Noah’s gaze settled on her all the more, sensing the hesitation in her voice and frame, the smallest quiver in the otherwise smooth way she talked - regardless of the accent - being noted. There was a pause in her words then the recounting of what happened  during their last hunt; how she was attacked by the bear, how Yahal saved her from it and then saved her from Oriana, the goddess of the bears, then how she was helpless in his defense just as he was helpless in hers. The feeling was mutual and strong, perhaps deeper than Elann’s own because there was a sense of failure in him for not taking care of himself enough to defend her, bear or not. If it meant she’d live, he’d die for her.

“We don’t have to go hunting,” he said, making it more affirmative than for the moment. “That’s how it is though. That’s how it feels to be hunted and it’s what I felt about the falcon.” Noah shrugged, discounting it all as a part of his world. “You saw one of the goddesses of nature. I think Aimee knows her name, I don’t, but she protects the bears.” He was religious enough to understand how important Zulrav and Yahal were to their blessed in that moment of the attack, how both of the deities saved their chosen from certain death, and how Yahal protected Elann from Oriana’s ugly wrath.

“I’m afraid all the time,” he said, giving Elann something to confide in. “I’m afraid that I’ll miss my catch, I’ll fall and then I’ll break my wing or something, then I’ll be stuck and I would die. I’m not afraid of dying though, I’m afraid I won’t be able to see you anymore and you’ll be hurt because I died, because I may have made a mistake, like I did then, going into that falcon’s territory.” 

He paused as well, taking a breath. “I made a mistake when I went away from you then. I wanted to get into a better place to fish from the river but I couldn’t see you under the trees. I didn’t think anything of it until you got scared and then the falcon came. I was trying to get to you as fast as I could and you pulled me so hard...” He put his hand over the center of his chest. “It hurt.”

The memory was a painful one for Noah to recount because of how personal he took the entire situation, placing himself at fault for a great deal of it. Noah knew he was capable of fighting beasts greater than himself, doing so against a dire lynx to save two women outside of Syliras two years prior. The lynx wasn’t that far off from a bear giving it’s dire status, it made him believe he could’ve distracted the bear long enough for Elann to get away.

“I did look crazy,” he urged. “You were attracted to me in those poofy pants and frilly neck thing?” Noah brought his hands up to his neck, splaying out his fingers and opening his palms wide to imitate the frill he wore on their wedding day. “It was so silly!”

He looked down at her hand, watching her fuss with the card before she prompted him again. He nodded, looking back at her. “Your hair looked really nice and the dress you wore, I liked it. I liked your... your... veil too.” He brought his hands up again, wooshing them back over his head slowly to act out the red veil she wore.

“Liam helped pick that,” he said, pointing to the mangala sutra over her neck. “Well, he picked out really big and fancy ones. I could afford them, but I liked that one the most. I didn’t want it to be... brighter than you.” He licked his lips, eyeing the piece around her neck, the two coin sized balls of gold hanging at the end as the charm. His lips spread into a soft smile then as he met her gaze again.

“You can ask Aimee,” he went on about the classes. “I didn’t see any of them unless they were outside on the nice days.”

Noah hadn’t noticed the card being flipped over, having been eyeing Elann’s necklace and then her. He had even missed her scowl entirely, entranced by the necklace in that moment. He looked down then, tsking his tongue in mild annoyance. He brought his hand over the deck, pulling at the next card before looking at her.

“High or low?”