Ben searched frantically, the looming miasma of fear thickening in Lemonholm’s atmosphere, causing a seed of panic to form in his heart. He watched through Grehn’s eyes as Greyan lifted his comrades onto a rooftop, out of reach of the townsfolk, all while weaving through building after building in search of Vlugh. Elofan’s poisonous bog was still active, but she was struggling to keep it going; the strain present on her alien features was all too clear. However, it was worth it. Thanks to her, the Lemonholmians were strong enough to begin leaping to the rooftops, some nearly managing to land on them in a single bound.

Hopefully that meant the Knights would be too busy to chase them back to the forest.

“Vlugh! Vlughby doo, where are you?” Ben shouted as loud as he could.

No response. Vlugh’s presence had been totally absent since Meyara’s kick sent him flying. If he was dead, it would be bad news. It would be worse news if he was un-Linked.

Finally, Ben made it to the spot Vlugh should have landed, based on several replays of Grehn’s memory. A splintered rooftop told Ben he was close, and a shifting movement in an alley caught his eye. He buzzed over, oddly nervous. Was it the fear in Lemonholm that made him hold his breath, scared of what he’d find?

Peering into the alley, he found a battered heap of a man, covered in chips of wood and dirt, sitting in a pool of blood. Shards of white bone protruded from his chest, and his face was near unrecognizable. A gaping hole in the front of his skull seeped blood and a strange gooey substance, and his left eye was closed, unusable. But, despite his gruesome state, he stirred, turning towards Ben, peeking into the alley with a mixture of awe and horror racing through his Mind.

“Oh, hi Ben. I might need some help,” Vlugh said, lacking his typical lightheartedness. Not that Ben blamed him.

“Of course! Holy Mother, I can’t believe you’re even alive right now. How are you even breathing?”

Vlugh didn’t respond, simply allowing his head to lean back against the wall. Ben approached, lightly tapping Vlugh’s shoulder with one arm. The man didn’t react, apparently leaving his fate in Ben’s hands. Said bee grimaced; his Mind was thoroughly exhausted, so he’d have to sacrifice plenty of speed and looking to carry Vlugh at any reasonable pace, while also making sure he didn’t spill too much… stuff that should probably stay inside his body. Resolute, he used what Mind he could muster to pick Vlugh up off the ground and slowly brought him up out of the alley, careful not to bump his head.

When he rose, Ben found himself face-to-face with a child. Ben wasn’t an expert on humans or anything, but this little girl couldn’t have been older than ten years old. Despite that, she was holding a child-sized torch, almost like a toy, except the toy was on fire. The girl and the bee stared at each other for a moment, the girl ultimately tilting her head.

“What’re you? You look like a bug.”

“Well, I kinda am.”

Ben’s buzzing only made the girl tilt her head further. The staring contest continued until the girl’s eyes wandered over to Vlugh’s grisly figure. Her eyes hardened, a look that even Ben could tell didn’t belong in the eyes of a child.

“That’s an outsider. One of the ones mama mentioned. Um, mister bug, can I take him?”

Ben shook his head and did a little dance, hoping the child would get the message. Surprisingly, she seemed to understand, a new light shining in her eyes.

“Oh. I guess you’re helping them? I need to burn you too, I think.”

The girl lunged, nearly catching Ben off guard. Her speed was abnormal for such a young human, but she was still a kid. Ben dodged her easily, the flame of her torch coming close to Vlugh, but he still didn’t stir. With an unreasonable amount of panic, Ben yanked Vlugh’s body higher, enough so that the girl wouldn’t be able to reach, and he began to leave. To his surprise, the girl sprinted across the rooftop, nearly keeping pace with his slow progress. When she ran out of roof, she jumped, trying to reach them, but Ben was flying. In the air. Even an enhanced little human would never be able to catch him.

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The girl made a rough landing on the ground, Ben watching as he flew away. She didn’t seem injured, more frustrated than anything else, as she rose to her feet and stared at Ben and Vlugh’s receding forms. Ben almost thought she would give chase again, but a distinct voice cut through the tension.

“Sayasa! Come!”

Ben didn’t see who spoke, but he heard them loud and clear. As did the little girl. The miasma of fear thickened for a moment. Then, the little girl waved at Ben, smiling in a way that could only be described as rueful.

“I have to go, mister bug. Don’t come back! Bye.”

And with that, the child ran away, back towards the main road that was sounding more hectic by the second. Ben watched her fade into the miasma, and he continued to fly. The first stretches of light were peeking over the horizon, and he knew he was falling behind the others. When Elofan’s Ability finally ended, when the light eliminated hiding places in the forest, if the Knights decided to pursue them, he wouldn’t be able to get help in time. He had to move.

But seriously, that little girl was more than ready to do some messed up stuff. Because of the fear? Could someone so young be affected by fear that badly? Or was it the influence of that voice, the one who had commanded her to leave? It must’ve been; if her top priority was getting rid of outsiders, she might’ve just ignored the voice and continued chasing him. Instead, she had given up without hesitation.

He couldn’t shake the image from his thoughts. Something about it sparked an unusual emotion in him. Anger? It was weird.

This town sucked. All they had originally wanted was some food, and they got chased out with their stingers between their legs. Grehn’s whole idea of finding a plentiful food source for the bees to give some leeway to the people of Lemonholm might still work, but it would depend on the strength of the Link. Lahim was their only option.

And yet, now all Ben could think about was the little girl.

“I wonder, Ben. I can feel the way your Mind is roiling. How did it feel to see her? To see such a warped reflection? I wouldn’t be surprised if you were the first to start asking questions.”

Vlugh’s voice startled Ben, his words not fully registering in his thoughts. He spoke without moving, without even indicating he was alive, but he spoke aloud instead of in his Mind. Something in the way he spoke rattled Ben, though he couldn’t quite put his stinger on it. Beck seemed much more confused, talking about the complete change in tone and cadence or whatever. It wasn’t just his voice; his Mind felt different too. It wasn’t completely different to say it was a different person, but something was clearly not the same. He was radically changed, so decidedly that he was no longer Vlugh.

Tentatively, Ben used a bit of Mind to reveal Vlugh’s nape, scratching away some debris. The Linker was still attached, but it was curled up. Not a hint of Mind emanated from the little bee’s corpse.

“Please take me back to the hive. I need to get to work.”

Vlugh’s body nearly fell to the ground below as Ben recovered from the surprise. He had thought it was strange that the Link was silent, that he couldn’t find Vlugh from the Link alone, or that Vlugh hadn’t seemed to respond to anything he was saying. But for him to not be Linked at all? Ben panicked, trying to think of a way out. They had no more extra Linkers nearby, so creating a Link quick wasn’t an option. If he didn’t figure out how to Link Vlugh… well, he didn’t know what would happen. But if the humans weren’t Linked, that was bad.

The hive tried to reassure him, but there were too many conflicting ideas. Not for the first time, the hive’s conflicting personalities caused unusual chaos. Some bees thought it best to kill Vlugh while he was weak, before he could do anything outside of the Link to endanger the hive. Others said to be patient, that they could easily Link Vlugh once he arrived at the hive; he was too weak to fight back in his current state, after all. Beatrice was a loud proponent of this, not wanting to waste a resource, especially one that had undergone such a curious change.

The only silence was from mamorona. Ben waited, trying to tune out the rest of the hive’s advice. Everything came down to mamala’s decision, her ideas. She would know what to do.

He waited, continuing his tentative flight back to the forest. He waited. And waited some more. Without her guidance, the hive was in disarray, confused. Too many opinions, too many ideas. What was the best? It all came down to her, the one who could do no wrong.

Finally, she spoke. “Bring him back alive, Ben. Don’t worry too much about him; I have a feeling he’s going to cooperate. I’ll decide what to do with him when you arrive. If something comes up, Beelzebub will help. Please get home safely.”

Ben looked out towards the horizon, the sun rising more rapidly than he expected. It was as if the world itself couldn’t wait for that terrible night to finally be over. Below, the light caught the orchards, sending glints of green and yellow sparkling across Ben’s vision, like a leafy ocean covered in little yellow stars. The rows of trees were neat and orderly, a far cry from the mottled, makeshift appearance of Lemonholm’s wall shrinking behind him. It was all overtaken by the glaring yellow-white of the sun proper, making Ben grimace. The miasma of fear he could now sense didn’t recede under the sun’s light - instead, it seemed almost strengthened, as if the dawn of a new day meant new things to fear. Maybe it was because the sun itself vaguely reminded Ben of a certain fruit. Whatever the case, he was happy to leave the town of Lemonholm behind him.