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.