Letters: Emily to Gentian 2

Response to Gentian’s 1st letter.

Dear Gentian,

Yay! I’m so happy that you want to write to me! Thank you so much for your letter!

You seem so nice. Reading your letter made me instantly feel at ease, like talking with a friend I’ve known for a while already. I already thanked Lenora for getting you into the project. She really is lovely.

Thank you for answering all my questions about Plant People! I’ve been really curious about them… I mean, you guys. It’s pretty neat that you don’t need food and just need water. You have a great excuse to dance in the rain, then! And you probably won’t get sick easily if you stay out in the rain for too long. Can you eat food, even if you don’t need it? Or do you just drink water and get nutrients from the ground and absorb sunlight? Do Plant People have their own cuisine? Would eating vegetables be cannibalism for you, or at least close to it? You said your blood is different; is it also a different colour than human blood? Also man, growing kids in a garden would be so cool! You helping other people have kids sounds like a really noble thing to do. I hope you’ll meet someone special you can start your own family with, since that’s what you want. If you do meet her and we’re still pen pals, feel free to tell me all about her. And about your future kids too!

The work you do sounds really interesting and valuable! I hope you make lots of helpful scientific discoveries that’ll make people’s lives better! Aging is fine, I think, but all those sicknesses and problems that come with age aren’t. So good luck and inspiration for your work! Also I’m really glad that you have immortal friends to keep you company. The thought of being immortal and alone is a really depressing one.

Oh, wow, your birth sounds like real fairytale! It’s so great that your mum got you. Thank you for your condolences. I’m sorry about the people you’ve lost too. Feel free to reminisce about the people who’re gone all you want with me. My mum used to sing too. She played the guitar for me whenever I was scared or had difficulties falling asleep. I guess that’s one big reason for why I like playing the guitar so much too. I’m glad you have recordings of your mum’s singing. It sounds like a lovely way to remember her.

Also your name does sound like a good name! My name sounds… well, I don’t know. Good, I guess. Emily. It’s pretty soft. Though I’ve read stories about a sea monster that lives near a town called Windenburg. Apparently the locals call her Emily too. I like that. It would be cool to be a badass sea monster. But sharing a name with one is enough for me.

The fairy your mother met sounded so nice. I wish my life’s fairytales were nice like that. So far I’ve had pretty bad experiences with some supernaturals. But that doesn’t mean I’m scared of magic. I mean, non-supernatural people can be bad too just as likely. Still, I think it’s really neat that this world has magic, and I’d love to meet some more cool supernaturals who aren’t mean. Writing to you and Lenora and her folks has helped with that a lot. I’m sure that someday I’ll have a magical adventure of my own, something nice for a change. That’s why I started keeping a journal.

You asked me what I’m going to do after the wedding. Well, the wedding’s actually over now (sorry for not writing sooner. It was a really busy time for me and my family), and it feels a bit weird to not be surrounded by all that busyness and people.

But at least it’s peaceful again, and now I have time to just be and relax – especially now that school is almost done too. It’s just a couple of weeks before the summer break! So yeah, I’ve been keeping a journal. A journal of adventures!

So far my adventures have just been bike trips around the town and a bit beyond that. I’ve documented all the fun magical and not-so-magical findings I’ve come across. Like a circle of stones at our town. Or strange noises at the cemetery. Or the feeling of being watched by something tiny – maybe some kind of fairies? – when I’m out and about. Or just regular, lovely things.

It’s been a lot of fun! It may not be all that exciting, but it’s actually nice because too much excitement can get scary. I’ve been asking my family if we could take a trip together somewhere outside the town during the summer. They said that we can! Now I’m just trying to narrow down all the places I want to visit!

But meanwhile it’s nice being just here. In my hometown. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of the fields and the forests and the flowers here. Even when I don’t find adventures, I always find new, pretty places I haven’t paid attention to before, and I write and draw them into my journal. I’m not that great at writing or drawing, but I guess it doesn’t matter as long as it makes me happy.

I’ve also had time to read more again. I love dragon books too! I have read the Pern -series and I love it! And just the other day I finally managed to get one of Lenora’s books, and I’ve enjoyed it a lot! It’s so… magical. 🙂 Obviously. I’ve also been reading some of Sir Pratchett’s Discworld -books, and they’re probably my favourites right now! My favourite character is Death. My mum hadn’t heard of the caterer-detective stories you mentioned, but she got excited right away when I told her about them. She’s now reading them, all thanks to you.

So, that’s pretty much it. Busy but not too exciting. Life in a nutshell, I guess. Or well, I liked your way of seeing life as a balancing act more. A balance between happy and sad times, excitement and boredom. It’s not easy a lot of the time, but I hope we all manage it somehow.

What’s going on in your life right now? It sounds like you have things set up really nicely in your life. I hope you’re doing well.

All the best,
Emily

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Author’s Note: While Emily has read the Pern -series, I haven’t. So I hope people don’t expect an in-depth conversation about it. 😀

Also I had to make Emily like Discworld because it just makes sense. Her uncle owes his existence largely to my fangirl-ism of Sir Pterry’s Death after all.

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