Chapter 431 - The Name of the Bee-vine

With the God of Light and the God of Mischief now gone, Belissar had only one god left in his Tower…demigods and sacred bees notwithstanding. Wardmaster Varilold, Duke Turuhave, and Nenavann had all returned to their own business at this point as well, so Belissar turned to Tarwantrad.

“Want to go meet up with the God of Flowers?”

Tarwantrad nodded repeatedly.

“Yes, I think I’m ready. Let’s go!”

The pair made their way to the bumblebee meadow. They found the God of Flowers as Belissar had last seen her. She was spinning and frolicking around the giant flowers with the divine bumbledryad resting…and glowing…on top of her head. Bumblebee and monster bee workers alike swarmed around her, foraging all the various flowers that made up her body, while the bumblebees waiting their turn all zipped happy circles around her.

Finnakynne found them first and flew over to Belissar’s side.

“Beely, Beely! Why is there a god by the bumble hives, Beely?!”

Belissar tilted his head.

“I’m wondering that too. Well…there are two demigods there already? And the God of Mischief is here a lot too, right? The God of Flowers wanted to visit her daughter like he does.”

Finnakynne opened her mouth, then slowly closed it.

“Ah, right.”

At that point, the god in question caught sight of the three of them and beamed.

“Tarwantrad! Belissar! Look, look! She’s perfect, she’s absolutely perfect!”

The God of Flowers waved her hands up towards the divine bumbledryad, who buzzed and spun around in response. Belissar couldn’t help but smile.

“She really is.”

The God of Flowers giggled, then refocused on Belissar with sparkling eyes.

“What’s her name, Belissar?”

Belissar paused.

“Well, by bee names, it would probably be First Divine Bumbledryad Queen? Though, she’s a daughter queen, so maybe it’s the First Bumblebee Queen’s…Niobee, do you know what number daughter she is?”

Niobee zipped over to the divine bumbledryad and rubbed antennae with her, then zipped back over.

“Fourth Daughter of First Queen of First Dynasty of First Bumblebee Spawner! Also First Daughter of Queen of All Bees and Queen of All Flowers and Queen of All Trees and Forests and King-father and Bee Tower and elf queen-mother and Great Forest. Says might also have Sorcerer King-father, since Fourth of Seventh found seed in old Sorcerer King hive, but doesn’t know. Also First Heart of Bee Forest Queen of Bee Tower, since one with Heart of Bee Forest flower and making hive of flowers.”

The God of Flowers hummed.

“A declaration of role, hive allegiance, and familial lineage? That is appropriate for hive bees, but in this case, it might become a bit unwieldly when translated into humanoid tongues. She is a demigod born of multiple powers both mortal and divine, after all. So….”

The God of Flower’s mouth slowly curled into a massive grin.

“Belissar, if she doesn’t have any other names…can I give her one?”

Belissar tilted his head…but he didn’t see any reason why not. The God of Flowers also had been the one to tell him to use the flower symbiote seed on a bee, the act that led to the divine bumbledryad’s birth in the first place, and the divine bumbledryad herself acknowledge the God of Flowers as one of her queen-mothers.

This was further compounded when Belissar received a message from Velebee.

“Hive-Builder Belissar, Queen of All Bees says let Queen of All Flowers name divine bumbledryad.”

That made Belissar pause, if only because there might be some god stuff going on if the God of Bees sent an oracle…but she had given her permission, so all was well.

“Sure, go ahead. You’re ok with that, right?”

Just in case, Belissar checked with the divine bumbledryad, who ran around in happy circles on the God of Flowers’ head. Belissar nodded to the god, who began jumping up and down.

“YES! Ok, let me think…how about Belstablom?”

Belissar tilted his head.

“It sounds nice. It also sounds like a human name?”

The God of Flowers nodded.

“The gods communicate more with concepts than words, we’re not unlike the bees in that regard! So for a humanoid name, I decided to combine your tongues. Part of the human word for bee, part of the fair folk’s word for blossom.”

Belissar smiled.

“That’s perfect.”

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The God of Flowers grinned once more.

“Isn’t it? Oh Belstablom, I love you so much!”

Belstablom kept running in happy circles as fast as she could go. Belissar laughed…then realized Tarwantrad hadn’t said anything. He glanced over and found her fidgeting and hanging back slightly. The God of Flowers followed Belissar’s gaze, then directed a warm smile towards Tarwantrad.

“Ah, Tarwantrad! Don’t tell Lord Aratodel but you’re my favorite master now!”

Tarwantrad sputtered a bit.

“T-Thank you, God of Flowers. It’s an honor.”

The God of Flowers’ smile turned warm. She stepped forward and gently grasped Tarwantrad’s hands, making the elf gasp.

“The honor is all mine, Tarwantrad. Aratodel helped me save her, but it was thanks to your boundless love for flowers that I could help Bee get off the ground, until the day she could make a dungeon of her own. And now, thanks to you both, bees and flowers will once more spread across the world.”

Tarwantrad choked up, unable to respond. Belissar himself was staring with wide-eyes, while Finnakynne muttered to herself.

“Wait, what does she mean, saving the God of Bees? And that stuck-up silver elf did it?!”

The God of Flowers turned to Belissar.

“Please, keep partnering with Tarwantrad, for there are no better partners in this world than bees and flowers! But spare Lord Aratodel some grace if you can, he loves flowers too, if in a different manner. He is just bad at sharing that love with others, but his devotion helped me and helped me help Bee in a difficult time, and his dungeon needs bees as much as Tarwantrad’s.”

Belissar just nodded blankly, still trying to wrap his mind around everything the God of Flowers had said. The god herself smiled and extended her hands out towards both Belissar and Tarwantrad.

The God of Flowers would like to offer you a mission. Accept?

“This is a reward, so I promise you won’t upset any of the others by accepting.”

Belissar decided to trust her.

New mission received: Allow the God of Flowers to name the divine bumbledryad.

Mission: Allow the God of Flowers to name the divine bumbledryad completed!

Reward: One Flower-type perk choice.

The God of Flowers beamed once more and glanced around at Belissar and Tarwantrad. She giggled lightly.

“I see you too are a bit overwhelmed, so I’ll take a step back now. As long as I can come back to visit…like Mischief has apparently been doing?”

Belissar felt a slight chill, so decided to nod his head. The chill vanished and the God of Flowers brightened.

“Then, I’ll see you both again soon! And you too, Belstablom! Keeping growing well!”

The divine bumbledryad spun around once more, then the God of Flower dispersed into a flurry of flower petals. Belissar, Tarwantrad, and Finnakynne were all left staring at where she had been. Finnakynne was the only still capable of speech.

“So…that just happened. And apparently there’s been a lot going on with the God of Bees? So…um…what now?”

Belissar’s mind wasn’t working well enough to respond, but then Belstablom landed on his head and spun about. The tickling sensation started bringing him back to the present…at least enough to decide to just push away all the divine revelations for the time being.

“Well…I do have a bunch of rewards from the gods now, so I guess we take care of those? More bees and flowers, just like the God of Flowers said?”

Tarwantrad slowly blinked out of her own fugue and started to smile.

“That sounds lovely.”

Belstablom seemed to agree, as she took off and flew circles around Belissar’s head once more.

Up in the God of Trees and Forests’ realm, the God of Bees rested in the God of Trees and Forests’ canopy. The big tree goddess glanced up at her fellow god.

“Is that alright, Bee? For a god to name a demigod is no small thing and you are not likely to get another anytime soon.”

The God of Bees spun around in a dance.

“Ok! Good for Flower and already got God of Mischief’s First Daughter. Forest ok?”

The God of Trees and Forests shrugged and then smiled.

“So long as the Heart of the Forest continues to bloom, I am satisfied. In the end, Flower’s growth helps me as well.”

The God of Bees did a happy dance.

“Helps bees too!”

The God of Trees and Forests chuckled.

“That is true as well. All three of us need the other, after all.”

She then raised an eyebrow and laughed.

“And speaking of bees and flowers…”

The First of the Fifth stood at her hive’s designated entrance to the Beecity. She forgot to even wave her abdomen for breath, her eyes focused into the distance.

Today was a massive day for the hive of hives. Not only had King and his army won a great victory, but several queens of all things had come to congratulate him. Some of the hive of hives felt proud of the achievement. Others were worried at the powerful visitors and how they might protect King. But for the First of the Fifth…all of her other thoughts had been consumed once the hive of hives saw just who had come to visit.

The Queen of All Flowers was here, her very body the finest patch of flowers the hive of hives’ scouts had ever witnessed. Every single forage that saw her was completely captivated. The First of the Fifth, the queen most dedicated to making honey, was the same.

Then, finally, she saw her workers returning from their journey. The workers saw her and paused to salute, but the First of the Fifth didn’t let them finish. She crawled up to the nearest one and the worker shared her bounty with her queen.

The First of the Fifth focused on the gathered nectar with all her might as it hit her tongue.

At first…she was disappointed. Despite being gathered from the Queen of All Flowers, the nectar was…surprisingly normal. It tasted better than any flower the First of the Fifth had ever sampled, for sure and her instincts said it would be highly nutritious…but that was all. There were no special powers, there was nothing any bee could use to evolve. It even had less mana than mana flower nectar! By all accounts it was completely mundane, if exceptionally tasty and nutritious nectar.

But the First of the Fifth did not give up. She knew she was missing something that was necessary to replicate the Queen of All Bees’ honey and if she were to find any hints as to what that was, the Queen of All Flowers’ nectar was her best bet. She explored every aspect of the nectar she supped with all of her powers and experience as a honeyswirler queen. She evaluated the nectar’s characteristics to the finest details, its nutritional balance, its viscosity, its density, its water content. What temperature and air flow would be best to dry it out at the perfect rate, how many times should a worker process it, how would it respond to being imbued with mana. Her antennae glowed as she passed her mana through it again and again, leaving no detail uncovered.

Her antennae twitched. Some parts of the nectar did not make sense. The compounds within it were normal, so why did they taste this good? The nutrition was all out of proportion to the density, the ideal drying temperature would vary over time and required such precise adjustment as to be impossible to pull off. The deeper she observed the nectar, the worse her confusion grew.

This nectar was impossible. And therein lay her answer…underneath it all, underneath the matter and even the mana of the nectar…lay another power, binding it together and making possible what shouldn’t be. A power she only caught the faintest glimpse of, she’d have missed it entirely…had she not felt it before. Tasted it before.

She could do nothing with it yet, not as she was now. But what she could do was observe it, for the first time since she tasted the Queen of All Bees’ honey.

And she could observe it a great deal, as she watched the many, many foragers she had sent to the Queen of All Flowers return to the hive…