16 for the prompts! - crystallized-ink
Thank you very much @crystallized-ink! Here it is!
16 - wet, rotting leaves
“Did you know?” Maja asked and looked up from our joined hands, “Spring smell isn’t actually the smell of fresh flowers and bloom.”
“It isn’t?” I asked and she slipped her hand out of mine, hunching down to the forest floor.
“No. It’s the smell of rotting leaves and wet moss.” She poked at the ground with a stick, turned some of the leaves around that were still covering the floors, remaining from autumn and winter. “It’s because when it becomes warmer, our sense of smell becomes more sensitive, so we actually smell the decay of plants that was stopped during the cold months. But since days become longer again, our brain linked the sun and this smell together. We conditioned ourselves to like this smell because the sun makes us happy. Look at it. They’re sticking together with slime and mud. Already holes bitten in them by bugs and snails and microbes. The slime is usually because of fungi actually. So much at work here, really fascinating actually-” she stopped then, stick still tearing some of the wet leaves apart and looked up with an embarrassed smile.
“Yes. So. Small fun fact.”
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