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.
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?"