Conflicted Emotions

The sun was going down when Kim and Elwin returned. Kim hadn't found anything, but Elwin said that he saw something that looked promising, but it was in the distance and he knew it'd be dark by the time he took a look at it and returned.

Jonas thought most of the group would vote against taking a look, but was surprised when even Patricia voted to take a look. Jonas himself was ready to move on, but couldn't figure out how to convince others to do the same.

He'd kept watch most of the day, which was rather uneventful. Aside from Bart rolling into the bog in his sleep a couple of times and waking up, as he started to sink, in a panic. Though, only Owen seemed to be the only other person who had been aware of that happening to Bart.

While he could see the carcass of the hydra from where they were resting, Jonas was a little surprised that there hadn't been anything come to try and eat it, like many birds typically did to anything they found that was already dead.

Though, Jonas had worried through most of the day that if they didn't move out before the end of the day, or close enough to it, that they'd be unable to sleep through the night, since Jonas was pretty sure that it would be rather dangerous to move across the bog at night. Partly because they'd be less likely to see any dangers before they struck, similar to how the hydra was burrowing through the bog before it surfaced in order to attack them.

At the moment, Elwin was explaining what he was imagining would be in the hydra's lair. Including what treasure Elwin had encountered before in a hydra's lair. Though, Jonas wasn't exactly convinced that Elwin had found it. As Jonas didn't believe that what looked like a pile of rocks or a possible cave would mean that it would be the hydra's lair.

"So, you're saying you've found magic books in a hydra's lair before?" Patricia asked, here eyes gleaming with anticipation and excitement. More than Jonas would have expected from her.

Elwin nodded. "Yeah, though my best friend wouldn't let me look at them. He seemed convinced that I'd ruin them just by looking at them."

"Well, how far is it?" Patricia asked. "I could get us over there fast, and we could take a look tonight."

Elwin shook his head. "If I'm wrong, then we'd not only be out the time it took to get there, but we'd also risk attracting the attention to any nocturnal life here. Which I'm pretty sure wouldn't be a good thing."

"What kind of creatures would be nocturnal in this place?" Patrick asked.

Elwin sighed and Jonas smirked. Jonas was confident that Elwin didn't know the answer to that question, and so couldn't answer it honestly, which Jonas found rather entertaining.

"I don't really know, but would you want to find out it's anything as dangerous as that hydra was?"

Patrick opened his mouth to say something, but nothing happened. Though, Jonas was wondering what Patrick was going to say. He thought it might be good for a laugh, considering the situation, but at the same time, it was good to think about what creatures might be out there that they might need to deal with, and not just hydras, either.

"See?" Elwin asked rather smugly. "even you don't want to find out if we don't have to."

"Can it," Kim ordered Elwin. "Unless you want to spend the night next to Patrick and the edge of this island, you shouldn't annoy the rest of us with your condescending attitude. Just because he said something stupid doesn't mean you need to prove you're even more stupid."

Elwin gaped at Kim, as if she'd said something that he couldn't believe someone actually said.

"She's got a point," Owen chimed in, eliciting a surprised expression from Elwin. "Maybe you're just tired, but some of us made sure nothing happened while you two were out looking for that hydra's lair. I'm actually interested in seeing what you found in the even it can give us more leg room to rest."

"You know, that's a point I never thought of," Patricia commented. "If we could find another island that wasn't as small as this one, it might be easier to deal with this bog."

"I just want to be done with this bog," Elin moaned her complaint. "Even if the lair is a bigger island than this one."

"Don't worry, I'm confident it's bigger," Elwin assured them, regaining his usual self-assured look. "I mean, I'm pretty sure the hydra was about as big as this island, so its lair's gotta fit the hydra in it, right?"

"But what if the hydra can fit in cramped spaces, like some insects, rodents and snakes?" Patrick asked, though Jonas suspected that Patrick was saying that to try and annoy Elwin again.

"Regardless of that," Jonas cut in before it could escalate any further, with a warning look at Patrick. "It doesn't matter if the hydra could do that or if it couldn't. All that matters is if we found its lair or not. As such, we can take a look tomorrow, since most everyone here wanted to do that, but if it turns out to not be the hydra's lair, we still move on after that. Any objections?"

Elwin raised his hand to show his objection, but no one else did. Which Jonas wasn't really surprised about. He was confident that even those who were curious about this lair weren't that eager to spend more time than they needed to in order to find the lair when it could take a good long while yet to locate it.

"So, then after we take a look, we'll move on from the place Elwin found," Jonas said, not paying any attention to Elwin's sulky expression. "If it's large enough to take the rest of the day to explore it, we'll see about resting there. We'll also use this to test out Patricia's freezing ability to create a road for us in the bog. If she can only last until this next island, then maybe we'll need to not have her create a road for us when we start out again."

"But that'll slow us down a lot!" Bart complained, the dried mud on his legs testifying to what the reasons behind his complain were.

"Maybe, but if she can't survive making us a road before we reach either another island or the end of the bog, then it's not going to help us out any," Owen replied. "Jonas has a point there, Bart. Because we at least know where this next island is. Aside from that, we won't know how far the next one will be. Not to mention that we don't know how far Patricia can make a road for us before she gets tapped out herself."

Jonas sighed. He'd hoped that this would go a little smoother than it was right now. "I'm sure everyone's tired here," he said, hoping to try and quell any remaining issues that were just lurking under the surface. "Unless we find the book we're looking for in the hydra's lair, for the challenge, we're going to need to continue on to the library, Which means we'll want to get there as fast as we can possibly make it."

Jonas felt relieved when no one had anything else to say, argue about, complain about, or other topic to discuss. They were able to have a quick meal before finding some position that was comfortable enough for them to sleep. Or at least for those who could, since some who slept through the day, like Elmo, couldn't sleep. Which in turn made it harder for Jonas to sleep.

"Jonas?" Elmo asked quietly, which Jonas assumed was so he wouldn't disturb the others.

If only Elmo was as considerate to me, Jonas thought. Out loud he asked, "What is it?"

"Was I useless n the fight against the hydra?"

Jonas wasn't sure why Elmo was asking this, but he was confident that he had a reason. Even if it wasn't one that he'd understand. However, he didn't feel like sparing any feelings right then. Especially since he didn't see how it would help Elmo if he did.

"You can't be useful in every fight. Even I was pretty much useless in that fight."

"I see," Elmo sighed, sounding like he was taking the issue rather hard, though Jonas couldn't say why that was. Just that it was clear Elmo didn't want to hear what he'd just said.

"Look," Jonas said, hoping to put an end to this. Especially if it allowed him to get to sleep. "Some enemies are just more resistant to magic. Some are just more resistant to physical attacks. Some require certain weapons. Some require certain elements. Each fight is different. You can't know how useful you'll be in any given fight until you're in it. Which means, we're not going to try to push anyone out of our combined group just because they weren't that useful in a single fight."

Elmo didn't say anything, but still sighed again. Jonas had a feeling he might have just made things worse, but it wasn't like he knew what to say about it in the first place. As such, all he could do was let himself drift off to sleep.

After all, what else was he supposed to do right then?