Alister froze.

“ Pardon?”

“The gold strings, where did you get those?” The green boy reiterated. The rest of the small crowd Alister amassed dissipated. He looked the stranger over; he was wearing tan overalls over a white polo, and was carrying a bouquet of flowers. He had black pointed shoes, and his eyes were a charmingly deep brown. Alister managed to snap himself out of his shock.

“I haven’t seen any gold strings, I’m afraid.” The stranger in the overalls stepped forward. He grasped one of the many strings connected to Alister’s cards. He tugged slightly, flipping the card out of the deck and onto the ground.

“Oh you haven’t?” Alister was quite confused looking at the stranger who fiddled with his cards. Not one person had ever seen how the trick works.

“How can you even see them, then?” He asked, watching the other boy flip the card around in an uncoordinated fashion.

“I dunno, but the flowers told me to look for them.” Alister raised an eyebrow at the boy in front of him.

“The.. flowers?”The young florist giggled.

“Yep, they like to talk to me sometimes, but no one else can hear them. Oh! I should prolly introduce myself. I’m Mint.” Mint outstretched his hand. There was a small amount of dirt underneath each of his fingernails. Alister grasped his hand, with a firm but polite shake.

“My name’s Alister.” As Alister spoke his name to Mint, an odd sound began to grow in his ears. It was almost like whispering. Many quiet conversations overlapped each other all around the pair.

Have you noticed how little it’s rained recently?

I simply cannot stand these bees!

This goddamn tree keeps blocking my sunlight.

Alister turned around many times, attempting to find the source of the statements. It was only a few short moments later when he found part of what he was looking for. A small pink tulip that Mint held in his left hand.

“Please put me back Mint, I’ve been outta water too long!” Mint looked down at his hand, smiling.

“Sorry Tula, let me get you back where you belong. Come on in, Alister.” Mint walked over to the entrance of the florist’s shop, waving the young magician over. Alister stepped up to the entrance of the shop, looking inside. In the shop, an incredibly long line of frustrated-looking customers stood.

“Sorry everyone! I just had to take care of somethin’ real quick!” The customers all sighed in exasperation as Mint stepped behind the counter of the store. Alister looked around the unfamiliar shop. The walls were a pleasant cyan, and shelves sparsely dotted the shop. Each shelf was completely covered in various species of flowers and plants. The roof had a large glass terrace, which shone brilliant light onto the flowers. The whispers that Alister could hear were now louder than before.

Hey uh.. Mint? Can we get some water?

I can’t believe that little girl had the gall to smell me like that!

That new fertilizer Mint gave the daffodils looks good.

It made Alister’s head spin, but Mint seemed completely unaffected. A few minutes passed, and Mint had finished the last customers of the day. Alister walked up to the counter after surveying the flowers in the store.

“Doesn’t it give you a headache, all these plants talking?” As soon as the sentence left his mouth, all the flowers simultaneously gasped.

“Nope! They’re all good friends of mine.”

“But all this talking from them, all the time?”

“Hey, you’re gonna hurt their feelings. I mean, do you get a headache in a crowd of people?”

“No, but–”

“See? They’re not all that different from people, except for the watering.”

“That’s not my point. How are you talking to them anyway? How am I talking to them?”

“I dunno! I was just born that way. How do you use those strings?”

“I was just–” Alister stopped himself for a moment.

“...Born that way.”