After a warm rain, the forest glittered. Drops hung like small pearls in the grass. Randi Fox stood on a stone with her nose high. Her fur was red as lingonberries. Her eyes shone.

"Look!" she called. High above the clearing arched a rainbow. It looked like a bridge of colors.

Mira Mole poked up from a soft dirt mound. She blinked at the light and brushed dirt from her nose. Next to her, Bobo Bear Cub trampled about. He was round and soft and smelled of blueberry bush.

"Where does it start?" asked Bobo and pointed with his paw.

"We'll find the end!" said Randi. "We'll follow the colors."

They packed a small bark basket with blueberries and a piece of honeycomb. "If we get hungry," said Bobo and smiled stickily just from thinking about honey.

They ran across the soft moss. Small frogs hopped away like green dots. A butterfly danced through the air. The rainbow pointed further, beyond the white birches.

Soon they came to a stream that splashed and laughed. The water glittered so it tickled in the eyes.

"How do we get across?" wondered Mira and stroked her digging claws against a stone.

Randi looked around. "Sticks!" she said. They laid sticks like a small bridge. Bobo stepped out first.

"One, two, splash!" Bobo slipped with one paw. The water felt cold around his paw and he giggled. "It was just a little splash," he said. Mira took his paw. Together they made it across.

On the other side of the stream, Siri Snail crept slowly over a shiny stone. She left a silver thread behind her.

"The rainbow lives in drops," said Siri with a soft voice. "Follow what glitters."

"Thank you, Siri," said Randi and bent down so her nose almost touched the snail shell.

They followed the glitter. They hopped from tussock to tussock over a small marsh. "Marsh parkour!" shouted Bobo and laughed. Mira's small legs went fast, fast. Randi was light as a leaf shadow.

But the rainbow seemed to move all the time. When they came close, it had sneaked further away.

"It's joking with us," said Mira and laughed in her belly.

Then Nisse Jay flew by and landed on a branch. A blue feather on his wing flashed.

"Seek where the sun reflects," croaked Nisse. "There colors play best."

They climbed up on a smooth rock ledge. There lay a big puddle, shiny as a mirror. The sun peeked out between clouds. Suddenly the colors dove down into the puddle. Red, yellow, green, blue. The rainbow became two, one in the sky and one in the water.

"Oh!" said all three at once.

Randi dipped a paw. Ripples ran across the surface. The colors danced.

"We can make our own rainbow path!" said Randi. She placed a yellow birch leaf by the edge. Mira found a piece of soft, green moss. Bobo placed there a red rowan berry cluster that looked like small lamps.

Nisse Jay swooped down and dropped a blue feather. "For blue," he croaked proudly.

"And here's something silvery," said Mira and pointed at Siri's little trail that glittered in the sun. They laughed and placed a smooth gray stone that looked like a freshly baked bun without raisins.

They sat by the puddle and ate blueberries. Their fingers turned purple. Randi painted dots on Bobo's nose with juice. Bobo laughed so his belly bounced.

A cloud slid in front of the sun. The big rainbow faded and waved farewell. In the puddle the colors became fainter.

"Did it go home now?" asked Bobo quietly.

"It doesn't go far," said Randi and looked at their rainbow path. "It's here too. In the things. In the drops. In us when we play."

Mira gently poked the blue feather. "We'll leave all this here so others can see," she said. "A path to be happy about."

They gathered more things: a white feather, a brown pinecone that smelled of pine, an orange mushroom cap that they only looked at. They placed them in order, like a row of rain.

When the sun came back, the whole path glowed. A small hare stopped and wiggled its ears. Two small ants walked in a row over the gray stone as if it was a bridge.

Randi smiled and stretched her tail. "Tomorrow we'll follow the colors again," she said.

"Me too!" said Bobo.

"And me!" said Mira.

The forest smelled fresh and new. The drops in the grass blinked as if they knew something. Randi ran around, fast and happy, and everything around them felt like a treasure that could never run out.