Once he was able to breathe properly, Alfie quickly explained that they were in fact not sent by their enemy, the Lightbringer, and were instead other humans that were fighting against him. How much that difference mattered the Matriarch was unclear, as her expression was stoic and wooden in both meanings of the word.

With proper, non-choking introductions fully out of the way, Alfie cleared his throat nervously. This wasn't exactly how they planned on doing this, but plans changed and he simply had to adapt.

"My Lord wishes to negotiate an alliance with you, to fight against our common enemy."

The Matriarch's face finally shifted, her eyes narrowing and brows furrowing in irritation. Yet there was also a small hint of admiration, although that slightly confused Alfie.

"Your Lord wishes to negotiate... Yet I see only you. Am I to assume you are negotiating in his place? Am I to assume you have the power to negotiate in his absence?"

"No Ma'am. You seem to misunderstand. My Lord is already here."

Alfie gestured behind him, towards one of the members of his group. It was a young squire, skinny and with a not so useful power that left him lacking when it came to combat. The young man flinched in surprise, before bobbing his head in acknowledgement.

He quickly scrambled over to his mount, his hands fumbling with the straps of a duffel bag he had tied to the saddle. A duffel bag that was similar to the one that Tiff carried, although it lacked the stolen T-shirts.

The Matriarch tilted her head, watching in a mixture of confusion and cocky amusement. A few subdued laughs resounded from the sides of the room, where multiple human sized plant people watched, and the non humanoid plants let out scented puffs of amusement, which smelled like melted american cheese.

Frantically unhooking the bag, the squire placed it on the ground at Alfie's feet, unzipped it and quickly stepped away. Alfie nodded to the squire, before kicking the bag over, letting its contents spill out.

Parts of mannequins, various beast bones and sticks poured across the floor. An innocuous collection of random parts and simple junk that would be easily overlooked. Another round of laughs and cheesy puffs echoed out, but they were quickly silenced as the mannequin head's eyes blinked softly.

With that single blink, an oppressive and domineering aura descended upon the visitors centre of the former Botanical Garden. The parts on the ground danced and rattled, before shooting towards each other like they were magnetic.

They slotted perfectly into place, like pieces of a jigsaw, until a Frankensteinian body of plastic, wood and bone was fully formed. It slowly stood, brushing itself clean of dust and rolling its neck, as if it was stiff.

"Greetings, Queen of the Plants. I am Lord Corvus, the man who will kill the Lightbringer. I hear that you would be open to negotiate. Or... would you rather try to kill my people again? However, I promise that if you decide to go down that path, It will be much less pleasant for yourself."

A slight smirk snuck its way onto the Matriarch's face as she was so blatantly threatened by the one claiming to want to be their ally. Leaning back in her prehistoric throne, she gestured with her hand for him to speak.

Now that their Lord was here, Alfie took it as an opportunity to flee from the spotlight and stepped to the side, next to Juniper. Leaving the task of explaining the situation to the Matriarch and informing her of their plans to take care of the Lightbringer problem that she was currently being plagued by.

The fact that said problem had recently declared war on not only them, but the entire world, only strengthened his case in his pursuit for an alliance with the plant people.

Alfie shook his head softly, it was still weird as hell to think that this man he had been looking up to, and the friend that he had sworn to protect, were one in the same. The strength of their lord and the vulnerable weakness of Seth clashed in his mind, and he couldn't help but wonder which was the real one and which was the mask.

After all, he had become friends with the weak version. The one hiding behind a stronger persona for the sake of protection. Was that all their friendship was to him? Just another feather in his cap of weakness, something to add to his disguise and help him look extra weak?

How much of it was real and how much of it was an act? Was any of it real?

He stared at the puppeteered body with a complicated array of worry plastered across his face, but while he was boring his gaze into someone else, he could feel the same happening to him. It was like the side of his head was on fire, with how intense their gaze was.

Pulling himself from his pity party, Alfie glanced to the side, looking at Juniper in confusion. She jumped when his gaze settled on her, letting out a soft whimper and once again managing to make her wooden face blush.

"Is... everything okay? Is there something you wanted to talk to me about?"

"You... You spoke our language. I didn't know you could do that. Did you learn it for me? If so I don't know what to-"

"Oh god no. I don't speak a word of it. Or a smell... would that be the right terminology? I don't know." He laughed softly, glancing towards her again.

Her previously nervous face completely deflated, any sign of blush completely disappearing in an instant. Her hands were clenched in front of her chest, her fingers squeezing so tight that the wood of her hands creaked and trembled.

"You... don't speak it. So, you don't know what you said..."

Alfie rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, giving her a remorseful smile.

"Not really, I assumed it was some kind of greeting. I saw a few others doing it when they saw you riding with us, so it seemed like the right thing to do. It was a greeting, right?"

"Yes... a greeting..."

Her hands clenched tighter, her hollow gaze locked on the floor. Alfie tilted his head in confusion when he felt a plastic hand slap on his shoulder.

Seth's temporary body was standing in front of him, a wide smile on his face.

"I really have to thank you for this man. You went above and beyond in securing this alliance. I mean when the Plant Queen told me what you said I couldn't believe it, but it helped us a lot.

I really didn't know you would have gone for the traditional method, but if that's the way you feel then who am I to stand in the way?

Kinda makes me want to get my own affairs in order before we get consumed by this whole war thing. I'm sure you were thinking the same thing, huh?

Seth patted his shoulder again, smiling warmly at him, while Alfie simply blinked softly. He had heard the words, but had no idea what he was talking about. He probably should have been listening to the negotiations but he wasn't expecting them to go so smoothly, or quickly.

But what was he talking about, 'the traditional way'. What tradition? Before he could ask though, Seth stepped back and rolled his neck again.

"I have to go now, something else needs my attention. But it's important that when it comes time, you have to ask for a Fruit of the Heavenly Tree. It's very important. When they ask you what you want for a wedding present, tell them a Fruit of the Heavenly Tree. Got it? Good. See you when you get back lover boy."

The Frankensteined body nodded its head, before the oppressive presence disappeared as quickly as it had come. With its master's soul vacant from its body, the frankensteined body trembled again before collapsing into a pile of junk.

Alfie stared at the collapsed pile, his eyes wide and mouth hanging open in a twisted half smile, like he was awaiting the punchline of a joke that was never going to come. He plucked the mannequin head from the pile, holding it in trembling hands as he spoke with a panicked, quivering voice.

"W-wedding present? What do you mean by a wedding present? G-get back here! You can't just leave like that? What wedding present? WHAT WEDDING?!"

Juniper stood to the side with dead eyes, watching Alfie shouting in the face of a lifeless mannequin, constantly shaking the head like it was a magic 8 ball, yet the only answer he was ever getting was 'Ask again later'

She let out a deep sigh, shaking her head and letting it drop into her hands in shame. Why did it have to be this idiot that was her master? And why did she have to like him?

Another human teaching snuck into her head, this time not an emotion but a phrase she had heard from many of her human companions, especially the women. When discussing their potential mates, they often said something along the lines of 'I can fix him.'

Lifting her head, Juniper lifted her head and took another look at Alfie, finding him bashing the head against the ground like it was hiding the answers to his question inside. The question that he was still screaming as he did so.

Hmm... Yes, she would definitely have to fix him, it wouldn't be easy though. As she watched him, she couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle as a gentle smile danced on her wooden lips.

Maybe it would take some time. But they would have plenty of that when they were wed.

'I wonder how the saplings would look?'