Illumin0sity

Journey to the East

Noah trained his eyes on Elann, waiting for her to open up and tell him why she asked her question. The topic of him being romantic came up again, a term he hadn’t heard from her since their time in the hot springs just outside of Syliras, the day he inadvertently caused a great rain storm. The heat of the water reminded him of the heat of the springs and he felt the moment was vaguely reminiscent of then, save for the storms and bad feelings. That wasn’t to say the bad feelings weren’t there residing between himself and his bondmate; the residual aftereffects of their last fight and falling out remained, he was not sense-blind to that.

This lesson was a repeat of what she attempted to teach him in the hot springs before upsetting him by closing off their bond in the most abrupt way. He hadn’t forgotten the instance, the image clear in his mind. That moment and time had been forgiven though somewhere along the trip, papered over by the promise of home in Zeltiva once again.

“Oh,” he whispered. While her words weren’t intentionally seeking to put him down, he couldn’t help but feel bad about it. The feeling was soft, like most of his, but it was there and apparent should she be attentive. “I didn’t know.” What he said was apologetic in intention.

“I just wanted to be alone with you,” he told her. “That’s why I asked if you would take a bath with me, so we could be alone, together.”

Noah yearned for isolation and solitude. Where it was once for himself, it was now for him and the object of his permanent affection, Elann. While he would never seek to hide her away from the world against her will, he did thoroughly enjoy moments like this, maybe more so than herself with him lately or at all.

Inquisitively, he looked around the room, his eyes catching the candle’s flickering flames one at a time before settling back on Elann. “How’s this romantic?” he questioned.

Journey to the East

Noah sunk further into the water as Elann soaked her hair and began to wash. He would do so later, for now he wanted to relax. With an imagination as vivid as his own, it wasn’t long after closing his eyes did his mind wander far away from the current moment, from himself and Elann. He’d seen Elann’s glistening skin, and he thought it made her sparkle like a gem, her smooth skin, complexion, and bright eyes all adding to the display. Mentally, he didn’t comment on it though as he filled the darkness of his sight with ever-changing imagery.

He was partially drawn from his mind’s images when Elann set her foot over his legs. His hands went slowly to grab at it lightly, mostly his fingers grazing over the skin’s surface before her leg was torn away. He didn’t see her feet, or any feet, in the same light as she did; so long as they weren’t absurdly dirty he had little problem with them, thinking the dirt a consequence of living. It was small and insignificant. Soon after her foot had touched him and fled, she spoke up, asking what was on his mind.

Noah hummed, his mouth partially submerged under the water. He straightened himself up, drawing his head up out of the water until just his chin was dancing atop the tiny waves on the surface. “Flying,” he told her simply. “The past, when I used to fly over Zeltiva and over the mountains when I was younger. Or there were times when I would fly out to sea, following some of the ships to the end of the bay. Fishing too, when I would fish in the bay by myself.”

Noah cracked his eyes open, looking at her with his eyes, pale golden due to the candlelight. They resembled a washed out version of the stark yellow gaze he possessed when transformed, with the same sharp vision that narrowed on Elann’s dark hair and then her face. “Why do you ask?” he wondered in reply.

Journey to the East

Noah missed Elann’s smug and annoyed look entirely; after kicking his shirt off to the side he went about preparing the bath. To him, if the shirt was dirty and going to be collected with other equally dirty clothes, there was no point in being orderly with it. He would’ve been neat otherwise. As it were, he was not.

Elann told him she was fine with the lighting, it was romantic. He nodded and looked around, taking in the warm colors that were probably more vibrant in his eyes as opposed to her own. He could truly appreciate the brilliancy of her own irises due to his sight, a feature of hers he adored openly. Noah nodded. “I like it too,” he said quietly about the lightning.

With the water running into the bath Noah settled onto sitting at the edge of the tub’s basin and watching Elann go about folding his shirt and setting it with the outer portion of her dress. He then watched her undress, quietly taking in her small frame, the hills and valleys of her body, and then what he could see of the angelic wings iridescent shimmering in an outline on her back. Noah’s own mark was shimmering in the same way, light glinting off the silvery blues that swirled in real-time on his back like an active storm, a hurricane.

Noah watched her come to him, his eyes curiously on her as she walked in his direction. She took a slight turn though, going up the steps leading to the top of the tub's basin before slowly submerging herself. Noah got up then, moving to replace the plywood of the hutch the stop the hot water. The bath was hot but not impossible to submerge oneself in, cooled enough by the cold water coming from the aqueducts above and outside the house. Standing, Noah stripped himself of his bottoms and followed Elann’s lead in folding the garment, dirty or not. He set it atop the pile of other clothes before approaching the tub, climbing the steps, and then slowly sinking in as well. Since it was a soaking tub, the basin was comparatively deep when matched up against the tubs Elann may have seen in Syliras. It had to be made as such in order to take the long bodies of Noah and his family, therefore it was big enough for Elann and Noah together since they were both small in comparison to the males of his family.

Noah let out a long sigh and closed his eyes to enjoy the water, his legs loosely crossed underneath the water. He was on the opposite side of the tub from Elann, shrinking himself in order to give her free reign of the rest of the tub. He didn’t need a lot of space as it were and was comfortable in his little spot. Elann could feel the seemingly heavy stressors of their trip slowly melting away from Noah, his comfort and mood lightening significantly in comparison to what had been weighing on him before and during their trip to Zeltiva.

Journey to the East

Ryon smiled at Elann’s words, eventually slouching back in his chair after grabbing another cup of ale as his sister made rounds to collect all the plates, save for their father’s. Viktor was nearly done as it was, but they just left him alone to finish at his own pace. Aimee drained the water in the basin and let it go down to the pipe into the system under the house before replugging the hole at the bottom then calling upon fresh water from the system above. She was doing this while Elann said her thank yous. Viktor looked up from his dwindling plate and nodded before waving his fork in goodbye. Ryon uttered a “you too” as he waved, and Aimee looked over her shoulder to say goodbye as well.

“Aimee,” Noah called over the now clattering dishes, “is there water in the basin?”

The she-wolf pulled the stick holding her hair in a bun out and shook out the length of it, setting the stick off onto the counter. She called back with an affirmation, allowing Noah to walk the rest of the distance between the dining table and the archway leading to the main hall with Elann at his side. As they got into the hall the fire from the hearth greeted them with its dry hot air and crackling sounds.

Noah pointed across the hall towards the bathroom. There were three doors lined up across the hall from them. “The sliding doors is the bathroom. If you have to pee, you can use the door next to it. The toilet’s in there,” he informed her. Before Noah slipped away upstairs he gave her a lasting kiss on her temple.

Once through the sliding doors Elann would be greeted by a dimly lit opening following the doors being slid shut. Going straight, she would come to a corner on her right that she would turn revealing the large, empty soaking tub. It was made of dark wood and embedded into the stone in the corner of the room. Inside the tub, the wood had been smoothed out and at the very bottom was a hold needing to be plugged that would drain the tub back into the underground water system. To the tub’s right was something resembling a closed hutch but the smell of burning wood was apparent in the air. If she opened the top shelf of the hutch she’d see the reservoir of water being held in a basin. Under it, separated by something like a grate, was the fire that was heating it. In the room was a collection of shelves holding various oils and waxy bars of sweet, musky, or herbal smelling scents. Hanging near the tub were various brushes and on another smaller shelf over the tub were a few sponges. A sweet and floral smell was in the air, clearly residual from Aimee’s bath.

After a relatively short time the sliding doors would sound again, once as they were opened, then twice as they were closed. A small wooden latch sounded as Noah locked the door behind him. He revealed himself from the corner carrying only Elann’s nightgown and the three towels requested, of which he hung up near the corner he rounded.

His eyes went over the area in his telltale observatory way, his eyes flicking like they did from each thing in the room while his head slowly swiveled until a full sweep of the room had been done.

“They got a new tub,” he pointed out softly.
The light was dim yet warm, the candles lit on the perimeter of the room doing their jobs in providing minimal light to keep a bath relaxing. The only window in the room had been covered by a curtain, so there was no moon or starlight streaming through. Noah stripped off his shirt, letting it drop to the floor before he kicked it off to the side.

“You can light more of the candles if you want,” he told her before moving towards the tub and plugging the bottom. He then moved towards the heated basin held within the hutch-like-structure. Noah reached for the collapsed spout at the side and opened it up to lead to the tub. Pulling on a small slat on the hutch, the hot water came streaming out down the spout before falling into the bottom of the tub.

He let the hot water run for a time before eventually calling upon cooler water to mingle with the hot. He sat on the edge of the tub facing the room, looking to see what Elann was doing since his attention hadn’t been on her all that much.

Journey to the East

Viktor nodded in solidarity with Elann as she spoke up to say she was the same as him. He chewed, looking to his wife as she got up. With her gone he focused readily on his meal, planning to leave nothing uneaten. Isabella fully left the room, his ears picking up her soft footsteps until she tread over the rug, deafening him to her walking.

Noah wasn't particularly worried Elann would stop him, and if she planned to, he planned to make a game out of it. As it were though, Elann didn’t engage him and allowed him to take from her plate. He split her fish with the side of his fork and scooped up the bigger piece, shrinking back into his own space as he ate it. He remained where he was as she asked her question to Aimee, Ryon, and Viktor.

It was Ryon who answered for their family, initially shrugging to give a feel for what he was going to say. “Rarely,” he said. “It’s really something we do together, as a family, rather than with the hunters.” He paused to grab at his napkin, wiping his fingertips. “I mean, if the hunters are in the area we are hunting in we’ll lead them to a herd or something but that’s about it.”

“It’s a personal thing,” Aimee added, wiping off her mouth. “It’s not often that we can go out anymore, especially lately, so when we get to go, it’s reserved for us to stay special.”

Aimee pushed away from the table, having finished what little seconds she managed to get ahold of. Her first course had been large, and it was clear she was holding back when in Syliras eating in Elann’s apartment. There was that, and she was leaving enough left over to satiate Jocelyn’s equally voracious appetite once she came home early that morning. Noah finished up as well while Ryon was speaking. His plate was clean, so he sat back and let Aimee come by to scoop up his plate. Aimee reached for Elann’s too - if she was done - before rounding the table to pick up Ryon’s. She left her father’s alone, going past him to the counters and stacking the plates atop where Isabella put hers.

Noah downed what wine was left in his cup in a final gulp then pushed away from the table as well. He was full and didn’t have kitchen-cleaning-duty that night. He figured he would have it tomorrow evening, so he didn’t want to stick around in case someone had a task for him he didn’t want to do. He went to the back of Elann’s chair and leaned down, speaking quietly into her ear. “Do you want to take a bath with me?” he asked, pausing there for Elann’s reply before he would go off into the main hall and make his way for the bathroom of the house.

Journey to the East

Isabella smiled graciously at Elann for the Benshira’s acceptance. Her breath had been nearly bated in that moment, held because she was unsure if Elann would accept. “Good,” Isabella said, nodding and looking back down onto her dwindling plate. “We’ll try to get out in the afternoon some time, after I get home from working.” Her eyes flicked up once more to meet Elann’s, she smiled and nodded again, cementing the plans.

There was a small lull in the conversation as Ryon and Aimee and Noah went reaching for the entrees in the middle of the table again. They were selective this time, only grabbing what they wanted seconds of. Viktor had yet to reach out for the entrees again, his own plate still relatively full compared to his children’s, mostly because his plate was stacked from the get-go. The lull was put to an end by Elann’s voice penetrating the quiet, calling out for Viktor’s attention with her questions.

Politely, he dabbed his mouth after swallowing what was in there. “This time of year I’m usually working two jobs. My main one is that of a shipwright in the day, and at night I help out at the docks, loading ships that will go out in the morning and unloading ships that are pulling in at night,” he explained. “Some days I’ll go out into the forest and aid the hunters, that’s mostly because I want to, not for the coin. I’d get bored if I didn’t work so much.” He grunted a laugh, stabbing at his plate and scooping up some of the fish on it.

Isabella didn’t reach for seconds, actually pushing her chair out and rising before taking her plate and moving back towards the counters. Nothing remained on her plate, all of it eaten, so she set it on the counter by the water basin then doubled back to the table in order to lean down over Viktor, planting a kiss on his temple. She rounded Aimee’s side of the table and did the same to Noah, lingering with her hand in his hair before setting a hand gingerly atop Elann’s head as well.

“I’ve an early shift in the morning, so I best get to bed. Since Ryon and I cooked, Aimee and Viktor, you two have to clean the kitchen before you go to bed,” she commanded gently.

Aimee nodded, looking at her mother as she chewed. Viktor did pretty much the same, nodding as he brought his cup of ale up to sip from. Noah, sitting beside Elann, watched his mother leave the kitchen before reaching for the pitchers in the middle, pouring himself what was his third cup of wine. He set the pitcher down and took a drag from his cup, setting it on the table before picking up his fork again. Although he had grabbed seconds, he turned his attention to Elann and drifted his fork playfully towards her plate, aiming to snatch up some of the fish she was regarding as a delicacy.

Journey to the East

In his questioning Viktor was comparing Noah to his wife and chosen bondmate, posing all questions for Elann to answer since he knew his son well enough to not ask them again. Isabella had informed him Noah had been marked once again, as much witnessed by her, so Viktor felt he would ask if Elann was marked by her chosen deity as well. While it was rare, to him, the question was warranted and logical given happenstance.

Upon Elann affirming as much, he nodded and left it alone, going quiet in order to view what he could of Elann’s iridescent mark and to allow Ryon to ask his question. She was twenty years old, another tidbit of information that was met with a nod of understanding from not only Viktor, but Ryon as well.

“That's young for your people, humans,” Viktor said, not meaning to segregate but to point out. While she didn't know it, Elann had been the first human outside of the Amuel family friends that sat at their dinner table. Ryon didn't usually bring his own girls around, even his now ex-fiancée was scarcely seen.

“Bella,” Viktor called to his wife, “are you still going out tomorrow?”

The she-eagle hummed in affirmation, nodding as she set her utensils down to wipe her hands on her napkin, dabbing her lips in kind. “I wanted to take Elann and Noah out to buy some new clothes and shoes before the party next week,” she said, looking over to the Benshira and Noah. “You don't oppose to us spending some money on the two of you, do you, Elann?”

The question was pointed more so at Elann than Noah because it seemed she, before, had reservations about taking from them, even though it had been offered readily.

“I know you two brought quite a bit of coin with you,” she continued, “but I wouldn't want you dipping into your own pocket until you get your more important things in order, or until you want to. For now though, I wanted to complete your welcome to the city.”

Isabella trained her eyes on Elann, patiently awaiting any reply the Benshira had to give.

Journey to the East

There wasn't much of an outward reaction from Viktor as Elann spoke. All there was was a brief shifting of eyes as he looked to Isabella at his side and then back to Elann as she continued on. He was really giving the Benshira his attention, not taking another bite of his food until she was done entirely. As she ended, he smiled and nodded in understanding.

"I imagine it's quite a lot to take in, given you've lived in tents for most of your life, yeah?" he went, pausing to cut away at his at the filets on his plate. Looking up and back at her, he continued, "You said you were groomed to be a prophetess of Yahal, that you were gifted with visions. Are you blessed by Yahal like Noah is from Zulrav?"

Elann would begin to notice Viktor's eyes weren't the only on her in that moment. Aside from Noah's, of which looked up and about between bites, Ryon's were more intently settled on Elann in preparation for her answer. The other two, the women, Aimee and Isabella, were reserved and quiet, more focused on eating their fill, though their ears were pointed towards the conversations. Aimee's were done so in little effort, and Isabella was mostly listening for her husband's quiet voice and Elann's one in return when it came.

"Say, Elann, how old are you anyway?" Ryon cut in, pointing with his fork at the Benshira across the table from him.

Journey to the East

While they were waiting for his father to join the table, Noah was glad to feel Elann's hand slip into his, invasive or not. Calmly, he grazed his thumb over his skin as they sat patiently. Eventually his father did come, kissing him, sitting, starting the rotation for food to be dished out, all before speaking and inquiring about Elann. Noah detached himself from Elann in order to pass the food around and to fill his own plate with a slice of pie, bread, soup, and a few filets of fish. When Elann was done with filling her own plate he would take the dishes from her and set them back in the middle of the table for all to wish.

“Your friend never showed up, not even later?” Viktor questioned again curiously after swallowing. “Why were you sent away?” The question was asked just before another helping of pie went into his mouth.

Noah was eating quietly until the second question was asked of Elann. He slowed in his own chewing, looking to Elann warily at his side. There was a pang in his chest for her as he vividly recalled delivering the letter detailing her disownment, though that was long after she was sent away. The shift in Noah’s disposition, while not painfully obvious, was apparent enough for the man at the head of the table.

“Ah,” Viktor murmured. “You don’t have to answer that if you do not wish to, Elann.”

Journey to the East

Noah hummed quietly and thoughtfully at what Elann had to say. He wasn't thoroughly satisfied with her answer but didn't press it anymore. She said his father seemed nice and that would have to be enough for now, just knowing she pictured his father to be a larger and perhaps more imposing man than truthfully seen would have to satiate his curiosity.

"Okay," he said quietly to her playful threat.

Noah released her wrists and rolled off of her and back onto the bed, rolling once more to reach the edge and pivot to place his feet on the ground. Getting up, he went to close the window, pulling the panes back inside before letting the curtains fall over the them.

He rounded the foot of the bed then, going to the trunk where he had folded his clothes and lain them atop. Noah stooped down and scooped up his clothes before rising and tossing the shirt over to the bed, putting his pants on first then doubling back for the shirt and draping it over his scarred frame. He went to the mirror next and made sure the sleep in his face wasn't all too apparent and to see if the curls in his hair were satisfactory to him. Leaving came next, so he went out into the hall and down the stairs, lingering for Elann if she hadn't made it out already, before going down the steps back into the main hall of the house.

He could very vividly smell the now finished food and the last minute frying of fish that was happening. Rounding the corner into the kitchen, he saw his two other siblings sitting down at the table while his mother tended to the pan over the reignited hearth. The table was set in its entirety, an empty platter for the fish being set down near the two other entrees. Noah naturally came to sit next to Aimee, an open spot on his opposite side for Elann. Viktor had yet to make it down, but soon enough his footsteps came and he reappeared in the kitchen. He made a beeline for Noah, coming to the eagle and bringing a large hand over the curly locks of hair that he mussed, undoing any work Noah may have put into keep them orderly. Bending down, Viktor planted an loving kiss on Noah's forehead before taking a seat at the head of the table.

Elann would be able to plainly feel the immensefully warm feelings stirring in Noah and how elated he was to see and feel his father's touch again. His face didn't show the great sense of happiness, but it was there broiling inside of him, something she may have not felt in a while. Isabella came back to the table with the pan of fried fish and scooped them down onto the empty platter before returning to the water well and dropping the pot in. She came to sit down beside Viktor and across from Aimee. True to their assumed hierarchy, Viktor was the first to grab at what he wanted, gently requesting that an entree be passed to him if he couldn't reach it himself without imposing on someone's space. Isabella was next before it went to Ryon, then Aimee, and finally Noah followed by Elann. The rotation went around until everyone had something on their plates. Pitchers of ale, wine, and water had been set at the table, though Ryon and Elann had mugs of coffee, still hot and freshly made as well.

The intial passing around food was very quiet, everyone getting their requests in for what they want and didn't want. Perhaps unlike what Elann was used to, no one was designated as the server of food or pourer of drink. Each thing was done for oneself and one was free to decline something without feeling judged or pressured. There were three entrees after all, and three choices of drink, four if you counted coffee, and five if you counted the kettle of hot water on the oven for tea.

"Elann," Viktor said, cutting away at his pie, "I heard you're from Eyktol, yeah?" His voice, while bold was low and gently reverberating over the sounds of utensils softly clattering against plates as they ate. "How'd you find your way to Syliras, to Noah?" The man bit down on his fork, chewing as he looked at her expectantly from down the table.