Is symbiosis the state nature strives for?

  That was the question that Aloe kept asking herself as she looked at her apparently eldest daughter and the tree that enveloped them. Both entities were born out of symbiosis between many species and resulted in a new, greater one. The World Tree was a unique specimen, but the same couldn't be said for the dryads. They were all products of symbiosis, but there wasn't one identical to another. To what extent were they their own species and how they could combine with others it was a question that troubled her yet and, at the same time, excited her greatly.

  An enthusiasm overtook her. A scholarly endeavor that her mind ached to resolve. But alas, she knew it was not the time. There were many things she had to do. And if she remained here with the dryads, she feared she would forget her quest, and she couldn't allow that to happen; not now that she was capable of fulfilling it.

  For now, she took a deep breath and proposed to make the most out of this night, of the little yet arbitrary time she had.

  "Are you aware if other evolved plants or mine have survived?" The Mother of Plants asked her daughter.

  "Beyond the ones you have beheld already, could I suggest the Cottonpull, the Myriad, the Thousand Cuts, and the Flourishing Spring?" Aleahilhahiba dutifully informed.

  "Those I know of already." And now it makes sense why everyone knew their names. Aloe eyed the single Aloe Veritas resting in the middle of the liminal hollow space of the World Tree. "Are these all that have survived?"

  To be fair, there weren't many more remaining. The first ones that came to her mind were the Moonlight's Tooth and the Grace's Exaltation, though she would be more than happy if that latter one just disappeared from existence. It didn't… bring good memories.

  "There is one plant atop the World Tree if you would like to check it." The lichen dryad suggested, still with her hands full of Blossomflame seeds.

  "Please, lead the way." She gestured forward.

  "One moment please," Aleahilhahiba raised her occupied hands.

  A few minutes later a dryad appeared from the soil. How Aleahilhahiba had communicated with her was beyond Aloe, but she took the seeds out of the lichen dryad's hands. This new dryad was also different from the two she had named. Out of those two, this one was the most human-looking. Perhaps the face was not quite there, but the body proportions were perfect. It certainly helped that she was wearing something akin to a dress as massive white petals similar to those of tulips covered her body.

  "Please, carry and seed them. These are seeds charged with magic made by our very mother." The lichen dryad told so to the white dress dryad, the younger one accepting the seeds as if she had been blessed.

  The white dress dryad lingered for a moment on Aloe, practically begging with her eyes to be named as the eldest daughter had been, but the Mother of Plants stood firm. If she were to name another one, there would be more. And she didn't have the time. With a hint of disappointment, the young dryad left back where she came from.

  For their way toward the upper half of the World Tree, they no longer trod the insides of the trunk. The ter'nar – unlike the Nature's Bounty – wasn't porous or laden with cracks, making navigation through the tree difficult if not outright impossible.

  Aleahilhahiba guided her through an opening of the bark wall that led to the outside. Only because the sun had set could she see the stars, and even then, the massive canopy hid most of them.

  "It's quite windy up here," Aloe commented as she stepped into the scaffolding. Like the balcony they had visited before, it was manufactured with the dryads, yet it felt oddly in line with nature as if it had grown that way.

  "It will only get stronger the higher we go, oh mother. Will that be an issue?"

  "What do you think?" The Mother of Plants looked over the dryad's shoulder even if she was shorter than the sapient symbiont.

  "Foolish question," Aleahilhahiba answered it herself.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  The winds did, indeed, get stronger the further upwards they moved, but Aloe was heavy enough that she didn't need to use her preternatural abilities to fight it off just yet. The same couldn't be said for her daughter. Aleahilhahiba wielded the sense stance to increase her sense of balance, even if it cost her other physical attributes.

  Soon the path of sturdy scaffoldings stopped as it led atop the trunk. Whilst the lower half of the World Tree was upright as any other tree, the same couldn't be said for the ter'nar's half as it coiled around like a snake. However, it must be noted that it didn't coil as much as it once had when it was just a tree of arcane yet normal size.

  The clefts on the bark of this colossal being were so big that they formed passageways that had walls as tall as five meters in height at some depressions in the trunk. This made it ideal to literally walk up to the canopy of the World Tree, but that was also true for the wind.

  Powerful wind currents formed in these tunnels; currents violent enough to threaten any form of life from their sheer strength.

  Except Aloe, of course.

  Aleahilhahiba wasn't the exception, and it became clear the longer time went on as her pace slowed to a crawl.

  "Is it always this way?" Aloe spoke loudly to let herself be heard over the deafening wind.

  "Y-yes," the lichen dryad spoke with difficulty. More because the wind was getting on her mouth rather than physically ailing like a human would. "It is my fault, o-oh mother. Whilst I am able to accomplish these treks up to the canopy, they are m-mighty endeavors that can take up to days."

  "I don't have days." The eldest daughter simply looked to the ground with sadness upon hearing her mother's words. "Get close to me, Aleahilhahiba."

  The dryad obeyed but that didn't stop her from asking once she had fulfilled the order. "What are you going to do, oh mother?"

  Aloe smiled warmly and uttered three concise words. "Reach the canopy."

  In one blink, Aleahilhahiba was being carried in her arms. She was heavier than a human of her size would be, but that affected Aloe not.

  In the next blink, they were soaring through the sky.

  The Mother of Plants had changed to potency for the briefest of moments for the initial take-off, but once they were airborne, she switched back to glamour. Once upon a time, she would have needed acuity to not flail around helplessly in the air, but now she had perfect control even with a passenger in her arms.

  Even with her elevated physical attributes, Aloe couldn't quite reach the top of the tree with a standstill jump. And thank the heavens for that, otherwise, she would have taken a lot of branches with her, and when the branches were bigger and heavier than buildings… She feared what would happen to the people on the ground.

  With a series of micro-jumps and slight contortions of her body, she reached the canopy of the World Tree in less than a minute having stopped in a colossal branch that was wider than even the bazaar of Sadina.

  Still without letting her daughter go, she asked her. "Where is this plant you talked about?"

  "On the very center point of the canopy," Aleahilhahiba responded, and her voice was nearly drowned by the rustling of leaves even if she was next to her and her hearing could catch the events back on the base of the tree.

  But those leaves… When one looked at one of them it made sense that they drowned any sound because they were as big as blankets. Aloe was already aware that ter'nar leaves were as unique as the tree itself, but when they were bigger than oneself, that detail became even more obvious.

  Ter'nar leaves - apart from the obvious blue – were round and deprived of midribs. That already made them peculiar, but then their veins and venules twisted and turned into spirals, a pattern that couldn't be seen in any other tree. At least up to her rather advanced botanical knowledge.

  Having inspected the leaves enough in the glorious span of nine seconds, Aloe hopped to the root of the diverging branches whilst expertly dodging the many branches and leaves that came into their path.

  They landed on a colossal – there was just not another epithet to describe the World Tree – platform that was completely covered by all sides, almost feeling like its own protected world. Atop of them was the blue canopy. Beneath them was the sturdy trunk. At their sides were ashen branches thicker than houses. But most importantly, at the center of the platform lay a tree.

  It was a familiar sight yet unnervingly different.

  The tree had the brown bark of any other tree, but its trunk was coiled, and its leaves were blue like the ter'nar. Even trunk was a misnomer. The tree had a thick stump for its lower half, and from that stump grew nine other trees of thinner trunks. Those nine were the ones that coiled. There was an enthralling symmetry to them as they coiled around an invisible tree that would be there if the stump continued growing into an actual tree, meaning that no miniature tree collided against any of its brethren except for their lush canopies, and they maintained parallel to each other.

  Aloe left her daughter on the ground – or rather the trunk of the World Tree – and approached the odd sight. The canopy already had a mystical and arcane aura to it, but that was compounded by the eerie sight of the tree. It was almost like a… fusion of what the Na'mul Ter'nar and the Nature's Bounty could be.

  As she took her slow steps toward the ninefold canopied tree, a new Aloe Veritas had grown on her hand. She ripped it out of its base and dyed the brown bark with its ink. The succulent's leaf surface shifted and a moment later it read:

  Species: Pilgrim of Mutations

  Sobriquet: Chlorotrophy

  Description: An evolved member of the Fabaceae family, a species known for its ability to change into its surroundings or unrelated flora.

  Alignment: Life, Chaos

  Gloria (she gifted me such a loving drawing!)