"Titans, split up," said Robin, punching his fist into his palm for emphasis. "We have to locate the sungold as soon as possible, and find out who stole it – the Solaurian Hosts are counting on us. Beast Boy and Starfire, you head east. Raven, you're with me. Cyborg, how long to repair the damage to the ship?"

"It'll be a few hours. I'm already working on it."

"Good. Remember, we still don't have any clear idea of what we're up against, so everyone go carefully."

The Titans all voiced their assent, and while Cyborg set to work on the T-Ship's damaged systems, the others went their separate ways.

# # # #

Thus it was that a little over two hours later Starfire found herself confronted with a particularly glorious sight. She and Beast Boy had travelled far in two hours, staying just within earshot of one other in order to cover the maximum ground, and in that time they had not encountered even the slightest hint of danger. Just the reverse: the entire planet was covered in verdant forest, sun-drenched and shadow-dappled and teeming with unthreatening wildlife. All the while, the mineral detectors given to them by the Solaurian Dominion had remained totally inert – so much so that their mission, despite its urgency, was beginning to drift out of the forefront of their minds. It was very hard to feel urgent about anything in this place.

And now Starfire's attention was utterly ravished by the sight that had met her eyes as she emerged into a forest clearing. Beneath the canopy, flickering on a summer zephyr that wafted in through the trees, was what looked like a carpet of flower-petals dancing on the surface of a stream – but was in fact a swarm of butterflies that had risen from the grass as she entered the clearing, and now were darting in and out of the sunbeams catching the light.

"Oh, beautiful…" she breathed, floating very slowly forward. She tried to watch each one individually, then gave up and tried a new strategy. She landed, stretched out her arms, and stood as still as possible. The swarm fluttered around her. After a minute, a butterfly landed on her hand. For the others, that was the signal to follow suit. Eyes shining, Starfire watched as more and more began to settle on her outstretched limbs in a panoply of iridescent colours.

Then a rather unusual, bright green butterfly flew down and landed amongst the others. As she watched intently, the others reacted to its presence. Their antennae twitched curiously – then, a second later, they took off again, scattering in all directions. The green butterfly morphed back into Beast Boy.

"I do not think the other flying insects liked you very much," said Starfire solemnly.

"All I said was 'Hey ladies, nice antennas'. Is that so offensive?" grouched Beast Boy. Starfire couldn't help but giggle.

"Well, they were very beautiful creatures," she said, as they resumed their journey on foot together, all urgency now forgotten.

"Everything's beautiful here! It's this planet, Star, it totally rocks! There's like a million different animals to be, the fruit on the trees tastes amazing – and will you smell that air? Don't you think this place is the bee's knees?" he said, briefly turning into a bee for emphasis.

"Oh, yes! It is like the Garden of…. the Garden of Edam? Is that not the name of your very perfect Earth garden?"

"That's the one, Star."

"I think I have seen creatures like that on Earth as well, only not so large or so colourful. Please, what is the name of them?"

"Butterflies. You like 'em, huh?"

"Very much. What made you decide to be one? Was it just a coincidence?"

"No," admitted Beast Boy, looking slightly bashful, but also pleased with himself. "I saw you standing there covered in them, how excited you looked, and I thought, 'I can do that!', so I decided to be a butterfly just for you. Of course," he continued, bragging, "I can be any animal you want, unlike those stupid alien butterflies!"

"I know you can, my friend," she said, smiling.

To prove it he morphed into an eagle and consequently they began to pick up speed. But as they proceeded on their way, Beast Boy's thoughts were preoccupied less with their mission and more with the alien girl flying alongside him. He had always liked her, apart from at the very beginning when she was trying to kill them all. Over time, however, there were a great many things he had truly come to love about his Tamaranian friend. He loved the way her eyes shone when she was happy, which was a large part of the time. He loved her tinkling laughter when she was amused – which when he was around was obviously most of the time, since he was so hilarious. And if one of his jokes went too far – which might have been known to happen once or twice, Beast Boy reflected ruefully – even her little "h'm!" of disdain could make his heart skip a beat. But she was never angry with him for long: she was the kindest, most forgiving girl he had ever met. And what he loved most of all about Starfire was her own loving nature: the completeness, the generosity of the love which she bestowed so frankly upon the rest of creation, an attitude which underlay everything else she ever felt or did. It showed itself in the small things: even just a minute ago, when he had said "I can be any animal you want" and she had said "I know you can", he had known quite well how sincere her appreciation was. It would not have occurred to her to be less than sincere, even over something so minor.

This train of thought inevitably led him to the memory of one particular incident a couple of years back. It had been a depressing day in Titans Tower for some reason. To lighten the mood he had been doing some of his usual clowning, and it had gone down like a lead balloon. Robin had been especially humourless that day and Raven especially cutting. Even Cyborg hadn't been in the mood. Beast Boy had gone back to his room feeling pretty bad. But Starfire had caught up with him in the corridor.

"Friend?" she had called. "Are you… all right?"

"Yeah."

"I am confused. Today you have been very amusing, and I thought as you were 'cracking the jokes' you must be feeling happy. But when you walked away just now, it looked like you were feeling sad. I am sorry, it is difficult for me to understand: on my planet we never crack the jokes."

So he had explained to her that on Earth people sometimes told jokes because they were sad, not because they were happy. "You see, Star, sometimes when I'm being all funny and stuff it's not because I feel like laughing, it's because I want other people to laugh – because when you make people feel good, hopefully they feel good about you in return. Guess it's pretty stupid of me, though, huh? Telling jokes is never going to make Robin and Raven like me more."

"Oh," she had sighed with real anguish, reaching out with one hand to touch his cheek – "at least it makes me like you more, my dear friend."

It was really nothing much. He had said something boring like "thanks", then he and Starfire had both gone off and done other things. And yet that encounter had returned to his thoughts with increasing regularity ever since. He could not help but keep thinking about how her touch had been so soft, yet so electrifying that he had felt all his hair suddenly standing on end. Reliving the moment – feeling her fingertips touch his face, seeing her huge bright eyes looking into his, hearing the loving-kindness in her voice – made him tingle all over.

Rapt in a happy reverie, Beast Boy did not notice himself and Starfire starting to drift out of sight of one another as the forest became thicker.

# # # #

Starfire noticed that she had lost touch with Beast Boy only when the trees were becoming so dense that she had to stop flying. She looked around her and saw no movement; only green foliage, and the masses of large red fruits which hung from their branches.

"Beast Boy?" she called. No response.

The Solaurian mineral detector was still obstinately silent, and Starfire was beginning to feel quite vexed. She was too hot, and as a result was starting to get tired: she was extremely capable in very cold environments, but this kind of heat was not so congenial. Now Beast Boy had disappeared and she would have to worry about that as well as the fact that there was still no end to her journey in sight.

The scent coming off the trees had been pleasant in the airier forest glades, but in these darker depths it was becoming cloying – or was it just weariness affecting her, making it seem worse than it was? Her head spun briefly, and she came to a dead stop, giddy. She mopped her brow. It really was getting terribly hot in here, out of the breeze. She considered taking some of her clothes off. In fact the more she thought about it, the more it seemed like a good option. After all, the other Titans were scattered far and wide, and she had not seen anyone else on this planet so far apart from them. There was Beast Boy to consider – but surely he would not mind, when and if she found him? He could hardly be embarrassed, since he spent a large amount of his time naked.

So Starfire took her boots off, and her skirt, and unfastened her collar and vambraces and the metal armlet on her right bicep. Only as the last item of clothing hit the ground did it occur to her to wonder what to do next. Was she going to leave her clothes there and risk losing them, or would she have to carry them with her?

"You silly zarblegarff," Starfire chided herself. She supposed she would have to put her clothes back on again. But it was so nice, standing here without all that hot metal and clingy purple fabric….

There was a rustle in the trees, and the movement of a large shape.

Starfire gasped as a green snake uncoiled lasciviously from a branch and lowered itself down in front of her, holding one of the big red fruits between its jaws. Something about the sight of its lithe, sinuous body made her pulse quicken and her breath catch in her throat. She had a sudden intense fantasy of being held by it, wrapped up tight in its powerful coils, and she blushed fiery red. The snake gave her a suggestive wink.

"Hey Star, wanna try an apple?" it said in a muffled voice. "They're amazing."

"Yes… oh yes," she said. She took the apple in trembling hands and bit hard into its firm, juicy flesh. The snake's tongue flickered out as if to lick the sticky, sweet fluid that trickled down from her mouth.

# # # #

Raven, too, had made a concession to the heat of the day: she had taken her cloak off. Robin was still fully dressed.

"Robin, why don't you at least lose the cape? It's pretty hot out here, if you hadn't noticed."

"I won't be removing any clothing," Robin said stiffly. "A Teen Titan remains professional at all times."

"I'm worried you'll get heatstroke or something."

"Maybe we could use a break," he admitted. They sat down gratefully under the nearest tree. The tree emitted a heady aroma, and had a lot of swollen fruits hanging from its branches.

"By the way, Raven," said Robin, "steer clear of those big red fruits – they're trouble."

"What kind of trouble?"

"According to my research, they're one of the most powerful aphrodisiacs in the known universe."

"Oh," said Raven.

There was a silence which grew increasingly awkward as they tried not to look at each other. Eventually, after they had looked literally everywhere else, their eyes met. They both blushed and looked away. There was another silence.

"So… can we maybe pick a couple of those?" Raven finally said.

Their eyes met again, and this time did not flinch.

# # # #

Meanwhile, back at the landing zone, Cyborg was putting the finishing touches to his repair job on the T-Ship. Proudly, he took out a rag and some wax and began to brush up the vessel's metallic shine.

"I love you, T-Ship," he said.