Kiko stepped past the ancient trees and followed the glowing path into the whispering forest.
She marched deeper, determined. The wind whispered past her ears, but she did not stop.
By a silver pool, she met a velvet-eared rabbit. "Where is Y?" she asked.
She tiptoed through the blue mushrooms. Puff! They released sparkling dust. She sneezed three times and kept going.
The glowing path split into three directions, each shimmering a different color: red, green, and blue.
She tried the red path. Then the green. Then the blue. None of them led to Y.
Her shoulders drooped. She sat on a mossy root and traced patterns in the dirt with her shoe. The whispering wind tugged at her hair.
Kiko closed her eyes and sat very still.
A soft golden light bloomed from her chest and spread across her arms, her hands, her whole body. She gasped. She was Y.
Kiko walked home with her golden light lighting the way between the trees. She hummed along with the whispering wind and followed the glowing paths without needing to ask for directions.