ORIGIN

An unapproved garden plot? East considered the scenario with a squint.

Quite an oversight, but he supposed that could happen in a place large as this. With so many varieties, some of which could practically pass for cousins due to their similarities in color or shape, slipping in a brand new crop amongst the familiar only required tricking eyes dulled over time from tending to the usual sea of flowers. Who would notice, after all, if some petals were slightly more lopsided than typical when they grew just as healthily as their near identical neighbors. So long as they didn't throw the entire aesthetic off, the difference wouldn't matter.

He nodded, though a guarded side-eye was reserved for the hissing chorus directed at him—a note jotted in his mind reminded him to stay well out of striking distance should Isra's simpler serpent side desire a nibble of free-range bird after a round of flower-sniffing. "I trust your... servants can manage tidying without further direction in the meantime?"

If she needed to leave a few instructions first, he'd wait a moment longer. Otherwise with an idle remark of, "I suppose you have something to avoid taking a whiff of these flowers. They're pretty potent, though I've doubts they'll punch you as hard as they did me," the bird squeezed his past the door and into the hall again. Not wanting to slow travel back to the gardens, the rest of the distance he covered off the ground, wings as always swifter than feet. The way to the cave wall was more of a stroll than a jaunt, and saving time would also ease possible flaring tempers.