Nobody utter a word as Gaia stood in her dramatic pose, pointing at Daisy with her leaves. Scarlet didn’t say anything, and the Daredevils could do nothing more than stare at the tiny green plant growing next to her. Gaia was a bit disappointed by their lack of a reaction, but that feeling soon changed into shock when she looked down.

 

She had been too busy with sitting in an awesome pose to notice that her leaves had started shining a bright light, just like when she had healed the colony after the battle with the spiders. Only this time, the light was pure white instead of lime green.

 

Gaia watched as the light jumped from her leaves over to Daisy, who was now being enveloped in a cocoon of white light, growing in size every second. The Daredevils backed off a little, starteled by this strange phenomenon, and Gaia tried to do the same by bending her stem backwards. Gaia’s eyes became wider as the bright cocoon grew and grew over time.

 

“Hey, I- it was a joke, a joke! I didn’t mean to, I-I wasn’t serious about this!” Gaia muttered softly as the cocoon finally stopped growing after a few seconds.

 

“What is happening, Mother? What have you done now?” Scarlet asked from below inside her nest.

 

“I-I don’t know! Really, I have no idea what’s happening!” Gaia squealed helplessly.

 

Instead of growing in size now, the cocoon began spinning around wildly, creating a whirlpool of light around the place Daisy was rooted. Gaia watched frightened as the whirlpool reached maximum velocity, making the grass around her bend from the wind it created. Then, after a few seconds, it finally stopped spinning and turned into a cocoon again.

 

Gaia let out a sigh of relief as the cocoon slowly faded to only a faint light. She was about to say something to Scarlet when the cocoon suddenly exploded outwards in a flash of white light, blinding everyone on the spot. Gaia yelped as her vision went completely white, even though she technically didn’t have any eyes.

 

After a few seconds her vision slowly started to return again, and she quickly looked around to see what had happened. Her head was still a little fuzzy, but she could make out the general details of her surroundings. Everything seemed to be in order, except for the three Daredevils, who were now rolling on the floor, scratching at their eyes with their long claws.

 

Unlike her, the ants weren’t able to close their eyes at the last moment, and they couldn’t exactly cover them with anything either. Gaia felt bad for them, but there wasn’t really anything she could do for them now. She thought about trying to heal them, but she wasn’t sure if that would work, so she dismissed the thought.

 

Looking around, she tried to find the origin of the unexpected flashbang. To her surprise, she found Daisy sitting in the same spot as before, just like usual. She kind of expected the small plant to have either somehow mutated into a horrible flower moster, or more logically speaking, to have suffered at least some damage from the explosion.

 

Neither of those things seemed to be the case. Daisy looked just like she had before, a small green plant. Her only flower had withered a while back already, as flowers normally do when it gets too cold outside, so that was nothing new. Gaia cautiously stared at the small and seemingly harmless plant with suspicion as she tried to spot any changes, but there really were none to be seen.

 

“Are you alright, Mother? What happened?” Scarlet suddenly asked, startling the focused Gaia.

 

“Yes… I think so,” She said, trying to mask her scare as best as she could. “I don’t know what happened, but Daisy just started glowing and… well I have no idea, actually. She looks the same as before though.”

 

“Who, if I may ask, is this Daisy you are talking about? You have never mentioned her before, or am I mistaken?” Scarlet asked curiously.

 

“Oh yeah, I forgot,” Gaia said, realising she never talked about Daisy to anybody else. “She is… well, remember that flower sitting next to me?”

 

Scarlet was silent for a few seconds before she answered.

 

“You gave the plant a name?” She eventually asked after the awkward silence.

 

“That’s rude, I’m a plant too you know. Besides, I was lonely before you and your colony came along, and I needed something to talk to. You wouldn’t understand.”

 

“Indeed, I don’t,” Scarlet confessed, but she didn’t sound angry at her. “So, you have selected your guardian, it seems?”

 

“Before you say anything, I actually put a lot of thought into this decision. It’s just that I didn’t mean to choose her now. I wanted to ask for you permission first, so…”

 

“My what?” Scarlet asked confused. “Mother, what are you talking about? You don’t need my permission for anything, you do realise that? If you want to make a choice, you are perfectly entitled to do so. Why would you feel the need to ask me about it first?”

 

“Well, it’s because… you are much better with important decisions than I am, right? I mean, you’ve been queen for a long time already haven’t you? I’m kind of new to this sort of thing, and I don’t want to make any permanent choices without discussing it with you first…” Gaia murmured, after which Scarlet was silent for a few seconds.

 

“I think you are just making excuses,” She finally said after a while.

 

“What? No, of course I’m not-” Gaia started, but the ant queen cut her off.

 

“Yes you are, Mother. I have been queen for no longer than a year now, and I know all about how hard it is to make important decisions, but that does not mean you should evade making them. Sometimes you have to do what you feel is right, and just press on with it. It is okay to discuss with others about your problems, but in the end the choice is still yours, and it is still your responsibility.”

 

Gaia remained silent, so Scarlet continued talking.

 

“Tell me, why did you think it was a good idea to select this… Daisy as your guardian?”

 

“I needed someone small and close to me to protect me,” Gaia murmured softly. “The Treefolk are too large to fit in my aura, and you and your colony need to be able to leave when winter comes, so I thought Daisy was the right pick.”

 

“That seems like a correct way of thinking. Have you thought of any possible downsides as well, or have you solely focused on the benefits?”

 

“No, I haven’t. I didn’t know for sure if Daisy would be able to become strong enough to protect me, or if a better candidate might present itself in the future. That’s why I wanted to talk with you about it first.”

 

“I see,” Scarlet replied. “Well, I think you made the right choice anyway.”

 

“You do?” Gaia asked surprised.

 

“Yes, I do. Even if Daisy isn’t strong enough to protect you now, your powers should increase her growth speed drastically. I’m sure Daisy will become powerful enough to qualify as a proper guardian some day. Until then, you can just focus on helping her grow.”

 

“I guess that’s true,” Gaia said softly.

 

“It is, and that’s exactly why you didn’t need to ask for my permission. You had an idea which would probably work, so you merely had to inform me about it. Next time, you should be able to fix such a problem by yourself.”

 

“Yeah, I guess so,” Gaia responded. “Thanks Scarlet, I think I needed that.”

 

She chuckled softly to herself.

 

“I really am a bit of a pushover, aren’t I?”

 

“Certainly.” Scarlet answered bluntly. “But that doesn’t mean you should remain one.”

 

“Yeah, you’re right,” Gaia said as she looked at Daisy again. “I don’t see much of a change, so I’ll ask Wyne to see if she gained any new abilities. For now, I wan’t to try out something else.”

 

“Do that. I’ll be down here, if you need me,” Scarlet said.

 

“Thanks, Scarlet,” Gaia smiled as she turned around. She looked at the Daredevils, who were still laying on the ground, dazed from the sudden light in their senitive eyes.

 

“Are you guys alright?” She asked, after which they shook nodded their heads meekly.

 

She wasn’t too worried about them, since her new aura should take care of minor things like these. The ants were still looking a little dazed, but at least they were trying to stand up on their feet. Not that they succeeded though. Gaia sunk into thought for a moment before an idea popped up in her mind.

 

“Stay still for a second, I want to try something real quick,” she said.

 

All three Daredevils immediately froze in place as usual, not even twitching an antenna. Gaia wondered if the ants were just nervous or if this was how ants normally stood still. She suspected the latter, but she made a note to ask Scarlet about it later anyway. She didn’t want her humongous insect friends to feel uncomfortable around her after all.

 

“Alright, tell me if you fell something different,” she said as she placed a few of her leaves on top of one of the Daredevil’s head.

 

Gaia closed her eyes as she felt the warm, smooth surface of the ant’s skull under her leaves. The insect recoiled ever so slightly when she touched, but it managed to keep itself in place. Gaia ignored the reaction and focused on her plan instead.

 

After a short moment, her leaves started to shine with dark green light, just like they had done with Daisy. Only this time light was much less bright, and the ant was still clearly visible underneath the green aura. Gaia slowly opened her eyes again and smiled mentally when she saw intended the result.

 

“Are you feeling better now?” She asked as she pulled her leaves back again.

 

The Daredevil slowly nodded as it observed the strange aura surrounding its massive form. The other ants seemed interested as well, throwing jealous glances at their teammate from a distance.

 

“What did you do exactly, if I may ask?” Scarlet said from below, having missed out on the occasion as per usual.

 

“I tried buffing one of the Daredevils with a regeneration effect,” Gaia explained excitedly. “Honestly, I wasn’t sure if it would work. Although I suppose Wyne did mention that skills are easier to use than magic. I guess I confirmed that now.”

 

Gaia had to admit she was quite proud of herself. Activating the skill had sounded really complicated, but in reality it was pretty easy to do. Still, she was happy with the overall result. She doubted the buff’s potency came even close to that of her healing magic, but it wasn’t useless either. Apparently, the regeneration buff had a soothing effect on the Daredevil, who was behaving normally again.

 

“Alright, who’s next?” She asked jovially.

 

The other two Daredevils stopped eying their teammate and turned to her instead. Gaia motioned them to come closer, which they excitedly did. She placed her leaves on top of one of the large ant’s head again as she activated her new skill. This time though, her leaves started glowing a bright red instead of green.

 

Just like before, the Daredevil was enveloped in a dim aura of light. Gaia removed her leaves again as she looked at the ant with interest.

 

“How do you feel?” She asked. “I buffed you with a strength effect this time, so you should be more powerful now. Do you notice anything different?”

 

The Daredevil looked around for a few seconds, before walking over to one of its teammates and grabbing it with its large mandibles. Before the grabbed ant could protest, it was being lifted up into the air, its sturdy legs removed from the ground entirely.

 

The buffed Daredevil held the indignant ant in the air for a few more seconds before putting it down gently on the ground again. It immediately got snapped at by its teammate, causing Gaia to chuckle. It seemed the strength buff effect was a success too.