Two pairs of wings welcomed one more.
The First Invitation
The visitor arrived before the invitation was ready.
Then it made itself comfortable.
Wren and Lumi had spent the morning preparing for a flower party. They had chosen a broad leaf for the table, found five acorn cups, and written the first invitation on a pale pink petal.
“To our friends beyond the garden,” Lumi read. “Please come when the evening flowers open.”
“Does it say where?” Wren asked.
Lumi turned the petal over. “By the white stone. I drew a map.”
The map showed the stone, a winding path, and a flower nearly as large as the stone itself. Lumi had added the flower because she liked it.
“Now we need someone to carry it,” Wren said.
At that moment, a little butterfly landed on her hand.
A Guest on Wren’s Hand
Its wings were pale, with fine golden lines that caught the light. Wren held her palm steady while Lumi brought the invitation closer.
“Would you take this across the garden?” she asked.
The butterfly opened its wings, then closed them. It stayed where it was.
“Perhaps the petal is too large,” Wren said.
Lumi folded the invitation once. The butterfly shifted one tiny foot.
“Perhaps it needs the map on the outside.”
Lumi unfolded the petal and folded it the other way. The butterfly opened its wings again, but made no move towards the invitation.
Wren glanced at her sister. “Did you tell it where the white stone is?”
“It has a map.”
“The flower is larger than the stone.”
“It’s a very nice flower.”
The butterfly walked towards the end of Wren’s finger. Both sisters stopped talking. For a moment it rested there, its wings trembling, then turned and walked back towards her palm.
Lumi held the petal in both hands. “Perhaps it isn’t here for the invitation.”
Something for Wren
Wren’s elbow had begun to ache. She shifted a little, keeping her hand level, and looked around for somewhere to rest her arm.
Lumi noticed. She put the invitation down and slid a soft folded leaf beneath Wren’s elbow.
“Better?”
“Much.”
They sat facing each other. Behind Lumi, the fine lines in her wings glimmered. Wren’s wings caught the same warm light, while the smallest pair opened slowly above her hand.
“It has a little mark here,” Lumi said, pointing to the edge of one wing without touching it.
Wren leaned closer. A tiny pale dot sat between two golden lines.
“Like the dot you put beside the flower on the map.”
“That was supposed to be a bee.”
Wren smiled. “The butterfly may have understood more of your drawing than I did.”
The First Guest
After a while, the butterfly lifted from Wren’s palm. It circled once above the table and flew to a flower growing beside the white stone.
Lumi watched it settle. “It found the flower without my map.”
“And the stone,” Wren said.
The invitation lay between them, still folded with the drawing on the outside. Lumi picked it up and smoothed the petal.
“We can take it ourselves.”
Wren stretched her arm, then rose beside her sister. Before they left, Lumi placed a fresh petal on the table where the butterfly had been resting.
“Is that another invitation?” Wren asked.
“It’s a place for our visitor, if it comes back.”
The butterfly remained on the flower, its wings resting above the petals. The sisters set off across the garden together, carrying their first invitation.
“Did we find someone to deliver it?” Lumi asked.
“No,” Wren said. “But we may have found our first guest.”
Livora Gracely ♥
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