Despite the late night, they woke early. Willow's eyes fluttered open with the rising sun. She stared up at the branches, wavering in the breeze. If she squinted, she could imagine they were a crackling green fire. She turned over the idea of going back to the mountain as she lay there. Wex had been right, and she'd known before she'd even asked him. Wilson's body was in no state to go anywhere, especially not walking such a massive distance. Even still, they couldn't stay here. She clutched her head and groaned, she hated this. She didn't like having to have the answers.

"Are you alright Willow?"

Willow turned her head to look. Sure enough, Wilson was sitting upright, propped against his log. He had wrapped himself in the unburnt beefalo blanket and looked warmer. The color had returned to his bone-white cheeks, and the bags under his eyes were fading.

"Just thinkin'."

"Is that all?" Wilson said, a sly smile playing around his mouth, "I can help with that if you like."

Willow rolled her eyes but paused. She took a deep breath and sighed, as if she was trying to push her brain out through her nose, "alright."

There was a pause as Willow tried to order her thoughts, "We can't stay here."

"Why not?"

"Because if ya haven't friggin noticed, we keep gettin' attacked," Willow said, pushing herself upright.

"You do not need to get angry with me, I am just asking a question," Wilson said. Willow looked about ready to reply, but Wilson cut her off, "there is no way for me to get home in my current state."

"Yeah, that's m'problem, and I can't think of anythin' that could help."

"A sled perhaps?"

"You think I can pull yer ass up a mountain by myself?"

"Fair point," Wilson scanned the area, the circular clearing that was shitbug camp, "we need to make this place safer."

Willow raised an eyebrow, "y'got an idea?"

"I believe so. There are plenty of trees around here. If I build enough axes, we could cut them down and turn them into walls."

"Can yer power make walls?"

"I do not know, but it is worth a shot."

-

It was a long day. The air was cool, but Willow was still covered in a sheen of sweat by the end of it all. She was much better with burning fire than burning muscles. When Wilson did up the final tally, they had 47 logs, total. They'd burned through three axes, and a portion of the day had been spent stockpiling resources to make more. Thirteen Flint pieces and eight sticks were all Willow could get her hands on, but Wilson assured her that logs were more important. Wilson tried to combine the logs, but no matter how many he held, he couldn't get the glow to come.

"Argh!" Wilson yelled, hurling a log away. His aching chest sung as he moved, causing the log to bounce onto the grass at his feet. He stared at it in disdain, as if it had sent him here personally, "this was a waste of time."

"Woulda been nice to know that earlier," Willow said, using a spear edge to slice of some beefalo meat. They had made a decent chunk into its hide, big enough that Willow could fit her whole head in some places. Willow was sure the beast was soon to rot, but until then, she would take advantage of its ease of access wherever she could, "s'not a total waste though. We've got plenty of firewood now. Saves me havin' to do it later."

"Yes, because we have so many better things to be doing."

"I do actually. I'm gonna go south tomorrow," Willow said, gesturing to the wall of trees in that direction.

"And leave me alone? What if more monsters come?"

"You'll be fine ya ninny. There's been no howlin' or livin' beefalo here for ages. Asides, I wanna know what's down there. We've got the mountains out east, those pigs off ta the west, and that field up north."

"Oh, I completely forgot to ask, what happened with that pig?"

"..."

"Did... Did something happen?"

"No, s'just... I dunno how to describe it. Like I knew y'd ask, but I didn't really..." Willow took a deep breath, "there were a bunch of them. They were in these... I guess they were houses, but they didn't look like any houses I've seen."

"A civilization? My goodness..." Wilson stroked his furry chin, "what was it that made them seem odd?"

"Well, they were really thin and tall, and they were made of wood. Plus, there was no order to it... S'hard to explain."

"I believe I understand. If they have a civilization, then why would they need to come so far away to find food? And why do they not wear any clothes?"

"Probably don't have to. You saw em, they're so big, I reckon they're warm already. All that fat, just burnin' away..."

Wilson gave Willow a sideways glance, but said nothing, "well, I suppose we have plenty of wood now. If you teach me how to stoke the fire, I suppose you can explore."

"Thanks fer the permission Willy," Willow replied, rolling her eyes.

Willow spent the rest of the day showing Wilson what do with the fire. She showed him the rubbing technique of stick on a plank, she showed him how to use the Flint, taught him how often to put new logs on, what to be wary off, and more.

"Okay, so when the fire gets too low, I shall throw on one log."

"Bingo. And what if the fire starts smokin?"

"I shall use the spear to move the logs around, allowing more air to get to the lower wood."

"Awesome! I think yer ready to go!"

The night dropped on the two of them like a beluga whale falling from an airplane. Wolfgang emerged an hour later, and he chatted with Willow for a while. She gave him the rundown on keeping the fire. He found it far easier than Wilson, seeing no need to over complicate it. Willow was pretty sure he wasn't getting all of it, but she was tired and the other personalities could handle it. The two of them turned over and went to sleep, sinking off to dreamland after a hard day.