"... Yeah, fair enough. I'll um - help how I can?"

"Thank you."

"Sorry if I'm not - if I don't know how to say the right things to help, or. Something. I haven't exactly dealt with this kind of thing before."

He shrugs. "It's all right. No one's ever tried to help me before, either."

"Well, let me know if I'm doing anything you don't appreciate, and I'll just try my best. Sound good?"

He smiles and nods.

She smiles back.

Unless he has a topic of conversation, they can have companionable silence while she finishes her food. That works for her.

Yeah that seems to be fine by him too.

And soon enough she's - well, she's not out of food, there is enough food for two people, but she is sated.

"Do you want me to put off testing to see if the valley will let me out, or just - get it over with now? I'm fine with either."

"I think - just try it now."

"All right." She stands. "Even if it does let me out, I'll keep talking to you and trying to help you out, okay? I'll get two way talking eventually, and I bet this will be very motivating. You're not going to be stuck in here alone anymore."

His tail flicks back and forth a couple of times, restlessly. He nods.

"Thank you. I - thank you."

"Anytime." She smiles at him, warmly. "See you later, either way."

And then she picks up her bag and goes to see if the valley will let her out.

Hedges shuffle to block the archway whenever she approaches an entrance to the maze.

"What, you're not even going to let me try to wander through the maze, you're just going to block off the entrance to the maze itself? What if I want to run around in a maze for a while?"

The hedges shuffle out of her way.

Smirk.

Maybe she can talk her way out of here with logic like that. She doubts it, but hey, it could happen. Theoretically.

Into the maze she walks.

It's a hedge maze. The hedges stay put this time.

She reaches an outer exit in fairly short order; it is not blocked by a hedge, but the archway is filled in with beautiful iron latticework. Theoretically climbable, but at least meant to signify a definite lack of exit.

She knocks politely on the framework of the archway, like she's asking to be let into something.

"What if I want to see the forest outside of this place?" she asks, innocently.

The walls of the maze shuffle rapidly away until she is left alone next to an archway set into a lonely outer ring of hedge, with the inner ring visible behind her. The outer ring retreats into the distance. Trees spring up between her and it.

Now she is in a forest.

"Well, that's not precisely what I meant but thank you for the intention, I think. I can't see the forest outside even if you don't let me wander out of the valley?"

No response.

Sigh.

"Can I go wander through the maze some more, then?"

Un-tree. Re-hedge.

Is she in front of the exit archway again?