Illumin0sity

Journey to the East

Noah led them a little further down the road until Elann stopped him, her growing nervousness giving cause for him to slow until she voiced her want to return to the camp. Noah looked to the sky and didn’t feel warning in the winds, thus he didn’t feel any incoming danger. He looked down to Elann before folding and turning to backtrack down the road towards the camp. The firelight grew brighter as they got closer and the whispers of conversation were heard on over the wind. Noah saw the cook and Aimee conversing idly as whatever was in the pot was stewing over the firepit. It seemed they were getting ready to serve what was on the menu that evening, which seemed to just consist of a hearty soup with chunks of meat in it.

Once the camp was within full sight Noah decided he wanted to return to their tent, nodding in that direction and not turning for another lap on the road. The smell of what was cooking was in the air and was pulling him to rest so he could eat since he hadn’t eaten since that morning. The turf turned from well-worn road to cool grass under his feet. He padded on slowly at his pace until the warmth of the fire was felt on his bare skin. As they reached the fire the dinner bell went off, the cook’s voice sounding through the quiet air to tell those gathered to come and grab their meals. Aimee remained by the man’s side acting as a server for the children.

Noah stood by the fire, looking to Elann because at this point he expected her to already be off fetching food for the both of them. Any of his attempts to be self-sufficient in that regard were met by her telling him that she enjoyed serving him. It did make him feel awkward because of the backwardness in comparison to how his family’s household was, where the act of self-preservation was in making sure the women and children were tended to first because it was them who carried on the memory of the men.

Journey to the East

Noah came to a stop when Elann did, turning to her when she tugged his arm. He gazed upon her curiously, partly wondering if they were going to turn back. He looked down the road from whence they came and could only see the glow of the orange firelight but couldn’t clearly see the actual encampment though the trees and thicket. He looked back to Elann, the same look of curiosity on his face. What she said before turning him hadn’t been entirely processed yet but was as she continued on there in front of him. She gave him permission to be free and fly far, pointing out she had observed his want to stay near her for the time being and pointing out his near uselessness and very shallow existence since his injury.

There was a subtle look of confliction on his face as he looked in on himself, his gaze falling from Elann to the small patch of ground between them. He looked up again, searching her face for confirmation and the seriousness of her words. Meeting her eyes, he could see the consideration in them and actual want for him to attain what he wished for. He was brightened by her words, the look of lingering grayness lifting enough for him to nod once and then a few times in quick succession. The edges of his lips curled in a grateful smile, it was small but communicated the new light in his eyes.

Noah grabbed one of her chilled hands and placed his lips on the knuckles, kissing it before taking the other and setting them around his waist as he stepped into her, his arms coming around her for an embrace. It was a firm hold filled with his own thankfulness for her and it warmed his already heated being. After a moment, a long one, he released her to bend down enough to place a kiss at the top of her head.

He looked back down the way towards the encampment. Noah took ahold of Elann’s hand and nodded in the opposite direction, expressing his want to go a little further still from the camp before turning back. Her words had instilled a new sense of determination in him to do what he could to aid his healing along so he could be as far away from the wagons. The trust he still had in her words showed here and he trusted her to stick to what she said in encouraging him to be away and airborne again.

Journey to the East

Aimee waved in thanks to Elann’s encouragement, returning the smile with the same soft one of unease. Elann’s mood was uplifting for the most part but the Kelvic wanted to be broody for a while. It didn’t mean she didn’t appreciate Elann’s kind gestures, she was thankful for them even.

Noah was looking down at the fire, coming to look at the fingers dancing across his bare abdomen and then to Elann as she looked up at him. She beckoned him and he nodded, taking her hand in his hold as they turned towards the road leading to Zeltiva. It was welcome in the night with the winds as gentle and playful as they were. The wilds continued to behave as they did, uncaring in their way for the caravan’s losses. In a way Noah was the same, he felt pity for them because he managed to compare their losses to losing his mother or his sister. His own loss of Elann would be unfathomable, throwing him into something far more drastic than he believed humans were capable of.

They got to the road with relative quiet and he walked slowly while holding her hand, his stark gaze keenly set on the long road ahead of them. He could make out figures crossing it, recognizing them as deer in the clear, fogless night. Barely any clouds were up ahead, the moon shining brightly with the twinkling stars flanking either side of it. He looked up at Leth and took in the luminescence. With his other hand he pointed to it, silently commenting on the interest in his eyes and how it compared to Elann as his dispeller of darkness, a title he hoped she would reclaim entirely.

His sights angled downwards again, not on the road but just above the treetops looking on. “It would take me three days,” he informed. “From here to Zeltiva. I remember this part of the road because I would rest here in the trees.” He licked his lips. “Sometimes when I wanted to be alone I would go far from the city this way, as if I was going to Syliras.”

Noah looked down at his feet as he walked, watching them take their slow steps in the direction. The more he thought about it the more he knew how desperate he was to be back in the skies. He’d been in the wilds with little more than a few short lived flights. He was cooped up longer in Syliras where he didn’t hunt for a long while because Elann drew so much pleasure from cooking for him. He didn’t want to rob her of that satisfaction, letting it fill the void where he often drew enjoyment from hunting and being untamed.

Journey to the East

Noah looked to the woman who rose and came towards him and Elann. He eyed her with the unintentional hardness his gaze possessed considering he didn’t know anything about her. She came up to him and Elann, looking briefly to him but mainly regarding the Benshira with condolences and well wishes. It was all done in passing, Elann giving a thanks before looking up to him with her smile. He met her sights and showed a small smile in return, bringing his arm around Elann to rest his hand on her shoulder.

Aimee’s eyes trailed after the woman who spoke to Elann and Noah, turning her head slightly to look at Elann as she regarded her with thankfulness as well. Aimee showed an uneasy smile; Elann’s thanks were appreciated and lifted her heart all the more just like the warm grateful looks she received from the family she saved. It wasn’t until after the battle did Aimee learn the family she saved had lost their husband immediately before Aimee arrived on the scene, setting the assaulting bandit ablaze with the fire held in the firepit just in front of that tent. Aimee wasn’t a vengeful person but was glad she was able to exact some form of exchange for Dira, the death goddess. The bandit had broken the already unsteady cycle and Aimee corrected it while sparing other lives before it was their time. The wolf found a little solace in her minor faith of the gods of life, death, and fate, letting her mind rest a little easier following Elann’s thanks.

Around the fire were the few women, men, and children who couldn’t help with putting up the tents for that night. The camp was very intimate in this area, the tents sharing the large fire instead of spreading out and hosting smaller sections. Noah could feel it around him, their grief and the heaviness in the moods. The air was thick with sorrow and it was a weighted feeling he was trying to stick around because he felt Elann would want to try to alleviate it in some way shape or form.

Idly, he stroked Elann’s hair at the tips coming down over her shoulder and back, partially thankful she hadn’t fallen or been lost or injured like himself. He recalled the attack vividly, recalling how much he strained himself to emit the gust powerful enough to throw the arrow away from its intended path, Elann, and how he vengefully did channel the lightning through his now discarded stormgem to punish the men for trying to harm his bondmate. It was at the cost of their lives but it meant very little to Noah so long as his bondmate was unmarred.

“I’m going to help the cook,” Aimee announced quietly to those who heard her over the crackling fire.

She departed then, hoping she could reintegrate herself into the camp’s good graces and dispel the belief that she was a witch or mage with ill intent. She used her ability to end lives in order to save more valuable ones, it was not a crime in her mind nor did she think she should be treated like a criminal because of it. It took a lot to not harbor anger for others’ misunderstandings of her. Aimee had a lot of practice though, being a Kelvic where the occasional ignoramus would attempt to bash her or her family about it.

Journey to the East

Aimee was as quick a learner as she could be between Elann’s explanations, extrapolations, and minor tangents. It was clear the Benshira was a passionate individual, even expressing as much in the mundane task of putting up shelter for the night. Aimee implied Elann’s culture was heavily based around the tents, though the only Benshira the wolf encountered were in Zeltiva and they were city-washed or used to the grandness of Zeltiva’s vast apartment complexes and single family homes. There wasn’t a need for the tents, nor was their much room for them inside the city limits. That said, the Benshirans usually kept to their own part of the city, not for antisocial purposes, but because of the familiarity of it and for those deeply entrenched still in Benshiran culture.

Aimee hadn’t been there enough to learn anything about the tents until now with Elann giving her this crash course. Surprisingly, despite Aimee being a complete newbie when it came to creating tents, they finished their tent before anyone else got theirs up. Aimee paid it no mind, just giving it up to Elann’s capabilities as a teacher and Benshira.

After replying to Elann when she noticed him, Noah stayed standing around the fire, watching a few others come to join around him. He didn’t speak to any of them, simply smiling when smiled to, if at all. Even in his injured state of being he had his air of unapproachability, mostly because they had seen what he was as a Kelvic, and they were unusual enough as it were because of their rarity and borderline unacceptable behavior until it was learned they were actual Kelvics. Noah wasn’t uneased by them or by himself because he was unashamed of what he was. What uneased him was Elann’s previous want for him to be more human-like, that meant conversing with the people set out before him. He didn’t, instead letting his eyes and mind wander to the surrounding wilds.

Elann drew him out of his wandering thoughts when she came up and spoke to him. He looked to her and nodded softly at her words. “I’m fine,” he said.

Noah wasn’t particularly knowledgeable of the difference between their gnosis magic and a mage’s magic. He wondered what made his sister want to get into Reimancy in the first place but she had a more potent sense of curiosity than himself. His curiosity was virtually harmless, his own flightiness preventing him from dedicating too much time to something that caught his fancy for a brief moment in time. Aimee was much more focused, often to her own dismay, and here it was acting up against her.

Noah could perceive his sister’s discomfort and how she was distant from the rest of the caravan, isolated herself probably to avoid the stigma set against her as a magic user. It was disheartening for him to see and, if anything, he didn’t feel entirely okay because his sister didn’t. Now that he thought about it, it was probably the reason she said she would stay away in the wagon that night. All the more he just wanted to be in Zeltiva, for the unfortunate trip to be over.

Aimee didn’t go away that time entirely though, coming up on the other side of Noah to stand with her arms crossed under her bust. She was hugging herself, gazing into and soaking in the warmth of the fire. At her arrival and steadfastness, the rest of the folk seemed to lull back into their quiet states of being, still assessing the recent deaths. Aimee met the eyes of the little boy and his mother she helped save and, for the first time, received a warm smile from both of them. It lifted her heart to see the mother probably not holding the stigma against her because it was Aimee who did save their lives, regardless of her means, however merciless and brutal they seemed to be.

Journey to the East

“Thank you,” Aimee said in regards to Elann’s defiance to her wishes. There were no hard feelings in her words. There was actual gratefulness there, returning Elann’s kindness with some of her own.

After that she nodded, knowing the paintings were Noah’s treasures, having learned as much long ago. In many ways she was the same way, not to the degree in which Noah hoarded baubles though. She had a few things she kept to memorialize certain events in her short life. Noah didn’t have that attachment to a majority of what he had. What was collected was simply collected because it caught his attention long enough to be deemed worthy of keeping around. In more ways than one Elann was the same before they bonded, the bond being a statement which said Elann had passed the tests of his short attention span to draw from the font of his affection.

As Aimee went to follow after Elann she caught Noah’s hands raising for her. She helped him up in his silent plea and led him to the edge of the wagon where he slid down to sit. Aimee hopped down, having pinned one of the flaps open, then helped Noah slide the rest of the way down to the ground. She let him go after that, letting him make his own way behind Elann, though she stayed close enough to be of assistance after he fell, if it happened.

Thankfully, it didn’t and he made the slow journey between the wagon and the tent site. Aimee came up and offered herself entirely to Elann while Noah stood around the flame, shirtless and curious in the ever-growing darkness, the flame’s orange lights licking at his tall frame. The wolf hadn’t set up a tent before, only watched it happen various times enough to have a general idea of what she was doing. She knew she wouldn’t be as fast as Elann but did want to lend some kind of aid if only for social bonding’s sake.

Journey to the East

“Sickness, maybe,” Aimee said as she put the brush away. “Could’ve been a festering injury. I didn’t check as much as I wanted to.” She turned back to them. “Could be anything really but I doubt something big would be this close to the caravan. It’s too loud.”

Noah looked up briefly from his own hands messing with one another to Elann’s as it rubbed on his knee. He did speak with longing, deeply missing the chance to fly around, and the fact that Aimee was talking about the wilds made him yearn to be there more. As thought before, he wanted to show Elann what he often referred to as his first home, but now he couldn’t and he wouldn’t be healed until the trip was over, or nearly was over, he presumed. It was disheartening and annoying to think about.

Aimee shook her head, smiling at Elann’s offer. “I like to be outside. I’ll be alright. It’ll feel nice,” she answered.

Another part to it was so that her brother and Elann could keep to their privacy. Obviously things were going well enough between the couple, the scents on them and how they smelled of each other was enough to tell the wolf that much, so she made her assumptions in confidence.

Aimee moved to the side as Elann approached her and the chests, playing with the hem of Noah’s shirt with her fingers idly before the Benshira spoke up again. When she did, pointing out she saw Noah’s artwork, the wolf smiled warmly, her eyes going to Noah who was still enthralled by the workings of his fingers.

“I’m surprised he showed you. I’m glad mother asked him to start drawing again, I thought he’d stop forever. He’s not above putting down things for something else,” she said aloud, seeing as Noah was barely paying attention. Even if he was, she wasn’t apologetic with her words though they were said with cheer. “He won’t sell them either; I’ve already tried asking that a long time ago.”

Aimee took a moment and looked Elann up and down, noting she was standing and had said she was going to put the tent up. “Did you want help this time?”

Journey to the East

Aimee looked around the wagon, noting the various pillows and rugs. It looked comfortable at least, there was no denying that. In her brief examination she missed the look Elann gave to Noah but when her eyes settled back on the two before her she understood Noah could’ve brought Elann comfort in her sleep as well, he was her bondmate after all. It did appear as if the couple were getting along, it remained to be seen how long that would last though. Aimee hadn’t talked to her brother since that morning, unable to dig deeper into his perspective of things. From what they spoke of that morning, things seemed to be fine, Noah even suggesting that the party for Elann’s sake be still put on.

Noah looked to Elann as she told him not to mess with his injury. As a lie, he nodded to say he wouldn’t mess with it. He would again, just to sate whatever piquing curiosity that would come later on.

“Okay,” he quietly said in reply to the doctor being involved tomorrow morning.

That was something he was looking forward too, hopefully getting a more concrete time for when he’d be able to get his stitches removed and then hopefully when he could be able to fly again, though that was probably further off still. The thought was almost depressive so he tried not to think about it, turning instead to look to Aimee as Elann spoke to her.

Aimee shrugged, passing the brush a few more times through her head of hair. She had to consider the second part of Elann’s question in order to draw the difference between what she saw as mostly normal and unintriguing to be the opposite for what Elann saw.

“There was a herd of deer off to the side that travelled just ahead of the caravan,” she revealed. “There were a couple of foxes on the other side scavenging something. I couldn’t see it but it smelled pretty good whatever it was. I think it may have been one of the deer, which would explain why they were on the other side of the road.” She paused, patting the back of the brush in her open palm. “Other than that, it was a pretty normal day.”

“I want to hunt a deer,” Noah muttered to himself.

Aimee turned on her toes, twirling slightly, making Noah’s shirt she was wearing flare up around her waist. She went to her chest and put the brush into it, lingering as she looked over some things vaguely before turning again.

“Are you setting up the tent tonight or staying here?” she asked Elann, disregarding Noah for the moment because his head was turned back towards himself, his hands playing with one another in his lap, fidgeting.

Journey to the East

Aimee smiled and nodded at Elann’s words, looking to Noah as he said he was doing alright. The walk had done wonders for her own mental fatigue, lifting it as she was swept away in the naturalness of their path while she walked a small distance ahead of the caravan, nothing so far to be out of sight of the lead wagon and guards. The evening just after the battle she had slept it away, slept far into the night and then into the morning past the bird’s calls of waking. She didn’t wake entirely until the last few chimes before the caravan started moving again. She rebuilt her energy reserves in her sleep and then walked to get everything flowing and proper once more as it was before she used her Reimancy.

“I’m doing alright,” she answered in Common. “I was exhausted after the fight. I just had to rest and get a little exercise. I’m feeling much better today, thank you for asking.”

She kept coursing the brush through her hair, holding it firmly in some places as the brush was repeatedly pathed through the tangled ends. She did that now as she looked back to Elann.

“How’re you feeling after sleeping all day? I get headaches if I sleep for too long, aside from yesterday,” she said with care in her voice.

Noah investigated his side full of stitches again as the two women talked. He poked at them once more, testing the acuteness of the pain with each prod by his fore and middle fingers. Since he was expecting the pain with each poke he wasn’t impacted outwardly, only a small wince coming when he did so. It was for curiosity’s sake though, so he could judge how far he had come since the injuries were first inflicted.

“Me too,” he chimed in while he was investigating himself.

“I’m surprised since you don’t even sleep that deeply, do you?” Aimee asked. “Or has that changed? You used to wake up at the slightest noise but then go back to sleep like nothing happened.”

“It's the same,” he went, turning his head to engage in the conversation in full. It was idle chitchat but it was welcome from how sporadic their last few nights had been.

Journey to the East

Noah looked down to Elann to assure she was sleep before he went on to just hum the melody of the song. There were only the two verses, the rest being hummed to soothe a distressed child back to sleep or peace. Though Elann wasn’t a child he still recalled the song sung to him by his own mother when he needed to be put to bed. He wasn’t a fussy baby or child in his youth, the song was sang purely out of love and bonding with his mother at the time. It had been so engrained in his memory that it naturally came to mind when Elann was showing signs of sleepiness, though it was the first time he had exposed her to it and his singing voice in full and open mind.

Elann barely moved while Elann slept, only shifting when it became uncomfortable, even then he only shifted the smallest amount as to not wake her. Before Elann came into his life it wasn’t uncommon for him to completely detach his mind from the moment and drift elsewhere. He could daydream for hours on end or recall and relive deeply rooted memories. His mind was fantastical and just as flighty as his being, being a bird meant his head was constantly in the clouds. It took Elann’s earthier being to ground him in some minor ways, enough so that he couldn’t always recede to the height of the clouds with his lack of concentration.

Just like Elann, Noah was startled by the wagon’s coming to a halt, having not even felt the wheels go off the road. The hollering, the hooves, and the chains came and drew him out of his dreamy state to only be drawn out of it further still by Elann’s wakefulness. She curled into him and voiced her questions, to which he hummed in affirmation. “You did,” he added quietly.

He let her pull away from him, sliding out of his lap and onto the floor before him to rub at her face. Then she came back to him, embracing and kissing him. Aside from the apparent love in the action he almost thought it was a form of thank you as well, as if she was thanking him for taking care of her in that moment or allowing them to stay close that entire day, even if it was only slept away partially by both of them, completely by the other.

“You’re not going to be able to sleep tonight, are you?” he asked when she broke their kiss.

Noah’s attention shifted to the back of the wagon as the flaps fluttered and parted, Aimee’s head peeking through. He met her gaze and her smile with a placid face. His hand came up to wave instead.

“Good evening,” she chimed in Fratava, the smooth language flowing from her lips.

The wolf hoisted herself into the wagon, her bare feet padding over the sanded wooden floor. Her hand came through her hair, tussling it from the roots and on out down the lengthy strands. She walked passed the couple on the floor, stepping gently over and around the bed to get to her chest. From it she produced her hair brush and began to course it through her dark locks, turning her blue eyes towards the two.

“How are you two?” she asked in Common, attempting to start a form of conversation since they hadn’t spoken all day, especially her to Elann.