The Blue Orchid Years

Chapter 25: If the Path Ahead Isn't So Easy

February 28th 2664 (Adult Nardho's POV)

PSALM FOR THE MOUNTAINS

I will lift up my eyes to the hills, from whence come my strength

To the mountains:

Levo oculus meos in montes

Will I ever be as majestic as you are?

Up there, smiling at the clouds

Blanketed by the soothing mist

Unmoving, undeterred by the roaring winds

Will I ever be as fearless as you are?

Bold in the face of storms

Patient whenever the rain comes

Marvelous under the sunshine

To the winds:

Please carry my sorrow away

Heal my wounds

And let me be as free as you are

-N.A.S

The flowers that became my and Moira's alma mater's namesake were not really blue. Blue orchids, or Vanda coeruela, were more purplish than azure. According to Kenta, there was only one species of truly blue orchids, the Thelymitra crinita. Curious, I of course asked him why the founders of our university decided to go with the former instead of the latter and he explained that it had to do with each flower's habitat. Vanda variants typically grow in temperate places surrounded by hills and mountains, which Red Sycamore had in abundance. Meanwhile, Thelymitra variants could grow in higher elevations but they would do much better in hotter coastal areas and our alma mater was nowhere near a sunny ocean. If we forced them to survive without receiving much heat, their blossoms would not be able to mature and fully bloom.

"If our university were located closer to that beach in Golden Valley, perhaps we would have seen the exterior walls of the Student Union building embellished with carvings of Thelymitra instead," Kenta once speculated. "Perhaps one day I or another botany-enthusiast will succeed in hybridizing the two species together. Imagine that, Nardho, the marriage of the land and the sea."

Last year, after countless failed attempts, he finally had a breakthrough and his creations, petite yet sturdy violet flowers he called Pulchra caelestimare lewisensis, were proudly displayed on the biochemistry department's roof garden. I had promised Moira and Izzy to bring them to campus so that they could see Kenta's scientific feat and this afternoon I fulfilled my promise.

"These flowers are gorgeous!" Izzy gasped. "How long did it take Uncle Kenta to come up with this entirely new species? 37 years? I know he's obsessed with plants, but damn!"

"Yeah, he's ambitious like that. He was still 29 when the idea first struck him," I replied as my niece crouched down to get a closer look at the flowers, "and now he's about to turn 67. If that man is not perseverance itself then I don't know what to call him."

Moira, who had stayed quiet the whole time I explained botanical stuff to Izzy, reached out for my hand and squeezed it tightly. "I wish I could remember more about what he was like when he was younger," she sighed. "This memory loss, it's troubling me. It's one thing if I was cursed to never form new memories ever again but it's another thing entirely that I'm unable to recall much of my experiences in college and the decades after."

"Not to invalidate your feelings, Auntie Moira, but an inability to form new memories would be extremely sad," Izzy interjected. "Being stuck in the past would suck, yeah, but not having a future to look forward to would be soul-crushing," she then turned to me. "Wouldn't you agree, Uncle Nardho? Knowledge of the past and hope for the future are equally important because they affect how well we enjoy our present."