The ants were pleased when they found the entrances to her tunnels, and more pleased when they found her wells of nectar, though they guessed at none of the vast forces and feelings behind the change. They continued to search and eat and be ants, and each day they would eat the nectar she created from her sap. Each day they would eat take sips of her nectar borne of all her love and filled with her longing for them to love her back.

Each day they swallowed a tiny and divine sip of her love until those sips filled them up with a bit of her essence. Eventually every ant came to understand her love for them. Understanding what it is to be loved, they could not help but love her back; she was at once their home, their sustenance, their entire world.

Sustained on her love, this new race set about protecting and feeding and caring for Daphne. They built cities and castles in the furrows of her bark.