Luna began her explanation right after that… though unfortunately, it wasn’t exactly clear.

Okay, so first: Try thinking of what you’re asking me like this: “Hey, how do you move your arm?” That’s what this feels like to me. It’s not something I can explain easily. I just… do it. It’s part of me.

She ruffled her petals in a strange pattern for a reason I didn’t know. It’s not quite the same for you. Your body constricts. A lot. I don’t really understand it, because, well, you’re a fleshy meat monster. But mine? Mine moves through Force.

She trembled one of the leaves around my wrist, as if to demonstrate. And even if that demonstration meant nothing, I was actually surprised. Sure, I wasn’t an expert on plants, but moving through what was essentially magic? That was news to me.

You’re kinda a weird plant, I told her.

She ignored me. You’ve moved your arm before when it was better. So you should understand a little.

I nodded, responding quickly. Yeah. When I stuck my hand in that monster in the cave. I pulsed the roots to drink faster with Internal Force.

She tightened slightly around my arm, the gesture firm and confirming. Exactly, so think of that as the start of the process. Only now, you only have a hand to work with.

We paused. A long beat of silence passed.

Yeah, I muttered dryly. I only have a hand. Thanks again, by the way. You saved me from becoming an entire fleshy meat monster.

No problem!

she chirped, clearly pleased with herself. Anyway, you need to learn how to use my transformation technique. Or maybe it was the old man’s. Whoever I was during that illusion. Doesn’t matter. You need to learn it.

Right, I replied. So… how am I supposed to do something like that?

We really needed fewer pauses in our conversations.

Okay, she sighed. Let’s think. I learned it as a human. Then I adjusted it to fit my current body, and really, it isn’t even the same thing anymore, but I suppose it has to do with intent. Changing the body through intent.

I nodded slowly, taking in her words.

Now, I doubt you can transform into another type of meat monster, but you can probably extend your roots the same way I do… She trailed off.

Alright, I said aloud. Whenever I see your body grow or flatten out and shift, it’s like you control it, and it just moves. Do you move it with Force the same way you move normally?

One of the petals on the rose lifted and dipped, a little nod. Honestly? It was kind of adorable. I wondered if she was trying to imitate mannerisms from humans.

So, I continued, I need to move the hand with Force, then give it intent. Stretch it out. Expand it. Then add more intent to apply the pressure to myself in a controlled way.

Yeah,

she said simply. That sounds about right. Anyways, good luck with that. I’m gonna go back to training, if that’s okay.

Sure, I replied, attention shifting fully to my right hand.

It was strange, trying to move on from that conversation, but like Luna said, I’d done it once before. With a quick pulse of energy through my hand, I felt the roots shift. The fibrous outer layer and everything else stirred under the surface. And it was… weird.

Obviously, there had always been some connection to my body. I’d moved the hand without ever thinking about it. If it was part Luna, it needed blood, so it was connected that way, but now, with actual awareness focused on it, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was ever really moving it the same way as the rest of me?

I wasn’t about to dissect my own hand to find out. Still, I could feel things. Sensation was there. Nerves existed. It moved. And it moved naturally. Maybe that was just the side effect of having it for so long now, but even from the beginning, it hadn’t taken long to adapt. It just… worked. It felt like my original and other hand.

I decided not to dwell on the biology of it any longer. Shook my head and shoved the mess of questions aside. There were probably dozens of things Thea or Griffith might love to study about it, but without their own plant hands, it wasn’t like they could do much research.

This was something I’d have to figure out on my own.

I started small with just the tip of my thumb. I focused, planned my intent, and commanded it.

Extend.

Nothing. Of course not. There’s not enough luck in the world for me to keep succeeding on first tries. "Right. Okay," I muttered to myself.

Will alone wasn’t enough to extend the thing. So what else? What moved this hand? All that time ago, it was inside that beast, drinking its blood. I got bored since it was taking so long, then just controlled it. Made it flex faster. Could I use water?

...No. I shook that off for now. It was too early to give up from just a single failure. I still had no idea whether or not it was necessary. Introducing other factors right now would only lead to confusion. For now, just more practice was good enough.

Back to the thumb. Again.

I pulsed energy into it, more this time, and tried commanding it again. But there was no change, only the roots twitching slightly, vibrating faintly along my skin with no significant motion. 

I could tell they were reacting to the Force, sure, but maybe they were so synced with my body’s usual movements that they didn’t respond to conscious effort. Not clearly at least. Luna had said she did it unconsciously. Just like my own body.

Carefully, I lifted my right-pointer finger then dropped it, and did the same with my left. I couldn’t feel a single difference. Both hands felt and moved identically, only differing in appearance. Which, unfortunately, meant I had no idea how to isolate whatever made this different.

"Great," I muttered to myself, but I refused to give up.

Tedious practice wasn’t exactly something I enjoyed. Not before I came here, and certainly not now. But more and more, I was starting to realize how necessary it was. Just like when I first got better at controlling Water Force.

It didn’t just apply to guiding a droplet of water around. There was much more that it helped. Like the new abilities I’d gained. Leading unwilled Fire Force. So maybe this would be the same. Maybe this strange, frustrating, rooty nonsense would pay off down the line.

So I kept going.

Staring at my hand like a lunatic, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the woods. Muttering to myself. Sometimes out loud. Sometimes not. Occasionally screaming in my own head, startling Luna and Rhyrum.

After the third or fourth time, they both stopped reacting.

What if it wasn’t just about intent? Like when I created my spiritual weapoon—There was something similar, but past that. And Wyrem’s words before had struck me. His thoughts on Force’s own consciousness. What if this was similar? 

Maybe I dismissed the thought too early. If I gave the roots a reason to… I jolted upright and rushed over to Griffith, shaking his shoulder. He cracked an eye open, not annoyed exactly, but definitely not thrilled.

“Water,” I said.

He stared at me.  “Go to the beach.”

I shook my head. “Don’t feel like it. You have a flask or something, right?”

He sighed and reached into that cube of his. With a flash of light, he pulled out a huge container of water. Bigger than his hand. Which, incidentally, was bigger than my head. A very big flask, is my point.

He handed it to me and closed his eyes again.

I returned to my spot not far from the others, but still a little ways off, and uncapped the container. Then I held my thumb over it. Just the thumb. 

I focused. There’s water. Now, move!

A twitch. Not just the usual trembling. This was different, more intentional. The root actually extended slightly, and I watched as the bark unwound itself just a little. My thumb thinned at the tip, fibers unfurling like a seedling stretching toward the sun.

It wasn’t much. There wasn’t much energy behind it. But it was something.

And so. Rule number one: Don’t dismiss your thought to follow the scientific process. That’s for people with less problems than me… Though, I’ll never say that to them.

I exhaled, relieved. But of course, every step forward came with its own new problem. How the heck was I supposed to keep doing this without a giant bottle of water hovering around me?

I couldn’t just walk into battle holding a flask over my head.

But then again, I could make water. That was part of my technique, but I could only make water when pressure was properly applied to my arm. Which only happened when Luna stretched across it, or when I figured out how to mimic her—Which needed water on my arm…

A perfect loop of frustration.

“This is just ridiculous,” I muttered. Alright. Next goal: figure out how to make water… while not being able to make water.

Yeah. That made a lot of sense.

----------------------------------------