Yeah, that was predictable, but she's trying to see if she can get along with this stupid magic thing.

"Really not making me feel warm and fuzzy here, valley. At least bake me some cookies or something."

She continues forward.

She's headed through a field of ankle-high wild grass toward the edge of the city/palace, now.

There's a - bird? - flapping toward her from somewhere up ahead. A large, oddly shaped bird. No, that's a picnic basket with wings.

She stops walking and stares. At the picnic basket with wings.

Navethae should probably say something clarifying to her brother here, but also, what.

The wings are made of woven straw just like the rest of the basket, but the effect is remarkably feathery, especially from a distance.

It glides in for a landing, sets down right in front of her with incongruous grace, and flips up its lid to reveal... cookies. Freshly baked cookies. Several varieties, and probably more under that neatly folded cloth.

"I. Okay. That. Thank you for the cookies, the. Flying picnic basket was definitely a sight to see."

She's pretty sure she's just at the mercy of this place. So she can let herself find out if the cookies are any good. Are they?

They are delicious.

Of course they are.

... She takes a few to nibble on as she wanders.

"Thank you, these are delicious," she says, and then she is just going to. Keep walking, yep.

The field is lovely. There's a delicate little stream winding through it, narrow enough to step over, which provides a soft pleasant background noise to go with the distant birdcalls. Once in a while there's a patch of clover or some wildflowers.

As she approaches the edge of the city/palace, she can see the outlying buildings more clearly. They are all lovely. The part she's headed for has an aqueduct made of some pale stone, lent a soft golden glow by the sunlight. Behind its slender arches, a road paved with what looks like white marble leads between a pair of beautiful ornamental gardens.

Well, this is gorgeous, but also kind of surreal. A place like this feels like it should have people in it. Except there's just - no one.

"Still very pretty, but can I get a note as to like. Why you want to trap me here?"

The marble road in front of her shifts and ripples, and a block of marble the size of a small room or large closet rises out of it. The side facing her has a door in it.

... Okay.

She opens the door?

On this side of the door, it's set into a large block of marble in the middle of the street.

On the other side of the door, it's set into the outer wall of a tower, opening onto a stone balcony with a stunning view of the valley.

She makes a face, then after a moment of hesitation, steps out onto the balcony.

It really is a very lovely view.

"... Are you fishing for compliments, valley? Is that why I'm here?"

The valley doesn't answer.

Except -

This balcony overlooks an orchard, and there's something big moving amid the trees.

If the valley brought her here so she could be food for a giant terrifying monster she is going to be pissed.

Is she at a good vantage point to see the something big?

Well, she would be, if the enormous apple trees weren't blocking her view.

It seems to be moving toward the tower.

The door behind her is still open, if she'd like to flee.

It's tempting, but honestly, she's in a spot where if it does want to eat her, she's far enough away that it'd have trouble. Even better, she has an exit behind her that'll get her far away, and if she's very lucky the door will stop its reality-warping shit after she closes it.

".... Hello?" she calls, wedging the door behind her with a foot so it doesn't close without her permission.

The branches that were rustling a moment ago stop doing that.

There is silence and stillness for a few seconds, and then something - someone? - emerges from the trees to stand in the open space at the base of the tower. It - he? - is approximately twelve feet tall, humanoid in silhouette, with two arms and two legs and one head and one tapering lizardlike tail. The limbs are long and powerful, the torso broad and bulky, the face more man than beast but only just. It's hard to see fine detail on him, because his skin (or are those scales?) is iridescent, like a beetle's shell or a raven's wings; the colours gleaming from that dark surface ripple like water at the slightest movement, blue turning to purple turning to green turning to orange turning to red. His eyes, almost the only constant, blaze green-gold. He looks like the answer to the question, 'What is the most beautiful yet terrifying way to combine a dragon with a gorilla?'

He gazes up at her, his expression indecipherable at this distance. Iridescent black hair falls down his back in a long loose braid; he is wearing short trousers in some dark fabric, and nothing else.

Even at his height there's no way he could possibly jump high enough to reach the balcony. She's got to be at least thirty feet off the ground. That's safe, right?

He stares in silence for a few long seconds, tail sweeping back and forth behind him in a graceful arc. Then he speaks.

"Who... are you?"

His voice is deep and loud, his accent unfamiliar, his pronunciation distorted by the strange shape of his mouth and the fangs set in that heavy jaw.

"Navethae." The word comes out more like a squeak, she clears her throat and continues in more of a volume he'll actually be able to hear. "I'm Navethae. I, came to investigate the valley for why it's expanding slowly every year and why it bounces people off of it, and. Then it did not act as expected. Um. And yourself?"

"Tarakova. I've been trapped in here for two thousand years," he says matter-of-factly.

"Oh." Her filter isn't up and running yet, it's a miracle she's even able to talk, so she doesn't think to try to stop: "You look good for your age?"

He laughs.

Apart from the pitch and volume, he has a very human laugh.

Oh, good, he didn't get offended at that, great. She smiles, hesitantly.

"Are - are you the only person here, or? I mean, besides, besides me."