As Elmo finished eating some breakfast, he had thought that he'd be able to go out to get more training done,and building his spells at least a little more, but then Jonas let him, Elin, and Kim know that he wanted a meeting to discuss something that he wanted to discuss.
He couldn't think of any reason to object to it, although he would like to get more of his spells built up, since he found that he was lousy at learning how to fight with his fists and feet. Maybe if he had years and all that to work on it, then he might e able to become proficient with that, but as it stood, his spells were his best line of defense. So, if they could be built up properly, then he should be better at dealing with any doppelgangers that come his way again. If they encounter doppelgangers again, that is.
Kim seems to be a little annoyed by Jonas calling a meeting as well, though Elin seemed fine with it. Not that Elmo was really surprised. Elin seemed to enjoy these meetings at times. Though, Elmo suspected that it gave her an excuse to delay going to train herself. Especially since Kim still insisted on her learning some skills to fight without any weapons.
However, he couldn't be sure that's what the reason was. It was merely his hunch about it. After all, with their training, usually they were all left too tired to really even do much thinking, let alone discussing things like that.
When they were all finished with their breakfast, Jonas led them to where they had been doing their training, only he had them make their way over to a more deserted area of the training grounds.
Then before Jonas had a chance to say anything, Kim asked, "So, what's this about now? Are we going to vote on if we train more or just try to find that fire dragon?"
Jonas merely shook his head. "We're not voting on anything," Jonas answered. "I just wanted to inform all of you that I'll be leaving today. Any of you are welcome to join me, but my training has reached the point that it would be pointless for me to remain. If all of you want to stay here and train more, then that's your decision. I won't try to persuade you against that."
Kim blinked, clearly surprised at his statement. Elmo knew tha the certainly was, although Elin didn't seem to fully grasp what it was that Jonas' statement meant.
"Why would you be leaving?" she asked. "Aren't we a team?"
Jonas smiled kindly at Elin. "Yes, we are a team, but if I don't leave, then I'm probably going to go crazy. I will accept if all of you want to train more, because we can't say what else might come down the line. Besides, its been nice not having to do anything other than train, eat, and sleep every day. Especially when we don't have to worry about the bill."
"Why wouldn't you have mentioned this before today?" Kim asked.
"Because I only decided to do this yesterday. I've maxed my skills that require me to expend stamina to build, but otherwise I don't have much else I can work on that won't drive me crazy with the tediousness of it," Jonas answered.
"So, you want us to just drop everything and either join you or train more, knowing that you're not going to be here?" Kim demanded.
Jonas shook his head helplessly. Maybe he realized that he wouldn't be able to convince Kim about why he was doing this, but Elmo wasn't sure which way to believe on that point.
"I'm not expecting anything of any of you. I was merely informing everyone about what my decision is. If any of you want to continue training, then that's fine by me. Then if you want to try and catch up to where I am, then that's fine too. I'm not going to tell any of you what to decide about this," Jonas answered calmly, making Elmo fell almost like any chance he'd had about understanding his own feelings towards Jonas was gone.
"So, you're just going to leave then?" Kim asked, and Elmo was starting to think that Kim was trying to provoke Jonas, but he wasn't taking the bait.
"Yes, I'm just going to leave," he answered. "Whether you join me or not, is not important to me. What is important to me is that I can start doing something useful again. Something that will allow me to keep my mind working and not dull from nothing to do."
"I'll join you," Elin said, startling everyone.
"Elin, you want to go?" Kim asked, her face a mixture of surprise, confusion, outrage, and worry.
"Yes, I do," she said firmly. "I might be able to build my spells a little more, but I think we're about as strong as we're going to get anyway. So, if we don't head out now, then we'll be letting what we've been working at to be pointless."
Elmo knew he wasn't following the logic Elin was, but he felt that she did kind of have a point. If they didn't make use of what they'd been training, then maybe they would remain here forever and essentially not try to complete any more challenges, no matter what they might be. Especially if they only remained here where it was nice and comfortable.
"Fine, you might have a point," Kim said, grudgingly.
Though, Elmo suspected that she was only agreeing so she wouldn't have to part with Elin, but he knew better than to say that thought out loud.
"So, I'll be taking this day to collect supplies," Jonas told them after a couple minutes when no one else seemed to have anything to add to what Elin and Kim had last said.
"I'll join you on that," Kim said, her tone making it clear that she wasn't just offering.
Jonas nodded. "So, while Kim and I are collecting supplies, what do the two of you plan on doing?"
"I'll pack my things and see if I can get some spare clothing for all of us," Elin said cheerfully.
Jonas shared a look with Kim and both seemed to have had some sort of communication pass between the two of them, though Elmo wasn't sure what that might have been or how they did that in the first place. At least not without telepathy, that is.
"Alright, that'll be good. If nothing else, it'll be one less thing for Kim and me to collect," Jonas replied thoughtfully.
"So, what'll you be doing?" Kim asked Elmo, startling him.
He'd forgotten that he hadn't given an answer to the question in the first place.
"Well, I guess I could let the king know we're heading out?" he asked, feeling like he had to say something, even if he wasn't sure what was expected of him.
"That's a good idea," Jonas said, nodding. "He has been our host for the past month, so we should at least let him know that we'll be leaving."
"How long do you think that'll take?" Kim asked, making Elmo feel like it wasn't going to be enough, no matter how long it took.
"I-I'll come up with something," Elmo promised, not sure what that 'something' might be.
"Kim, leave him alone!" Elin commanded Kim, giving Kim a look of warning.
"Relax, my gem," she said, though her tone made it clear that she was trying to merely pacify her lover. "I'm just trying to get hism to see that talking with the king wouldn't take that long."
"Maybe, but that doesn't mean you have to be mean to him," Elin retorted.
"It doesn't matter," Jonas said as Kim opened her mouth to rebut Elin's statement. "If you finish what you planned on doing here, then you can see if one of the others needs help with what they're doing. That way we can get this done as quickly as possible."
"What if we get it all done before the day's over?" Elin asked.
"Then you can train your skills and spells in that period, We could always leave today if all of you wanted, but I think we should prepare for leaving today and head out in the morning. That way we can make the best time before we would need to camp and break out the supplies we'd have collected from here," Jonas answered.
"Okay, I like that idea," Kim said, sounding happy with the thought.
"So, I'll go see if I can find the king," Elmo said, before they could think of anything that they could add to what he planned on doing.
While he wouldn't really object to doing more, he doubted that anything Jonas or Kim, especially Kim, came up with would be simple for him to do. Though, while he briefly thought about that he should add more to his Str, which would help him do physical things, he knew that he should focus on the stats that help him most with his spells.
That way he'd know that he'd be able to really be as strong as possible in the even another fight happened where he was pushed to his limits. Otherwise, he couldn't say if they might fail simply because he wasn't as strong as he could have been.