They both entered without more conflict, to Kaimana's relief. She drew a deep, silent breath to keep herself
steady in this next-to-negative situation, and in the middle of that was where Mayfal's question landed. It was almost like hearing a funny joke in the middle of sipping a drink, except the main emotion was confusion, and the comedic spit-take was missing.
Where was her stone? It was right there, on the floor, glowing like no other stone could. Kaimana gave Comet (who had moved from perusing her shells to laying in her nest) a look similar to the one Comet had given her earlier, although this time it was more of a
plea for help than an order.
"Ah, it..." Was she supposed to describe its
location, or--?
Was this a test? What would it even be testing, her knowledge of the layout of her own den? The number of descriptive words in her vocabulary...?
"It has its own place in my den, separate from the rest of my collection. I could... walk over to it, if you desired...? It might get cramped in here if I do." Confusion could not be kept from her voice, even despite the fact that Kaimana had opted
not to address the, um,
second elephant in the room. How was she supposed to respond to this? Did she do okay, did she fail again? Oh, Mayfal, she was so sorry. She just...
didn't understand what you wanted. She was trying though.
@Mayfal
This was beginning to get complicated. Mayfal wanted to pay their respects to the new life that was brewing. They wanted to visit the creature that they had gotten flat plants for. But Kaimana's instructions on where to find the stone weren't helpful at all. They didn't know where her collection was either. Mayfal felt like they were in Tunnel I all over again. But Comet had helped them out of that place before. Maybe Comet could help them again.
"Comet? Could I borrow your tail?" It was the only way they were going to be able to greet the stone. It would also, maybe, reveal their blindness to Kaimana, which made Mayfal wince a little. But Comet was here, and Comet trusted Kaimana, so maybe Mayfal could trust her, too.
@Comet