Define Beauty

Butterflies

"Jeesh I didn't know you liked butterflies so much." Piper muttered to herself. Everytime they turned a corner into a hallway Annabeth would rush to the next turn and bounce in place waiting for Piper to catch up.

"Hurry!" Ananbeth insisted. Piper turned a corner and she followed, but she ran ahead. 

She suddenly saw a door. Not exactly a door. A screen net. She cheered with joy and started jumping up and down. She looked back to Piper who was rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

She waited for the girl to carefully open the net and then close it quickly. And then another one. And then they entered the enclosure. Though, first looking at it, Annabeth thought they'd stepped outside of the house. The room was large enough that she wasn't sure where it stopped. The floor was covered in a thick layer of dirt, thick enough for a couple of trees in the far corner. There was grass and flowers everywhere. It looked like a meadow. She tilted her head up to look at the ceiling. Glass. The sunlight streemed through, mostly blocked by the trees.

And the butterflies.

Oh God, the butterflies.

There were hundreds, maybe even thousands of them. They flew around the huge room pausing on flowers or branches. 

And so, so, so many different species. 

Annabeth was sure that her smile would disfigure her face. She ran forward to get a closer look, while she could hear Piper laughing behind her.

They were so beautiful. She turned her head around to look at Piper with wonderfilled eyes and the girl smiled. Her own eyes were bright green. Annabeth held her hand up and one of the butterflies dared to land on her outstreched finger.

"Do you know all the names of them?" Asked Annabeth, bringing the buttefly closer to her face to examine it closely.

"Only the obvious ones. It was third grade so not only have I forgotten but originally the project didn't require much of me." She said stepping forward.

"Obviously, I know that's a monarch butterfly." She said now directly next to Annabeth. The butterfly took flight and Annabeth's eyes followed it's progress.

"Do you know the scientific name?" Annabeth asked absent mindedly, aproaching a flower on the ground with a diffrent butterfly on it. 

"You seriously know that off the top of your head?" Piper sounded incredulous.

"Danaus plexippus." She said leaning as close as she dared to the flower, trying not to scare it away while being able to get a good look at body.

"Since when are butterflies otopuses?" She bent down to look at the butterfly in front of Annabeth. "Don't tell me you know that one too." She said. 

"I happen to. Comonly refered to as a Spicebrush Swallowtail butterfly but it's scientific name is Papilio troilus. They belong to the Papilionidae family which include many of the largest butterflies. And this one right here is very pretty." Annabeth said happily. 

Another butterfliy swooped down and landed next to the Swallowtail.

"And that one?" Asked Piper.

"Morpho peleides." Annabeth answered, entranced.

"I know the name of that one." Piper said pointing to one on a flower a few feet away. Ananbeth looked over her shoulder and gently scooted over. She waited for Piper to say the name. When she didn't she turned her head around to look at the girl. The same way that Annabeth looked completely focused on the butterflies Piper looked completely focused on Annabeth. 

She shook her head and smiled. "Pipevine Swallowtail." She said, moving over. 

Annabeth nodded. "Or Battus philenor. You remeber some parts of the assignment." Ananbeth noted. Piper grinned. "I only liked it when I was little cause I thought they'd named the butterfly after me." Annabeth laughed and the butterfly took off. 

She stood up and looked around again. She knew that she was probably being boring but she kept calling out different species. She had never had this kind of experience. She knew so much about so many of the species she was seeing, and yet this was her first time looking at them. Images do not count. They don't truly show the full beauty.

She threw herself back and lay on the floor staring up at the sky. The butterflies floated around each moving independently and Annabeth could say here her whole life just waiting to see a pattern. Though she'd still be happy if she never found one.

Piper sat down and looked at Annabeth who closed her eyes and took a deep breath, listening to rustle of leaves and the flapping of wings. Nothing was missing. She had calm. She had peace. She had beauty. And she had Piper. Which, in all honestly, was everything she needed and more.

Piper laid down next to Ananbeth and hugged her from behind.

"You wanna know what?" She asked in a soft whisper that sent shivers throught Annabeth's spine. "You're the most beautiful butterfly here." She answered snuggling her face into the crook of Annabeth's neck which was already turning slightly red along with her cheeks and ears.

"Of course not!" Annabeth squeaked. Piper nodded, a hard feat what with her head being tucked into Annabeth's neck. 

"Mhhhhhhm," she hummed, tickling Annabeth's neck with her breath.

"I-" Annabeth stuttered trying to find a way out of this conversation. "I'm a bit hungry." She lied. Piper let her arms go loose around Annabeth's waist, who wiggled free and stood up brushing blades of grass from her dress. 

Piper cracked open an eye to look up at her. She seemed to think for a moment before she answered. "Great. The chefs must be bored." She said. She stood and drapped her arm around Annabeth's back, letting her hand rest on her hip. Annabeth enjoyed thinking that Piper's hand belonged there, holding her. Piper lead Annabeth away from the butterflies and to the kitchen. 

Before she left, though, she took one last look at the Pipevine Swallowtail as it fluttered out of her sight.

Piper is better than a butterfly, she decided. Much better.