Sonya Wakes Up

Sonya woke up on the fifth day when they were making breakfast, another batch of rabbits that Grisha had caught for them. Elin couldn't say why she kept having trouble around him with her memory. She didn't understand why, but if felt like whenever he was around, she had a harder time remembering things. At least when she could remember who he was.

At first it was… something that Elmo assured her that they had discussed and maybe anything related to… that, but lately it was even getting to where she was having trouble remembering who Elmo was at times. Not to mention Heather and Bart. Though, for some reason, Sonya was someone she was always able to remember. She didn't know why, but she couldn't help but be grateful for it.

While she remembered the status she had learned from using her assess spell, she hadn't been able to figure out how to get rid of it. Hypnocharm seemed to remain, no matter how often she tried using Treat on herself, nor was she able to get any actual information about what it entailed. Such as what the exact effects were.

Although, sometimes she did forget that she had that condition, so if she learned about it again during one of those periods, she would begin trying to get rid of it through methods that she'd already confirmed wouldn't work.

Fortunately for her right then, she was in one of those periods where she could remember them. As well as the times when she couldn't. Which was a little bit of a relief, while also rather stressful at the same time.

She wasn't sure what she should do about it at this point, but she felt like she always needed to be the one doing something to get rid of it. Even though she didn't know what she could do past what she'd already done.

"Did anyone get the license plate number of that tree?" Sonya mumbled as Elin took a bite of the rabbit Heather had handed her earlier.

"You're awake!" Heather cried, dropping her own half-eaten rabbit. "You're finally awake!"

Elin couldn't help but smile as she watched Heather hug Sonya's shoulder, or what she could reach of it.

"Yeah, what happened?" she asked, pressing her head against Heather's back. "I just remember the branches, getting turned sideways and then nothing."

"Well, when you crashed, Elin and I got thrown, but Elmo stayed on your back," Heather explained, sounding rather content to Elin. Which Elin assumed was simply because Sonya was awake again. "We weren't sure if you'd wake up again with how we couldn't really heal you properly."

"I'm just glad you're safe," Sonya rumbled, making Elin feel like she was intruding.

"Well, we've had some other problems since then," Heather explained as she started to pull away from Sonya. "For one, Elin seems to be having trouble remembering things and has a condition called… uh, I think it's 'hypnocrown' or something?" Heather looked at Elin, letting Elin know she was looking for confirmation.

"Hypnocharm," Elin corrected. "It's called hypnocharm and we don't have any idea what it does or even how to get rid of it."

"Do you think you'll be able to at least walk?" Elmo asked, startling Elin. She'd forgotten about him, and not because of whatever had been affecting her memory.

"Why?" Sonya asked, yawning. "It's so comfortable here. Can't I just wait the rest of the three weeks here? I mean, we already spent that one night where nothing could be done for my foot, but for some reason, I can't feel any pain in my foot, so why can't it just stay like that?"

Heather and Elin exchanged a look of understanding. Whatever was going on with Sonya's foot was more than certain to be a temporary thing. Possible it had gone to sleep or it was merely a result of Sonya having been out for so long, but Elin was confident that it would eventually be something that Sonya would feel again and well before the three week period was up. Which at the moment would be just a little over two weeks from now.

"Well, we do need to either get back to our camp and get our other supplies," Bart answered, making Elin wonder if he even noticed Heather's and her own reaction to Sonya's statement.

"Let someone else get it," Sonya replied, laying her head down. "I don't want to move in case my foot starts to hurt because of that."

"So, you didn't say that because you thought that staying here would just keep your foot from hurting?" Elin asked, mostly to check. She wasn't sure if she and Heather had merely misunderstood what Sonya was thinking or if she was misunderstanding now. Either felt like it was equally possible.

"Of course it's likely to hurt again," Sonya snorted. "I just want to enjoy this as long as I can. Even if it's just fallen asleep and is numb, that's better than dealing with the pain of it when so much of me hurts."

Elin couldn't think of an argument to that statement. Though, while it seemed rather well-reasoned, Elin couldn't help but wonder if that's really what Sonya thought about it.

Not that it made a difference, either way. Besides, she couldn't argue that even if Sonya's foot still hurt that staying put until they could heal her was in fact a reasonable idea. Since not moving after getting injured would help Sonya's body help heal it on its own, even with the condition that slowed that process down.

"Would you like something to eat?" Heather asked. "We only have rabbit right now, but I'm sure Elmo could get something bigger for you to eat if you want."

"A rabbit sounds good right now, but I'd much rather eat you out instead," Sonya replied quietly, and Elin couldn't help but feel her face heat up as she realized what Sonya meant. Though, Heather giggled as she blushed in response.

Elin turned away from both of them after a moment of seeing them like that. It made her think of the times she'd been with Kim and how that was over. She would have liked to have been a part of their relationship, but at the same time, she didn't feel like she should say anything. It wasn't her place to push herself into their relationship. If they invited her to join, that would be one thing. One that she would jump at the chance for, but at the same time, she really didn't expect that to occur. As it was their relationship and Elin never heard of three people being like that together. At least not that she could remember.

She stood up and walked over to Elmo, not sure what she was going to say until she arrived. "Elmo, why don't you and I go see if we can hunt something bigger than rabbits? I'm sure Sonya would like something more filling," she said, not sure why she was asking about that.

It almost felt like she was just trying to still find a way that would allow her to be a part of their relationship anyway.

Elmo merely shrugged in response. "Might as well," he said. "I doubt I'll be able to do anything really useful here anyway if we're just going to wait around."

Elin breathed a sigh of relief quietly. She wasn't sure if that's what she had been going for, but at the same time, she doubted that she really knew what she had been pushing for anyway. Maybe she was just trying to be helpful in any way possible and it was just her overthinking things that made her think that she was doing that to receive that invite that she'd like to obtain. Even though she really didn't think that they'd ever issue it.

Elin started following Elmo through the trees. She wasn't sure if there was anything for them to hunt around here that would be bigger than the rabbits, but if nothing else, she knew that it would at least be an excuse for her to leave Sonya and Heather together. Although, as she thought about it, she wasn't sure if Bart was still at that location or not.

Pulling herself out of her thoughts, she continued following where Elmo had passed as he kept moving faster than she had been before she had gotten lost in thought.

Or at least she thought she had been, but when the trees cleared, she couldn't see him around. Nor was she sure who it was that she was following. She knew that it was someone that she knew, but she couldn't think of who it might have been for if her life depended on it.

Looking around, she couldn't say that anything was familiar. She wasn't even sure if walking back the direction she'd come from would get her back to where she'd come from. Not to mention how she couldn't even think about if it would be safe to do so either.

In fact, as she continued surveying her surroundings, she realized she hadn't a clue as to which direction she'd come from. Which only made her feel more than a little panicked about the situation.

Then, either through a stroke of luck, or just from feeling thirsty, she saw what looked like either a pond, lake, stream, or something that looked like it had water. It was a distance away from her current location, away from the trees and over a hill or two, but she was confident that she'd at least be able to get something to drink there. She just had to start walking there and would eventually reach it.

So, as she started walking in that direction, she couldn't help but wonder if maybe that's where she'd come from in the first place. After all, why wouldn't she have stayed around a source of water?