Belissar did a little bit more work on the Flower Meadow beehouse while he waited and soon, the bear people returned. Juosiutik rushed into the Tower…at least, Belissar thought it was her. She had so many bags hanging off of her that he could barely see her save for her head. After that came Chief Rohsuak and a couple of other bear people Belissar didn’t recognize, each carrying a bag of some sort. Belissar made his way over, the bees following him as usual.

Juosiutik’s eyes lit up as she saw him approach.

“There you are! Let’s get started!”

Chief Rohsuak chuckled and shook her head.

“Juosiutik, I know you’re excited, but perhaps we should let Leijaliuk go first?”

Juosiutik frowned and sat down silently, not taking her eyes off of Belissar. Chief Rohsuak shook her head and then stepped forward with another one of the bear people, who seemed to be a middle-aged woman.

“Hello, Sacred Den Master. May I introduce Leijaliuk?”

Leijaliuk bowed her head.

“I am honored to meet you, Sacred Den Master.”

Belissar nodded back.

“Um, nice to meet you.”

She raised her head. Chief Rohsuak smiled.

“Leijaliuk here is in charge of our food stores. She’s here to show you what food crops we have.”

Leijaliuk nodded and motioned to the other bear folk, who placed their bags on the ground and opened them up. Belissar glanced inside and saw an abundance of mushrooms, roots, and tubers, along with some seeds, nuts, and grains.

“At this point, most of our stockpiles were what we could gather underground, do you have any good locations for that?”

Belissar shook his head.

“Not yet, sorry. I have those cave carrots and stuff you first brought, but I can’t grow them just yet.”

Leijaliuk raised an eyebrow slightly at the yet but otherwise nodded her head.

“I see. In that case, we do still have some seeds from our time on the surface. I am not certain of their viability, however, and we do not have many of them left. If you are not confident you can grow them, it may be wiser for us to try and plant them first.”

Belissar rubbed his chin and then reached out his hand.

“Could I try to hold them, please?”

Leijaliuk nodded and took some of the seeds, handing them over to him.

Absorb Rye seed? Current samples: 0/30

Absorb Oat seed? Current samples: 0/30

Absorb Cloudberry seed? Current samples: 0/30

Absorb Sweetvetch seed? Current samples: 0/30

Belissar hummed.

“Um, so I need thirty of these to even try.”

Leijaliuk furrowed her brow.

“I see. The grains are one thing but for the berry plants that’s just about our entire remaining stock. How certain are you that they will grow?”

Belissar rubbed his chin as he thought about it. Rye and oats didn’t make big flowers and he couldn’t recall seeing any bees visiting them. That would count against them being available in the Flower Meadow, and the Orchard was mostly trees only. Cloudberries and sweetvetch were not something he recognized by name, so he wasn’t sure.

“These cloudberries and sweetvetch…what kind of plants are they? Would they be flowers similar to the ones in this field? Do they need any special conditions to grow?”

Leijaliuk slowly nodded.

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“Yes, they are flowering plants. They come from colder climates than this field seems.”

Belissar nodded.

“I’m pretty sure it will work then. Maybe I can try with one and then see about the other?”

Leijaliuk frowned and turned to Chief Rohsuak, who shrugged.

“We’re pretty far south, I doubt they’ll grow well here anyways.”

Leijaliuk took a deep breath as she turned back to Belissar.

“Ok.”

She rummaged through the bag, gathering up and counting out the cloudberry seeds and handing them to Belissar. Belissar took the first one and absorbed it. The bear people all paused and stared at his hand as the seed was covered in glowing light and then vanished. Juosiutik and Leijaliuk were staring particularly intently.

Cloudberry seed absorbed. Current samples: 1/30

Belissar gulped at all the eyes on him.

“Um, I’ll need some more.”

Leijaliuk shook her head.

“Right.”

She continued handing him the cloudberry seeds until he had absorbed the needed thirty. Belissar held his breath as the message appeared before his eyes.

Cloudberry seed absorbed.

Sufficient samples gathered. Cloudberry now available.

Current applications: Flower Meadow, Apiary.

Belissar exhaled his breath and then smiled.

“Looks like it worked.”

Leijaliuk raised an eyebrow.

“Truly? Could you show me, if you don’t mind?”

Belissar nodded and brought up the relevant menu.

Available Resource Plants for Flower Meadow:

- Basic Healing Herbs (Mana Upkeep: 3 per node)

- Basic Poisonous Flowers (Mana Upkeep: 3 per node)

- Basic Textile Flowers (Mana Upkeep: 3 per node)

- Cloudberry Flowers (Mana Upkeep: 3 per node)

- Mana Flower (Mana Upkeep: 5 per node)

- Flame Radish (Mana Upkeep: 10 per node)

He could apparently also add cloudberries as a general flower type across the field, though that did cost one mana unlike the other mundane flowers. In this case, however, he decided to stick with resource nodes since the point was to let the bear people gather them. On that vein, he went ahead and formed a node right by the entrance, where it would be easy to access.

A small patch of the ground began to glow and the bear peoples’ eyes widened. Their surprise only grew as new shoots pushed out of the ground and grew to full sized plants in seconds. White, five-petaled flowers budded, bloomed, and then the tips of the petals turned red as berries of the same color formed in their centers. Leijaliuk slowly turned to Belissar with her eyes as wide as they could go.

“…these flowers…will they grow berries as quickly as that every time?”

Belissar shook his head.

“Um, not that fast. But you see those ones that are glowing slightly? Those should regrow every day.”

Leijaliuk stared, started to tremble, and then immediately crouched down and grabbed the bag, practically pushing it into Belissar’s hands.

“Please try with all the rest, ok? And can you make more patches like this? If we can gather that many every day…we’ll never have to worry about going hungry ever again.”

Chief Rohsuak sighed and stepped forward, pulling Leijaliuk back by the shoulders.

“Calm down, Leijaliuk. The bees are about to attack you.”

Leijaliuk glanced back at Chief Rohsuak, then up into the air where the soldier bees had started to gather around her.

“Oh, um, sorry about that.”

Chief Rohsuak shook her head and turned to Juosiutik.

“That’s what you look like, by the way.”

Juosiutik also averted her gaze. Chief Rohsuak sighed and then chuckled.

“I’m sorry, Sacred Den Master. Please have some patience with us, your Sacred Den is quite incredible.”

Belissar nodded as he thought back to the first time he had seen the Tower do these things.

“Well…I can understand that.”

Leijaliuk then, under Chief Rohsuak’s strict gaze, calmly handed the other seeds to Belissar. In the end, sweetvetch was also compatible with the Flower Meadow and the Apiary. Rye and oats, as Belissar predicted, were not. Leijaliuk had a few other seeds but none in sufficient quantity, save for the subterranean plants that Belissar already knew wouldn’t work out.

Belissar added a sweetvetch patch and then rubbed his chin.

“How about a healing herb patch? I think I could move the one you gather from closer?”

Leijaliuk nodded.

“Anything you have would be much appreciated.”

Belissar tried to move the healing herb patch and had no issues doing so. He then moved the patch by the entrance, and then rubbed his chin again.

“Then…how about flax? I have that too. It, um, comes unprocessed so you’d have to deal with that yourself.”

Leijaliuk’s eyes widened and bit and then she began nodding quickly.

“Ah, yes! That would be really helpful!”

Belissar nodded and created another textile flower node too.

“Oh, there are apple and wood trees too, but they don’t work in this room. There’s another room further in, past the other Shrine of Bees you delivered the wood to. It should be fine if you gather those too, just don’t disturb the bees there.”

Leijaliuk’s eyes started to sparkle, but then she frowned and turned to Chief Rohsuak.

“That would also help but we would have to challenge the Sacred Den to reach it, right?”

Chief Rohsuak nodded.

“This is excellent for now and we currently don’t lack wood. If we need something like that and the Den Master agrees, we could arrange a group with escorts.”

Belissar nodded back.

“Yep, as long as you don’t disturb the bees.”

Chief Rohsuak nodded. Leijaliuk took the other bear people back with her, intending to drop off the leftover seeds and then arrange a first foraging trip. Meanwhile, Juosiutik was staring at Chief Rohsuak with all her might, pleading with her eyes. Chief Rohsuak sighed and nodded her head.

“Yes, Juosiutik, it’s your turn. Just pay attention to the Den Master and try not to make him uncomfortable, ok?”

Belissar decided not to mention he was already uncomfortable. After all, he was acquiring new flowers for his bees, and that was worth any discomfort.

He still couldn’t help a slight shiver as he watched Juosiutik approach with a wide grin on her face and a dangerous glint in her eyes.