Noah held his ribs some as his laugh faded. Oh, how foolish he must seem. The hunter, removed from the ice and cold, and thrust into the world for all to see how truly clumsy he was. Perhaps that was his fate for having practiced only one thing in life: survival. He sighed some, the laugh finally dissipated into the salty air. "Oh, now listen," He said, subconsciously scooting closer to her. He lowered his chin some, looking at the girl through arched eyebrows. "You don't have to be someone special to make the world around you special." The words of his mother, verbatim, falling from his lips. Where his father had been steadfast and realistic, his mother had been kind and optimistic. It was a necessary balance in Halo, and Noah had learned to lean on that. Hopelessness was never an option for him, not if he wished to survive.
"But even so, I don't think that's a fair statement. You definitely already surprised me." He said, leaving back some and motioning to Pim. "I thought that dragon was going to devour us both on this beach, and you scolded it with the flick of your finger." His smile returned to his face. "Never--never--have I met such a woman as you." Warmth returned to his cheeks as he realized the words falling from his mouth, and finally the proximity he had brought himself to her. "Give yourself some credit."
