#urrok

UrRok got the feeling that now would be… a good time for making bread. Not an unfamiliar feeling but this time it felt important.

Flour, water, some oil, some sourdough, they threw in some honey and dried berries, this was important. As it baked they meditated, the scent of baking bread relaxing them and taking their mind from the feeling of dread. They reached out…

In their minds eye they saw a skeksis, the broken bone mask on their face and assortment of familiar scars telling UrRok exactly who they, or rather their other half, were looking at.

“You’re the only one who can get me to the Crystal Desert fast enough.”

“I know this, my question was are you sure?” SkekRos seemed… maybe not stressed, possibly worried? Hard to tell through the haze that so often obscures these visions.

“When have I ever been unsure? I have prey to hunt, and it’s in the sands.” He seems offended.

“Yes, yes I’m aware of the little fools errand the Chamberlain has sent you on, but I think-” “Don’t care, didn’t ask. Are you going to take me there or not?”

SkekRos hesitated, and UrRok saw through their eyes a vision. Both halves saw SkekMal run through with arrows that could only have been from one other being Thra.

“Fine. Get on.”

UrRok awoke from their meditation just in time for the bread to be ready. They extracted it from the oven, and as soon as it was safe to handle they wrapped it gently in cloth, grabbed their staff, and left.

UrVa was not difficult to find, they knew where he was going.

It was significantly more difficult to get his attention, so they bopped him on the head with their staff.

The Archer turned to them and they signed, FRIEND ARCHER, HERE SIT WITH ME?

He shook his head, “The Hunter waits for me in the sands, I cannot sit and wait.”

NOT ASK-YOU, YOU SIT HERE WITH ME, EAT. I HAVE BREAD FOR US, FOR OTHERS.

Before he could object they shot down his argument, CRYSTAL DESERT YOUR FATE WAITS, FATE NOT GOING. TIME YOU HAVE. EAT WITH ME?

UrVa huffs but complies, sitting on a log beside UrRok and taking the offered bread. “Augra told me she could not see if we would meet again, I take it I probably won’t?”

UrRok shrugs but not in the way of someone who doesn’t know the answer, I IN PAST SIT, MY OTHER HALF I SEE THROUGH, fsS-K-E-K-M-A-L HE SOON DIE, YOU SAME.

“Then why bother with the food?”

PREFER DIE HUNGRY, NOT HUNGRY, WHICH ONE?

“Fair enough.”

SOON BREAD COLD, YOU NEED EAT.

“Is that the only reason you insist on this?”

UrRok sighed, and thought for a moment as UrVa thoughtfully ate. They then broke him from his reverie and signed I SAD. WANDERER HE LEAVE HE STAY IN CRYSTAL DESERT I LONELY, YOU DIE I MORE LONELY. WANT MORE TIME.

They fell into a melancholy yet comfortable silence, breaking bread together. The silence was soon broken by the Archer.

“You made a lot of bread.”

KEEP IT, GIVE TO fsU-R-G-O-H. YOU AND HIM LATER MEET.

“Thank you.”

As he got up to leave, UrRok sat and watched. He stowed the remaining bread safely in a bag and before leaving, turned to them. “It was a pleasure eating with you, my friend. I am sorry we will not be able to have these moments anymore.”

UrRok nodded, but their social energy was burned out for the day and they signed nothing else, and they were soon left alone.

With a shaking hand, they pulled from their basket another much smaller loaf, fit for one, and the perfect temperature to eat.