The edges of Noah’s words were apparently razor sharp; each point he said seemingly jabbed at Elann. There was a pang in his chest each time he drove a point home, and it wasn’t of his own bad feeling but of Elann’s communicated through the spiritual bond they shared. He had not cut himself off from her, didn’t dull what he was feeling, and though she was sending him calm and loving emotions, he was retaliating with angst and annoyance. He was unapologetic in his speech, and perhaps it was too blunt of a blow for Elann to take, but it was what came when he spoke exactly what was on his mind. Elann, instead of continuing their engagement, shrunk underneath his verbal battering.

It was not his intention to tear her down, to bombard her with his words, and he didn’t realize the gravity of them until her feelings of hurt managed to ebb over his torrent of frustration. Still, he spoke truthfully. At times she did annoy him, at times she was extremely confusing, and she could be frustrating. Apologizing for the words he meant would dull their meaning and so he didn’t apologize for them. He was only sorry for the way they made her feel.

There were reasons he didn’t speak often or spoke little. Noah’s words often held the frank truth of the wild world he reveled in. One could not sugarcoat the death of a hare by his talons or an elk’s broken leg that would lead to their abandonment by their herd because they couldn’t keep up. Tact was for the humans of Elann’s world, and while he understood the delicacy in words, he didn’t practice it because he didn’t feel they were true. If someone made another person angry then they should be told that they’re angry and why. He didn’t feel he should have to delicately trace around why he was angry only to apologize for it in the end. His words were voided then, or their meanings softened to the point where the other person wouldn’t honor the boundaries being put up and maintained.

Noah wasn’t a stranger to receiving the same verbal treatment he dished out, often receiving such bluntness from his father and the other members of his family. Elann was delicate in her words, but there were still frank people out there. Noah had encountered many of them.

In the end, he wasn’t attempting to put up boundaries with his words, and he wasn’t trying to wall her out. Noah wasn’t trying to assault her either, so when her soft words came basically conceding the conversation and allowing him to be rid of it, and her presence altogether, he felt a glimmer of guilt. He sighed from the nose, seeking to quell the frustration within him targeted at her. While it didn’t falter away, it did lessen enough for him to speak.

Noah turned, trailing slightly after her. His long reach tugged on the cloth of her top easily and he stood still, the weight of his body acting as the anchor for the act. “I didn’t mean to offend you,” he said quietly while she remained in his space. “It’s what’s in my heart and I’m sorry if they make you sad, but that wasn’t what I meant to do.”

He let her go after that. If she wanted to continue to leave him then she could, he had no more to say on the matter now that his apology was in the air. He had attempted to soften his words for the apology, and just as he meant the words that had apparently offended her, he meant the words which were to act as the reconciler. Should she continue on then he would assume on his own what she thought of it and him. Her sadness quietly ached along the silver cord than bound them, yet accompanying it was his annoyance and confusion with her, lingering.