The sun is just beginning to set, leaving just enough light that the twinkling decorations on each booth began to illuminate the growing darkness. While the stars above were just beginning to become more visible, the festival was an echo of the spectacle they were about to experience; though the shower wouldn’t start for some time, Dani knew there was more than enough room for her to wander, take in the sights and sounds before she started trying to get it all on camera. Stars, flowers, and a rainbow of colors that were a feast for the senses, and she almost imagined there was a magical quality to it all, a hum in the air that she felt like a tingling sensation across her senses.

The smell of flowers and the savory and sweet scents of the festival are a perfume on their own — Dani breathes it in deeply, grin turning the corners of her mouth upwards. The past few months being horridly understaffed at the flower shop had been exhausting; her fingers were still healing from thorn pricks and paper cuts, but half a dozen starry bandaids felt appropriate for the occasion. It was a balmy summer night and she wore a lavender colored dress embroidered with roses mimicking the her tattoo, a soft contrast to the brilliant red on her forearm. Approaching the wishing tree, she fumbled with the glittery pen she’d brought for the occasion, finding a spot where she could lean it against the wall of a building to compose her wish.

‘Dear wishing tree, what a year! I’ve seen things that seemed impossible, but it never comes out quite right on camera. Please, please, I wish with all my heart that tonight I capture something spectacular.’ And maybe something to confirm the strange things she’d been seeing over and over again throughout her time in this city, more and more it seemed with each passing day. Signing her name in neat script, she carefully folded it up and wandered away to give other wishers a chance to get supplies. She tied her wish tightly upon the tree, knowing that the sentiment wasn’t exactly something someone else could grant, but she preferred it that way.

Taking one down from the tree, she glanced over it, head tilted to one side. The handwriting appeared

She finds a spot by her favorite tree, the trunk showing what she’d always imagined was a scowling, knot-ridden face that spooked her the first time she’d seen it. She dug a few inches deep, hoping to keep it away from curious squirrels and critters that had a veritable buffet of others to choose from. She could have sworn she felt one of the seeds twitch against her fingertips before she pressed it into the ground, making her breath hitch before she rubbed her fingers against the material of her dress, trying to dismiss the tingle across her skin. “I wish, I wish.” She whispered under her breath as she pulled a water bottle out of her bag, sprinkling a few ounces of water over the spot her wish had been planted in.

“Grow up nice and strong for me!” Dani winked at the spot on the ground before hauling her bag up over her shoulder, spinning around. There were flowers she wanted to see that were rumored to have something special about them, and that had her name written all over it.