Ivy’s question of how to use two different power sources at the same time stumped me. I, of course, knew how to do it but I could not figure out a good way to explain it. I had forgotten what I used to do all those years ago when I would teach younger dryads. “How about I show you. Once you have recovered enough, send your power into me as I did to you this morning. I will show you how I manage to separate my power.”

“Are you sure you want me to do that?” she said while sitting up.

“Don’t worry so much. I already said it was ok. Just let me know when you are ready.”

It seemed that Ivy needed to psych herself up before she was ready to investigate how I used my power. I knew it was not because of low reserves any more. I had filled her reserve most of the way up and there was plenty of energy in the forest.

Once Ivy seemed to be motivated, she said, “I am going to send my power into you now?” Um, why did that sound like a question? I only nodded to her to let her know that she should go ahead. It felt a little strange to have someone else’s awareness searching through your body. It had been a very long time since someone had done this to me. I got a small case of the shivers just like Ivy did when searched her earlier.

“I should stop,” she said seeing me shiver, but I shook my head.

“Keep going. It has just been a long time since I have experienced this,” I said with what I hoped was a reassuring smile.

Ivy nervously continued to probe further into my spirit. Once I could tell that Ivy had finished spreading her senses into me, I took a moment to choose where to utilize my power. I was about to get started when she exclaimed. “How is it this big! You have almost as much energy as all of my forest.” I looked up at Ivy to see the shock on her face. For some reason her face dropped as she looked to the ground. She mumbled something. I think I heard the word sadness, but I did not want to pry.

“I practiced a lot when I was younger, but it also comes from being a few hundred millennia old.” I said putting a simple smile on. Really, I did not think it was that big. If I had to cut myself off from outside power, my reserve would not be able to last me more than an hour of heavy power usage. Now what should I do with my power? I wanted to do something that would be instructive to Ivy in the process. “Now, Ivy, I will show you the way I divide my power. Please also watch how I am using my power,since it will be a good example for you to reference later,” I said. Ivy nodded to show that she understood and closed her eyes to be better able to observe my power.

Since I was going to use all my powers I might as well have some fun. The first step was to find out what plants I had to work with. I sent my power into the soil and the plants around me. The first plant I found that struck my interest was a  seed from a small maple species with with red leaves and twisted branches. The seed had been buried by something in the spring when seeds were abundant and seems to have been forgotten. The seed was slightly infertile and would not start to grow without help, but that was no issue to me. I also noticed some violets that had gone dormant for the approaching winter. And… Ah! That will do wonderfully! There was one more interesting species that I found which would make a perfect finishing touch.

I gathered the seed from the maple and caused the violets to grow and seed. Since the purpose this time was to use my power, I was going to spend a lot more effort into adjusting the seeds and combining them than I did with the fairies’ new home. That was never supposed to be permanent. I only made it to last a short while so the elves would listen to the fairies. I decided to keep the maple style seeds but I made some small adjustments so that they would do well in the early summer when the violet flowers would bloom. This violet was mostly yellow with a little bit of blue. It felt like it would be a bit much with the red leaves of the tree, so I made some small changes to that too. The hardest part was making sure that these two halves worked together to form a complete whole. I did pay a little attention to the fertility of the seeds, but I figured that having this tree unable to spread easily was not a bad thing. You always wanted to be careful when introducing a new plant to the world. I had learned that the hard way and it took many years to fix.

Fix might not be quite right. There were still cottonwoods all over the place, but they were no longer threatening to take over the world. Maybe I could have realized there would be problems. But it did not occur to me that mixing dandelions with a tree would be such a bad idea. Remembering how much of my forest canopy turned yellow in just a few years, I still felt embarrassed. Part of the fix I found caused the trees to lose their gigantic, bright yellow flowers, which was sad. It was great fun to see all the ‘snow’ when they seeded. But with the fertility of a dandelion and the height of the tallest forest trees, it had turned terrifying.

But back to the moment I should be focusing on. Ivy at first was carefully watching how I separated the power that was coming into my body to sustain myself from the power leaving my body to create the plant. After awhile I could feel her attention focus to what I was doing in my hands. At first glance, it might have looked like all my energy was going into these little seeds and nothing was happening. But as you looked closer and closer, you would see that inside of the seed many tiny changes were taking place.

To make these changes took a lot of time and energy. It had been 40 minutes or so before I was satisfied that the maple and the violet were successfully merged. Now was time for the part I was most looking forward to. I needed to add the third species. There was no point in trying to combine it with the new seed. It was completely incompatible with the maple and the violet. But there was more than one way to have organisms work together. I first caused the maple tree to produce and excrete some sugars and proteins that would be needed by the other. Then I cause the latter to accept these proteins and sugars instead of the food it would usually prefer. Since I thought it was not good to have a one way relationship, I modified the insect repellent features of this little guy to include the maple tree and its new flower. And once again I made a few small changes to its color. Then the final step- I caused it to cover the maple seed in such a way that it would grow with the tree.

Now that the hard part was done, it was time to get the tree to grow. It had been just about an hour and my power was starting to run out, but I had enough left to cause a small tree to grow. I placed the seed into the ground and channeled my powers into. It quickly started to grow. It reached its full size of just over the height of a man when I felt my power run out. As I explained to Ivy earlier, after I felt I was done I pushed a little more and flowers appeared to cover the tree.

It really work out nicely that my work finished just as my power went out. But that was somewhat planned. This tree’s seeds would be able to germinate, but only if conditions were just right. If I had more time to work with the tree, I could have made the combined seed more viable. But no one wanted another cottonwood incident on their hands. It really takes a lot of effort to combine two plants in a way that is stable. I now felt a little sorry for the fairies. This tree was much more sustainable than what I made for them. It was also just as beautiful, maybe even more so.

“That was so amazing. I want to be able to do that too. And this tree is perfect! I have never seen anything like it.” Ivy’s face was full of joy and excitement.

“I am glad you like it. Right now it is one of a kind. Though I think I will take a seed with me when we leave. I am particularly fond of this one.” I let out a large sigh. I have not been this drained for such a long time. “Did you understand how to divide the power so you can do these exercises?”

“Yes I did, though I have a few questions about how you combined those two plants.”

“I will answer them in a little while. But first I need to meditate and regain my strength.” I did my best to keep my smile on the inside. It seems Ivy did not notice the last part of my efforts. The show was really just beginning. “Please go wait with Istan and Leafia. Our other companions should be here soon. When they arrive, take them to this place. We will camp here for the night.”