Mr. Fuzzhat noticed her gesture, and mistook it for tiredness.

“Are you quite well? Perhaps you’d like to have a bit of a lie down. Yes, that’s it.” He clapped his paws again, and the servants appeared to clear away the dishes and leftover foods. “Come with me. We have few rooms suitable for persons of your size, but I think we have a room or two that might do.”

“Go? But, oh no, couldn’t we just…” Carlene trailed off when she realized that she didn’t know anything about how to fix a saucer. And why wasn’t Trent speaking up? It was his little sports do, after all. She fixed Trent with a glare, who merely shrugged. In truth, he had a strange light in his eyes as he looked about him. Carlene shivered and decided to leave well enough alone.

“Come, come” said Mr. Fuzzhat. “I’ll show you the way.”

So Carlene reluctantly stood to follow Mr. Fuzzhat, and he led them through a large tunnel to the left of the cavern they were currently in.

“This way, quickly now. My, but humans are slow.” Mr. Fuzzhat hopped quickly down the corridor, and Carlene and Trent hurried to keep up. As they passed several branched tunnels, even Carlene’s curiosity grew. The burrow, for that’s what she decided the cavern must be, was humongous. How could anyone have a memory strong enough to allow them to navigate easily? And how long it must take to get anywhere from anywhere. The branching tunnels certainly didn’t appear to be in any sort of order, and judging from the tunnel they were in, none of them were altogether straight.

Eventually, after passing by several tunnels and rooms where crashing, running water, and a few screams could be heard (that sounded as though it may have been the children of the local inhabitants protesting bed time), they came to another series of tunnels that branched very quickly into a series of rooms. Mr. Fuzzhat pointed to two of the largest, and waved them on.

“Yes, yes, I think you’ll be very comfortable in here. Please, take your rest, and we’ll show you more of our home in the morning.” And without so much as seeing them into their rooms, Mr. Fuzzhat hopped off. They were well and truly stuck as there was no way they’d find their ways out of the burrow without a guide. And for all they knew, they could starve to death in the search. There was nothing for it but to head to bed.

“Goodnight!” Trent stalked off to the furthest of the large rooms, and laid on the floor with his back to the room’s entrance. Clearly he was in no mood for a cuddle.

With a sigh and a shiver, Carlene moved to the next large room and settled onto the floor. There were bits of hay and fur all over the floor, almost as though it was an abandoned nest. Given the intelligent nature of their hosts, Carlene shoved it all away with a shiver and lay on the hard stone floor. Thankfully, it wasn’t too cold, and she soon fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning when she awoke, Trent had already left the room next to her. She waited a bit longer in case her hosts should appear, but when her stomach began to growl, she decided to suck it up and try to find a kitchen or dining room on her own.