Sunlight filtered through my leaves, the tears of a burning giant a thousand lifetimes away turned to life and energy. Soil held my roots. It was the remains of crushed animals and plants, but it was also stone, forged in the boiling depths of the earth by pressure I could never comprehend.

Nonetheless, these things and I were connected. Pieces of a larger whole. All things, living or not, were tied by bonds greater than we knew.

"And last," the Magnolia said. "The ...