Where Did the Devourers Come From?

Elmo wasn't sure of what to make of getting called into a meeting this late in the day. The evening announcement had been given with no new information being revealed, so it wasn't like there would be a reason from that for the meeting.

He didn't complain about the meeting because it wasn't lke he had anything better to do. Especially with how they'd been waiting there for so long without anything else to do.

However, it wasn't like Jonas or Kim to call a meeting when they didn't have a reason, nor had they had a meeting since the one where Jonas had included Kim's army. Which was weird enough for Elmo.

Still, he couldn't deny that he was hoping that something would be revealed in this meeting that would help give him something useful to do. Sitting around these past couple days hadn't exactly been easy for him.

Much like his grandparents had found out when they 'retired,' having nothing to do in a day to occupy yourself wasn't easy. Not only did it get old fast, but it also gave him an itch that he couldn't quite scratch, leaving him wandering around, increasingly desperate to find something that he could do.

Technically, while he could train his spells more, he wasn't sure how long they'd be on the road or if something might occur where he needed to be at full strength. While he could take his chances, he didn't like feeling dependent on others if he could help it.

When he arrived at the meeting, he wasn't surprised to see everyone already there, nor was he surprised to see Elin sitting on Kim's lap, both occasionally kissing the other.

"Good to see you here, Elmo," Jonas greeted as he quickly sat on the ground, not sure what to expect.

"Wasn't like I had plans for the night," Elmo replied, kicking himself for his response the moment the words came out of his mouth.

"Well, when Kim and Elin are done with their, uh, oral examinations of the other, we can get started," Jonas said, his face flushing slightly as he made his statement.

"You're just jealous that you don't get to kiss her," Kim retorted after another kiss from Elin, though, Elin didn't get off of Kim's lap.

"Doesn't matter," Jonas said, looking like he would as soon be done with this. "What we need to discuss is first, the feather."

"What feather?" Elmo blurted, feeling like he was left out of the loop.

"This feather," Elin said, holding up a feather for a moment before setting it on the ground by her and Kim. The feather looked like it came from a mid sized raptor, though he couldn't say exactly what kind of raptor. Although, he certainly hadn't seen coloring like that before. Not even from the most colorful eagles, hawks, falcons, or owls.

"Yes, Elin found that feather earlier, because apparently it gives off light of its own," Jonas said. "Kim suspects that it might be part of that announcement in regards to materials being 'released' early. So, if that's the case, it would be good to decide if we should do anything with this information or continue on like we should have expected it all along."

"Then there's the point about if there's anything that we should consider that this might mean," Kim added.

"What could it mean?" Elmo asked, not sure what to make of the feather in the first place.

"Well, if you don't know what it is, then it's not like we can do anything about it," Kim replied. "I haven't a clue as to what it might have come from, and Elin didn't either."

"And I don't know anything about it myself," Jonas added. "So, we thought that it was possible that you might have a clue."

Elmo looked at the feather as he thought about it. While he wanted to say that he could tell them everything about it, nothing came to mind. While it was certainly colorful, he couldn't say that there was anything particular about it that said what it might be or might be from.

"Do you want me to see if there's anything I can find out about it with my View Stats spell?" Elmo asked, not sure what else to say.

"That could provide us with some information that we might not have," Jonas agreed.

Elmo sighed. He doubted this would work the way Jonas seemed to want it to, but he couldn't think of how else to go about it. It wasn't like he could control how much information he got from the spell, but at the same time, he couldn't really say how much he'd get from it before casting it in the first place.

"View Stats," Elmo said, focusing on the feather.

While he had expected the usual stat screen to appear before him, all that came up was a description about the feather. Most of which he already knew just by looking at the feather. It didn't say where it came from or what kind of feather it was, just that it wasn't a common one.

Though, the only real information he'd gotten from it was the fact that it had a durability rating and how much it would take to destroy it. Which really wasn't useful in the first place. While it wasn't a problem to know, it didn't really help them with what they were trying to figure out about it.

Elmo shook his head when he closed the window with the information. "Sorry, it didn't say what it might have come from," Elmo reported. "There wasn't anything useful that we didn't already know about it."

Jonas nodded. "Fair enough. We didn't think we'd get anything useful anyway. We just thought it's at least be worth a look," he told Elmo.

Elmo nodded, feeling a little better. While he wasn't happy about not being able to get more out of the feather with his spell, it was nice to know that they hadn't been expecting him to really get anything anyway.

"So what now?" Kim asked, drawing Elmo's attention back to the two lovebirds who were still cuddling at the meeting.

"We should be getting the supplies in tomorrow," Jonas said. "Which means that if there's any mana or MP potions that were available to acquire in the city, then we should be getting them in. Which means we should be able to leave shortly after that."

"How do you know the supplies should be arriving tomorrow?" Kim asked, suspicion clear in her voice.

"Because when your army sent someone to get some supplies, I told them to try to get back tomorrow at the latest. Even if they weren't able to get everything on the list, that they shouldn't take more than that amount of time, so we wouldn't be left wondering if something happened to them or not," Jonas answered.

"Makes sense," Kim said, her hand reaching in the front of Elin's dress, eliciting a squeal of surprise from Elin, as well as making Elmo look away, his cheeks burning from embarrassment from witnessing that scene. Kim's expression had also been that of one challenging Elmo or Jonas to say anything about her doing that.

"Does anyone else have anything else to talk about?" Jonas asked.

Elmo shook his head and cautiously looked at Kim and Elin. While Kim still was clearly feeling Elin up, they didn't look like they had anything to talk about.

"Well, if that's the case, there is one more thing I'd like to discuss," Jonas said, surprising Elmo.

If he had this to talk about, why didn't he bring it up before asking us if we had anything else to talk about? Elmo raged in his mind.

Jonas was quiet a minute, either drawing out the moment or seeing if anyone had anything to say about his statement. Elmo couldn't be sure of which it was, nor did he really care to try and find out.

"Alright. So, you know how we had the infestation of the parasites we refer to as 'devourers,' right?" he asked, drawing nods from everyone present. "Well, what I'm asking is where did they come from?"

Elmo felt confused. He glanced at Kim and Elin only to find they looked as confused as he did. Even Kim's groping seemed to have stopped for a moment.

"What are you suggesting?" Elmo asked.

"What I'm speculating is did we stumble on a nest of devourers or is there maybe a host that produces more devourers?" Jonas asked. "Such as if they laid eggs inside their hosts at some point or if this place is just where the devourers have a nest or something."

"So, you think that this might be a problem going forward?" Kim asked, clearly not happy at the implications of Jonas' suggestion.

Jonas nodded. "Exactly. If we came across a nest of devourers, then we should be fine once we continue on. However, if the devourers lay their eggs in their hosts, then we might have this problem pop up again later on, when those eggs hatch."

Elmo couldn't help but start to feel a little uneasy about the suggestion. If that was the case, when would the eggs in their hosts hatch? If it was a den, did they already have more infected than they had already identified or maybe would the devourers come out in waves or something?

"What are you suggesting we do about that?" Elmo asked.

Jonas shrugged. "If there's a den of devourers around here, I wouldn't know where to find it. If they laid eggs in their hosts, then we might be able to do something about that," he answered. "At the very least, I felt I should express my thoughts on this matter. If I didn't, I had a feeling that I'd just drive myself crazy thinking about it."

Elmo nodded. He could at least understand that reasoning.

"Well, I could try to see if my assess spell will help once I treat the rest of those who have a devourer in them," Elin suggested.

Jonas sighed. "If the devourers leave eggs in their hosts, then I hope that'd be enough to determine that," he said.

"I can't think of another way myself," Kim remarked, as she clearly started her groping of Elin again, which made Elmo look away again, trying to forget how flushed Elin's face was at Kim's touching.

"Is there anything else?" Elmo asked, hoping there wasn't so he could leave as quickly as possible.

Jonas shook his head. "No, that was all."

Elmo nodded and got up and rushed out of the tent, not wanting to be around Elin and Kim as they were clearly about to start going at it. While at the same time, wishing that he could have something like that with Jonas. The only one he'd even thought about trying to be in a relationship with. Despite the fact that Jonas hadn't shown any signs that he might return the interest that Elmo was certain he'd conveyed multiple times to him.