The Systems Challenge

Jonas wasn’t sure what had come over him. He hadn’t ever planned on suggesting that their combined groups would break up at any point, yet he found himself doing just that. While it worked out in the end, he couldn’t help but feel a little shaken at how easily the suggestion had passed his lips.

Yet at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel that it was the right call to have made. That the issue was one worth separating their groups if it came to it. Not only was Elwin being unreasonable about the matter, but he also was pretty sure that Owen and Bart would have joined him if he’d decided to break away.

Which in turn would harm their ability to fight Stanley and his group, given Elwin was one of their strongest fighters. Not to mention the sword that he had gotten from the treasure that they’d found in the hydra’s lair. Although, while he hoped that the issue wouldn’t come up again, he held no illusions that they were clear of any disagreements on the matter. Elwin seemed almost to thrive on discord. Or at least that he was becoming that way. Maybe the death of his brother was affecting him more than he was willing to admit, but Jonas could only hope that their combined group would be able to hold together long enough for them to clear the final challenge.

Then there was another possibility that Elwin merely didn’t like the idea of having to explain what had happened to Leon and everything that came with it, but to be certain of that issue, Jonas knew he’d need to ask Elwin about it and that wasn’t something he felt was a good idea to bring up. Not when he’d essentially thrown down the gauntlet in challenge of him with the potential dissolution of their combined group. He was confident that he’d merely spark a ’take two’ of that matter if he did. Which would be his fault for whatever came of such an action. As it would be an unforced error on his part if it came to a confrontation.

Plus, Elwin had a lot of pride and having to admit something simple like that, could potentially be next to impossible for him. Especially since therapy and all that wasn’t Jonas’ primary occupation. As such, he knew talking about it would be akin to lobbing a grenade in the middle of their group just to see who would scatter which way.

As they walked along the path, Jonas wished he could afford the time to feel nostalgic about the trees here and even maybe reminisce about the previous times they’d come through. Such as when Kim had gotten affected by the spider’s curse. It wasn’t a pleasant experience, but it was at least one that helped temper them for what had come later. Yet, with Stanley’s group out there, and potentially ready to ambush them farther ahead, Jonas felt that his guard would get lowered if he indulged in such frivolous activities. Maybe it’d be something that Elin, Elmo, Bart, or even Heather and Sonya could afford to indulge in, but they didn’t need to keep the rest of them safe from what was coming ahead of them.

Aside from everything else, Jonas felt like the morning was shaping up to be a good day to travel. The only problems came from what could lay ahead of them.

Despite the complaints about not being able to take their time eating before they started out, no one seemed to have a problem with eating as they walked. While Jonas himself would have been fine with something cold, he couldn’t deny that having the food heated up made it better. Even if only a little.

It reminded Jonas of how he was used to a harsher lifestyle than those around him. While Elin was clearly used to a much more leisurely and extravagant life, she was at least doing pretty good at roughing it and enduring the difficulties that she clearly hadn’t had to experience in her life, he couldn’t deny that Elwin, Owen, and especially Bart, weren’t faring as well.