Even with the tone they were painted in, Remi's words were like a punch in the gut. Noah felt them physically smack him, and color rushed to his face. Of course the Lullaby was right in what he was saying. Noah knew it, too, but he didn't want to admit it. He didn't want to admit to how selfish he was being by holding this task at arms length, by so much as ignoring his deity's pledge on his life. He swallowed and his throat bobbed as his face and ears grew hotter and hotter. Noah nodded, then, and looked to his feet. He shuffled them briefly before kicking at a mound of dirt that must have taken some insects weeks to build up.
"I want to honor Vi." Noah said, full of truth and humility and yet, a tinge of sadness. Where that was coming from, he wasn't quite sure. Perhaps it was because of all of the wordly things he was holding on to despite what the god called him to--
--the things he needed to let go. Because if he were to continue on this path that Vi had chosen for him, and he had accepted, there was nothing else that was going to follow him into the innumerable lifetimes that he had the potential to live. "I think meeting with you was what I needed. A perspective I needed to understand. To be able to look outside myself."
Remi's further words made Noah's throat close in, and the color and warmth of his face shattered instantly to a cold ice. He hadn't realized how much the Lullaby hated what he was--or, at least, what this life called him to. Noah steeled himself, pulled his heart from his stomach to his chest where it belonged, and left everything open in the attuned airways for Remi to feel it, if he so chose. "If...if it were to change, if the gods--if Caido--could make that happen..." Noah trailed off, because just as he had thought only seconds ago about losing those he loved because of the longevity of his life, Remi was willing to give up his mantle and his endless life with Ronin, if it shielded the world.
Noah was sure he was not that selfless, and he looked to the Lullaby with an admiration he didn't hold before.
