The message had been broadcast many rings ago. Beginning in the sapwood, plunging beneath the soil, through the gnarled, twisting ropes of roots, into the branching network of filamentous fungi. The tree whose name means heart and bread is searching. Finally, a reply. “Sorry. You are the last of your kind.”

Anoushka Yeoh is a writer from London and a mother of two. She studied Biomedical Sciences, made an ill-advised segue into the Law and now writes about motherhood, neurodiversity and deafness. She is currently studying for an MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London.