Elin couldn't help but find Lance's confusion a little amusing. Apparently Lance had slept through the skirmish they had with some of their own soldiers due to the enchantment. Which Elin wasn't sure how anyone could have slept through it, despite a good portion of the army having done just that.
"So, you're saying that the dragon we saw yesterday was the one responsible for that mess?" Lance asked, referring to the events of the night before.
"Yes, but since we've solved that problem, we're not going to bother with that dragon if he doesn't force us to," Jonas answered.
"Shouldn't we deal with him anyway?" Lance asked, sounding like he either had a grudge towards dragons or he was just flat out biased towards them.
"If you want to deal with every dragon we come across, how long do you think we'll take?" Kim asked dryly. "We can do that, but we really came here to search for the fire dragon we mentioned earlier."
"Speaking of which," Jonas said suddenly, "I'm not sure if having the entire army attack the dragons would be very good to do."
"What do you mean?" Lance asked, his expression a cross between indignant and confused.
"Simple," Jonas continued, like it should be obvious even though Elin was with Lance with not understanding what Jonas was getting at. "If everyone attacks the dragon, then unless they can swing their weapons hard enough to actually hurt the dragon, they'll just be in the way. Which then will be more of a matter of increasing the casualties on our side. So, unless you can be certain of everyone's ability to deal actual damage to the dragon and not just act as a meat shield, then it would be better for the entire army to just sit out any fights with dragons."
Lance looked dumbfounded. Elin sort of felt the same, but she at least understood what Jonas was getting at. Which was part of the reason she'd wanted to help with doing more than with just with her healing spells. However, she also wondered if maybe there might be something else she should be thinking about here, even though nothing else came to mind.
Silence enshrouded their meeting for a few minutes before Elmo cleared his throat.
"Whatever happens with other dragons, Aquis we need to focus on what to do to find the fire dragon," he said. "Even if what told us was completely false, we still haven't found the fire dragon in the first place."
"The kid's right," Kim said, looking more annoyed with that simple fact. "Whatever else we decide, we need to locate that fire dragon first."
"So, you don't think you can trust what the dragon you spoke with yesterday said?" Lance asked, sounding like he didn't quite agree with that stance.
"It's not so much that we think everything he said was a lie, but what point of reference do we have to say what was true and what wasn't?" Jonas asked in response, sounding rather rhetorical. "If you know of a way to filter out fact from fiction with what we were told, then we'll be all ears."
"Is there a place we can go to that might have information we might want about fire dragons?" Elin asked, hoping she wasn't making a mistake with opening her mouth.
"There is a library that isn't clear if it exists or not," Lance replied. "I'm not sure myself, but it's supposed to have knowledge that's been lost over the ages, including knowledge that hasn't been made known to anyone. So, it might have information about fire dragons."
"Where is this library?" Elin asked, feeling like that's where they should head. No matter what else they did.
Lance shrugged helplessly. "No one really knows. That's part of why no one knows if it really exists or not. Some say that it moves around on it's own, while others say that it's protected magically."
"Well, if we don't have a fixed location to head towards, we'll have to merely hope we come across it while we travel to what we can find," Jonas remarked dismissively.
Elin couldn't say why, but it felt like what he said was a rebuke towards her. Like he felt she should either stay quiet or merely offer suggestions that were useful or that he agreed with. She wasn't quite sure what it was about, but she was certain that she didn't really care for it.
"Well, we can always see if there's anything we can learn if we find other intelligent life," Kim added, somehow making Elin feel like she was taking her side in this issue.
"So, if we don't know where that library is, which direction should we move in?" Elmo asked. I mean, we have to at least head somewhere or we'll just be waiting here for the dragon to find us."
Elin couldn't help but chuckle at the way Elmo phrased that. As if he was trying to alleviate the tension that had started to form, although she suspected that he was merely oblivious to it. Though, she couldn't say that she knew him well enough to be absolutely certain of that.
"Well, if we don't follow the river, then we could run out of water," Lance mused. "If nothing else, it would at least be a direction to move in."
"That might actually be a good idea," Kim remarked. She opened her mouth to continue, but then stopped as she glance at Lance.
Elin wasn't sure what the problem with Lance being present was, but she wasn't going to say anything. She had a feeling that it might have to do with something regarding the competition. Not that she understood how.
However, she quickly continued anyway. "I have a feeling we might encounter Patrick and Patricia if we travel along the river."
Jonas nodded. "Right. Though, it might be good to have some of us move on, while others wait here. If nothing else, they could start cutting some trees down and then start to build a fort or fortress or something."
"Why should they?" Lance asked, echoing the thoughts in Elin's mind.
"If they do that, then when we're done, we can come back this way and if there's other orcs in these mountains then we'll have more defenses if we need to actually fight them rather than the encounter with the orcs we had yesterday," Jonas answered.
"You know, that might not be a bad idea," Elin said, an idea suddenly appearing in her mind. As the attention of the others turned her way, she couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious at having suddenly changed the subject that way.
She hesitated with continuing her statement, but quickly pushed through that. If she didn't push forward, then she probably wouldn't be able to build up the courage to do so again later on. Or at least those were the thoughts she used to push herself to continuing on with her idea. So, she took a deep breath.
"If you establish a fortress here, then you could easily establish a town or city," Elin said. "They could harvest the stone here to see what can be done with them, whether it's using it for sculptures, architecture, or even roads."
Lance looked surprised at Elin before letting a smile break over his face. "You know, that might be something I can sell to everyone."
"Well, if that's settled, then when should we get ready to move on?" Jonas asked. "I'd like to head out before noon if possible."
"Unless you want everyone to accompany us, then we'll need at least a day," Lance replied. "It'll take at least that long to get everyone settled on who will stay and who will continue on with us."
"Sorry I'm late," Guy said, bursting into the tent. "I overslept."
"Well, at least you arrived before we ended the meeting," Kim remarked, amusement clear in her voice.
"Wait, you're already done?" Guy asked, sounding a little dumbfounded. "Didn't you just start it?"
"Sort of," Elmo answered. "Though, there wasn't really much for us to discuss anyway."
"What did you discuss?" Guy asked.
"Let's first finish up what we have left to discuss before we do a review for Guy, okay?" Kim asked.
"Uh, that's 'Lord Guy,'" Guy corrected.
"Fine. Let's do that before we give Colonel Guy a review, okay?" Kim rephrased.
Elin couldn't help but giggle at how offended Guy looked at Kim's statement. She wasn't sure what he didn't like about it, but it was clear it wasn't what he wanted to hear from Kim. Besides, she was pretty sure that the rank would have a higher rank than him being the son of a Marquis when at any court functions. It was possible that he just wasn't aware of it, but she doubted it.
"What else is there to talk about?" Guy asked after a moment of looking annoyed.
"Anyone have anything else to say?" Jonas asked. "I'm out of topics."
Elin couldn't help but giggle when she realized that while they hadn't officially reached the end, they really had when Guy had entered. It just wasn't something that they were aware of at that particular moment.
"So, here's what we discussed," Elin said, turning to catch Guy up on what they'd discussed. If nothing else, she thought it'd be fun to be the one to fill him in on it.