About the Crystal part 1

Even as the next day dawned, the dawn of the second day Elin had gone missing with the crystal being the location she'd 'gone' to, Jonas refused to leave the immediate area

He didn't have the capability at the moment of staying awake a full 24 hours, but he was at least confident that nothing had come by them. Potentially dangerous or not. Maybe it'd come back later after he'd gotten some rest, but he wasn't that worried about it. Besides, he had a suspicion that he just wasn't able to do it this time simply because he didn't have anything to keep himself focused on. As even walking wouls require a level of focus sitting around didn't.

The sun shone brightly, and Jonas hoped that it wouldn't be long before Elin would be able to return from wherever she'd gone. After all, if she entered the crystal, then that should mean that she'd used it to access somewhere else. Because Jonas refused to accept that, even with all the magic he'd seen so far, that living inside such a small space was even possible.

However, since he had no idea of when that had occurred, he couldn't say when he needed to pay the most attention. After all, he only knew about when he'd woken up, even though he still had a stuffy nose and sore throat.

Why getting sick took longer some times than it did others, Jonas wasn't sure. All he could say was that it was a major pain, no matter when it occurred or how long it lasted.

Or maybe I'm just letting myself get too distracted, Jonas mused to himself as he looked around himself. He wasn't really sure what he was looking for, or if he was looking for anything in the first place, but he still felt like there was something that needed his attention.

Yet, nothing came into view or to his mind.

Ember hadn't stuck around for the night, and Jonas wasn't sure if he should expect her at any time before Elin showed up. As she could appear whenever, but he wasn't banking on it when he could use her to talk to in order to pass time more quickly.

That would be something he was certain would really be useful for him right then. Which naturally would be something denied him, likely for those exact same reasons.

Still, regardless of anything else, time passed on.

It wasn't something that drew his attention directly when it happened. Instead, it was just another time where the sun passed over where the crystal was hanging. Nothing special was happening or nothing that stood out, at least.

Instead, what was happening was that there seemed to almost be a build-up of light at where the crystal cast an aqua-green shadow on the ground. It was maybe half-formed when Jonas noticed it. Though, it certainly didn't look like it was fully formed.

Jonas wasn't sure if this was supposed to happen or if this was something else. All he could be certain of was that the best that he could think of to do was to just watch quietly. As somehow it felt almost disrespectful to say anything that would disturb the lights converging and creating something that looked far more solid than it had a right to given how it was being formed right then.

What appeared looked to be a young woman, with a peach dress and azure hair. She was turned away from Jonas, so he couldn't really tell what her eye color was, but he was pretty confident of this person's identity.

"Elin?" he asked, unsure if it really was her. After all, he had no idea where doppelgangers came from, so it was entirely possible that this was a doppelganger who had taken on Elin's form.

"Yeah, it's me," she whispered, sounding rather tired. "How long have I been gone? One week? Two? A month?"

Jonas blinked. He hadn't expected that. Especially since it hadn't been anywhere close to those times. "Uh, one day?" he asked, feeling a little uneasy at what Elin's reaction would be. Especially with how he couldn' be sure that she was altogether fine on her own here.

Elin stared at Jonas, looking rather stunned. "How?" she whispered, as if talking any louder would draw in unwanted attention. Attention that neither of them wanted.

Jonas merely shrugged. "All I can say is that you disappeared yesterday, Ember explained to me how you dragged me here. Uh, thanks for that, by the way." Elin nodded in response. "So, all evidence points to you… uh doing whatever it was that got you stuck inside that crystal."

Elin looked around their surroundings then back to Jonas. "Yeah, I think I probably spent too long in that first time, and so the sun moved too far to the side for exit to work like it's supposed to."

"What did you do in the crystal for so long that it would have closed the exit on you?" Jonas asked, feeling like that was the most important question right then.

Elin's face quickly turned red. "Uh, let's not discuss that. It's not that important," she said, making Jonas curious as to what she didn't want to talk about, as it was clear that there was something there. Some story that was begging to be told. However, as he had other things they needed to get on with, he knew he'd need to just let the point, otherwise they'd probably waste time with pointless pieces of trivia that wouldn't help them in the best of circumstances.

"So, how'd you get the crystal in the first place?" Jonas asked. "And why didn't you tell me or Ember about it?"

Elin sighted and looked away. At that moment, Jonas realized something: Elin had her memories back!

"First, I found the crystal in the wagon," Elin replied quietly. "When I first started to try and get out of the wagon, I fell and broke a board ion the floor of the wagon, which led me finding and the crystal."

Jonas nodded. It was nice to know that they'd technically had it in their possession when the subject had been brought up before. Even though he didn't know it at that time.

"So, you got the crystal, but why didn't you at least show it to the bird?" Jonas asked, wondering if he should be asking why she didn't show him instead.

Elin shook her head. "Actually, I felt like I could trust Ember the least," she admitted. "I know Ember got me off the wagon first and all that, but I still don't know what Ember's motivation for all of this is just yet."

Jonas nodded, not complaining. It did soothe his ego to know that, though he did wonder what reasons she had for not trusting him.

"And was that the same reason for not showing it to me?" he asked, feeling like he might be pressing to hard. After all, Elin was a friend and he should be letting her share this at her own pace rather than him pushing every point that he was interested in instead.

Elin merely shrugged. "If I had my memories, I'd have trusted you, but at the time, all I had was vague feelings." Elin looked at Jonas, her eyes brimming with tears. "I wanted to, but I could bring myself to trust anyone at that time. I mean, if I showed it to the wrong person, then I might have ended up in a worse position than I had been in before."

Jonas nodded. He could understand that point. However, he stopped suddenly. Something Elin had said had clicked in his mind that made him realize something he hadn't before.

"You got your memories back?" he asked, feeling like he should have realized it almost immediately.

Elin nodded. "Yeah, I got them," she said. Then with a mischievious grin she added, "It was fun getting them back."

Jonas wanted to ask what she meant, but had a feeling he was probably better off not knowing. Not when he knew how her humor worked sometimes. He had a feeling that he might not sbe surprised at what she meant, which was probably more than he really needed to know about it anyway.

"So, what do you plan on doing with that crystal now?" he asked. Personally he thought just chucking it somewhere would probably be best. That way they could honestly tell Douglas, if they ever encountered him, that they had no idea where it was.

"Well, I'd first like to help get the others out if it," Elin answered.

Jonas felt a headache coming on. Of course there'd be 'others' to save from the crystal. Why did he think that it'd be as simple as getting Elin's memories back and that would be all they'd need from the crystal? While he hadn't known that Elin's memoires were in the crystal, he couldn't say that he had fully formed out a plan of how he'd help get them back. After all, he had expected them to be more intangible and more likely sealed.

As such, this was just another twist that this competition had thrown them that he would have preferred not having had to deal with in the first place.