Chapter 4

Eventually she gave up and went back to her bed full of a feeling she didn't know was curiousity.

Unfortunately, the emotion she woke up with was one Laura was extremely familiar with- irritation. It was apparently increased in the presence of other humans and around small household appliances such as alarm clocks. It wasn't her alarm clock; Laura's enhanced hearing tuned in to at least four separate alarms that were currently going off in the hall. She sighed and got up.

Breakfast happened, and then as one the public-school students took off in an arsenal of cars for a day of learning and public humiliation. Laura was not in school, not even homeschooled. Initially they had tried tutoring her but gave up upon discovering the extensive education she'd gotten from HYDRA. So Laura didn't really have anything to do.

She ended up in Rogue's room listening to music on headphones for awhile. It wasn't very good, it was all about feelings and emotions. There was smelling all of Jean's and Kitty's perfumes- they stank of chemicals under the overlay of artificial scent. She stared blankly at Jamie's tarantula on his bedroom desk while he was in the library being tutored. Activities such as these filled most of the day until, finally, all of the teenagers returned to the mansion and dinner happened.

Laura was strangely impatient to finish eating without knowing why, which in turn irritated her until she was angry enough to throttle the first person who smiled at her. As it turned out, Ororo was the only person to smile at her. Laura halfheartedly scowled back, her mind far away.

Finally the dishes were cleared away and everybody went off to do whatever they needed to do that night, leaving Laura sitting at a large empty table with Ororo.

"I'm quite excited," Ororo started, smiling serenely, "I've been looking forward to this all day."

Laura didn't respond but didn't pretend not to be listening either.

"We're going to start with basic knowledge this evening- the tools, the kinds of plants, what all the plants are for, things like that," Ororo said cheerfully. "So come with me."

The next several hours consisted of an intense information session that anyone with less information processing training than Laura would have found extremely confusing. There were dozens of different pots for any number of uses. There were plants spanning from the purely aesthetic to medicinal to culinary. The closets, one in a small shed in the rear of the mansion and the other in the attic, had enough gardening tools that they resembled small armories to Laura. And, of course, there was watering all of the plants that needed it in the attic garden just like the evening before. The outdoor plants benefitted from a sudden, spontaneous rainshower. There was no sprinkler system; Ororo didn't see the need to pay utilities to water the outdoor plants when she could just make it rain for a few minutes for free.

The lesson, which had moved back up to the attic garden, ended abruptly when Ororo glanced at a clock in passing and discovered it was quite late at night.

"My apologies for keeping you so long this evening, Laura. I did not mean for this to go on quite so late, so I will end this lesson for today. I was going to do one more thing tonight, but perhaps it's better this way- before we meet tomorrow, I'd like you to pick a plant in the attic greenhouse. You may choose any of them, and the plant that you pick will be yours to care for exclusively. I will not interfere in any way except for giving information. Tomorrow you can tell me which one you chose."

She yawned as Laura continued to pay attention sullenly. "Although I know you will not be going to sleep for some time yet, I am quite tired. Good night, Laura."

Ororo went down the stairs calmly, waiting until she had shut the door to her bedroom to grin widely as she prepared for bed. Laura remained in the attic for quite some time, slowly wandering around studying the plants and reviewing what Ororo had told her about them.

The carrots were growing somewhere in the dirt in the rectangular pot by the door, in theory, but on the surface nothing was happening. Laura didn't want to take care of a pot of dirt, that seemed uninteresting. Perhaps a plant that had already started showing? She glanced at the next pot, recalling that it contained onions. The stalks were showing, but Laura didn't like the taste of onions so she didn't want to help them grow.

She eliminated several more plants and then turned to look at the small, ugly thorny shrub in the center of the room. She stared at it for several minutes.

Rosa hybrid, commonly known as the Hybrid Tea Rose. Color unknown. Requires a pot at least 17 inches in diameter by at least 14 inches deep with drainage to prevent root rot. Needs at least six hours of sunlight every day. Grows three to six feet in height. Blooms twice yearly, once in spring and once in fall. Growing indoors is extremely difficult.

It seemed like a challenge to grow such a plant indoors. Laura smiled on the inside. It would be difficult. She liked that.