Sylvanandra sat down on the bench and gestured for Ammeline to do the same. Ammeline hesitate, hand still hovering near the sword.

"Come on, you're the one who asked me to teach you. It's not like we're gonna make out."

Ammeline moved her hand away from her sword.

"Yet."

"You are beginning to strain my patience."

"Sit. If you're going to learn this we need to be touching each other. No, that's not a joke. Give me your hands."

Reluctantly, Ammeline sat down and Sylvanandra took her hands. The shrub sprites clustered around Ammeline's ankles, deeging and bristling.

"Alright so the first thing you need to understand is that you're part plant now."

Ammeline tried to look up at her own head, and at the plants now growing from her hair. She couldn't, of course, but she swore sometimes she could look out THROUGH them.

"That part isn't very hard."

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"Alright then the next thing you need to understand is that plants are a lot more connected than animals are. On a basic, fundamental level. Just look at all the grass around here." She gestured to the sprawling lawn. "The lawn here is made up of thousands of plants, but they're mostly underground. What you're looking at is the leaves sticking up above the dirt. And those root systems are in contact, pressed together like that.

"But beyond that. There's fungus in the ground connecting the roots of plants together. Trees in the forest can use them to communicate with each other. That's how plants communicate. With thoughts and sensations. It's less like a human conversation, and more like the way your hand tells your brain you're touching a sexy elf."

"Ignoring that last part, I don't have roots. And I'm not connected to fungus, except for now when we're holding hands."

"Ouch. You're a nature fairy now, you should have more respect for fungus. But no, you don't have roots. Except magically speaking, actually, you do. Plant magic is just as tangled up as plants themselves are. And you're a part of it. So try to communicate with me that way. We're actually in physical contact, it should be easier."

"You haven't actually told me how to do that."

"It's intuitive more than anything. You're the one getting in your own way, so...stop. Stop thinking like an animal."

Ammeline closed her eyes and concentrated...but that felt wrong. So she stopped concentrating and just kind of...let go. Into the feeling of the plants growing out of her head, into that sense of...whatever...she'd felt when Sylvanandra had insulted the brush sprites.

There wasn't some big moment of realization. It was more like when you finally noticed a sound you've been hearing for hours. She could feel Sylvanandra. She could feel Sylvanandra actually kind of wanting to make out, but she pushed that thought aside and focused on....

Everything. She could feel the grass. The shrub sprites. The trees. Plants going out and out and out and...

"Hey! Pull it back!" Sylvanandra warned. "You can get lost in something like this and turn into a tree."

"Oh right!" Ammeline opened her eyes. "I should have expected something like that. Did you sense somebody made of plants back near the school too?"

"There's magical bitches all over the place. But now you should be able to talk to the shrub sprites. Unless you wanna make out."

Ignoring her, Ammeline turned to the shrub sprites.

"Hello! Can you understand me now?" She...well we're going to go with said but it was really more like "felt" towards the brush sprites.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!"

"Good! So what was it you needed help with?"

"There's a huge dragon!"

Ammeline put her head in her hands.

"I told you we should have made out," Sylvanandra sighed.