The Island of Missing Trees

In Cyprus in 1974, an 18-year-old Defne steals out of her house at midnight to meet a 17-year-old Kostas. Defne apologizes for being late when Kostas expresses his worry that she would not turn up, and she promises to always love him. Kostas gifts her a wooden music box with an inlaid design of butterflies on the lid. They kiss and proceed to stroll hand-in-hand in the shadows, mindful not to be seen together by anyone at this hour.

In 2010s London, the fig tree lies buried underneath the soil, listening to the sounds she can hear above ground. She reflects on how rich and teeming with life the soil is and how trees are able to pick up on sounds around them, from the buzzing of bees near their leaves to the rushing of water inside its trunk. Despite the sounds keeping her company, the tree misses Kostas, Ada, and most of all Cyprus and the sounds of its many birds.

Defne and Kostas meet again in 1974 Cyprus, and Defne expresses her worry that it is dangerous for them to keep meeting like this.