Jeannie waited for the few officers who saw Frank to walk away, and she made a run for the tree trunk. She sank her toes so deep in the bark that her nails pierced through the leather; but there was no going back now. Jeannie prayed to the Lizards nobody would follow her. The tree bark was very moist this close to the ground, and climbing it was easier than before. She reached the upper branch without breaking a sweat, apart from her heart beating like it was her final hour.

A large group of officers was hidden behind the leaves growing on this branch. Jeannie had never seen so much food before. It was astonishing to her that nobody outside the Grand Patrol was allowed to be here. And yet she was there, the only outside since who knew when: and she was about to interrupt some sort of officer gathering in the hopes to find Bob. Jeannie realized how slim the chances were to find him, and, above all, she knew Frank wouldn’t be pleased. Yet she had to risk it.

Jeannie slowly pushed a few smaller branches to the side. 15 officers were sitting in a circle, throwing a small multi-sided die in the middle of the branch. A few more were pacing nervously around them, trying to remain calm. They were too busy to notice her.

“26! I win!” someone flapped while a few others got agitated.

Jeannie looked around but couldn’t recognize any of their faces. The uniforms didn’t tell her much, either; they could have been from any of the divisions. And Jeannie had no idea how many there were.

She got closed to the circle of butterflies to get a better look at the ones standing further away. Jeannie tried to make her way to them, but someone suddenly put their leg on her shoulder and stopped her.

“You! What are you doing here?”

Jeannie turned her head and tried to remain as calm as possible. Next to her stood the fungus expert.

“I’m looking for officer Bob,” she replied quickly.

The fungus expert threw her a rather suspicious look. It became clear to her he was sceptical of allowing an outsider to be there, and others were starting to notice her as well. The energized butterflies from inside the circle suddenly stopped throwing the die and sharpened their antennae. They had picked up an unknown smell.

“I don’t know anyone by that name,” he flapped back coldly. A few of the other butterflies were beginning to smell uneasy. Jeannie’s presence was starting to become increasingly unwanted.

“Unless you came here to gamble, I suggest you get lost. You should be humbled by the fact that you are even allowed on the tree of the Grand Patrol. The Buttermen won’t be pleased to know you were here.”

One of the other butterflies stood up horrified.

“The Buttermen are involved with this civilian? Merciful Lizards! Get rid of her right away!” he cried. A few officers around him nodded and shot Jeannie a cold look that made her blood freeze.

“Relax. She’s not a big deal,” The fungus expert raised his upper leg to make everyone stay quiet.” At least I think so. Hatchling, tell us, what did the honourable Buttermen decide?”

Jeannie hesitated for a moment, but realized that was only intimidating the officers even more.

“I’m going to help the humans with paintings,” she flapped.

A few of the indifferent ones suddenly stopped whatever they were doing and focused all their eyes on her. Jeannie felt dizzy. At least 144,000 eye lenses were aimed in her direction.

“The humans?” the one who was horrified before now asked in a more controlled tone. He appeared to be somewhat tense and puzzled.

Jeannie nodded.

Everyone seemed to be relieved all of a sudden.

“Let her stay, Tom. It’s not like she’s coming back,” one of them flapped to the fungus expert. He nodded in an indifferent way, but it was clear to Jeannie he was reluctant to give up just like that.

“That may be so, but she still shouldn’t be here.”

“Come on, Tom. She’ll be gone soon enough. Might as well let her gamble a bit. You know, enjoy life one last time before going to that forsaken place.”

The fungus expert shot the other officer a hostile look. He looked around and noticed the others were slowly losing an interest in the debate.

“Fine. You can stay for one game,” he flapped and pointed to the circle. A few of them had resumed the game from earlier, and were throwing one die after the other.

Jeannie sat down quietly next to one of the butterflies who had appeared to be indifferent to her presence. She was waiting for the right moment to ask about Bob. There was no way they wouldn’t know him: they were clearly all working for the Grand Patrol and knew their way around. Jeannie felt how the others were looking at her every now and then. She didn’t want to be there either, but there was no other way.

The butterfly sitting next to her turned his head towards her and studied her from head to claw. It was a quick and painless moment of judgement.

“The humans, you say?” he flapped.

“Yes, sir,” Jeannie replied.

“Fascinating. None of us have ever seen humans.” The officer replied and turned away to watch the game again. There was something pitiful in his eyes.