Travelling through the library became almost a blur for Elin. They'd walk past countless shelves through the days, stopping at various 'rest' locations when they were starting to get tired, and taking a trip to the cafeteria while they were at it. They'd even started collecting a lunch from the cafeteria before they started out each day.
Elin was happy to have gotten the book she'd wanted and was content to let Elmo study it in hopes that he'd be able to decipher it so it wouldn't count as one of the books they wanted to trade. As it was only two bits out of the entire book that Elin and Elmo wanted.
Though, from the looks she caught of when Elmo was able to look at the book, it wasn't going as well as she'd like. Even as they found other books, such as a few from the swordplay section that Elwin picked out, Elmo looked like he was struggling with the book.
Assuming that he was able to find where the spells that were needed for the effects that Elin and Elmo wanted, or however the magic worked, Elin hoped that he'd be able to tell that that's where he was rather than passing by because of his inability to fully understand the language the book was written in.
Of course, Blot wasn't willing to help them. He told Elin each time she asked, that he wasn't allowed to do anything. That if they wanted to be sure that they understood the things written in the book, that they had to make the trade. Which would then make the book able to be understood as if it was written in their own language.
Or at least that's how it sounded to Elin. She suspected that it wasn't quite that simple. That there was more to it than just how it sounded.
Elin wasn't sure how long they'd been traveling through the library, but she was starting to get the sense that it was larger than she had originally expected. Especially with how long it took them to reach the stairs to take them up to the next level. Which, naturally, looked almost exactly the same, with the only difference being that the color of the bookshelves were different for some reason. Which even Blot wasn't able to explain a reason for.
If Elin was to give a number of how many times they took a rest, by the time they'd finally reached the section with the book that was supposed to contain information on how to travel between worlds, she'd estimate that they'd rested at least six times. Though, when they did reach that section and got the book, it was nearing the time when they'd be taking a rest.
Even still, Elin felt like she was going to drop herself. She wasn't sure that she'd have been able to go much farther when they did pause to collect the book.
After they reached the next rest area, Blot told them, "Now that you've found the books you had inquired about, you can decide on which ones you'll choose, or if you want another one, just let me know and I'll help guide you to there."
Elin sighed as she sat down in a chair. She was mostly interested in sleeping, but was quickly prevented from doing that as Kim shook her awake almost immediately.
"No time for sleeping!" Kim announced. "We need to decide which book we'll select out of each of these."
"Uh, could I get a little longer to look through this book?" Elmo asked. "I haven't been able to make much headway with it from all the walking we've been doing here. If I had a little longer I might be able to find out what I wanted."
"I agree," Elwin added, looking like making that admission left a sour taste in his mouth. "I'm sure I'll be able to follow along with the diagrams in these books, but I first need time to really examine them as well, while I practice the forms inside."
Kim sighed, looking like she wasn't happy to receive such news. Not that Kim really found it that surprising. With how Kim usually was, Elin would have likely been surprised more if Kim hadn't been like that.
"Why don't we rest the night here and pick up in the morning when we're better rested," Jonas suggested. "If we try to discuss the books now anyway, we probably won't get much accomplished. Not with how many are ready to fall asleep where they stand." Jonas paused as he looked around, half of the group already sitting in a chair. "Or sit, as the case may be."
"I'm still awake so I can get something to eat," Patricia remarked, her voice thick with fatigue. "We haven't really had much of a chance to really rest as much as we wanted to for a while. So, it'd be nice to be lazy for a day before we really discuss this."
"If we delay, others might get ahead of us on this challenge," Kim protested.
"And if we don't we might slow ourselves down more than you realize, letting others get ahead of us anyway," Owen interrupted. "That's just the way things work sometimes."
Kim shook her head, looking like she was more annoyed at Owen having a point than anything else. Elin wanted to say something to support Kim, but she knew that it wouldn't help much with how she really agreed with Owen more than Kim at that moment. As such, she knew Kim would be more hurt if she came out and said as much rather than just staying silent.
"Kim, it's possible your impatience with this is fueled by the fact that you're tired yourself. If you get some rest, then you should be able to see a little more clearly yourself," Jonas said, sounding rather reasonable to Elin.
However, Kim didn't see it that way apparently. "Just because Blot said we're actually siblings doesn't mean that I have to accept you as my brother," Kim snapped. "So therefore you don't get to tell me what to do about anything."
"Just a thought," Jonas replied, his tone quiet and hesitant. He clearly hadn't expected Kim to react like that. Though, Elin wasn't sure how she'd react herself if she were in Kim's position.
"Don't even," Kim warned Jonas, a fire blazing in her eyes. "This is all the warning I'll give you. Don't try to even give me advice."
"If you give Elmo enough time to decipher the Prenatal Magic book, mine doesn't have to be the one that we take," Elin said, trying to change the subject and keep the confrontation from occurring. Something she was pretty sure would eventually happen if nothing else had been done to stop it.
In reality, Elin had noticed that Jonas had, on occasion, mentioned something similar to this instance to Kim, but now with their sibling relationship having been revealed, it seemed that Kim didn't want to hear even that much of what Jonas had to suggest.
"How long do you think it'll take?" Heather asked Elmo, her eyes bright with anticipation. "You did look at it most of the time we were walking."
Elmo shrugged weakly, obviously rather fatigued, much like Elin felt.
"I wasn't able to focus as much as I'd like to have on the book, so it's hard to say just how much of it I could understand," Elmo replied, sounding like he was half-asleep despite his words coming out mostly firm and convincingly.
Elin wished that Kim, at least , would at least let her get some sleep, as she felt her eyelids starting to grow rather heavy. Yet, she couldn't get to sleep just yet with the debate about whether to decide on which book to trade now and which books they'd have to leave behind.
"By the way," Sonya suddenly said, when they were in-between debating points on the matter, "has anyone figured anything out about if the Book of Living is in this library?"
"I had forgotten about it," Jonas admitted. Looking a little sheepish. "With all that had been going on and the walking, it'd slipped my mind.
"Well, should we talk to Blot about it again?" Elin asked, starting to feel more alert, the sensation of fatigue passing. "Maybe he's remembered something too."
'I'd rather not talk to the talking book," Kim admitted. "Even seeing it is a little disconcerting."
Yeah, I know that feeling," Patricia remarked. "But at the same time, it's not like we have any better leads or options to look at right now."
"You know, I think it might be good to check to see what's on Blot's cover," Jonas mused. "I mean, it is a living book, so maybe it's the Book of Living."
"Logical," Kim allowed, though she still scowled at Jonas. "Though, do you plan on asking it about that yourself or are you suggesting someone else do that?"
"Well, first we should ask for something to write with and on," Jonas answered, as if marking things off of a list. "Then we have someone either write what they see on the cover, or be part of a rubbing, assuming we get either a pencil or some wax."
"Not a bad suggestion," Owen commented approvingly. "Though, what if we get just ink? I think we'd need to come up with a better alternative if that's all that it turns out we have available to work with."
"We can cross that bridge when we come to it," Jonas answered firmly, clearly not willing to budge an inch on that point.
"How about Elmo?" Heather asked, partly to keep everyone from looking at her on the subject. "He might be busy with the Prenatal Magic book, but he's at least good at recognizing the lettering of the language in the books, right?"
Elin couldn't help but follow everyone else's example and look at Elmo. At first he had an alarmed expression, but that quickly faded and he said in a resigned tone, "Fine. I'll do it."