How It All Goes Down
- On the drive to the house in Orick, Laurel's parents reminisce about the good old days when they were hippies in Berkeley. Laurel takes her mom's guitar (a relic of those days) with her on a walk in the woods behind the house.
- Laurel sticks her feet in a stream, releases her petals from under her shirt, and plays guitar. Then she hears something.
- A guy pops out of a tree, surprising her. He's got brilliant green eyes and dark hair with green roots; he's also really good-looking.
- He introduces himself as Tamani (Tam for short) and leads her deeper into the forest. Laurel goes along with it, feeling confused but safe.
- He tells her that she'd scared them, disappearing the way she did; then he asks if she's told anyone about her back. She tells him she's told her friend David, and Tamani gets a little weird about whether David is "just" her friend.
- Suddenly the haze of confusion over Laurel disappears, and she starts to feel nervous. She tries to leave, but Tamani promises her answers, so they take turns asking each other questions.
- He mostly asks about where she's living now and when she's coming back for good, and Laurel finds out from him that her back-flower is called a blossom and it'll go away. He knows about it because they're the same kind, but he doesn't have a blossom because he's a dude.
- When Laurel asks if she's turning into a flower, he answers no—she's always been a flower. She's never been human at all, because she's a plant. Specifically, she's a highly evolved kind of plant: a faerie.
- At this point, Laurel is done. Because seriously—a faerie? She starts leaving, even though Tamani pesters her about what her parents will do with the land. She notices some shimmering powder that Tamani left on her wrist, and angrily rubs at it until it vanishes.