Although he’d let her sleep another 30 minutes, he knew they didn’t have much time before the sun set. All of the creatures were attracted to the smell of food and he wouldn’t risk an attack on his second night back at the village. 

Gently shaking her, he whispers, “I brought dinner, we've got to eat before it gets dark.”

At the motion of food, Kora immediately wakes up. Sitting up with a massive grin on her face, she says, “Where is the food?”

With a laugh, Nori gets the food set up on the bed so Kora didn't even need to get up. He'd brought a variety of dishes as he didn't know what she'd want as well as several desserts. 

By the time he'd finished setting everything up and joined her in bed, she had already sampled a bit of each dish. Chuckling, he grabbed his fork before saying, “I'd better hurry up or I won't get anything to eat.”

Quickly eating dinner, Nori was able to take all their dishes and utensils to the collection hut before dark. 

Kora stayed behind as Nori went to take their dishes. Although she'd been trying to stay up until he made it back, she was tired and her stomach was full. Within a few minutes, she had drifted off to sleep again.

Nori arrived back at the house with just a few minutes to spare. Considering the silence he'd entered, he already knew she'd fallen asleep once again. Looking at the door, he made his way back into his room. 

Grabbing his suitcase, he pulls out the stack of letters he'd written to Kora while he was gone.

Even though he knew he couldn't send them to her, it gave him the motivation to keep going. They became a way for him to voice the emotions he felt.. He'd written to her at least once a week, but occasionally more frequently. 

Pulling out a piece of paper, he writes a final letter describing how happy he was to finally be back home. After tying the bundle of letters together and placing them on the dresser in her room, he quietly slipped into bed beside her. 

Kora woke up early in the morning unable to go back to sleep, likely since she'd slept so much the day before. The stack of papers on the dresser immediately caught her attention. She could only assume Nori had left them there, but she was too curious to wait until he’d awoken. 

Quietly making her way out of bed so she didn't disturb Nori's sleep, she failed immediately as he woke up. Smiling at her figure half out of bed, he asked, “What are you doing?” 

With a sheepish smile she said ,”I was trying to get up and grab that stack of letters. I was trying not to wake you up.” As she spoke, she grabbed the massive stack and returned to bed. 

“These are all letters I wrote to you while I was gone, except for the most recent one.” Nori said quickly. Burying his face in his pillow, he didn't even wait for her response before quietly saying, “Don't laugh at me.”

Placing a hand on his back, with tears in her eyes, she said, “I could never laugh at you for something this lovely. Thank you.”

Hearing the emotion in her voice, he immediately sat up and pulled her into his arms. “I wasn't trying to make you cry.”

Wiping her tears, she said, “I know, it's just really sweet. You can go back to sleep, I'll just be reading the letters, I promise I'm okay.”

Normally he'd have stayed up with her, but he was exhausted and only had a few hours of sleep. Laying back down, he drifts off to sleep quickly. 

Kora began making her way through each letter. Some were short and simple. Asking about how she was and how much he missed her. Others were longer and talked about some of his more difficult days. Each letter he’d written ended with an I love you and a heart scribbled at the end. She had just finished reading through the last letter when Nori woke up.

Immediately gripping him in a crushing hug, she said, “Thank you and I love you too.”

Wrapping his arms back around her he simply sat in silence for a moment. Unable to voice his emotions, he chose to change the subject. He made sure to hug her tighter before asking, “Is there anything in particular you want to do today?”

“Nope, can we just be lazy today?” Kora said half seriously as she removed herself from his arms reluctantly. Reclining back on the pillows behind her, she turns her body to face him. 

Moving to prop himself up on an elbow, he grinned as he responded, “Yeah, if you want. I could probably use a nap or two anyway, and I sleep better with you next to me.” 

“You’re probably right. I spent most of the early morning reading, so I guess I’m probably ready to go to sleep again.” Kora said with a chuckle as she waved her hand at the slightly disheveled pile of letters on the nightstand. “I do want to write you some letters as well. It was really sweet of you to do this and I appreciate the effort you put into them.”

“Dont worry about it.” Nori said, pulling her into another hug to hide the blush rising to his face. “How about we take a nap first and talk about feelings later?”

Realizing his reluctance to speak more on the subject, Kora gave in and allowed herself to succumb to sleep in his arms once again.