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The bundle of sticks that she gathered was almost pathetic. They were mostly thin and scraggly, hardly what one would call kindling wood, but these she piled on top of a few larger pieces of wood that she had managed to work free of scattered winter debris and icy snow. Rotting as they were and a little damp, she was positive that they might work just fine so long as her arcana did not fail her.
The fire she built was small and pitiful, but with only herself, the horse, and the alicats, she had no use for something akin to a bonfire. Arranging the sticks, she glanced over at the basket where the alicats were poking their heads out, peering at her with inquisitive gold and green eyes. They were always loathe to leave their basket when the air beyond it was far colder than the warmth of them huddled against one another. They'd come out once the fire was started. As for Adagio, she shifted restlessly where she had been tethered and chewed at a low-hanging tree branch.
Looking down at the gathered bundle of sticks and wood chunks, Aydyn tended next to the saddlebags, which she removed from the plainsbred's back, transferring the few items into one half, then arranging it on the ground so she could sit on the empty half. She sat close to the stick bundle, a few short feet away, and folded her hands in her lap.
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