Illumin0sity

Journey to the East

The way the bond worked, they were allowed to feed off one of another exchanging emotions and bring them to new, unparalleled heights. However, there was also control in these and emotions, and because Elann often flooded him with emotions that were overwhelming, he could control his bond like a gauge, and at times he could block Elann out of him entirely, like his mother had done Lanna at times. He did this in times of concentration - when he would be working and Elann would be going about her day elsewhere. As bondmates they could be miles away from one another and still feel intimately close, and it showed heavily in Syliras when they went about their jobs before returning home. Having a surging of Elann’s giddiness when he was making a calculated flight between Mithryn and Syliras was jarring, and so he managed to shut her out. Recently he hadn’t called upon the ability because he didn’t want to shut her out if they weren’t pursuing other obligations. In the caravan all they had to see was one another in any case.

Elann met his desire with one of her own but hers sparked into the passion he knew oft times had no bounds. He wasn’t looking to be sparked or overwhelmed, but to have a quiet and deep yearning for her and to have understand him in the way she wanted to be understood. He played along for a time until it became too much and over the bounds he had set for the moment. Noah was pulled in for the kiss and in it his bond was chaotic with energies. Because her own heart was throbbing in her chest, his was too, but it was discomforting. Pausing, he broke off the kiss and took a swelling breath, almost gasping literally and figuratively.

He brought his hand between them, asking for a moment, and his eyes spoke of his pleading. As she asked of him once before, he said, “Calm.” Leaning in again, he led by example and stifled the frightfulness her blazing passion instilled in him. Lovingly he kissed her again and went over the rehearsed motions of kissing.

The first time Noah had been kissed in such a way was with Caesarion, it was a slow and sensual way that rung out deafeningly with how deeply the other man felt for Noah. Noah felt immense love for Elann, but he was a gentle and quiet being; when immense emotion was felt, it was powerful like the thunder in the clouds, it was low, bass-heavy, and rumbling. Each sound, movement, showed what he felt and was enlightening like a flash of lightning. He wanted her to understand that here.

It wasn’t that Noah couldn’t keep up with her heightened passion, but as it were now, he was weak and unable to soar to the heights she wanted him to. He was bound by his wounds, all of them, and was just looking for a trueness of herself and a sense of oneness he felt comfortable enough to submerge himself in.

Parting, he looked at her again. “Like that,” he whispered. “Calm.” He waited for her reply, if it would come. Inside he yearned for her to feel his feelings too. He wasn’t seeking for her to compound her emotion atop his and douse it in flame, but to feel the deep reverberations of his love in its nethermost way he was ever displaying it. He couldn’t say when he could swell like this again, but he was bearing it all in the moment and it would fleet.

Journey to the East

Though Noah parted, he was pulled back into Elann for another kiss, the second sparked from his first, and then they parted again. With Elann nuzzling into him, the already hot Kelvic was warmed more inwardly, the chill presiding over his heart seeming to thaw as he was filled with a new hope. He hoped it wouldn’t wane and hoped that a new approach to it all could be taken by the both of them. Just like she wanted him to behave in a certain way, he expected the same of her. It would be hard fought given he had not decided to forgive her yet, but he felt his unforgiving attitude wouldn’t turn into a grudge or something more sinister than that even. He believed it would remain, softening as time went on until he felt safe again in her presence, safe in exposing himself in full to her as he had done in the months building up to their initial bonding.

Yes, it was true, she would technically be walking on eggshells because that was how fragile his feelings were at the moment and how easily startled and jarred he could be by what she did. The next days and weeks would be delicate, and if all went well the coming months would be smoother. He still thought about their future in Zeltiva and still thought on the home they wanted to build. Given the funds he had managed to save over the course of three years, he was more than able to buy a home for the both of them, and just living off what she earned in her year’s stay in Syliras. As it were, they had combined their funds and had a trove to spend. The future remained in his mind and it was because of his hope that the picture remained untainted from what was happening in the now.

Cherishing her closeness, he brought his hand to the back of her head, where it rest in the strands, to hug her in his gimped way. It was in this way he desired to have her, not sexually as she may have wanted, but emotionally and mentally, to be one in such a way was spiritual to him as it was their spirits in which were tied by his bond. Watching her over the past few days he had been attempting to formulate the attraction she yearned for from him, but it was a hard thing to do. Whenever he looked at her, he saw what lay beneath the socially attractive features. Recalling the day he saw her the first time, she had nothing about her that particularly brought him to her but her eyes and how captivating they were.

Her eyes reminded him of the bay Zeltiva sat at the head of, and her smile reminded him of the pressing seafoam the waves made when they were forced up rocks, white and crisp and refreshing. Her hair was dark like the drenched hulls of ships, and the salty smell she brought into the lobby of the complex he was staying at reminded him of the winds that swept through Zeltiva’s streets. Her skin made him think of the sandy beaches, and he was obsessed with them. They were, however, things Elann was seemingly terrified off; the water, the seafoam, and the sand because it was on the coast. Thinking still, he supposed he was attracted to her eyes, hair, skin, and scent because they reminded him of his home.

Most of all though, he was drawn in by the way she greeted him. Though she could only speak in broken Common at the time of their meeting, the way she spoke and carried her words was what he was enthralled by and what was what made him show her her room. Time passed and he was smitten by her kindness, the kindness she showed him because she didn’t know another yet, another who treated her how he did. The foundation in which he fell in love with her with was still there, and he could see it.

Noah cursed himself for being injured because he wanted to do more, he wanted to hold her and show, in action, just how close he held her in both body and mind. Pulling back from their hold, he pressed his lips to hers again. It was a testing peck before he pulled back again to view her with his eyes. As he did, the hold on his bond loosened and let loose his physical pain but deep emotion he held in his entire being for her and only her. As he had said, there would be no one else and there couldn’t be anyone else. There would be no harem of women cajoling for his affection, and she didn’t have to worry about his attentions being sensually given to another woman.

He studied her features, the brilliant eyes, the sand-toned skin, and the dark tresses. He thought on his love for her and let the feelings sit in his gut to be communicated as desire down the silver cord. His desire to her wasn’t passionate and ever-flowing, it was a deep sense of yearning akin to the yearn he felt whenever she pulled on their bond, summoning him. His want was evident in his eyes and in his bond flowing with his emotional energy. To cement the longing he felt, the hand in her hair trailed down to smooth over the curve in her body, her waist, and rested in the slope for a reaction.

Journey to the East

Asking for conversations to be ended was a defense mechanism of his own. After getting into arguments with Elann, Noah began to realize that it was always hard pressed for him to get his point across, as seen not a moment earlier. It was easier to concede her points and let the conversation rest, be it at the expense of his own feelings, but those he would rather spare then instead of later after more damage could be potentially done. In this instance he could see the rather self-absorbed view of her and how, many times, it had been about what she yearned for in disregard for what he wished.

Before, in her apartment, he had asked for a sense of equality in their relationship where decisions didn’t weigh solely on one person. Before they were married she had nearly slipped into the traditional role of women for her people, the submissive and malleable role where her opinion hardly mattered. In his world, both as an eagle and as a Zeltivan, the partners were equal, if not predominantly ran by women. It seem he had slipped and fallen beneath her ever demanding ways and failed to see the harm it was causing himself until it was too late and the damage had been dealt.

Noah didn’t enjoy closing her out, and in most cases it wasn’t what he intended to do. In his opinion she overreacted to his replies and took them as assaults on her character when they were just statements to defend his own. He never aimed to cut with his words, yet all they seemed to do was cut when he spoke to Elann. A part of him cursed her sensitivity and another part thought it weak of her to shrivel up in such a way. As his bondmate, he always wanted to be near her and he couldn’t think lowly of her without guilt in his mind. The sense in him was crying out for him to want her to be like the women of his family and stop being such an overly sensitive person who was thrown down by anything he said. The one time he had spoke up to defend himself in an argument vehemently, she took all of his words as daggers when they weren’t that malicious. Now, she was beating herself up over the menial spat moments ago and he couldn’t bear to look at it.

All in all, he didn’t know what to do anymore. Conversations weren’t working, silence wasn’t working, and meaningless talks were just that, meaningless. It was beyond frustrating to have every loving moment turn into something darkly tuned and it was stressful to him as well. Noah didn’t handle constant stress well, it ate away at him. He was used to flying away and being done with a situation, so much so he couldn’t sit in a rising tide and anticipate drowning. It felt like he was doing that here, standing in a red sea that constantly rose with each argument. He was submerged up to his neck in the mess and his limbs were pinned. In their last argument he had nearly drowned but his concession gave him enough room to breathe and the space between them let the tide recede. It was slowly rising again though.

Elann wasn’t the only who felt as if everything had to be perfectly said and executed. If he didn’t do something right he ran the risk of upsetting her, and being upset was never a calm thing for her. It wasn’t impossible to relax in the human world; he did it and his family did it as well. Not everything had to be dealt with with the intense desert heat. There were times when the day was mellow, more often than not, and the breezes were cool. Compatibility was becoming an ever persistent and apparent issue here but he couldn’t divorce her; it would mean everlasting pain for himself and meant he would be inflicting harm upon her as well. It was unfathomable to do such to her, not only as his bondmate, but as someone he cared about bar the bond.

Noah met her gaze with one of his own depth. He knew what he sought in a bondmate and Elann had met dozens of prerequisites, yet as time passed he learned she was not everything he yearned for. He had loved her for so long already though, and had made changes to himself to fit the image she set before him. Noah was trying his damndest to make everything work, but there was only so much strain he could take, and with each passing day and conflict, he grew evermore terrified either of them would end it then and there or at any moment.

In his eyes was that fear but his love for her was immense yet quietly residing, unable to be said in words or communicated through the silver cord between them. He took his hand from her waist and brought it up to her cheek. With his heated palm on her skin, he let it smooth down to her neck where it rested. Rising, he moved to kiss her in reassurance; he had not given up on her or them together, and, as he said, she would know if he did. It wasn’t a threat but a somber promise of her knowing when he couldn’t take anymore, when he would lose all will to fight in a forlorn way. The hard truth was in his words and actions, but this one, this movement was filled with his care and want to survive and make it out alive on the other side.

Much like he kissed her for the first time, he wanted to show several things with one action. He wasn’t passionately driven, he was driven by his love for her and the want to be together. He wanted to understand and be understood, and by now it was all he yearned for in their relationship. He felt that, in time, with understanding, they could grow past the pitfall they had fallen into. He wanted her to take his love in the immense ways he displayed it. It didn’t need to be felt through the bond to be understood, if she looked she could see it in everything he did. Grand statements only meant so much, it was the little actions which cemented his eternal devotion to her and no one else. He wanted to be seen by her as he was, not as what she wanted him to be, not as she wanted to see.

He was hard pressed but his allegiance to her ran deeper than any valley and his love was higher than the mountain ranges which surrounded Zeltiva. No amount of gods could overtake her in his heart, and Zulrav understood it. Zulrav knew when he marked a Kelvic, a Kelvic as loyally-minded as Noah, he would be dethroned by whomever his bondmate was to be. Elann was that person he would go through unspeakable things for, only to keep her love and attention, but he needed things too.

Noah’s fealty was sealed in his kiss to her and it was like a second gift, a second layer to the bond which hopefully made the bond that much more cherished by her. Already he held it with the deepest regards, he wanted her to, too. When it was returned to her, he wanted her to hold it and view him at the other end of it, not as skin or as feathers, but as a soul that was wholly hers and no one else's. Words couldn’t explain that - he would have to speak volumes upon volumes to get all he felt out, and it would be convoluted and misunderstood.

He didn’t part from her for a long while and when he did, breathing out and breathing in, he brought his hand back to her cheek, his thumb stroking at the place under her bottom lip. With his eyes looking into her, peering into the depths of her brilliant irises, he communicated his love in two actions: eye contact and a sealing kiss.

Journey to the East

Noah was thankful he was allowed to sleep but that thankfulness gave way to unease as Elann breathed out deeply, rising to lessen the lantern’s light. Though the light was dim, he was able to see in the low light and could make out her frame easily as it approached him to lie beneath the blankets. Elann’s voice was softly tuned as she bid him goodnight, saying his name with a trailing voice, then went to turn away from him. Her actions spoke volumes louder than her voice and he could see how heavily weighted the situation had made her. He understood she was trying, and it was more apparent now because she had aimed to patch up what damage she had just done, and now she was coming to know his own trials in the relationship.

Withall in mind, he wasn’t entirely empty to her. There was more than compassion in his heart for her and to see her weighed down by the situation hurt his heart. He didn’t take his eyes off of her because of it, even as she turned away from him. Should he had been able to, he would’ve readily came to her and pressed his front against her back, holding her in his caring way.

Like Elann, he was not used to the intensity she brought into his life. Everything she felt was notched up to levels he hadn’t experienced before. Keeping in mind this was his second bond, his first didn’t reach this level of depth and Caesarion was not as powerfully emotional as Elann was. Noah and Caesarion loved one another quietly and showed it in their actions, though their time together was short compared to Elann and his. Caesarion had left his mark on Noah and had further cemented him into ways of softly showing emotion. In addition to that, his hollow bones couldn’t take being emotionally flooded all the time. It was enough to stand in the tide Elann threw down their bond, but it would’ve been another thing if he was naturally like that as well.

Thinking about it, their relationship might’ve been better if he was as emotional and expressive as she was, at least vocally. His actions held a depth of emotion Elann probably couldn’t understand, and he showed it now with his hand sliding under the blankets to touch and then grasp at her, reminding her he was still there for her physically and emotionally, if only quietly so.

Noah’s eyes, pale grey with large pupils to see through the night, watched her for another reaction and his mind wondered if one would come at all. As it for provoke it all the more, he eased himself under the blanket with her, sharing the dark space with her body, his hand reaching and grasping again.

Journey to the East

In truth, it wasn’t so much as Noah wanting to hear of their past as much as he wanted Elann to silently consider it. He didn’t mind her speaking, he even loved to hear her voice, but not everything had to be said aloud - in his opinion - to hold meaning behind it. Their past was what it was and it made them into who they were as separate people and as a couple together. He didn’t need to be reminded of what happened between them to appreciate it, he thought on it everyday, especially recently. What he wanted was for her to put herself in his shoes and look at her from his eyes, finding what he loved about her and how it went deeper than her brilliant eyes, creamy skin, dark hair, and shining smile. Once she stripped those parts of herself away, as he did, she would be able to see the core and meat of who she was, the heart inside whom he fell in love with.

It did hurt his soul to hear her seemingly ask for him to open his bond to her again. It was agonizing to him because it only continued to make him believe she wasn’t actually listening to all the meaningful words coming out of his mouth. Elann admitted to hearing only the love in his words for her, disregarding his own wants in the words until his reaction forced her to chew on them a second time. In that second time she came back with a confession of wrongness, partially blaming unknown reasons for her failure to communicate and understand his words. Perhaps his words were too loaded, or perhaps Elann was too used to them being spoken all the time to glean and properly digest what he said. When Noah spoke in words of meaning everything had to be considered, from his posture to the environment, even to the way his brows flecked in their expressive ways. He spoke with his entire being when he wanted someone to really hear something.

Elann pleaded for him to not be sad or disappointed, saying she didn’t mean her words as they were said. He sighed in reply and withdrew his bond once again. Elann managed to patch over the initial damage of her mistaken request but there were still doubts residing in his mind. To him, it was evident that words, at least hers, were often being laid out without being mulled over. Then, looking inwards, he thought perhaps it was a fault of his own for being too thoughtful in his words. It was because they weren’t needed to communicate in his household, and were only used weightlessly when out in the public. To trade his family spoke Fratava, and it got them what they sought. In trade, each word held meaning because you couldn’t run the risk of the vendor misunderstanding you. Socially, things were different and misunderstandings ran rampant, as seen in this conversation now.

Only a few seconds passed between him withholding his feelings and his moment of introspection. Taking a breath, he breathed out, saying, “Okay.”

Noah didn’t know how to teach her anymore than by example. Asking her to consider the wild they were in didn’t seem to be working, at least not yet, and there were so many other humans around the lessons were possibly being diluted. Getting around a racial block was difficult for the both of them, but one had been pressing the other’s world into the relationship while the one being pressed was being flattened beneath an overwhelming amount of information.

“Can I go to sleep?” he asked, looking to the lantern on the center post.

The Kelvic was exhausted and this, in addition to the events that evening, were more than enough for one day for him. Immobile, his ache didn’t bother him as much, yet he didn’t want to sit up to drink a dose of tea. He believed he could sleep until the noon hour if allowed and undisturbed, and mentally, he was beyond fatigued from the use of the stormgems.

Journey to the East

Noah clung onto the hope she wouldn’t ask him of it again, but as she went into her explanations of their past, recalling their time in the orphanage and drawing upon memories of their past together, his hope started to waver. She attempted to assure him she could see he still loved her and kept her cool throughout, for which he was thankful for. He was immensely vulnerable to her in that moment and had lost any will to engage in a debate with her. If Elann pressed with a heightened emotion bordering on growing frustration, he knew he would concede to her immediately in that instant.

Again came more reassurance on how the events that went on that night had been expressions of his love and it was followed up by what he took as another request for him to loosen his hold on their bond. It was, in the end, because it was what she wanted. It was anguishing to hear her ask again and only made him think back on their last argument where he made the point of her requests resembling a self-centered nature. He expressed his unwant to have her in pain with him, and expressed how he couldn’t bear to see her in pain, even if his quiet love was attached to it. Love didn’t shield from ache, and no amount of love she swelled their bond with made his side and back hurt any less.

Saddened, the Kelvic’s form physically drooped before her. “I don’t want you to feel it though,” he reiterated quietly. “I,” he stressed in a whisper, “don’t want to see you in a pain that is mine...”

He stopped then, faltering as the next sentence was rearing to come out of his mouth. His lips closed though, and he conceded anyway. History told him she would only continue to press him to open his bond and his rejection could turn into something else and perhaps be seen as unwillingness to her, or resistance. She took the explanation of him not wanting to share his bond as another declaration of his love when it was also a wish of his as well. The feelings he felt for her didn’t go anywhere, they were still felt by him, but for the moment they were hidden away until he was healed, then they would course through again. Granted they would be overthrown by Elann’s own impassioned feelings, they would’ve coursed anyway.

Looking down from her, and into himself in a way, he released the hold on his bond. The trickle turned into a slow flow as his sensations came. His discomfort and physical ache were the most prevalent. Residing underneath those were his disappointment, love, and mentally and bodily fatigue accumulated over the evening and that moment.

With his head in the pillow, Noah looked back up to her and gauged her reaction from a sudden ache and then the rest of his lightly buzzing feelings.

Journey to the East

Noah’s declaration was returned and he felt the emotion blaze over their bond in the way Elann often did when she was touched by something he said. Next came words that were hard to hear. It was his displayal of love for her to not let her feel the constant pain that he was in because it gave her discomfort, a visible discomfort he couldn’t bear to see half the time. He watched her kiss his hand then beg of him to release his hold of his bond with reasoning that touched him inwardly. Still, his face showed his torn thoughts and confliction.

“No,” he nearly whined because it pained him to deny her anything. “I won’t.”

Despite his rejection of her, his hand didn’t shy away from her hold. It tightened to show his dedication and his own eyes were pleading for her not to ask of it anymore. “I don’t want you to feel it,” he explained. “I don’t want you to feel hurt. I don’t like seeing you wince when nothing is there because it is me who is causing it. It’s my fault that I’m hurt; I forgot where I was and I was attacked because I forgot. I couldn’t defend myself, and then I couldn’t defend you there either.”

Looking at Elann, the situations in which he dulled his bond to her and the time in which she dulled his were different. This was a sensation she knew, pain, whereas the one she was wanting him to feel wasn’t one he knew enough to produce himself to the point she would be satisfied. Atop that, it was enough to feel the pain himself, and to him it was a reminder of a lapse of thought and mismaneuver. His wounds ached emotionally and physically within him; he’d rather be over it himself than to see his bondmate in a pain that came from him, for one, and, for two, he couldn’t stop.

“I loved you before we bonded, didn’t you know it then?” he questioned. “Can you not see it now?”

Noah was truly curious in his inquiries. He had grown to love her to the point of bonding, it was the act of bonding which cemented his feelings eternally. Was she blind then, too, to how he felt for her?

Journey to the East

Elann’s curious way of moving only brought on a deeper sound from the already rumbling Kelvic and he nearly was writhing under her caring attentions. It wasn’t quite what Elann saw in the argument where his body physically quivered. That reaction was one brought on by the overwhelming sense of confusion and frustration she was bringing him in the apartment, all over reasons that seemed beyond menial in his opinion. As a bird, it was how he showed his fright and discomfort, and the low reverberations she felt now had preceded the quivering that overtook his body as he gathered his things to literally flee the scene of such distress. Not just as a Kelvic, but as a bird Kelvic, body language and tacit attitudes played a major role in understanding the moods and thoughts within another’s mind. Humans had such tells as well, but they seemed to be more used to their own than those of other species. Often, he thought, they forgot they were animals as well.

The vibrating hum within him reached a new peak as she went over his sides, the zones he had pointed out as being beyond feel-good to the touch. At the touch, his lids parted to slits to view her through and he saw her on her side, her head propped up by an elbow. He opened his eyes all the more, shying away from her fingers as they threateningly treaded towards the pits of his arms, an obvious ticklish spot for him. The pupils of his eyes homed in on her face and features, studying her as he often did.

It was in these moments did the facts that she was the closest thing to his heart that ever would be were cemented. Such reactions of his were reserved for those extremely close to him, and only Caesarion and his family members had drawn the noise of utter contentment from him before. Elann had a shining personality, most times, to him. Almost selfishly, the kindness and welcoming behavior Elann showed everyone, he wanted to be shown to only him, in much the same way he was not utterly attached to everyone he met. It took a great deal to grow close to Noah and him being curious about someone enough to pursue them - as he did Elann when they first met - was different from him letting people into him. The opening of his spiritual being enough for Elann to grasp ahold of the bond tied tightly around his heart was the ultimate expression of vulnerability for not only himself, but his race of people as a whole.

Noah brought one of his arms from under the pillow and reached for her in the blanket, grasping ahold of the arm her head was propped up on. “I love you,” he said, his body quieting as his voice chimed into the warmly lit interior. They were three words he didn’t say often but felt constantly despite whatever Elann did to him. He showed them more in his actions, when he executed them, and found that the words only served to dishonor the depth of the feeling he felt for Elann.

Love was the reason he showed his affections, the reason he sought to please her and keep her favor through various gifts, and was the reason he performed the actions that meant so little to him before meeting her: holding her hand in the streets, kissing her for the first time, and caring for her in her sickness. He was, without a doubt, deeply in love with Elann, but their misunderstandings happened because she was blind to his displayal, despite how vibrant and obvious is was to him and his family members.

Journey to the East

Noah looked onto Elann as she finished coursing the brush through her hair, her hand coming back to undo the cloth supporting her bust and watching that, too, be flung off to the side of the cushy bed. After that, she dipped below the blanket beside him and came up to his side. Since it was warm in the tent to him, and he was warm as it were, he had yet to go into the blanket himself, so her hand snaked out to lightly scratch at his back and sides. It was a welcome touch and he relaxed, visibly, all the more, letting his head rest wholly in the pillow.

He shook his head into the pillow at Elann’s concern, humming in confirmation that it did, indeed, feel nice. After that hum came another that was deeper and seeming rumbling within the confines of his chest. It could barely be heard but it was there and apparent, though he lacked the natural equipment to make it easily known. A low frequency noise, something akin to a cat’s purr, could be heard coming from his throat and was an obvious sign of contentment given his surroundings and Elann’s actions. Before, during their argument, the same reaction had went on but it was denoting his annoyance and irritation with the situation. It was almost beyond his control, brought on by situations of soft enjoyment or piquing irritancy.

Noah’s eyes had closed, fluttering open briefly when her hands moved up to his hair only to close again. Clearly reveling, the low buzzing in his being continued to resonate in the immediate area and could be felt by the soft rumble in his being by her fingertips, even as far up as in his head of hair. Elann hadn’t felt it before, having not petted him when he was an eagle, and when he was awake.

Journey to the East

Noah lied down and watched Elann move through the tent, closing it up before moving to him. He rolled carefully onto his back and watched her undo the string of his pants before pulling them down his legs and off. He didn’t resist her movements, simply rolling back over onto his stomach to clutch the pillow below him again. She stated her tiredness, asking the same of him, and he hummed in agreement. He had slept the day away but the night was far more eventful than he bargained for. It was a stressful evening and the gems took far more willpower than before to strike out against their assailants; the chaining lightning alone was draining as if he was using Reimancy as well, but he had to call upon the mental strength to bid the gems to do what he wished.

Watching her still, he observed her dress coming off and traced the iridescent gnosis marking of Yahal with his eyes. Elann hadn’t told him about it for a considerable amount of time since them become friends and then a sect of lovers without the physical loving. When she did tell him, he wasn’t allowed to see it in full because it took up the whole of her back. He was allowed to see the portion which took up the upper part of her shoulder, and from seeing it he was appreciative of its beauty because it was beauteous in his eyes. His own gnosis marking was made up of shimmering silvers and blues, a hurricane which swirled in real-time on his back, orbiting a common eye.

Noah was quiet as she came to kneel beside him again, the brush being coursed through her strands soon after it was picked up. He was an onlooker and had no problem silently watching people or things go through their motions. It was what he often did in the wild where creatures were always tiptoeing around just hoping they could go about their day without encountering something life threatening, something like him. When full, he didn’t bother the woodland creatures as much as he watched them, and to him Elann resembled one of them. In fact, most humans resembled that. He figure they had the same ideals in mind: hoping they could get through the day without something distressing them.

Watching Elann, above all, had become a way to pass the time for him. In Syliras, in her apartment, if he wasn’t watching her go through the living room cooking breakfast, or any meal, or going about her other trifle tasks, he was watching the citizens of Syliras through the window. He could exist in utter quiet, and it showed here as his eyes, olive in the warm lantern light, followed Elann and her movements without a peep from him. It could be supposed he watched her with a sense of affection because she was the center of his attention.