Emily knelt beside one of their old travelling trunks and lifted the heavy lid. Inside were maps, notebooks and curious treasures collected from places all over the world. She carefully unfolded the largest map and propped it against the trunk so Toby could see it properly.
The paper rustled softly as she smoothed it flat. It smelled faintly of places far away.
“This,” Emily said with a smile, “is the world.”
Toby stared.
His round eyes grew even rounder.
The map was covered with curious shapes, coloured patches and dotted lines. It looked fascinating, but he couldn’t make any sense of it.
“It looks very… flat,” he said at last.
Ben laughed kindly.
“It does, doesn’t it? But each shape is a different place. Some are covered with forests, some with deserts, some with mountains, and some with oceans.”
Toby blinked.
“All of that… fits on this piece of paper?”
Emily smiled.
“Not exactly. The map is just a picture to help us understand how all the places fit together.”
Toby looked puzzled.
Ben scratched his head.
“I think pictures might explain it better.”
He reached into his pocket and took out his camera.
“We’ve travelled to lots of these places,” he said. “Would you like to see them?”
Toby nodded so eagerly that his woolly hat nearly slipped over his eyes.
Ben turned the camera towards Toby and began tapping through the photographs.
He paused on a photograph of a river.
“This was taken three years ago.”
He tapped to the next picture.
The river had almost disappeared.
Toby blinked.
“Where has all the water gone?”
“Yes, there used to be a lot more water here,” Ben explained. “Now many animals struggle to find enough to drink.”
The next photograph showed flooded fields.
“Here there’s almost too much water.”
He scrolled a bit further.
One photograph showed a rainforest bursting with every shade of green imaginable.
The next picture showed a busy city where thousands of tiny lights sparkled like stars.
Toby could hardly believe what he was seeing.
“The world is… enormous,” he whispered.
“It is,” Emily agreed.
Ben nodded.
“And every place is different.”
Finally Ben paused on a photograph of great sheets of ice, broken into floating pieces.
Toby recognised them immediately.
“That’s like my home!”
“It is,” Emily said gently. “That’s why we’re here.”
“We travel to places that are changing,” Ben explained. “We’re trying to understand what’s happening and how the animals are getting on. “
Toby looked down at the ice beneath his feet.
“So… you’re trying to help?”
Emily nodded.
“We’re trying to learn. The more we understand, the better we can help people look after the world we all share.”
For a long moment, Toby didn’t speak.
His little world of snow and ice suddenly seemed both wonderfully familiar and surprisingly small.
Emily watched him carefully.
“Toby,” she said softly, “if you really want to know what’s beyond the ice… you could come with us.”
Ben smiled.
“We can’t promise that you’ll like every place.”
Emily laughed.
“But we can promise it will be an adventure.”
Toby looked at the great balloon swaying gently in the breeze.
Then he looked back at the map.
Then at the camera filled with places he had never dreamed could exist.
He looked across the endless white ice that had been his whole world for as long as he could remember.
His heart gave a funny little thump.
“I want to see everything,” he whispered.
Emily’s face lit up.
“If you’re sure,” she said, “tomorrow we’ll show you how the balloon works – and how we travel from place to place.”
Ben grinned.
“And perhaps you can help us pack.”
Toby smiled so widely that even the little Arctic fox couldn’t help wagging its tail.
Tomorrow wasn’t just another day.
Tomorrow was the beginning of the biggest adventure of his life.