Welcome to Gaia! ::

Arbutus smiled, the harsh edge slipping from his face. He had not seen this side of Marta Nicole, she was always so cautious and careful. For her to cut loose was quite the statement. The two arrancar zipped around the caverns as such speeds they were only visible for a fraction of a second before they were gone again. The booms echoed through the tunnels like a thunder storm. Occasionally the plants took some abuse, but this now Arbutus didn't mind. He had realized something after his change. The plants were going to be used for ingredients anyway. Some with harder to obtain agents that would require them to be pulled up anyway.

It wasn't like he couldn't fix it immediately anyway. His control over the forest had grown, only needing his usual gestures for fine manipulation. The plants sang to him in a voice only for his ears. It was like being hooked into a vast information network.

---

Salte was reveling in her new strength. Caught up in the simple joy of the chase, she didn't care about the details of her new strength. All that mattered was that her body was doing what she wanted it to. It no longer stressed her muscles to move at such speeds. She did notice that while she was going at top speed, her companion was easily keeping pace.

Walls of rock and greenery flew past in a blur. As Salte stepped into the rocky wall to redirect her path, the rock blew out from under her from the impact. Losing her footing Salte slipped and slid along the wall, spinning and tumbling, crashing through several protursions in the stone before tearing up a swath of plants as she careened out of control through them. Dirt and vegetation flew as she skidded to a halt. Half buried in the rubble Salte coughed and choked on the dust. after a few breathes she began to giggle before bursting in to full on laughter. She dug herself out of the crater and dusted herself off. She was unharmed and was stable on her feet. Her clothes were a mite dirty, but her skin was unscathed, not even scuffed.

Salte looked up at the gouge mark, tracing her impact point to the trench to the ripped up ground. Already the plants were overtaking the garden again. With a gulp she probed her sense in Arbutus' direction, and was relieved to only feel slight worry. Had Grandpa changed too?

---

The Old Man in question was not even aware Salte had tried to smear herself across the garden. His attention was focused at one of the walls, his head tilited upward as if looking at something far away. "Boys, I believe the wait is over. He has returned."

Arbutus felt the same as Marta Nicole, for an instant he considered attacking Cillian, but to what end? He had no intention of leading the espada to some goal. So the idea was dismissed almost immediately. It was only logical to assist the leader.

Salte had followed right behind the three, leaving the old man alone in the garden. Shaking his head he followed the others out, shimmering into his mirage like sonido and disappearing. As he followed the presence of his Granddaughter out of the complex he wondered just how much he would need to report. Deciding to keep things subtle for the moment he clamped down on his power and kept it to about the same level as he had been at the start of this day.

Exit to Eternal Dunes