Gifted A Lily

[As you are walking back to the treeline, you hear a sound. You stop and turn around, only to see that one of the harvest tree's branches is moving.]

Lem's simulated self was frozen in place, but Lem was still able to think freely.

He felt surprisingly relaxed.

It did not appear that the harvest tree was trying to attack his simulated self. If it had been, then Lem suspected that he would already be dead.

The branch was not even moving towards him, but rather in the direction of the pond.

What was the harvest tree doing?

The branch dipped into the water and wrapped around the flower of one of the peripheral water lilies with the litheness of a snake.

It slowly moved up. The flower rose from the water, followed by a couple of lily pads, and then the roots at the end.

The branch softly separated the flower end from the rest of the spiritual plant. The lily pads flopped back down and landed back in the water, where they sent a cascade of ripples out, disturbing the calm surface.

The harvest tree slowly moved the lily through the air and away from the pond, while the water dripped from its petals.

A moment later, Lem realized that the branch was now moving towards him.

Was the water lily going to be given to him as a gift?

It might not be as potent as the perfect water lily, but it had been growing in the same water!

It was certainly not ordinary!

And now, it was going to be his?

The idea felt too fantastical to be believed, and yet the branch continued to move, meter by meter, in his direction.

When the branch arrived less than a meter above his arms, the spiritual lily dropped.

Lem's simulated self felt a wet, yet utterly pleasant sensation as it fell into his hands. At the same time, he felt a dull ache of pain radiating down his arms.

The branch began to withdraw, but it was still close enough that he could reach out and touch it.

It was from the same tree that had killed the martial elder only a day prior, sucking the blood out of him like leech. And it had come so close to his skin.

As the branch continued to retract, withdrawing back towards the harvest tree, Lem's simulated self felt only horror, as he tried to comprehend what was happening.

Lem similarly struggled to understand the perspective of the harvest tree.

Was he entering into some strange relationship with it?

He refused to believe that such a good thing would just fall in his lap. It was one matter for the harvest tree to ignore him, not deigning to kill a being that was realms weaker than it.

It was quite another matter for such a powerful tree to give a gift to him.

Or was he overthinking the matter?

Was the harvest tree simply showing kindness? It had an abundance of water lilies, and it merely gave him one of the least potent specimens…