The last concern, that Sarah had actually left some wish that would activate upon Jon trying to make a wish as a trap, very much concerned Jon, but she decided to risk it. Rather than continuing to stand and hold the stone precariously, she dropped the stone to the carpeted floor and stood more naturally on all 4 legs, but put her right forepaw on the stone.
"I wish for a list of every wish Sarah McMillan has made." Jon at least wanted to know what she was up against, and ignorance was an enemy here. A lot of what Sarah had wished for, were whispered into the stone so that Jon couldn't hear them.
Unfortunately nothing happened. Uh oh. Did Sarah wish that Jon wouldn't be able to ask for information about her wishes by wishing for them? But maybe asking for it directly like a list was no good, but she could ask for a high resolution audio playback of a region of space that just happened to be close enough to hear Sarah's wishes?
"I wish for an audio recording from the space 6 inches in front of Sarah's mouth as if it was being recorded, for every time she made a wish last night."
Nothing happened.
"I wish for some indication of what is going wrong with that wish."
A piece of paper materialized on the ground. Jon reached to pick it up, and was reminded again that she had paws instead of hands now. But it was easy to read as it was.
It said "that would still be providing you with information. This is all you're going to get, and even this is pushing the limits of what has been wished to be inaccessible by wishes for information."
"Hmph. Sarah was clever after all. I wish for some indication of whether she made a wish that is a trap that activates because of me trying to make certain wishes."
"No traps." appeared one line lower on the paper.
"Well you're providing me with information about her wishes now aren't you? ... grrrrr," Jon growled animalistically when nothing new appeared on the paper. "I wish for indication why you were able to provide that information but not the other information I asked for."
"This doesn't violate any constraints, because it is providing you with information about what she didn't wish for, not information about wishes she actually made." the paper said.
"Well that's stupid. Providing me with information about what she didn't do is still providing me with information about what she did. It just means that if I asked you if she made a certain wish, if the answer was no you could say no, but if the answer was yes you would plead the 5th, but that's the same as answering yes because if you won't answer I'll know the answer is yes. I mean, it means I can't just ask for a direct answer and I have to rely on yes-no questions, but I can still eventually figure something out with something like a game of 20 questions, though it might take a lot more than 20, with you either answering no or not answering to indicate yes. I wish for an indication of whether that was allowed or whether it would have some unexpected consequences for me."
"Go for it," the paper said.
"Well I do have a question that isn't about a wish so you definitely should be able to answer, I wish, you would indicate if Sarah knows I can still talk or if she's even suspicious that I might be able to."
"No, the thought hasn't even crossed her mind."
"Well that's good. Maybe I can just skip the 20 questions game and ask you for information about her intentions instead, because that's not information about wishes she made. I wish you would indicate if she's planning on betraying me or if she really plans to be honorable and let me go at the end of the month."
"She is undecided on such plans. She thinks she will be able to convince you without coercion to want to be her pet fox forever, but is uncertain of what she will do if you won't."
"Hmph. Well that's not promising, but not enough that I would feel right about breaking the promise first I think. I wish you would indicate, if you can figure this out from the structure of neurons in her brain or something, what she would do if she found out I could still talk, but had willingly passed up the chance to take control of the stone again, would she take my ability to speak away then, and tighten her controls on me as a prisoner?"
"She would not, she would be delighted that you could talk and didn't betray her, would give you greater freedom, and would most likely wish you to be as big as her, and be interested in more intimate activities with you."
"Oh. Wow. Hmm. Then I don't know what to do." Jon admitted, honestly intrigued by that possibility. She wasn't sure that the possibility of becoming Sarah's furry live-in lesbian lover instead of just her pet fox held long-term appeal or could compel her to consider not leaving at the end of the month, but just this insight into Sarah's behavior gave her more hope of what to expect from Sarah, that she could trust her more not just to be selfish and betray the tenuous thing they had together.
But what should Jon do now with this information?
