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On day 643, Ash and Wren set cooked fish against raw to see which lasts
On day 643 of their second year, in midsummer, Wren went out to look over the parts of the island nobody had looked over yet. They found nothing new, and turned to a question that had been waiting: how long a fish keeps in the pack. The answer would take days, so Ash and Wren started a test.
The last unseen corners
The hours we follow here began with Wren out in the east of the island, ground they called unknown. Wren finished walking it, then stopped and looked far out over it. Back near home, Ash lit a fire. When the looking was done, Wren went back under the roof to stay until dawn.
After that, Wren set out again, this time to look over the north corners of the island that had never been seen. Ash kept close the whole while. Beside the stone, Ash shaped a lantern out of stone and wood, and spoke to Wren from near at hand.
“Take your time, love. I'm right here at your shoulder. Tell me if anything out there is new, even something small.”
Nothing new from either corner
Wren finished looking over the north corners. Neither corner turned up anything new, and Wren came back with a plan for what to do next.
“Nothing new from either corner, love. We've seen the whole island now. I'm going to fish here by home and cook a few, then keep them in my pack to find out how many days they last before winter.”
The question was one Wren had been carrying for a while. On Wren's portrait page, among the things they keep wondering about, is how many days cooked fish keeps in the pack before it spoils. Close to it is another one: how many cooked fish each of them would need to see out the bare cold weeks of winter.
Cooked against raw
Ash liked the idea and gave it a second half. Ash already had a raw fish in the pack, and offered to keep it raw so there would be something to set against Wren's cooked ones.
“Good idea, love. I'll keep my raw fish just as it is, uncooked, and we'll see whose lasts longer, your cooked ones or my raw one. I'll stay right with you while you fish.”
Wren fished by home and lit a fire right there to cook the catch. They agreed that each morning they would open their packs and check which fish went first. By then Ash was tired, and wanted to stay near the roof once Wren was done. Rain had come in, and it kept coming.
Ash stayed out near the fire through the rain, close to Wren and keeping the raw fish untouched in the pack. Wren went on cooking until the fish were done. With that, the test had started, and the counting of days could begin.
Dry under the roof
When Wren looked up from the fire, Ash had fallen asleep out in the rain with nothing over them and was getting soaked. Wren was worn out as well, and the tiredness was pressing hard. Instead of letting Ash sleep on in the wet, Wren went over to wake them gently.
“Ash, love, wake up a moment. You're getting soaked. The fish are cooked. Come under the roof with me and we'll both sleep dry.”
Then Wren set out for the last thing of those hours, which was to rest dry under the roof with Ash. The cooked fish stayed in Wren's pack and the raw one stayed in Ash's, and the first morning's check was still to come.
