Noah ate two more spoonfuls of the mush slowly, listening to Elann as she went on to address his apology. He still failed to understand Yahal, and had stopped trying to. He didn’t get why their marriage needed to be blessed by any deity, he didn’t ask Zulrav to bare witness to their ceremony, though the god showed up anyway. He was more than sure that Elann had prayed for Yahal’s presence at their wedding, though he couldn’t see nor feel the pure god if He was there. He accepted he didn’t understand a majority of the gods, only understanding his own because He was easily understood.

Noah smiled politely at her chuckle, recalling her birthday. They didn’t do anything more than hunting that day, but was more than the nothing she was going to do. He remembered how she used her sling to shoot at the hare he was pursuing from above and how he dived at it only to miss, his talon catching in the snow and his body tumbling into a snowdrift. He remembered the fox they actually managed to down and how Elann landed the crippling blow before he killed it. Before that, he remembered how she touch him for the first time, hesitantly bringing her hand over his head as he ate their first catch, a squirrel.

He closed the small gap between them and set his bowl down in front of her on the rock. Noah chose not to dwell on his confusion with Yahal and any other god but his own, insteading focusing on the fact that Elann found a way to love him. He licked his lips, taking a step towards the river and little his shoes sink slightly into the damp sand.

“Is Yahal using me for you?” he asked, peering back at her. “Is it just about you getting to know Yahal?”