While her attempt at getting pregnant was on Elin's mind, she knew she needed to keep her focus on what they were doing. If only because she didn't want to risk losing a child if she was pregnant after her romp with Kim.
Even as they moved along, she couldn't help but feel like it might be a mistake joining the others, even as she worried about being able to return to her own world. If she didn't return, then likely Kim wouldn't either, which meant that they'd be able to try again to have children together as many times as they wanted to. Yet, if they did return to their own world, any child that Elin was carrying in her would likely be the only one that they'd be able to have together. The only thing of Kim that she'd be able to keep with her.
While Kim had been working at unravelling the mystery of how to travel between worlds, Elin couldn't help but worry that there would be an element or two that Kim would be missing and that she wouldn't be able to acquire herself. Especially when she was back in her own world.
Everyone else seemed to have no trouble focusing on what they were doing, but she couldn't help but shake the feeling that many, such as Elmo, were having trouble keeping their focus, despite their appearances. Elin primarily based that on the fact that no one had questioned if she was doing okay herself, even though there were times when she nearly ran into a tree or another person. It wasn't that she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings, it was more that occasionally she'd get so lost in thought that she nearly collided with something.
Fortunately, she hadn't yet run into anyone, which she worried would draw everyone's attention to her and her distracted mind. Which in turn might delay their arrival at the dungeon. Which might force them to camp where they were, since they were already going without sleep so they could reach the dungeon before Stanley and his group started to return to the entrance, as everyone concurred that it was likely they'd be going without sleep too, seeing as how they were so close.
Though, Kim cautioned that they probably would want to rest themselves anyway once they reached the dungeon, since there was likely other things to make the challenge harder. She even acknowledged that she might be mistaken and it was as straightforward as it seemed, but Elin was confident that Kim was correct that there was something that would add to their problems before they reached wherever it was that they were supposed to take the book inside the dungeon.
Aside from the movement that had been noticed before they'd continued on, the forest had seemed almost like it had gone to sleep itself. Which bothered Elin because she knew that the forest should at least have some animals active at night, but here it hardly seemed like there was anything that was moving, and even that was from the wind blowing a branch or something. Nothing that was able to move on its own. It felt like something might be lurking in the dark, waiting to strike. Something that Elin couldn't help but feel the presence of.
"You okay?" Elin heard Kim ask her, startling her.
"Huh?" Elin whispered back, a little frightened at talking at the same volume as Kim. "Uh, yeah. I'm okay."
"Really?" Kim asked, looking pointedly at Elin. "You seem like something's on your mind. Like you sense something out there or something."
Elin sighed. She had been hoping to have kept quiet about her worries, but it seemed like Kim was intent on keeping an eye on her. Which, in a way, was something that felt good to her. Knowledge that Kim really cared. While on the other hand, it meant that she'd either have to lie to Kim or tell her what was really on her mind. Something that she wasn't really sure she should. Dodging the question didn't even occur to her.
"Isn't the night too quiet?" Elin asked after a few minutes of trying to organize her words. "Shouldn't there be some kind of noise from the forest?"
Elin watched Kim look around them in the dim lighting. Light primarily supplied by stars and the moon in the sky. Elin wasn't sure what she hoped Kim would find, but she at least hoped that Kim wouldn't dismiss her concerns outright.
When Kim finished surveying their surroundings, making them fall behind the others, Kim put a hand on Elin's shoulder. "I'm not saying there isn't anything out there, but we haven't gone through this forest at night before, so we can't be sure if it's always like this. With the spiders maybe having eaten anything active at night."
Elin sighed. Kim's words made sense, but she really wished that Kim would have accepted what she'd said without trying to explain it away. Though, she wasn't sure what she'd have expected after that, just that she would have liked to have Kim agree with her. Even though she couldn't say what that would have looked like either.
"Don't worry about it," Kim assured Elin. "Even if there's something out there that is making this place so quiet, that doesn't mean it's interested in us. That it might be more interested in something else. Which would mean it's not something that we'll need to worry about. If it does come for us, we'll be ready to fight it."
Kim's reassuring words made Elin feel even more conflicted. Not only was she wanting to accept what Kim had said, but she also wanted to hold to her initial conclusion about what she was sensing around them. Even though she couldn't put a form to that 'something.'
However, she couldn't deny that Kim's thoughts had merit. As such, she continued walking along, still feeling uneasy about the quiet around her. A quiet that almost felt like it was seeping into every pore on her body. Something she was powerless to stop.
In a way it made the forest itself feel alive. Alive in the sense that it was an organism that they weren't sure was aware of their presence as of yet. An organism that could squish them like a bug if it did become aware of their presence. Not entirely because it held any animosity towards them, but rather because it could. Because it might feel like it more than because of any threat that they might actually pose towards it.
Yet, as they continued to walk through the dark, nothing happened. While for Elin that was a good thing, she couldn't help but feel like something should be happening anyway. Not because she wanted something to happen, but rather because she hoped that it would put an end to this feeling she had about the whole issue. The feeling that just wouldn't go away, even with the words of assurance that Kim had spoken to her.
Elin wasn't sure how long they'd been walking, but after some time, something did happen. It wasn't anything that dispelled the sense of something out in the forest that could strike at any moment and without warning. It was that Heather woke up.
At first no one noticed because in part they weren't looking, but also because Heather didn't make a big fuss of waking up. Instead, it was only when she sat up on Sonya's back, after having loosened the ties securing her onto Sonya's back, that Elin noticed herself, making her the second, after Heather, to realize she was awake. Even then, Heather didn't say anything, but rather continued to ride Sonya in silence, making it a while before the others even noticed.
When they did, they quickly had a short break so they could make sure that everything was alright with Heather and fill her in on what had happened. Elin had considered doing that when she'd noticed Heather sit up, but had quickly dismissed the idea because she didn't want to be the one who broke the quiet that was going on around them. A quiet that even now seemed to hold sway outside the little bubble of noise that had formed.
While the others checked to make sure that Heather was fine and that there wasn't any lingering effects of her having been unconscious for so long, and after Elin had been called in to verify, again, that she didn't have anything wrong with her, health-wise, Elin stood idly by watching the others inform Heather on what had happened while she was unconscious. Elin was perfectly fine being left out like that. She figured if there was anything that she'd want to talk with Heather about she could just wait until they were moving again rather than pushing to be part of the conversation right then.
However, as she waited, the atmosphere outside the bubble of conversation suddenly changed. It went from still to feeling like something was moving. Elin wasn't sure what was going to appear, but she had a feeling that whatever was moving was heading straight for them. Something she worried would be more dangerous than Stanely's group would be or that Harold was.