Illumin0sity

Journey to the East

Noah was only wearing the shirt because it was cold outside. The rain had fallen all that day and it was approaching total nightfall. The sun would be away for a time and leave the land at the mercy of the chilling moon’s rays. It was also the reason for him wearing shoes, he didn’t want to track mud around or get it caked onto his feet. Elann’s compliment was appreciated though; he replied with a nod in thanks.

They reached the front of the queue and were offered mush and bread. Upon seeing what was being served in the bowl, Noah decided he just wanted bread as well. The bread was growing stale and stacked, and each person was getting offered a piece to go with their mush. He took the bowl reluctantly anyway though, tucking the bread into the porridge before leaving the line.

By the time Elann tugged on his shirt and called his name his mouth was already occupied with a chunk of the bread. He hummed a ‘what?’ to her before his attention was brought readily to the river. He hadn’t really noticed it, his mind being mostly elsewhere, but it explained why he was chilled and why the smell of water was so heavy in the air. It could also explain why Aimee decided to go out for a hunt that night, probably hoping to stumble upon so unsuspecting drinker.

“If you want,” he said, moving partly chewed bread to the side of his mouth in order to reply to Elann. He didn’t mind it either way. If they went, he would follow after her lead.

Journey to the East

This moment of not answering Elann wasn’t met with as much as a glance of acknowledgement, no hum came from him, not even a little grunt. He was mostly mute in the way he handled her last question, much unlike the other instances in which he was asking for time to think. Here, he wasn’t considering it, he was truthfully ignoring the question asked in hopes of avoiding it and hoping she would forget it. He had his own doubts which prevented him from wanting to shift to his other form, his truer form.

They moved from the wagon, Noah pull his shirt on the rest of the way as they joined the queue for that evening’s dinner. He recalled Elann telling him his sister was hunting, he hoped Aimee would bring him something back from the hunt. Whatever the cook was cooking may have smelled nice to everyone else but it didn’t to him.

The smell wafted through the air, growing stronger as the couple walked. He noticed the onlookers, meeting their gazes with his own of distance. Perhaps it was what caused other women to enjoy seeing him, because he was forbidden, not just by his marriage ties to Elann, but by his own attitude as well. He would be a difficult prize to catch for those who sought to pursue, not taking the initial ‘no’ for an answer.

Journey to the East

Noah paid little mind to the women of the caravan, young or old. He was not ignorant to their gazes, saw how their wonder seemingly grew with each shift from man to eagle, and how he paraded his nude body around the camp until Elann told him otherwise. He didn’t mind their attention, occasionally meeting their glances with his own made in meaningless scanning of his surroundings. He thought they were weird, bizarre, borderline creepy with their gawking and shifting glances when their possibly controlling husbands strolled on by. He’d observed enough to draw assumptions and base his own conclusions off his observations, he just managed to keep his opinions to himself because he didn’t care to discuss them.

Noah found a pair of underwear and a pair of pants. He slid the former on, pausing as he bent down to tend with the pants when Elann spoke. He didn’t answer her, letting her question hang there without clarification until he got his pants on. Noah prolonged any answer longer still, going as far as reaching for a shirt as well, many of which weren’t dirtied since he hadn’t worn them that much during the trip. He went further still, though he was moving slowly. Noah found his shoes and slipped his feet into them, bending down slowly to pull them over his heels.

Next, he went for the wagon’s exit, moving one of the flaps aside to let in the faint moonlight. “Help me down, please,” he asked of her, pointing with the other hand out of the wagon.

Journey to the East

Noah was finding it difficult to tell if Elann was actually fighting some sort of addiction to kissing him or if she was just looking to suck the fun out of his game, a game he wasn’t actively playing until she reminded him with her pleading and borderline commanding way of requesting a kiss. He laughed through his nose, a single long breath to tell of the smile coming across his lips. His thumb beneath her bottom lip paused in its gentle stroking as he looked down at her in consideration.

The technical command did give his entire being pause, he wasn’t allowed to think of his game at Elann’s pleading and direction. The draw wasn’t intense but was enough for him to forfeit his game and his own enjoyment in order to satisfy a want of his bondmate. Noah’s thumb put pressure on her chin, forcing her lips apart only slightly as he bent down to meet them with his. The kiss itself wasn’t small, it was open-mouthed and sensual enough to hopefully sate whatever need she had.

Noah continued on in the kiss, prolonging it in a way that would only pause for breath so long as she didn’t request for him to stop. Kissing her satisfied something within him as well because he liked the action almost as much as she did, if not at the same level of want sometimes. The fluttering feel-good emotions were elating to him as well, but it all came crashing down at the eventual ringing of the dinner bell which actually jolted the Kelvic into a fleeting state of shock, causing him to tense and relax upon realization in a splitting second.

He pulled back and up, licking his lips and tasting what little of her remained on them. He wanted to ask if that was better, if she was finally satisfied, but he believed he had his answer upon looking into their bond. Noah didn’t stay looking at her though, turning his back to her in favor for the trunk once again. He sought for the latch, undoing it and reopening the trunk.

“I need pants,” he said, more in announcing and asking for aid than anything else.

Journey to the East

Elann apologized to him after he heard her shifting on the bench. He assumed he could see her better than she could see him, but he was playing it by shadows as well. He was also using the bond to his advantage, as he was able to see what she saw in brief moments and used it to judge his relative distance to her, which wasn’t that far. Using the bond more, he could sense the growing sensation of nervousness within her belly and could imagine her fidgeting before answering his call.

Noah turned around and met her hand, pulling her up and into his space, his warmth greeting her as it fought against the lasting chill in the wagon. Up close he could see her eyes as they probably sought to find him amidst the darkness, his new proximity made it easier. He looked at her while she explained herself to him, expressing her reasoning in soundness he didn’t question.

“Stop apologizing,” he said, attempting to basically shush her with his softly spoken words of understanding.

He already set his mind to attempt to express his own gratitude to Emery in his own way. He felt Elann robbed him of the chance to do so the first time, but he held no ill feelings towards her. At least she said she knew he’d want to pay Emery himself, he trusted she wasn’t just saying that because of him broaching the topic.

“I scared you. I’m sorry, I didn’t meant to do that.”

Noah was apologetic as well, not meaning to force Elann into a momentary pang of nervousness. He appreciated her thoughtfulness in the situation, knowing he would want to pay the doctor himself. Noah brought his hands to her face, cupping it then brushing one of his thumbs just beneath her bottom lip.

Journey to the East

“No,” Noah replied. Elann’s words weren’t something Noah wanted to hear, though he didn’t speak out adamantly against them. “I want to. I’ll give him more.”

It meant a great deal to Noah to be the one to deliver payment himself. He didn’t want Elann to be the one to do it for him, and it wasn’t a thing of pride. They were his own injuries and he still did believe they were inflicted because of his own mistakes, Elann failing to convince him otherwise if she had been trying.

“I didn’t want you to do that,” he admitted.

Noah wasn’t angry with her in the slightest, his mood didn’t falter much either. The game was paused so he wasn’t being playful anymore, he was being serious. He paid Devi himself, a season after he was healed completely. He gave her both monetary payment as well as treating her to an early breakfast after one of her harder cases following his own. He hadn’t told Elann that.

He put the coinbox back into the depths of the chest, covering it up with their garments again, of which he felt he would need to buy more off. Noah closed the chest softly, the latch sounding quietly.

“Here,” he said, beckoning Elann to him in the simple statement.

Journey to the East

It was a good thing Elann didn’t take any of his dismissing or bluff calling as a bad thing. Noah presumed he knew her rather well, and wouldn’t have bonded himself to her if he believed she didn’t truly appreciate many parts of him. In the beginning of their relationship, as friends, it was the vibe he got from her, that she was beginning to appreciate and even admire him in some ways. It didn’t fluff his ego entirely, more so making it so he felt comfortable shedding layers of his facade in order to be with her in a truer state. Only recently did she seemingly lose sight of what she was in his eyes, now she seemed to be regaining that.

He heard her tsk in annoyance, could detect it fluttering about in her being as he followed her shadow and then darkened frame to the bench where she lay back down. The game wasn’t entirely over, for he was aiming to pull on the strings of her desire for him. He was alright with pausing it though, for now.

“I love you,” he spoke into the darkness, just in case Elann may have doubted it in that moment.

He reached back down into the trunk, feeling around through clothes and trinkets for his small box at the bottom. Finding it, he pulled it up and set it on top of everything else.

“I want to pay Emery for healing me, like I paid Devi,” he said, seeking approval from Elann before he spent any of the gold. It felt like the right thing to do in his mind and it was only fair, Emery and Devi were services, physicians, and required payment for their aid. He didn’t recall them paying Emery for stitching Noah up and providing the painkilling herbs.

Journey to the East

Noah tilted his head at her, waited for her to come up with an answer to his question. He didn’t let up in the intensity of his glower against her, finally drawing an answer from her that said she may have been lying. Noah huffed a breath of laughter as Elann inched, telling he didn’t believe her.

“As if you’d lie,” he affirmed, almost dismissively.

Noah turned his back to her again and set the gem down in the trunk, not bothering to put it back in the sack with the others. He left it there, letting the light die down. With the waning light came his own confidence, for he actually wasn’t sure if Elann was totally incapable of lying. He, too, was bluffing in his own way, but turned away from her so she couldn’t see the uncertainty in his face.

Noah continued to face away until the darkness retook the interior of the wagon, even more dark than before since the flaps were close. Moon and starlight weren’t allowed in through the thickness of the canvas, and even Noah was having a hard time viewing Elann from across the way. He saw her shadow against the back flaps, but that was mostly it, as his eyes adjusted more and more to the newfound darkness.

Journey to the East

Seeing Elann’s mouth drop ajar was another symbol of victory for the Kelvic. It seemed reaction after reaction were given to him, each one a point in the metaphorical game he was playing. He understood she would’ve been actually angry with him should they had not have been playing, but since they were he was keeping up his front of dismissiveness. He saw no reason for the fun to end then and there, and if she got a kiss from him, it would’ve ended.

Noah started to put the gem away, dropping it into the trunk as he went to open the bag. The light was fading but Elann’s voice was penetrating the growing darkness with ominousness that gave Noah pause. He retook the stone in hand and turned back to face her, the darkness slowly being banished to be replaced by white light once again. Elann threatened to speak about other unnamed parts of his body, leaving Noah ignorant to what she was referring to. All she said pertaining to the unknown part was that she might say something negative.

Seeing as they were playing, Noah put little weight in her words, aiming to win the game they were playing. Growing up in Zeltiva and with card games, he took Elann’s words as a bluff, and he sought to call her on it.

She hummed, forcing him to raise a dark brow. “What part?” he questioned. “You enjoy every bit of me.” The Kelvic spoke with confidence. “You said so. So, what’re you talking about?”

Journey to the East

Noah stayed squatted, looking at her as she folded entirely with the lasting thunk on the head from the book. Elann went to read, reciting her words with color and clarity, comparing his kisses to facets of nature; wind, grass, and snow. He envisioned each one, the tree leaves swaying from the wind, the delicate deer munching on even more delicate grass, and the chilled, freshly fallen snow in the hands of a child in Syliras. They weren’t his kisses, he realized. She was speaking about his lips, saying they were more part of herself than her own. It was minorly overwhelming to believe his lips had an affect on someone else so majorly.

Elann trailed off, closing the diary and then awaited her kiss as promised. Noah considered it for a moment, turning the gem over in his fingers’ grasp. Deciding, he reached out to her and simply brushed over her lips with his pointer and middle finger. He stood up, whispering, “I lied,” mischievously, before turning back towards the trunks, looking to put his gem back and away.

There was a clear smile on his face, as he drew probably too much pleasure from toying with Elann in this way. He was borderline snickering as he walked as well. Having fun at Elann’s expense was turning out to be a new favorite passtime.