Noah’s hand idly came up to stroke the length of Alena’s hair as she slept. It might’ve been an obsession of his, hair, but he liked the feel of it between his fingers and liked how light and malleable if could be to outside forces. The hair and eyes of others are what he examined first when seeing others for the first time. Hair, like a dog’s coat or a bird’s feathers, told of the health of an individual and the eyes spoke truth more often than not. They were two great indicators for him, and he saw innocence when he looked in Alena’s eyes, her cheer being a great encourager of his mood to act as a distraction from what was around him.

He was able to see Elann glancing at him whenever he looked up from Alena. When he did look at Alena, it was out of admiration and warmth, as those were the emotions that resided in his gut to live quietly with the others of whispering happiness and muttering doubts. He looked up again; Elann was approaching and he followed her with his eyes until she sat near his thigh, whispering. The stroking in Alena’s hair had ceased and his arm rested on her little shoulder.

“No,” he said quietly. “I’ll go to sleep when we stop again.”

Having just witnessed the bandit raid and lived through it, the protective sense in him didn’t want to sleep until he was assured that Alena would be safe. As it were then, she was with him and not her parents even though they weren’t far away. Elann and Aimee showed themselves capable of defending themselves, but Alena was just a child and couldn’t do that for herself. If push came to shove, he knew he would choose Elann over Alena, but since push wasn’t shoving, the little girl was where his protections lay.

The stroking of her hair continued again as he realized his thoughts. There was discomfort enough in him to keep him awake and his mind would calm itself as time went on, even if the process would have been sped up by a good night’s rest. Be that as it were, he was awake because she was asleep and literally leaning unto him for support.

“I’m okay,” he assured Elann once more, looking to the girl at his side before looking back to his bondmate.