Marlowe

The eastern sun was rising chilli red over the South China Sea. I leaned my head against the aeroplane window. Heat prickled my lips, a sensation I didn’t know I had missed until now.

‘Would you like the omelette or the dim sum?’ The flight attendant smiled, revealing a mouth of bleached teeth.

‘Neither, thanks. I’m not hungry.’

My gaze drifted back to the window. The sky was already turning blue – a bright arion blue. I was reminded once more of my grandfather, who had first introduced me to the large blue butterfly on one of my summer visits to the UK. It had been over ten years since the delicate creature became extinct in Britain, but thanks to his long-standing connections in the lepidopterist world, Grandpa was taking me on a journey to a secret site where the butterfly was being reintroduced into the British countryside.

‘Large blue’s are of course known for their drunken flying,’ he said. As we walked among the beeches, he told me about the two scientists, Thomas and Simcox, who had brought the species back from the dead.

‘We all tried hard to understand why the butterfly had suddenly stopped thriving…’ As he spoke, I watched his face light up with excitement. It had been so long since I had seen him this happy. ‘And it all boiled down to the Myrmica sabuleti! Fancy that! The large blue caterpillar depends on the ant in order to survive. It produces a pheromone that makes the ant treat it as one of their own. Effectively, the caterpillar has deceived the ant. The arion larvae even eat the ant grubs until they transform into pupae and leave the underground.’

I pictured the carnivorous behaviour with a strange fascination, only able to utter one word in response.

‘Wow.’

Suddenly, Grandpa stopped and, very slowly, crouched down. I followed his gaze to a thyme leaf near his feet. He was still. I couldn’t hear the sound of his breath. The muscles in his face didn’t move an inch, but I saw his eyes were brimming. Here she was – the Maculinea arion. She was tiny. Her outer wings were greyish blue and a shimmering aqua grew upwards from the base of her body. She fluttered and her wings blossomed to reveal a darker, more brilliant shade of blue inside. I blinked, and in an instant the butterfly was gone.

He had devoted his life to the study of the beautiful, rare butterfly, while I chose to study conservation through researching its carnivorous caterpillar.

The captain announced our descent into Hong Kong International Airport, Chek Lap Kok. I tightened the strap of my belt so that it was taut around my hips. The first of nine dragon backs came into view; long, luxuriant spines of mountains undulating into the waking day. I pressed my nose up against the glass. The glittering city caught the morning light. Different shades of metallic blue danced along the periphery of land like jewels on fire. The wheels hit the tarmac with a thud and I was home.