The first thing that went through Kim's mind when they got back was that Elin was safe. That she'd somehow avoided any real dangers out there. The second thought was about what Elin had been thinking about wandering off on her own like that. She might not be a child, but she was the least capable of everyone in their combined groups when it came to combat. The only other person Kim could think of that would have less combat abilities was Heather, and she certainly wasn't present right then.
"Elin, we need to talk," Kim said before anyone else could when she returned with the search party.
Elin didn't show any reaction, or even looked like she thought she had done anything wrong, and stood up walking a distance away from everyone. Then she turned to look at Kim coolly. Like nothing had happened to make Kim upset.
Kim wasn't sure what to make of it, but she certainly didn't like it. Though, another thought came to mind that Elin had been replaced by a doppelganger. She didn't have any evidence of that, but it was a worry that nagged at her in the back of her mind.
When Kim reached Elin, she saw they were about fifty feet away from the group, near the edge of the valley. Then, before Elin could say anything, Kim spoke, making it clear that she wasn't happy about what had happened.
"Why didn't you wait for me?" Kim demanded. "I told you I needed to test what my sword can do."
Elin nodded. "Then after that, you went to sleep," Elin retorted. "That let me know just how important I was, so I though I'd merely clear my head. I'm sorry if I didn't get your permission to do that, but you did kind of go to sleep and I'm not aware of anyone else with your level of authority."
Kim blinked. What was that supposed to mean? She didn't treat Elin like she was lesser than herself. It felt like this was coming out of nowhere.
"You didn't even let anyone know where you were going," Kim replied, feeling like this was at least a good point. "You and I weren't the only ones still in the camp."
"Everyone else was busy," Elin said flatly. "Why would I need to be the only one who has to let anyone know when I go to take a walk. It's not like anything bad is likely to happen. I didn't even go very far."
Kim couldn't come up with a response to that. Elin really hadn't gone very far. She just had taken a rather meandering path that made the trip take rather a long while. Not that it made it any better in Kim's mind. After all, close by was still out of sight of the camp, far enough away that pretty much anything could happen and they wouldn't be able to do anything to help if something had occurred.
"Do you realize how worried we were about you?" Kim asked trying a tactic she knew her mother had used on her and she'd never been able to figure out an adequate response to.
Elin merely rolled her eyes. "You maybe, because then you wouldn't have someone you could expect to do whatever you told them to do. Everyone else, as far as I could tell, weren't bothered by me going on a walk. You were the only one who got upset about it."
Kim blinked. She wasn't sure how, but Elin had turned that back around on her faster than she could react. However, it just annoyed her. She was still confident hat she'd be able to win this argument.
"What're you saying?" Kim asked, trying to keep herself calm, but her anger still was seeping into her words. "Are you saying that I should have just not worried about what might have happened to you out there? About the possible dangers that could come up? Like another dragon encountering you or orcs that we've seen in these mountains."
Kim wasn't sure how Elin was keeping a cool reaction, though Kim refused to acknowledge that Elin might possibly even had a point about her position on all of this.
"If that was the case, why did you go to sleep when you knew I wanted to talk with you? Or am I just something that comes second in your life? Like I'm only worth your time if you don't have anything else going on? Or that I should just wait patiently to do anything for you to have the time to consider my petition?"
Kim had no idea where that was coming from. She hadn't been making Elin do anything she didn't want to do. Nor was she aware of why Elin seemed to be upset as well. After all, Elin was the one who had gone for a walk without telling anyone, so what reason did she have to get upset over this?
"Not only that, but why didn't you used your sword's ability to locate me?" Elin asked before Kim had a chance to respond to her previous statement.
"What're you talking about?" Kim snapped, feeling like her patience was running rather thin. "You know as well as I do that the ability was 'disabled,' right?"
Elin shook her head, looking away from Kim, as if Kim was being stupid or something. "And you heard the announcement, just like I did, that any skills that might have been disabled have been restored with limited restrictions and that we should talk with our tutorial for details about it."
Kim wasn't sure what to make of Elin's attitude. Not only did she seem to be fuming, but she also looked like she felt she had a reason to be upset with Kim, when she knew that couldn't be true. Elin was the one who had gone of without telling anyone, so why would she have reason to be upset? It was a thought that wouldn't go out of Kim's head and one that she couldn't figure out an answer for.
However, Elin's response did give her pause. The announcement did say that. Yet, Kim had completely forgotten it. Which meant that Kim needed to take a moment to deal with that so she could know if that's really a point she had against Elin or not right then.
"One moment," Kim said, before turning away to face out away from the campsite in the valley. "Tutorial."
"What can you tell me about the skill on my sword that was disabled?"
"I mean my 'Locate' skill," Kim said, trying to express her patience with the tutorial, though she could feel herself beginning to feel her self-control on her emotions getting tested.
Kim sighed. She really could have used that to find Elin. Assuming it worked like she had in her mind that it did.
[No, that's all.] Kim thought to the tutorial, not wanting Elin to hear her say that. She knew she'd already lost that point she felt so confident would have helped her.
Sighing, Kim turned back to Elin, meeting her gaze calmly. "I guess we're both getting rather worked up about this, huh?" Kim asked, trying to lighten the mood a little.
"You are at least," Elin returned, not looking like she was ready to back down.
"What do you mean by that?" Kim asked, feeling like there was an undercurrent here that she wasn't aware of.
Elin shook her head as if she expected that response. "Just that you're the one who's worked up about this. I'm certainly not."
Kim couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Please. If you weren't worked up, you wouldn't have-"
"I wouldn't have what?" Elin interrupted, her eyes flashing with anger. Kim couldn't help but feel caught off guard from seeing that. "I wouldn't have been left wondering why you're acting different towards me now? Like I'm supposed to just wait for you to tell me what to think, feel, and do?"
Kim blinked. She had been right, Elin was worked up. However, it was in a different way than Kim had expected. In addition to that, she had a feeling that Elin had been worked up over this for a lot longer than Kim had been worked up over Elin having disappeared earlier that day. She wasn't sure how to respond to that, but it didn't seem to matter.
About a minute after Elin finished her last question, she scoffed, looking annoyed and more than a little hurt. "You know what? I'll just be fine by myself."
Elin then started walking back to the camp, leaving Kim feel like she'd been hit by a beam of something thick and solid to the face. Like something had happened that she still wasn't quite certain what it was.