An Early Walk

Elin yawned as she woke up.

It was early in the day, the sun hadn't even started to rise. Jonas was clearly still on watch from when he'd taken over somewhere in the night. Though, Elin really couldn't say exactly when that was.

Ember had left before the sun went down, though, Elin was starting to wonder why the bird did that. As it wasn't like they weren't friends with a shared enemy. So, she couldn't understand what it was that made Ember feel like she needed to continue to disappear like that. Especially with how well they'd been working together.

However, Jonas told Elin when she complained about it before her watch started, that she needed to let Ember explain why she did that on her own. That forcing the matter could create problems with her that could end their partnership in the fight against Douglas.

To which Elin couldn't come up with an argument against. After all, they needed all the allies they got, they knew that Ember was a target of Douglas, though the why that was still hadn't been explained. Although, on the other hand, even with her memories back, Elin couldn't say why he was interested in her either. So, it wasn't like she really could expect that Ember would know Douglas' reasons.

Even though it was early, Elin couldn't think of anything to do outside of getting the second creature freed from the pendant. Though, she acknowledged that she'd need a good amount more light if she was to do that. As the night sky, especially with it being overcast, didn't really provide enough light for her to enter into the crystal. Maybe Jonas could, since his powers seemed to be more inclined with shadows, but she didn't want to even suggest it in case it turned out rather poorly.

"You know, I can hear that you're awake," Jonas remarked as Elin continued to lay in her blanket. "We got plenty of time before its time to break out he pendant out again. So, if you want to start cooking some breakfast, I wouldn't object."

Elin scowled at Jonas in the dark. She really didn't care to get up at this point, even if she couldn't get back to sleep. Yet, Jonas did have some points and Elin, herself, really wanted to waste as little time as possible that day. As she knew that sooner or later they'd need to confront Douglas, and she was pretty sure that doing so would necessitate getting as much done beforehand in preparation. That way they'd be as prepared as possible and he might not have as much preparations done himself.

So, Elin got up and walked over to start the campfire with the flint and steel that Jonas had gotten from the capital before they'd left. Before they'd even known about 'Kim's army' as well.

Even though she hadn't been used to starting fires before this competition, she had to admit, that she had learned a lot since then. Maybe even more than she'd learned from living in her father's house up to that point. Some of which she couldn't be sure that her father would have approved of her knowing.

Elin quickly had a fire going and was quickly getting a small breakfast ready, even though it wasn't anything like she knew she'd be able to have back in her own world. Even though she also had learned that she couldn't cook that well, despite her efforts at doing so.

It didn't take long before she had something that smelled kinda good, though she knew it wouldn't be as good as if it was Jonas who had been doing the cooking. Especially since she'd rather be doing anything other than cooking herself.

"How long do you think it'll take to release the serpent in the crystal?" Jonas asked conversationally, as if this was any other time.

"Couldn't say," Elin answered. "I don't know how the creature might react or if it'll be another episode like with the roc."

Elin felt Jonas nodding more than saw him, which felt weird. As she wasn't sued to that.

"Well, at last the serpent shouldn't be able to fly, right?" Jonas offered, with a small laugh.

Elin turned to looked at Jonas out of the corner of her eye. "You realize that even if it can't fly, it still might be able to move faster than either of us?"

Jonas merely shrugged. "I'm sure it'll be fine. We haven't met with anything we couldn't handle yet, right?"

Elin rolled her eyes at that. "Just because we haven't encountered anything we couldn't handle directly, doesn't mean there isn't something like that out there. Something that might not necessarily be hostile to us, but still will attack us if we try to get in its way."

"Don't worry so much," Jonas said, as if that was all that mattered. "I'm sure Ember will be able to help us out if it comes to that. After all, remember, it's her family inside that crystal, after all. She has an incentive to work with us to get it back."

Elin sighed. While that was true, she didn't like the thought of expecting that Ember would help them solely for that reason. Because of her family's lives potentially being on the line.

If they lost the pendant, Elin worried that Ember would blame them and that could be the end of their partnership. As they'd already lost it once. Even if they got it back again, whose to say that Douglas wouldn't have just as easy of a time getting it from them if they encountered him?

When what Elin had been attempting to cook was finished, the sun was lighting the sky, even if it wasn't visible just yet. Elin knew it would take a few hours yet, but she didn't care. She needed some time by herself. Though, she couldn't help but worry that she'd end up in another trap like before.

However, this time, she at least had her memories, so she felt confident that she'd be able to make it back without any real trouble. Not to mention that she could remember the signs of the trap that she'd entered before. Signs that she didn't know because of the loss of her memories signified a danger.

"I'll be back in a bit," she said to Jonas, taking her portion of the breakfast. Which she wasn't even sure what to call it. It was a lump of solidified stew and meat that hardly felt like it was anything other than maybe a greasy bun.

Still, it was filling and didn't make her want to throw up, like when she'd first started to learn to cook. As such, she considered it as 'passable.' Since she couldn't say that others weren't better. Especially that baker who was with Kim's army back then.

Still, she hoped that there wouldn't be any other complications to come down their way. With how things were at the moment, Elin had a feeling it was complicated enough. That if they didn't figure out how to solve these complications that they might have more trouble with the set challenge, since they really weren't given that much to work with figuring it out.

Although, that could also be the fact that these complications pretty much started up when they first got this challenge, so there wasn't much time that they'd spent trying to figure out what the clue meant and referred to. Elin felt like she was missing something important in that link, but with everything going on, she couldn't really dedicate all of her attention to focus on it. So, she could easily be missing something that was otherwise right in front of her face if she could just take time to look.

As Elin walked, she wasn't sure exactly where she was going, but she at least chose a direction away from where they had come. Just in case Douglas was out looking for them. That way she'd be less likely to stumble on him without realizing exactly who it was. Since she knew she hadn't seen him before. Which was something that she recognized as a danger to herself.

The sound of a small splash past a rocky outcropping drew her attention. She couldn't say what might have caused the splash, but she didn't think it was from another person. Which led to her walking around the outcropping without saying anything.

Which led to her meeting up with Elysia Violet again. This time, though, she got a full frontal view of Elysia's naked body as she climbed out of the hot spring she was bathing in.

While she felt mortified at the situation, a thought came to her mind that was influenced by something she'd heard Kim say before. That Elysia's carpet matched her drapes.

She wasn't sure if she should say anything about that, but she quickly turned around. She felt her face heating up, even as she couldn't see Elysia's beautiful body anymore. Though at the same time, it felt like that image had burned itself into her mind. That she wasn't ever going to be able to forget that view.

"Sorry about that," Elin called out, not sure if she should be saying anything at all right then.