"they do not die," replied ozana. "as i said, these are no ordinary flowers. they do not grow from seeds or bulbs. instead, as soon as a blossom has told its story it fades and withers. then one of my gardeners plants it, and in a few days it blooms afresh with a new story to tell. the flowers are all eager to be picked so that they may tell their stories. just as ordinary flowers give off their perfumes freely and graciously, so my flowers love to breathe forth the fragrance of their stories. a poet once said that perfumes are the souls of flowers. i have succeeded in distilling those perfumes into words."