As they walked on, the trail narrowed, and the trees thickened. Sunlight came through in shafts, catching motes that swirled like slow dust. Peter pointed to a fallen log half-buried in moss where small mushrooms unfurled in concentric umbrellas. "They remind me how small changes make whole shapes," he said. Olga considered that, thinking of lists that grew into lifetimes, of small choices that rearranged days. She found herself describing the way the light hit the leaves, the exact green of the fern fronds, the smell of damp bark. Peter listened like a collector, not to keep, but to let the details stay alive somewhere outside her.
: Observe trees growing close together. Wohlleben notes that "friend" trees often grow their branches away from each other to avoid blocking their partner's light. olga peter a walk in the forest