The Systems Challenge

Heather seemed to be recovering better than Elin had expected, though it was clear that she was unaware that she'd actually died. Which Elin didn't see a reason to disabuse her of that notion. For one thing, she didn't see how it would help, and for another, she didn't think Sonya would do well if it ever got mentioned, even by accident.

Though, while she was confident that the others were fighting the bear, since no one had yet come to see if they were alright and with Elmo having left, neither Elin nor Heather seemed inclined to leave Sonya.

Elin wasn't sure why she'd started sliding sideways when she'd finished landing on the ground, but where Sonya had stopped, Elin suspected that she'd hit her head on a rock and was just unconscious. Though, she couldn't be sure how long she might remain that way.

Both she and Heather had poured all their healing abilities into her, and hadn't had a noticeable effect. While Elin was confident that it had had an effect, it just wasn't one that they could see. At least just yet. Though, after they'd used up their healing abilities, they'd started treating each and every cut, scrape, and other injury they could find on Sonya. Elin wasn't sure how long that had taken, but she was certain that it had taken a lot longer than she'd have expected.

They had worked in silence, not so much because neither wanted to talk, but rather because, at least with Elin, she wanted to make sure that she didn't get distracted from what she was doing. Even a little. Otherwise she wasn't sure what other complications might come up from any minor mistake.

"Why didn't you use as much of your MP on Sonya?" Heather asked, as she stroked the top of Sonya's head.

Elin shrugged, trying to avoid the actual truth of the matter while not lying either. "I just used up more MP when I was healing myself and you than I'd have liked. So, I'm not sure exactly just how close I am to exhausting my MP at the moment."

Heather nodded, as if she understood. Although, Elin wondered if she did. As, from what Elin could tell, Heather's system didn't use MP to determine how much she could heal. Instead, it seemed almost like another kid of energy that had a much faster regenerative rate than Elin's MP did. Though, while Elin could use her MP for more than just healing, it was clear that Heather couldn't use her energy for anything other than healing.

Elin supposed that it was a kind of trade-off, though she wished that her healing abilities were separate from her other magical abilities. Other than being able to treat wounds without her magic, she felt like she was useless at the moment.

"Think she'll fly again?" Heather asked, pulling Elin out of her thoughts.

"Of course," Elin answered without hesitation. "While her wing bone was broken, I'm sure that as long as she doesn't to do much with it until it'll fully heal, that it'll be fine."

"You know she's not going to like that, right?"

Elin couldn't help but giggle. Of course Sonya wouldn't like that. She was too independent to want to rely on others like Elin was certain she was going for the next few weeks at least.

"Well, it's not like she's going to have much choice, right?" Elin asked, feeling good at seeing Heather smile in response. "Besides, it's not like she'll be able to blame us for it. We're merely the ones trying to help her spend as little time like that as possible."

"Think she'll be able to shift out of her shape in her current condition?" Heather asked, startling Elin with the abrupt change in the subject.

"Uh, I'm not sure," Elin admitted, though she was more interested in knowing if Heather was alright herself. "If she isn't, do you think you'll be able to handle it?"

Heather looked at Elin with a startled expression. "Wh-why do you say that?"

"Because you keep brining up different things without warning," Elin explained as calmly as she could. She certainly didn't want Heather to get worked up over her inquiries.

Heather merely took a deep breath as she returned her gaze to looking at Sonya's head. "I guess I just don't like not being able to do anything for her. Especially when I can see she was hurt so badly."

Elin nodded and opened her mouth to speak when she heard someone else's voice call out, "It should be right over here!"

Elin knew it was Elmo who was approaching, and she suspected that he was likely bringing several others, though she could really only be certain that he had at least one other person with him.

She wasn't sure why Elmo was brining others here, but she couldn't say that she was concerned. The only ones that she expected to be around were those who Sonya had brought over here. None of which should be hostile towards them or was any reason to be hostile.

Though, when she saw Stanley following Elmo, she wondered if she shouldn't reassess her original hypothesis. Given how she had a feeling that while Stanley wasn't openly hostile to them, that he still wasn't on their side. That he likely was hostile towards them in a different way.

"So, what's the problem?" Stanley asked. "She's still in one piece."

"What're you talking about?" Heather asked, sounding a little hostile in Elin's opinion. Something Elin hadn't expected from Heather.

"Stanley wants Sonya to fly us towards where the bear ran off, but I told him that she's not in any condition to do that," Elmo answered.

"She's in one piece. What other considerations are there?" Stanley asked, as if he didn't consider any other bit.

"Well for one, she's still unconscious. For two, she has a broken wing, and three, she's not going to be fully recovered for at least three weeks," Heather snapped rather heatedly.

Stanley, however, hardly seemed affected by her ire at all. "What use does dead weight have waiting around for so long?" he asked, sounding more than a little impatient. Like it was his time that they were wasting.

"Well, if you really need to get there quickly, I'd suggest getting a move on," Elin commented, offering an innocent smile, as if she didn't see what was going on there. "The longer you waste on dead weight like us, the farther the bear will be, right?"

Stanley looked at Elin as if she wasn't even worth his attention and turned around, waving his hands at others who were out of Elin's line of sight. She wasn't sure who exactly that he was signaling, but she could guess. Nor was she sad that he was leaving.

If Stanley decided to leave, Elin certainly wouldn't be put out in the least. Not only would she not have to deal with him but Frank would likely leave with him. While Thomas wasn't difficult to be around, he wasn't enough of a counterbalance to make Elin feel like him leaving with Stanley would be anywhere close to a loss.

Besides, she recognized that Heather and Sonya didn't like being around them. She wasn't sure what the reasons were, but she had a feeling that she wouldn't like what they were if they ever shared what they were.

However, Elmo looked like he wasn't sure what to do. He kept looking back and forth between Elin and Heather and where Stanley left with whoever he had been with. Elin wasn't sure what Elmo wanted to do really, but didn't see a problem with letting him go with Stanley. Whatever problems might come from Stanley, she was pretty sure that Elmo would be relatively safe from them.

"Should we be concerned about why he wanted Sonya to fly after the bear?" Heather asked, pulling Elin's attention back to her.

Elin merely shook her head. "Probably not," she answered. "My best guess if he wanted Sonya to fly them there because it would be more convenient and he'd have to spend less effort getting there. So, I'm fairly sure that Sonya'll be fine from whatever he has in mind."

Heather didn't look convinced, but Elin wasn't sure what else she could say to help her the rest of the way. If it was possible to convince her at all about the matter, in the first place. "I hope so," was all she said as she hugged Sonya's head.

"I'll stay with you and if we keep an eye on our stats, we can use our abilities as often as possible and help her in any way until the status preventing her from being healed regularly goes away."

"Thanks," Heather said, though Elin wondered if she was actually thanking her or if her mind was already somewhere else.

If her mind was elsewhere already, Elin doubted that she should say anything else. At least at the moment, while Heather was wherever she was mentally. Which in a way made Elin feel a little lonely, since she was then left to wait either for that to occur or for someone else to come by to help keep her company.