Maybe the people in the box talked the way they did because it was easier.


    After she had fled from the moose monster’s attempt to magic her in the tunnels, she had thrown herself into learning its rumblings. It was very difficult to match it. She was beginning to see why she had no magic and why the people of the box never did any either.


    The rumblings of the monster were too deep to copy.


    She thought she had the right …. Shape? …. for the monster’s words but she couldn’t match the sound.


    It didn’t help that she couldn’t ask the monster for its secrets. Even the pages would not help her here as all the Pages were silent. It seemed the monster was scheming something though. Ever since she had nearly failed to run, the monster would sit in the food place. The disks would be on a surface far enough away that she could reach them without the monster being able to reach her, but it was clearly a trap.


    One she avoided at first, but after realizing that her treats would not be enough without the disks, she had to risk it.


    It was even more obviously a trap when the monster started rumbling when she entered the food place. She nearly ran right then, but she waited as it only made her ears tingle. Clearly not a powerful spell like before, it would be the perfect place to start learning directly.


    She crouched and watched the monster as it continued to rumble and not move from where it was. Unfortunately, her belly complained not long after and she had to make a difficult decision. Did she attempt to get the disks or did she just leave and go back to the treats she had hidden away.


    Ultimately, she decided that her time was running out, the potent magic from before still causing her issues. If this _was_ some kind of trap, she would just have to be faster than the monster. It seemed to be interested in words, so if she found herself in trouble she could offer some in an attempt to get away.


    Moving carefully towards the disks, she grabbed them and ate them quickly.


    That was when the monster sprung its trap, and it was a dangerous one. So dangerous in fact she wasn’t sure how she would deal with it.


    The monster had used its magic to trap water, and it slid the trapped water slightly out of its reach with an accompanying rumble. She had always before drank the water from where it flowed and never been able to carry it with her. While the disks were much better than the powder, they still left her mouth dry and she craved water afterwards.


    With the monster sitting between her and the waterspout, she had no way to get that water. She could make her way to the rain room, but that was a long journey and may be even more dangerous, as she would be directly in the monster’s feeding area while it was aware of her. If it followed her, she would have no way to avoid it and would be in need of water the whole time.


    She had no idea what accepting the magicked water would do to her though. She looked around the food place, seeing if there was a way around the monster, but it had put itself in the perfect spot to stop her from getting behind it without getting closer than the trapped water was.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    The monster was proving itself more and more cunning.


    If she wasn’t careful she feared that she would find herself tamed by the monsters magic long before she could tame the monster. She hardened her resolve and carefully stepped forward to snatch the trapped water. Slowly bringing it to her lips she drank a small bit and waited. The monster rumbled at her and she began to feel the warmth spreading again. She quickly made sure not to look at the monster, only watching for movement as she drank what she could of the trapped water.


    Once she had as much as she could take, she carefully placed the rest of the trapped water down and fled the food place. As she got far enough away from the monster to feel safe, she felt a slow but painful realization take root in her mind.


    The moose monster was far too cunning to tame before she fell to its magic. Something it seemed to realize before her, as the trap had clearly shown.


    Not a trap at all, but a show that it wasn’t worried about what she did.


    If the moose monster was truly unstoppable, how could she even hope to win?


    <hr>


    She understood now.


    She couldn’t win.


    The only thing left to her was choosing how to lose. She was not cunning enough to out trick the moose monster in the short term and she didn’t know enough about it to tame it before its magic finished doing whatever it was doing.


    Still, if she was going to lose then she was going to choose how. The only way she saw to lose and not completely fall to the moose monster was choosing which things she lost in while she slowly tamed it in other things. It wouldn’t be ideal and she would have to give up on some of her plans, but it was better than the alternative.


    Whatever that happened to be.


    She didn’t need to win everything in the end. So long as the moose monster was scaring away all the other monsters, she could just stay near it rather than being in complete control. She would miss her home, but she didn’t see any other way forward. So long as it didn’t eat her and kept the other monsters away she would be ok and could slowly learn its rumblings. Maybe one day she would learn how to break free of the magic bothering her.


    Until then she would let the monster’s magic do what it would to her and only fight it when she tried to teach the monster how to do what she wanted. If the monster relied on its magic, it might not notice when she tried to teach it how to listen to her without any magic at all. A quiet approach as she fell to the magic was the only way forward. Learning as much as she could and small tricks that wouldn’t be noticed every now and then may let her get what she needed even while the monster thought it was winning.


    Having come to that conclusion and trying to plan a way forward she realized a flaw in her long-term plan. How did she fall to the magic and still maintain enough control over her body to learn and do what she needed to?


    It was one thing to plan for it, but when the magic had her in its grasp her body simply refused to listen. Could she still use her senses if her body rebelled and did as the monster pleased?


    A dark thought came to mind.


    Perhaps she should just wait in the rain room and let the magic take her. At least then she would know what was going to happen to her at the end.


    She shook her head.


    The magic had taken root far deeper than she had guessed. For that to be her first plan did not bode well for the future. She struggled desperately for a moment, determined to find a better thought to base her plan off of, but all she could think of was not becoming food.


    Maybe that was the answer, her mind rebelling against the magic?


    The moose monster was safest when it was sitting and going to it outside of the food place should mean it wasn’t thinking about food. The more she thought, the more this seemed like the best idea. If the monster was focused on the wall, she could get close and let the magic take her with the least danger. It would be focused on learning words and not eating, so she would not be seen as food. It would also be sitting so it wouldn’t squish her on accident. She may even be able to grasp its rumblings while her body was immersed in the magic.


    The only part left that she hadn’t figured out was how to escape when the monster was done its task.