In this chapter, we learn that the only way for Diomedes to break her curse is to become a "live god" . In order to do so, she must first "wipe out" all of her "old memories" and then "make up her mind" about whether or not she wants to live as a god. The only way to do this is to "become a live god," which means that she must be able to "live as a living being" , which means she must have the ability to "breathe" and "taste" things, which is what she's doing with the flower that's been drying on her clothes . The narrator is all, "Gee, I wish I'd seen that guy before I left, because he's so much more interesting than I am . . I wish that I could have known him before he left, too." The narrator then goes on to say that the flower is "the realm flower," which tastes "disgusting," which is why it's called such a thing in the first place.