Willowa decided to end their introduction week with a flourish. Today we went to toured the greenhouse.

Now, I have been in some pretty fucking cool greenhouses. There’s not a greenhouse on this green earth that can compare to the greenhouse at Hedgewood Hospital, with it’s ponds and it’s big butterfly-like creatures, and cascades of blooms and vines. But the Palefish greenhouse is… well, it’s a much different beast.

If you remember, the greenhouse we were allowed to visit in Hedgewood Hospital is specifically designed for visitors. It’s intentionally idyllic. Also, lol, it’s safe.

The Willowa greenhouse is… well it’s not idyllic lol.

Before we were allowed to enter it, Francesca stopped us at the doors, turned to face us and raised her voice to be heard over the general commotion: “Alright everyone, I must ask that you exercise extreme caution in the greenhouse. We’re only going into the first room, so unless you decide to eat something, nothing in there is going to kill you. Even so, don’t touch anything, is that clear? At least one thing in there will dye your skin green for several months, and that’s a mild consequence compared to some of the other plants.”

Bass and I exchanged a glance that was maybe trepidation and maybe excitement, and then Adrian opened the greenhouse doors and stood aside to let us enter.

It was warm and humid inside, and smelled of rich soil and blooms. Immediately upon walking through the door something caught my hair and gave it a firm tug. When I spun to look, there was just long grape-like vines hanging innocently in tresses around the door.

“Careful!” Francesca called, and at first I thought she was talking to me, but when I looked around I realized that Ichabod Crisp had already reached out to set his hand into what looked eerily like an outstretched palm, reaching out of a grassy little bush against the wall. He pulled his hand away at her shout, and cast her a sheepish smile.

“Sorry,” he said.

“No don’t worry,” Adrian said dryly. “Once it pulls you in it usually only takes a few days to pull you out.”

I was still wondering where you had to be pulled out from, when Kiara shrieked and scared us all.

“It looked at me!” She pointed at a little potted plant on the table, and indeed every inch of the stalk appeared to be covered in wide, glinting little eyeballs, swiveling to get a good look at us.

It was an awesome afternoon. There was a little clutch of plants in a pot on the floor that seemed to have large, protruding canines. Towering over our heads were these huge waving ferns that seemed to turn and rustle a little in the windless greenhouse. One perfectly innocent little shrub had the distinct perfume of the most succulent, mouth-watering cut of roasting meat. Tucker Gowie found the plant that dyes your skin green and gave himself two streaks of green under his eyes like a football player, giggling the whole time. (Come to think of it, Tucker Gowie and Warren Miller would get along famously). Bass leaned down to smell a squat little flower and it belched loudly and spat a very nice-smelling sap all over him. Eventually, a little plant tipped its pot sideways and went scuttling across the greenhouse floor, it’s roots dragging it’s leaves, while people shrieked and tried to hop on tables to get away.

It was at that point that Lily found us hahaha.

“Hello minnows,” she said brightly, sweeping through the room with a basket of various herbs on her hip. She scooped up the little plant and deftly carried it back to it’s pot. “What are you thinking of our greenhouse?”

She got a smattering of uncertain answers.

I’ve noticed that most of the other Minnows give Lily sort of a wide berth, which is inexplicable to me because Lily is literally like… the warmest, sweetest person, she’s the least intimidating person on this island. She even stopped to say hi to me, before carrying on out of the greenhouse.

“What do you think of Willowa?” she asked, grinning her crooked, bashful little smile. “You at all tempted to join us?”

I don’t even remember what I said, something evasive lol. Honestly, I wouldn’t even mention the encounter, except that when she left I caught Marina and her friends, Lynlea, Terran and March watching me openly with weird looks on their faces.

No idea why. Like I’ve gone almost completely under the radar so far — it’s not like I talk in class, and I certainly don’t stand out athletically LOL. And listen, I am not complaining about that. Here’s to more being totally invisible. If those four could never look at me again, that would be very cool.

Anyways, we only spent a couple hours in the green house. Once we’d done our exploring Francesca explained that this is a collection of plants that Palefish has collected over centuries, explained some of the common uses for the plants — some have pretty significant magical properties and are often used in alchemy — and then turned us loose for the afternoon.

The weather was pretty mild, so we spent it wandering around the grove. Willowa students live in these super adorable stone and thatch cottages in the orchard shallows. Obviously I am not going to study magic, but even so, I can’t help but find myself sort of secretly imagining what it would be like to live in the cottages. Wake up early, make myself a cup of tea and watch the mist between the trees for a while before going on the morning run.

Nevermind that up-early-drinking-tea-Shiloh is a creature that has never, and likely will never exist hahahaha. Last week I was secretly imagining myself joining a secret society and trying to unveil the secrets of the universe in the library hahaha yeah right, and now I’m pretending that I could be a morning person? Get a grip Shiloh hahahahaha

I can’t wait to tour Bellhoof next week!! I still haven’t been into the stables, I can’t wait to see what they’ve got here.