The Blossoms of Summer

Letter to Livia

Dearest Livia,

I write you today with some of the most momentous news imaginable, and yet my heart is heavy, the reason for which you shall soon discover. Never think for a moment that you have left my thoughts. Indeed, our future together is foremost in my mind when considering the proposal I have on my writing table, delivered to me not an hour ago by a most esteemed personage representing the Continental Occident Company.

Livia, my darling, you know the only reason I have hesitated to broach the subject of our engagement with your father has been my uncertainty about the standing in society with which I shall represent you and our future family. I should never wish to doom us to an eternal winter, forever peering into the windows at the firelight warmth and merriment of those in society whilst we shiver, forever outside of that realm! That fear, however, shall be banished forever should I succeed at the task being set forth before me. Indeed, I believe fortune has delivered me this chance, that I might woo you and wed you as a gentleman.

And so we come to it. The Company wishes for me to undertake an expedition to the Far East to retrieve rare exotics. The rose, the forsythia, the azalea, and other ornamentals have taken root in our gardens as common as common can be, but did you know, my own most beautiful blossom, that every one of those beauties came from Canton's once impassable mountains? And there, more treasures await! The Company shall employ me to retrieve the so-called "Blossoms of Summer" by airship. Can you imagine? More rare than the rose, more delicate than the forsythia, more colorful than the azalea, and therefore “forbidden” to be removed from their native lands—until now. These specimens must be truly incredible, and merely to lay eyes on one would be a blessing the likes of which a scientist can only dream. Except that I am the fortunate soul who has been chosen to lovingly uproot these flowers and transport them—alive!—back to the Company's herbariums.

Like the hardy horticultural adventurers before me, I shall be rewarded: the stewardship of the Botanical Society's property in Somerset awaits me upon my successful return. There, I shall have the run of both the extensive gardens and the eternal summer of the greenhouses. The position also includes a charming manor, a generous stipend, and entré into the most exclusive circles.

It shall be everything you dreamed of, my darling, and more.

I expect the journey to take the better part of a year, perhaps two. The details of the expedition will not be divulged until I commit myself to the mission, but my forbears have all achieved their dreams, including some whom I humbly submit are not half the botanists that I am! Such a protracted absence from you is the sole factor which troubles me about this expedition, and yet as my airship sails over the tea terraces I shall sleep well, knowing that our reunion shall be as sweet as a late August persimmon.

Yours eternally,

Robert