Following is lovely fantasy story composed by this month’s Three Questions respondent Fiona Ball while on pilgrimage in Scotland.

Discovery

Armed only with curiosity, Amy wandered barefoot through the deep green forest. Her feet felt the vibrations of crunched leaves and the occasional stab of pain as she negotiated the pathway towards an ocean she could hear and not see. Her blue eyes were drawn to a spider’s web in the fork of a huge old tree adorned with creeping ivy that wound with abandon upward into the canopy on the forest.

The web jerked rhythmically.

She peered through tangles of raspberry bush into the dark recesses of the place where two solid scarred branches met. As she drew closer, the jerking grew frantic.

Dropping into stillness, Amy sensed the feelings of fear and distress emanating from the web. She blinked.

Caught within the silky rainbow strands of the web was a tiny, winged creature. At first, her child’s heart knew it to be a fairy. However, looking closer, she saw the shimmering wings of an extraordinary butterfly with patterns of flowers printed on shining wings.

The child considered what was in front of her. Could this be a creature that painted colors and patterns into the seeds of flowers so they grew in just the right place in the forest? Or perhaps it created the skins of mushrooms, or the shine in dragonflies’ wings?

Whatever this creature did, the girl knew it did not belong in that web. Surely soon the spider that crafted this labyrinth would come looking. Just then, the spider appeared from under buttery colored bark. As the spider edged closer, Amy made a decision.

As much as the web of life fed her instincts, she knew she could not leave this situation to play itself out. She had always used her voice to calm and heal, and now as she opened her mouth, silvery sounds poured through the air, trickling through the branches and meeting dappled sunlight in explosions of color. The spider stopped mid-movement and drew back into the crevice from where it came.

Still singing, Amy moved forward, she placed her hands gently around the trapped creature. Looking closer, she gasped. A creation creature. Her own small wings trembled with joy as she tenderly placed the tiny creature on the top of a striated green leaf at the place where sunbeams played. Turning, she skipped back to her own hollow in the deep glades of the forest, full to bursting with news of the treasure her green home had shown her this day.

Top Image: Pixabay/Jürgen
Side bar image: Pixabay/Sabine van Erp