No objection to that future trip is forthcoming. This seems a quiet enough part of the forest so far, but Michael would still rather she call on him for an escort than not (especially with so many of her strong men having gone missing). Things change rapidly around here.

"If I catch you eating exotic berries to find out if they're fit for human consumption, I'm going to be very disappointed."

He'll also make her spit it up, like a dog with something it's not allowed to have. There are better ways of testing for toxicity. He's sure Claire knows that, but she does like to do things herself.

Michael listens with interest to her experiences with Wrench as they near the promised special trees. He'd known the man lived near Claire, though he hadn't gotten a chance to know the man himself very well. From the sound of it Wrench had been more spontaneous than Michael, who only ventures into the woods to forage on scheduled trips—or maybe it had just been a matter of needing to forage where Michael doesn't.

"Are you planning to keep it as a guest house?"

He glances aside at her. The hint is there, but it's not a direct invitation.