Chapter 117

“… Why are you so different?”

The way in which Guardian will answer will help me put my fears to rest. But it instead asks if I ever spoke to them. Which just raises the trepidation I feel.

I contemplate for just a moment on whether or not I want to answer the question at all before ultimately deciding I want it to know. Deceiving it into believing a lie in this moment now will only make it distrustful in the future. And having an especially intelligent devouring mushroom, one capable of truly extraordinary acts, bent on this forests destruction is not something I desire.

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Hopefully my measure of its integrity so far is correct, because the answer to this question might make it upset.

“By the time I was notified of their existence my colony were all suffering or dying. I did not bother to communicate.”

The mushroom grew quiet and it did not speak. I grew increasingly concerned and quickly asked my colony to report if they felt anything amiss. I prepared to also send a message to all elders in my vicinity as well.

I should not have bothered as it responded some time later.

“I … don’t blame you they were killing your family after all. Just … can you please tell me if another one of my kind shows up?”

Fam…ily? That specific word is one I never came across.

The translation nodule is an invention an elder came up with in order to speak to other sapient and speaking individuals but it is one very seldom used and one I never had the chance to use at all.

The translation nodule did its job properly and gave me the most accurate rendition of Guardian’s sentences but it had difficulty with that one word. The word I received closely resembles colony but it had a nuance that I could not fully grasp.

More importantly guardian has proven to be a well intentioned individual so I quickly decided to answer guardian.

“Of course, Guardian.”