Fauna grinned. "I'm glad you like it!" She tried to open the door,
but could only open it a crack because there were vines all over
the door. "Hang on," she groaned. "Mr. Seeder likes to play pranks
on me." She stuck her hand through the door as best she could, and
placed a hand on one of the thick, green vines. She closed her
eyes, and her hand glowed a strange, green color for a second, then
the vines slowly began to move away. Once Fauna was sure all the
vines were gone, she opened the door and led them inside. It was
now clear that the culprit was a large unusually tall ivy plant
growing on the wall with strangely thick vines. Fauna wagged a
finger at it. "Stop it Mr. Seeder! I need to get in here to take
care of you!" The vines seemed to curl a little in shame, and Fauna
walked over and lovingly stroked the leaves. "There, there. Just
don't play a prank like that again, okay?" Mr. Seeder shook a leaf
as if it was nodding its head.
Boreas frowned slightly as he watched the animated pair. What was
this goofy silliness? Where was the serious, focused academy he was
promised? This was a playground, not a school.
"Tch," he snarled under his breath. "Waste of my time."
Unconsciously, a spiral of ice began to creep under his wrist and
frost started spreading on his arms. Cursing, Boreas called it back
and decided to walk at the back of the group, clinically surveying
the botanic garden.
Fauna led them around the greenhouse. It was muggy and the windows
were foggy, but it wasn't that bad. There were plants everywhere,
but not all of them were regular. Some were bright pink with yellow
spots, others appeared to have human faces, and there was a tiny
plant monkey swinging from the chains. "Frodo!" Fauna yelped. "Be
careful!" Frodo slowed down, and Fauna giggled. She introduced each
plant by name: Here we have Seedra, Blossom, Ferrigald," Somehow,
Fauna managed to show every plant but not bore anyone. She laughed
and joked, telling funny stories about each plant. Suddenly, she
noticed Boreas at the entrance. "Hey there," she said. "don't be
shy, come on over here!"
Boreas narrowed his eyes at the beckoning figure and walked over,
hands in his pockets. "I'm not shy," he growled. "I just don't see
the point of this weird plant garden. Is it supposed to help us
identify plants? What, and play a really crucial part in our
abilities?" To make a point, shards of ice suddenly shot out of the
ground as Boreas flicked a finger. "Unless it's as target
practice..."
Fauna's eyes narrowed. "I don't allow frost in my garden. You can
have all the bad opinions in the world about my garden, but I don't
allow any kind of cold in here. I'm showing you this to be
friendly. Of course," she said, beckoning to Mr. Seeder, "we can
take this outside." Fauna was not to be messed with when it came to
protecting her plants.
Boreas contemplated his options. His ice could probably slice
through any plant, but there was a reason this Fauna was high up in
the ranks at this Academy. Maybe this school wasn't too bad, if it
could get a plant ability to have such control and power.
He looked away. After a moment, with another flick of his fingers,
the ice receded into the ground.
Fauna nodded. "That's better." Instantly, her demeanor changed back
to happy and cheerful. "Now come look! I wanna show you this baby
Elephant Ear flower that I found this morning."
Fauna led him to a small table with a heating lamp. On the table
was a clay vase with a long, thin plant ending in a flower shaped
like an elephant's ear. It was making small noises like an
elephant, and underneath its flower was a tiny yellow plant with a
similarly shaped flower making small cooing sounds. "See?" she
gushed. "There it is. I just saw it this morning when I made my
rounds.
Fauna laughed. "Every day I come down here to check on every plant.
I give them all the individual care and love they need. I want each
of them to know how special they are, even the regular roses and
petunias!"
Boreas huffed slightly. Soft-hearted, he thought. But surprisingly
committed. "When do the actual classes start, though? This school
can't just be a bunch of bean bags and a garden, can it?"
Fauna laughed. "Curious, are we? Well, all students take Combat
Lesson, Healing, and Basic Animal Communication. Mr. Falloheugh
teaches Combat, Mrs. Daffodil teaches healing, and my brother Sam
teaches Animal Communication. The rest will be customized depending
on your power."
"Cool, cool." Boreas didn't realise, but he was somewhat warming up
to Fauna. "What other facilities are available here? Gyms, dorms,
cafeterias - speaking of which, where's the cafeteria?"