Pentad of Un

Chapter 11 - Shayrow

     Shayrow woke up with a snake on his face.

     "Good morning, Eiss," he mumbled, carefully plucking the reptile from his head and draping him over his shoulders as he sat up.

     Shayrow glanced around, noting that he was the first one to wake up. Jelro was sprawled out with most of the animals around him. Adif was curled up at the base of the tree. Kestek was tucked under her currently-visible wings, which looked like large dragonfly wings made of purple-tinged glass. Luss was under his cloak, snoring.

     Even though Shayrow was unbothered by the cold, he got to work rekindling the small fire so that the others could warm up by it when they awoke.

     "Are you cold?" he asked Eiss, since the snake hadn't moved at all after being picked up.

     Eiss didn't answer, probably because Shayrow couldn't understand him.

     Shayrow searched for a rock, finding one of a decent size that he set on the fire to warm it up. He carefully pulled it out after a few minutes, testing the temperature of its surface before he set Eiss on it.

     The snake stretched and flicked out his tongue.

     "You're welcome," Shayrow said.

     "Since when do you speak snake?" Jelro teased, making Shayrow flinch.

     "What did he say?" Shayrow inquired.

     "He said 'thank you'," Jelro confirmed. "It's hard for him to do mut'st when he's cold."

     "I figured."

     Adif sat up, yawning.

     "G'morning, everyone," she mumbled.

     "'Morning, Adi," Shayrow and Jelro chorused. Eiss hissed, and Shayrow suspected he was saying the same thing.

     Kestek twitched, and her wings suddenly vanished from sight. She bolted upright in an unnaturally graceful way, looking startled.

     "Oh," she said. "It wasn't a dream."

     "Is that a good or bad thing?" Jelro teased.

     Kestek shrugged. She moved closer to the fire and started poking at it with a stick.

     "What kind of food do we have?" Kestek asked.

     "Nothing right now," Jelro admitted. "Why?"

     "I thought I could cook something," Kestek said. "Maybe some toasted bread with amispe, maybe some baked egnaros... Unless that's too fancy—I can just fry up some rice or something."

     There was a long moment of silence.

     "We'll get whatever you need from the market," Jelro said, jumping to his feet with Adif right behind him.

     "Oh. Okay." Kestek didn't seem to know what to say, so she gave a list of what she would need to cook the morning meal she had in mind.

     Jelro and Adif took off for the market.

     "Where did you learn to cook?" Shayrow asked Kestek.

     She shrugged.

     "I don't really remember. I've been cooking with my family since I was little. My grandmother taught me all of her favorite recipes, so I started collecting more recipes so I would have loads of them to pass on." She sighed. "That's why I started in the apothecary class. I like mixing things and creating something new with the ingredients I've got."