There was so much to take in; Kelsee felt like she had dropped through a portal and had come upon a hidden paradise. All the plants were arranged in a harmonious way so that they were beautiful to look at as a whole. As Kelsee neared the edge of the garden, she spotted something in the corner of her eye. Moving off the path, she looked over the branches of a couple of trees, and finally came across what had caught her attention. What she saw made her stop in her tracks.

It was a bizarre-looking plant indeed. Proportionally, it couldn't have been bigger than a watermelon. It had a tear-drop shape, with a dark green exterior that faded into an eggplant purple near the bottom. Unlike the rest of the garden, where all the plants were tightly knit together, this one stood apart from the rest, in its own patch of dark soil with a circle of white stones lingering on the outer rim. Prickly green vines extended from the bottom, reaching towards the white rocks. K stared at this strange new phenomenon in fascination. She had never seen anything quite like it before.

Intrigued, she lifted her foot to step over the line of rocks and take a closer look.

"Wait!"

Startled, she drew her foot back. She turned and saw Grandma coming towards her rapidly.

"I should have said something," she panted once she had caught up. "You can't actually cross these rocks here."

"Oh," Kelsee said, genuinely surprised. She had had no idea. "Why not?"

"That, right there," Grandma said, pointing towards the plant, "is a Megyanara. It's a plant from Madagascar and it's very fragile. The soil that surrounds it has to remain undisturbed, so that no toxins get to it. We have these rocks here to set that boundary, so that our shoes don't introduce it to any foreign contaminates."

"Oh," Kelsee said again. That was a lot to take in. She had never heard of a plant needing such catering. Then again, she had never come across a plant quite like this one before. She took a few steps back just for good measure.

Grandma nodded in approval. "Yes, the only thing we need to worry about with this plant," she said, kneeling next to the white stones. She raised a pair of shears and lowered it towards one of the vines. It was just barely dangling past the line of stones. With a quick snip, the vine was shortened, and back behind the white rocks.

Grandma stood up. "That's the only maintenance we have to worry about with this plant, just making sure it stays in its own little bubble. Simple as that." She turned and smiled at Kelsee.

"Ok," she replied. "sounds easy enough." She supposed that made sense. If the vines went beyond the boundary of rocks onto the regular garden grounds, there was a good chance it could be introduced to those contaminants Grandma was talking about. At least, that's what Kelsee assumed.