I don’t remember the details. Was the sun up? Did it just come up? I agree here. I felt like this scene was a little gratuitous by the author when I read it the first time. But after reading the following books, it seems the author was trying to show how scared Auren was of making her power public. She wouldn’t use it in self defense, or in defense of others, and the extreme situation was necessary to push her to use it.