[ though he keeps a fair berth at first, it's not offended or worried so much as just paranoid--eventually, thomas sits down, long legs out into the pathway and arms resting on his thighs. ]

Back home--way back home [ he has to clarify, because the glade feels so far away now, but there's a hint of warmth to his tone as he recalls it. ] -- we had a big maze we had to solve. Me and my friend, we were Runners, which meant that we kind of explored the maze every day, because it changed. And then we'd come back home and make a map of what we found and where we went. The maps the imps or whatever gave us were kind of lame in comparison, so we thought we'd start trying to map out the whole place in more detail.

[ thomas shrugs his shoulders. ] I guess it's just habit, you know?