Submission (#2071) Approved

This one is for Nocte's Nothings!

It was a cold cloudy day, even though it was summer. Aisling was sitting by himself in the sunroom of his mansion. He had a cup of coffee and was curled up with a book. This particular book was about gardening, and how to keep plants happy and healthy. Aisling had decided he wanted to put his garden and greenhouse to good use. But no matter how much he read, he just couldn’t keep them alive. He just didn't understand it. He did everything by the book as it said, but the plants just never lasted. He sighed and closed his book, looking outside of the sunroom at his property. He owned a big chunk, but besides the mansion most of it was trees for the forest. A small section was open grass that the garden and greenhouse sat on. Aisling took a sip of his tea. His best friend Spinner was visiting later today, along with his girlfriend Elaine. He always enjoys their visits. As long as they didn’t try and drag him to someplace busy, which they often did. Not today though, Aisling was expecting another visitor. In all of his failed attempts at gardening, Aisling reached out to someone he thought might help.
Her name was Nocte. Someone had told Aisling about her a while back, so he reached out. Their conversation was short but informational. She was going to come visit him at his place because she herself understood being a loner-type. They seemed to have many of the same interests. Reading, knowledge, tending to stick to themselves. He was eagerly awaiting her visit. He really wanted to know where he was going wrong with this whole gardening thing.
He heard his doorbell echo through the walls of his home, echoing loud enough for him to hear from the sunroom. Someone was here, he was guessing Spinner and Elaine would be here first. He grabbed his cup of tea and his book, and made his way inside. He slid the door to the sunroom closed and crossed to the kitchen. Once there he set his teacup and book on one of the kitchen counters and headed for the door. He slowly made his way to his front doors, a beautiful double door archway. He opened one of the doors and saw his friends Spinner and Elaine. He nodded at them.
“Hello, welcome.” He said as stepped to the side giving them both room to step inside his home. The two gladly stepped into his room. “Would either of you like tea?” He asked them as he closed his door and headed towards the kitchen.
“You know I don't drink that leaf water, Aisling.” Spinner answered quickly behind Aisling. Elaine on the other hand nodded her head. “Please, thank you Aisling.” He nodded back to her and they made it to the kitchen. Aisling put his tea kettle back on the stove burner from this morning. Soon enough the kettle started screaming. He grabbed one fresh cup from the cupboard. He put the teabag in the cup and poured some of the boiling water into the cup. He then walked over and gave it to Elaine. Just as she went to thank him the doorbell rang again. The two looked at Aisling confused.
“Oh yeah, I invited somebody else over today.” He said calmly as he sipped his tea. He set his cup down and walked to the door. He opened the one door the same as before revealing a Galaxy looking soosh with a red cape. “Nocte.” Aisling said and nodded and motioned for her to come in. She gave him a small smile and carefully walked inside. Aisling closed the door behind her and motioned towards the kitchen. “I have some other guests here as well. I just made some fresh tea, would you like a cup?” He turned his head back and asked the soosh, awaiting her response. She simply nodded in confirmation. As the went into the kitchen the other two turned around on their stools to see the new guest
“Spinner, Elaine, this is Nocte. She is here to help me figure out why my garden has been unsuccessful.” He poured the boiling water into another fresh cup from the cupboard. He carefully set the teabag in the cup beforehand and then handed her the cup.
“Thank you, Aisling.” He turned towards Nocte after she spoke and nodded. He took one last sip and set his cup down.
“Care to follow me to the greenhouse?” He asked the group of visitors in his home. They all nodded and Aisling headed towards his back door. He led them all outside and towards the greenhouse. Once inside you could tell that Aisling had put lots of care into this. He had all of the supplies. Unfortunately dead plants littered the area. In the garden beds themselves and also smaller different sized pots.
“I do try my hardest, and I follow every rule in every garden book I have read. But still, they never last.” Aisling said as he walked over to one pot that held a dead tomato plant. He started picking off the dead leaves. Nocte inspected everything around her. Looking around at every plant and checking out the soils. She dug her paw into the dirt doing…something. She picked some leaves off of some obviously very wilting plants.
“You have good soil, and you clearly have enough space for it. And it looks like they get enough sunlight based on the sky.” Nocte said as she wandered over to Aislings tool bench. “How often do you water your stuff?” She glanced over to Aisling who was carefully and quietly watching her inspect his area.
“As often as the book says each plant needs.” He responded. Elaine looked over at a small garden box. “What's this Aisling?”
“Oh that? That's where I start the strawberries before transferring them outside. Well, if they ever made it outside.” He said as he walked over to the box. “It's sad, I was really excited for these too.” He looked at the wilted baby strawberry plants.
“I’m sure Nocte can help you figure out what's going wrong, although i'm not sure what it could be….you seem to be doing everything right from what I can see.” Elaine spoke softly as she glanced around the greenhouse.
“Not everything.” Nocte said, gaining everyone's attention. They all looked her way.
“What?” Elaine spoke first. “You know why they won't grow?” Nocte nodded at the brown dessert soosh.
“Aisling, I believe the problem is you may be taking things from the book too literally. Yes its important to read and learn the plants themselves, but sometimes a judgment call is all it takes.” She walked over to one of the pots. “Like this guy, died from dehydration. Why? You might ask, considering you gave him the right amount of water daily. Sometimes the plant needs more or less than the book says.” She turned back to him. “So, if you just trust your plants and get to know them you should be golden. I am impressed with everything else here. You are going to be a great plant dad.” She smiled at the sooshes. “I think my work here is done, thank you Aisling, for the hospitality. You have a lovely home, don’t be afraid to reach out again if you need.” She turned to Spinner and Elaine, whose tails now intertwined. “Nice meeting you both, good day.”