Chapter 15: Warmth

The planty dancer's reappearance was as surprising for Sue as it was appreciated, wide eyes giving way to a soft, giddy smile as she eyed out the offering consisting of another peach-like fruit presently held in one of their large, leaf-like hands. Barring Solstice and Sundance, they were the closest to her height out of everyone she'd met so far, the pink bloom that sprouted out from their forehead at eye level with the former human, the few missing inches of height partially made up by them attempting to stand on the tips of their yellow feet immediately afterwards, Sue's attempt to replicate that motion accomplishing nothing except making her briefly lose her balance. While she didn't end up needing it, the stranger's wordless readiness to help the moment it looked like she was about to trip over was deeply appreciated.

"Oh, sure! Thank you!"

To Sue's surprise, her speaking up seemed to take them aback more than her almost losing her balance, to a literal extent even, their white and purple legs backing up a step before they gathered enough composure to speak up again, much of the enthusiasm in their voice replaced with uncertainty-

"Y-you talk?"

The younger Forest Guardian blinked a couple times in response to the nervous question, very unsure about what was going on herself all of a sudden-

"Yeah! I-I don't know the language, and now Sundance is helping translate me."

Sue's remark had the dancer look with uncertainty over in the firefox's direction, with their gaze running into Solstice instead, the not-Mayor having no more of an idea of the reason behind the change in their emotional outlook than her pupil, speaking out loud shortly afterwards-

"Is everything alright Lilly?"

"I-"

As the freshly christened plant lady gathered her words, Sue felt uncertainty and a bit of worry start welling up inside of their thought process, wanting to help with it despite not knowing where it came from, prompting with the simple and unlikely to offend gesture of reaching her free hand for her to shake, putting on as confident of a smile as she herself was capable of-

"It's very nice to meet you Lilly! Thank you for the berries earlier."

Despite Sue having little confidence the outstretched hand would accomplish anything but confuse Lilly even further, her reaction was marked and positive, much of her nerves waning afterwards as she walked over closer- before interpreting the younger Forest Guardian's gesture as an awkward hug and going for it, her smooth, leafy body warm and firm in its embrace. Lack of any heartbeat Sue could feel was a bit odd, but that was the least of her concerns in the moment, the two mostly green beings soon completing their awkward, but no less tender as a result hug.

"N-Nice meet you too. I... I think you not talk, a-and... not care me not talk good."

Even with the ongoing translation, Lilly turned out to be a bit trickier to understand than expected, the most likely culprit of her not being experienced with the village's language making Sue's smile all that much more warmer and empathetic, the once human nodding approvingly-

"Oh it's absolutely okay, I'm still learning the language too!"

Contrary to what Sue expected though, her reassurance fell completely flat, Lilly feeling more withdrawn afterwards if anything, twitching as if to withdraw herself from the hug before thankfully reconsidering and attempting to explain again-

"No no, I- I know language, I understand. But... words, using words, very hard. F-for me. I sorry."

"Wh-why are you sorry? You didn't do anything wrong, you still were really nice to me earlier and now with the berries."

As much as Sue wanted to reassure Lilly that everything was alright- and it was- she couldn't say she wasn't curious about just what did the planty dancer mean by words being hard for her- though that curiosity was probably best left for some other time, Sue's priorities in the moment resting squarely on making sure Lilly was alright and not feeling bad with herself. Said goal was fortunately well underway after her most recent reassurance, Lilly's head and thoughts alike perking up in response- which combined with the younger Forest Guardian's firm nods doing away at any remaining doubt, finally managed to reassure the flower girl that there was nothing wrong with her and that the subject of her earlier teasing absolutely didn't mind her being a bit awkward with words, the joy expressed with another, much tighter hug.

Almost too tight in fact, the flimsy leaf arms putting out surprising amounts of force as they wrapped around Sue's thin body, almost managing to crush her breath out of her lungs before Lilly realized she accidentally went too hard and eased out. Her headspace briefly shifted towards apology before deciding to enact it though a much more gentle hug instead- and Sue was absolutely not opposed to this one, gently patting her back all the while, mostly as a result of not knowing whether any other spots around her body were appropriate to touch.

"Sorry! Just- happy you not care me not talk good."

"It's all good- phew- I sure wasn't expecting you to be this strong though."

Sue's remark had Lilly break into whistly giggling, letting go of the Forest Guardian before lifting her arms as if to flex them, the elongated leaves completely flat throughout the process. The brief absence of a flex was then followed up with her throwing the fruit up before repeating her green glowy arm slice technique from earlier in the day, intercepting both halves with her arms and carefully grabbing them both before offering one each to both Sue and Joy, balancing herself on the tip of one foot throughout this entire process.

"Yes! Very strong. I help farm! Want see?"

Both of the gift recipients expressed their approval of that idea with a firm nod each, Joy's more limited perspective quickly getting fixed by the virtue of Lilly physically picking the toothy one up as if she weighed nothing and holding her in her arms as she turned towards the vast mixed use farmland. Right as Sue was about to speak up in concern about Joy getting scared, the girl's own reaction was a more positive kind of surprise, even the fruit in her small hands becoming a distant second concern as she used her new vantage point for all it was worth.

Lilly was much too eager to show off to even think of stopping- though that didn't mean she didn't wait for Sue to finish walking her way over to the nearest unharvested fruit tree, stalling for time through the means of running, spinning, and dancing circles around Sue, much to her and even Joy's amusement. Though throws were quickly tossed off, the whine of fear that went through the toothy one in response to being thrown up a few feet into the air before being harmlessly received by the same excited flower girl that had thrown her loud and clear enough for Lilly to get the message.

"Sorry! Here is, need clean this tree now."

The cart that rested next to the tree in question provided an answer as to where Sue and Joy's current gift came from, a handful of the not-peaches peeking out from underneath the mound of yellow, spotted fruit that was piling up on top of it- the same kind of fruit that Lilly had to harvest another tree's worth of now, the task looking daunting at the best of times. At least it would've been if she wasn't privy to a secret farming trick of kicking the trunk of the tree very, very hard- or at least that's how it looked and sounded, her long legs seemingly capable of outputting the same dumbfounding strength as her arms- if not much, much more on behalf of them looking incomparably less flimsy.

Lilly sure ate her broccoli, hah. Or maybe she was half broccoli, who knows with the weird plant-like fauna here.

Regardless of the exact kind of Superpower that fueled Lilly's kick, it was sufficient in strength to separate the tree from most of its spoils and visibly shake the soil around it, the actual plant looking almost like it only stayed in one piece by the sheer force of Lilly's will. That was far from over though- fruit in the dirt isn't any more useful than fruit on top on a branch far high up in the air, and Lilly was well aware, about to dive right into more of her show off before remembering that she was currently holding a toddler, slowing her motions down to a comical degree as she lowered Joy down onto a spot next to her, patted her front head a couple times- and then got into it.

Yellow shoe-like feet and green leaf-like arms alike were little more than a blur as Lilly tossed each individual fruit off the ground and into the cart, sparing no effort to show off her dexterity throughout- spins, cartwheels, backflips, a couple more splits just for the hell of it- her demonstration had it all, just as much of it as it had glances back in Sue's direction to keep track on the Forest Guardian's live reaction. Reaction that initially started out dumbfounded at all the sudden motion but quickly switched tracks into cheers and encouragement, Lilly's little dance routine pushing her ever closer to victory over a hearty pile of inanimate fruit with each step, and Sue couldn't get enough of it.

Once the fruit on the dirt was gathered up, the process involving moving the cart a couple times around the tree, Lilly managing to do so each time without looking like she even needed to put any effort into dragging what was by now a heaping pile of fruit almost twice her height, her focus could shift towards the few stragglers that still held on for dear life to their branches. A couple quick hops up the tree later, Lilly was already standing on the largest branch, applying the daintiest of stomps to each individual straggler's branch one by one, and every time it looked like the branch only barely survived in the aftermath of that. A couple times there wasn't even that saving almost, the couple fruit-bearing parts of the tree that did break each giving the dancer a noticeable, self conscious pause, though fortunately not one she couldn't overcome at seeing Sue's enthusiasm for the umpteenth time.

As Lilly was wrapping the showoff up, Sue reminded herself that despite the entirety of her attention being localized to the child next to her and probably-not-a-child busy pulling off anime moves on top of the tree in front of her, they weren't alone in here, a glance over her shoulder revealing what the two older women were up to. Solstice looked like by far the more responsible one, busy chatting with a large white cotton sphere with something small and green-yellow hanging off from its side, and a massive, mostly blue quadruped Sue had a hard time finding any similar beings she was more familiar to compare it with. Orange bits on its face and limbs, a handful of large, black fins on the top and back of it body, white belly- none of those added up to anything she was familiar with, but thankfully their size was the only intimidating thing about them, their vocalizations on the more quiet end the few times they contributed to the ongoing conversation.

Meanwhile, Sundance was standing a few feet away, munching on a freshly nabbed yellow fruit, no less enthralled by Lilly's demonstration than Sue herself was.

With the last of the fruits placed in the cart, it was time to wrap up the show, Sue's focus returning back onto the farmer right as she finished climbing to the top of the tree, stopping in place for the first time in minutes as she spread her arms wide and closed her eyes... and jumped, hitting no less than four frontflips in one leap before capping it off with yet another split and as deep of a bow from her down to earth position as she could manage.

That was the easiest 10 in Sue's life, and all she needed was a large piece of paper, a charcoal stick, and an hour to explain the decimal number system to convey that fact- that, or just words.

"Th-that was awesome!"

Much to Sue's astonishment, Lilly took her glowing review very, very literally, the dancer closing her eyes before most of her head and arms became surrounded in a pale white glow, much more intense than any telekinesis she'd seen so far, a moment of doubt filling Sue's mind at the sight- and then, as abruptly as it began, it was over, Lilly left suddenly much weaker and panting quietly.

"L-Lilly, are you alright?"

The concern in her voice caught attention of both the question's recipient and Sundance, the latter about to respond before Lilly took the task of reassurance upon herself, standing back up in one swift motion and dashing up to Sue- not before taking one of the freshly harvested fruits for herself, the resulting bite revealing her mouth to be in the usual spot, but small and very, very well hidden.

"Yeah! You like?"

"I- It was amazing, I-I could keep on watching for ages, but what was that glow?"

"Synthesis."

Sundance's interjection had Lilly agreeing emphatically while internally being thankful she didn't have to be the one to explain how it worked, instead simply pointing one arm up at the only half-figurative fruits of her effort, dozens of tiny, whitish buds now covering the branches, some of them Sue swore she could just barely see grow in real time.

"Wait, are these- are these already flower buds?"

"Yep. Bit of coaxing and nutrients and trees don't mind flowering again one bit- am I understanding it right Lilly?"

"Yeah, now they grow fruit again. More fruit to pick up in week. Everyone hungry, we need food!"

Sue had the hardest time figuring out whether this was actually how even normal trees in her world worked and she just was too much of a city girl to know, or whether this place had managed to solve the world hunger by the simple means of just telling trees to flower again with a bit of applied pretty plant lady magic, eventually tentatively settling on the latter, the implications of that fact impactful right away-

"D-does that mean you have as much food as you want?"

"Pretty much."

"Hehe- you not see that before?"

Sue could only shake her head in dumbfounded confusion, glance downwards revealing Joy to be feeling much the same about the freshly demonstrated act, in both being impressed by how most of it went and stupefied at how it ended.

"I understand you not see Joy, you very small! But you not too..."

It was at this point, halfway through picking Joy back up into her arms, that Lilly finally reminded herself of the rather crucial fact of having forgotten to ask the nice not-mute-in-the-end Forest Guardian for her name in the end, the firefox sage barking out a chuckle as she elucidated the confusion, walking over to the rest of the group-

"Her name is Sue, Lilly."

"Sue! Good know, nice name. Sue- you not see that before?"

"No, I haven't, that's- that's amazing! How did you all figure that out?"

"Figure what. Synthesis?"

"I-I think so- does it make the trees bloom again like that?"

By now, both Lilly and Sundance were confused at the unclear wording of Sue's question, though the latter had ways of overcoming that uncertainty and wasted no time in putting them to good use, the Forest Guardian blinking a couple times as her thoughts got a closer look, the source of confusion thankfully revealing itself to the vixen-

"Oh, I see what Sue was getting at. Berry trees bloom multiple times throughout the year on their own Sue, and Synthesis just helps speed that process up a lot, did I get that right Lilly?"

"Yeah! With not, one moon in warm, never in cold, but with, one week in warm, one moon in cold. Help many, help more with good ground. And-"

Lilly paused briefly to look around her immediate surroundings, thankfully spotting not just one but both beings she was thinking of in that moment, turning towards the small group Solstice was chatting with before whistling towards them, the friendly wave making first the cottonball, and then everyone else come over closer. That former moniker was turned out to be only partially true- sure, they were in part a sphere of cotton the size of a beach ball with a bunch of small seeds scattered in it, but with the small, greenish part containing their eyes and mouth, it probably made more sense to think of that part as their "true" body, and of all the white fluff as... hair? Growth?

Step aside Thistle, your pastel wizard hat has some serious competition when it comes to the title of the weirdest ""hair"" she'd seen in this world.

Before Sue could get any more distracted by hoping that the tiny hat-creature and the black fox were alright after their sudden departure a couple days ago, cottonball's voice speaking up took her attention away from that train of thought, sounding as smooth, and as quiet as a breeze, the Forest Guardian particularly thankful for the ongoing translation-

"Is something the matter, Lilly?"

The voice was old, unusually dry for a plant, and very patient, its speaker's relatively ancient age made even clearer by them closing their eyes immediately afterwards as they listened in.

"Mr. Equinox, I tell Sue about how we grow here, and how you help make good ground. And you too High Tide!"

The followup had the blue quadruped answer with a dry chuckle, shaking their head as they clarified-

"I only help with irrigation sweetie. No less important of course, but soil quality is all Equinox."

Right as both Lilly and Equinox were about to speak up, High Tide followed up, her voice croaky and more than a bit worried-

"Though, irrigation is our biggest concern right now."

"How long do you think until we'll have to expand our waterways, High Tide?" - Solstice's question had the blue-orange frog? firmly shake her head, looking pensively towards the increasingly pitiful stream that sated the thirst of all the plantlife growing here that flanked the plot of soil they were standing on.

"Just expanding it won't do anything. We'll need to move the farms way downstream sooner or later, we're pushing the limits of our stream and could probably stand to shrink the land we have right now to leave us with more of a buffer just in case."

That wasn't an answer Solstice would've liked to hear, but it was a truthful one all the same, leaving the not-mayor in a thoughtful mood as the cottonball chimed in-

"Taking a closer look at all the individual varieties we are cultivating will certainly prove helpful. I can think of at least three crops whose bulk inevitably circles around to the compost pile, and just doing away with those and the thirstiest ones should be sufficient to bring us back to safety for the time being, no?"

"For now, yes. Though if we keep growing at the rate we do now we'll need another effort like that in as little as a couple years, and I can't see it getting any easier then, we need a longer term plan."

"We also ought to ensure that any such plan is considerate enough. Even if we are capable of reaching far downstream, it is far from unlikely we inadvertently end up rubbing shoulders with someone less than pleased about our arrival there. Or, more likely, that we underestimate the scope of such an endeavor in one aspect or another."

Solstice remained quiet for the most part, taking in the information one bit at a time and trying to work through its implications, eventually admitting internal defeat.

"I and Equinox can bring it up at the Elders' Council- you're right, High Tide, we need a plan, only so long we can keep doing things the way the founders did a century ago."

"Thankfully we still have time aplenty before it gets dire, but best get that done while we can do so calmly."

"Indubitably. I would rather avoid straining the soil any further than we already are, more land will help with that concern as well."

As the trio mentally reset following reaching an agreement as to how to steer their village out of the way of a possible ecological crisis, they realized that they've been having a bit of an audience for the last few moments, most everyone else around staring at them blankly with the sole exception of Lilly, the dancer chiming in with her own question-

"Mrs. High Tide! How far down river to more water?"

The blue one took a moment to parse the exact intent of Lilly's question before sighing quietly- this was the hitch of the whole thing, wasn't it.

"Last time I swam over to scout- our stream joins the larger river a couple days of march away, at that point it'd be less of "our" farm and more so its whole separate settlement that provides us with food, sooner or later. Hard to solve..."

"Which is why more voices will help a lot~ thank you for your expertise Equinox, High Tide."

"You are most welcome Solstice~."

"Eeyup. We can figure it out, even if the transition will be rough- we've survived worse. Oh, Lilly, is that the girl Soot has been teasing you the whole day about?"

The attention being suddenly drawn back to Sue snapped her out of passively taking in the informed discussion happening around her, both her and Lilly suddenly exploding in bright embarrassment at the irrigation specialist bringing that up.

"I not know what you mean-"

"Yessss you do~"

The rustly, croaky voice sent a cold chill down Sue's spine as she turned around on the spot to face the responsible being- which turned out to be the same being that initially tipped Lilly off to Sue having made her way over to here. The glowing holes in the lower half of its body resembled a face, but a second look revealed the actual source of the voice to be immediately underneath a plume of orange growth from its tip- though the real and fake face alike were smiling, the former far more mischievously, the creature putting only minimum effort in concealing it behind an orange arm.

"Soot! Why you sneak!?"

"Because it'sss very funny to watch your reactionssss~."

Soot's words had a bit of an ethereal feel to them, not unlike when Hazel spoke, though as opposed to the grump of a ghost, Soot felt much more light hearted in their teasing, even if she was no less effective at flustering her target, Lilly left grumble-whistling as she searched for words. As weird as it felt to be used as a subject of teasing, Sue wasn't gonna leave Lilly to dry in here, taking a couple clumsy steps over and patting her shoulder for reassurance, one that was much appreciated right away.

"Adorable~. Though I can't imagine work isss the best sssspot for a date~."

"NOT DATE!"

As immense as the fluster that underlined Lilly's shouted denial was, Sue couldn't say to be faring any better, entirely unsure what to do in response to the knowledge that she was currently on a date, no matter how obvious the revelation was in hindsight.

"Denial won't get you far Lillssss~."

"SH-SHUT!"

"No~. I'd sssay you two head off and enjoy the evening together~."

"B-but- harvest-"

"Oh Lillssss, you really thought I wasss gonna be a wingwoman for you just to have you sssslump away with the harvest all evening? You go have fun with your crush, I'll take care of thisss~."

"SHE NOT-"

Lilly didn't even manage to complete that thought, unable to put words to such an obvious lie in any remotely believable way, eventually grumbling out loud and noticeably deflating, Sue still stuck in a mental bluescreen, her expression completely blank.

"You're good at many thingssss Lillssss, but a liar you're not~. Off you go now ya dorkssss~."

As respectable of a job as Solstice and especially Sundance were doing of trying to keep themselves from laughing out loud at the exchange in front of them, Soot's final reply broke the dam for both of them, more and more embarrassment flooding Sue's mind even with how good spirited their amusement was, the Forest Guardian left to repeatedly attempt to come up with something to say and fail miserably every time. Thankfully, Lilly was there to snap her out of her mental freeze, grumbling out loud before moving the giggling Joy into one arm and grabbing Sue's hand with the other one, the gentle yank direly away from the snickering pumpkin finally getting the once human to follow along, the rest of the band not far behind as they all headed Duck knows where.

It took both Lilly and Sue alike a few minutes to calm down enough to be capable of processing anything more than embarrassment, especially with the intermittent chuckles coming from the duo of the older women that trailed behind them, and, in Sue's case, the fact of her hand being held by someone who was actively crushing on her.

And her not being opposed to that fact one bit.

"I-is that true, Lilly?"

The flower girl didn't even have to respond for the answer to that question to be crystal clear to Sue's sight and sixth sense alike, the burning flustered flame accompanied by Lilly flinching in place, her grip on Sue's hand waning as she looked away as if struck. Understandable as her reaction was, it was the polar opposite of what Sue wanted to happen, immediately speaking back up-

"Oh it's all good Lilly, promise! I-"

It was much too early to say how much Sue could be said to earnestly share Lilly's feelings on the matter, but if nothing else she was really eager to find out, holding the planty dancer's hand much more firmly as she hobbled along beside her.

"I think it's really sweet of you. And-"

Good Duck, did she never think it'd be her time to say these words, especially to a creature that looked like it was much more of a plant than it was an animal, if it was any of the latter at all. Since when were plants allowed to be so cute, Duckdammit!?

"I'm down for a date!"

Lilly's reaction was instantaneous, and almost strong enough to topple Sue to the ground- but only almost, her firm, forceful hug pressing her white face into Sue's shoulder, the yellow petals sprouting from her neck tickling the Forest Guardian enough to send her into giggles as her and Joy's brain played catchup, the toothy girl finding herself suddenly hugging her big friend once more- and just like Sue, didn't mind that arrangement one bit.

"Th-thank, thank, thank..."

Sue's giggles made Lilly squirm as the taller of the two tried responding in a more affectionate way, three fingered hand gently patting the flower girl's head next to the gorgeous bloom that took up its sizable chunk, its aroma even more pleasant in the moment, especially as Sue's affection continued, her magical touch to the back of Lilly's head and neck proving to be super effective.

"It's my pleasure Lilly. F-first time anything like that happened to me, hah..."

"What! Not believe."

The conviction in Lilly's voice took Sue aback, the once human having no idea why would that be such an unbelievable thing to say-

"Why not?"

"You nice! To sister, to me, to Joy most! You brave, help Spark. Morning I- I think have not chance i-if you can speak."

...oh man.

As soon as Sue thought she was getting some semblance of a grip on her own fluster, that hope was yanked right out from underneath her, Lilly's apparent sky high opinion of her leaving her mumbling for a few moments before getting the idea to steer the topic away from herself with a smirk-

"You really owe Soot one, eh?"

The toothy girl found the quip especially amusing, her dry laughter soon spreading to the other two almost unwittingly, even Lilly's grumbling having to give way to amusement at the accuracy of Sue's point and Joy's reaction.

"Yes, yes... she right. I thank her tomorrow."

The swerve away from herself helped Sue regain composure, the sensation of Lilly's hand in hers bringing an involuntary smile to her face as the two marched forwards, neither sure where they were heading as they made it through the sparse village outskirts-

"Lilly, where are ya going?"

-and if not for Sundance's intervention, they would've likely kept on going like this for hours, the firefox's words finally making Lilly take a look around and assess her surroundings.

"Uh. Not know. Sorry."

It felt like Sundance's lungs wouldn't be spared any reprieve today, the mystic breaking into a bellowing laughter for Duck knows which time today, appreciating it so, so much more than the dark gloom of all of yesterday and today's morning, laying a hand on both dorks' shoulders as she caught up with them-

"Well! High time we start heading over for festivities, the sun's about to start setting. And with Sue taking her time- mind running ahead and grabbing seats for us all Lilly? Might be a while before we get there."

A part of Sue wanted to object to that, less so because of herself getting the not at all unearned blame for their slowness, and more so because that meant Lilly would be somewhere else until they all caught up. The dancer felt much the same, but with the important addition of possibly being able to prove her worth and even do something nice for Sue- she didn't care about having a seat or not, but Sue sure looked like she'd need one, and Lilly didn't mind waiting a little bit.

"Okay!"

Before Sue, or Joy for that matter, could get a word in edgewise, the dancer was already well off on her way to her destination, the little one still in her arms, Sue's free hand involuntarily reaching out after her only to then slowly droop as Lilly dashed behind the nearest building, each individual leap of her sprint covering good few meters. A few more very warm pats from Sundance snapped her out of any funk that could've threatened to start forming, the smirk that graced the vixen's mouth making the once human look away in fluster.

"How did it go again? 'Don't swing that way?'"

Sue's low grumble brought not a small amount of amusement to both Sundance and Solstice alike, the latter only now having caught up with the rest of the group, taking the initiative to pull her pupil into a light side hug, the gesture as tingly as it was comforting.

"Oh don't be embarrassed Sue, these things can take a while and a couple good opportunities to really solidify- I didn't even know I could have a thing for boys until I met Jasper."

Even if that wasn't how Sue thought Solstice's words were gonna go, their point was true all the same- and it's not like she wasn't well aware of her utter absence of good romantic opportunities back in her home world with her home body, she could stand to give herself some slack. Though on a second thought, it's not like these were her thoughts making her all embarrassed either-

"I- I think I'm more embarrassed because you two k-keep ribbing us..."

"...can you blame us?"

No, Sundance, I can't, doesn't mean it's any less flustering to process.

The unspoken response sent a wave of amusement through the psychic trio as they got up and going again, Solstice taking the lead as they started to head further into the village, Sue not being excluded from this wave of giggling helping greatly in keeping her embarrassment down. The next few moments were spent in well needed silence, both older women getting any remaining mirth out of their systems as they grounded themselves with deep breaths while Sue regained composure, Sundance's immediate companionship even warmer than Lilly's, if in an entirely different way.

"^So, you've got me curious now- do fruit trees where you're from not bloom several times a year?^"

The change in subject to something much more grounded helped Sue in regaining her composure further, not-monstrous butterflies vacating her stomach as they were replaced by stirring thoughts in her head. She couldn't say in earnest she knew anything concrete about the non-digital world with absolute, 100% certainty, but it wasn't what Sundance was looking for here either, the once human getting to explaining-

"Yeah, as far as I know all plants only bloom once a year i-in my world."

"^Don't your people have any invention or process to help with their growth?^"

"There are fertilizers, yeah, but they only help with yields, not with how fast the plants grow."

Now that was a curious observation for Sundance and Solstice alike, the latter slowing down to rejoin the bulk of their impromptu group before adding in her own observation-

"^If one harvest a year is all you get, you likely need a ton of farmland and storage...^"

"Mhm- I was really surprised by how small your farm was before you explained that part to me, I-I don't think that would've been enough to feed a village ten times smaller than this."

The remark had the two natives of this world glance at each other before looking back at Sue, Sundance coming forth with the obvious question first-

"^How... big are the farms in your world?^"

How big was England again?

"From horizon to horizon, they're big enough to take up most of the space in farming regions."

The answer only resulted in yet more confusion, a large unanswered question suddenly being brought to light in a very stark way, the vixen blurting it out loud out in dumbfounded shock-

"J-just how big is your world Sue?"

"I- what do you mean?"

"^How massive is your town to necessitate having such vast swaths of land dedicated to just growing crops?^"

"It's not just a town, it's everywhere!"

"^What!?^"

It was hard to say which of the three was the most confused at the way the discussion devolved, Sue trying her absolute hardest to think through just what was being so confusing to grasp for the two intelligent women- and then, the realization hit her across the head.

To them, "society" was this village and a handful of other, distant towns.

To her, "society" was the entire planet.

"Okay, I think I know what's the misunderstanding. My- my people, humans, they aren't just in like one area of the world, or a handful of towns, they're everywhere, we live on our entire world. Every land mass has peo- humans living on it, and controlling all of it."

Every revelation either of them had about the other's world was dwarfed by Sue's admission to such a comical degree that neither Solstice nor Sundance had any idea how to immediately respond to that except by staring at Sue, eyes as wide as they got. For a few tense moments, it almost looked like the once-human had managed to completely brick their minds with that simple, but astounding revelation, Sundance eventually being the first to show any signs of life by looking down at the grassy dirt of the path they were now blocking. The increasingly orange light of the sunset illuminated her dumbfounded gaze as it continued to leap from side to side, the vixen's mind trying to comprehend all the implications of what she'd just heard.

"^...how- how many. Of your people.^"

The vixen's body stared down on the ground as Sue slunk off to the side to clear the path, her answer as clear to state as it was utterly impossible to fully comprehend-

"A-almost eight billion."

"^E-eight... thousand... thousand... thousand...^"

Every single word of that estimation represented a leap in size of sophistication of a population that was nigh impossible to comprehend to those whose lives revolved around the scale of the previous ones. Just as few animals banding together in a single burrow was a massive step up from a forced solitary existence in almost every way, so would their village likely completely blow the minds of said burrowful of critters, so would a city of several million be complex and intricate way beyond what anyone living here thought was possible to ever accomplish- and the full extent of Sue's civilization was another leap in scale up from that still.

Each of those jumps represented profound changes to every single aspect of the everyday lives of the beings that inhabited them, and the exponential increase of complexity of most of them. Hunting on one's lonesome, versus stockpiling food as a group, versus division of labor, dedicated farmers and cooks, versus the existence of specialized distribution networks purely for the purpose of moving food from mind-bendingly vast fields to hungry mouths, versus an intricate tapestry of a planet-spanning trade network, in which months of the year were reduced to numbers on a spreadsheet and the crops' limitations when it came to tolerable climate and geography were details whose significance evaporated with the existence of global shipping.

Such complexity was quite literally incomprehensible for a singular mind- no person could ever be said to earnestly grasp the sheer vastness of a planet-spanning population like that, mortal minds weren't made for that- and yet, for a brief instant, Sundance almost accomplished that feat, her mind's eye staring at what felt like infinity for one enlightening moment before it too had to back down with a pounding headache, stunned silence giving way to woofed grumbling and trying to rub away the aching with her paws.

"^...I have... so many questions.^"

Sue almost felt rude for laughing at Sundance's eventual admission- but only almost, not saying no to a comeuppance like that, the vixen still much too stunned to even acknowledge the soft laughter. Before the firefox could formulate any of those questions, Solstice ended up cutting her off- her mind might have given up on trying to imagine how Sue's world could possibly work at the magnitude of around a million souls, but that didn't mean she was blind to all the implications of a supposedly global civilization like that-

"^W-what about other peoples? Do they live together with your people everywhere?^"

The truth that followed was far less incomprehensible than it was simply unimaginable, both women getting taken out of their pondering to stare at Sue as she truthfully spoke the words she was afraid to admit to ever since ending up here-

"Th-there aren't any other people, no other... thinking people, it's just humans."

"^Thinking as in-^" - Sundance tried to butt in, hoping she or Sue were just misunderstanding something-

"Thinking as in consciousness. Every other species in my world isn't conscious, they're just... animals."

Hearing words like that from anyone else would've been easily classified as hate speech- the belief that only one's own kin ever had sentience or morals was not an uncommon one out there in the wild, and many newcomers had to make a conscious effort to unlearn that way of thinking, and Sue clearly had no problems with treating other species as equals- which only made such a blunt assertion that more harder hitting. Was her world truly as nightmarish as she was painting it to be?

"^Do you kn-know for sure?^" - Solstice's question felt less like an honest inquiry and more like a plea, plea for such a vulgar fact to be merely a limitation of Sue's kin- plea that was dismissed shortly afterwards.

"I- no, I don't think so. We aren't psychics, there aren't any psychics in our world- but no other species seem to be capable of communication or building settlements like we are, and we've been trying to figure out if any of them are even close to us when it comes to intelligence, and from what I remember only one or two species came even slightly close."

It wasn't certainty, no- but it was as close for someone like Sue to be able to get to in the heat of the moment, the other two very carefully cramming that fact into their minds in such a way that it only ever touched the topic of Sue's world, the worries about that way of thinking infecting anywhere else in her mind making Solstice shiver.

"^I-I have no idea how to imagine a world like that, honestly. Back when I- when I grew up with my clan, that kind of attitude was definitely around and well, but even those that express it didn't really believe in it, it was just too easily disproved by stepping out of the borders of our settlement and looking around for even just a few moments... To hear it's the prevailing attitude in your world, and that it even could be correct is just... depressing, really.^"

Sue had a hard time thinking of how to respond to a claim like that- her world wasn't depressing! Actually no scratch that, it absolutely was depressing the more she thought about it, but it wasn't depressing because humans were the only sentient species, there were so many other much more valid reasons for its depressiveness!

"I... can't say I agree, even if I do prefer the diversity here."

The sombering subject didn't do any of them any good to think about for much longer, the group slowly resuming its march as Sundance came up with an inquiry that was much further on the intellectually stimulating side of confusing as opposed to more depression fodder, a blatant diversion tactic that she herself gladly acknowledged was merely just that-

"^So... to bring up something less... morbid to think about- how does housing work in your world? Where do these eight… billions of people sleep?^"

A question like that didn't have any singular answer, but it didn't need to either- Sue and Solstice alike getting to thinking even if the latter only kept coming up with supersized versions of buildings already in their village.

"It really depends, but for cities with millions of people it's mostly apartment buildings. Like this one over here, just stacked on top of itself." - The pointing finger that accompanied the explanation, indicating a rectangular stone building not unlike the one Sundance's dwelling was on top of, helped a fair bit, but not wholly, many details left unspoken-

"^I imagine these "apartment" buildings also have staircases to enable movement from one floor to another? How many floors are we talking about, two? Even three?^"

"Mostly elevators, but yes, stairs too. And no, much more- the one I grew up in was f-fifteen floorh, but there are many that are even bigger, like twenty or even thirty."

Partially to her own annoyance, Sundance had a harder time grasping how a singular building of that magnitude would look compared to the incomparably more detailed tapestry of Sue's world as a whole, the vixen stopping abruptly in place and reaching out with her paws to attempt to help herself visualize it all. One finger from each paw was outstretched horizontally, one where the building touched the ground and the other at its top, both from her perspective. Then, the upper finger was moved upwards by the same distance that initially separated it from the lower one to visualize another floor being added- and then another one, and another one, and on and on, the firefox's eyes going wide as her head craned upwards, the vixen running out of reach less than a dozen floors in, finding herself staring almost completely straight up by the time she was done visualizing even thirty floors.

"^...what the fuck. How?^"

"Do you get why we have dedicated building inspectors now?"

"^Dedicated what?^"

"^I think I'm starting to understand now, yeah...^"

It took Sundance a good few moments to start shaking that particular strand of confusion off, an attempt at imagining the sheer amount of raw material and stresses involved failing to such a comical extent that even she got the message to not try the second time, admitting defeat with her whole confused self, slumping forward a bit.

"^What did you mean by 'building inspectors'?^"

"Oh, they're just people that check on buildings that are being built and make sure they're safe and won't fal-AH!"

Before Sue could continue pretending to understand the field of structural engineering enough to comment on what went into building safety, she felt the feeble balance she could consistently maintain with her crutch being yanked out from underneath her, Solstice's intervention keeping Sue on her legs for long enough for the younger Forest Guardian to finish stabilizing herself, the entire trio trying to figure out what happened-

And finding their suspect in the form of a piece of wood sticking out of the wall of the building they passed by, a shred of Forest Guardian dress now helplessly fluttering from it in the evening breeze.

"^You alright Sue?^"

"Yes, yes- j-just annoying."

"^Sounds like you could use a trim then- oh good Moon you should get a trim, I hadn't realized how roughed up your dress was up until now.^"

A glance downwards revealed the aforementioned dress to be in a miserable state all around, even barring the two larger holes- stained with dirt and grass, messily tattered at the edges, almost crossing line into the territory of disgusting even, Sue only able to hope that nobody else has been paying much attention to it either, Lilly most of all. Still- Solstice's precise wording did take her aback a bit-

"T-trim? Like with scissors?

"^What? No, just a simple flint knife, I have one made just for this at my tent that I could grab for you. Though if we're doing that, you got to wash them first, and the rest of you won't hurt to be a bit cleaner either~.^"

Sue wasn't sure whether to be offended or not, trying to sniff herself some more and not picking up on anything particularly offensive- though all she needed to do was to just touch her crutch arm to realize that yes, she really should shower, she was sticky despite not remembering having sweat at any point in her extended involuntary visit in this world so far.

"Fine, fine- wh-where are the showers here?"

"^Showers? Unsure what those are, but I'm sure our baths can fill the same purpose- can you take her over there while I grab the knife Sundance?^"

"^Sure thing, let's all meet at the table Lilly grabs for us. Just don't try and drag me into the water with yourself Sue, hah.^"

With Solstice turning away from them and towards the quickly creeping sunset, Sue was just left with Sundance and her rather stern sounding remark, a bit worried what she'd hear when asking her to elaborate-

"W-would that hurt you?"

"^Oh no, no, it's just unpleasant, I prefer sand baths when possible- and annoyingly enough good clean sand like that is hard to find around here...^"

With any remaining tension getting defused with a chuckle, Sue could focus back on just walking ahead, the proximity to Sundance's bodily warmth making for a pleasant sensation throughout their evening stroll to the goal of making the once human less stinky- though, since it'd likely still be a while since they'd get to their destination, she could try to work through some of her own remaining conundrums on the nature of this world, starting with the biggest one that has persistently evaded being answered-

"So, Sundance... what is evolution?"