It's hard to make progress on a mission when you don't know how to complete it. Has it ever occured to you that doing exactly as this 'tree' seems to wish might earn you a route back home sooner, for example? Not to mention the outright fact that flagging morale can affect one's performance.

[He closes his eyes and make a sound that is something like laughter, though it lasts no longer than a grunt.]

My 'life' has been spent. All I intend to do now is go with the flow.