The Bee Dungeon

Belissar spent the next hour practicing his own honey-making spell. He was trying to make different honey types, like medicinal or lightning honey, but it was slow going. The honey kept coming out the same and he wasn’t sure how exactly to vary the pattern to adjust it. He asked Beero what she and the lightning bees had done…but their honey-making spell pattern was the same as his. It was just that they already had lightning moving along with their mana, so it got caught in the spell.

So, eventually, Belissar came up with another idea. He realized it had been quite a while since he had spoken to Juosiutik, so he made his way over to the karnuq’s settlement. Chief Rohsuak guided him to a stone building in progress. Juosiutik caught sight of them and rushed over.

“Sacred Den Master! Um, sorry I sort of…stopped the lessons…”

Belissar shook his head.

“It’s ok. I, um, sort of forgot too. I have a question though, if you don’t mind?”

Juosiutik nodded her head repeatedly.

“Of course! What can I help you with?”

“Great, well, you know how there are different honey types?”

Juosiutik froze solid, blinking repeatedly.

Belissar tilted his head. Did she not know that?

“Um, yes? Like the medicinal one? Or the maddening one I gave to…um, the karnuq that gave me the Ground mana flowers.”

Juosiutik’s eyes opened even wider.

“Medicinal…maddening…Ground mana flowers?”

“Um, yes? We’ve had those for a while, even.”

Juosiutik began to tremble. Belissar tilted his head even more. Niobee began to buzz and hovered in between them while Belissar’s soldier escorts moved closer. Juosiutik glanced at them, shook her head, and then took a deep breath.

“Sacred Den Master…I believe we have a lot to talk about.”

Juosiutik lead Belissar to her original wooden abode and they both sat down on some simple cushions for a long talk. Belissar was thus diverted from his original intent as he began to explain the different honey types and the new flowers he had raised while Juosiutik had been busy exploring her new powers. Juosiutik’s eyes were as wide as they could go and her legs were bouncing the entire time…though Niobee and the bees continued to hover around her. She stared out into the distance.

“So…the bees can make honey that will take on the special properties of any nectar they consume AND can help cross-pollinate and breed new types of plants?”

Belissar nodded.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Juosiutik leaned back, placing her hands on the floor behind her as she looked up at the roof.

“…bees are amazing.”

Belissar smiled at that.

“Yes, they are.”

Juosiutik took a deep breath as she leaned forward once more. She crossed her arms and rubbed her chin with one hand.

“Fascinating, I had been focused on using the honey as a binding agent to elevate a potion, but the honey is practically a potion in and of itself. So, what if we went the other way and tried to change the honey itself? I suppose that would depend on the bees, maybe if we fed them the right ingredients ahead of time it would change the honey they produce? Could they drink a mixture of ingredients and produce a potion straight away?”

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Belissar nodded.

“That’s actually what I’m here to ask you about.”

Belissar subsequently explained how the bees could not only produce different honeys based on the flowers but could evolve based on the honey they consumed. He gave some examples, and then explained what had happened with the lightning soldiers and later the lightning worker raised on the honey they had produced via magic. Juosiutik’s eyes managed to go even wider than Belissar had thought possible.

“The bees…can evolve and then produce the compounds right in their bodies?”

Belissar nodded.

“Yes, that’s right. So, yeah. I was wondering if you had any ideas for making new honey types we could use to raise new bees.”

Meanwhile, Niobee drooped and landed on the ground, crawling about in an unsteady circle. Eventually, she came to a stop, groomed her antennae, and then took off to fly in front of Belissar.

“King…can wait? Need to ask something.”

Belissar tilted his head but nodded.

“Sure, whatever you need, Niobee.”

She danced a quick thanks then flew out of the building. Belissar waited in silence while Juosiutik began muttering to herself. Just a minute or two later, she flew back, now with a worker in tow.

“This is First of the Fifth’s worker. First of the Fifth’s hive interested in new honey types, wants to hear if karnuq knows.”

Belissar smiled and nodded.

“Ah, that’s a good idea.”

He turned to Juosiutik.

“Would you mind speaking with my bees on this? This is a worker from a queen called the First of the Fifth, she’s the expert on honey making.”

Juosiutik stared in silence for a moment, and then burst out nodding repeatedly as quickly as she could.

“Yes! Of course! This…this is big. The possibilities here…”

She took a deep breath and then turned to the worker.

“Tell me everything. Tell me all about your honey and I’ll tell you everything I know about potions.”

The worker paused for a moment before turning to Belissar.

“Queen asks King if ok?”

Belissar nodded.

“Yes, go ahead.”

The worker then turned back to the Juosiutik and began dancing.

“Queen says ok.”

The worker then began to explain in detail the process by which they made mana honey from various sources, and how that honey could then be used to evolve existing bees. Juosiutik listened in silence, her eyes fixed upon the dancing bee as she nodded along.

“It sounds like…the bees are practically making potions within themselves in the first place. This is…”

She rubbed her chin and hummed for a moment.

“What about a mixture? Have you tried drinking nectar from multiple sources before processing it into honey?”

“Queen says have but makes honey quality worse.”

Juosiutik nodded.

“I could see that occurring too. Maybe the ingredients clashed…or it could be a matter of timing and processing. Does your queen remember which flowers exactly she mixed and when in the process she mixed them?”

“Remembers. First is...”

The bee began dancing in detail while Juosiutik followed along.

“Hm, I see. I’m not as familiar with the flowers for the maddening honey, but sleepy chamomile should go along with the medicinal herbs that grow in the Sacred Den. Would it be possible to add the sleepy chamomile nectar at this point in the medicinal processing…”

And so Juosiutik and the First of the Fifth began talking via communer and worker, with Juosiutik speaking louder and louder and the worker bee dancing every more quickly. Belissar quickly lost track of their conversation.

“Um, seems like you both have a lot to talk about. I, uh, need to take care of something, so if you don’t need me I’ll take my leave. Um, let me know if either of you need anything?”

Juosiutik flushed and nodded.

“Ah, right! Thank you, Sacred Den Master, for everything. I’m sure we’ll be able to make something great!”

The worker bee, on the other hand, saluted and proclaimed “King best king!”

And with that, Belissar took his leave and left them both to it. With the two experts on the job, he had no doubt they’d come up with something better than anything he could think of, so he decided to address a mixture of his own. He made his way back to the Apiary and to his farmhouse within, then opened one of the jars waiting there and took a whiff. He nodded and poured out a bit into a wooden mug. He took a drink…

His eyes lit up. It…was mead. In some ways, it tasted like regular old mead. But in other ways…it was something…more. That was perhaps the best way to describe it. Mead…but more. The taste was fuller and lingered longer on his tongue. The warmth spread through his body more quickly and felt even more pleasant. Likewise, he could feel mana suffusing through his body, mixing with his own as it spread the sensation of the mead throughout.

He nodded his head. The recipe and taste may have been basic…but he was certain that this was still the best mead he had ever made. His eyes even began to moisten. The day the Tower Lord’s son arrived at his village, he thought his mead-making days were over. His recipes would go unfinished and he’d never taste it ever again. But now…after everything…here he was. A mead-maker once more.

And now made with the best honey he had ever had, from hives that he could talk to. From bees that loved him, and that he loved in turn.

He capped the jar and lifted it, then made his way to the Shrine of Bees. He placed the jar in the wax chest and bowed his head.

“Thank you again, for everything. If it weren’t for you…I’d never had made mead ever again. I know this one is basic, but I hope you like it.”

The Shrine of Bees began to glow bright, so it seemed she did.

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