The young 'gnome' awoke with a gasp, her blue eyes wide and staring at the ceiling, her frantic, heavy breathing slowly calming as the crushing sensation of her lungs filling with water left by her dreams subsided. She took one more deep, quiet breath, letting it out slowly as her vision adjusted to the darkness of the room, remembering the strange serpent-like creature that would have surely pulled her into an early, watery grave, had it not been for her new friends. Again. Elly swallowed as she looked over to a sleeping Malaya and then Talia. She thought briefly of that moment just a couple of days ago when Trelic asked her why she was there. She didn't realize it at the time... but now as she lay there, thinking back on the last few days with her new friends, she realized that she was there because someone asked for her help. She didn't only want to follow in her grandfather's footsteps... to have a grand adventure, travelling the world and playing at the most prestigious places in the Kingdom... She wanted to form bonds with these people... to protect them. She wanted to be useful, but she was just making a mess of things. Quietly, she sat up in her bed, reaching over to her pack to pull out a small bundle of rags, which she unwrapped carefully to reveal a small globe of water, in which swam a clockwork goldfish. She smiled a little as she turned it in her hand and then brought it to her heart, her eyes closing as she remembered the day he had given it to her. She could see it all in her mind like it was happening right then... Her grandfather Oslo and his once travelling companions, all of whom had retired from adventuring by then (the ones who were still alive, at least), gathering together as they did twice a month to recount tales of their exploits to a young Elly on her birthday. She could see the laughing faces of Aedra the high elven sorceress, Three-Legged Thorgran (who now walked with a limp and leaned on a gnarled, wooden cane) the dwarven sailor-turned-fighter, Finaeli the half-elven druid, and Rosalie the halfling cleric. These were the people she grew up with... the only people she had ever considered family... or friends... until now. The situation with Talia and this man Vhoori weighed heavily on her mind. The whole situation gave her the creeps, especially after hearing the dream Talia had about him. As she carefully wrapped the small, glass globe in the cloth once again and tucked it into her pack, her eyes drifted over to where Talia lay sleeping, lingering on her cloak. She wondered if she might be able to put together a convincing disguise... to masquerade as Talia and pay this man a visit in her stead. She knew that her silver-blonde hair might be a problem, but if she just... 'borrowed' Talia's cloak and kept the hood up... Maybe she could pull it off. Maybe she could find out what this Vhoori person wanted with her. Sure, it might be dangerous... but at least her new friend would be safe... ' Or worse off' ... She could almost hear a voice in her subconscious, reminding her it was highly likely that she would make things worse by trying to make things better. She sighed softly and laid back down on her bed, giving Talia and then Malaya one last look before rolling over and putting her back to the room. She stared at the wall for a few minutes before her eyelids began to feel heavy again, and she closed them, thinking of how badly she wanted to be useful and how difficult it was to actually use good judgment... for once.
