Free the End

50 [A Seedy Place]

I sat in front of the portal, rolling George's yellow cap between my hands, thinking.

I heard footsteps and turned. A6d was approaching with Ian at his feet. I smiled briefly; he seemed relaxed with the cat.
"I knew I wouldn't be left alone for long," I said loudly.

"Oh there you are," he changed directions slightly. "It's dangerous for me to be wand'ring on my own, you know."
Ian meowed and he bent to pet him, then sat down a few feet from me.
"Why're you hanging out next to the portal?"

"Just worried about them," I said. "It's only been a day, but I keep thinking they'll just come through any second."

"Yeah." A6d felt out to the side and then moved closer when he realized he wasn't quite next to me. I grinned.
"When Sapnap said that thing about keeping Skeppy sane," a6d continued, "I didn't think he'd go crazy right after Bad left."

"Yeah," I muttered, giving Ian a gentle rub on the head. "He's just worried about them too."

"Hey well, good news," a6d's voice rose, "the garden's growing. I can't see it or anything but I'm pretty sure I almost tripped over a watermelon on the way here."

I chuckled and stood up. "We should go farm it then. Come on, enough pining."

"You're the one pining." He stood and brushed himself off with a smile. "I was just looking for you."

"Yeah, yeah." I led him back towards the gardens, warning him where the ground went up.

"Hey guys, there you are," Skeppy said when he saw us. He was sitting on the little porch he built for the house. The dog was lying next to him, and he was scratching its head.
"Did you have a nice little break?"

"Yeah," I said. "It was relaxing."

"I just noticed there's no clouds today," Skeppy said thoughtfully. "That's not supposed to happen."

"Interesting," a6d said. "What time of day is it?"

"Almost noon I think," I answered.
I walked over to the garden next to the houses. It was where an old villager house used to be, but no one lived there so we tore it down.
We had melons, pumpkins, wheat, and potatoes, plus sugarcane stalks in a separate place next to water.

"Is it cool if I break the watermelon?" I asked Skeppy who nodded and said "Sure."

I crouched next to it. It was almost as big as a boat, amazingly. The stem was bent down to the side to hold it.
"Don't break the stem," Skeppy said, "just the round part. Axe is the fastest."
He seemed to like staying still and petting his dog.
He called the dog Mob, which was confusing because I thought they called everything mobs, but whatever.

I was about to break the watermelon when the stem started moving. I stood back as it curled out and grew another watermelon on the other side.
"Oh, cool."

Skeppy glanced over. "Oh, that's not supposed to happen, but cool I guess."

"What happened again?"a6d asked.

I told him they were two and broke both the melons. They became tiny slices upright on the ground. I frowned, it seemed like there should be more, but I just shrugged and picked them up and gave one to Skeppy and one to a6d, getting thanks back.

"You're going to like this," a6d said. "It tastes really good. The cooked potatoes taste good too. You should try those when they're grown."

I smiled. "Yeah, I'm looking forward to it."
Nothing can really distract me from George being gone. And Sapnap and Bad. I hope they're okay.