We're Not from Here

Lan and Ila meet the principal at school to show him the video. The principal laughs at the comedy and is very moved by Ila’s singing. The principal shows it to the entire school, and the Zhuri students have similar reactions. When it gets to Ila’s song, the 2,000 students give off a smell of honeysuckle and mint while swaying “in a wall of movement that looked as peaceful as it was powerful” (202). The video cuts out seconds before the end, and soldiers storm the school, shocking Ila, Lan, and the principal.

Lan wakes in a Zhuri jail. A guard arrives and interrogates Lan about the video and music. He demands to know whom Lan conspired with, but Lan didn’t conspire with anyone. Under the Zhuri’s anger smell, Lan notices something that smells like a cross between menthol and rubbing alcohol. The Zhuri is not responsible for the smell but goes to search for its source and passes out. Lan pounds on the room’s door, and Marf opens it. She’s there to bust Lan and Ila out as part of a plan to overthrow the government. She personally doesn’t want to overthrow the government, as her business depends on selling illegal videos that wouldn’t be illegal under different leadership, but she’s gotten into trouble she can’t get out of otherwise.