Dear Emily,

It was such a pleasure to receive your lovely letter. When I filled out my profile page, Lenora told me to look for you. I found your profile and was about to write to you when low and behold, there was your letter! She told me how excited you were when she mentioned me to you and how you’d tried without success to find a Plant Person. It’s so nice that we’re connecting through this project, and it’s great that Lenora helped make that possible. If you haven’t figured it out already, Lenora’s a real class act. You couldn’t find a better friend.

It doesn’t surprise me in the least that those close to Lenora are taking part. She has that way about her that makes people excited to participate in something. Her grandfather is participating as is Mathilda’s daughter, Alina. Even Mathilda, herself, is participating, and that’s a big one right there. Mathilda is…well, there is no adequate description for Mathilda. Lenora’s little granddaughter, Tara, is also looking for a pen pal but so far hasn’t received any nibbles just yet.

It’s so nice to meet you, too, and of course I’m interested in writing back. It is, indeed, true. I’m a real life green Plant Person. Guilty as charged. 🙂 I guess that makes me a sort of hybrid – part human and part plant. Part of my system works the same way as a normal human man’s would, but being part plant, there are vasty differences. Rather than taking in oxygen, I take in carbon dioxide. My blood is different, so I don’t think I’ll ever get the prize for donating a gallon of blood to the Sim Cross. But hey, you can’t do everything, right?

It sounds like you have an awesome family. You’re fortunate to have siblings to pal around with. My mother always wanted a large family but instead, it was just the two of us. Evelyn, my mother, had fertility issues. After years of trying, she and her husband had no choice but to concede defeat. They planned to start the adoption process but her husband tragically died of a sudden massive heart attack. The loss of him and with no children to care for left her devastated and apathetic. Her biggest fear had always been being alone, and there she was living it.

Now, it is said that there are ways of summoning a fairy and asking him or her to grant you a wish. As many times as I asked her about the fairy she summoned and how she summoned her, she would never tell me. It’s my hunch that the fairy swore her to secrecy in that matter. Anyway, Mother managed to summon a kindhearted fairy who granted her wish for a child. Since she had no husband, this fairy came up with something very creative. My mother loved to garden, so the fairy capitalized on that. She gave Mother a seed with instructions on how to grow and harvest it. “You won’t be growing the child inside you, but you will experience your own kind of labor of love in bringing the child forth,” the fairy told my mother. Mother followed the instructions to the letter and I am the result of this labor of love.

Mother has since passed, so it is I who is alone now. Sometimes it’s a lonely existence but I find ways of keeping busy. As I said in my profile, I’m a scientist and have thrown myself into my work. We’ve made great strides in the aging process and I’ve even tested some of my own theories on myself, as you know. It was my hope that because of my unique body chemistry, we could concoct a serum from my blood infused with certain ingredients that would slow down deterioration of the body and mind due to natural aging. Although a person will and does age, it is my goal eliminate such things as dementia, hardening of the arteries, and brittle bones. We’ve done some good work but are far from complete success. I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve had good luck with the experiments and that they haven’t harmed me. In a way though, I suppose others wouldn’t see it that way. You see, with the nature of what we were doing, my own aging process now runs at a snail’s pace. Where I would have had a normal human’s lifespan, I am virtually ageless. Oh, I will age little by little in reality, but it will take thousands and thousands of years for me to become an old man. At first, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I mean, I will remain young and healthy while everyone around me withers and dies. It was depressing for me at first but I’m choosing to look on the bright side of it. Lenora and her family have been a godsend, so at least I’ll have constant friends who will be ageless along with me.

After needing to be in and out of isolation over time, I decided I needed a respite. I was exhausted and craving the outside world, so I relocated to a small lush town where I could keep a somewhat low profile while living in the perfect environment for someone like me. The soil here is full if nutrients for plant life, the climate is perfect, and I can get the rejuvenation I need. I still work on some experiments but not at the harried pace I once did. As you know, I enjoy practicing Martial Arts and feel it is important to keep your body as well as your mind in good shape. I live in a medium-sized house that fulfills all my needs. I can work out at home if I choose, I have a basement laboratory, and there is plenty here for me to read. Plus, Lenora and I visit often, and I do have a few other friends I am fond of spending time with.

Being a Plant Person does have its perks. I do not need to eat food to survive but being part plant, I tend to consume more water than most people. I can drink it and ah, there is nothing like water to replenish the body. Swimming or playing in the sprinklers will do it also. You could even say we as Plant People don’t have enough sense to come in out of the rain, but a good rain shower, in most cases, hits the spot perfectly.

We do, indeed, photosynthesize. We can replenish our water supply and get a nice “power nap” that way. Sunshine and water go hand in hand in keeping us healthy and happy. We will wilt without the sunshine and get very ill if we get dehydrated. It’s  delicate balance but any kind of existence is a balancing act, is it not?

As to kids, well, I hope one day I’ll find the right lady to grow a family with. Yep, I said grow. Like you suspected, we are grown in a garden or sometimes in an indoor planter. It makes being a Cabbage Patch Kid a reality. 🙂 Pregnancy is a foreign concept to us, for our bodies just aren’t made for that. In a way, that’s a good thing because the lady doesn’t have to suffer the physical maladies and symptoms that go along with it. We are grown, tended to, and plucked, No fuss, no muss, really. You just need a bit of gardening under your belt.

I once helped out a fairy lady who was on a mission to help repopulate a world that was dying. My friend Kira was charged with producing a certain amount of babies, so I helped her out a little. I was able produce some seeds which she keeps in a safe place until she’s ready to grow one. By now, i could have a few sprouts running around but I think Kira would tell me if that was the case. I also held onto some seeds for myself to grow should I wish. As I said, it would be better to start a family with the right lady but that possibility isn’t in the cards at the moment. I’m not seeing anyone special, but I do love children and want to be a father. I am also thinking of giving a seed or two to Alina and her husband. Alina is Lenora’s honorary sister, and she and her husband have been having fertility issues. A good fairy helped my mother acquire me, so I think it would be nice to help some good people in this way. I know any baby would be in good hands with Robin and Alina.

It does not matter where a plan is as long as there is plenty of room for it to grow. Unlike humans, they don’t care about such things as iron bars or cages. All they want is plenty of sunshine, water, and of course, love, which will make them thrive in most cases. With some plant species, climate plays an important part, for there are plants that can grow only in certain parts of the world. Plants might not be able to talk back in the way a human can, but believe me, they know who is kind and loving to them.

I am so sorry you lost your biological Mom, but I am happy that you can remember such beautiful things about her, such as the flowers outside your window. It’s little things like that which keep a loved one in your heart after they are gone. My own mother had a lovely singing voice, which I would hear every day. She was very modest and said she sounded more like a lady frog with laryngitis. I always said that if that was the case, she sounded like the prettiest lady frog there ever was. She would just smile, give me a big hug, and tell me she named me according to my personality. That always puzzled me until one day, Lenora told me that Gentian sounded like a “good” name. Then, here you are saying how pretty you think it is. I suppose some names fit the individual, kind of like how villains in a lot of fantasy stories are given vile names.

Anyway, one day when Mother was baking some bread and singing away in the kitchen, I recorded her. I don’t think she ever knew, but I am glad I have those recordings. This way, I have part of her with me that I can always keep close.

Don’t you worry about being all over the place. It’s hard when first getting to know someone. You just write it the way you feel most comfortable doing it. As I said before, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your letter.

Ah, so you are a lover of fantasy and detective stories! I confess, I am as well. Have you ever read the Pern series by Anne McCaffrey? I am a lover of dragon stories, and this has been a longtime favorite series for me. I’m also a big Harry Potter nut, and I thoroughly enjoy the Kinsey Milhone books by Sue Grafton. The stories with caterer/sleuth Goldie Schultz by Diane Mott-Davidson are very entertaining, too, and there are lovely recipes included in those books if that is something you are into. Perhaps your mother, being a chef, might have heard of that series.

It sounds like your place is buzzing with activity! With having a big family and planning a wedding, it would be. I wish your sister and her wife-to-be much love and happiness, and I wish your family strength to get through the insanity. 🙂 What will you do with yourself once the big day is over and things are quiet once again?

You are a girl after my own heart. The sound of rain is always a balm to my soul and I can never resist a shower right from nature. The thunder and lightening, though, are a different matter. Many a sturdy tree has been felled by a bolt of lightening that struck in just the right place.

Doing homework is a necessary chore, but at least there is a lovely park for you to enjoy during the task. Lenora often tells me that when she was a teenager, there was this stream she always liked to sit beside. It gave her inspiration for her writing when she was in a funk. With all the sights and smells, there is plenty of inspiration to gather.

How right you are that nature is full of beautiful and wondrous things. Even a mere gust of wind is a miracle. The fact that this planet is situated where it is to allow such beautiful things to exist is wondrous. Like I said, even existing is a balancing act, but what a beautiful balancing act it is! Life and all it has to offer is a treasure.

I immensely enjoyed writing this letter to you, my new friend, and I thank you for seeking me out. Wishing you many days of sunshine and love.

Your new friend,

Gentian

Author’s Note: The lady who passed Gentian along to me didn’t have much to offer for a family history, so I created one for him. I think he was from her Adam & Eve challenge but wasn’t a main character or anything. She passed him to me to use for Lenora’s Bachelorette Challenge and I loved him on the spot. He’ll be making appearances in my stories and I have something special in mind for him. 🙂

Kira is my fairy lady I created for a 100 Baby Challenge that has been sorely neglected. Gentian was used as one of the baby daddies, so therefore, I mentioned him helping out Kira. There are 10 chapters of it which you can read here if you are so inclined.