Noah draped his arm around Elann, resting his hand over the small of her back as she nuzzled into him and sapped his heat from his skin with her cold extremities. Believe it or not, it was a feeling he missed, her coldness on his hotness, because it meant they were close enough to even touch in that way. Opening the way for her to expand upon the space she had in his heart was a hard thing, but nothing she did so far had uneased him, scared him, or made him unsure if it was the right decision to make. He wasn’t pressuring himself to let her invade him, his hurt wouldn’t let him do that. He was letting her find her way back, his mind judging her actions to see if they followed the words of promise she spoke.

It took Noah a little longer to fall asleep. He hadn’t drunk any of the herbal painkiller in a full day now, but the warmth and love of Elann’s affections and their interactions dulled his ache enough to be comfortable in falling asleep and sharing his bond with Elann. The rolls of the wagon had to be passed off as something else, something rocking and soothing enough to lull the Kelvic into sleep. He was the opposite of Elann, when they hit a bump or divot in the road he was roused slightly from his doze that deepened in time. Eventually, he did fall asleep entirely in what depth his mind allowed him to drift into.

Two bells passed before Noah woke up again and, when he did, Elann didn’t stir despite his shifting to regain his comfortable position. Aimee hadn’t returned, staying true to her word, she was going to walk that day. In his half-wakefulness, the male wondered if it was some form of avoidance or if she was recovering from the apparent consequences of her magic used yesterday evening. He had no way of knowing until he asked but the last thing he wanted to do was peel himself away from the bed and try to find her.

As it were, he let himself be taken by the lazes of sleep again until evening began to fall and his waking mind was disturbed by the wagon’s rocking and creaking and jumbling. Elann was still sleeping at his side but his head was starting to hurt from his own heat and the lack of water in his system. He hadn’t drunken any tea before sleeping and all he had was the remains of Elann’s water from that morning.

He tried his best to slip away from Elann without totally waking her, rising to sit up and scratch his head before laying the palm flat against the side that was throbbing. His waking eyes found the pitcher of water she kept inside the wagon for such situations, next to the tea, in the corner of the wagon near their things. Like he basically crawled into the bed to lie beside Elann, he did the same to crawl towards the pitchers and the few cups that were theirs to begin with. There in the corner he sat down with his back to Elann and the rest of the wagon, working slowly to put himself a simple cup of water together.