Despite his incredibly small stature, Elijah was always a very healthy young boy. He struggled during his first few years, though stabilized around the time he was five and became as rowdy and rambunctious as could be allowed before decorum and propriety demanded he learn to tone down on the idea of fun and focus himself into study.

The few times he got sick in his adult life were all at sea, and he was as miserable as might be expected – though determined to work through it, as he knew any other man would have to. He even thought himself rather skilled at hiding how unwell he was, but in truth it was more often the case that politeness and amusement held the tongues of those around him as he weakly went about his rounds; provided he didn’t seem too bad off at any rate.

This all changed after he was nearly assassinated carrying the admiralty’s orders. The damage to his body served to shock his system – and that, combined with his high speed rush to catch up with the fleet before it ran straight into an ambush despite his recent brush with death – made him susceptible to a fever that ravaged through him while the Siren was on her return trip from the catastrophe he was ultimately unable to avert.

The damage that fever caused will prove to be long lasting, as it all but destroyed his immune system. He is wary of illness at the best of times, but now not only is he vulnerable to disease in general, he is also liable to catch colds and flus more often, which can both prove to be shockingly dramatic in how ferociously they render him into weakness.