Place to Rest

Elmo groaned as he became aware of his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was the pounding headache he had from where it was clear he'd been hit. Even gingerly touching that spot on his head created a flare of pain that threatened to put him unconscious again.

"You awake," a voice said, alerting him to the fact that he wasn't alone.

As Elmo opened his eyes, he could see that he was in a cave and some light made his surroundings visible. It wasn't torchlight, but had more of a feel of natural light. Which in turn made him feel like he might be close to the entrance of the cave. Which, if true, might be useful for when he wanted to escape.

The one who spoke was what looked like an orc, from what Elmo could remember when he'd slaughtered a horde of them who had been under the control of Aquis. He wasn't sure why they'd spared him and taken the time to capture him, but he had a feeling he wasn't going to like the reasons.

"You come with me," the orc said, it's expression letting Elmo know that he shouldn't try to argue with him. That doing so would result in bad things happening.

As Elmo tried to stand up, a wave of vertigo washed over him and he found himself falling before he'd even been able to stand up fully.

The orc turned back to him and glared hatefully at him. "I say come, you come!" he snapped.

"I can't walk if I can't stand," Elmo retorted, a little surprised at how easily those words came out. When he had been certain that he should just try and do what he was told so they'd let their guard down around him, which would hopefully grant him a chance to escape.

What surprised Elmo most was the reaction to his retort. The glare lessened and the orc looked like he was grinning in a way. "You might be useful after all."

The orc didn't say anything more, but turned away and left Elmo there. Which also left Elmo confused.

He wasn't sure what that statement the orc had made was about, nor was he confident that what happened was actually a good thing.

Where he was in the cave didn't allow him to see much. In fact, it looked more like it was almost of an alcove in the cave, as it was clear it was a dead end that was maybe five feet long.

"So, you eliminated them all, right?" a voice echoed through the cave, startling Elmo.

Not only was he startled by the sudden sound, but the fact that he recognized the speaker. IT was Grisha.

"We not kill any," another voice replied. This one almost sounding rather ancient. "They too strong. We fall back when it clear we not strong enough."

"Seriously!?" Grisha snapped, his voice almost sounding rather electric. "I drugged their dragon so they wouldn't have her as an ally and you couldn't even kill any of them!? Not even the weakest of them?"

"None of those weak. All stronger than you say. Me thinks you want us dead, not them!" the voice stated, which to Elmo sounded almost like an accusation.

"Look, maybe we got off on the wrong foot this time," Grisha said, almost placatingly. "I need you to eliminate them because they're a threat to me. I don't care what you do to accomplish that, I just want them dead. Alright?"

Elmo felt his stomach turn. Grisha had drugged Sonya? He was the one behind that attack? Though, Elmo wasn't sure why it was that Grisha wanted them dead. Only that it was clear that he was the friend he'd pretended to be.

Which also made Elmo question everything that Grisha had told them. Even the fact that 'Grisha' was his actual name. Although, Elmo hoped that he could remember everything that Grisha had said. Especially since he couldn't be sure that whatever had been said wasn't another thing that he'd forgotten about. Like Elin and his system. Whatever a system was.

+++

Elin wasn't sure how long it took her before she stopped crying. Part of her felt guilty for having done that in the first place, but at the same time, it wasn't like she'd had any control over that. Her emotions just took over and she didn't have anything she could do to prevent that.

"Are you feeling better now?" Ember asked. "Or do you think that you'll start up again soon?"

Part of Elin said that Ember was mocking her, but she pushed that thought aside. She had a feeling that if it did come across as mocking, that it was because Ember just wasn't used to dealing with others like that.

"I don't know," she admitted, a little surprised at how true her response was. "But, yeah, I do feel better."

"Well, since we have that out of the way now, what do you want to do now? I accept that you're not going to abandon Jonas, but at the same time, we can't keep dragging him around like that. Sooner or later he's going to be in danger and I doubt there'd be anything you'd be able to do to help him in that case."

"It doesn't matter," Elin replied defiantly. "He's just a little sick and he'll be fine when he gets enough rest."

The bird looked like it wanted to say more, but Elin wasn't sure if it was going to. Especially since it didn't seem to hold back it's thoughts up to this point anyway.

"How about this," the bird said after a minute of silence. "You take Jonas over to those trees. The ones that have a loot of bushes growing around them. I'll head out and try to get something that we can eat, even if you have to cook it, okay?"

Elin nodded. Food certainly sounded good. Especially since she couldn't say how good she'd be at getting the food herself.

However, the biggest problem with doing that was that she'd have to pick Jonas up again, and while she felt better emotionally after her tears stopped, she couldn't say that she felt any less physically tired. In fact, she felt even more tired now. Though, she also couldn't help but acknowledge that where she and Jonas currently was wasn't a good place for her to take a nap. It was too much in the open, where the trees Ember suggested would be a lot better to conceal their presence.

Which meant that the sooner she started dragging Jonas over there, the sooner she'd be able to relax. Or take a nap, if that's what she felt like doing at that time instead.

Taking a deep breath, Elin lifted Jonas up, draping him across her back again, this time though, she had a specific destination in mind. Which she suspected had a little to do with how she didn't feel so exhausted carrying Jonas like she had a few minutes ago.

However, despite that fact, she still felt that with each step she took, she was in danger of collapsing entirely. She wouldn't care to be caught under Jonas' weight, but that wasn't really the issue she was worried about. The issue that she was worried about the most was that if she didn't get Jonas there that he might not have time to recover from his illness.

Not if Douglas came across him first. Even though she didn't have a reason why Douglas would think that Jonas was a threat to him in the first place. Especially from the fact that she couldn't be certain that Douglas was even aware of Jonas' existence in the first place.

However, Elin didn't want to take that chance. Even if he didn't know who Jonas was, he might consider eliminating Jonas to prevent him from helping Elin out in the future.

Then before she knew it, the shade of the trees fell over her, letting her know that she'd been able to make it. That she'd be able to rest once she got in a little farther.

After all, she certainly didn't want to stay on the edge where it'd essentially be like staying out in the open.

About a minute of walking with Jonas on her back allowed her to find a place she could set Jonas down and maybe have him comfortable. She wasn't sure if it really was, but that wasn't what was important right then.

When she'd situated Jonas, she took a step back and sat on a rock covered in light green lichen. It looked so much like other rocks in these mountains, though this one wasn't as big as some of the others. Though, it did feel a little like it had been made just for her to sit on.

With Jonas being brought here, Elin felt like she could take a deep breath and relax. She didn't have anything else to do at the moment, except maybe for getting a fire started, but she really didn't feel like going to that effort just yet. She was more interested in not moving off of her rock.

Though, at about that moment, she suddenly remembered the crystal. She wasn't sure what it was about the crystal that kept pulling her attention to it, but it did at least make her wonder just how much importance that crystal held in regards to her own future.