Astrid listened to Calden's reasoning about why he thought July was evil. None of it made sense to her. She couldn't see the magic he was talking about. She couldn't feel anything bad about the old woman other than the annoying things she was having Astrid do for her, and that was just the eccentricities of an old lady, wasn't it? Besides, so what if she'd used magic earlier? That didn't make her bad, did it? Astrid had magic in her, was she bad? She began to wonder about that. After the things July had said before Astrid had given in and rubbed her feet, she wasn't sure now. And if having magic meant you were evil....She felt a sharp stab in her heart as she thought about it. Perhaps she really wasn't a very good person...After all, it had been she who urged Calden into that cave. She who had conjured the light to see by to get them to the place where he had jumped on the stone and released that...thing. She who had been ready to refuse to help July with her painful feet. Perhaps she really was an awful person and she just hadn't been aware of it before...? When Calden said he could see the magic inside her and it was beautiful, she felt a little better about that. If Calden thought her magic looked beautiful, then perhaps she wasn't ENTIRELY bad?<br/><br/>When he mentioned being rather glad for not feeling hungry and thirsty she felt a momentary wave of resentment when she thought that it was not 'we' that was living on nothing but berries and shrooms, but 'she'. He couldn't feel the pain of hunger in her belly every day. He couldn't feel the burning of her throat and chest for water. He probably couldn't even feel the bone-deep exhaustion of her young body. She pushed the sudden and unwelcome feeling down deep, trying not to think that way. He was her best friend. He was there for her. Of course he would say 'we'...But she couldn't un-feel something that had been felt already.<br/><br/>Suddenly her foot sank into wet and she gasped, pulling her foot back and shaking it off as she looked further ahead of her. "WATER!" she said with relief and excitement. "Calden, it's WATER!" When he suggested they go back she nodded, not noticing the fear in his voice, "As soon as I get a drink. I wish I had some way to carry more. A bowl or something. At the thought of a bowl, Astrid paused, a defeated, disappointed feeling coming over her.<br/><br/>"A bowl..Calden! She said she'd make a stew...but we have nothing to make a stew in! Why didn't I think of that before? How could I have been so stupid!? Here we are on a useless trip to find something for a stew we can never make!" She groaned as her stomach rumbled again. She wanted to cry right now. She was thirsty, hungry and exhausted, and she was wandering around in the dark in a strange magical forest with no way to protect herself from whatever might come. "Oh, Calden! I'm such a fool!"<br/><br/>She began walking down the slope dejectedly, "At least I can get a drink, though I don't have a way to bring any back for July...keep an eye out for anything we can use as a bowl or something..." After she had said that, she felt a pang of guilt. Calden ONLY had an eye to keep out. How could she have been so callous!? Maybe she really WAS a horrible person...