Sunlight filtered down through the leafy canopy with a startling brightness. The thin needles were far too little to stop its downward momentum, too thin and light by far. Green far up at the top, brown and ochre at the bottom, soft beneath her feet with all the promise of a comforting featherbed. Here and there small twigs poked through the carpet of needles, little things no thicker around than her finger and still no stronger. 