Once the boat goat moving, Thyme caught them all in another teleport. Instead of traveling quickly, instead, Thyme used it to hold them just outside of the world. Instead of fire, there was a large number of vines with blooming flowers of all colours. There was a green ocean below the boat, but looking to the bow or stern that the water didn’t extend much past the edges of the ship.

Kat breathed in deeply, instead of the scent of fire and ash, it seemed like Thyme had made their teleportation smell of nature. *Thyme was halfway there already. When we moved the first time I’m pretty sure there was a green flash before it was all over. It seems Thyme has truly refined things.*

"Might I ask when we will be arriving?" asked Gareth as he stared out at the hypnotic mess of flowers.

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Thyme just shrugged, "Technically I could drop you all of at the destination straight away, however it seems one of the teams hasn’t quite managed to get on the boat just yet. I want everyone to arrive at the same time. Mostly for dramatic effect, but technically because it’s in the rules,"

"But that’s not how it worked the previous times," said Kat.

Thyme made a ’so-so’ gesture. "Technically the rules are the same, but I wasn’t overly concerned with that particular one. I assumed that as long as the first round started at the same time then it was all good, but one of the other organisers gave me a chewing out over it. I’ve had to rework my plans for the grand finale a bit, but this round is basically unchanged,"

"Can you give us any hints?" asked Nixilei with a shrewd smile.

"Funnily enough? No I can’t," said Thyme with a smile.

Nixilei shrugged, "I had to ask. If I lost out on information I could’ve gotten just by asking I’d never live it down,"

"Don’t worry to much Nixilei," said Thyme. "Everything will be explained soon… hopefully. As I said, I’m waiting for the last team to get on the boat and they’re… having some issues,"

"Can you tell us what those are?" asked Gareth.

Thyme tapped their chin a few times as they considered the rulebook. "I… I’m not totally sure. I’m not supposed to provide an unfair advantage to any of the teams, but if I’m just reporting factual information that’s happening in my presence… that might count as an advantage? I don’t see how you could make use of this information though… but perhaps? Hmm…"

Thyme eyed Nixilei who was staring back at Thyme with wrapped attention, "You know what? Probably safer I just don’t say anything,"

"Well what are we meant to do while we wait?" huffed Nixilei.

Thyme shrugged and said, "I don’t know. I’m afraid this is rather outside of my expectations. Technically speaking the team was at the arrival point on time, so I can’t classify them as no-shows. I suppose I could force them onto the boat… and maybe I should, but that’s not half as funny as what’s happening,"

"You can’t just say something like that and not give us anymore details," whined Green. "It has to be extra juicy if you’re refusing to talk. Is it a jilted lover? An army of garden gnomes? The ghost of their past misdeeds? An army of tax collectors? Oooh, is something on fire? Considering we had to put fire out last time, it could be an excessive amount of fire. Unless… is one of them scared of water? No are they ALL scared of water? What’s the word for being scared of water?"

"Thalassophobia, I think," said Nixilei.

"I’m afraid I cannot confirm or deny any of your guesses, that might constitute an unfair advantage. Especially if I am neglecting to tell the other teams that arrived on time any details as well. You can guess all you like but I will not respond," said Thyme.

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"I don’t know about that. I could just keep guessing and watching your facial expressions?" offered Green.

Thyme rolled their eyes. "Green, I am a dryad. I can freeze my face completely. My face only shows emotions so freely because I have trained myself to do so. The idea of having a ’wooden face’ didn’t come from nowhere,"

*Huh. That’s interesting, I can hear a bit of extra context when Thyme said ’wooden face’ because it seems like in their language it means a few more things then in ours. It’s an odd mix of things… but I guess with the additional context of well… having tree people, the saying is more than just a saying about an inanimate object. I wonder how many races use it like that though?*

Nixilei and Green glared at that, but Thyme just made good on their promise. In in instant, all motion stopped in the body. It no longer looked like it was breathing, the eyes didn’t blink, there was no little twitches that accompany most lifeforms. Thyme looked much like a dryad’s true body. Simply a tree carved to look like a person, and it was only the knowledge that Thyme was a person that kept the idea Thyme was anything but a tree or a carving fixed in Kat’s mind.

"Ok… that’s a little creepy," said Green.

"I’ve seen it a few times," said Nixilei. "Thyme isn’t the only dryad I’ve met,"

"So like… that’s something you have to learn?" asked Green.

Thyme nodded, "Yes, and I suppose it’s something I can tell you about as none of the contestants are dryads. You see, we become aware of the world slightly before creating our first bodies. It is argued amongst my people’s scholars at what point a dryad truly becomes alive. Certainly, we are not sentient for many years, but plants are alive, none doubt that.

"So the question is always, ’how much respect need be given to those adolescents’ and how much say do we try to give to the plant in question. We have spells to test for sentience in plants of course, and more spells for testing if a plant has potential for sentience… but I find the various dryad collectives to be a bit… militant in their collection of potential dryads.

"It is not unusual for any plant with a glimmer of sentience to be immediately moved to a safe haven and coddled massively until they achieve sentience… or as is often the case. Do not, and die for some reason. Sometimes it takes centuries… but it happens far too regularly,"

Nixilei noticed the subtext, "I’m guessing you were one of the dryads that simply sprouted in the wilds?"

Thyme made a ’so-so’ gesture, "It has been proven that all dryads have a dryad ancestor in their history, and most dryads are formed when two other dryads couple… but not all dryads form that way, and not all plants formed in such a coupling even have the chance for sentience,

"Anyway. You are correct, I myself sprouted in the wild, and when the heritage test came through, it appears I was an overlooked seed of my parents. They supported me greatly once that came out, but they have an entire grove of children that never became a true dryad. I am of the opinion, that a dryad’s tree knows what it needs. If it sprouted in a particular spot and there’s not sign of major damage in the area, I think it is usually best to leave the seedling where it is. Watch over it of course, and help if it becomes sick… but

"Most of the elder dryads simply see moving the sapling as the best course of action. Yet it never seems to have a high success rate. They tout that it is still higher than in the wild… but my own notes contradict that. Perhaps I am biased, arguing for what I know, just as they are… but for a bit more work, I think we would give dryad saplings a better chance at sentience."

Green frowned, "Not to sound callous… but is it really a big deal? I know they’re like… baby dryads… but everything I’ve heard says that nobody knows what causes a dryad to be born,"

Thyme nodded, "I don’t take offence to that. Dryads themselves know a little bit more than the other races because we do like to obfuscate the idea… but the real issue is that even if we know a given tree has a chance at sentience… someone has to watch over it for at least a century. Sometimes longer. The oldest tree to ever become a dryad was just over a thousand years old…

"So it’s very hard to manage things well. Say you have the time and patience to raise up fifty saplings. That’s a century of full time care, for saplings that may never become anything more than large trees. When nothing is born… it’s gut wrenching. That’s why when dryads find plants with potential they protect them because we hope that this is the one, and usually we only find those trees when they’re already putting out a good amount of mana, and are already a number of years old… but still it doesn’t always work out,"

"I think I get it," said Green with a nod.

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