The Systems Challenge-Chapter 430: A Weapon for Heather?

Elmo wasn't sure about harvesting the teeth of the flowers that had been trying to eat them a moment before. While he understood the argument about maybe being either able to use them to tip their weapons or selling them, he didn't care for how they were paralyzing his hand, and, by extension, his arm the longer he held the teeth in his bare hand.

He'd have preferred to put them in a bag or something right away, but it was clear to him that he wasn't going to be allowed to do that until he got his portion of flowers 'picked.'

The only consolation was how Elin and Heather came by periodically to removed the paralysis on his hands and arm so he could continue working on it. As even after the sun went down and the area they were in got dark rather quickly, they were still working, though this time by firelight that someone had gotten together before Elmo had even noticed.

While it was a tedious task, it wasn't that difficult. Not after the flowers had been killed. Although, Elmo would still just as soon as leave these teeth be. Especially when a few of the teeth had been badly cracked or cut by something and weren't all there anymore. Part of Elmo worried that he'd be blamed for it while the other part of him was confident that they wouldn't try to pin it on him, given he really had nothing to do with that. Especially since he was one of the ones who had been using fire to defeat the flowers.

When Elmo finally finished extracting the teeth, he was bone tired. Largely because of the time of night rather than any physical activity he'd engaged in that day. Part of it was from how he knew that his spell casting hadn't cost him any stamina, but dealing with the teeth certainly had taken a lot of time.

As he looked up from the last flower, he was a little surprised to see that he was the last person who had been harvesting the flowers, although Heather was still there to heal him of his paralysis after he was able to put the flowers' teeth in a pouch that someone had gotten together for that purpose.

Elmo didn't care how many there were, just that it was over and he could go to sleep now.

"Do you think they'd notice if I took one or two?" Heather asked. "No one said we couldn't."

Elmo looked at her and felt like it took forever for the meaning of what she said to register in his mind. Though, when it did, he could only shrug. He was too tired to really care that much.

"I have no idea," he admitted. "With how may there are and the fact that no one looked to see how many I managed to get, probably not."

Heather merely smiled and reached into the pouch and pulled out several of the teeth "Oh, that stings," Heather giggled, seeming more amused and entertained at the feeling of paralysis on her hand than uncomfortable as Elmo had been. "Thanks."

Heather then turned to walk away, but Elmo felt a surge of energy at the strangeness of the situation. Not much, but enough to make him feel alert enough to carry on the conversation for a few minutes at least.

"Uh, why do you need those teeth in the first place?" Elmo asked, feeling like he should be able to figure it out on his own as his mind drew a blank on the subject.

Heather looked at Elmo like she was trying to be seen as innocent, which made Elmo feel even more suspicious. "Me? I'm just thinking of getting something made for me that could still make use of the paralytic effect of these teeth."

"Why not see If the others will let you have some when we reach a town or something?" Elmo asked, his surge of energy starting to wane.

"Yeah, I doubt they'd let me anywhere near a weapon, especially one that has this kind of effect," Heather said, sounding a little annoyed by the subject. "While I don't expect to be on the frontlines, I know that I should at least have something in the event I end up getting attacked directly. I mean, you and Elin have magic you could use, even in close range, to fight with, but I don't. All I have is my healing abilities and that's not exactly something that could help me out in a situation like that."

Elmo nodded, starting to understand. He also did recognize that the others, Sonya primarily, probably wouldn't like Heather to have a weapon of her own, although if she used it as backup rather than charging straight into battle, he couldn't think of a reason to deny her the weapon. As what she said did make sense.

"If you explained that to Sonya, wouldn't she accept that?" Elmo asked, mostly to make sure that this wasn't a problem that could balloon and blow up similar to some other problems that had gone on recently that had been a headache to be in the periphery of.

Heather sighed, looking away towards the darkness surrounding the camp. "I tried, but she just said that I could ride on her back when we get into a fight."

Elmo nodded. While that might be a good place for her in a fight, that wasn't to say that she wouldn't be a target outside a fight. Especially once they returned to civilization in this world. Just like when he'd been surrounded by some people who merely wanted to send a message to Jonas.

"You could always ask her if she'd want you on her back for the rest of your time in this competition," Elmo suggested. "As we never know when one of us might be attacked or for what reason."

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Elin sighed as she shook her head. "I'd rather talk to her about it after getting something to defend myself with," she answered, sounding rather pessimistic about the situation. "I wouldn't put it past her to take me up on that offer. Even if there would be times when I'd rather be by myself."

Elmo sighed. He could understand her reasoning, but he couldn't say that he really agreed with it. He wasn't sure why he felt that way, just that he did. Besides, it wasn't like it was his business anyway to say anything about it. As each person was different and had a right to make their own choices about such things.

A yawn bought Elmo back to the present and his situation about needing to get to sleep. He hadn't seen where Heather had but the 'flower teeth' but he could see that she wasn't holding them anymore. Which was just as good in his opinion. While he knew that she had them, he didn't know where they were and so couldn't say anything about it to anyone. As such, he didn't feel bad about keeping the secret that Heather had taken some of the teeth for herself.

Elmo went over to where the others were sleeping, aside from Bart who had the first watch, and found where Jonas was. Elmo's stomach wasn't happy about not getting anything for dinner, but Elmo was just too tired to care much. As what he wanted most was just to sleep. So, as he lay down next to Jonas, he took care to not wake Jonas up as he slid under Jonas' arms.

It wasn't much of an embrace, but it was probably better than he'd be able to have been able to get if he'd gone to bed earlier than, or at the same time as, Jonas. Which he was willing to accept regardless. As that's the kind of person that Elmo had grown feelings for anyway.

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In the morning, when Elmo woke up, Jonas was gone. Not from the camp, but just from where he had been sleeping. Elmo couldn't remember if Jonas had taken a watch or not, but he could see Jonas getting the fire going for breakfast with Elwin and Patricia.

While Elmo was getting tired of meat in general, dried or otherwise, it was at least something to eat that would keep him going and keep his stomach from complaining too much.

When they set out, it was with a more cautious pace. Elmo didn't complain as he certainly didn't care to encounter another patch of those kinds of flowers. Although, he couldn't say that they'd deal with all of them, since there wasn't any reason to think that way. As he certainly didn't know much about them and everything had happened too fast for him to have looked at what information he'd have been able to learn with his spells.

As they walked along the path, the crack opened up even further, until they reached a place that Elmo couldn't say that he'd have expected to see in this place. He didn't know what kind of building it was, but it was built out of stone and set on a small hill overlooking the stream in the valley before them. In addition to that, the stream came from a pool that was fed by a water fall that fell down from five different locations, each lower than the other to make a five tier waterfall.

The pool looked like it might be deep enough for swimming, though Elmo doubted that anyone here, aside from himself, would be all that interested in swimming to begin with.

"This is it," he heard Kim say. "This is the library we've been searching for."