Preserve had always been quite proud of his knowledge of plants. He had learnt most of what he knew from Koi, and had quickly found himself disappointed by the lack of variety in the greenhouse. Koi had explained that the greenhouse was set up for food, which naturally was the colony's primary concern. Still, this setup had not been expanded on much since the days they built the greenhouse, which at this point was several seasons ago. Besides the scale nobody had bothered to plant different seeds- which also meant that Scale and Matter regularly sent out Xunari to bigger settlements to buy herbs and other such materials to turn into medicine. Scale always complained about it whenever he needed her or Matter's help with the small injuries caused by his curiosity (you'd be surprised how often one Belemoid fell into the brambles, trying to study it's roots.). **"So many berries, and not *one* aloe?"** Scale huffed, looking trough the fur on Preserve's back for any stray thorns that the belemoid didn't catch himself. Preserve thought about the comment a bit "I mean, aloe won't grow here. Much too moist." Scale rolled her eyes at him. "You know what I

mean." she huffed a little. "We use plant-based medicine all the time, but has anyone bothered to set up a herb garden?" Preserve looked at Matter for help, knowing what he was about to get into, but the serpentine Xunari just shrugged at him, an amused twinkle in her eyes. Preserve knew that he was much too naïve to think that Matter would help him. She had proudly showed off some of the plants she kept in the windows before, which still sat there today soaking up the sun shining brightly outside, and Preserve had no doubt that she'd enjoy occasionally helping out in any herb gardens the colony would set up. He supposed he didn't want to be stopped from furthering the plan forming in his mind, either. and the vague confirmation that both of the healers would have his back when asking for permission was comforting. "I- suppose someone should get started on that herb garden then." Preserve threw out hesitantly, surprising both the healers and himself. Scale didn't give him the time to take it back, however. "Wonderful! Finally someone in this place deciding to make themself useful!" she shouted, sounding extra exasperated, earning a small chuckle

from Matter who had stopped writing notes on the small computer in the corner to follow the conversation. Preserve chuckled- neither healer was exactly an open book, but he knew that both Scale and Matter cared deeply about their, and by extent their colony's, independence. Preserve did too, to some degree, but mostly knew that for his botanical research, having more exotic plants growing right here would be much more convenient. Overall, there weren't really any downside that Preserve could find, but still asking for permission and some land to allocate would be important. Scale moved away from him, probably content with her scavenger hunt for thorns, and squeezed her self next to Matter on the corner. She hummed, deep in thought for a bit. preserve wasn't sure what she was actually doing, until her voice echoed trough the room again. "There's plenty of ground around here that can't hold big buildings." Scale said, gesturing to a map pulled up on one of the screens. "Probably your best shot for a herb garden for now, at least short-term. Maybe we can convince Bloo to expand the greenhouse later. For now- I'm sure you can combine those seeds of yours with

some soil and work your magic." Preserve nodded along as Scale further explained, mostly listing off plants she'd like grown, slowly getting lost in his own thoughts. Scale wasn't entirely wrong, a greenhouse wasn't really necessary yet, especially if he eased up a bit on the scope of the whole project. A small field with various crops would certainly do, for now at least. They could always start with some mushrooms- even though Preserve was more than bored of those. In the bigger picture, it wasn't entirely reasonable to think that they'd pull another greenhouse of the ground- especially with Koi's greenhouse taking the entire colony at the time a week to build. It'd be hard to convince everyone to lend a hand for something they didn't strictly *need*, after all. "Anyways, that's just a proposal. I'm sure you and the rest of the know-it-all's can figure it out with Bloo, after all." Preserve nodded, grateful for her help figuring it all out. "I guess I can go pay him a visit tomorrow " he said, nervously. Scale sighed, suddenly done with the conversation. "Right, right. Go have a motivational speech in your bathroom mirror or something. *some of us*

have work to do." preserve chuckled, allowing the older Xunari to shoo him out of the room.