“…That’s crazy, right? I mean, I was only six at the time, so had no idea shoplifting was that bad. I just thought you were allowed to take the candy if there was no lid on the box and… Say, I hadn’t noticed before, but have you grown taller?”

 

Daisy remained silent as usual. Gaia didn’t really care anymore, she was just bored. Two hours had gone by since the ants had left her, and the sun had gone down a while ago. Although she couldn't see the moon from the ground, the silver light on the area around here was clearly visible.

 

And now she was venting to Daisy again. It helped a little against the boredom at least, and boredom was a serious issue at the moment. Gaia felt trapped more than ever now, especially after having met semi-sentient creatures. It felt suffocating, knowing that there was a world out there full of creatures to talk with, but not being able to see any of it at all.

 

Gaia sighed and her leaves drooped. She had done some experimenting with them, and noticed that her new leaves were a lot more flexible that her previous germ leaves. She could bend them almost just as well as a human hand, which felt really weird, considering she now had four leaves. It was as if two extra arms had been glued to her body.

 

“General Kenobi,” she said in a low voice and giggled to herself. “I wonder if I can grab things with them as well, I haven’t tried that yet.”

 

She tried to grab one of Daisy’s leaves, but they were too far apart. Gaia tried again and bent her stem a little to reach further, but again to no avail. Determined, she bent more and more, until she was almost laying horizontally on the floor. The tip of her leaf touched one of Daisy’s leaves, but that was as far as she could go.

 

Gaia groaned and tried to straighten herself, but her body didn’t budge. She tried again, but she was unable to lift herself up. Frantically swinging her leaves around, she tried one more time, but failed this time as well.

 

“Oh come on, you’re kidding me. Cramps, now out of all times? This just can’t get any worse, can it?”

 

The words had only just left her mouth when she heard the grass on her left rustle. Gaia watched silently as as one, two, three… many ants emerged onto her circular patch of dirt. A moment later, she was completely surrounded by at least twenty ants, silently clicking their mandibles in the moonlight. All while she was still laying on the ground with cramps.

 

But it didn’t stop there. When the circular patch of dirt was almost completely filled with giant red ants, the grass moved even more. Gaia jaw dropped mentally when she saw a colossal head peaking through the blades, large compound eyes staring back at her.

 

Gaia watched the giant ant intently as it stepped onto her patch of soil, revealing its full size. It was probably three times larger than a normal ant, almost as big as a small cat. She felt astounded that insects this large were even allowed to exist. If any insect this large would show itself on Earth, it would immediately make it into the Guiness Book of Records.

 

Gaia guessed the large ant was at least some sort of leader of the smaller ants, perhaps even the queen. She wondered if it was here because she had used some of its underlings or something. It didn’t speak, but patiently waited for Gaia to start the conversation. Still laying on the ground, she tried not to sound intimidated by its large body looming over her.

 

“Uh, sup?”

 

The ant didn’t move at all, but Gaia knew something was about to happen. After what seemed like an eternity but was in fact only a few seconds, a deep but female voice resounded in Gaia’s head.

 

“Greetings, Mother Tree.”

 

Gaia was dumbstruck. The fact that the insects on this planet were smarter than the ones on Earth she already knew, they were capable of obeying simple commands after all, but insects talking to her in her head was new for her. Gaping, she looked up at the ant.

 

“You… can talk?” She asked in a quiet voice.

 

“Yes, I can,” came the simple answer.

 

“B-but how?” She realised that she was being pretty rude, but that was the least of her worries at the moment. Right now, she wanted to know what the hell was going on.

 

“You are talking into my mind, Mother,” The ant replied with a little suprise in its voice. Gaia didn’t know what to say.

 

“Oh,” she muttered.

 

An akward silence rose between the two of them. The shock of suddenly having twenty giant ants surrounding her overwhelmed Gaia a little, and her brain had trouble processing all the information. She wanted to say something, but the words didn’t want to come out.

 

“If you will allow me, I would like to explain my reason for being here, Mother. I have a proposition for you,” the ant said after the silence. She spoke very businesslike, Gaia noted.

 

“Um yes, of course, no wait a minute hold on, what? First of all, could you help me get up please? I’m in kind of a pickle here and this is all a bit overwelming, so…” Gaia hadnt even finished her sentence when two smaller ants crawled over to her and gently lifted her up again. Once she stood tall once more, they quickly withdrew again.

 

“Thanks, ouch that hurted. Okay, let’s start again, no hurries here. You said something about a proposal for me?” Gaia asked, calming down a little after the ants helped her. It didn’t seem they were hostile towards her, at least not yet. For now, she would listen to what they had to say.

 

“Indeed. I would like to propose a co-operation between my colony and you, Mother Tree. A mutually beneficial situation that will strengthen the both of us.”

 

Gaia was interested in what the ant was about to say, but she wanted to know something first.

 

“Okay, but before you go on, may I ask you something? Are you the queen of the ant colony? And if yes, what are you doing on the surface? Isn’t that dangerous for you?”

 

The large ant seemed a little irritated but answered Gaia’s question nontheless.

 

“I am the queen, yes. As to why I came to the surface, I was about to say. It is indeed dangerous for me to leave the safety of the nest, but that’s not important. I wanted to ask permission to construct a new nest here to move my colony in,” the queen said. “For a price of course,” she added.

 

Gaia was suprised by the offer, but she was just as interested too. Ants had always helped her in the past by scaring away dangerous insects and such. Even though they probably only did it because of the food it involved, having an anthill right next to her would be the same as living next to a police station, which was especially handy noe that she could somewhat control the ants. She didn’t know how the queen would feel about that, but maybe they could come to an agreement.

 

There was one problem though: Gaia wasn’t sure what she had to offer the ants. She wasn’t about to accept their protection if the ants requested something extravagant like drinking her sap or something. That would probably kill her, considering the size of a single ant, not to mention the absolute huge queen.

 

“What kind of price are we talking about? I don’t have much to give, but I’m interested in your suggestion nontheless. Maybe we can come to an agreement?” Gaia said in the most professional way she could.

 

‘Damn, I should’ve become a businesswoman, I’m just perfect for this kind of stuff,' she thought, smiling.

 

“No, we’ll be paying you, Mother,” the queen responded to Gaia’s suprise.

 

“What?” Gaia didn’t sound very professional anymore. “Why though? Isn’t this situation in my advantage?”

 

Once again, the ants seemed to think that she held some unknown value for some reason. Whatever it was, Gaia was uninformed about what it was up until now. That was until the queen spoke again.

 

“Mother, are you aware of the potent mana you are giving off?” The queen asked, tilting her head slightly, giving Gaia the impression the ant knew more than she did herself.

 

“The what? Sorry, I don’t know much about myself or this world yet. Could you explain what you meant please?” Gaia asked dumbfounded.

 

The queen gave her a long and calculating look before she answered.

 

“Of course Mother, if it will help us sorting out our agreement. Since you have already evolved once, I assume you’re familiar with regular mana and evolutions?”