Noah snaked his hand from behind her back and shook his head at her question. “Both are not free,” he stated. “You guys have these rules. You have to be nice to the people you see, you’re not allowed to be mean even when the other person deserves it. If someone offends you, you should tell them. You shouldn’t have to grin and bear it. That’s… stupid.”

“I am not giving up trying to be more human because I know that it’s what you want, and I guess I still want that too. You said you wouldn’t have known my mother or sister were Kelvics if I didn’t tell you, but you would not have known if I was a Kelvic if I didn’t tell you either, right?” he questioned in reply. “I look just like a normal man, don’t I? They look just like normal, human women. My mother acts more human because of Lanna, because she had to if she wanted to avoid suspicion. Sometimes they were in places where she wasn’t allowed to be who she was so she had to hide it in order to survive.”

“Aimee probably learned because she likes having fun and likes going to school, and no one wants to attend parties with weird Kelvics. No one wants us in their classes either,” he said, looking at Elann. “When you yelled at me in the Stallion asking why I wasn’t behaving like a human, you really hurt my feelings. I didn’t want to upset you anymore, and I didn’t want you yelling at me anymore, so I try to talk more, even if I don’t want to. It takes a lot to understand you and your people, and I don’t know how I can get you to understand me.”

“This is me,” he said, raising his hand to gesture to the trees on their flank. “This is you.” Noah used the same hand to gesture to the caravan. “I care for you because you were the first person to treat me like I wasn’t a freak, and I love you for that. I gave you my bond because I felt safe with you. I don’t feel caged, but it is a lot to deal with all this change. It is really, really overwhelming sometimes, Elann.” He understood that the caravan wasn’t her Benshiran culture, but he believed the gesture told of the same humanness between her and the others with them on the caravan.

“I had to learn to talk to a vendor if I wanted to get what I wanted. I learned to do that in Zeltiva. I was sad to leave Liam because he was like you; he was very nice to me, and took a long time to understand me. We met two years ago, and I had considered giving him my bond, but I bonded with Caesarion before I could. Then, I bonded with you,” he explained. All the Fratava speak over the past few days made his words slur on the border between Common and the exotic language, atop of that he was started to get flustered.

“We’ve only been hunting together a few times,” he said. “Love’s a strong word, right? I don’t know if you’ve seen enough of me in the wild to be in love with that side of me.” He pressed his hand to his chest. “You’ve seen me like this more than any person I’ve met. I’ve been with you and those ways more than any person. They are special to me to because I feel safe enough to be that way with you.”

Noah exhaled, dropping his shoulders. “You said you didn’t like me leaving, so I’m not leaving right now even though I [u]don’t like[/u] this conversation,” he said. “It’s a lot to change in less than a year, Elann. We met on the 25th of Summer and bonded on the 25th of Winter. That’s not really a long time, right? A year’s not long to you, is it? We haven’t even known one another a year.”

Noah inhaled and brought a hand to course through his hair, coming down the back of his head, the nape of his neck, to rest on his shoulder. He looked ahead, not really wanting to meet her eyes right now. He had said a lot, and it was exhausting to think it all up. He was a quiet person, and much would’ve preferred to stay that way. Yet, as he said, he didn’t want to upset Elann anymore than he had in the past week by either leaving or not saying much at all.