Illumin0sity

Journey to the East

Noah threw his head lightly to the side to say what she said was true: they did have the tent, it didn't necessarily mean he wanted to sleep in that while in Zeltiva either. He truly didn't want to do anything with the travel anymore. The tent would remind him of it, and he would be thankful to stay off the road or sea for a long time. He didn't recall his own trip from Zeltiva to Syliras being as grueling as he was beginning to feel this one was, but then again that was four years ago and he was younger and filled with a great wanderlust. The wanderlust remained, but he rather would see the world from an aerial perspective, realizing now how truly unique it was compared to the trudging along the road.

He looked at Elann as she slid away from him, announcing she was going to help the cook prepare something. “If you want,” he said nonchalantly. “I'll be here.”

Noah licked his lips once more and pulled himself back into the wagon, figuring he'd get appropriately dressed while she was away. He slunk away inside, standing up with the aid of the bench before drawing the wagon flap closed once more. Now that he was submerged in the darkness again he went for their trunk, grabbing one of the stormgems out of the sack and forcing light to seep from the stone into the room. He was beginning to understand them slowly but surely, proud that he was able to do so himself with little aid from others. Already their combative capabilities had been tapped but he wondered just what else lay beneath the smoothed surface of the stones.

He set the gem up atop Aimee's trunk, the light remaining even after his hands drew away from the gem. Noah stripped his shorts and put on a fresh pair of underwear, sliding trousers over top that in time before fishing out a shirt and then a leather jerkin to put on top of that. He found a pair of socks and stuck them into his still fairly new pair of boots before picking the shoes up and returning to the edge of the wagon, setting them there by the bench. Doubling back, he replaced the gem with the others, but not before grabbing his black cloak. With the trunk closed, he returned to the bench and threw the cloak down over it, moving to reopen the flap next. He took his time in getting dressed, knowing it would be some time before both of them would start moving. He didn't want to take time to get dressed again though, knowing when it came time for them to move he wanted to move right away.

Journey to the East

“Okay,” he said quietly, nodding a little in understanding at her statements, not the question.

He trusted the two of them would figure something out, like they had said to one another before leaving Syliras. It really didn't matter what awaited them in Zeltiva, whether it would be a peaceful and easy settling or if it would be complicated and filled with pitfalls, they'd figure it out. So far they had persevered through a great deal, though each pitfall beforehand was on an individual level, one person helping out the other. The trip so far had been a trial of their relationship, it straining and waning until reparation. They had yet to face something that pit them both against an outside force rather than the two of them going against one another.

Plainly speaking, he wanted some form of abstract plan for them when they arrived in Zeltiva. If it was just him, he would go with the flow and take on whatever would come. Since he was with her however, he wanted to make the transition as seamless as possible for her, knowing it wouldn't be too bumpy for him since it was his hometown. He doubted it could change so much in three or four years' time. Elann coming into his life had made him begin to think farther ahead and in the long term when it came to his life, mostly because it was shared. Before her, the most long term thinking he did was when it pertained to his territory in the Bronze Woods and hunting.

“Donavan's room is bigger than mine,” he confirmed. “I think we should stay there for a few days, then I can take you to the inn by the old mine and we can be by ourselves for a little while. I think we should stay in my family's home for a few days just so you can meet everyone.”

While Noah was still unsure how Elann would be received, he wanted her to be a part of his family. For that to happen she had to meet everyone and be accepted by his father. He didn't believe his father would have a hard time accepting Elann, especially since his mother had already come to like the Benshira. The family was often regarded as the pack, his mother and father being the alphas. His father was much more menacing than his mother but his mother was more than boss than his father. His mother made the rules, his father enforced them for the most part.

“I don't think I can fit in my bed anymore,” he said, laughing lightly. “Let alone both of us. Don had a larger bed before I left, and a larger room. It should be okay for a few days.”

Journey to the East

Noah appreciated her not prying about what they would be doing. She was right to assume she would get nothing if she did attempt to prod about what they were to be doing later that night. The need to be secretive would be understood by her once they were on their way to where they would need to be that night. All that was happening now was in preparation for tonight, even Noah’s seemingly inanimate way of doing anything. He was preparing himself and the setting for what was to come, going over things in his mind but knew what he imagined may not be the truth of the matter.

“Just the cloak,” he said. “We won’t need anything else, unless you wanted to bring a snack of something.”

He was unsure how long the venture would take. It wouldn’t last well into the morning, to where they would risk being left behind in the caravan. Dinner may not have been enough to sate them from now until then though, but then again both of them could go a while on a big meal.

Noah met her eyes finally, raising his brows slightly in idle expression. His eyes went over her face and took in her dark hair. He took a little breath and licked his lips, wondering what was on her mind pertaining to the event. He didn’t want to ask, for fear it would lead to her bringing up questions he couldn’t and didn’t want to answer.

“Have you thought anymore about Zeltiva?” he asked. “We’re so close now that maybe we should discuss what we’ll do when we get there, at least until we’re settled. What do you think?”

His brows raised again, this time to cement the question, his eyes large and pale in the dim light as they looked to her for an answer.

Journey to the East

Noah looked at Elann as she approached, giving her a brief glance in examination before looking back at the horses. He almost marveled over other animals, feeling some sort of camaraderie with them even though he wasn't completely like them. Unlike him, they weren't allowed to transform into the forms of a human, allowed to voice what was on their mind without relying of tacit gestures and other things that most humans missed unless they knew the particular animal or the change in behavior was glaringly obvious. He marveled horses most of all though, for one reason or another.

Elann came to him in full, speaking and drawing his attention to her over the horses. He looked back at her and nodded at both questions. Looking down, he took in her close proximity and how she was lightly jabbing him with her necklace in his chest. He raised his hand in retaliation, poking her above her bust with the tip of his finger, doing so for as long as she would be poking him with the charm of her necklace.

“We'll leave when everyone is sleeping,” he said, watching himself jab her in return. “We'll be safe, I promise.”

Noah still figured Elann was afraid of the dark, meaning the depths of the woods away from firelight and the other people. He was still afraid of it himself. Unlike Elann, he hadn't been subjected to frequent bandit raids or much of anything attacking him. Only lately in his life had he been subjected to attacks from others, his growing independence as a person apparently drawing adversity in the forms of people, wolves, and falcons. He was constantly afraid but the fear didn't stop him from going on into the dark, the want to go against the grain of fear was either courageous or foolish.

Withdrawing his hand from her, he used it to point to the clouds above. They were dark and growing darker still. “It won't rain,” he assured, unsure if she knew it for certain. The clouds had only just began to move in, a quickly advancing front that would begin to appear massive from their viewpoint on the ground.

“You should bring a cloak so you don't get cold. It'll be late and windy,” he said to her.

Journey to the East

Noah's need for independence was innate, deeply ingrained, and Elann would have to do nothing but deal with it. He sought help when he thought he needed it, if he didn't think he did, then he didn't seek it. It wasn't to say he wasn't appreciative for any aid he received, but he had been taking care of himself for years before she came around, being deemed ablebodied when he was otherwise very young of age. It wasn't either of their faults that she possessed the mindset of that of a servant and he had one of a fiercely independent being, being a lone predator and all. They were raised in very different enviroments. That said, the time with his leg was different: he was depressed at the time and lower than he had ever been. The wound was a physical manifestation of what he felt inside with the bond with Caesarion being broken. He took the initial help from Devi when it was given to him as her patient, and fled from the doctor when he wanted to be alone and with himself.

Noah rose his free hand to wave at her in goodbye as she slipped from the wagon with the fabric of the tent and the tools. When it came to her putting up the tent he wished he could've lent aid. He couldn't now because of his injuries, and he didn't before because she was already well versed in the construction of the shelter. He would only get in her way seeing as he didn't know the first thing about putting up a tent, aside from what he observed of her and the other campers. Obviously the need for him to have one was beyond small and it was purely for her benefit.

Before she came back Noah had found himself into another pair of shorts and managed to pin one of the wagon's flaps open, making Elann's return trips that much easier as she grabbed the last few things to put inside the now erect tent. Per usual, hers was one of the first up. Others either being slower or not bothering to put them up so early in favor of conversation or just wanting to sleep in the wagons. Noah sat down on the edge of their wagon and off to the side, swinging his legs idly.

He looked to the sky, noting the moving clouds as they roved in to obscure the moon. The front was large and menacing, darkening the already dark sky and forbidding Leth's moonlight from shining down onto the ground below whenever the thick bodies moved over the moon and stars. Noah knew the chance for rain was null unless he wished it to rain there. Zulrav had intentions on moving the front elsewhere, further to the north towards Sunberth or Ravok. With the clouds came the wind again, renewed in its energy and blowing stronger still when they passed over the Stormwarden's body.

These winds were inquisitive and searching, Noah felt. They were curious yet mischievous, one of his favorite moods to feel on the currents of air. He stuck out one of his hands to feel the breezes caress his palm and fingers, adding his own conjuring to the mix of air lightly. In time, his influence of the winds had become great. It was unknown to him if his power stopped at winds, wondering if he could produce claps of thunder and sparks of lightning without the aid of the stormgems. He knew he could make the clap of thunder himself when in his animal form, when he dove down from far in the sky at a breakneck speed only to abruptly stop, fanning out his tail feathers and opening his wings in full in order to cause the immediate area to snap and crack as if thunder was produced then and there. Elann had seen it first hand during one of their hunting trips, she'd only seen it once though.

As it were then, he was contently sitting, looking at some of the horses as they grazed in the meadow opposite the side of the road that the tent city was being erected.

Journey to the East

Noah swallowed the water in his mouth before speaking out into the lingering darkness. “No, it's fine,” he said in plain rejection. “I was joking anyway. I'm just being... dramatic. It doesn't really hurt that much.”

He was looking readily at Elann's moving figure in the darkness, watching her face light up as the wick flickered briefly to life. Eventually she did get the lantern lit up, to which he had to forcibly contract his pupils in order for them not to flooded by what was a bright light to his sensitive eyes, bright where once no light resided. He blinked a few times to reset his sights entirely before looking to Elann with refreshed eyes, bringing the cup up for another sip in case she had something to say in reply.

Noah was fine with his water, knowing he needed to drink way more than Elann did – at least two good drinks a day. He hadn't gotten that entirely since they started on the trip and it was really beginning to wear on him. It was beginning to show as well in the lack of motivation to maintain his appearance and how sluggish he had been, injury or none. Aimee hadn't shown the same degrading way, but Noah's morale had began to dip and would've dipped continuously regardless of if him and Elann were fighting or if he had never been injured. The fighting and injuries only added a quickening to how steeply his moods would go. He was beyond ready to be in Zeltiva.

Journey to the East

Elann's voice penetrated the darkness and the silence after his words. It seemed she thought Aimee was away hunting or something or another. There was no telling with Aimee, he knew as much. She very well could be hunting or just sitting the woods alone. It wasn't out of her character to grab a book between her jaws and trot off into the forest in order to sit beneath a tree and read. Noah much preferred to watch the wilds rather than read in them, but they each had their own quirks.

“I dunno,” he replied in return, sitting up straight. He brought his hand through his hair again, this time just to feel the strands between his fingers. “I'll be okay. You can go put up the tent. I'll just sit here until I can move.”

He let out a tired sigh and scratched at his arm, dancing around the edges of his wound, careful not to rake directly atop it with his nails. “Maybe I should just sleep forever, that way nothing will hurt,” he joked.

Afterwards, he moved towards the pitcher of water and the few cups they had in the wagon with them. Once there, he set in front of it all and poured himself a cup of water, turning to face Elann again as he sipped from the cup, wondering if she would be leaving right away to set up the tent or if she would linger around for a moment or two longer. It wouldn't bother him if she left right away, giving him more time to adjust to waking up and prepare himself for that night.

Journey to the East

Pillows and rugs could only make Noah's sleep so sound. Eventually he did wake, a short time before the call was sent out for the caravan to pull over for the night. He lay with eyes closed, body in on itself as he relished his own warmth and how much of it was trapped beneath the blanket atop him. One arm clutched the pillow underneath his head and the other was outstretched as if he was yearning for something. He didn't feel Elann come into the bed, in a deep stage of sleep when she did slip in, and the bumbling of the wagon made him deaf to the sounds of her walking around. He stay lying there until the off-road bumps and jumbling were silenced, after which he stretched out his arm further and blindly so, retracting it in order to roll onto his back.

Noah brought his hands fully above his head and stretched out his entire frame, feet poking out from the bottom of the blanket before being withdrawn back inside the warmth. His hands came over his face, both of the large things covering a half of his face each before they were dragged down off of his furry chin. Noah brought them up again to wipe his eye before opening them, looking up at the ceiling of the wagon in the dark. He recalled the light from the lantern and figured it had either gone out or Elann put it out before resettling near him. He was rested but his mind was still groggy, more so than when he usually woke up when sleeping on either a couch or a real bed, the lattermost he missed dearly.

A groan came from him, announcing how much he loathed to be awake in that moment, wanting more restful sleep. His head rolled to the side, allowing him to view Elann in the dark. One of his hands slid under the blanket and he touched her with the back of his fingers gently, letting them remain for a brief moment before he started to sit up, doing so only to wipe his eyes again and slouch as much as his back would allow. He scratched at his head next, loosening up any hair that may have been flattened down.

“My body hurts,” he whined quietly, fighting off the urge to stretch again. He whined groaningly once more, slightly laughing at himself as the urge to stretch came again and was still forced out into another, reaching for the ceiling and sprawling out his legs.

Journey to the East

Noah curled momentarily beneath the blanket as it was strewn across his upper body again. Elann slipped from it entirely and he took up the free space with a large stretch, lying that way all sprawled out for a moment longer as Elann fumbled with the lantern. He moved to the middle of the pallet, still lying down, and curling up underneath the blanket once more as the firelight took ahold of the interior.

In the light his face could be seen, and it was clear he was going to remain lying there for a while longer. He was supremely comfortable, so he fell back into a half-sleep state relatively quickly. It was only him and her in the wagon, though there was a sign of Aimee having been there: her trunk was open and aloft, a few garments spilling from the mouth.

Time enough passed for Elann to start writing in her journal, the only sound coming from Noah being the breaths he took that passed between his slightly pouted lips. By the time she was done, Noah was fast asleep in fullness, or as full as the Kelvic could get with the constant noise of the wagon moving under and around him.

Even though mentally he was very much awake earlier, physically he was near exhausted. His body was still healing and he managed to tax it to a low extreme with his transforming and hunting all day yesterday. His muscles were sore and groaned each time he moved them, the sleep was much needed. If Elann wanted him awake she would have to wake him herself or wait still.

Journey to the East

Though she wasn't touching him, she was pestering him. Noah opened his eyes again at the tug of his bond, revealing to him her back and her movements as she edged closer to him still. He withdrew his hand and moved to turn onto his side, scooting closer to her until her back was against his front and his arm was draped over her midsection. He closed his eyes again and sought sleep out once more, eventually finding it soon after she did.

When she awoke Noah was in a state of half-sleep with his eyes closed to the world. He was unsure how much longer she would sleep, so he was seeking out another handful of chimes of restful sleep himself. It seemed she was going to get up though as she began to move and stretch against him. In the next moment he was kissed, causing him to crack his lids open in order to see what else she was doing.

Once he saw her laying there he resumed attempting to sleep some more, only stirring again when she did. She sat up and pulled on the blanket as she moved, causing it to edge off Noah and expose him to the cooler air in the wagon. He let out a long sigh from his nose, his hand resting on her thigh. There was a little throaty groan coming from him to tell her he didn't appreciate her disturbing his rest. It wasn't completely serious, more done in play and announcing his own borderline wakefulness.