I have already mentioned that the forests of this world are verdant and green, and speckled with blooms that are really big, flowering high up in the trees. The blasts of colour we spotted, though, were visible between the trunks, splayed across the forest floor. We approached inquisitively and broke through the tree line to find ourselves on the edge of a small, open glade. Thick, emerald green grass bordered the area, but the middle was an explosion of colour. Blues, pinks, reds, oranges, purples, whites, yellows—every colour under the sun formed a thick carpet. It was glorious.
"Wow!" I couldn't help exclaiming.
"It's awesome!" gasped Al beside me.
The colours rippled gently in the soft breeze. I took a deep breath expecting lots of splendid perfumes to serenade me, but there was nothing. The blooms had no scent at all. I commented on it to Traeth but he could shed no light. He'd never seen the like of them before either.
Not wanting to spoil such a beautiful display, we decided to walk around the edge. It didn't occur to us to question why the path disappeared beneath the carpet of flowers.
We trod carefully around the circumference marvelling at the colours, the petals fluttering in the breeze … and that's when I got overly curious. I bent down, screwing my eyes in an attempt to focus more clearly on one of the flowers. I moved forward but didn't see the tree root in the thick grass. My foot caught in it and I flew forward with a little yelp, arms outstretched.
As I hit the flowers, they flew up—a massive cloud of colour, thick like a swarm of locusts. They weren't flowers at all! They were hundreds of thousands of butterflies.
They battered against my face and beat against my clothing. I closed my eyes tightly against the melee and my arms thrashed in the air to ward them off. They shushed around me, whirring, and in the thick of their beating wings, I heard someone scream. I think it was Al (but she'll never admit to it). I certainly heard Rutter cuss—words I've never heard him use before! And then it was quiet again.
When I opened my eyes, all the colour had gone. It was just green grass in the glade now.
I looked behind me and spotted Traeth first. He had dropped onto his knees and had his head still buried in his arms. Then I found Rutter and Al. Both looked startled but were grinning broadly.
"You are a dipstick, Jenny!" said Rutter.
Al asked, "What's a dipstick?"
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