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The Flora Gardens are one of the City of Empyrean's great wonders. Inside the massive vaulted glass structures of the Gardens are flowers, plants, weeds, trees and the accompanying insects all well-cared for by Quenda. In one of the smaller antechambers to the main garden center, Quenda keeps beds of the various plants and herbs required for potions, lessons and the like. It is here you can get seeds to grow your own plant, learn how to tend the plants and how and when to properly harvest them. It is said that in the second antechamber Quenda cross-fertilizes and grafts plants together to create new species. It is also said that in this chamber is a Portal that leads to the Fauna Gardens of Lelaus out beyond in the Red District, and that it is through this door he brings in his 'Specimens' to be studied in his Animal Care classes.

Mathiaz had eventually gotten bored of just sitting around in his room - and he had no idea where any of his friends were. As such, he'd taken to wandering the halls with Verin padding along beside him. Eventually, his steps took him to the Flora Gardens, where he'd first found the Cicus Fox. "You wanna take a look in here?" he asked idly, not particularly expecting a response. The fox tended to stay a bit more aloof from him - more of a companion than a pet, for sure. And a silent, proud companion at that.

Verin glanced up at the boy though and tilted his head, ears flicking from the doorway back to Mat.

Mat laughed softly and reached down to ruffle fur on the top of Verin's head. "Sure. No arguments there." He completely ignored the somewhat annoyed growl at that, and headed inside, wondering if maybe there was anyone else around inside.

Verin was ranging out ahead of Mat a bit as they wandered, and so it was him that found the other Empyrean - nearly stumbling upon it. As it turned out, the plants he was close to had a very strong scent and masked the scent of the boy himself. As such, Verin stepped right into the area before he realized anyone was there. But instead of shying away as a normal animal might, he just stopped, eyeing Yambati.

Mat sent back, having gotten used to talking like this with Verin, despite the fact that they didn't talk all that often.

Verin tilted his head slightly, looking a bit amused at the boy's apparent lack of attention or concern towards him. And what if he was some sort of wild animal that was actually agressive? For a moment, he was tempted to pounce on him just to teach him a bit of a lesson. But he just lifted his tail up above the bushes and waved the tip. he sent to Mat, some of that amusement coming through in his mental tone.

Mat blinked, and looked around a moment before spotting that signal. He quickly made his way toward where the fox was, making a fair bit of noise himself as he went along. After all, he wasn't trying to sneak up on the other boy. Unless it was Grave. But he didn't think it was, and Verin would have mentioned that anyway.

Mat finally got to where Verin was waiting and pushed his way through the bushes the fox had gone under. Said fox shot him a sort of annoyed look for his lack of stealth, but Mat could care less. This ... was someone new. And therefore interesting. "Hey," he greeted cheerfully, smiling. "You new?"

Oh hey ... this was great! Mat hadn't gotten the chance to be the first person one of the new ones met yet. "So ... you probably haven't taken any classes yet, right? You met anyone else?" he asked, still smiling. Verin sat close to his feet and sort of rolled his eyes juuuust a little. "Oh. And I'm Mathiaz."

And indeed, Mat waded a bit farther into that clear space and plopped himself down on the ground next to the other. He looked around a moment from that point of view. "So, uhm. What are you doing here, anyway?" he finally asked, as that was what he was curious about.

Mat just nodded though, not seeming to be much phased by that. "I know a couple other people around here that like plants. Maybe not enough to go hang out and sit in the middle of them all day but ..." He trailed off, realizing belatedly that maybe he was starting to sound a little rude.