Chapter Ninety-Three - Buzzy Bee Boogie

Chapter Ninety-Three - Buzzy Bee Boogie

Chapter Ninety-Three - Buzzy Bee Boogie

We could go around them, Amaryllis said. Awen, what do you know about large bees?

Awa, theyre not usually a problem. Um. Theyll fight if you approach their hive, but they usually mind their own business.

Do they talk? I asked.

The bee people... Beeple, were big ladies. They stood on four legs, their big bee behind sticking out behind them under a pair of translucent wings. Their faces were a little creepy, with big old mandibles and big black eyes that bulged out a bit, but they seemed nice.

Their body was covered in fine, fuzzy fur-like stuff, all in black and bright yellows. And they were more... inoffensively fat than scarily big. Like a favourite auntie instead of a bodybuilder.

All three of them were bending over little patches of flowers, poking at them with something that I couldnt see from afar, and then dropping stuff into the satchels hanging by their sides.

Awa, no, I dont think so.

Right, well just circle around desert-wise. I dont think the environment there would be hospitable to them, Amaryllis said.

Im going to go say hi, I said as I started walking.

You moron! Amaryllis said. She jogged to catch up to me. What if they turn hostile?

Then we run, I said. But Im sure we can... beecome friends.

... I hate you, Amaryllis said.

I laughed and started skipping. Skipping was the best way to tell someone just by walking that you didnt intend any harm. No you dont! I sing-songed.

Looking ahead, I saw the beeple look up and then stare at each other. They started to approach us, their little wings beating at the air and completely failing to do much more than raise their butts a little.

Insight, I said as I hopped to a stop some two dozen meters away.

A busy big bee Worker Bee, level 10.

I could see level tens now! Neat! My Insight skill must have been relying on my actual level to some degree. All three of the bees gave me the same result when I checked them out with Insight. Maybe that was normal for bees. They were meant to be a sort of hive people from what I could remember.

The bee in the lead stepped up in front of her sister bees. She shook her bottom, slid into a quick Lindy Hop to one side, then fox trotted back to the middle, her four legs swinging this way and that. Hey there loves, what are you doing in this neck of the woods? she boogied.

I opened my mouth to reply, then choked. I... I wasnt meant to talk to the bees. Something told me that I had to... move? It was weird, a sort of knowledge on how to shake and sing and disco what I wanted to say.

Watch over my backpack, I said to the girls as I took off my pack. I gave it to Awen, then poured Orange out of my bandoleer and handed the kitty to Amaryllis.

What are you doing? Amaryllis said. going to talk to the nice bee people, I said.

I took two quick steps towards the bee girls, then stopped when I saw them flinching back a little. I smiled on account of smiling never being a bad thing, then I let the weird instinct guide me.

Hello bee people, I bunny hopped. My name is Broccoli Bunch, I charlestoned to the side. Lets be friends, I ended with some disco flair.

The bees stared.

My friends stared.

Orange tucked herself into Amaryllis chest and went to sleep.

Awa, what are you doing? Awen asked.

They talk by moving, I said. Its really neat!

The bee in the lead buzzed her wings, then started to waggle talk in what looked to me like a real excited voice. She hopped forwards on all four legs, her little arms waving around into a tight mambo step that turned into a butt-wiggling salsa.

Girl, you have got one weird accent. Pleasure to meet you though. Most two legged folk dont bother to even waggle hello these days. I swear. Im Henrihock Four-of-Seventy-Two. These are my sisters, Daisy Six-of-Twelve and Marguerite Five-of-Thirty.

The bee girls lead us across open plains and down a few valleys, sometimes dance-walking to compliment a particularly flowery bush, or to warn of a bad scent in the air. I skipped ahead of them and sniffed at some of the flowers that looked extra sniffable, but I mostly stayed close.

The sun was still only approaching its zenith when the bee girls pointed ahead to a sort of little hillock with a big old hexagonal hole cut into its side. Another big bee was standing there, wearing beige-yellow armour around her fuzzy body and carrying a long spear by her side.

The girls accompanying us and the guard danced back and forth a little, the moves so fast and fluid that I had a hard time following.

Whats going on? Amaryllis asked.

Theyre asking for permission to let us in, I think, I said.

Amaryllis relaxed a little. Good.

Good? I repeated.

Yes. If we had been let in easily, then the likelihood that it was a trap would increase. It being difficult means that they dont usually have guests. Or it could be a double bluff to lure us into a false sense of security.

I looked at the conversation and then shrugged. I think the guard is mostly worried we might bring bugs in with us.

Soon we were let into the tunnel, and I found myself gasping as I looked out and down a passageway that seemed to stretch on forever.

What is this place? I turkey trotted with some difficulty. The tighter corridor made swinging my legs just-so a bit hard.

Henrihock Four-of-Seventy-Two wiggled in laughter. This is the hiveway. Were big girls, if you know what I mean. Cant be picking pollen from the same flowers all day or well go hungry. So we spread out across the whole valley.

Awesome, I whispered.

The bee girls led us into the passage a little ways until we arrived in a sort of little hangar with some carts off to the side. There were two tracks running down into the depths of the tunnel, both illuminated by glowing honeycomb-like things hanging from the rocky ceiling.

Henrihock Four-of-Seventy-Two ushered us into a little cart, then she and her sisters started to beat their wings so hard that I squeaked and had to slap my hat back on.

Wings too weak to lift the big bees off the ground, were more than enough to give the cart some serious thrust.

Soon we were barrelling down the tunnel so fast that the lights above flashed by faster than I could blink and cast us all in glowing oranges that waxed and waned along with my drumming heartbeat.

Awa! Awen cheered. Were so fast!

Ahead of us, the tunnel opened up a bit to one side, and I gripped the edge of the cart so that I could see what was coming better.

Henrihock Four-of-Seventy-Two stopped beating her wings and turned to face us. The electric boogaloo she danced was a bit tight, but I understood it all the same.

Were gonna cross one of the artisanal halls where our sisters make things. Wiggle your hellos! she said.

I gasped as the tunnel opened up and we started to cross a long bridge over a sea of little stations, each one manned by a busy bee fast at work making all sorts of things. More than one looked up in curiosity as we rocketted past.

Say hi! I told the girls.

H-how? Awen asked.

Like this, I said as I stood up and wiggled my booty over the edge of the cart for a friendly hello.

Awa, I think, I think Ill just wave, Awen said.

I stared down at all the workers and noticed that they were all making neat things, but instead of working like in a factory, each one was working on an entire piece individually. Each one was working in their own little hexagonal cubicle (was it a cubicle if it wasnt cube-shaped?) and seemed focused on the task before them.

I saw pouches being made, and jars being glazed in little kilns and all sorts of weapons being lovingly crafted by a hive of workers.

So cool, I said.

I danced a bit with Henrihock Four-of-Seventy-Two, asking her why they didnt just use an assembly line for most things. Then we had a marvelous conversation about what an assembly line is.

It passed the time until we arrived at our destination.

***