Dinner was completely mediocre, not that Bath was expecting anything better from the Ritus headquarters. Juserin, however, seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself.

Bath and crew decided to get settled down at the Ritus estate after dinner. Thankfully, the headquarters kept a few rooms reserved for guests, so Lisa, Bath, and Juserin were all afforded suites, while Juserin's servants returned to the voyager.

Bath waited patiently for everyone to return to their rooms to relax.

Lepochim was in the living room of the mansion and awaiting Bath's approach. He stood as Bath drew near.

"Lepochim," Bath said slowly, as though tasting the name in his mouth. "You are to watch this residence and prevent any from leaving.

"I may not fully understand your capabilities, but I believe...I have a general idea." Bath had already sent essence to probe Lepochim's entire body, the next best thing aside from devouring him. "Don't give me reason to distrust you a second time."

Bath changed the lighting in the room with his essence to make himself seem to fade into the shadows. The moonlight was left only illuminating his gleaming eyes and flashing teeth.

Lepochim nodded, stoic expression on his face. "I'll be here."

Bath suddenly vanished in a cloud of smoke that almost instantly blew away in an illusory breeze. Lepochim knew it was showmanship, but still felt unnerved.

Bath loved the night; it provided the perfect cover for movement. It was under the shroud of darkness that Bath set off for a nearby destination. Bath had set a possibly crazy plan in motion before he'd left, and was rather happy to find that he'd been able to return within his eight allotted days. Things could've been messy otherwise, especially if his creation had expanded unchecked.

Deep underground, about two miles to the East of Ritus, was a giant sphere, something between an egg and a seed. It'd started out as a seed, in fact; only with Bath's assistance had it become anything more.

He dug into the Earth with his essence and could feel the seed underground as it pulsed. It was actually a bit behind schedule. Bath had planted it here on a whim before setting out, as a kind of motivator for himself to return in an expedient manner. He knew too well how the allure of exploration could affect his judgment.

He would return at a later date to the worlds he'd visited. Now, his priority was Earth.

And this was step one.

Bath shaped his tendril of essence around the seed, coating it in nourishing materials. He could feel the seed's internal structure through a few needle-thin spikes of essence and was currently making minute adjustments to the seed's structure. Many of the adjustments came from ideas he'd developed off-world, such as improved photosynthesis.

As he accelerated the seed's growth, eventually it began to sprout its first stem, then its first leaf and a series of roots. Bath created a spherical barrier around the roots, effectively placing the seed in a subterranean bowl.

'Can't have you setting your roots down here,' Bath thought to himself as he worked.

Suddenly, after about three hours of continuous growth, Bath beamed.

'Hello, little one,' Bath transmitted to the plant through direct thoughts. The plant's mental system--primitive by any vertebrate's standard, incredibly advanced for a plant--was able to engage in thought by transmitting vague ideas, senses, and most important of all, intent. By using a wave of essence to send electrical impulses along a sensitive frond explicitly created for this purpose, Bath could allow communication in both directions between the plant and himself.

'Big, dark. Hunger.' Three ideas came towards Bath through the same channel he'd opened up by first transmitting his thoughts. The plant was quick to learn how to control the electrical impulses; it was instinctual.

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Bath urged the plant to continue growing towards the surface. The experience reminded him of encouraging his sister, Avery, when she took her first steps, when she began to ride a bike. He sent encouragements the plant's way in the hopes that some would have an effect.

The plant finally breached the surface after another two hours of assisted growth.

'Dark.'

'Only for now; wait,' Bath transmitted back. He hadn't planned on Juserin coming back with them; unfortunately, this meant that Bath was limited in what he could do while the verdora was on Earth.

He told the plant to remain stationary for a day. Since it effectively looked like a giant plot of grass when its upper level was above ground, Bath instructed the plant to spread out and make use of as much light as it could.

'I will return,' he transmitted before heading back off to Ritus.

---

After Bath finished introducing Juserin to many of Earth's wonders, he asked Juserin what else he could do to be of assistance during the Waymaster's stay.

Juserin gave a sigh, then looked at Bath. "Unfortunately, this world is a lot less-developed than I expected. Most Waymaster's would take this as invitation to invade and conquer. However, I happen to be the peaceful type."

Bath nodded along.

"I propose that we form a trade coalition to be activated when Earth finally opens itself and its gate up to the universe at large."

Bath gave Juserin a broad smile. "Juserin, your kindness knows no bounds. I'll be sure to come in person as soon as the day comes."

Juserin's eyes crinkled in response. "I'll be looking forward to that day."

Within the hour, Juserin was aboard his voyager and through the mouth of the Ritus gate.

Bath sat back on a couch in the Ritus living room, all the while communicating a message to the nearby plant.

It suddenly rocketed forth, exhibiting a speed that defied logic as its roots tore through the ground. The people in the Ritus mansion heard the plant before they saw it.

"Bath? What's..." Lisa began slowly as she looked out at the exterior of the estate. Unfortunately for her, the living room window looked out upon the lake, not the direction the plant was approaching from.

"Just be patient," Bath smile knowingly. Lisa had said she wanted headquarters befitting a Waymaster. While that hadn't been Bath's original intention in creating the plant, he recognized now that the plant could also serve that purpose.

Within a minute, the plant was upon them. Instead of crashing into the house like a train, it simply began to grow around it like a patch of voracious ivy. Soon, long, meaty, grass-like tendrils were snaking their ways around the headquarters and burying into the ground as per Bath's detailed instructions. Being a natural multitasker, Bath found manipulating the plant to do several things as once fairly easy.

Lisa, Lepochim, and the rest of Ritus could only look on in amazement as the mansion was completely transformed from a fairly modern, up-scale estate into a structure straight from a fairy tale.

The plant was reinforcing the headquarters with its steel-level strength. The mansion's grassy coating was much more resilient than brick or wood. Moreover, it converted the CO2 in the air to oxygen at a rapid rate. While Bath had provided an actual house as the base, the plant didn't actually need a starting structure to function. Bath had already fed images to the plant of what an ideal human house would look like. A basement, first floor, and second floor, with variations based on climate and population density.

For instance, if the plant was placed amongst many clones of itself, the clones would all coexist while taking up less space. It was all fairly simple.

Now, to make another plant, Bath just had to take a piece of grass from the plant, imbue a tiny bit of his essence into it to wake it up, and...

'Hello,' the little frond said to Bath.

"Uh..." Lisa was left baffled in the center of the living room. "Bath? Is this part of some crazy plan? 'Cause I thought we were done with those."

Bath gave Lisa a disparaging look. "This isn't a crazy plan. In fact, it's way better than that last plan I came up with to scare people into using electric cars."

"That's such a low bar," Lisa moaned in mock agony. "Fine. Why don't you just explain your plan."

Bath shook his head. "I think it'll be easier if you just watch what's going to happen."

Lisa glared. "No, I think you need to check with me before doing something insane."

Bath rolled his eyes. "Lisa."

"Bath!"

"Fine. You see this? It's a new form of sustainable housing. It's a Green House."

Lisa's jaw dropped. Sustainable house?

"Wait...so you haven't given up on the environment thing?" Lisa asked, dumbfounded. "When did you..."

"Earth is like a set of dull claws. We need to sharpen her into a proper weapon," Bath assuaged fervently. "I've come to realize that the evolutionary cycle on Earth isn't going to return to how it used to be, thanks to the development of you human sapients.

"With that being the case, I need to prepare Earth for unavoidable contact with the outside."

Lisa hesitated before posing another question. "But...why?"

Bath shook his head once. "Earth is our nucleus, our foundation."

"So you're going to make it strong. I understand, I guess," Lisa said, not fully convinced. But she trusted that Bath's intentions were good. After all, he could leave Earth and go to some other world if he really wanted to. Nobody would be able to stop him.

"Where do I factor into this?" Lepochim asked warily.

Bath looked the sapient up and down. "You already know the people in Ritus, right?"

Lepochim snorted as he looked off to the side. "Some of them. I was a servant, remember."

"How would you like to be their master?"