The plant was not new.
It had been there for some time and believed this mattered.
It sat near the window in a pot that suggested permanence. Its leaves were broad and confident. It faced the light as though expecting cooperation and receiving it most days.
Pebble encountered it by accident.
She ran past at speed and clipped one leaf with her shoulder. The leaf shook. Pebble stopped abruptly and turned.
The plant responded by spitting dirt in her general direction.
A small spray landed on Pebble’s paw.
Pebble stared at it.
This felt like an unnecessary escalation.
Pebble sniffed the dirt. She sniffed the pot. She sniffed the leaf she had offended. Then she looked up at the plant, waiting for an explanation.
The plant did not deign to offer one.
Pebble stepped closer.
One leaf bent under her weight and stayed bent. Pebble froze. She waited for the plant to continue whatever it had started.
It did not.
Mohg sat down beside the plant to offer solace through presence.
Later, the dirt disappeared, as if the plant had retracted its actions and offered an apology for an earlier confrontational mood.
Over the next several days, the plant endured a series of Pebble-related events.
It was bumped while Pebble reversed direction without warning.
It was stepped on during moments of enthusiasm.
Once, the pot was nudged just enough to be unsettling.
The plant did not complain, perhaps embarrassed by its dirt-spitting overreaction.
Mohg remained stationed beside it.
He did not bark. He did not reposition it. He simply sat nearby, like someone assigned to watch something without being told what to do if things went wrong.
The plant’s posture changed permanently. One stem leaned. Several leaves disagreed about their purpose. It no longer faced the light so much as tolerated it.
The plant continued on, as did the rest of the house.
Pebble began walking around it.
Although it did not spit dirt at her again, she remained wary in its presence.
Mohg did not.
He continued sitting beside it.
The plant remained.
With quiet dignity.
