It was an innocent enough question, and honestly, you could probably guess some of the story. The maid, however, grew excited. So excited, in fact, that she was briefly without words. Once she calmed down, with encouragement from you, she began, directing you to sit on a wooden chair which adjusted to your height, positioning a large horizontal cushion around your neck. Putting the implications and the casual magic aside, you settled in to listen,
"Apologies, Young Mistress, all of the previous...umm...guests pleaded with me to leave or to take them to the Mistress. None asked about me and neither did any of them return..." She grew somber as the mood of the room became rather awkward,
"Ahem, back to your question, I am in this form because Mistress needed someone to manage the house she could trust with eternity. As she loathes humans, males especially, she felt her best bet for such a role was to exercise her powers on an animal and then educate her, me. I hold no ill will towards her for removing me from time, as I would be dead if not for her. When I was not yet on two legs an illness that humans would call The Plague was ravaging all lands and despite both cats and witches doing their best to combat the rat carried disease, the men in charge felt that killing as many cats and practising witches as they could would placate the masses into believing the problem was solved. You need only look in the Mistress' library for a book that details how wrong the fools were."
The awkward atmosphere that had briefly begun to disperse was back in full force. She must have noticed your fear, not surprising since you had shrunk back and you felt that you were trembling slightly. She bowed down to eye level and lay her hand on your head. That, however, increased your trembling and you even felt your head push up into her hand, which she pulled back suddenly,
"Oh my, bunny ears... It seems that my story either effected the changing spell or awakened a shapeshifting flight response. Shall we go ask the Mistress?"
"NO! We'll..."