The Systems Challenge-Chapter 401: Returning to Camp

Jonas had no trouble letting the firebird help him carry Elmo. If nothing else, it was a way to let them show their appreciation for what he and Elin had done.. Though, part of the way, Elin noticed Elmo's injuries, where she healed them. Which in turn reminded her of her own, though Jonas wasn't sure what had caused the injury on her shoulder. Just that it looked fresh.

Visit freёnovelkiss.com for the 𝑏est n𝘰vel reading experience.

Kim was appalled that she hadn't noticed Elin's injury and even started to get on Jonas' nerves with how she was going on about her apologizing and whatnot.

Despite his improved hearing, Jonas found it surprisingly easy to tune her out when he really wanted to and this was a prime time to do just that. Though he doubted that doing so most of the time would be wise. As at this time Kim was pretty much focused only on Elin, o there wasn't likely to be anything that he really needed to pay attention to anyway.

Elmo didn't wake up after Elin healed him, so Jonas felt he had to assume that Elmo being unconscious had to do with him being worn out rather than injured. Which Jonas could certainly understand given where he'd found Elmo. As it indicated that Elmo had been trying to escape,

Although, it wasn't quite clear how long he'd gone without sleep. It was possible that he'd spent several days during his escape while he also might have spent merely a few hours or something.

Jonas wished he could ask Elmo, but he accepted that he'd need to let him rest for now. Besides, now that Elmo was back with them, Jonas felt hi body relax more than it had before they went on that last attempt to kill the stellar bear. The time that they finally succeeded in it.

Jonas spoke with Elysia's parent while they walked, Paulin carrying Elmo across his back while Cassidy just walked between them, looking rather happy. Which Jonas figured was because she'd been able to get out of that crystal and reunited with her family.

"So, how exactly did you end up trapped in the 12-colored crystal?" he asked, when they reached the top of the climb and started on the path downhill on the other side.

"Douglas was rather good at manipulating people. Making them think exactly what he wanted them to think. Even when it came to things that you knew weren't actually true. I'm not sure who was first, but eventually all of us had been captured," Paulin answered.

"Though we're not sure what happened, several of our feathers were pulled out and then we were all here in this world," Cassidy added. "While we wanted to stay together, we suspected that Douglas would eventually come for us, so we split apart. Though, Etaina was still too young to fly at the time, but I guess we do age when in there, so she was able to get big enough for her wings to support her."

"I'm not sure that's the case," Jonas remarked. "I mean, if she aged in there, I'd expect her to be more of a teenager at least rather than the child she still is. So, what if her wings merely just grew stronger because she exercised them more often?"

Cassidy nodded. "That could be true, but will it hold true to us since we were in there longer?"

Jonas merely shrugged. "I really have no idea. I mean, both of you were already fully grown when he captured you, right? So, you probably wouldn't need the extra strength to fly yourselves, but Etaina really wanted to fly and this allowed her time to build her wing strength up so they'd be able to support her."

"You do have a point," Paulin commented thoughtfully. "But I'm still not convinced."

Jonas merely shrugged. It wasn't hi place to convince these two or not. He just thought he'd put in his thoughts on the matter. Although, he wished that they weren't quite so obstinate in alternative ideas. A if one doesn't accept other ideas, they'd be limited in what they not only could think but actually know.

Just like the part of the song from the Disney movie Pocahontas: If you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew, you never knew.

Yet on the other hand, as far as he knew, they'd already considered his possibility and dismissed it, but he doubted that. Otherwise he suspected that they'd have had a different reaction to it in the first place.

"What kind of life has Elysia been living?" Cassidy asked suddenly, drawing Jonas back out of his thoughts.

Jonas opened his mouth to respond, but then closed it. He really only knew Elysia from her having encountered her cooking some food in the campsite where all their stuff was at the time. Though, he couldn't be sure if he had been cooking some of the food they'd left behind or if it had been some that she'd had with her in the first place.

Then there was the time when he knew her as Ember when she accompanied him and Elin as he tried to first get Elin out of that trap. Even though Ember had accidentally gotten trapped in with them. Even though Jonas still didn't really understand how exactly the trap worked, since Elysia hadn't had trouble avoiding it up to when she got stuck in it.

Jonas explained all he knew about the time she'd spent with them, as well as how he learned through Etaina how Ember was in fact Elysia ,as well as how he learned about most of the details he knew right then about firebirds.

When he was done, he sighed. It took longer than he'd originally thought it would. He wasn't sure how much Paulin and Cassidy had understood, but he figured they'd have asked for clarification if they needed it.

"So, Cassie," he said, but had to stop right there.

"I'm Cassidy," she snapped, interrupting him, making it clear her stance on the matter of her name.

"She hates being called 'Cassie,'" Paulin remarked, though Jonas had a feeling to that effect with her reaction.

"Well, Cassidy, then," he corrected himself, hoping that was the only explosive subject he needed to be wary of. "What're your plans? If I'm correct, then the only one left of your family not here is Grisha, but Elysia and him had made an agreement to avoid being in the same area as each other so it'd be harder for Douglas to find both of them."

Cassidy and Paulin looked towards Elysia, who was between them and where Elin and Kim were talking, with Etaina on Kim's shoulder. Then they looked back at Jonas.

"She said that?" Paulin asked, sounding rather surprised.

"Yeah..." Jonas replied, not sure if there was anything he should be aware of given how surprised Elysia's parents looked.

"Do you know where he is?" Cassidy asked.

Jonas shook his head. "No, but I think she chose the mountains and I'm not sure she told me what his choice of location was. So, you'd have to ask her about it later."

"Why later?" Cassidy asked. "We could head out now to find where he is right away."

Jonas sighed, glancing at Elysia. While she didn't how any signs of it, he suspected that she was a lot more tired than she let on right then.

"You realize that if you do that, you might affect her health?" Jonas asked, half wondering if he shouldn't have worded it just a little differently.

"How would that affect her health?" Paulin snapped, sounding like he might start yelling if Jonas continued down that road.

Jonas, however, merely shrugged. "I'm just thinking about how often she was on her own, even after she was working with Elin and me, she still went of to be by herself, with the exception of after I accidentally freed Etaina."

"How does that affect anything?"

Jonas looked at Paulin directly. "If she was alone, then how much sleep was she really able to get? If she worried that Douglas would find her while she slept, she might not get as much sleep as she should. Then there's how much she could find to eat. When I first saw her, she had been borrowing part of the campsite where my group and I hadn't been back for a few days, but still had our things there. Which tells me she might not have been eating very well on her own either. Though, she probably wouldn't admit that to you if you pressed the matter, either."

Elysia's parents sighed. "You might be right," Paulin muttered, clearly not happy with what Jonas said.

"Don't worry about it," Jonas said, trying to cheer them up. "All she needs is just a little time to recover. We'll let you stay with us for... maybe a few days and then you can consider leaving once Elysia isn't so tired."

"How much farther before we're at your camp?" Cassidy asked.

Jonas shrugged. "Not sure, but it shouldn't be much farther. We should be reaching it any minute."

"There won't be a problem with us staying?" Cassidy asked, looking almost spooked.

"Not at all," Jonas assured her. "We'd be happy to host you and your family."

Cassidy didn't really look convinced, but didn't say anything else. Which Jonas couldn't say that he wasn't relieved by that. As he had a feeling that they might end up getting more intense if the conversation lasted much longer with just them in it.