Astrid cocked her head at her fire. She had been quite proud of her bit of magic, and the old woman's critical reception of it hurt a little. But now that the old crone had pointed out it's flaws, she could see them. They still didn't bother HER, but it obviously bothered the little old lady next to her. She looked in the direction that the woman had pointed and saw the tree she meant.<br/><br/><strong>"First go get me some logs from that tree over there."</strong><br/><br/>Astrid appraised the tree and it's surroundings and sighed. Glancing up at the sky again, she looked to the woman once more. She wanted to tell her that they needed to find somewhere to stay the night, and that making a 'real' fire was not on the list of important things to be done right now. But she could see it was important to her, so she sighed once more and stood up. Walking toward the tree, Astrid felt just how tired she was and how heavy her legs felt. She trudged to the little hill slowly, and when she judged herself to be out of earshot of the woman, she whispered to Calden, "I hope this doesn't take too long. I'm so tired and we really need to find somewhere safe for the night."<br/><br/>She struggled up the hill breathlessly, slipping and skinning her knee painfully. Once she reached the top she broke off a good handful of branches and twigs and turned back toward the old woman. As she started down the hill her foot slipped out from under her and she landed hard on her rear and skidded all the way down to the bottom. She sat at the bottom for a moment, recovering from her spill before standing and carefully brushing the dirt from her bottom and gathering the sticks she had dropped. Sighing again, she trudged slowly back to the root and her little magic fire, feeling the bruises already forming.<br/><br/>She laid the sticks down in a little pile next to her magic flames and sank down onto the root beside the woman, wincing as she sat on the tender parts from her spill. She watched the flames for a moment, waiting for the woman's next request.