Jeannie stared at the fungus in front of her, trying to figure out what to do. The tree bark had been damaged a few times before, and she had not bothered to do anything about it. It had rained once – a dreadful event few managed to survive – and now that she was back home, her branch was infested with yellow mold. It looked bad, smelled horrific and gave her a rash even without touching it.

She eyeballed the mold from a few different angles. The only thing Jeannie knew was that it wasn’t going to go anywhere, other than perhaps spread over to the neighbouring branches, even though that would take a while. And the last thing she needed was for others to complain about her mistakes.

Jeannie had a few strategies with her comrades that she was more than willing to try out on the mold. She had tried giving it the silent treatment, but that one was clearly not going to bring her anywhere. She had tried to kick the mold off the branch, but that had only made her dizzy. Naturally, there was only one option left: snitch on the mold and wait for someone else to deal with it.

Jeannie gave the mold one final angry look before turning her back, hoping it might somehow decide to leave on its own before she gets back. It didn’t appear to be intelligent. She spread her wings and walked over to the tree trunk, put on her lizard-skin boots, and sank her toenails in the wood.

Jeannie started climbing up the tree bark. The branches around her were all empty, as would have been expected after such an intense day of gathering leaves. The sun was still pretty strong, but she used her wings to create additional shade. That made her short trip to the top of the tree almost enjoyable.

The view from there was probably breath-taking, which meant that Jeannie wasn’t going to risk and look down. Heights made her dizzy more often than not. It if was up to her, she would just stay all day on her branch and not go anywhere. Alas, that wasn’t how butterfly society worked.

Jeannie got to the highest branch of all: the one where the formal tree supervisor Alina lived.

“Ma’am,” Jeannie bowed down.” there is something I need your assistance with.”

“What is that, little hatchling?”

“There is some really yucky, yellow mold on my branch.”

“Yellow mold?” Alina asked. Judging by how surprised she appeared to be, Jeannie concluded that mold like this was something pretty rare. 

“Yes, ma’am. It looks dangerous, nothing like the green one.”

Alina studied Jeannie’s face for a few seconds.

“How do you know the green one is safe?”

“I licked it.”

“You licked the mold?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Fascinating.” Alina replied, and scanned the area for other butterflies, but there was nobody around.” Which branch are you located on?”

“Branch 1420. It’s remarkably easy to spot at the moment.” Jeannie flapped with a somewhat guilty look on her face.

“Good, good. I’ll send someone to inspect the mold as soon as possible.” Alina replied.

Jeannie bowed down and jumped to the branch underneath Alina’s, then to the next one. She had to climb down from one point on, since one of the branches had been cut down after one unfortunate event nobody openly spoke of. There was always the option to fly down to her branch, of course; but there was nothing that Jeannie dreaded more than the thought of flying. Having her wings exposed to the air and letting the wind determine her fate was something she was planning to avoid until her last breath.

Jeannie got back down to her branch and sighed at the view of the yellow mold. It was still there, but not for long.