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Journey to the East

"In my culture, we know death is near to us. If it isn't bandits and starvation, it is the heat of the desert. The day of our birth is important, the days of cleansing are important, when a girl first gets her period is pretty important as are our festivals. Religious holidays are always important, but repeatedly celebrating a day each year just because you were born is not something we think about. If anything, it reminds us more of our impending death, so when Noah first told me about how you all celebrate them, I was kind of off-put by it, but it was fun, yeah?" she asked, looking up to her husband with a smile. "I had fun. That was a good day."

Noah stated the things that he wanted or didn't want, and she nodded slightly. He was calming her down, obviously not responding to her excitement. It seemed her ideas were not appealing to him and she dropped her eyes from his smile. Looking to Aimee, she mentioned what was on her mind in that moment.

"I forgot his birthday...I think with all the events that were happening in the winter life just got consuming for us, and he didn't seem to say anything about it that I remember..."

She then looked to her husband again and tilted her head.

"I didn't mean to forget it. I must have just gotten lost and not thought about it. I'm sorry," she confessed in apology to him with a burdened heart. Her eyes sought his forgiveness but didn't know if he would give it.

Journey to the East

Elann thought it was very cute how he hid behind his hands and whispered to her. Aimee's giggling made Elann smile as she watched her husband and how his sister questioned him. When Aimee urged her whine at him Elann wondered inside just how important these birthdays were and sat up from him, but kept her eyes on him.

She remembered vaguely how he freaked out at her for not going out for her birthday and how he had turned it into a wonderful day. Elann felt somewhat guilty as she watched him, feeling the chord struck in her husband.

"I should have done more for your birthday," she commented, expressing her guilt.

With a quick look to Aimee, she added, "We don't really celebrate our birthdays. They are considered a bad thing, so I didn't really think to do it for him."

"If we can, we will have a big birthday for you this year," she said, looking back to him. "One that will make up for those missed. It can have...fighting, food, hunting, candies, pastries, lots of decorations, and then at the end, we can all go to the beach!"

She eyed him with her wild eyes, showing her rousing excitement, hoping to get him thrilled in the event, particularly because of her own desire and want to see him happy.

Journey to the East

Elann's competitive side slightly continued as Noah rolled the candies in his hand between his fingers, her own lightly pestering his to screw him up, though it wasn't her immediate focus at the time. She was more busy telling him of his hate for being in that situation with the wedding party, but when Aimee began to express how he hated being sung to on his birthday, she focused on her attack more.

"Aww," she sounded in comment as she sat up from her attack to comfort her husband in his embarrassment. He was turning red as it was and began his whining.

"We are all going to sing it for you for your next birthday, and we will sit you in a chair and sing it around you while we all dress in robes and have candles in our hands."

"Happy birthday Noah," she sung in a creepy tone to him in the pattern Syrliran kids would celebrate their birthdays.

She was enjoying her torture of her husband, and had a brilliant smile on her face as it was bringing life to an otherwise dreary day. They had not gotten stuck yet thankfully, but who knew as the day carried on? She wanted to make sure he knew she was just kidding and it showed on her face.

Journey to the East

Elann could feel the subtle pulls of pain in her husband as he finally conceded. It was deserved, being the butt that he was, and she finally was victorious, even if by him letting her win. Immediately she popped a candy into her mouth out of the three she took from him and sat up from her position in laying across his body.

As she moved to sit next to him, he stole a kiss on her temple and told her he loved her. Warmth spread through her whole body as the love invaded her from him. It was funny to hear his "I love you" as well because of the candies in his cheeks or mouth at that point. Almost as if by reward, she reached for his hand and gave him the two remaining candies back. It was her way of saying that she loved him too, as he could feel through their shared bond.

The bond continued to radiate increasingly as she nestled up next to him and into his arms. She gently caressed the arm that got hurt as if to soothe him and give him comfort as Aimee spoke, even if it meant reaching across him in a hug to do so.

Aimee perked up and spoke of the party, causing Elann to smile brightly, a light in the gloom. Stuffing the candy into her cheek, she was able to talk once more.

"Honestly, I have had a dream since a little girl of a fabulous wedding party. I think every girl in our tribe does, but really, I'm going to be happy with anything at this point- even if it is just us three and a small bit of food. I'm thankful for anything you all wish to give me and Noah."

She looked up to him as it was his party as well.

"I'm sure he's glad that we aren't doing it my way...particularly the part where everyone surrounds him and sings at him."

She giggled then, looking to her husband's eyes for his face for his reaction as she brought the candy to the edge of her lips, almost as if a taunt for him to show her victory. He wouldn't be able to take it from her as she would be quick to sneak it back in, but her lips would taste like the candy.

Journey to the East

When Aimee said that he got beat up pretty badly, she assumed it meant he won the match since he wasn't dead. It was likely Noah almost lost a brother that day.

There was a burden in her heart for Ryon as Aimee mentioned his fiancee. There was a shrill spike in her of guilt as Aimee mentioned that they never had luck with their bondmates. Her correction relieved it, but it was too late to not affect her. The reaction was small, hardly noticeable, particularly with thoughts of her mother on her mind, but it was there. She felt guilty how she had added to the perception that they didn't have good luck with their bondmates, even if she had corrected to say the first ones.

It was only Noah's goofy smiles that roused her from her silent gloom, making a game out of sliding the carmel back and forth along his cheek by pressing on either side of it. When he offered her a candy, immense joy flooded their bond, yet when he stole it away from her, it was like her world was shattered. She sat there stunned for a moment until she realized he was playing with her and then would grasp for it again. After the second time, she would be diving across his lap to grab his arm and even would go so far as to even bite his knuckle playfully until he gave up all the sweets. He was seeing her competitive side, but it was all in fun.

Journey to the East

"Oh no...that would be horrible if he lost. I can imagine that those fights pay well, but I still just can't imagine someone wanting to be in a fight like that, even if you are competent."

Elann drifted off in thought of her mother and was roused from it only momentarily by her husband's movements to wrap around her and plant a kiss on her mouth. She hummed in enjoyment and settled back into her thoughts, but then his sigh came and her eyes shot up to him. He had a playful look on his face and she could realize he was toying with her. She must have let out a longing sigh or breath that he now was mocking.

"Nnn," she nasally whined as she burrowed into his chest with a slight chuckle. "I was thinking of my mom. We would sometimes sit in the dark like this in the tent in mornings before we felt like lighting the lights inside or opening a flap. It gets cold in the desert at night, so we would be under blankets and sometimes just be talking about silly things before bothering to work."

Aimee would have read about her parents in Elann's journals and known what the Benshira had to go through. She may even have had a better perspective given her reading into Elann's past a bit and seeing how much she loved them, but it still plagued her to think of them occasionally.

Her eyes scanned over her husbands face once more and saw his ridiculous cheeked candies and she brought a cool hand up to lightly poke at the bulges there as though they were a mushy button.

Journey to the East

While Elann didn't like it when people lied, it was not as though he was lying to destroy someone. There were degrees of the action that she did permit, and it was a matter of the heart. Her rebuke of him was playful, but let him know gently it wasn't okay to lie. He wasn't a child (well kind of) and she figured he knew as such.

Noah slid from her grasp and straightened himself out on the bench to be fully sat up on it. Finally she could get in closer to him and she inched up until she was right up against him, sucking the heat from him.

"It sounds like it is organized at least. They have matches outside the city of Yahebah, but they are illegal and almost always are to the death. Usually involving slaves of some sort. I've never been to them."

If she had, there was no doubt she would have known what a kelvic was and that they fought there violently versus man or other kelvics.

Elann snaked her hand behind Noah's back and continued to lightly play along his scars with light scratches. The weather outside made it darker inside the wagon than on a normal sunny day, but she liked it darker. It reminded her of being in the tent with her mother. The thoughts of fights back home then trailed to her mother and her eyes rose to view Aimee as she sat there. There was a longing in her heart, strong in power as she thought to her mother and let out a heavy breath before settling into silence to look out the back of the wagon and into the falling droplets.

Journey to the East

Elann happily hummed as Aimee said she wanted a rug. It would give Elann great pleasure to make one for her sister. It would be worth a considerable amount of money as well just incase she ever needed money. Some larger rugs of high quality could be sold for as much as a low quality house. Such rugs would take more than a year if she herself was doing it, but a nice room rug would be just right for the Kelvic sister of hers.

"Alright. Who knows what time either of us will have when we get to Zeltiva? I will definitely try to make you one though.

Elann's desire for her husband was a constant thing in her, sometimes greater than other times, but this was a yearning for candy, and while it felt the same, as he thought about affection toward her, she glanced his way and continued her scratching, this time moving upward to his neck.

When Noah asked for a sweet, Elann watched as she brought them over for him and Noah blatantly lied. Elann tsk'ed at him in disapproval.

"Liar..." she titled him playfully and wiggled a finger at his ear to flop it back and forth as a toying punishment. When Aimee offered her one, though she had a desire for them, she shook her head.

"No, but thank you."

Elann was tempted to use the command of her bond to make her brat of a husband give her one of his stolen ones, but in the end, she just laid across his back, her head and body resting up against him as she slid into a hug from behind.

"Do they fight to the death in the fighting rings, or is it just a friendly competition?"

In some of the tribes there were small scale gladiatorial combat, as if people weren't dying enough in their small numbers.

Journey to the East

"It's very beautiful, particularly the temple. It's situated in such a way that there is a beautiful open courtyard of smooth white stone where the people gather and worship. Then inside the temple, it is lined with gold and facing east, so when the sun rises it hits the inside and shines brilliantly, illuminating the entire courtyard with a breathtaking golden light."

"We do our rugs differently, different knots. They both good, but I think ours are more durable, and a nice rug can have illusions and amazing affects that don't seem possible just by tying knots. I'll have to make you one. It might take me a bit though."

A brilliant quality rug could take a year on her own without a loom. Who knew if her work in Zeltiva would have a loom and if it would allow her to do personal work.

The sweets Aimee had looked mightily tempting and Noah would feel that temptation in Elann, even though she didn't appear to have it outwardly. Her squeeze and compliment on her husband brought her a kiss and she grinned as he smooched the corner of her mouth, obviously close to a giggle. Public signs of affection made her giddy, but she was telling the truth. She thought the world of him and really knew he would and could protect her if at all possible. His ability to fight was strong, she had no doubt.

"Do you think you could fight your brothers and win right now?" she curiously asked innocently. He had certainly been training constantly. If nothing else, he would give them a little bit of a shocker when they saw weak little Noah come into the ring and display some skill.

Journey to the East

Elann did get lost in her own thoughts, and as Aimee dug about, she snapped out of it and said, "Sorry... I got lost in thought a moment there, Um...Well I was just wondering. I dream all the time, usually about the same thing, singing and dancing, but for me, I am usually walking in a desert."

It was interesting that their dreams were so similar to each other, though occasionally Elann's dreams would be very strange indeed and would have implications in real world events.

Her husband doubted himself, saying he didn't know anymore if he was a great fighter. She didn't see how such a large eagle could not be a great fighter. His claws alone were enough to scare her into thinking he could easily kill her; what was a tiny bird to him?

"I'm sure you are. One day I want to see you fight too. Boxing. I want to see how you do it and how good you are."

Her hand left his back to give his bicep a squeeze, having seen his strength in how he could carry her easily and in the various tasks he did which showed his strength. She couldn't wait to see him fighting and knew he was likely pretty good. His attentiveness to detail meant he likely could read his opponents attacks better than most people could.