The Garden

[Aerith's Knight]

The teleportation is making you as dizzy as always and you stumble a bit before steadying yourself and looking around. A girl (http://img29.picoodle.com/img/img29/5/12/15/f_girl2m_3223378.png) is sitting against a tree, reading. When she notices you, she dusts herself off and walks over to you.

“Hello, welcome to the Garden of the International Geographic Society of Annifontia. My name is Emily van Tuin and in this garden is one or more of every plant in Annifontia. However, some flowers are too dangerous or too rare to have in our possession, therefore replica’s have been put in place there. If we did our job right, you shouldn’t notice the difference”

She smiles and begins walking towards the white paved path through the garden.

“If you would follow me, we will take a tour of the garden.”

[Aerith's Knight]

Following the path, Emily suddenly stops. After nearly bumping into her, She walks towards a small patch of flowers overlooked by a few trees.

“In this patch we see the flowers and trees that only grow in certain countries. We have the Chocotree, I assume you can figure out where that comes from. Further we have the beautiful and rare flowers from the Empire. The Cetra flower and mable tree have a recognizable white color, but the flaming flower hasn’t bloomed yet. Of course, that would mean the flower is almost gone, so that wouldn’t be a good thing.”

She laughs and straightens out a few flowers.

“Before we move on, the grass you see between the plants isn’t actually grass, but a reed from Vaelgard that makes a great bread. Oh, before I forget, the information on the plants is found on the marble signs.”

She points at the marble sign in front of the Apollo tree and you take a quick look before running after Emily, because if you get lost it could be days before anyone finds you.

[Aerith's Knight]

After following Emily for a while, you arrive at a clearing. The air is so sweet that your mouth waters instantly. Emily giggles at the expression on your face, as a little drool is coming from the corner of your mouth.

“Here we see the trees and bushes that produce the sweetest fruit and berries in Annifontia. The palm tree over there is actually an Oasis Wenken. The trees you are standing under are called Nirasta. Its fruit is shaped like a starfish and it is 20 feet tall, so make sure none fall on your head.”

You move quickly from underneath the tree, moving next a few bushes. One looks fiery red and the other looks a deep blue. Giving into hunger, you decide to take a small piece of fruit. You avoid the red fruit and pick one of the deep blue ones on the other bush.

Before Emily notices you pop one in your mouth. Instantly you feel like your mouth is on fire. Emily notices and with a stern face she picks one of the red fruits and stuff it in your mouth. Your mouth cools down instantly.

“That’s why you listen before you eat. Although cool in appearance, the Icepepper bush produces the hottest peppers in Annofontia. The firepepper bush on the other hand, produces a pepper that cools down a person.”

She smacks your hand and gives you a look that says, don’t ever do that again.

“Now I think it’s best to move on, before you start chopping down trees.”

When the two of you walk away from the clearing, you hear her say “Every time” under her breath.

[Aerith's Knight]

Arriving at a small field, you are overwhelmed by the light that is coming from the trees. While you are staring at a beautiful display of tranquility and peaceful light, A flower suddenly explodes near you. After your breathing calms down and you dare to come from behind Emily’s back, she giggles and explains.

“The Napalm has a tendency to do that. These flowers and trees belong to the Illuminous family. They store energy from sunlight during the day and emit light at night. The Psalm tree and Alpha are the bright glowing trees over there. Those are the easiest to recognize, since they look like a Christmas tree and a Palm tree.”

Emily walks over to a small patch of flowers that glows with multiple colors.

“These are my favorites. They are called Rainbow Roses, and each individual pedal glows with a different color. They are so romantic.”

She blushes a bit and composes herself again. She offers you a glowing berry from the Psalm tree, but after the last time, you politely decline. After that she walks towards a path that runs next to the Napalm flowers. You courageously walk after her, until another Flowers explodes. While you scream and run away, Emily giggles and chases after you.

[Aerith's Knight]

Walking along the path, you arrive at a small forest. The sunlight creates beams of light that pour through the open gaps in the trees.

“These are some of the numerous trees that grow in Annofontia. Over here you can see the Apollo tree, a great source of firewood, and easily recognized by the yellow leaves. Artemis ivy is always found on Apollo trees, and the age of these trees is usually measured by the amount of ivy.”

You walk along the path looking sideways at all the different species of trees, until *smack*, you walk into an enormous tree. Rubbing your nose you crane your neck to see how incredibly high it is. Emily smiles a little and explains.

“This is Dragonswood, the largest species of tree in Annofontia. We couldn’t fit it anywhere else, so we had to make the path around it. Let’s go to the next patch.”

You walk the 20 feet around the roots of the tree and run to keep up with Emily, who always seems to be faster than you.

[Aerith's Knight]

Emily stops you before reaching the next patch.

“The next plants are considered extremely dangerous and I have to ask you to be very careful.”

When reaching the next patch you see a huge tangle of vines and a bush that cant stop ruffling.

“What you see here are the strangler plants, called a such because they use vines to strangle and kill unsuspecting traveling. On the left is the Tantela bush, which disguises itself as a bush and on the right is a Festrina, which has vines that grow to be 50-200 feet long. When moonlight shines upon a Festrina it secretes moonglaze, which can be useful in some poisons.”

You back away from these plants and you see a small plant with a bright purple color. Just when you try to lean in for a closer look, Emily pulls you back looking angry.

“I told you to be careful. This is the amore seed, its smells are very dangerous and can lower inhibitions.”

Her face softens a bit and she beckons to follow her.

“Let’s move on, the next patch is our most special one.

While walking along the path, a small lake forms on the right side.

“On the right side, you can see the sea plants of Annofontia. They consist mostly of seaweed and flow weed. On the left side are some of the more common plants, like demora grass and the lapyx bush, which is the nesting place for the rose dove.”

Just that second, a rose dove flies towards a lapyx bush. Emily smiled and beckoned to move on.

“Well, isn’t that a nice coincidence.”

[Aerith's Knight]

When reaching a large clearing, you stumble over a black rock. Emily just giggles and helps you up.

“My my, you seem to be falling a lot today. That was a Hard stone, found near breeding grounds of dragons, if you touch it you can feel it’s warm core.”

Emily shows you to the middle of the clearing and her eyes sparkle because of all the rare flowers displayed here.

“This is the rare plants section of the garden. On the right here are all the potion ingredients, like the blue mentobe, used in ice heal, and the sunrise triplet, used in burn heal. Potion ingredients are often recognized by a strange color or shape that the ingredient induces in the plant.”

Emily walks over to a small patch of flowers and straightens out a few.

“These are the rarest flowers in Annofontia. This one is called a Andoras lily, and is the symbol of love for most countries. This one is a white lymph, but sadly this is a replica. It is a potion ingredient for elixers, but hasn’t been seen in 140 years.”

Browsing around this garden of rare flowers you notice the sun is going down. Emily walks to you and beckons you to a nearby clearing. When arriving, you recognize the tree that she was sitting against when you met her. Emily smiles at you and gives you a small bag containing seeds.

“These are seeds of the easily cared for and pretty types of flowers, so you can start your own garden. I hope to see you again one day and that you have a safe trip home.”

You enter the teleportation pad and a flash of light hurls you through space and dimensions to the The International Geographic Society of Annifontia (http://forums.eyesonff.com/annifontia/112876-international-geographic-society-annifontia.html).