Lia dozed off in Jasper's arms, waking up a few hours later to find Jasper had left the cave. The shirt that had bound her wrists lay in scraps by her head. Lia groaned as she realized she didn't have a weird sex dream and fished a new shirt out of her pack. She wriggled into it with minimal complaint from her ribs. She stared at the cave's opening, contemplating what Jasper had done.
The memory of Jasper invading her made her body move of its own volition. Lia pulled her clothes out of the pack, deciding to only keep the med kit and the water bottle. The lighter, the better... in case she needed to run. Lia threw on her jacket, scouting outside the cave's mouth for any sign of Jasper. She counted slowly to ten before shouldering her pack and heading out. She had barely made it around the first turn when an orange blur landed in front of her, causing her to stumble backwards.
"Where do you think you're going?" Jasper's expression was dark, killing any thought of escape in Lia.
"Just... str... stretching my legs." Lia groaned internally. Even she didn't believe her lie.
"It looks like you are trying to escape. But you're not stupid enough to try that again, are you? Not after I was kind enough to untie you."
"N... no..."
Jasper gripped Lia's upper arm and turned her around, walking back to the cave. "This kindergarten is a dangerous place, human. See all these holes?" Jasper spread her arm to indicate the humanoid holes in the canyon walls. "Not only do I have my army here, but there may be other gems just waiting to pop up out of the ground. And they may not be as nice as I have been." Jasper stopped at the cave mouth and shoved Lia towards it. "Better stay here where it's safe."
Lia robotically walked back into the cave and set her pack down. When she thought Jasper was out of earshot, she put her face in her hands and screamed.