Bog Pool

Elin felt more than saw Kim fall into the bog hole. It looked like any other part of the surface of the bog with the surface being so turbulent with the falling rain. However, when the rope she had tied around her waist pulled Elin in the direction that Kim had been in , she felt an alarm going off in her mind.

"Kim? Kim!?" Elin called, her panic rising quickly as she couldn't find Kim.

"Elin," Sonya said sharply, pulling Elin's attention, though her feelings of panic still threatened to get out of her control. "Follow where the rope leads. It should let us know where Kim is."

Elin nodded, happy for even that small of a task to do. It helped quell the increase of her panic, even if it didn't dispel it completely.

Elin started at tracing where the rope was attached to her waist, then started picking up the slack in the rope until it went taut. Then she could clearly see that the rope went into the bog, a portion of the bog that didn't have any plant material sticking out of the surface, even though it took Elin a few minutes to notice that with how the rain hit the surface of the bog.

"I think she fell into something," Elin called to Sonya. Mostly because she was the closest person to her and she wasn't sure what she should do about this information.

She knew it had only been seconds since she'd lost track of Kim, but it felt like minutes were passing with each second so that Kim's life could already be in danger with how long it'd taken her to realize something had happened to Kim.

"Calm down, Elin," Sonya said softly in Elin's ear as she moved up beside her, motioning for the others to approach as well. "We'll get her out of there."

Elin nodded, doing her best to avoid letting her panic or despair overtake her. She desperately wanted for Kim to be alright, but she couldn't help but feel like they'd already taken too long in the effort.

"And pull!" Sonya called out, surprising Elin with how quickly Heather had also reached where she was, both Sonya and Heather having firm grips on the rope that led to Kim.

Not to be left out of it, Elin joined on the second tug. She didn't know why Kim wasn't coming to the surface or why the rope stopped as soon as it went taut, but she wasn't going to give up. She wasn't going to let Kim go. Not when she had something that she could do about it.

Besides, even if Kim had died, she knew she had a spell to bring her back to life, as she hadn't used any of her MP for at least a few days, so she should be at her maximum capacity of MP. Which meant she should have no trouble casting the spell. Her having used it on Heather that one time proved that it worked.

The only problem with it was that she couldn't be sure how long it would take before it wasn't viable anymore. She knew that there was a time limit associated with it, but that didn't mean she knew how long it would be before it would be too late for her to use it.

Elin wasn't sure how many times they pulled on the rope, but eventually it gave way. At first Elin felt a panic that the rope had broken, but when she saw Kim rise to the surface, gasping for air, she lost all perspective and started to pull on the rope again, as if she was trying to land a fish that had gotten caught on the other end of the rope.

"Elin calm down," Sonya told her. "We need to make sure that Kim's alright. We don't know what held her down there, so we can't be sure that she's not hurt."

Images of a creature rising up from the water to try and pull Kim under again flooded Elin's mind as Sonya's words sunk in. Elin wasn't sure what to expect, but as Sonya approached she felt her heart pounding in her chest, worried that something was going to pop out of that water and they'd have to fight it, while Kim lay there helpless.

Heather started approaching as Sonya reached Kim, though there wasn't anything that Sonya did or called out that made the move make sense to Elin. All she knew was that if she stayed back, then she could be used as an anchor to help try and keep Kim from getting dragged under again. Which she was convinced was only a matter of time.

However, contrary to her expectations, the water remained only disturbed by the pelting curtains of rain that continued to fall down, as if to make sure that everything remained soaked to the bone. Elin even started to be conscious of the mud squeezing between her toes as she waited for Sonya to say anything.

When Heather started using her magic, Elin wasn't sure how she knew that's what was being done, just that she somehow sensed that's what was happening. She started moving forward, vaguely aware that only seconds had passed from when Heather had reached Kim, which had only been seconds after Sonya had reached her.

In all, the whole situation had occurred in less than five minutes from when Kim had fallen into the water. Yet, for Elin, it had taken hours. Hours in which Kim's life was in jeopardy the entire time and wouldn't have survived if they hadn't pulled her out of the clutches of whatever creature had pulled her down in the first place. Elin was convinced of that.

When she heard Kim's voice, muffled from the rain and wind, she wasn't able to make anything out other than that it belonged to Kim. She arrived moments later and didn't care about the muddy mess she was making of her dress as she knelt in the bog and picked up Kim's hand to hold close to her chest. Kim's loving smile making her feel like this ordeal was almost over.

All that she felt needed to happen was for the creature to come out of the water so they could deal with it and it wouldn't anyone else again.

"I was caught by something down there after that," Kim said, her voice nearly inaudible from the distance Elin was from her. "I'm not sure if it was roots or grasses or what, but you guys pulling on the rope kept me from being able to take a look and try to free myself from it."

Elin felt like the cold from the rain had turned to ice. When they pulled on the rope, that had increased the danger to Kim's life? What would she have done if Kim had died because of what they had been doing? What if that creature had gotten a hold of Kim's neck instead of her… whatever it was of Kim's that it had gotten a hold of. She hadn't heard which part, so she couldn't say.

"Don't worry, Heather healed your ankle, so it shouldn't be a problem now," Sonya replied soothingly. "Though we'll probably rest here until the storm passes, and maybe even until morning."

"Hey, I didn't agree to that!" Elwin snapped, startling Elin, as he apparently had approached and heard Sonya's assurance.

"Would you like this to happen to you?" Kim asked dryly, with Sonya relaying the question as she wasn't able to talk very loud from what Elin could tell.

"It wouldn't happen to me!" Elwin declared defiantly. "I'd be able to fall in any body of water and come out without a problem."

"So, if we left you in a bog pool, you'd be fine with that?" Heather asked, a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Of course not!" Elwin replied, sounding almost offended by the suggestion. "How would I be able to protect you if this happened again to any of you? It wasn't until I joined in that we were able to get Kim out of the bog hole anyway."

Elin thought back to when they were pulling on the rope. She couldn't remember if Elwin had joined in or not, with her focus solely on what had happened to Kim and getting her out of the bog. She supposed it was possible, but she didn't feel like saying anything. Not when she wasn't sure, although she did wish that Elwin would stop being so contrary. Not when she herself was starting to feel rather tired.

"Actually, I probably should get some rest too," Patrick said, sounding like taking each breath was a labor in and of itself for him at the moment. "I don't mind carrying Patricia, but after a while, even a small rock could feel like it weighs ten times more than it did originally."

"You're cutting that awfully close," Patricia warned. "One might infer you're saying I'm heavy."

"Well, you're not a child, so of course you weigh more than a child," Patrick said, and Elin couldn't help but wince at the statement. It did sound like he was trying to indirectly infer that Patricia was in fact heavy.

"I'll let that one slide," she said, sounding a little bored, "but only because I'm tired and don't want to deal with the effort of getting upset about it."

Patrick nodded, looking rather grateful and Elin wasn't sure she wanted to know the finer details of their relationship. It felt like it was stranger than when Kim, Elysia, and she were sleeping together and enjoying each other's bodies. She wasn't sure what exactly they were about, but she was confident she didn't really want to know.

"Well, if that's what the group wants, then I guess I can't do much about it," Elwin said, almost sounding like he was glad that he was forced into resting.

Elin noticed Kim roll her eyes and couldn't be sure what that was about. She didn't know why Elwin sounding happy about having to rest, but she wasn't going to complain. That would take too much energy and after her scare with Kim, all she wanted to do was either be in Kim's arms or just sleep. If not both.

"You know, if Jonas and Elmo don't have any problems getting here, they might catch up with us while we rest," Sonya remarked.

Elin nodded as she leaned her head down to Kim's chest. If Kim was willing, she hoped that she could rest like this for the night.