Jeannie flew right behind the stiff one and the short one with her eyes closed half the time. The stiff officer seemed to know what he was doing and where he was going, his flight pattern was very direct and on-point. The other one was obviously a rare companion of some sort, since he was always one step behind in every turn they took.

Jeannie glanced at the branches they flew over. A few of them she knew from her childhood and all the times she would end up chasing Bob; the others she had never even tried to land on. They were too far away.

The shade of the sky had just turned hazelnut: it was playful and alive, almost as if it was going to tell you a secret. In Jeannie’s opinion, that was the best time of day to make a run for one’s life. But she resisted her instincts. Jeannie tried to remind herself that the Grand Patrol should be nothing to be afraid of. That they really were here to look out for everyone’s best interest. And that them showing a sudden interest in her meant absolutely nothing.

Despite that, Jeannie cursed herself for going to Alina and snitching on the mold. Snitching had proved useless yet again. She should have just eaten the darn thing the moment she saw it.

The stiff officer suddenly dived in the sky towards a remote tree. He was so quick that Jeannie had to look twice before she could figure out what was happening. The branches barely made it a few meters above ground. In her opinion, it was closer to a bush than a tree.

Jeannie followed the two butterflies in their descent towards the middle of the tree. She was reluctant to look at the ground: it always made her feel uneasy, and that was the last thing she wanted. But it was always hard to resist such urges. She glanced quickly and instantly regretted it. The ground had changed its shape yet again; now there were large holes in it, a deep abyss with no end in sight. It was the reason Jeannie feared flying and landing. The seemingly endless craters had given her every reason to avoid leaving her tree at all. And now was one of the first times that Jeannie actually had to fly such a large distance.

Bob, on the other hand, was fascinated by the way the ground would alter its shape. He didn’t fear it, he didn’t hate it; he simply admired it. That was the only logical conclusion Jeannie could draw. She wanted to believe Bob had some sort of love for the unknown, unlike herself. She did not enjoy chaos; she needed to find structure in everything.

In front of them stood a third butterfly, one which Jeannie had never seen in her life; yet the officers seemed to know him quite well. They saluted him with some strange gestures and bowed down; he didn’t bother to move a single muscle on his face. It became clear to Jeannie this was not someone to fool around with. She noticed how his cold, emotionless gaze slowly made its way in her direction, and she bowed down automatically, partly to avoid letting him look in her eyes.

The air around them was not as fresh as the one on her hackberry tree. A few additional smells had made their presence noticeable down here, so close to the ground. Jeannie didn’t know what they were, but she felt something sour in the air. Like an eggshell gone bad.

Jeannie felt the emotionless butterfly’s steps towards her: they were slow and uninviting and the branch vibrated slightly underneath his feet.

She raised her head and tried to avoid looking him directly in the eyes; she didn’t want to appear impolite. Yet this stranger just stared into hers, as if they had been friends for a long, long time.

“Jeannie Swallowtail? The infamous White Swallowtail?” he flapped, but Jeannie wasn’t sure if the question was aimed at her, and so she just stood still.

The fungus expert nodded lively and flapped something back, but Jeannie was too scared to look in his direction. The stranger standing right in front of her was all she could think about. He nodded at the others and didn’t do anything for a few seconds.

“I understand. You are both dismissed,” the stranger replied and gave both officers an impatient look. He waited for them to turn their backs and fly away before he looked over at Jeannie.

“You still look scared?” the emotionless one asked.

Jeannie gave him a puzzled look, even though she felt uneasy about interacting with him.

“The officers are gone,” he noted.

“It’s not them I’m afraid of,” Jeannie replied and felt how her knees were starting to feel soft and unstable.

“I am afraid I can’t dismiss myself,” the stranger replied.

“I’m afraid that’s true,” Jeannie almost cried.

“Well, the timing is bad, but you might have to meet two other guys.”

“Two?”

“Yes. I assure you, they are not scary. Well, one of them is objectively scary. But in his free time, he likes to burn necklaces. That’s funny, is it not?”

Jeannie’s eyes were just as scared and teary as before, but now they were a whole bit more confused as well.

“I’ve been told little quirks like this make one appear more likeable.”

“Why does he burn necklaces?” Jeannie couldn’t help but ask.

“Well, he doesn’t exactly burn them. He melts them and makes blades out of the steel ones. The plastic ones, though, he just watches burn. They keep his heart warm… or was it his house? I can’t remember.”

Jeannie nodded slightly, trying to picture melting plastic. The smell of it was probably not pleasant, even though she had never seen plastic melt. All she could remember was that most things that melted didn’t leave behind a nice scent.

“I saw a leaf burn once. But it wasn’t because of fire. I don’t think I have ever seen fire, actually.”

The stranger gave her a thoughtful look.

“Ah. You witnessed the acid rain as well. Terrible, wasn’t it?”

Jeannie nodded.

“The raindrops made a tiny hole in the leaf next to the one I hatched on, then the hole turned orange and expanded until it consumed everything and eventually destroyed the leaf up to its very base. I was later told that this was, in fact, the main reason why all the eggs got mixed up and nobody knew who was related to whom anymore.”

“What happened to the base of the leaf?”

“It fell off before the fire could reach any of the other leaves,” she replied and noticed his gaze wasn’t as cold as before.

“The leaf was smart.”

Jeannie nodded automatically. She noticed that her eyes were starting to feel a bit drier now.

“My name is Frank,” the stranger suddenly flapped with unexpected enthusiasm.” You can now stop being scared. Yes, be excited instead. Where we are going, you will get to see plenty of fires up close.”