Elmo wasn't sure how long it took hm to drag the boar back to the camp, but when he finished, he was ready to drop. He was tired, sweaty, hot, and in serious need of a bath and nap.
However, given the reality of the world he was in, he knew he wasn't likely to get either. Or at least not a bath. He might be able to squeeze in a nap if he could find a place no one would notice him, but he really didn't expect that to happen. Not when Bart, Heather, and Sonya were aware of him dragging the boar into the camp.
"What'd you get?" Bart asked, as he dropped off a load of firewood next the pile of kindling he'd acquired earlier.
"A boar," he replied simply, not caring to elaborate even though he couldn't see how that fact wasn't noticeable.
"Uh, yeah, I can see that," Bart replied hestantly.
"Why'd you get a boar?" Heather asked. "Isn't Grisha supplying us with rabbits?"
Elmo rely shrugged. "I just thought it might be nice if we could get sothing a little larger than rabbits. Especially since we don't know when Grisha will need to move on. Besides, I'm sure Sonya will like this more and all I was able to find were boar."
"Uh, Sonya, do you need us to clean the boar out like with the rabbits or do you think you'd like to eat it as is?" Heather asked, turning to Sonya.
While Elmo would like to be able to have at least a bite or two of at from the boar that he'd dragged into the camp, he didn't care to say anything about it. After all, he had gotten it primarily for Sonya after all. Though, he wasn't sure how much Sonya really needed to eat as a dragon, since she'd been out for days and didn't show signs of it when she woke up. Especially with how she was able to eat as if she'd just slept in in the morning rather than not having eaten anything for nearly a week.
"I probably could eat it whole, if I wanted," Sonya mused. "But I really wouldn't care to do that if I didn't absolutely have to. I an, I'm not a wild anymal. Then also, wouldn't you like to have part of it? I'm sure if I just have part of it, it'll be fine for . That I don't need to eat the whole thing."
Heather didn't look convinced, but she also didn't look like she wanted to argue with Sonya. Which Elmo was happy with. Especially with Sonya indicating that the rest of them should be able to get part of the boar as well. Though, he wasn't sure which part he'd want more.
All he could recall about boar was that if it wasn't cooked properly and thoroughly, then there was a chance that they could get worms or sothing from the at.
Although, even if he screwed up and it didn't get cooked properly, he was confident that Heather would be able to deal with that through her system.
"Oh, by the way, where's Elin?" Bart asked. "Didn't she join you on your hunting trip?"
Elmo couldn't help but sigh. He had expected this to be brought up, but he just wished that he had sothing to actually say that would be more useful than the basic facts. That he hadn't a clue as to where she was.
"We started out together," Elmo said after what felt like several minutes but was probably just a minute or two, "but when I found the boar, she wasn't around."
"What do you an 'she wasn't around?'" Heather snapped, her face etched with concern. "Weren't you travelling with her?"
"I thought she was right behind ," Elmo protested, not sure why he felt so defensive about this point. "I didn't take any turns, so I can't say why she had disappeared like that."
"You say that you didn't take any turns, but can you say that you didn't... well, ander off course a little?" Bart asked, sounding to Elmo like he was thinking about writing a dissertation about this issue.
Elmo rely shrugged again. He hadn't a clue if that happened. Besides, even if he had 'andered off course a little' he couldn't see why that would have made it so that Elin wouldn't have been able to follow him.
"Uh, what if Elin andered off course?" Heather asked. "I an, it's possible, right?"
"Won't Elin just co back here when she realizes that she lost Elmo?" Sonya asked, sounding a little bored and confused.
"Well, she might if she doesn't have sothing happen again with her mory," Heather replied, sounding a little sheepish.
Sonya sighed, like she didn't have the energy for that. "If that might have happened, why did you let her go off like that without keeping an eye on her?"
Elmo shrugged. "It was her idea and I guess, I just didn't really think about that."
"To be fair, none of us are trained in supervising soone with mory issues like that," Bart remarked. "I an, even if Elmo was able to catch Elin when her mory problems flared up again, he might not be able to convince her that he wasn't a stranger to her. Nor would he know what to do if she ran because she couldn't rember him."
Elmo wasn't sure he liked the picture that Bart was painting with his words. He couldn't think of any way to argue with it. Plus, it was starting to make him think that even if he knew exactly when Elin stopped following him, that he might have still lost her, just from her mory problems popping up again. To where she'd run from him rather than letting him help her out.
"Well, there is another matter we could look at," Heather comnted.
"What's that?" Bart asked.
"We have no idea when Kim, Jonas, Patricia, Owen, or the others will get back here. So, once they do, we could always work out a search party for them."
Elmo nodded, in full agreent with Heather, though he suspected that it wouldn't be as easy as that. That by the ti the others arrived, that Elin might not essentially be in the area again.
"Okay, so they should be back, in what? A day or two?" Sonya inquired.
Heather shook her head. "Actually, we really don't know. They've been gone for five days, I think, and we don't know how far the bear ran before they were able to kill it."
Elmo wasn't sure how to read Sonya's expression. All he knew was that she froze for a minute. The only movent was her blinking her eyes. Although, he suspected that it wasn't a good sign from her.
"And you think that waiting for them to start searching is advisable?" Sonya asked, sounding a little incredulous. "Who knows what might happen to Elin if we don't find her quickly and waiting for the others when you can't say if it'll be in a day or two, or two weeks from now. As far as we know, by the ti the others arrive, Elin could either have gotten in serious trouble or have wandered back here."
"You really think she'll wander back here?" Bart asked, sounding rather skeptical.
Sonya sighed, sounding like she was starting to lose her patience. "I don't think she will, but it's completely possible for it to happen. If she doesn't rember any of you, then she wouldn't have a reason to seek this place out or to avoid it. All we could do would be to find a place where she might be likely to go towards."
As Sonya finished speaking, Elmo heard leaves rustling as soone was walking nearby, and heading towards them. He wasn't sure who it was, but he had a feeling it wasn't Elin. Partly because that would be just too simple for her having gone missing to get resolved that easily. Plus, there was the fact that whoever was walking in their direction was moving quicker than Elin typically walked.
As Elmo turned to see, he noticed it was Grisha, with a few more rabbits. While Elmo appreciated the rabbits, he suddenly noticed scorch marks on the rabbits. He wasn't sure what to make of that fact, nor if the other rabbits before had them. It felt like it was sothing important, but he couldn't quite place any reason at that mont.
"Sorry this took so long," Grisha said pleasantly. "I guess I've just overhunted in this area."
"No problem," Bart replied, looking happy about Grisha's return. "We were just discussing our friend who went missing."
"What friend?" Grisha asked, looking confused. "There were only the three of you and the dragon. Or did one of the people you were waiting for show up then get lost while I was gone?"
Elmo blinked. He was about to open his mouth and say the person's na, but suddenly, he couldn't rember who that was. Was it really soone that they knew?
Elmo looked at the others, unsure what to think at the mont. He felt like there really was soone, but if he couldn't rember who it was, was it really soone who actually existed? Or was it maybe the remnant of a dream?
He wasn't sure what happened, but he felt like he was missing sothing important. Sothing that would tell him what was going on here.
Reviews
All reviews (0)