Before him lay a miniature sylvan valley, incongruously situated in the middle of the usual scrappy desert scrub brush. Bright green grass, and vibrantly-colored wildflowers, flowed between the hills and formed ponds with even wilder riots of color. Butterflies and honeybees flitted from flower to flower, going about their fruitful business. A simple trail wound through the verdant greenery, naturally-occurring flat stones covering most of the dirt.

“Are there even butterflies in the desert?” Richard wondered. “How is any of this even possible?”

She smiled brightly. “I have no idea. But I love it just the same.” She took his hand. “Come on.”

Richard happily followed her down the natural stone path. He imagined rolling in the grass with her, through the wildflowers, their cares cast to the wind. But walking through it with her was a very acceptable second choice.

Fifteen feet or so inside the mouth of the cave, the temperature suddenly dropped. “Isn’t this pleasant?” she asked. “Caves maintain relatively constant temperatures, even in this weather.” She suddenly stopped. “Are you ready for a break? I could stand to have one.”

“Yes!” He folded his legs and sat on the ground with a loud thump. She contemplated this with a bemused expression and then sat down more gracefully.

He opened his backpack and pulled out two bottles of water. “Want one?”

She demurred before answering. “I don’t really need one – I’m used to much harsher conditions – though it sounds refreshing.”

He pushed it into her hand. “Take it. It’s sweltering.”

“If you insist.” She accepted the bottle and took a large slug from it. Richard did likewise.

The lizard began squirming and fidgeting. “I think your buddy wants some, too,” Richard pointed out.

“Monitor lizards can go for quite a long time without water…but if you think so.” She pointed her finger downward, toward the lizard’s mouth, and slowly poured water on her hand so it’d run down her finger. He immediately began lapping it up, flicking his tongue repeatedly. This went on for about a minute before he finally stopped.

“I’m no expert on lizards, but I think he was thirsty,” Richard jested.

She downed the rest of the bottle and then frowned at him. “Let me know when you’re ready to continue.”

Richard took another large gulp. “Hey, there’s no reason to be so tough. Dehydration and heat exhaustion are serious conditions. I don’t want either of us to get hurt.”

She looked down. “I’m sorry. If you knew how I was raised, you’d understand.” She met his gaze. “Maybe I’ll tell you about it sometime.”

“I’d like that.” Richard finished his bottle; he took hers back and stored both in his backpack. “Can’t wait to see what’s next!”

“There are a lot of winding passages in here,” she revealed. “But we’re heading in a specific direction, toward the brightly-colored fungus. There are only three obstacles in our way.” She stood up and walked deeper into the cave. “Follow me.”

After about thirty feet, the light grew dimmer. “Wait a minute for your eyes to adjust,” she recommended. “Then maybe you’ll see where we’re going.”

He did as he was told. “What am I looking for?”

She pointed up. “See that shelf along the top of the wall?”

It was roughly hewn, but regular enough to pass for a man-made structure. “How do we get up there?”

“Easily, now that you can see in the dark better.” She walked about twenty more feet into the cave, to a wider area; here the shelf became a gentle upward slope, and she ascended it without much effort. Richard followed.

She crawled along the shelf for a time, then turned and entered a hole. “Here’s the most difficult part. But if I can squeeze through, so can you.” The hole became deeper, but narrower; Richard watched as Rosaleen turned sideways and shuffled slowly into a thin crack. The lizard adjusted his grip and position to compensate. “You might get your backpack through,” she suggested, “but you’ll have to hold it over your head.” She slid into the darkness and disappeared from view.

Richard swallowed hard and followed her instructions. He had to wiggle at a few points to get his body to slide, and he watched the approaching darkness with increasing alarm. Finally, he was through, but the faint light from the mouth of the cave had disappeared completely.

“Rosaleen?” he called out. “Where are you?”

“Right next to you, silly.” Her voice, so close to his ear, caused him to jump. “Take my hand. It’s a bit of a blind walk for a short distance…then you’ll see something amazing.”

He felt her hand probe in his direction; he took it in his. She gripped it tightly and pulled. “Just step carefully,” she told him. “The floor narrows into a point here; this passage is mostly a big crack between two larger stone walls. So don’t get your feet stuck.”

Richard inched along, trying to keep his shoes at flat as possible, hoping his ankle didn’t suddenly twist. He had time to question his life choices, especially the ones that involved doing anything a pretty girl told him to do. His heart told him to go, while his brain told him to stop being so stupid and to use the common sense he was born with. A few steps later, and he wondered if he had been born with any.

He felt her hand relax. “OK, it gets easier here, but it’s still dark. The passage widens and the floor becomes flat.”

Richard finally had to ask. “Dare I ask how you came to explore this passage in the first place?”

“Very slowly,” she offered. “I would get to a point where I couldn’t see anything, then let my eyes adjust to the darkness, then I’d keep going. It just takes practice.”

“I’m not sure my eyes can do that,” he groaned.

“You’ll never know unless you try!” she chirped. “I explored much darker caves than this when I was a little girl. This one is just fun and games.”

“I can’t imagine,” Richard stated truthfully.

“Oh, don’t worry so much. Here…I’ll kneel down, and you can look ahead. Tell me what you see.”

A curtain seemed to drop in front of him; he realized it was her getting out of the way. Up ahead about ten feet, he could see a glowing light coming from the floor.

“I see it!” he proclaimed. “What is it?”

“Our destination,” she explained. “Come on, we’re almost there.”

“You amaze me, Rosaleen,” Richard admitted. “You get me to do things I’ve never even considered doing before.”

“Hey, it’s not all bad,” she teased. “How’s the heat treating you?”

Richard had been so concerned with the particulars of spelunking, he hadn’t thought to notice. “Oh yeah. The temperature is really comfortable here!”

“I’d say it’s in the mid-fifties or so. And it’s so deeply buried in rock, it doesn’t really change year-round. OK, here we are. Stand still while I step over the hole.”

A moment later, and the iceplant-green glow suddenly jumped out at him. It was enough to highlight features of her face; she was beholding him beatifically. “What’s giving off the light?”

She smiled simply. “Our destination. Don’t follow me until I tell you to.”

Without another word, she stepped into the hole, bracing herself with her arms, then lowered herself slowly. He could see the top of her head about five feet below the floor of the passage, then it disappeared. “OK, come along. It’s about a ten-foot descent, but the shaft is six feet. So you won’t fall.”

Richard took a deep breath and followed her, trying to mimic her actions. His feet dangled in the air as he slowly descended with his arms. Before long, he reached the bottom of the shaft; the walls suddenly ended and ran along the ceiling of a cavern. As he nervously approached the end of his handholds, his feet unexpectedly found firm ground. Gingerly, he relaxed his arms and descended to the cavern floor, landing softly.

The green glow was now bright enough to let him see his own hands. He crouched down and looked inside. His jaw dropped. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” she asked.

Richard cautiously descended the gentle slope and found himself on the cavern floor. Covering the walls all around was a luminescent fungus, shining a bright iceplant-green color. It seemed to shimmer in its own light, almost as if it was moving. In the dead silence, when neither he nor Rosaleen were moving or speaking, he swore he could hear a faint musical sound, almost as if thousands of microscopic bells were ringing.

“This is absolutely amazing,” he gushed. “How on Earth did you find this place?”

“I didn’t,” she explained. “Our interloper did. I was in the cave when someone else showed up, so I hid and watched where he went. After he left, I retraced his steps and found this cavern.”

“What is this stuff?”

“I’m not sure. But it’s what he carried out of here.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“I don’t know that, either. But I once stayed in here for a long time, and felt my body start to go numb. I didn’t feel right for almost a day.”

Richard took a sharp breath. “Well then, I’d better get to work.” He fished around in his backpack for the two empty bottles, and carefully scraped the opening along the wall, watching the fungus fall inside with a powder-like consistency. Some areas were thicker than others, allowing him to work more quickly.

“Do you hear that?” he asked.

“Hear what?”

“When I scrape the bottle against the wall, that faint bell-ringing sound seems to get louder for a moment. Here, let me try to be really gentle; tell me if you can hear the difference.”

He moved the bottle along the wall without contacting the stone. The difference to him was faint, yet noticeable. “There! Did you hear it change?”

“Yes!” she exclaimed. “I wonder what it means?”

“You tell me,” he ribbed. “You’re the expert on this place.”

He could see her dreamy smile distinctly in the glow. “I think we’re both on new ground here.”