The bond might have helped a little, but it probably did mean a lot that she'd been able to be drawn in here. Certainly she wasn't perceived at the moment by the world as a threat. She nodded at the gardening comment. That, at least, didn't seem so bad.

Yeah, naturally.
You're going to protect her, no matter what.
Along with your friends and family, right?

Good way to test things. she wasn't going to mention she'd talked to Penny, or tried to anyway, before getting here. She was a little worried.