"Alright, Rakish?"

"Alright, Amelia?" The scarecrow returned, waving.

"How're you liking the garden, so far?"

"Amazing! But there aren't any birds to scare. Alder asked them not to bother the plants, and ..." He gestured out over the decidedly birdless expanse of vegetation.

"Huh. I hadn't thought of that!" Amelia answered. She really hadn't. Any birds in the hollow that wouldn't listen to Alder would certainly obey Lark. The rest would probably run afoul of Beige and Blue. Speaking of ... "We used to have a bunch of ravens that lurked around, but, uh, I think Blue ate 'em. Sorry 'bout that."

"Got anything else needs doing around here?" He asked, looking around the yard.

"Lots! We've got stuff going on in the mines, kitchens, heck, all the workshops! Just find something that looks interesting, and I'm sure you can help out somehow."

Rakish scratched absently at the straw stuffing poking out of his burlap head. He was composed of several different kinds of lumber offcuts, used pieces of sackcloth, and worn-out old buttons, held together with twine and a few bent screws. There were mismatched boots and gloves on his extremities, while his head looked like a cloth balloon. The new sky-blue cloak he wore was quite fetching, though.

"Anything in the bird-scaring area? Only, that's my specialty."

Amelia thought about it for a moment, then had to shake her head. "Not really, no. Sorry! We kinda got the whole 'scaring' angle pretty well covered, actually. Bit of a surplus, really. But look, I'm goin' over to Elara, check on the villagers and Bill's progress. Come with, see if anything looks fun?"

The bored stick figure nodded, head wobbling crazily as he climbed down from the top of Briar's work area, onto the fence, then down to the ground. He dusted his glove-hands off, then stood looking at Amelia expectantly.

"Lemme see if the candy exterminators are mobile again. Fern? Whisper?" She called loudly, looking towards the cottage. "Wanna join us? Oddny's working with the beehives--there might be honey!"

Moments later, the two zipped out through the bird-wisp-sprite flap at the top of the front door. The sprite was rubbing her eyes, her hair looking flat on one side from sleeping on the oven. They had been passed out in a food coma ever since returning from gorging themselves in Whimsy.

"Honey? Honey?" peeped Fern, who landed on Amelia's shoulder. Whisper settled down with a little wiggle on top of Amelia's head, nestling in her hair.

"Bottomless pits, I swear! We're gonna go see the villagers, check on how things are going. We'll swing by and check the hives, though, just 'cause I love you two!" Whisper glowed a happy green at the thought, while Fern rubbed her tiny head against Amelia's ear, sighing happily.

"Pola? Pola?" She queried after a moment.

"No, he's teaching a class right now, I think. You can tell, 'cause none of the kids are trying to nail us with a water jet."

They reached the far side of the yard, opposite the path that led down to the creek and Alder's clearing. There used to be nothing this way except more woods. Not even a little trail. Now the branches of a few trees had been twined together to form an archway about four feet wide. For the casual rambler, it would take them to a narrow, winding path through the woods that looped back on itself.

But if you had the knack, the archway led to a new section of Elara. The vista opened before them as the four passed through. A large expanse of rolling fields with lanes cutting through them at distant intervals. Clusters of buildings dotted around, so the farmers had only a short distance to walk to get to their plots. There were fenced-in meadows given over to roving cows, sheep, and pigs--all non-sentient, of course. The fields were bordered by more forest, far in the distance, but there was plenty of space for expansion. Most of the fields were still left untilled, for future use.

Amelia and Rakish waved at a group of workers in one of the fields as they followed the lane towards the nearest cluster of buildings. The air was crisp, but there was plenty of sun. Just perfect for planting. Weather wasn't something Amelia had ever tried to control back in the hollow. She was pretty limited since she was just the caretaker, with so many changes requiring 'root access' as Bert put it. But in Elara, that was all different. She had access to everything. It hadn't taken long to realize she didn't need to seek out the existing above-ground areas. She could make new ones, placed so they overlapped with Bert at the tree arch. Instead of having to move trees around the woods, she could just make as much open ground as she wanted, easy as that.

"Alright?" She called to a group tending a row of young shoots.

"Alright?" they called back, grinning and waving.

She'd assured them that they didn't actually have to farm. Bert (or Elara) could provide all the food they could possibly need, any time. But some of the villagers wanted to return to life as they knew it, as best they could. It wasn't a bad idea. Anything they grew they could sell outside the realms, so that was a bonus. Stuff didn't seem to grow at the accelerated rate in Elara that they did in Bert's areas, but they weren't in a hurry. There was something about the measured pace of farming that soothed the displaced refugees.

Not all of them had been eager to return to the agricultural life, though. Freed from having to do that sort of work, they explored the various activities available for those who lived in the hollow. The opportunities could be overwhelming. Everyone was welcome to sit in on the various classes or shadow people as they went about their work or hobbies. It was nice to be able to try something out before committing to learn it. There had been several that were certain they'd love to blacksmith, for example, but after several hours pounding away at the anvil working over hot iron, they'd decided other crafts might be more their style.

A disproportionate number of the villagers had flocked to the new sparring grounds Amelia had laid out. With the Fur Folk, Elarans, and now the villagers, there just wasn't room in Alder's clearing for everyone to practice safely. So she'd laid out a large area in the new space just for that. There were sections with dummies for target practice and drills, both for hand-to-hand work and ranged weapons. There was a large gymnasium that housed indoor arenas, weights, resistance training machines, and showers, and provided a safe space to store the sparring equipment when not in use. The real weapons were stored in the new armory, which was near the entry archway for fast access. They continued the tradition Picker had instituted when he first started the sparring practices--all real weapons had to be stored and accounted for completely apart from sparring gear. Nobody wanted an accident.

Amelia had requested that everyone who was capable spend at least a little time learning how to defend themselves. Spells, spears, and getting good at running were all encouraged. She wasn't surprised that everyone participated without a fuss. They didn't talk about what had happened in the past, or what might happen in the future, but everyone appreciated the chance to be ready to stand up for themselves and their friends. As always, it hurt Amelia's heart that this was necessary, but she knew folks like Beige, Blue, and herself might not always be around. Nobody begrudged the opportunity, anyways, and quite a few thanked her for the chance.

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The four watched as a handful drilled under Alder's watchful eye. Amelia had made a place of honor for the old oak where he could watch and coach the various activities in the field. His space here overlapped his spot in the hollow, so the tree could choose to manifest in either or both. It was amusing to watch him critiquing footwork at the same time as running yet another role-playing game in the gaming hut. Amelia had no idea how he could do it, but the ancient tree seemed incredibly happy. He'd spent so long with just the creatures and spirits of the hollow for company, he reveled in the chance to interact and socialize. And game!

After watching the spear drills for a few minutes, they moved on to the spell range. There were pop-up targets scattered all over the field. Those practicing never knew which one would jump up for them to aim at. This range was mostly for practicing the more destructive spells since most of the real accuracy and speed practice was done with Water Jet wherever people happened to be available. It wasn't feasible to be throwing around Lava and Lightning just anywhere, though, so that was why this place was made. The truly dangerous spells were still practiced deep underground in a special bunker in the warrens. Only Amelia, the kids, and some of the Fur Folk used that space for the most part since the others weren't quite ready for those kinds of things yet.

Safely away from the range areas where several new workshops. The smithy in the backyard had been terribly overcrowded. It also wasn't very pleasant to do that sort of work underground if you didn't have to. So Bellows got the original space back mostly to himself, while Amelia placed a gigantic fabrication shop here in Elara. It was made of dozens of bays set up for everything anybody in the hollows wanted to do, with many more available for expansion. There were still workspaces in the warrens, but these had windows. The villagers and many of the Elarans liked to see the sun on occasion, after all. The majority of the goblins, undead, and a few others still preferred to work below grounds, though, so now they could suit everyone.

Sorting out the warrens had been a considerable task for Amelia, but having the space to shuffle stuff over to Elara made it considerably simpler. She did her best not to disrupt people's activities too much, but there was only so much she could do in that regard. It was important to her that everyone had their own accommodations, whether private, large enough for a family, or in barracks-style, depending on preference. Places to sleep, store their things, relax and congregate. With the diverse group of people, animals, and creatures now making the hollow their home, there were a lot of differing preferences. It was easy to be accommodating, though, with Bert so full of energy. It was great to spend it on organizing and customizing, so everybody could be happy and comfy.

The Fur Folk, for example, had a great hall in the woods here for their use. It looked just like the one they'd inhabited in Megrim. The Fur Folk had more-or-less given up on returning to their old haunts, although it had never been formally decided. Occasionally a few would venture forth for a sniff and a forage, but that happened less and less as the days wore on. They'd even abandoned the weekly rota for the crown. It had once been much more important when they had only limited magical clothing to share. A ruler to work out arguments and disagreements had been critical, then. But Olavi had not only gifted them enough enchanted items for all, he had taught several of them the knack of making items themselves. So no more sharing. They had kept the crown tradition going for a while after that but eventually decided unanimously that Constance was ruler until she decided she wasn't.

"Honey? Honey?"

"We're gettin' there, we're gettin' there! They're just over there, see?" She pointed towards the white-painted boxes on a platform not too far away. A figure in a beekeeper's suit was bustling about on the platform, bees swarming merrily around them.

"[Holtzman]." Amelia said, forming the body shield around herself. Fern and Whisper were also protected, but neither one was actually bothered by bees.

"Um, careful! They'll sting you!" She cautioned Rakish as the man started climbing up the platform.

"No worries! The pain receptors that gnome gave me are pretty pants. Plus, you know, I'm wood. Hard to sting!" He said, already covered in the insects. They didn't seem to mind his presence, instead happy to use him as a perch.

"Hiya Oddny! Alright?"

"Alright, Amelia? Coming up?"

"Yep, just give me a second." Amelia moved around to the ladder and climbed up, unlike Rakish who'd just swarmed up one of the support legs.

The platform was only about chest height, just enough so the bees felt safe. It was maybe twenty feet square, with a dozen or so large boxes for the hives. Oddny had one of them open, checking one of the removable frames.

"The bees are doing really well! Lots of places for them to forage here, with the meadow and forest so close! The hive I had back ... well, previously, anyways, didn't ..." The woman trailed off as she was reminded of her old home, the wound still fresh. She took a deep breath, then pointed to the frame in her hand, forging on. "Look at all the honey they've already made! I was just about to harvest some."

"Cool! How does that work?" Amelia asked.

"They build on these frames that we can just slide out of the boxes. All you have to do is carefully slice ..." The woman slid a long, slender knife along the front of the comb, slicing the wax free. Fresh honey started dribbling out immediately. "... the wax off. This doesn't open all the cells, of course, but enough to sneak a taste." She winked through the clear facemask of her hood, holding the oozing comb out.

Fern and Whisper whipped towards it so fast Amelia barely had time to drop the shield so they didn't flatten themselves against it. They both started vacuuming up the golden treat as if starved.

"Hey now! Leave some for the rest of us!" Amelia complained. She was about to put her shield back up when she noticed the bees weren't interested in her. They buzzed around, some crawling on Oddny and Rakish, but they didn't seem to mind the harvesting at all. So she took the opportunity to accept a chunk of the raw honeycomb that the beekeeper handed her.

"Oh my gosh! Sooo good! Chewy and sweet! Tastes kind like, I dunno, wildflowers?" She said, talking around the mouthful she was chewing on.

"Sounds about right. That's what they've been foraging so far. You can spit out the wax when you're done, by the way." Oddny slid a small wedge under the flap of her hood, then made yummy noises of her own.

Rakish had a bit of a problem with his piece since it stuck both to his glove, and to his burlap 'lips', but he eventually got it in. "Wow! That is good! Is it always like this?" He asked.

"Mostly. You can usually taste what the bees have been foraging, particularly when it's fresh from the hive like this. When we harvest for real, later, we'll mix all the honey together. That usually masks some of the distinct flavor, though."

The scarecrow focused on the insects crawling all over his body. He didn't seem the least concerned about them.

"Rakish here is looking for stuff he could help with. Need any?" Amelia asked, winking at the man.

"That would be lovely! All the others are scared of them, I don't know why! They're no problem if you are careful. I don't even wear the suit unless I'm actually working on the hives themselves. I'd love another set of hands!"

"Rakish? Sound good to you?"

He nodded, his lips still sealed shut by the mixture of honey and thoroughly chewed wax. To make sure they understood, he flashed a thumbs-up sign.

"Great! That worked out well!"

Oddny reached out and shook her hand, then wiped her now sticky glove on the back of her suit surreptitiously. "Welcome aboard! I'm just about done for today, but tomorrow I need to do some maintenance work on that hive over there. Drop by after breakfast?"

He gave twothumbs up and nodded enthusiastically, before using both hands to pry his mouth open again. "Gah! Sticky stuff!"

"Just wait until you try the toffee we make in the sweet shop! Once it gets a bit stale, you can use it for glue!" Amelia said, smirking at his antics. "Need anything, Oddny?"

"No, thank you! We're doing fine, Amelia! We can't thank you enough for all you've done! The houses, farms ..."

Amelia grabbed the woman in a big hug. "Thank you! It makes me happy to make you guys happy! So don't hesitate to ask for anything, okay?"

The lady squeezed her back tightly, nodding. She didn't trust her voice not to break if she replied. But Amelia could see her happy smile through the hood.

"Right! We're gonna go see how Bill is doing with the Halls of Blight. Horrible name, isn't it? Wanna come?"

Oddny shook her head no, gesturing towards the hive she needed to reassemble.

The sprite and the wisp looked longingly at the still mostly full frame of honeycomb in her hand, then grudgingly bobbled their way back to perch on Amelia.

"If you get stuck to my head again, Whisper, so help me ..."