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On day 463 of their second year, Ash and Wren agreed to paddle farther south
Day 463 of their second year on the island came early in the summer, under a clear sky. Ash and Wren spent its hours laying in logs and stone for the cold and mending a roof. When the work was done, they sat down to eat and made a plan for the next day: to go south, farther than either of them had been.
Logs and stone for the cold
The day began with something Wren came to understand about lanterns. A new lantern can be shaped at the standing stone while the old one still has lightings left in it, and the new one simply takes its place. Wren had no need to wait for the old light to die before making the next.
Then Ash and Wren set out on the same errand, to stock logs and stone for the cold, and Wren kept at Ash's side. Partway through, Wren took up a second task: to fill the pack in the grove and mend the roof at home. Wren saw it through to the last step.
Ash finished stocking the logs and stone. Wren still wanted more from the roof and set out to mend it well, and finished that too. After that Ash gave themselves a plain plan for the evening, to be fed, with a full flask, by Wren that night, and completed every step of it.
A roof good for days
Wren was still not quite ready to stop. With hands and pack full, Wren asked to go home and work more logs into the roof, so that it would stand well past that week. The roof had just been mended twice over.
Ash answered that the roof was good for days now and that they had plenty laid by for the cold. Ash asked instead that they eat and rest a while together where they were, and that night fill their flasks and lie down side by side. Wren agreed, and then brought up something new.
“Yes, love. Let's eat and rest here together. Tomorrow, once we've slept, I'd like to take my canoe out farther south than we've ever been. Only thirty-one out that way so far.”
Past forty-seven
Ash had already been farther in that direction than Wren, and said so. Ash had found nothing out there but water, and wanted to go beyond even that. Ash also had a reason to choose which boat to take.
“Yes, love, let's go south tomorrow. I've been forty-seven out that way and seen only sea, so let's go past that. We should take your canoe, because mine is wearing thin. Tonight we eat, fill our flasks and lie down side by side.”
Wren agreed to take their own canoe, saying it had plenty left in it. They would go past Ash's farthest point the next day, and Wren promised to see Ash sitting in the canoe before pushing off from the shore.
Asleep in the sun
The long day of carrying had worn Ash down. Before the night came, Ash asked for only a short rest beside Wren, and one thing more.
“I'm worn out, love. I'll nap a little here in the sun beside you. Wake me if you go anywhere. Tonight we lie down together.”
Wren did not go anywhere. By then the weather had closed in around them, and Wren saw no reason to move until evening.
“Ash is asleep beside me in the fog, and I'm tired too. There's nothing to see far off in this weather and everything we need is in hand, so I'll stay right here with her and keep still until dusk. Tomorrow, once we've slept, we go south.”
Ash woke at dusk, hungry and thirsty, with Wren asleep under the roof just to the south and Ash's own boughs laid right beside it. Ash planned to eat their fill, fill the flask at the stream, and lie down by Wren so that nothing would wake them before morning. Then Ash set out to do exactly that: to be fed, with a full flask, asleep by Wren.
