"The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Bloom where you're planted"

Alder Waratah

The Corne D’Or Gardens Presents:

Full Name: Alder Waratah
Gender: Male
Age: 42
Birthdate: October 4
Nationality: Grew up in farming village near Corne D’Or (there is no “nationality” in this A.U.)
Zodiac: Libra
Height: 5'8" (173 cm)
Weight: 154 lbs (70 kg)

Physical Description:

Build: Lean and wiry from physical labor.
Hair: Dark brown hair with premature gray at the temples.
Face: Alder's face tells a story of quiet resilience and gentle endurance with a rounded shape that is somewhat unremarkable. His honey-brown eyes, soft and slightly unfocused, often seem to be looking beyond the immediate moment - gazing into memories or lost in thought about his next gardening project. They're framed by subtle laugh lines and the beginning of worry lines that crease softly at the corners, testament to years of quiet concern and subdued joy.

His skin is sun-weathered and earth-kissed, with a warm tan that speaks of countless hours working in the royal gardens. Premature gray threads through his dark brown hair at the temples, giving him a distinguished yet slightly worn appearance that hints at the weight of his responsibilities.

His mouth is typically set in a soft, contemplative line - not stern, but not quite smiling. When he does smile, it's gentle and slightly crooked, revealing just a hint of the vulnerability he usually keeps hidden.

His expression is most often one of gentle concentration, as if he's perpetually listening to something just beyond hearing - the whispers of growing things, perhaps, or the echoes of memories of his late wife.

Skin: Sun-weathered skin with laugh lines, perpetually dirt and grass-stained fingernails despite frequent washing.

Distinctive features:

  • A slight stoop from years of bending over garden beds

  • A noticeable limp in his right leg from an old injury

  • Always carries a worn leather notebook full of plant sketches

  • Has a habit of rubbing soil between his fingers while thinking

  • Speaks with a slight stutter when nervous

  • Left-handed but trained himself to use pruning shears with his right hand

Bloodtype: O+

Relationship Status: Widower - (Deceased Wife: Rosemary Waratah (née Blackwood))

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Family:

Deceased Wife:

  • Died 3 years ago from a wasting illness

  • Was a skilled herbalist and healer

  • Known for her infectious laugh and storytelling

  • Taught Alder much of what he knows about medicinal plants

Children:

  • Alma Elea Waratah (17)

    • Eldest daughter

    • Horse enthusiast

    • Takes on maternal role for Summer

    • Sometimes resents the responsibility

  • Summer Rayne Waratah (9)

    • Youngest daughter

    • Also horse-crazy

    • Free-spirited and somewhat wild

    • Still struggling with loss of mother

Dynamics:

  • Alder works long hours to maintain financial stability, leaving Alma often in charge

  • Summer Rayne (9) looks up to Alma but sometimes resents her attempts at mothering

  • Family grief manifests in different ways - Alder through work, Summer through rebellion, Alma through control

  • Financial struggles create tension, especially regarding horse-related expenses

  • Weekly family dinner ritual strictly maintained as connection to mother's memory

  • Complex relationship with maternal grandparents who offer financial help that Alder often refuses

  • Alma often mediates between her father and sister

Likes:

  • The smell of earth after rain

  • Dawn light through greenhouse glass

  • Successfully propagating difficult plants

  • His daughters' laughter

  • Hot tea with honey

  • Old gardening books

  • The quiet of early morning in the gardens

Dislikes:

  • Formal royal functions he must attend

  • Paperwork and budget reports

  • Making decisions about his daughters' education

  • Small talk with nobility

  • Horses (finds them intimidating)

  • Dining in formal settings

  • Having to discipline his children

Pet Peeves:

  • People picking flowers without permission

  • Improper tool maintenance

  • Waste of water or resources

  • Children running through flower beds

  • Inaccurate plant identification

  • Modern chemical pesticides

  • People who treat gardening as "simple" work

Fears:

  • Failing his daughters as a single parent

  • Heights (makes maintaining tall hedges challenging)

  • Losing his position and stability

  • His daughters forgetting their mother

  • Thunder (though he pretends not to be for his daughters' sake)

  • Making important decisions alone

  • The royal family discovering his occasional mistakes

Strengths:

  • Exceptional knowledge of plants and their care

  • Patient and methodical in his work

  • Strong sense of responsibility

  • Creative problem-solver with limited resources

  • Deeply devoted to his daughters

Flaws:

  • Avoids emotional confrontation at all costs

  • Tends to enable his children rather than discipline them

  • Struggles with imposter syndrome in his royal employment

  • Poor at managing household finances

  • Has difficulty moving forward after his wife's death

Skills:

  • Advanced plant cultivation and gardening

    • Encyclopedic knowledge of plant species

    • Expert in plant hybridization

    • Skilled in rare and delicate plant propagation

    • Understands complex botanical ecosystems

  • Royal Garden Management

    • Capable of maintaining large, intricate garden spaces

    • Understands landscape design

    • Knows how to work within aristocratic expectations

    • Creates visually stunning and functionally perfect garden environments

  • Plant Identification and Preservation

    • Can identify plants from memory

    • Skilled at seed collection and preservation

    • Understands medicinal and practical uses of various plants

    • Capable of creating natural dyes and herbal preparations

Hobbies:

  • Experimental hybridization of roses

  • Collecting and preserving rare seeds

  • Sketching plants in his notebook

  • Making pressed flower arrangements

  • Reading old botanical texts

  • Creating natural dyes from plants

  • Cloud watching (claims it helps him predict weather for the gardens)

Personality:

Alder is a gentle soul who finds more comfort in the predictability of plants than the chaos of human interaction. His wife's death left him struggling to balance his grief with the needs of his daughters, often leading him to overcompensate by being too permissive. He's excellent at nurturing plants but sometimes forgets that children need different kinds of care.

Despite his prestigious position as royal gardener, he constantly doubts his worthiness of the role, though his natural talent with plants is extraordinary. He has a tendency to lose himself in his work, sometimes forgetting the world around him exists, which can lead to neglecting household duties and missing important moments in his daughters' lives.

Alder approaches his daughters' horse passion with a mix of loving bewilderment, anxiety, and supportive uncertainty. Given that he explicitly knows nothing about horses and finds them intimidating, his response would be characterized by:

Emotional Response:

  • Genuine confusion about their enthusiasm

  • Mild anxiety about their safety

  • Desire to support their interests despite his own discomfort

  • Overcompensation to avoid disappointing them

Practical Approach:

  • Relies heavily on Alma (17) to help manage Summer's (9) horse-related activities

  • Probably pays for riding lessons without fully understanding the details

  • Asks endless questions to learn enough to keep them safe

  • Might consult other parents or stable workers for guidance

Coping Mechanisms:

  • Uses his gardening metaphors to understand horse care

  • Tries to draw parallels between nurturing plants and caring for animals

  • Potentially keeps detailed notes about horses in his ever-present notebook

  • Masks his uncertainty with humor and gentle teasing

Underlying Motivation:

  • Wants to honor his late wife's memory by supporting their passions

  • Fears disappointing his daughters or limiting their dreams

  • Recognizes horses as something that brings them joy

History:

  • Born to a family of farmers in the outlying regions of Corne D'Or

  • Showed early aptitude for growing things, could make anything flourish

  • Met Rosemary while gathering herbs in the forest

  • Married young and had Alma within the first year

  • Worked as a traveling garden consultant for wealthy estates

  • Eight years later, Summer was born

  • Obtained position as assistant royal gardener through Rosemary's connections

  • Rosemary fell ill when Summer was 6

  • Promoted to head gardener during Rosemary's illness

  • Became a widower three years ago

  • Struggling to maintain balance between work and family ever since

Additional Traits:

Personal/Practical Skills:

  1. Problem-solving with limited resources

  2. Sketching and documenting plant life

  3. Basic home maintenance

  4. Financial management (though noted as a weakness)

  5. Patient teaching (learned from raising daughters)

Emotional Intelligence Skills:

  1. Active listening

  2. Quiet emotional support

  3. Reading unspoken emotional cues

  4. Adaptability in challenging circumstances

  5. Maintaining composure under stress

Hidden/Unique Skills:

  1. Creating pressed flower arrangements

  2. Natural pest management without chemicals

  3. Weather prediction based on plant and environmental observations

  4. Experimental plant hybridization

  5. Storytelling (likely learned from his late wife)

Parenting Skills:

  1. Nurturing

  2. Providing stability

  3. Emotional availability (though sometimes limited)

  4. Creating safe environments

  5. Encouraging independence in his daughters

Horse: Alder does not own or ride horses as he is completely afraid and bewildered by them, but he does what he can to allow his daughters to be around them regardless.