When everyone can accept each other, there will probably be beautiful colors.

"Bea

ver, Rabbit, and Mole, hello. Please say hello to the other friends for me."

Otter put down the pen and scratched the tip of his nose. Although it was not easy to write, he still had to keep writing. Otter scratched his head and sighed.

"I received your previous letter. You said Fox left the forest and continued traveling, and I also feel a little"

Otter stopped. What word should he use here? Sad? That did not seem right. Fox was going to find his own path, and no matter what, that should not be a sad thing. Uncomfortable? That was not right either. Happy? Of course he could not say happy. What word would be best?

Otter felt his mind was a little blocked. The weather was very nice, and no matter what, it should not be blocked.

Otter raised his head and looked into the distance. Under the blue sky, only lush green spread out, deep and light, stretching all the way to the end of his sight. The air was hot and stuffy, and even his body soaking in the water did not feel cool. Even the stones, which had always been cool, were now warm.

He really had not expected it to be so hot here. Otter scratched his ear. Walking all the way here, he was so hot that he could hardly keep going. If he had not seen so many fresh and interesting things, he really would have missed the ice and snow of Alaska a little.

Otter sank his body a little deeper into the water and watched the small fish bump against his toes and belly again and again. Otter chuckled, scratched the tip of his nose, and picked up the pen again.

It

should be... mm, it should be this word. He had seen it before, but had never used it. It should be suitable here.

"Bittersweet." Mm, it should be this word, no mistake. Otter let out a long, satisfied sigh. "When a friend leaves, you feel a little sad, but also a little happy for him. That is probably what this feeling is like, right?"

"So I think Rabbit does not need to be too sad." Otter paused, remembering that this letter might take a month to arrive, so writing this might not be very suitable. The pen tapped the paper, and he crossed out this line.

"In any case, what is more important now should be Guinea Pig, right? How are her little babies doing? I really want to see the round little babies. Maybe when they grow up, I will come see you too."

"But it is hard to say, after all, the world is so big. I have been heading south all the way, and now I have already reached South America. Sometimes I also wonder, could the place where I am now be a place you have also been to? The land I stand on, have you also stood here?"

"Later I thought, probably not. After all, if you had also been here, you should have told me. There is a special kind of fish here. If you had seen it, you definitely would have written to me, just like that time you wrote to tell me about the seahorse."

No

Otter held the pen and stretched. The midday hot wind carried moisture, and also the smell of plants. Otter remembered that he seemed to have rarely smelled such a strong, such fresh plant scent. Sure enough, it was still nice to come out and walk around, right?

"In the small river, I saw a kind of small fish, as if they were wearing all the colors of the rainbow on their bodies. They are very small, and there is no way to communicate with me, but they seem to quite like soaking in the water with me. Just like now, they are bumping against my belly, light and soft, a very comfortable feeling."

Otter looked down. A small fish was still stubbornly bumping against his belly, its little mouth opening and closing. Maybe it was eating something? Otter touched his belly. It was quite clean...

"In any case, I heard that this kind of small fish is called the 'neon tetra,' and it can only be found here. Maybe the animals here all have bright and beautiful colors. I remember the candy snail mentioned in a previous letter, and the parrot I heard about. I wonder what kind of environment can let animals so freely wear all their colors on their bodies."

Otter picked up his stone. It was a little hot. Otter rolled the stone on his forehead, warm and very comfortable. Otter sighed again and thought of Alaska once more. There were not many colors there. Otter looked down at his own fur and shook his head.

"Maybe only in a very free and very tolerant place can there be all kinds of colors. Alaska does not have colors like these, and the animals living there are mostly black, white, and gray - oh right, except the Atlantic puffin. That guy's colors are actually rather bright. I miss him a little."

Seems

like I went off topic. Otter thought. Should I cross it out? Otter paused the tip of the pen on the paper, thought for a moment, and did not draw a line through it. Anyway, going off topic occasionally is no problem... like in Rabbit's letters, he always goes off topic too.

"This huge forest in South America is truly amazing. If you do not see it with your own eyes, it is really hard to believe. Unfortunately, I cannot spend too much time here, and I still have to keep going south. After all, getting to the South Pole is the real business, and besides, I am not very used to the weather here. It is just too, too hot."

Otter put down the pen and watched it float on the water, drifting away with the flow of the small river, then reached out and pulled it back. Otter chuckled twice.

"I do not know when all animals will be able to wear all kinds of colors. Maybe it will take a very long time? But if such a day really comes, it will be very worth it. Everyone used to be busy fighting and hurting each other. At such times, probably no one would wear a body full of rainbow colors. Everyone could only hide and avoid, hiding their thoughts and expressions in their hearts. Although things are a little better now, it is still far from enough. Maybe it will still take a long time."

Ot

ter sighed and kept writing in one stretch.

"When everyone no longer sees each other as enemies, when everyone no longer rejects species different from their own, when everyone can accept each other, when everyone no longer needs to worry and be afraid, only then will there possibly be beautiful colors."

"As long as everyone is still worrying about survival, there will not be a truly happy life. I think beauty may be connected with happiness. Maybe it will still take time, but I believe such a future will definitely come."

"Along the way, I have seen different species living in peace, seen peaceful life, seen efforts to pursue equality. I have seen so many things that make me believe more and more that a truly beautiful life will be waiting for us ahead."

"Maybe I will not see myself become colorful. But if we all work hard enough, perhaps in our lifetime we can see more colorful animals, like wearing the rainbow from the sky on their bodies, like bringing the beautiful life from the sky down to the earth."

"I will look forward to such a life, and I will work hard for it!"

Otter wrote so much in a hurry that he only then noticed he had been lightly biting the tip of his tongue. Otter stuck out his tongue, relaxed his muscles a little, and stretched again.

It seemed that without realizing it, he had made another resolution... Otter scratched his head. This should be okay too, right...

Otter licked the tip of his nose and signed his name on the paper. Otter held the pen in his mouth, carefully folded the letter paper, put it into the envelope, and sealed it.

The small fish was still bumping against his belly. Otter put his finger into the water and brought it close to the small fish's mouth. The rainbow-colored small fish gently bumped against Otter's finger, like a light and tender kiss.

To be continued