#raunip

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The next few days were far too peaceful. SkekMir served her Emperor, pleasing him with her presence alone, but also giving him conversation, mild entertainment, and even advice. He still refused to touch on the subject of his beak affliction, but he was like that with all the skeksis. She decided to drop the matter and stopped offering her drying herbs for easing the pus and mucus away.

The Butler began to find contentment in this new role in spite of her discomfort at his growing fondness for her. Yet one thing continued to gnaw in her mind: Chamberlain was just as content, and...doing nothing about it. What made it worse was Doda's scanty appearances, and her near silence when SkekMir attempted to make conversation. Even mentioning that soon, maybe, she could do something about Daya...well, it did nothing. If anything, it made Doda hurry along and leave as soon as she could.

After the drunken mess that was the tournament with the Butcher, the partying slowed and the court returned to their work. There was a small uproar once more as the Scroll-Keeper and Collector made their return, and with more wealth to excuse one more raucous feast. They nursed their hangovers the next day, and once more labored to maintain their status as overlords of Thra and its Crystal. Through the ups and downs, their Butler was not once overworked, instead in her privileged place right by the Emperor's side. They noticed, and through whispers, gossiped of what that could mean for the rest of them.

SkekMir served tea pot after tea pot to her master and to The Butcher, the two of them speaking over secret things and in harsh, squabbling whispers. She was hopeful to catch something but never pushed her luck. Stray words were caught but meant nothing to her; she wasn't sure if it was worth pushing with all the problems she already had to manage.

Of course, as for Chamberlain, he was duty bound to come and go as he saw fit, unless otherwise ordered away. Even when the Emperor waved off his suggestions, or when the Butcher mocked his attempts to squeeze himself into their important work, the Chamberlain would take it all in stride.

The uncharacteristic graciousness soon grew too much. Eventually, SkekMir grew nervous enough to break her own protocol. For once, she would be the one to seek out a skeksis. With a level of conniving that felt too simple, the Butler did her usual curtsy before the Emperor after a morning of work, and asked for a short dismissal.

Her excuse? Her hair. SkekMir loathed leaving it down, as it got incredibly knotted and required more work to clean than when plaited. With Doda's precense spotty at best, and the other podlings already busy with their other roles, the Butler was wasting time trying to keep her tresses under control. Knowing that this seemed to be a favored feature of hers to her master, she asked for one simple request: to give her just enough time to seek the Ornamentalist for hair combs to better style herself.

It worked too easily and went far too smoothly. The Emperor looked eager to let her go for the possible outcome. The Butler disliked how simple it all went, but she couldn't focus on it too much. She needed to use the lie to seek out the Chamberlain and demand her own journal in return. She did so, cornering him in the lower levels of the castle as he sauntered about with that stupid grin on his face.

"Butler! How surprised Chamberlain is to see here. Emperor loathe to depart with his favorite servant, yes?"

SkekMir blew hair out of her face and got straight to the point. Her upper arms, even though covered with feathers, itched under her mane as she used them to part her bangs. It made her all the more irritated.

"Yes yes. Whatever. I'll return soon enough. Where's my jour-...my dress?" Chamberlain crooned but answered. "Butler take so long to ask! Have it here..."

He took out her journal, which she snatched away and stuffed into her new dress's pockets. SkekMir figured her old dress was a lost cause and decided not to badger him about it.

"Good. You got yours and I got mine. Don't demand anything of me again." She finished for good measure. SkekMir turned away and went as quickly as she could back to the staircase. She decided to skip the Ornamentalist's chambers altogether and just lie about that too.

Only those lies weren't so simple anymore. The Chamberlain watched her march away before turning to Doda, who waddled out of a little corner behind him.

"You do well, podling! Daughter's freedom will be well earned, very well earned."

"No more Scientist babolim?" Doda asked, hesitantly. Chamberlain nodded, patting her head.

"No more experiments for your little one, I can promise you that. Now, run along! We have work to do..."

Doda only nodded and bowed, muttering an affirmation in her mother tongue. She would have lies of her own to keep up.

----

Both Mystics swung through the trees, and over boulders, and even down shallow waterways and little waterfalls, in order to gain a long distance between themselves and SkekMal the Hunter. His other half, UrVa, didn't slow for the entire night or that following day. With adrenaline rushing through her, UrNah felt little need to complain of fatigue. Though, she did complain of other things.

"ANOTHER creek? My stockings are still drying from the last time! Can't it be a dry garden for once?" "These berries are useless if I can't eat them...No I won't learn how to eat upside down!" "Well I can't very well NOT sneeze when you keep kicking up pollen from these bushes!" Eventually, for reasons UrVa didn't share, he finally stopped. It was nearing night again, and they had just finished traversing and climbing up a step cliff. At the very top was a grand tree. Under normal circumstances, the Maid would have admired it: the trunk was thick and covered with elaborate knots of bark, and the leaves were a bright pink and white all over. Perhaps she would have also enjoyed the view from the cliff where they all stood, given it overlooked various forests, hills, and other spectacles of Thra.

However, UrNah did notice one thing: the utter peace she felt simply being in the tree's presence. She caught her breathe and placed one of her four hands onto a massive, protruding root. Immediately, her hand felt warmed, if slightly so.

"What is this place? Are we safe?" "For now, but not forever." UrVa answered. He took groaned and took a seat at the base of the massive tree. Gesturing her to sit across from him, UrNah did, though her eyes were heavy.

"This is the Sanctuary Tree, an old friend of mine." UrVa noted with a rumble. "Nothing compares to the Crystal of Thra, but this creature is a close second."

"The Crystal." UrNah repeated, recalling her lessons with the other Mystics in the Valley. Her eyes lit up. "I heard it's a beautiful crystal, but well-guarded."

UrVa nodded. "By the Skeksis, yes. Both they and the Crystal they have stolen from the Gelfling are why we are here now."

"The division." UrNah said softly this time. Her companion shifted in his place, making a small pit to start a fire.

"What was once one is now split in two. What is two must one day become one. This is what you have been taught."

"I believe it."

"As do the others, in the Valley you left behind." UrVa continued. He struck his flint and its sparks lighted up some dried moss, which he used to set some bits of wood on fire. "So why are you here? You believe your masters yet defy their command to wait for the great convergence."

A noise caught in UrNah's throat. She lowered her gaze to the fire and thought carefully. She countered his question with her own.

"You knew my name and said that this is my journey to walk. But you know how my journey began, don't you?"

The Archer hummed and stared into the fire too. His eyes, once UrNah looked up to see them, were heavy-lidded and filled with the weight of knowing.

"I admit...I know that you arrived well after the others had. While the skeksis deny that we come from urskeks, the Mystics at least prepare for this. So your arrival was not welcomed by skeksis, and our kind had no idea that you had come. We were not there to find out how your true form was split."

By then it had grown dark, and the suns were falling away into the horizon. Only the flicker of flames gave them light. UrNah wrapped her shawl tightly around her as a small breeze gave her a chill.

"Did the skeksis do this to me? Why?" UrVa finally looked up as he leaned into the tree.

"That," he said, "is where you must walk alone. I cannot answer that for you. Only you and your other half can."

UrNah sighed and laid down onto the warm, comforting dirt. With her head on the ground, she could feel and even hear something of a heart beat in the earth. Finally she grew tired. "I hope I can dream of her again, tonight. Do you think I should?" The Archer chuckled and closed his eyes. "Dreams come to us whether we try or not. Let Thra give you what you need, and bargain for nothing more." She would have complained about that too, but decided that sleep was more important. UrNah closed her own eyes for some much needed rest in the company of a seemingly-sentient tree and a Mystic who was too fond of mystery.

----

Sosu watched as the mirrors were finally becoming installed around the crystal. It was a long, long time coming, at least in the eyes of the creatures who lived on Thra. Soon the Hall of Reflection would encircle their crystal and allow for proper study to begin.

He smiled warmly, thinking if he would ever get to introduce Thra's denizens to Mirnah. There were the gelfling, of varying clans and types, who were as connected to Thra and its magic as he predicted. There was also Raunip, troublesome though he was, who was admittedly correct on many things on the reality of life. But what Sosu admired the most was the wisdom, grit, and connection of their leader: Mother Aughra. It was Aughra, of all people, who figured out his hidden affair before she ever even met or heard of Mirnah. It was early in their expedition and as usual, the night was a sight to behold. As he stared off into the star-studded sky, he felt her pull. The corners of his mouth pricked up, almost smiling, and remembering how sweet her voice sounded when Mirnah spoke his name. He swore he could hear it again, as if she were praying to him. He closed his eyes and spoke a whisper hardly louder than the breeze about him. "Mirnah."

Those thoughts then were interrupted. Mother Aughra waddled up to him, born eternally old, and lightly tapped his glowing body with her walking stick.

"Your star maps not enough then? Hm? Or is there someone out there you're waiting for?"

Sosu had looked down with a look of surprise. "And how would you deduce that?"

"Bah! You lot are all the same when twitterpatted. I've seen it generations over! A longing look, wistful eyes, a happy sadness over your heart -- I've seen it and will see it some more, I reckon. So, who is it?" Sosu had thanked the Uni-Verse that the other urskeks were distracted with their own new friends elsewhere. He had given her the honest answer. "Her name is Mirnah, and only I can know of that." "Hm. I get it. Forbidden love isn't new to me, either." Aughra had said more carefully now, taking a slow seat upon a rock by him. "Gelfling had that problem for a while before I told them to get over it. Pair up as you wish and let Thra give blessings where Thra wishes! Not sure I can say the same to you and your kind, however." Sosu had stopped looking up at the night sky. "No, I suppose you can't. That is my burden to bear." Mother Aughra had nodded, got up again after changing the subject, and invited him to dinner.

But now was the time. After generations of waiting, all of Thra could bear witness to Sosu's experiment. He would showcase Thra's magic to be just as potent and powerful as that on his own homeworld. He would record the power that flowed through him and his other urskek companions, proving that the Uni-Verse was no less contained in the physical body than the mental or spiritual one. They would be one with this power, this ancient magic, and need not give up their bodies for it. The Sacred Three would bear out and prove it: mind, body, and soul, all one in magic.

The final mirror in the hall containing the Crystal was pulled up. It sealed against the cement-mixture fixing it in place, and the gelfling workers cheered. The crystal itself glowed brightly in its white hue. Sosu congratulated them on a job well done, but something caught his eye as they all discussed what to do for celebrations. He turned his head, and saw Raunip seated high in the stone fortress. His one good eye stared into Sosu, unmoving and careful of what he saw. Sosu frowned but returned to the others.