Until Then

On her tenth birthday, defeated, nine-year-old Sol is ready to cap off her pursuit of companionship after spending the summer trying and failing to find new friends. This defeat does not last as she meets Talonón, a forest spirit, when the adult guests sing her a happy birthday. The two instantly find an intimacy that enables the safe sharing and forging of identities as they meet in the house yard for the remaining nights before the new school year. On the last night, the house yard becomes Talonón’s home, the forest, where Talonón sends Sol off with a beginning of healing from the bullying she had previously experienced, coming from a place of the nurturing sensitivity of nature.