The Dark Crystal-Along the Silver Sea

Chapter Four-Tavra

SkekDurn looked up and frowned as his light faded and replenished the magic in it and then realised he had run out of Crawlies (or they had crawled away) and his stomach rumbled and forgetting that he was supposed to remain scarce, he decided to go upstairs and get himself some more crawlies from his and Tael's stash.
Their two UrRu didn't really approve of that at first but as Tael had pointed out was it any different from breeding Nebrie for meat (everyone on Thra ate Nebrie or drank their milk and ate their cheese) or in the case of the Sifan Gelflings cultivating Oysters and prawns? They had then agreed that they were probably right, besides everyone ate Crawlies (along with Nebrie!) and Tarf was the best cooker of the furry Shellfish this side of the castle! Although he and Tael both also had a fondness (like most of their kin) of eating them fresh.
"Ok Fred I'll find you some fruit, the UrRu always keep some on hand," he said to his pet spider, Fred was a subrace of a Crystal Singer spider, an Arathim, but he was a lot less deadly or dangerous then they were, Fred was the, smaller, non-lethal, fruit-eating kind, intelligent but probably not as much as his more sinister and deadlier kin, purple where he probably should have been white, due to the dying Crystal and rather large by now.
Fred standing on his back legs came up to SkekDurn's knees by now, SkekDurn had to admit he loved the spider, it was his constant companion and made the perfect familiar, he couldn't really talk, not like his more sinister and insidious relatives but he could send out emotions and that, and he chittered somewhat, and occasionally glowed, so SkekDurn had learnt to understand him.
"Yes I will get you some more fruit, I'm sure the Mystics have some on hand," SkekDurn said with a chuckle, as he walked up the steps from the basement of the house, where he kept his 'Laboratory' and where he and Az sometimes studied and practised their magic together.
It was more of a study, he did some experiments down there granted but he spent most of his time down there amongst his books and scrolls, the village Elder had asked for his help in restoring some old texts, he liked doing that, doing the restoration and the illuminating and had happily settled into the task and had gotten rather involved in it.
But right now he was hungry, the two UrRu might be able to go without food longer than he did, but he was Skeksis and his stomach was rumbling, admittingly both he and Tael had both lost some weight since they no longer lived at the castle.
Durn due to his small light build and his wings couldn't really afford to get too fat anyway, and SkekTael had always been more typically 'Skeksis' than Durn was much like UrIon was more typically 'UrRu' than Azshar was.
Tael had been putting on some weight but he had lost it since they were no longer participants of SkekAyuk's lavish feasts, but rather of Tarf's or the two Mystic's nutritious cooking!
Tarf could cook and rather well at that and enjoyed doing so, and SkekDurn suspect that he would have ended up in the kitchen at the Castle, had he not gotten assigned to he and Tael, Durn admitted to himself he didn't miss SkekAyuk's lavish decadent feasts, he and Tael had always gotten served last and pretty much ignored anyway, the Emperor despite what everyone thought had not been overly cruel to them, but he had pretty much ignored them and dismissed them both as insignificant, unless he wanted them for something and would 'summon' them, especially as time had marched on, he had made a habit of reminding them of their lowly status and that they weren't of the Twice Nice and therefore should not have been there!
"Ok Fred I'll go get you some fruit, although this late in the season it will be wrinkled, dried, sour or old" Fred loved fruit it was why his species were often found in orchards or where fruit was grown and was considered of little importance or as pests, despite been a subrace of Crystal Singer spider.

Tavra had woken up, she'd had a headache but was otherwise fine and realised that she and Naia were the only two conscious, Kylan was still unconscious, Gurjin was still asleep (he'd been wounded too), of Amri, there was no sight.
"Where are we?' she asked Naia.
"A place called Seacliff, a Sifan village but I have never heard of it," said Naia