Unable to Not Trust

Jonas wished that the sky wasn't so clear this day. Not only was the temperature hotter than it had been for a while, but they had also chosen to take a more indirect route to get back to where the camp around Sonya was. As they were confident that Douglas was keeping an eye on the area surrounding where he had the wagon trap set up.

The problem with the sun was the fact that the path they were taking didn't have near as much tree coverage, which forced them to be travelling in the sun much more than they had been before.

Elin didn't seem that bad when she returned from wherever the naga had dragged her, though she wouldn't talk about what happened, not even using 'family friendly' language for Etaina's benefit as Elysia wanted done. Which Jonas couldn't argue with, as Etaina did seem to have a child-like innocence that he figured should be protected as much as possible.

However, while the day was hot and oppressive, Jonas had to admit that they were able to make good time and might even be able to start heading for the camp at around nightfall, though he wasn't sure if he should have Elin travel with him at night or not. If they did, he was certain that they'd reach it before dawn, but he wasn't sure if that would be beneficial or not for them. Etaina and Elysia were both with them, though only in their bird forms.

"Think we'll encounter Douglas this way?" Elin asked, breaking into Jonas' thoughts.

Jonas merely shook his head. "I came this way to avoid him if possible. That way we can see if we can work out a plan with the other before we deal with him."

"Uh, shouldn't we be trying to avoid him regardless of anything else?" Elysia asked.

"Not really," Jonas replied without missing a beat. "If we leave him alone, then eventually he could catch up with us and then he'd have the advantage, but if we deal with him before he can prepare, we'll have the advantage."

"What're you going to do to him?" Etaina asked, a little too interested for Jonas taste.

"Make sure he can't keep doing what he's been doing," Jonas answered, avoiding giving the specifics of how he intended to do that. Especially since he didn't plan on that being very 'family friendly.'

"And what'll that look like?" Elysia asked, sounding more entertained than Jonas liked. Especially since she was the one who had pushed for the toning down what they said for Etaina's sake.

"It'll look like the way it should look like," Jonas replied, not sure what game Elysia was playing right then. As he certainly didn't see the entertainment in it.

Unless it was because it was making things more difficult for him. Which he certainly could imagine her finding entertainment in that.

"So, you don't have a plan, do you?" Elysia asked, as if that's what she'd been getting at.

"I was going to try to work out a plan when we reach the others," Jonas said, not sure if that's what the problem was. "They might have more information about him than we do, so it's not like we can be sure that any plan we come up with wouldn't change if we knew some of what they knew."

"You plan on telling them who he is?" Elysia pressed. "Or are you going to come up with some story as to why you need to… take care of him."

"Take care of?" Etaina echoed. "What d'you mean? I thought you were going to deal with him for good."

"Just what do you think 'deal with him' means, Etaina?" Elin asked, sounding rather amused.

Etaina ruffled her feathers, which Jonas took to be her way of shrugging.

"Don't worry about it," Jonas said. "What she thinks we mean and what we mean, isn't important. So long as we can make it so that Douglas can't continue on like he had been." Jonas was about to say he was done with his short speech, but then another thought came to him. "Though, we probably should deal with him without both of you two nearby. Just in case things start to go south for us."

"Sounds good to me," Elysia replied, sounding like that was her plan all along too.

"But I wanted to watch!" Etaina complained.

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to side with Jonas on this one," Elin chimed in. "While you are young and probably shouldn't be watching it anyway, I think if he's aware you're watching, then you could be in danger, regardless of how things go."

"Why?" Etaina asked, clearly not understanding. Though it wasn't clear if she didn't understand because she was too young too or because she just didn't want to.

"Look at it this way," Jonas said, hoping this would get her at least to stop complaining about it. "If you're not there, you can go on the midnight flight with your sister, no matter how the fight turns out."

Etaina opened her beak, looking like she was ready to continue, but then slowly closed it, clearly thinking things over in her mind. "Fine," was all she said, but it was clear that she was unhappy with the end result.

+++

Kim felt a headache coming on. They were on their way to see if they could sneak into the caves the orcs were living in to try and find this Elmo that Sonya insists did exist. Kim was having her doubts, but she did trust Sonya and didn't want to strain that relationship. Heather, Patricia, Patrick, and Bart were all there, as they had agreed that Sonya could defend herself and on her own if needed.

The problem that she could see was that whenever she spoke to Grisha about it, it always felt like she was unable to grasp any argument about what she was doing.

Even what he thought she knew evaporated in her mind like it never had even existed.

She wasn't sure how to explain it, but it was feeling like the only person she could truly trust at those times was Grisha. Even with how she knew she shouldn't trust him, she found herself doing just that.

Part of her felt like she was starting to lose her mind.

When they reached one of the cave that Patrick had said seemed promising, she saw Grisha himself coming out. So, she steeped forward to see if there was anything that he might need. Even as she was screaming at herself in the back of her mind that she shouldn't be approaching him.

"What're you doing here?" Grisha asked, as if Kim's presence was unexpected and unwelcome.

She had a feeling that she shouldn't say anything about Elmo, but she couldn't see what the problem with letting him know about the orcs. As she couldn't say what he might have found in the cave, but she knew that the orcs were still a danger in the area. Especially with how Grisha seemed like he wouldn't be able to defend himself if he encountered the orcs.

"We were attacked by orcs a couple nights ago, like I mentioned. So we were looking into seeing if we could do something about them, like if we eliminate their leadership then we might be able to take them all out," Kim answered as honestly as she could.

Grisha looked at her, first like he was trying to make sure if she was telling the truth, but then it shifted to like he was worried about her and concerned about what she'd just said.

"But there aren't any orc," he said, like he was confused. "Where'd you get that idea anyway?"

Kim opened her mouth to repeat… what? She knew she'd said something, but couldn't remember what it was. Was it about orcs?

Grisha sighed, like he'd come to a determination about something. "You know, you probably should head north from here. You're running low on supplies and you have all your stuff with you anyway, so why not head there now? That way you can get a good distance away from here by the time the sun goes down."

Kim nodded. She couldn't help but agree with him. It all made sense, even though she couldn't say how or why. She knew he had been telling herself that she shouldn't trust him, but right then, she couldn't help but to trust him. Everything he said made sense.

Besides, she did come there for something that wasn't even real. So, why shouldn't she trust him? It was just the best thing to do, really.

As Kim turned around to find a path to the north, she saw Heather looking like she was troubled about something. Something that she couldn't quite identify.

"Am I forgetting something?" she whispered as Kim passed her by.

Kim merely shook her head. "No, he said we have all our things with us, so what could you have forgotten?"

"That's what I don't know," Heather whispered, sounding rather sad and almost heartbroken. Kim barely caught the answer wasn't sure how to respond to it, so she just continued on. After all, what would be important that they'd just forget like that?