About the Orc in the Pendant

As the morning dawned, Elin hardly felt like she'd gotten any rest. Other than Bart who was finishing the last watch, she could tell that she was the only one awake at this time. Not that she was surprised, the sky was just starting to lighten with the coming dawn of a new day. The time when it would be best to start getting ready to travel, which Elin was pretty sure wasn't going to happen that day due to Elmo still being held captive by the orcs.

Normally she'd have thought that he'd have been killed, but the announcer hadn't announced his death, so it was clear that he was still alive. Even though there wasn't anything that made her think that his death might not be far off.

Elin didn't like thinking things like that, but she had a feeling her depressed mood might contribute a little to those thoughts. Though she wasn't sure how well she might get through those emotions at the moment. Not while she was still reeling from all the things that Kim had gone over with her about how Kim had been taking advantage of Elin, being dismissive of her, ignoring Elin when it was convenient or that she felt it wasn't necessary, and expecting Elin to not have any problems with being treated like a child almost constantly.

The fact that Kim had felt, and done, all that to her didn't really help her issues that she had recognized with Kim. It opened a wound up to the point Elin wasn't sure if she should try to patch things up with Kim anymore. Not with how hurtful hearing all that had been.

Elin didn't want to dwell on the subject, but her thoughts wouldn't allow her to escape the downward spiral that she could feel herself getting put into as a result of them. Even as minutes passed by from when she woke up, she couldn't think of how to stop the negative thoughts from consuming her.

After a while, Elin stood up, wanting to find something to distract her from her own thoughts, she noticed Jonas had also just woken up, Seeing him awake, helped distract her from her thoughts because it gave her something else to do other than dwell on how miserable her love life had become.

Jonas, however, took one look at Elin, stood up, shedding his blanket like an annoyance and started walking off into the distance.

Elin quickly started following, not wanting the object that was keeping her from her negative thoughts about her and Kim from leaving. She didn't want to lose herself in those thoughts again, but she was sure how she'd be able to do that. Not when she had something else to help keep her from descending into those thoughts again.

Jonas walked for a short distance, but as Elin was about to catch up to him, he stopped. It was so sudden that Elin nearly ran into him. Though, she doubted that he intended to do that to her.

"What do you plan on doing with the crystal?" he asked, without looking at her. Almost as if he couldn't stand to look at her right then. Like she'd done something horrible herself.

"What do you mean?" Elin asked, willing to give Jonas the benefit of the doubt, even as she felt a stab of fear that he was going to disband their group solely because of her. "I haven't don't anything with it since freeing the naga."

Jonas nodded, finally looking at her, his gaze making Elin maybe wish that he hadn't. "What about the orc? Have you thought about what to do with him?"

Elin stepped away from Jonas, uneasy about the sudden question. Of course she hadn't thought about the orc. They'd just barely finished with dealing with Douglas. There really hadn't been time to consider anything else about the crystal. Although, Elin had already planned on either letting Elysia rescue her parents from the crystal or doing it herself when Elysia asked.

Though, beyond that she couldn't say that she had any other plans for it. Or at least not right then. Especially since she'd been more consumed with her relationship with Kim.

However, Jonas' words made her feel like she should have. Like it should have been the next logical step. One that she clearly had missed on her own.

"I-I haven't had time," Elin stammered, not sure what reaction to expect from Jonas.

Yet, to Elin's surprise, Jonas merely nodded. "In that case, would you be willing to free the orc and see if we can get the orc to help us free Elmo from the other orcs in the area?"

Elin blinked, not sure how to react to this turn of events. She felt like they should have at least come with some kind of warning instead of just being spoken like Jonas had without any lead up to the question he had. Especially when Elin had been afraid he was unhappy with her, at the very least, for not having thought about the orc or what to do with the crystal itself and all those still trapped inside.

"Uh…" she hesitated, not consciously making sounds, but when she did she jumped. "Uh, sure."

Jonas' eyes narrowed. "Are you sure? You sound like you're afraid of me and are only agreeing because of that fear."

What did Jonas want with her!? Elin couldn't figure out what was going on. Was this a dream that would end quickly or was this a real world nightmare?

A steady hand on her shoulder startled her out of her thoughts. "Hey, calm down. Take a deep breath or two," Jonas admonished, looking rather confused. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to. I just thought I'd ask because it would at least get rid of the orc from that pendant as well as allow me to talk to you about destroying it after we free Elysia's parents from it."

Elin followed Jonas' advice and took a couple deep breaths. The action seemed to help blow out the negative thoughts that was crowding her head and help calm her down. Afterwards, when she looked at Jonas, he didn't seem nearly as angry with her as he had a minute before. Although, that could be with the mini-freak out she had a moment ago.

"if I did help, what would I need to do?" Elin asked, not sure if she should be saying this. "I mean, I'd rather not be the one to talk t the orc."

Jonas nodded, like he expected that response. "No problem. I can go in and you'll just need to keep an eye on the crystal so I don't end up trapped n there with the orc. I think that might not end to well for me or the orc."

Elin nodded, feeling much better about the topic than she had a few minutes prior. Not to mention about the reasons Jonas brought it up. That it wasn't a problem that she hadn't been thinking about freeing the orc, because Jonas had already come up with a plan for it.

"So when do you want to do this?" Elin asked, glancing back towards the camp where the others, she supposed, were still sleeping soundly.

"I'd like to climb up there," Jonas pointed up the mountain a little, "where the sun should shine before down here. I think, if what Owen said is accurate, it should also be closer to the cave network that the orcs are holed up in. So we should be able to then get the orc to the other orcs without the others knowing about the plan."

Elin wasn't sure about that part. She looked back towards the camp again, not sure she should leave Kim out of this. After having talked to her, she felt like she should be including her in this, regardless of what Jonas said, because she did want things to work with her, but going about this, this way felt like it was throwing some of what they'd talked about in Kim's face.

"Shouldn't we at least include Kim?" Elin asked, unsure about that part of the plan primarily.

"Why?" Jonas asked. "She doesn't know about the 12-colored crystal and I'd rather keep it that way. I'm not sure if she'd have any ideas of keeping it and I think it's too dangerous to do that."

"Why? It should be fine if I just keep it around my neck, right?"

Jonas shook his head. "Remember when I got pulled into it? I had only held it up when the light shone through it and sent me in there. If it could happen like that, then you could end up getting caught in it as well, just by wearing it."

"But I wore if for the last few days without a problem, right?" Elin asked, feeling confused about the issue.

"What if you were just lucky?" Jonas asked in return. "I have a feeling Kim wouldn't be to happy to learn about that possibility."

"No fair!" Elin snapped. "You can't tell me we can't tell Kim about it and then say that she wouldn't be happy to learn about the possibility that I could get put in it like that!"

Jonas merely shrugged like it didn't concern him. "I'm just pointing out possibilities. Besides, I don't think keeping an item like that would be useful to us, since it feel like it was made to hold and showcase creatures, whether they want to be or not."

Elin looked down. She couldn't argue that last point. It did feel like that might be the main purpose of the pendant. Though, she wasn't entirely convinced.

"How about this?" Elin proposed. "If we tell Kim everything about the pendant and if she agrees with you, then I'll destroy it when we rescue Elysia's parents from it, okay?"

Jonas sighed. Elin didn't care if he liked it or not, she wasn't going to budge from this point. Not when she didn't really understand why he was afraid of that happening to her in the first place. If anything she'd have thought he'd have been afraid it might happen to himself again.

"Fine," he said, turning to walk in the direction he'd indicated earlier. "Let's get moving. I'd rather have this done by the time the others start looking for us."