The old woman nodded approvingly when seeing Astrid comply with her request and begin the painstaking attempts of trying to make a 'real' fire. Every now and then she would give a small encouraging comment with more snide in her tone than actual advice, but mostly she just enjoyed watching Astrid work while huddling under the extra clothes she had been given. All of the wrinkles on her face dropped into a one big pouty frown when Astrid dropped the attempt. "Oh, no no dear. We can't do that. Oh I will manage for a while. This is a really important lesson for you my girl, you really need to get this down correctly and you will thank me for it. I promise you that." Some of the frown seemed to turn to a sparkling smirk again, and the old woman, with great effort, pushed herself to her feet again.<br/><br/>Between offering food and wasting strength in an effortless attempt to set up a fire, some time had passed indeed. Although the sun was yet high enough to not begin coloring the clouds with anything but perhaps a faint yellow glow, even the slight decrease in light meant a rapid growth in darkness there on the bottom of the heavily grown forest. Shadows were no longer just light green outlines on the ground, but dark blue spots in which things could hide. Bird chirps and other sounds of life were still strong however, but then they had always stayed loud before ending abruptly at nightfall.<br/><br/>"I do agree. It's getting late, almost tea time, and we'd better have proper shelter in case of rain. We best not waste the good wood though, would you pick them up for us?" She waited for the girl to react while looking down at her, clinging closely to her staff for support while standing. The old woman then squinted her eyes towards the blocked wooden horizon and spoke in a pondering tone. "Now where would you start with the shelter my dear? I believe we don't have the time to make it into any nearby villages today."