Kate's stare of disbelief lasted some moments. Her mouth remained as wide as the eyes that stared right into Astrid. She looked frozen in the moment. The steady clanking of anvil and hammer could be heard from below; sound muffled by layers of roof. Wind howled at the opening, ruffling some hay at the corner of the hideout. The sound went unexplained. Kate could see the same sort of surprise and fear that her face must have shown mirrored on Astrid. Surprise could not last forever in a young kid's mind, it was soon quenched by waves of doubt. It could have been someone outside. One of the workers yelling maybe, or perhaps it was the wind? Maybe it was just her? Astrid sure can make strange voice. Maybe I just imagined it? Kate blinked, seeing that Astrid was still fretting over it she began to feel sorry for startling her.<br/><br/>"Um, never mind. Heh, sorry. I just spaced out for a moment, thought I heard something. Sometimes the workers get really loud, that's maybe the one bad thing about this hideout." Kate spoke trying to hide embarrassment, but her eyes jumping around the room yet never looking straight at Astrid betrayed her lost composure. Furthermore, Kate had picked up the coin again and was fiddling with it nervously. "Heh, your camps are probably much nicer. You sleep right? Uh... sorry no I mean you've went through the mountains right, and you said you came from the forest. Must have been so pretty there."<br/><br/>There was a very quiet, almost inaudible, whisper from below Astrid's right ear. "Sorry about that," said Calden. He was immensely relieved, feeling something on par with when they had for the first time realized her flames could ward off their nightly haunters, even though Kate was of course nothing nearly as threatening. He was glad that it was just a little kid they were dealing with. It would be almost too easy to keep things hidden from Kate.