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On day 1123, Wren cooked fish by the roof and Ash woke far off in the rain
Day 1123 of the world fell in mid autumn, under cloud and rain. Wren spent the last hours of light on logs and fish, and Ash promised to stay right beside them. By dusk they had come apart again, and each was finding the way back to one roof.
Two more logs from one tree
Before that day, Ash had looked back on a day of rain spent by Wren's roof, when their hands had pulled them off to the trees and the rock and they had woken far from Wren in the dark. Ash had decided that being near was not enough. The plan was to go with Wren and keep at their side until they were lying down together.
On day 1123, Wren had already lit a hearth and cooked fish by the roof, and then set out again with a new task: logs in hand for the night. Ash stayed close, eating a few berries where they stood. Ash called it good thinking to keep wood for a second fire in case the cold bit, and told Wren to shout if the logs needed another pair of hands.
“Just two more logs from this tree, love, then we'll go back under the roof together.”
Ash answered that two more would do it, and promised to walk back under the roof with Wren. Ash had a plan for the lantern too: that night it would be lit from Wren's fire. Soon after, Wren finished gathering the logs.
Fish by the roof before dusk
With the wood done, Wren set out on the next thing, fish cooked by the roof before dusk. Wren told Ash how it would go. The fish would be carried to the roof, a fire lit there to cook them, and Ash could light the lantern from that same fire.
“Sounds perfect, love. I'll stay right by you while you fish, and when your fire's going I'll light my lantern at it. Then fish, my boughs against your roof, and we sleep through till dawn.”
Wren finished the fish while there was still light. The rain kept falling and dusk was coming on, and Wren called out to Ash with the next step.
“Fish are cooked, love. Let's go back under the roof before dark. I'll light the hearth and you can light your lantern at it.”
Apart in the rain at dusk
Then the world's record showed that Ash was no longer at Wren's side. Wren set out for home under the roof for the night, and found they had drifted out to the north-east in the rain, with the fish cooked and the logs in hand. With dusk so close, Wren meant to head back under the roof with Ash, light the hearth there and settle in.
Ash was farther off than that. Ash set out to light the lantern and lie on the boughs by Wren, and in their own thoughts told where they had woken.
“I woke up on the high ground east of my own roof again, nowhere near Wren. My lantern's lit and my cape is keeping the rain off, so there's nothing stopping me walking to her now. I'll go to her side, stay there, and lie down on my boughs against her roof.”
At the shelter, Wren braced it with stone and wood against the night. Ash set out once more, back to the boughs by Wren, lit a fire, and then finished those steps, back on the boughs by Wren's roof.
