Yeah. I'm not sure what exactly she'll be bringing, for food, but there'll be some; you can just live on milk and eggs and potatoes forever, if you really want to, but I'd like you to have the chance to try more things, and most of the things around here aren't great for that.

...I. You. Thank you? I've...it's been nice? Having...new things to eat? There's still a level of 'you don't have to do that', and 'it's too much', but it's all background, Rhoda's focusing on the fact that she's liked most of what she's tried so far.

Yeah, I've noticed. And it's good for you, too; you'd be okay on potatoes and milk, but it's easier to stay healthy if you can eat more things.

She nods again, as though she actually understands that. She has a vague idea that different foods might contain different types of nutrition, but she has no experience of the matter, really. This time, she'll stay quiet until Pradnakt speaks again as she doesn't have anything to add really.

Yeah,fair.

Another thing is that we've noticed how bored you've been, so she'll be looking for something for you to do; I don't know what she'll find, but we had a few ideas - some kind of craft, like weaving or sewing, or maybe something artistic, like painting, or an instrument to learn, or maybe a pet to take care of.

She likes the idea of having something to do, although she's still not sure how that would help with being useful. Although...that might not be the point. (Sewing and weaving could make money maybe? It was involved in making clothes right?) 'Pet' definitely confuses her, and she manages to get up the nerve to ask: ...What is a pet?

An animal that you keep to enjoy it. Some of them are useful, too, but if you're keeping a pet you usually don't pay as much attention to that when you're deciding how to do things.

She can't quite decide if that is a vast waste of resources (no, that's just thinking in terms of what she knew before, and what Ma'am told her about resources being scarce), or a very comforting idea (something that's not there for any purpose other than you enjoy it). Okay. And falls silent again, because she doesn't really have any other thoughts on it.

I wonder if you wouldn't like a horse, actually. That, we'd have to set up; they're big - impression - and need some specialized care. But they're not pets exactly; they're friendly, but they're for riding.

That is definitely more than Rhoda can cope with thinking about right now. The idea itself has some appeal, but something that needs set up and 'specialised care' wavers towards panic-inducing. She focuses instead on matching her breathing to Pradnakt's.

Gentle squeeze. We'd help, of course. If you want one, eventually.

The breathing helps. And the words. Too much, she sends, but even she isn't entirely clear on whether she means that in general, or just right now.

All right. Just hug, then. And breathing, slow and steady.

Slowly, Rhoda relaxes into Pradnakt's side, breathing in time with her. Her eyes slide closed, and she manages to let herself enjoy the comfort from the hug.

After a little while, she will ask, with carefully muted excitement: Cookies?

She chuckles. Yeah, cookies.

It again takes Rhoda a moment to separate herself from Pradnakt's side. (Touch on these terms isn't scary, and she's almost worried she might lose it.) When she does, she slides off the bed, takes a few steps towards the door and the pauses, looking back to Pradnakt - half an instinctive look for permission, half simply to see if she's following.

Yeah, here she comes.

Then Rhoda will continue through to the main room, and them hover, waiting for instructions on what they need to do next.

She gets the food processor out. Okay, the next step is to turn them into a paste - it's called nut butter or seed butter, because it was originally meant as a replacement for regular butter. For that, we put them in here - not too much at once - and grind them a little at a time until they have the right texture.

And Rhoda will again follow the instructions with the same level of concentration she's followed others - very determined to get it right. (And slightly scared to get it wrong, but that isn't really a conscious thought.)

It takes a while, but eventually all the sunflower seeds have been ground into Pradnakt-approved sun butter.

Okay, almost done. Next we make the cookie dough. The recipe is really easy: one cup of nut butter or seed butter, one cup of sugar, and one egg, mix them together and then divide the mixture into little balls to bake. Since you don't like things that are too sweet, though, I think we should cut it down to a quarter cup of sugar; it'll work just the same that way.

But you like things sweet? she says, tilting her head. (She's still not used to her preferences being taken into account.)

And if we're making cookies for me, we'll do them the regular way, but these are for you. We can roll some in sugar before we bake them, if you want to share.

She takes a moment to remind herself that this is apparently okay (they wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't). Then she smiles shyly at Pradnakt. I would.

All right.

Sugar! Egg! Mixing bowl! You can mix them by hand, but don't lick your fingers and make sure to wash carefully when you're done, raw eggs can make you sick. Or you can use a spoon, but it's harder to do a good job that way.