**_SHOCKING NEWS: UGLY PLANT FOUND IN THE ROYAL GARDENS!

_****_

_**Avery could practically see the headline in bold, colorful print. What scandal this could cause.

An orangish-gray bud stood right below his knee, tall with a ghostly white stem. Its roots packed deep within the ice-blue grass. Yellow freckled spots were scattered across the flower’s tip, and the whole thing drooped, looking dejected and confused.

“That’s the ugliest plant I’ve ever seen,” Avery groaned excessively, as if the mere sight of it burned him.

Growing up in Aldra, where all greenery was processed under hundreds of botanical machines to be deemed “beautiful,” definitely shaped Avery’s opinions. This rule, legally decreed five-hundred years ago, demanded that less-deserving species were to be eliminated and hidden away from the royal _and_ public eye.

Everything was supervised by the Royal Gardeners, an elite committee of botanical scientists.

Another shudder came upon Avery as he snuck a scandalous glance at the monstrosity. The poor flower fell short in grandeur: a gross understatement when compared to Aldrarian plants whose vibrant petals, quite literally, glowed.

“I’ve been keeping a collection just for you,” Mr. Smith, Avery’s father, quipped, his deep, saccharine voice carrying through the sugared air.

Avery stayed quiet. A sigh fell from his dad’s lips.

Mr. Smith began again, shaking his head disappointedly, “Son, you judge too quickly. _In fact_, this whole _damn_ town judges too quickly.”

“Besides, it only blooms at night, when all the magic truly happens.” Mr. Smith fondled the little orange curiosity with a mischievous smile and a glint in his blue eyes. “Let’s come back later.”

Avery looked around nervously, despite knowing nobody was allowed near the esteemed Royal Gardens today. In private, his father still didn’t abide by the social and legal customs.

Mr. Smith wasn’t born here. He wasn’t Aldrarian like Avery and Avery’s mother, making it a great surprise to the Aldra community when he was given the honor of serving as a Royal Gardener.

Not much happened in Aldra besides parties, and so everybody was shocked and filled with strange conspiracies for a decade.

One time, a little girl had wholeheartedly asked him if she could see his “Golden Goose Tree” that supposedly produced crocodiles and lizards occasionally, a tree that didn’t exist. People also speculated that, as a foreigner chosen to join the honored group of eleven, he must’ve possessed Verdant Embrace—a legendary ability to create new plant varieties from _scratch_.

Sadly, no such thing. Jacob Smith became the first of his kind to achieve greatness, not by magic, but because of his grit and love for gardening—and maybe a little bit of insanity.