“Alright then, what shall I pick for the last one?” Gaia mused, trying to decide what buff to choose next.

So far, she had chosen a regeneration and a strength buff, both of which seemed to work quite fine. She was lucky to have played some videogames back on Earth where she could draw inspiration from, otherwise coming up with effects would have proved rather difficult. There were a lot of options to pick from, but Gaia decided to keep it simple.

She put her leaves on top of the last Daredevil, who seemed excited to finally receive a buff as well. Gaia focused on her skill as her leaves began to shine again, bright blue this time. She absolutely loved the fact that each buff had a different color, which was both useful and pretty. She watched as the blue light jumped from her leaves over to the Daredevil, enveloping the massive insect whole.

“Try moving around,” she said after the light on her leaves had completely dimmed out.

The overgrown ant carefully tried to take a few steps, but it lost its balance after a few paces. It fell flat on its face, after which it recieved confused looks from its teammates, who were watching the scene with great interest. The Daredevil got up on its legs and tried walking again, this time succeeding in standing straight.

The ant leisurely strolled around for a little while, slowly adjusting to the changes to its body. After a few seconds, it began picking up the pace, circling around Gaia at an increasingly fast speed. She tried to follow the Daredevil’s movements by rotating her vision around her own stem, but the insect began walking even faster. It didn’t take long before Gaia couldn’t keep up anymore.

“Hold on there, you’re going too fast!” She yelled anxiously.

The Daredevil immediately stopped running and tried to come to a halt, but its momentum was far too high for that. It slipped in the loose dirt and rolled over, before crashing into the other Daredevils who were desperately trying to make themselves scarce at the very last moment, but to no avail.

Gaia yelped as the Daredevils were knocked over like bowling pins and were flung between the tall grass. She heard them rolling away from her down the hill, but she couldn’t see them anymore. She tried her best, but they had rolled all the way into the cover of the trees, so spotting them from her place was impossible.

“They’re probably fine,” she nervously said to herself. “Nothing the matter, nothing the matter at all.”

She looked down the hill again and saw the grass moving in three different places, indicating that three large creatures were making their way up again. Gaia sighed relieved as she patiently waited for the ants to arrive.

A little while later, three very grouchy ants peeked their heads through the grass. Gaia noticed they were limping, so she motioned them to come closer, which they immediately did. The ants had learned to come closer when she told them to, so she could heal them if they were wounded.

All three Daredevils stumbled closer and allowed Gaia put her leaves onto their head one more time, pushing healing magic into their large red bodies. They relaxed shortly after as their wounds were being closed on the spot, the usually long process sped up by the magic of the almighty tree in front of them.

“Let’s hold off on the speed enhancement buff for now, shall we?” Gaia said compassionately after she had finished healing the ants.

The three of them nodded meekly.

---

“Don’t worry, it isn’t very far anymore. We’ll be there in no longer than ten minutes,” Wyne said to Nyma, who replied with a simple nod.

The young girl was being supported by both Wyne and Dyan, who were kind enough to help her out with walking. Nyma’s legs still hurted a lot, so she had trouble walking without the help of her friends. The road towards the God’s Tree’s offspring was a long one, but it was certainly worth the trip.

If Wyne was right, and Nyma trusted she was, she might actually be able to see a legendary being with her very own eyes for the first time. She had heard tales about the God’s Tree before, about her wisdom and kindness, as well as her overwhelming powers and forces, but she had never seen those things with her own eyes.

Dyan had, on some of his many travels. He was the one who had told her the stories, and he was probably the one most excited to see the legendary tree again. All the villagers were excited to see her, as a matter of fact. Nyma looked back and saw their faces, tense but joyful at the same time, just like her own.

It hadn’t taken long for Dyan to persuade the villagers to come along, the convincing man he was. He had given them a great speech, explaining why they needed to come along to witness this miracle, as he called it. Many had thought him to be crazy, but in the end they all came along, prickled by their curiosity and his words.

And now they were almost at their destination, far away from the safety of their village. Still, Nyma trusted Wyne would lead them to a safe place. Her friend wasn’t the best Elder, even she could see that, but she always chose what was best for the village. And if Wyne thought creeping through the woods in the middle of the night was a good idea, she would follow her.

---

“They should be arriving any moment now,” Gaia said to the ants around her. “Remember, we want to make a good first impression, so just behave and do as Scarlet and I say. I don’t want the Treefolk to feel intimidated by your presence.”

Ten ants nodded at her in sync, and Gaia nodded a leaf back. Scarlet had been kind enough to offer her a few workers to act as a welcoming comittee, which Gaia had happily accepted. In reality, Scarlet had lended her the ants so they could protect her from the Treefolk, should they fo some reason turn out to be more hostile than initially thought, but Gaia found the role of diplomats suiting them better.

Gaia understood why Scarlet was hestitant to allow this many people to come close, but she was sure the Treefolk meant no harm to her. That didn’t mean she wasn’t nervous though. Meeting such a large group of unfamiliar people was enough to make her mentally sweat a little, but she tried her best to remain as composed as possible.

‘Businesslike, amiable and honest,’ she kept repeating in her head. ‘And overall cute. That’ll do the trick for sure.’

She noticed something moving in the corner of her vision and immediately turned around to see what was approaching her. She saw the dark silhouettes of small people nearing her from down the hill, moving swiftly without making a sound. Gaia was impressed by how stealthy their movements were, even when they were gathered in such a large group. If it wasn’t for the fact they were walking out in the open, she would probably have never spotted them in the first place.

Gaia waited until she could clearly see Wyne walking in front of the group, supporting a small figure with the help of another Treefolk. The girl, or at least she thought it was a girl, judging by the shapes of her body, seemed to be limping, hence why she was being carried. Gaia instinctively prepared a healing spell, just in case her help was needed.

“Mother!” Wyne called, waving at her from beneath. She waved back with the tip of her leaves, which just about rose above the tall grass. The young girl carefully helped her friend sit down on the ground and said something to her group, before running up the hill towards Gaia. When Wyne arrived, she quickly bowed down on her knees with her head on the ground.

“Mother, we made it. I hope we haven’t kept you waiting,” she said, a little out of breath from the running.

“Not at all. I’m glad you arrived safely,” Gaia said friendly.

Wyne looked up with a smile, which was when she noticed the ants standing around Gaia. Ten evolved workers stared back at her, keeping their gazes fixed on her. The Treefolk took a moment to swallow before she continued.

“Me too, it was quite a long trip. We nearly got into trouble with some monsters, but luckily we managed to avoid them before they noticed us, so all is well. It wasn’t easy, but we made it,” Wyne said, after which Gaia couldn’t help but feel a little bad for her.

“I’m sorry I’m making you walk all the way here just to see me,” she apologised.

The young girl looked up in surprise, after which she realised what she meant.

“Oh no, I didn’t mean it like that! We came her because we wanted to, not because you asked us to, well because that too of course, it’s just-” She tried to explain, but Gaia gently cut her off.

“Don’t worry, it’s alright. I’m just thankful you all decided to come here. Just promise me to take care when you return, I don’t want you guys to get hurt on the way back.”

“Ah, yes. I promise I’ll try to stay safe,” the girl said shyly.

“Good. Now, I thought I saw you helping a wounded girl, am I right? Did that happen during the trip too?”

“What, Nyma? No, she got hurt yesterday while fighting with those spiders. I forgot to thank you about that by the way, your ants saved us back there. Without your help, we wouldn’t be standing here,” Wyne said and bowed again.

“You should thank the colony, I had nothing to do with that,” Gaia said surprised.

“Really?” Wyne asked, surprised as well.

She turned to the ants standing defensively around Gaia and bowed deeply.

“Thank you for saving us then. Tell me if there is anything I can do in return for your kindness.”

Other than giving her some suspicious looks, the ants didn’t react in any way, so Gaia spoke to them instead.

“Wyne says thank you for saving her,” she said friendly.

The ants looked a little confused at her, but they understood what she had said. All ten of them nodded once in Wyne’s direction, in what seemed to be a ”you’re welcome”. The young girl seemed surprised, but she smiled and nodded back.

“Now, why don’t you get the other up here as well, and we’ll have a chat. I’ll see what I can do for your friend too,” Gaia said, trying to mask her nervousness.

“Really? Thank you, thank you so much!” Wyne exclaimed as she got up and ran down the hill.

Gaia saw her talking to the rest of the villagers, but she couldn’t hear what was being said from here. After a few moments the group seemed to move towards her, and Gaia felt more twitchy than ever. She didn’t seem to have a heart anymore, but if she had, it would be beating like crazy in her chest. Still, she remained as composed as possible.

The villagers finally arrived at the top of the hill, and Gaia couldn’t help but feel extremely awkward. Being the centre in such a large group was terrifying enough for her, but the worst thing was that the Treefolk were completely naked. Their genitals were less visible than those of humans, but they were still clearly there.

The Treefolk spread themselves around her so they could all see her clearly, and Gaia heard several of them exclaiming something. Their black eyes were widened, just like Wyne’s had been when she had first met her. Was she really that special to look at? She nervously waited untill all the noise had calmed down, so she could say something.

“Um, hi,” she tried.

The effect of her words was overwhelming. Almost every member of the village, except Wyne and a few other younger looking Treefolk, started laughing and crying at the same time. They started screaming enthousiastically and fell on their knees, bowing in her direction.

“She has returned!” One man yelled. “Our Mother has returned!”