‘This grass won’t light,’ I say.

He pulls a handful of straw from the pile of his belongings. ‘I told you I came prepared.’ He’s so pleased with himself, I try not to be impressed and fail. The evening has cooled, the breeze chilling my arms, and a fire will be more than welcome. ‘We need wood, though,’ he says.

‘Of course.’ Does he think I’ve never lit a fire? ‘I will find twice as much as you, twice as fast.’

‘Oh really? You think so?’

‘Of course.’

He pelts off into the trees at such a pace that I’m left standing, and I’ve given him an advantage already. I cry out, clasping my petticoat, following him.

It is not the time of year to find good sticks for fire, they are too supple and green. Still, I have a practised eye. Twigs are easy to come by and thin enough will always catch. And further in, where the branches above knot to make a roof that shields from sun and rain, I will find some old wood come down over winter. I know it.

I race around, breathless, laughing and yet deadly serious in my aim to prove myself the better. Daniel runs through the undergrowth, darts between trees, his eyes bright.

It does not take long for my arms to be filled with sticks. When I can carry no more, dropping as many as I pick up, I head back to the riverbank where he waits, a pile of wood at his feet. I cast my eye over it. He’s done well, but I am the victor.

‘We are evenly matched,’ he says.

I am indignant. ‘Nay. I have more. Let us count.’

I drop my pile next to his, but he’s laughing, hands held up in a gesture of appeasement. ‘No, I’m sure you’re right. You win.’

He picks a leaf from my hair, and somehow steals victory from me by conceding it so easily. Crouching, he builds the thinner twigs into a frame with what I must grudgingly admit is an expert touch. I fight the urge to push him away and do it myself, just to show that I can. He strikes steel against flint, sparks hitting the straw which he coaxes into a flame and places under the sticks. The new light shows the angle of cheek and jaw.

He looks up. ‘So serious,’ he says.

‘Did you say you brought food?’ I ask. I can wait no longer.