When the plants talk, Illyria listens.

They don’t gossip, of that they have no concept, but they know all the same. Silent observers, her spies are everywhere. They tell all of Wolfram and Hart’s secrets.

They tell her of the lust that sparks in Spike’s eyes when they fight, of the madness in Wesley’s as he watches her walk away or the guilt that haunts Gunn’s. They whisper that Angel talks of containing her, diminishing her power because he fears it.

But they can’t explain to her the sorrow they all keep in their hearts for a woman called Fred.