This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter.
Walking around Holyrood today, one thing became immediately obvious: the Scottish Greens are a much bigger force.
There were Greens everywhere.
With 15 MSPs, six gains and two constituency wins for the first time ever, the Greens enter this parliamentary term moving firmly into Holyrood’s mainstream.
As co-leader Gillian Mackay put it to me today: “15 is a fantastic number for us and getting into the chamber there to look at where everybody is sitting, you actually see how big 15 is.”
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For now though, she insisted the immediate focus is practical rather than ideological.
“Right now it’s about getting the newbies settled and getting their feet under the table,” she said, before attention turns to “getting on with the manifesto and how things are delivered”.
When thinking about what the Greens want to achieve this term, two issues come up repeatedly: transport and childcare.
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Mackay wants to see “free bus travel for everyone” and what she described as a “generational shift in childcare”.
The Greens are also expected to push hard on taxing wealth, with manifesto commitments around higher taxes on expensive properties, landlords and second homes as they argue 'Scotland’s richest' should pay more to fund public services.
But with ambition comes a credibility test too. The Greens are no longer the small insurgent force able to simply criticise from the sidelines. With a bloc this size, expectations around delivery, and scrutiny, around policies like this will only intensify.
Listening to Greens around the building today, there is a sense their horizons are widening. Mackay pointed to energy and healthcare as areas where “there is an awful lot more to do”.
The Greens co-leader spelled out her ambitions for the party on the radio over the weekend.
“One of the places that we can’t see going back on is the rights of everyone," she told BBC's Sunday show.
In a historic first for Holyrood, the party now includes two transgender MSPs - Q Manivannan and Iris Duane.
But the attention around Q has also brought immediate scrutiny.
Questions have dominated coverage over Dr Manivannan’s immigration status after it emerged the new MSP is currently on a student visa due to expire later this year.
Mackay acknowledged there will need to be a renewal process, while the party says Q is applying for a graduate visa and potentially a Global Talent visa.
The issue is an early distraction for a party keen to project competence and stability after years of internal turbulence.
In the chamber, the party will lock heads, as they already have, with another sizeable force; Reform who gained 17 seats, putting them firmly in joint second place with Labour. The Greens, alongside the SNP, Conservatives, Lib Dems, Greens and Labour, have ruled out working with Malcolm Offord's party with the latter accusing the rest of being 'childish'.
Despite that, Greens I spoke to today were keen to move the conversation onto what they see as a bigger success story: growth.
They are also keen to show that although not all of them are experts in the Holyrood rigmarole, they are not completely lacking in parliamentary experience.
Newbies Laura Moodie and Kayleigh Kinross-O’Neill have parliamentary experience already and Holly Bruce worked for Patrick Harvie and served as a councillor. Kristopher Leask also comes from local government.
There is also relief that the party’s bitter internal divisions appear largely behind them after rebels departed for Your Party, which effectively imploded.
Still, frustrations remain elsewhere, particularly over Independent Green Voice.
The Greens believe the fringe far-right party siphoned enough votes in Mid Scotland and Fife to cost them an additional MSP and keep Conservative Stephen Kerr in parliament. Privately, some remain furious about it.
But today, that frustration was largely outweighed by excitement.
Passing by in Holyrood, new MSP Holly Bruce summed up the atmosphere best.
“It’s been a whirlwind,” she told me, “I want to shake things up, so it’s exciting.”
Nearby, Iris Duane admitted the scale of the job ahead was beginning to dawn.
“It’s a lot,” she laughed.
For the Greens, the challenge is now to prove they have what it takes to deliver for the people outside of these walls.
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