Planting Violets

"What the hell?" dad said to himself as he stopped the car.

We'd only just backed out of the garage, we weren't even on the road yet, and he was staring past mom at the empty lot next to our house. Mom turned to look and she gasped too, but I'd been trying to look the other way.

I was in a fairly good mood and I didn't want it spoiled, so I really couldn't bear to see what was left next door. Even though the sun was out this morning it rained most of the night, and I knew it was going to be a muddy barren mess over there.

"Uh, Violet?" dad asked after a few seconds. "I thought you said you only used one packet of seeds on that lot last night?"

"Yeah," I sighed as I kept my attention focused to the left so I wouldn't have to see it.

Then mom said quietly, "One packet or a dozen, it shouldn't look like that already."

At that point I pretty much had to see what they were talking about. I braced myself as I turned to look out the passenger side window, and my heart skipped a beat.

I was expecting to see a mess of mud and dying vegetation. Instead I found myself staring at an entire lot filled to the brim with violets, all in full bloom. It was like a carpet of green and purple.

The sight filled me with a lot of complicated emotions, but joy was probably the strongest. My eyes widened as I mumbled to myself, "Oh wow..."

The three of us sat there in the car and stared for another minute or so, before dad finally got us moving again. I kept my eyes on the lot and all the flowers I'd made as long as I could, before we finally drove off.

About ten minutes later the three of us were seated in a nearby restaurant, and mom and I were filling dad in on the rest of the stuff Phoebe talked to us about overnight. We'd already placed our orders and got our drinks, mom and dad were having more coffee while I had a glass of OJ.

"So the first thing dad," I said quietly as I leaned closer to him, "Phoebe Archer is really the goddess Artemis, like right out of myths and legends and stuff. She asked us to use her modern name though, so people won't recognize her."

He frowned, "I remember that part, but I'm still not sure I believe it. So how exactly did you get involved with someone out of ancient Greek mythology?"

I sighed, "You probably don't remember this, but back when I was eight years old you two sent me to summer day-camp? I wandered off into the woods there, and met a girl named Cynthia. She and I became friends, and every day after that as soon as I got to the camp I went off into the woods and found her then spent all day hanging out with her. She kept giving me flowers, and you kept throwing them out because you said uh..."

My voice faltered slightly so I decided to skip that part, "Anyways like I said you probably don't remember anything about that? But it turns out that Cynthia was a forest nymph, and apparently she was one of Phoebe's children? And um..."

Those emotions were still really hard to deal with, so mom took over that part of the story.

She quietly relayed what Phoebe told us early this morning, about how nymphs like Cynthia are bound to their woods and cannot leave. They get strength from the plants and animals around them, and in return they protect the area from harm. Except the land where Cynthia lived got turned into a subdivision, and she passed away when her forest was lost.

I quietly wiped away some tears while mom told dad how Phoebe found out about me from Cynthia, that I was the nymph's last friend and she'd given me her blessings. That was the last magic flower she gave me, the violet she said lived in my heart where nobody could take it away. And apparently she had one final request for the goddess, she wanted someone to carry on her legacy as a forest nymph.

"Our daughter wished for a body she was comfortable with," mom explained quietly, "And Cynthia wished for someone to carry on her legacy after she was gone. So the goddess granted both requests at the same time. Violet received a body she's happy and comfortable with, but she's also become half nymph. And now she's going to honour the memory of a friend she lost when she was a child."

At that point the waiter showed up with our breakfast, but as soon as he left again dad asked quietly "So how does that translate into the three of us having to rush into a new home? And why some town out in the boondocks?"

Mom answered as we all started eating, "Because even though Violet is still half human, her nymph side needs some woodlands to call home. And we can't just point her at the empty lot next door or a little copse of trees in the park next to the playground. It needs to be a real living woodland area, and ideally something that's not going to be plowed over and turned into a big box plaza or a housing development."

"That town has four areas of preserved woods around it," she continued. "There's a conservation area surrounding a small lake, there's some preserved forest and wetlands adjoining the conservation area, and there's another small forest just north of the town. And a provincial nature reserve nearby. All those areas are protected, so we shouldn't have to worry about losing any of them."

I added, "The town's less than an hour's drive from the city. If we were willing to go further north we'd find plenty more suitable areas, but this place felt like a good trade-off."

Dad looked somewhere between thoughtful and grumpy as he listened and ate. He didn't say anything when mom and I finished the explanation, he just continued to think about it as we all focused on our breakfast.

It wasn't till he finished eating when he finally sighed, "All right. As soon as you two are done we'll get back on the road and go have a look at the place."

• • • • •

"I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing that," dad said in a quiet uneasy voice as he looked around. "For that matter I can barely believe it, and I just saw it happen with my own two eyes."

Mom asked, "What are they? They look like weeds to me."

I giggled as I turned on the spot to survey my handiwork. "The tall ones with all the purple flowers are Creeping Bellflower. And the short ones with the white flowers are wood sorrel."

"And yes, some people call bellflower a weed," I added. "I call it a hardy perennial with pretty purple flowers."

Dad shook his head, "I don't care what they're called, but watching a hundred of them spring up out of the ground and bloom in less than half a minute kind of freaks me out."

"Sorry dad," I giggled again. "I think it's really cool though. It's basically like magic! Like I can do magic!"

In fact I thought it was so cool I did it again. I wandered a half dozen paces away, to a spot where there was a patch of boring grass. I focused on the sun shining down on my face and arms, I let that feeling spread out around me, then pushed a little harder in a way that was hard to describe but felt completely intuitive. And a moment later I felt dozens of little sprouts rising up among the blades of grass all around me.

Before long there were hundreds of tiny little flowers in bloom all around me, in an assortment of powder blue, soft pink, and white. I was tempted to arrange them in neat rows by colour like the flag, but I figured that might be a little too blatant so I left them random.

"They're forget-me-nots!" I announced when I was finished. "In honour of Cynthia's memory."

Mom asked quietly, "Is it safe for you to be doing all this here? What if someone saw you? And is it ok for you to be er, planting all these flowers here?"

I shrugged, "There's nobody around right now. If there was then I wouldn't do it. And I'm sure it's ok. All these flowers can be found growing wild across southern Ontario."

"I thought we were supposed to be here so you could take a look at the conservation area?" dad asked. "Or have you seen enough of it, now you're just playing? Because it's almost two in the afternoon and I could really go for some lunch."

That made me grimace, I'd totally lost track of the time. And I wasn't hungry, I was still full from breakfast. "Sorry dad. I guess I've seen enough here? It's weird, like I can't describe it but I can tell there's no other nymphs around? And I can tell the woods here could use someone like me? Not that they need me, I mean they're doing ok. I just feel like things could be better."

Neither my mom or dad seemed to know how to respond to that, and dad was still kind of uncomfortable with the magic stuff anyways. Then as the three of us started heading back to where we parked the car mom commented, "It's pretty. The lake looks nice, and the trail seems well-maintained."

"It's not a lake, it's a glorified pond," dad pointed out. "Man-made too, obviously. Didn't you say it was the town's reservoir?"

Mom rolled her eyes, "That doesn't make it any less pretty David."

It only took us a couple minutes to get back to the car, and from there it was probably only five minutes to get to one of the chain restaurants at the big box plaza next to the highway. Soon enough the three of us were seated in a booth looking at menus.

I wasn't all that hungry but I ordered a sandwich and fries, while mom went with her usual chicken caesar salad and dad got a burger. Then as we waited for the food the conversation swung back to the other big topic of the day, houses.

"So what's everyone think?" dad asked. "Are we going to be able to come to an agreement on one of those properties? Or do we need to keep looking?"

Mom looked at me as she responded, "We're doing this for Violet's sake, so she's the one who's making the decisions."

I cringed slightly, "It's not all on me, mom. If we're really going to move here then it has to work for all of us."

She smiled, "I know hon but we're doing this for you. It doesn't make sense to come all this way only to pick something that's not ideal for you."

I still felt really awkward about it, and I knew dad wasn't happy about it either. He was doing his best to make the most of things, but it was pretty obvious he wasn't exactly eager to move. And the place that was my top pick was sure to be at the bottom of dad's list. When we visited the properties in person earlier that just confirmed what I already figured from the pictures we saw online.

With a sigh I admitted, "My favourite was the small one right in town. I know it wasn't ideal for you two, but if it was just me that's the one I'd pick. The location's perfect and the property was nice with all the trees and shrubs and things? And it's practically around the corner from the 'downtown' area, plus it's not too far to walk to the conservation area as well as the local college. Basically it seemed like a perfect place for me."

Dad asked, "What about the farmhouse? It had a nice big modern interior, the lot there's at least four times bigger than the bungalow, and there were some trees and things along the property line. And it had plenty of room for you to start a garden in the back if you wanted."

I grimaced and shook my head, "Like I said when we saw the place, it's too far from everything else. I'd need my own car so I could get to college or the conservation area."

"Why don't we keep looking?" mom suggested. Then she pulled out her phone as she added, "Instead of trying to find properties ourselves, let's see if we can't speak with a local realtor?"

While mom was busy working on that dad seemed to have something else on his mind.

He looked at me and asked, "You said if it was just you, you'd pick that little bungalow. Is that something you'd be interested in? Moving out on your own, I mean?"

"Not that I'm looking to kick you out," he added quickly after mom looked like she was about to argue. "But you know a lot of kids your age like to move out when they go off to college. Maybe that's something we could look into?"

He continued along that train of thought, "And even if you weren't thinking of moving out on your own just yet, if it's something you were going to do in another year or two then that raises the question again? Does it make sense for your mother and I to go through the ordeal of packing up and moving out here with you, if you'll be going off on your own sometime soon regardless?"

That left me quiet for a few seconds as I started to think about the possibility. He was right, eventually I would have wanted to get out on my own. I just hadn't really planned or expected it to be an option so soon.

Then again none of this was planned or expected, and I really hadn't even fully processed everything yet. I hadn't even slept since it happened, neither had mom. We were both just running on adrenaline and willpower. And in mom's case, coffee.

"I hadn't thought of that?" I finally admitted. "I guess it makes sense though? But I don't know how I'd be able to afford all that on my own. If that's what we do though, maybe we should be looking at someplace I can rent, instead of a house?"

Dad asked, "Have you already made your mind up about the college here in town? Or maybe we need to take a few steps back and look at other options there too?"

Suddenly I was questioning and doubting everything. "They have a horticulture program, that's what I want to take. But other colleges probably offer similar courses..."

Then mom reminded both me and dad why we were here. Her voice was quiet but a little intense as she stated, "This is about your health, Violet. We're not looking at colleges and trying to find you a place to rent for a few years come September. We're looking for a permanent home where you can thrive right now. You heard what Phoebe said, the sooner we do this the better."

"We're meeting a realtor after lunch," she added, "So let's try and make some decisions while we're eating ok? If you're comfortable setting out on your own then we'll look for something just for you hon. If all three of us are moving together, then we'll focus on places that work for the whole family."

At that point the waiter arrived with our food, and as the three of us got started on our meal I was left trying to figure out if I was ready to move out on my own or not.