[Off the Road]

Obviously she panicked. This situation was not the result of rational thought. Such an obnoxiously human failin-

...Oh, no.

Now, Alan has no idea what a halfling is. Before today, he would never have seen one. But dwarfism is a well-documented genetic condition, and juvenile humans tend to be a little on the smaller side regardless.

The point is, even though Melody isn't human in the strictest sense of the word, as far as he (and his programming) is concerned, she definitely is.

Which meant he'd have to obey any orders she gave him.

This idiot was going to get them both killed. Well, herself killed at any rate. With his luck, he'd just end up immobile in a godforsaken cave somewhere, unable to return to his original task of trimming azaleas.

"...Charmed." Alan drones, in a tone that implied he was not charmed in the slightest.