The Bee Dungeon

Belissar’s eyes widened. The banquet had concluded and the sigmaka departed for home. He was currently meeting with Chief Rohsuak and the bee queens to discuss what had happened.

“Really? They were going to attack us?!”

Chief Rohsuak nodded, no smile on her face this time.

“I believe Fourth Queen Pezuya planned on it, at the very least, whether or not the rest of them were in on it I cannot say. Her reaction to the bee army was too extreme, and then there was Second Queen Berbiya’s hasty conversation with her. I’m guessing she was hoping to ambush you, but thought better of it once she saw the soldier bees.”

Belissar frowned.

“They would really do that? Just attack us out of nowhere after all those talks and agreements?”

Chief Rohsuak sighed, letting her shoulders droop.

“In the end, Sacred Den Master, agreements are just that. Unless enforced by power, whether yours or someone else’s, they can be broken at will. …I must admit that we ourselves have done so in the past, when necessary to survive.”

Belissar ground his teeth.

Chief Rohsuak stepped forward and patted his shoulder.

“That was the point of this. For the sigmaka, they have the reassurance that your patron god will enforce the agreement on your end. And as for them…”

Chief Rohsuak grinned with a dangerous glint in her eyes as she waved to the soldier bee army still hovering around.

“Now they know you have the strength to punish them should they deceive you.”

Belissar slowly unclenched his jaw, then sighed and let his own shoulders droop. This whole affair had been…exhausting, and a clear reminder of how out of his depth he still was. Sure, he knew how to make Tower rooms now, but he didn’t know a thing about dealing with people even as an equal, much less as a superior. And, had he done it wrong, it could have ended up in disaster. The sigmaka could have attacked, leading to a war and dead bees and karnuq. Or he may have agreed to a very poor deal indeed. He didn’t even think to ask that the sigmaka reciprocate when they initially demanded he respect their territory. That…well that could have led to the exact kind of relationship he had with the village beforehand.

He took a deep breath and looked up.

“Chief Rohsuak…can you teach me more? Um, about making deals and talking with leaders and stuff. I…think I need to know more before we have any more talks like this…”

Chief Rohsuak smiled at him.

“I’d be happy to.”

Niobee watched from atop her King’s head as the outsiders finally went home. She found she very much enjoyed the position. Her King’s hair wrapped around her like the petals of a flower, but his body below provided a warmth no normal flower did, while his mana embraced her from all sides. Additionally, from here, she could keep watch of his blindspots, ensuring that no one could approach her King from above or behind.

But, alas, all things must come to an end, and so she lifted off of her King’s head. She had other tasks she needed to attend to today. Her King was not like other queens, after all. Niobee was aware her King was a human, and that humans were different from bees. From what she observed, humans were more like the solitary bees, with each individual making their own nest. As a result, while her King could raise queens and build hives better than anyone else, he did not lead them the way a monster bee queen would. But that was fine! Niobee’s old queen didn’t either, after all. In her old hive, the workers just followed their instincts and did whatever work was in front of them. And when they had to make decisions, they all decided as a group.

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So, Niobee did something similar. If her King didn’t make a decision, then his bees would make it themselves! If there was a task he left unaddressed, then Niobee would take care of it! That way, her King could continue raising queens and building hives, as a good queen did, while she did any other jobs needed, like a good worker did!

…she still wasn’t certain on the difference between a queen and king and how her King could claim to be a drone while fulfilling all the tasks of a queen in amazing and incredible ways. But figuring that out was not her job, so she focused on what was. ṙàꞐＯ₿Èṧ

Mainly, deciding what to do about these new outsiders. Niobee didn’t like them. They seemed to make her King feel bad, and she had decided that she would sting anyone that made her King feel bad. But her King also didn’t want her to sting them, since that would lead to a fight that bees might die in. He was too kind. It was only natural for bees to sting those who got too close to their hive. And it was only natural for bees to die. Niobee herself had watched thousands of her own sisters perish over the years, though for some reason she herself continued on, until it was just her, her queen, and her King who endured. She felt that her fellow bees would have been happy to die in order to keep away people who made her King feel bad.

But bees dying would also make her King feel bad so she didn’t ask the soldiers to do so. It was a bit of a conundrum. How should she best take care of her King? How should she protect him when talking to people who made him feel bad if stinging them and losing bees would also make him feel bad? But well, Niobee then realized the obvious solution. All she had to do was make sure they could sting the outsiders without losing bees!

So, that is what she did. She flew to the core room and began to dance on the core. The mana flowing in and through the core had its own dance to it, twisting and flowing to touch everyone and everything within her King’s domain. It was a hive on a grander scale than any other…and Niobee found she was something like a communer for it. The flow of mana passed through her before heading off to…somewhere. She didn’t know. But she could watch the mana as it passed and learn from it. She could see the Firstborn, both angry to find out the outsiders may have attacked the King, and yet proud that her army had intimidated them enough to stop. She could see the First of the Fifth as the queen paced relentlessly through her hive, as worried for the King as Niobee was. She could see the Fourth of the Seventh watching the outsiders with interest, her scouts following them as far as they were allowed to go. She could see one of the heavily wounded lancers buzzing her wings, left behind by the army. She could see a newly hatched digging gardener visiting the mushrooms hidden in the depths of the Dirt Tunnels. She saw the slime bee and gravity bee workers cooperating to gather nectar from the gravilion flower, the gravity worker helping the slime bee extend a tunnel of slime from the flower to the edge of the flower’s magic and funnel nectar and pollen to other workers. She could see one of the Flower Meadow queens curled up in the new stone mini-hive, struggling to adapt as the hot honey all around her burned her body.

And then, Niobee began to dance. And the mana of the core began to dance with her. A stream of mana passed into the healing honey the wounded lancer was drinking, increasing its potency. A river swirled into the stone mini-hive and the queen within, helping her connect with the Fire mana all around her. The Firstborn, the First of the Fifth, and the Fourth of the Seventh all contacted a little tendril, reminding them of the King in that moment and renewing their strength. The Firstborn set about to discuss the bumblebee soldiers with the other queens, and how the army might use their strength. The First of the Fifth turned her pacing into action, rushing off to review all of the Apiary queens and how she might assist them. The Fourth of the Seventh flew off with renewed vigor, taking her scout party to map out new lands.

Niobee would do anything she could to make sure the hive was as strong and healthy as possible. Because if the hive and the bees within it were strong enough, they could then sting whoever they wanted without losing anybody!

And then, she paused. She groomed herself a bit, rubbing her legs over her hairs and her antennae. And then, slowly, Niobee resumed her dance. The mana flowed once more…but not to any bees. A light stream of mana adjusted the mana honey the dangerous one was adding to her pot, calming a concerning build up of mana within it. Mana flowed through the body of the helpful one as he cut another boulder of stone, allowing him to cut yet another without rest. Mana enveloped the karnuq larvae as they ran about, encouraging them to grow strong.

This was the other reason Niobee did not sting the new outsiders. She had watched the karnuq for a while now…and so far they had proven her fears wrong. They had not hurt her King like the other humans had. Instead, they assisted him, working for his hive as they could. Perhaps, she could one day consider them part of the hive. After all, her King, a human, had become the best queen she could ever ask for. So, perhaps these karnuq, too, could become adequate workers.

And if that was the case…then perhaps the new outsiders would not need to be stung after all. Niobee knew that she didn’t fully understand how human hives worked, and these humans were different from either her King’s humans or the karnuq. So, perhaps, in time, they would prove themselves as the karnuq had, and would stop making her King feel bad.

And if they did not…then Niobee would be prepared to protect her King, and never again let anyone treat him the way his old hive did.

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