First Belle took a breath. Then Bella.

“Ow.”

Oh, thank fuck! They were alright!

“Quick!” I said, “Someone get them some honey to eat! Get them wa-“

Hold on. Water was most likely a no go. Drinking water had been restricted for the bees for around a day since we had determined the water to be a potential issue until a proper solution could be put in place. There was no damn time for that!

Mimicking the Cure Lock, I quickly formed a Lock that sat on a portion of the river, which I could see out of my window. I had been so shocked by the events that I hadn’t even moved from my spot in my room. The Lock was similar in a way to the filters I had observed in the Yiwi Rotor building, filtering out harmful materials to purify the water. To hell with causing confusion in Yiwi; this was way more important!

Of course, it wouldn’t be perfect. The Lock would interpret ‘harmful’ in its own inscrutable way. Maybe it would take out things that were actually helpful to our immune systems or something, or even leave in things that were perfectly benign to a human from Earth, but deadly to this world’s bees.

I don’t know, but who cares?!

“How are you two feeling?”

Belle stirred, “Never better, Mother. Ow.”

Bella let out a weak chuckle, which intensified until she just groaned. But they were alive! And from what I could tell by their Minds, their sickness was gone. At the very least, the symptoms like nausea and pain weren’t present anymore. Though did look a bit worse for wear, looking like wrung out towels, the color was returning to their bodies. Slowly, but it was returning.

“Well. That was somewhat dramatic, but I do believe the cure was effective. And without a moment to spare, either. Now, who would like to be next?”

Nobody jumped at Beatrice’s offer, understandably. Besides, she was in no condition to perform another emergency operation like that at the moment. She was breathing heavily, and though she hadn’t suffered Mind Collapse, I could feel by poking her Mind that she was on the brink.

“Rest Beatrice. If you become Mind Collapsed, the hive will probably collapse alongside you. You did a great job.”

She didn’t argue. I was sad to see her close the Sick Room door, trapping the still-ill bees inside, but hopefully, the Cure Lock would be optimized to the point that any bee could use it themselves. None of the other bees had been sick as long as Bella or Bella, or even myself for that matter, so Beatrice and I had time to work things out. I would hope we could finish it tomorrow.

I made sure to observe as Bella and Belle were fed a bit to regain their strength and carried into the Nursery by Belle’s helpers, ensuring they were cared for properly. They seemed to… inflate a bit after getting some food and (hopefully) clean water in them, losing some of the wrinkles and gray coloring, so I assumed they would be fine.

What a day! It was a bit shocking to have all this crazy stuff happen out of the blue. We had spent what felt like forever just planning and carrying out covert operations, so a sudden event like this had my heart racing. The sickness that had suddenly assaulted our hive was a seriously random variable I couldn’t have accounted for during the Yiwi Operation, but in a way… I was almost glad it happened.

Obviously, the near death experience of Bella and Belle was absolutely horrible. And the ordeal of the Cure wasn’t exactly pleasant. But it kept me on my toes. I had a feeling I would have to get used to this sort of thing. Not sudden plagues, necessarily, but having to deal with multiple things at once throughout the hive. Our plan was to expand, and as a consequence, there would be more bees. More enemies to deal with. More more more.

Even thinking about it made me yawn. Or maybe it was just the middle of the night after an exhausting few days.

“…Sniff. Get some rest already.”

You sound pretty upset. You hadn’t said anything during the whole ordeal, either.

“Of course! Our poor daughters, going through that awful experience. Seeing them writhe in pain, struggling to survive. The… stillness… Oh goodness.”

Queen’s voice was haunted. I could see why. The memory of Bella and Belle, laying there. No breath, not even a twitch…

As quickly as I thought of it, I pushed it away. Along with every other terrible thing. That’s right, who cares about all that! They were okay. I did feel a sense of dread, an oddly familiar thing creeping into my stomach. Then it too was gone. Locked away in an ominous box.

Well, time to sleep! The Yiwi Operation would continue as planned.

_____________

“Toh, tell me why you lied in your report. The City Lord and his secretaries may not be able to catch it, but I have known you for far too long. What did you find in the Vultuous Forest?”

Jill Yemonto was the embodiment of experience. She was short, spindly, and had a face as stern as an overly traditional grandmother. Toh, despite his age, saw her as exactly that.

Disregarding her small stature and lack of musculature, she was one of the few people that genuinely intimidated Toh. Sporting as many scars as wrinkles, it was clear she had seen her fair share of danger. But it was her Mind that scared him. It pressed down on him like a boulder, smothering him in a sensation that the creature in front of him could pop his head off his body with nothing more than a thought.

But now that presence felt like a blanket of security. Of safety. Oh, he had long since become accustomed to the ancient mercenary boss’ power, coming to see it as reassurance. But it came from the fact that he knew Jill was his friend. A comrade-in-arms.

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Not a bee.

“Ah, you know me too well. Still can’t lie to save my life, eh?”

“A bizarre quirk for one so skilled in deception. So tell me.”

Toh was sweating. Not visibly, thought he might as well be, to Jill. He could sidestep her all he wanted (or didn’t want) but it didn’t change the fact that he was just not that great of a liar. He had been considering plan after plan since leaving the hive, intent on figuring out a way to reveal everything to his boss without alerting the bees, but it seemed hopeless. Something was always there, nagging him.

Telling him that his thoughts were not his own.

So, Toh had thought himself at least somewhat prepared when he arrived last night. Perhaps not to reveal everything, but at least to lie to Jill. He greeted his comrades, had a bite (not of honey, thankfully), wrote up the official forms, and turned in for a good night’s rest. The real test came in the morning, when he got a summons from Jill. Not unusual; they were old friends, after all. And he knew she would see through him.

Even so, actually sitting in front of her was a whole different story.

“Well,” Toh leaned in, like a child divulging a secret, “If you must know, I did find something. A great treasure. Squirrels.”

No alarm bells. Yet. The incredibly amazing Queen and glasses were watching, and they knew what he was going to say.

“I had ta eat some meat from those squirrels. Amazing! I’d eaten ‘em before, but these ones were special. I wanted to bring some back, but it ended up bein’ a massive pain. But anyway, I didn’t think the Lord would be interested in that sort of thing. Maybe someone else would? Squirrel meat ain’t common to eat, and this stuff is just so good. Sweet and savory, all at once.”

“Besides, there was no way I could tell ‘im. Knowing that bastard, he’d just as soon send some mercs to wipe out the fellows, yelping about some such nonsense. I thought: ‘why not make sure we can have something left in this damn forest?’ Ya know?”

It was a risk. A huge one. Exposing the existence of living creatures in the forest was close enough to revealing the bees. Toh was relying on a few things. For one, after he initially thought of the ruse, he felt some… thing pushing and pulling, guiding him in the right direction to lie. If it were close to the truth, maybe the lie would be more convincing.

Other than that, everything was riding on how well Toh knew and trusted Jill to take action in a certain way.

And speaking of, the old boss was studying Toh. A flash of concern appeared on her face before fading, replaced with satisfaction.

“I see. At least it was nothing more dangerous. Figures that even when the Shroud somehow disappeared, those damn rodents would still be pissing around. But Toh, are you sure this is something you want to hide from the City Lord? You’re not one to make elaborate deals with merchants and the like. Have you… Never mind. Just be careful, son.”

Toh nearly sagged in relief, but something didn’t let him. That would be too obvious. And what was Jill going to say? He had no idea.

“Well, that should be all. Go, Toh.”

“Yes ma’am!”

Toh stood up, as did Jill. Really, it was comical. If you stacked two Jills on top of each other, Toh would still be taller. And while Jill was certainly petite, perhaps it said more about Toh’s ridiculous stature.

As Toh turned to leave, Jill called out, “And by the way, young man. You should know that your accent starts to bubble up when you tell the truth.”

Toh nearly froze, but something made him keep walking and casually wave back. Was that Jill’s way of saying that he actually had more of an accent when he lied? Or was she genuine?

Blast. Maybe he didn’t know her as well as he thought.

____________

“I insist, Yelah! Thanking Them is the most reasonable thing to do. I prayed endlessly for you to return safely, then for Rette and Vlugh’s recovery. And they delivered!”

Yelah groaned, but let Yoho drag her through the streets. He was once again adamant about staying by her side, which meant no hive errands for Yelah. Not overtly, at least. She could still help just by being present, seeing sights, eating foods, looking inside buildings, what have you.

Every piece of information would be essential in helping to destroy her home and the people she loved.

“Ever since you became a real team leader, you’ve been too lax in your heavenly duties! Plus, hanging around that Drevan… what if you start worshipping dragons or something?”

Yelah snorted. As if.

“Vlugh’s not even that religious in the first place. His parents left Dreva too early for him to be really indoctrinated.”

Despite all that, Yelah didn’t resist. She had been lax, incredibly so. Maybe… maybe that was why all of this was happening in the first place?

As Yelah thought, she almost felt indignation appearing in her Mind. Well, sorry bees. But she had to do this. To prevent being exposed, ya know?

The pair eventually arrived at an ornate little structure, not quite enough to be considered a building. The structure, an intricately carved, light open roof held up by four twisting posts, had the unusual characteristic of being made entirely of wood. In fact, it was the only structure Yelah knew of in the entirety of Yiwi made of wood. Except the other shrines, of course. A bald man wearing simple clothing smiled brightly as he strode over.

Then he flipped them off.

Then Yelah and Yoho flipped him off.

Then they hugged.

Alright, time out. What the fuck?

“Please don’t distract me right now. If you’re curious about the hand sign, it is a proper religious greeting, meaning ‘peace and unity’,” Yelah thought.

No way. That was fucking HILARIOUS.

“Hey there Lord Hu-Leio. Been a while.”

“Young Yelah, oh how you’ve grown!” Hu-Leio, whatever that name meant, said. “I was beginning to think you had abandoned Humanity’s teachings! Thankfully, it seems that young Yoho was able to convince you to return. Please, come.”

Hu-Leio led them up to the shrine and around a bush to a bowl near the back of the structure. The man’s clothes were, upon closer inspection, made entirely of some kind of woven metal, painted in a way that made them seem like simple tan cloth. The only adornment he had was a thin chain necklace with a ‘T’ decoration on it. Actually, it wasn’t a ‘T’ like the letter. It had an odd shape, with the vertical part appearing like a twisted drill bit, or a cylinder with grooves that made it look coiled. The top part was just a line with bulges.

The shrine’s bush which the three of them passed was covered in flowers to a ridiculous degree. That brought to attention the fact that there were almost no flowers decorating the structure itself, though some seemed to have fallen onto it from neighboring buildings.

Tiny metallic figurines, flowers, and small scrolls were scattered around a pedestal behind the bowl, which sat beneath a gorgeous metal statue. The statue was an incredibly realistic sculpture of a person, but one without any discernible features whatsoever. No face, no nose, no ears or hair or genitals. A person which looked… familiar…?

“Put both hands over your face, please.”

The pair did as instructed, but Yelah made sure to peek through her fingers so I could see the ceremony. The priest (I assumed that’s what he was) dipped his middle finger in the water (pffft) and drew it between the crack made by the pairs’ hands.

“You are remade, in the image of The Human. Reveal yourselves.”

Both slowly opened their hands, emulating doors whose hinges rested on the sides of their faces, before finally putting them down by their sides and bowing. They looked… content. At least, Yoho did, and it felt like Yelah was. Though they quickly cracked into big smiles.

“May They protect you eternal.”

“”May They protect us eternal.”” The pair said dutifully.

“Thanks Lord. I forgot how good that feels. I’ll be sure to come by more often.”

“Young Yelah, whether you come tomorrow or in five years, you can always be remade. Such is the nature of humans.”

Religion. Interesting stuff. I looked at Yelah’s Mind, and saw that it was actually noticeably different. Not altered, but more… relaxed. Efficient, even. Makes sense. These gods had an especially active role in people’s lives, as I knew they had something to do with Mind. I knew about the Bee, the apparent god of bees, as well. Hey, I want a cool ceremony too! We could make a religion out of this.

Er, I mean, the Queen was quite impressed. And she was trying to focus on other things too, so she couldn’t be fully involved in the lives of the Yiwi operatives, of course.

Hu-Leio guided the pair out of the shrine, only to find Vlugh waiting.

“Yo! Knew you two would be here.”

He beamed, especially towards the priest, or Lord, as Yelah called him, who in turn scowled with a darkened expression.

“Drevan.”

“Sup, Lordo.”

Yoho looked pained, while Yelah just seemed amused. The tension was mounting when a figure approached from behind Yelah, casting a shadow over her.

“Please don’t bother with him, Lord. He enjoys poking fun at Humanitans.”

Grehn smiled casually, which Yelah didn’t even need to see to be aware of. Despite his words coming out in a whisper, everyone heard his deep, rich tones. He moved around Yelah and put Vlugh in a headlock, smiling the entire time.

“Bah! Listen, Drevan. I know you have feeble ties to your belief, so why not come in and go through a remaking? Belief is but one step away.”

Despite Grehn’s headlock, Vlugh couldn’t help but squeak out a response.

“Sorry, Lordo. No can do.”

He didn’t get much further than that before Grehn really started to squeeze. At this point, Yelah was full on laughing, Yoho standing next to her, hiding his face in shame. Passerby occasionally glanced over, but commotion was apparently a pretty normal thing here, because nobody seemed to care.

“Sorry about him, Lord,” Yelah gasped. “I’ll drag him away. See you later!”

The Lord shook his head and grumbled, walking back and sitting on the floor by the bush inside the shrine. Yelah made to push Grehn (with a Vlugh attached) away, but another shadow suddenly loomed over her.

Toh’s gigantic body stood in the middle of the road, flanked by two of his team members. Yoho suddenly looked much more respectful, straightening his back and face. Vlugh and Yelah stared up at the man, while Grehn kept an even gaze straight at him. Toh, meanwhile, just put on an easy smile.

“Hey there, crew! We’ve gotta talk.”