About the Hydra's Lair

When Elwin finally declared the hydra was dead, Elin had already started making her way back to the small island. She was confident that once they were able to rest, then they'd be able to get moving.

However, as the others made their way to the island, Elwin mentioned something that Elin hadn't thought of, nor was she happy about the idea.

"We should look for the hydra's lair," Elwin remarked as he waded towards the island. "We can't say who else the hydra attacked, so there should be a good amount of treasure."

"There could be," Sonya allowed, "but at the same time, all we might find are bones, if we actually find it."

"How long would you want to spend looking for it?" Patricia asked, sounding like she might fall asleep before Elwin even answers her question.

"Look, all I know is that hydra had to have been alive for a good long while and I'm pretty sure that it would encounter people every so often as it is. Otherwise it likely wouldn't know about attacking the cauterized parts of its neck to get its heads to regrow," Elin said, sounding a little defensive in Elin's opinion.

"Well, I'd like to leave this bog as quickly as possible," Sonya said. "I'd rather not try to deal too much in searches that could take us twice as long to find as it'd take for us to get out of here."

"We could start the search while Patricia rests," Kim commented, sounding like she was rather interested in what Elwin was talking about. "If we find anything useful, we can either take a look ourselves or remember where we saw that and get Patricia to take us there later."

What if it wasn't the only hydra in the bog?" Bart asked. "If we separate, then you might not have enough people to defeat another hydra. Especially if it knows to tear at the cauterized stubs to get its heads to regrow."

Kim merely shrugged. "I'm sure we'll be able to see it far enough in the distance if there's another one to avoid it. What I'm more concerned about it, like Sonya, spending more time in this bog than we really need to. If Elwin and I start searching for the hydra's lair, then we should be able to find it before Patricia's fully rested. That way she can either help us return back there quickly or we can just continue on our way, knowing that there was nothing in that lair for us to bother with." Kim looked pointedly at Elwin as she finished her statement.

Elwin merely shrugged, as if it really didn't concern him. Though, Elin couldn't help but wonder how she might feel if she felt the same way about finding the hydra's lair as Elwin did. She had a feeling that it could have caused another rift between her and Kim, regardless off how well they'd patched up their earlier problems.

"Well, if you want, I could heal any injuries before you go," Heather offered. "Just in case you do encounter another hydra."

"Sounds good to me," Elwin remarked. "Besides, whose to say that the hydra was the only danger around here?"

Elin didn't like the thought of something else being out there. She hoped that nothing would happen to Kim, but she couldn't be sure of that. As while the hydra was clearly a predator, there could be things that it was afraid of, or avoided, which could pose a danger to Kim.

For Elwin, she wasn't as concerned about his safety, so she couldn't bring herself to care that much about what he might encounter. At least not unless it concerned Kim as well.

While Elin didn't want to go trudging through the bog herself, she felt her heart pounding as she watched Kim walking off into the distance in the bog. Though, it was slow for them, given how their feet kept getting stuck in the mud that Kim kept sinking to her knees in, but gradually, they got smaller in the distance as they continued on, not even turning to look back where the others watched them leave.

"Why didn't you accompany them?" Owen asked Jonas when they'd gotten so small in the distance that they couldn't really see them anymore. "You certainly have the kills needed to help them if something attacked."

"The same could be said about you," Jonas returned. "If something happened to them, you'd be able to help them yourself, but I be you also chose to stay back here in case something else comes to this island that would be a danger to the others here."

Owen merely chuckled. "You got me," he said, his tone rather light. "Of course, there's also dealing the mud that I didn't care for."

"Well, I'd like the bugs to leave me alone," Bart commented. "They're more annoying than someone trying to copy off me on any test."

"Yeah, but if you went with them, then you'd still have the bugs to deal with," Heather remarked.

Bart simply nodded as Heather spoke. "Yeah, I'm aware of that. That's why I stayed here. The less I exert myself, the less attractive I hope to be for the bugs."

Elin couldn't argue with that logic. As when she herself got all hot and sweaty, she noticed the bugs more often than when she wasn't hot and sweaty. Though, she couldn't be sure if the bugs were still around her when she wasn't hot and sweaty, just that she noticed them more when she was.

"Well, what should we do if they do find the hydra's lair?" Patrick asked, as he allowed Patricia to use his lap as a pillow. "If they do find it, I'm sure it'll drain Patricia again, and at that time, we might not be anywhere close to an island like this."

"Maybe, but maybe the lair will be a dry island in this bog as well," Sonya commented. "We can't know until they find out."

Patrick looked at Patricia, clearly worried about her, though Elin had a feeling that Patricia wouldn't have been as happy with that look as Elin knew she'd have been if Kim looked at her like that.

Not that it mattered in any event. Patricia had clearly fallen asleep and Elin couldn't help but wonder if Patricia's stamina was tied into her system's abilities. As that would explain why freezing the ground of the bog was so tiring for her. Though, Elin also couldn't help but wonder, with the abundant amount of free time at that moment, how long the ground would stay frozen.

Such as if Patricia froze the ground at night before they went to bed, if it's still be frozen in the morning. If so, it could be useful to exhaust Patricia before she fell asleep at night, but Elin doubted that Patricia, or Patrick for that matter, would be very happy about that idea. So, Elin kept quiet about it. She didn't think it 'd be good for Kim and Elwin to return to find out a split in their combined groups had occurred.

Although as she thought about it, taking a nap sounded like a good idea to her. Especially since there wasn't anything else for them to do at the moment. Also, while she hadn't done anything of any substance in the fight against the hydra, she at least knew that things could have gone worse, to where she needed to have helped. Even if it was to provide some healing.

If Kim or Elwin brought another hydra, or other danger, after them, then it would be better for her to be rested enough that she could either help in the combat against whatever creature had appeared, help with healing, or both.

"Elmo?" Elin asked, her voice already starting to get weighed down with sleep.

"Yeah?" he asked, as friendly as ever.

"Would you let me lean back against your back? I was thinking of taking a nap and I don't want to risk rolling into the bog."

"Sure," Elmo said as he adjusted where he was sitting. "I might join you later on if it takes much longer."

Elin nodded, not caring to say anything in response. He knew Elmo wouldn't bee worried about it, but as she leaned against his back, trying to let her mind fall into slumber, she found that it wasn't as easy as that. That the more she tried to let herself fall asleep, the more alert she became.

Which was especially aggravating when she realized that Elmo had fallen asleep himself while she wasn't able to. She didn't know if she should push Elmo into the bog herself, but held herself back, since it wasn't like it was Elmo's fault that she could get to sleep. She wasn't sure if there was anything she could do to fall asleep, but she felt like no matter what she did, right then, she wasn't going to fall asleep. Which meant she might as well let herself keep watch, even though she was pretty sure Owen and Jonas were already on that. Maybe even Bart.