Noah stood as Elann excused herself to fetch their dinner. The few people around the fire gave him brief looks and he gave them placid looks in return. He yawned tiredly before moving closer to the opening of him and Elann’s tent, slowly easing down to sit there with his legs stretched out in front of him. Elann and Aimee didn’t set the tent up too far from the main fire everyone was lingering around, leaving him much to be desired in terms of isolation. He had seen Emery the doctor and his family, little Alena too, but the adults were clinging to their daughter in a way that didn’t give them any time to socialize. It had graced Noah’s mind to approach them but he decided against it, unsure how he would have been received.

With Elann away the curiosity to poke at his wound came again and he did so, letting his hands fall back onto his lap idly. He played with the grass between his spread legs, plucking and feeling at the strands, dark green in the moonlight. After a moment he pretended the grass was the warm beaches of Zeltiva, the sand being coarse and grainy between his fingers and under the nails. He felt the imaginary warmth of the beaming sun on his bare body and the radiating warmth from the hot sand underneath where he sat.

His daydreaming was dismissed as Elann came, finding him at the tent as opposed to around the fire with everyone else. He took his bowl in hand and brought the brim to his lips, tipping it back to drink  the thick broth before dipping his spoon in to scoop up the chunks of meat and potatoes. He ate quietly with Elann as well, humming in agreement to her assumption on Aimee’s cooking. Noah was unknowledgeable as to if Aimee actually cooked this meal or if she was just acting as an assistant to the cook. As he scooped and chewed with a slow rhythm he was looking around the camp and into the thicket off to the flanks. The tree cover wasn’t as thick as their previous encampments, probably see the guards could see any approaching persons with clarity. Noah also noticed the guards were more alert than he had previously observed them to be.

In time his attention shifted to Elann, watching her go through her own motions of eating, following her spoon as it dipped into the bowl then rose to her mouth. Noah’s attention shifted wholly to her after he was done eating, partly waiting for her to be done as well and partly just to satisfy his own fleeting curiosity. As she slowed in her telltale signs of finishing, Noah brought his spoon over into her bowl and scooped up a chunk of the meat, bringing it to his mouth. He hummed to denote its tastiness but also to grab Elann’s attention if it had been elsewhere.

Though he was still chewing, holding food in his mouth, his cheeks were tugged in the way to denote his smile. He brought his tongue over his lips then leaned in on her, placing a quick succession of kisses onto her cheek, each one accompanied with the sharp noise kisses made.