerve her to the point where she felt safer with it in her hands.

A moment later, she had it about her and was moving over to Noah. There he was whistling into the trees to wake the birds, who slowly started to come to life at his beck and call. Even an owl was heard hooting back.

"Aimee said she's not feeling well. She's really nervous about something. Is it the storm?"

Nervously, Elann held her hands about her waist to await her husband's guidance. While she looked into the woods and could only see blackness, the moon was full and it was far more likely he could perceive more. Perhaps the feeling of death and darkness she got from the woods earlier was a sign. Being afraid of the twisted trees and what she had seen, she didn't want to look again, but given the circumstances, she did.

"Darkness falls..." she eerily said in that same dull voice as he had heard the day she spoke about his second marking.

[Illumin0sity]

The birds were roused by Noah’s waking whistle, mimicking the morning calls they often gave off to wake others and the humans below them. He heard them shifting and fluttering awake in the trees. Elann came to him, her bow, arrows, and wrist-guards in tow. He looked to her with the same alerted eyes as Aimee and shook his head. “No storm,” he simply said, unknowingly lying. The rain wasn’t going to fall but all of this spoke in warning and Zulrav was attempting to forewarn all those in the camp, though it was only Noah who could hear the deity clearly. There were words on the winds and a deep speaking in the thundering above, the voice of Zulrav.

Aimee stood before the lead guard of the caravan, a gruff man who had been in the business for a long while she figured. She gave him all of her warning and unease and at first he was going to dismiss her as a spooked woman but he considered her two identities, one of a wolf and that of a woman. The man had a dog at home and recalled how they would behave before storms. It was a lucky circumstance but it made the man listen to Aimee enough to start rousing the rest of the guards from their laze, even waking those who had fallen asleep.

There was another surging wind coming in from the forest to their south side and the smell of new human life came to her snout in full. Her ears turned towards the scent and picked up the quiet thud of approaching hooves. The treetops went up in an uproarious chorus of warning calls, calls that Aimee understood well enough.

As the birds shouted above, Noah looked past Elann towards the direction of the river to the south and peered through the trunks. The clouds were encroaching over the moon but her peered on in search of anything. Lightning struck the distance, illuminating the entire area for the briefest of instances. It was enough for Noah to make out the crouched down figures in the thicket. The sound of hoofbeats came from the same side and the birds wailed on. Wide-eyed, he looked to Elann and reached to her, grasping ahold of the fabric of her top tightly.

The music of the camp ceased entirely as the birds drowned them out and the inhabitants were standing, watching the guards as they readied themselves. Aimee looked in the direction of the approaching hoofbeats and listened to the whisper of an arrow as it loosed in her direction. Her breath caught as it flew and sunk into the guard to her right, making him shout out in instantaneous pain as he fell backwards. His body didn’t hit the ground before Aimee was sailing over it, running towards Elann and Noah. As her foot hit the ground from her jump the battlecries of the creeping assailants erupted to rival the birds, who were thrown into the air by the angry voices.

Boots clunked on the ground as women screamed out in fright, going for their children in the tents. The guards had barely a half-second to collect themselves before their comrade was down and the assailants were advancing on the camp. Aimee ran on, panic in her eyes as the first sounds of blue steel clanged against one another.

Noah looked to his sister as the battle erupted behind her. There were only footsoldiers right now but the horses coming in sounded louder with each second. There was a humming in Noah’s ears, something resembling the sound of when he was struck by lightning in order to create the stormgems. His sights went inside of the wagon’s car and noted the humming was coming from inside it. The trunk the gems were stored in had pale white light spilling out of the closed lid.

Aimee came to them and he met her hurried gaze with his own. “The stormgems,” he said frantically to her. He couldn’t move fast enough himself to get them but knew his sister’s nimble frame was light enough to do so seeing as she had made short work of sprinting across the camp to them.

She stuttered a nod in his direction and ran around him and Elann to throw herself into the wagon. Her feet thudded loudly on the sanded wood floor and the chest creaked aloud as she thrust it upwards and open. Inside was the bag of gems, of which she heaved out with a breath. The bag clattered noisily to the floor but she didn’t pause there to give him the bag. She jumped over to her own chest and threw the lid open. Reaching inside, she produced a shining dagger without a sheath. It was a simple curved dirk. She tucked the handle into her palm and used her other hand to scoop up the sack of gems, spilling a few of them out before she had a collected handle of the fabric sack.

She came back to the exit of the wagon and jumped down, the bag of gems dropping the side she carried them on as they caught up with her leap. Aimee turned and threw the bag back onto the edge of the wagon and reached inside, grabbing the first one she could and handing it to Noah’s eager hands. He had not seen the dagger gifted to him by Elann during their marriage since they left Syliras, and the last he saw of it, Elann had it. For now he had his gem and hoped the secret he unlocked would reveal itself to him again when it came to defending himself and his family.

Aimee composed herself beside Elann and looked on with frightened horror as the common men protected their families with heirloom swords and daggers. The assailing cavalry bursted from the thicket, a collection of five horsemen, one of them barking orders as soon as he arrived. The bright gem in Noah’s hand caught the attention of the man and he hollered an order towards the two Kelvics and the Benshira, his sword pointed at them.

Heeding the lead bandit’s order, two of the horsemen who arrived with him turned their horses about and charged towards the trio. Aimee didn’t let her fright keep her stiff. She was used to reacting in the face of danger; if she couldn’t run then she fought and in this instance she chose the latter. Her free hand came up, the palm opening as it was thrusted forward. Her fingers were licked with flames as an orb of embers was conjured and thrown towards the rightmost horseman. The orb sailed through the air and detonated into an engulfment of flame just before the horseman’s horse and spooked the roden creature, causing it to rear up and throw its rider down onto his back.

The other horse was spooked as well, stopping in its charge. The mounted horseman gripped the reins and ripped the horse broadside, regaining control but leaving him open to attack as he fought to keep his horse underneath him.

[snelss0]

The birds sounded and Noah would feel fear come from Elann as she strapped her wrist guard on. As lightning fell in the area, illuminating it, she still could not see them, but Noah grabbing at her top made that fear flare increasingly. A battle cry went out as Aimee flew into sight. Elann's timid eyes went wide at what was happening and she was stunned into a place of thought, unable to react to the darkness before her.

Darkness was the word as it was what she had told him was looming over them before. Elann knew in her heart that these men who began to storm the camp, who were illuminated by the lightning were there to murder and clean house. They hated the caravans, saw them as people who were worthy of death, they were worth less in the eyes of the bandits; no better than cattle.

It didn't start out like that. Anger fueled them until it had consumed them. Spurned on by a stance and disagreement in the past, they grew into a mass of people who took what they wanted from the survivors of the Valterrain. Those they didn't kill were taken and things were done to them to fuel and add to that darkness.

Elann knew if she or any of the other women were captured, great evil would come upon them. How she knew that, Elann didn't know. It was all in the outlined pattern of the trees and how the light from the fire and lightning flickered onto them, telling her the tale of their potential future as she stood there in a daze.

She came to at the sound of Noah's frantic voice calling to Aimee for the stormgems and immediately she pulled an arrow and loosely nocked it. Noah headed toward their wagon as Aimee tried desperately to grab the stormgems and Elann protectively followed him, making sure he safely got there.

What the power of the stormgems would do in this instance Elann didn't know, but seeing the power of the small ones, she wondered what the larger one would do in their instance. She herself had set to protect Noah and Aimee. The foot soldiers came into view and from behind Noah, an arrow loosed and sounded from Elann as one of them fell with a chest wound before coming upon the doctor and his family. Elann drew another arrow and nocked it and it was then that she heard the horsemen and saw them. To her side now came Noah with the bright illuminating gem, causing their previous concealed nature at the edge of the camp to be found out.

It was then that two of the horsemen charged, and before Elann could fire, a strange light of fire came from her left with Aimee. It was magic, she was sure of it. Her eyes trailed the orb of embers as it was thrown and she jumped in fear as it exploded against a man. Clyde had regaled her on the powers of Reinmancy, but she never thought she would see it.

It was then that she felt the presence of her God. He had come at the word of Zulrav and out of care for his charge. Yahal had invested much watching and love toward Elann in her life and she had yet to face her most challenging trial yet, but he wanted her safe and above all else, for her to understand that he was set against evil. His voice came then, like running water it rushed over her, sending chills up her spine. In that moment, he was her General, telling her who was most evil, who was the most deserving of death, and above all, who to protect from that evil.

The right hand man of the leader, his brother was the man she needed to kill first. He was clad in armor that despite the best blows of their faithful guards, could not be prevailed against. He struck down one guard and brutally murdered him with a final swing after he had fallen and began to move to the next. He was a foot soldier there, leading the charge on the ground and relaying the orders of his brother the leader on horseback. Elann's bow skipped over the man who seemed the most threat to them and went directly to the man who assailed their guards.

As she pulled, the brilliantly blinding light that had illuminated her in the day Noah had become injured purely enveloped her arrow once more and like a bolt of lightning, it was loosed and struck completely through the man, leaving a gaping hole through his armor and planted firmly into his chest. The leader was the next most evil, but there was more pressing orders to protect not only themselves, but the men and women of the camp. Those were her next targets and she hoped that before she could draw an arrow, either Noah or Aimee could somehow kill the stunned horseman who had charged at them.

[Illumin0sity]

The humming continued to ring in Noah’s ears as he held one of the gems responsible for the sound. In this newfound trouble, Zulrav had given Noah weapons he could use in his crippled state. The fire erupted brightly several feet in front of them. The horse and thud of the man who was riding it caught Noah’s attention. To the left was the second rider whose horse had barely been controlled and steered. In the midst of battle he was still attempting to keep his terrified horse under the reins. The man who was thrown off got up and attempted to regain his bearings, but Aimee didn’t let him. Her dancer’s grace took her a leap forward as her Res worked through her veins and out of her fingers. The freehand came around and slashed at the air, the gassy Res around her rushing forth in a razor of cutting wind. The razor, barely able to be seen in the darkness, struck towards the disoriented rider. It cut into the ground due to the force behind it and sailed on striking the man across the chest and through his armor.

All Aimee heard was his dying cry and a thud. She took another step, pulling back the remaining Res from her slash of air to be recycled. In the distance, her free hand maneuvered it towards the horseman who was struggling with his mount and that was when the bright flash of light came from behind her, the sound of an arrow being pulled back preceding it. She used the momentary flare of light to sharpen her aim, creating another slash into the air by thrusting her arm in the direction of the rider, slicing him across the back. He finally loosened the reins to his steed and the beast reared so that he, too, fell onto his back. Aimee saw him reach from the ground to stand and it compelled her to mercilessly continued on. She took a third step forward and brought her hand up, ripping the wind upwards, before slamming it down onto the man, the impact of brute force crushing him into total limpness.

Noah rose his arm and stepped away from Elann when she nocked her arrow. The swelling light which emitted as she loosed it had been blinding, and startling, to him as an eagle and he didn’t chance having his vision affected here where he needed it the most in the darkness. When the light died down he turned his attention back to the field. Aimee had made short and magical work of two men and this magic she was using was totally new to Noah. It wasn’t the time to ask questions though, and so he scanned the camp from their side vantage point.

Hiding in the shadows of the trees were a collection of archers firing at random, undisciplined. The fire, glowing stormgem, and holy arrows were making the trio a large and visible target on the field and drew the attention of the archers. Noah watched one quickly nock and loose an arrow towards Aimee since she was the closest and most visible target to them. Aimee’s adept hearing saved her from the blow; she threw her body to the right and out of the way, landing lightly on her feet. The arrow continued on, embedding itself in the frame of the wagon behind the trio’s.

Aimee’s hearing also picked up the cries of a terrified family. In the darkness, she looked to Elann and Noah behind her, dashing off to aid one of the families whose tent was being overran by a bloodthirsty bandit. Smartly, Aimee came upon them and threw her hand out to the campfire, tugging on the already live flame and commanding it to engulf the bandit assailing the woman whose husband had already been slain. One of the children Aimee taught Fratava too was clutched in the homely woman’s arms as the bandit’s body went up in flames. His own screams of blood curdling quality erupted into the air as he threw himself to the ground. Aimee drew upon the already active wind to bring it down once again in the same crushing final blow to silence the man’s yelling. The wolf locked gazes with the woman, whose eyes were stricken with intense fear. It was the young child, a boy, who spoke out and said a thank you in Fratava, knowing that Aimee had saved him and his mother’s life. Aimee nodded and turned her attention to the next tent, another bout of screaming, whimpers, and swords clanging catching her hearing.

With Elann, Noah stepped up behind her and raised the stormgem. His bondmate’s sights were elsewhere and the archers were starting to split their attention between Elann and Noah and Aimee with her conjuration. He caught another arrow being loosed in their direction, aimed for himself. In total chance he raised his free hand and bid Zulrav’s bursting wind from it, sending the arrow unsteady in its flying and forcing it down into the ground before them. In the next action he willed the stormgem alive as he did before and the crackling ensued and enveloped his hand like the last time. As before, he asked the gem to aim for his sights and it did so. This time, instead of leashing a thin bolt of lightning, this one crackled and surged, erupting through the air with little more than intense sizzling. The bolt of white lightning took little less than a blink to reach the archer in question, ending him before traveling to the archer nearest him with the remaining energy of the bolt. Fried, both men collapsed in sequence.

Noah released a breath he didn’t realize he was holding and brought his hand to his stitched side, the movements forcing a great ache despite the pumping adrenaline. He groaned and showed the pain in his face, falling back to Elann’s side for as much as it would do to give him a moment’s breath of recovery. Aimee had gone off and he could only see where she was because one of the campfires in his sights turned tornadic as she protected another family with her magic.