Memory Problems

The popping of burning wood startled Elin awake. For some reason she felt like she was forgetting something. Something important, yet just beyond her consciousness. Something that she has a bad feeling about.

"Looks like you're finally awake," Heather said, laughing a little. "I was about to try starting a betting pool to see how long you'd sleep for."

Elin sat up, not seeing a point in pretending to not be awake or that she didn't hear Heather's statement. After all, she could also smell something cooking, so if she didn't get up, she might not be able to get something to eat until later.

"Well, I'm up now, so what's for breakfast?" she asked, looking around.

"Not that much, really," Elmo said from over by the fire that he had going nearby with a small pot above it.. "Bart and I went foraging earlier, but we weren't able to find much. If it wasn't for Grisha, we wouldn't have been able to get anything."

"Grisha?" Elin asked, feeling like she was missing something. Who was Grisha?

"You met him last night when Elmo and I returned," Bart said, drawing Elin's attention over by Sonya's tail. "He's looking for his sister, Elysia Violet. Remember?"

Elin felt puzzled for a moment. She remembered meeting someone who said that they were Elysia Violet, but she was having difficulty remembering any more details. Just like whatever had happened that kept her from remembering whatever it was that felt important.

Though, as she thought about it, a shadowy figure appeared in her memory, illuminated by some firelight. Then… nothing. Almost like there wasn't anything for her to remember. She wasn't sure what to make of it, but it wasn't like she'd been hurt or anything.

"Sorry," she said, shaking her head. "I think the last thing I remember last night is when it started to rain. Maybe I was just too tired to really remember."

"Then maybe you should keep some of you MP in reserve so you don't wear yourself out so much then," Heather scolded. "You know as well as I do that Sonya will recover just as quickly as if she was given a healing spell right now as opposed to last night. She's not in danger of dying, so giving her constant healing isn't going to help her as much as if we take care of ourselves so we can heal her as we're able to."

Elin was able to say she understood, despite how confusing Heather sounded, but before she could, Heather yawned and Elin wondered just how tired Heather was herself. Especially since Elin felt like she usually had an easier time understanding what she said.

"If you're that worried about Sonya, why not check on her," Elmo remarked. "You won't be able to do anything for her if you don't check on her periodically."

Elin felt like Elmo's statement was a splash of cold water on her. It made her alert and full of energy. Which she used to immediately get up and begin inspecting Sonya. Mostly checking on her wounds, but also making sure that there wasn't any indication that she was having problems that had come up while they were asleep themselves. She was aware of Heather doing the same, even though Elin couldn't be sure what she was able to tell exactly.

"You see anything different about her?" Heather asked.

"No, her wing's much the same," Elin replied. "Is she awake yet?"

"No, she still out of it."

Elin hadn't expected that Sonya would have woken up, but she had hoped it would be the case. Though, she couldn't help but wonder if there was anything they could do to help speed that up. Or at least if there was anything more than what they were already doing.

"So, where's Grisha?" Heather asked. "I think you mentioned him, so that means he waited around."

Elin felt like the mere mention of him from Heather was a punch to her gut. Like it was bad enough that she couldn't remember him, but if Heather could, did that mean that she really was that tired? That she wasn't taking care of herself very well? Part of her said that it wasn't true, but at the same time, she couldn't deny the fact that she should have remembered something like that. Especially since she was the only one who seemed to have forgotten him.

"After he brought the two rabbits for us to stew, he took off. I think it was to catch more rabbits, but I'm not sure," Bart replied. "How he does it, I couldn't say. He insisted that he go off on his own to get them."

"Maybe you could ask him to give you a few pointers when he gets back," Heather teased. "You might actually learn something then."

"You know I'm at the top of my grade in every subject," Bart snapped, clearly not liking the comment. "I don't care how far back I get set by being in this ridiculous competition, but I will return to my world and I will maintain my place in all my academic scores."

"You know, I wondered what was going on with you guys," a young man with hair that looked like it was similar to the feathers that Elin had been…

Elin blinked. She felt like there was something missing from her mind. She could have sworn the young man was coming around from behind the trees in the distance, but now he was sitting by Elmo and Bart, with three rabbits that he was carefully skinning and cleaning, though Elin had to quickly look away from where she saw the intestines getting put before she stomach rebelled against her.

"Elin, are you alright?" Heather whispered to her. "You looked like you were in a trance or something."

Elin merely shook her head helplessly. "I really have no idea," she replied. "Am I really that tired that I forgot things that happened last night or am I losing my mind?"

"If you're losing your mind, you should see if you can detect it by using Assess on yourself. If there is something causing that to happen, you'll just have to use Treat, right? That should take care of it right away."

Elin couldn't help but admit that what Heather said was true. However, she was hesitant to do that. After all, she couldn't be sure that it really was the case, and if it was, what would she do if she couldn't treat it? Would she just be creating problems for herself?

It certainly felt like it was, which only made her rather depressed.

"You don't have to take a look right now," Heather assured her. "Just keep it in mind that it might be what your problem is. I mean, it's not my problem if you don't do anything about it and it gets worse, right?"

Elin didn't want to reply, but she also couldn't deny that Heather had a point. She couldn't say that there wasn't the possibility that she had something that she could treat, but at the same time, she also might have something that she'd be able to detect that she wasn't able to. Though, she also couldn't help but wonder if there was something else altogether that was causing this to happen. After all, she couldn't say why she lost a little bit of time by being frozen like that when she saw Grisha. Nor could she say that he was the cause, just because she saw him.

"Elin, you're not planning on doing something stupid, are you?" Heather asked dryly, startling Elin.

"What do you mean 'something stupid?' why makes you think that I'd be thinking of doing something stupid?"

"Nothing really. It's just that I remember hearing others in my high school saying that sort of thing to their friends and their friends had the same kind of look on their faces as you do now," Heather explained.

Elin wasn't sure what was worse: having someone thinking that she looked like she might be thinking of doing something stupid or being compared to students in 'high school' or whatever that was. It sounded like it might be something childish, so Elin had a feeling that she should lean towards that description about it. If only because she was at a loss as to what else to think of it otherwise.

"Fine, I'll check," Elin said, worried that things might start getting worse if she delayed any longer. "Assess."

Elin saw the window appear in front of her as she cast the spell on herself. She looked at it, but felt stunned when there was something listed there: Hypnocharm. She wasn't sure what it was, but felt like it might not be as simple to remove as she would like.

"Find anything?" Heather asked after a moment. "Or are you just taking your time to try and treat it?"

Elin couldn't help but sigh. She didn't have anything to respond with, but she couldn't say that she had a feeling that it wasn't going to go away so easily. Yet, she couldn't say for certain that it wouldn't, so she merely did what was necessary to rule that option out.

"Treat," Elin said, feeling her MP get used to try and remove that status before using the first spell again. "Assess."

"So, did it work?" Heather asked, sounding rather eager.

Elin felt her stomach start to twist into knots as she saw the Hypnocharm status appear again. As if she hadn't used her 'Treat' spell.