Chapter 5: Bee the Builder
Belissar walked back over to where his monster bee was still making her first little hive. His heartbeat slowed and his mind calmed as he watched the bee buzz around, and little comb cells take shape.
So, he was trapped here, waiting either for the gods to judge him or for the Tower to purify the Hunger surrounding it. Oh, and the local Tower Lord’s son had burned his village to the ground, cutting down everyone in it, including himself.
Belissar frowned. He wasn’t particularly close to anyone in the village, not since the old beekeeper who took him in had died. And even before that, the rest of the village had little interest in him after he lost his parents. But still, the idea that everyone he knew, good or bad, was gone...
He shook his head. His had been an unlucky life, and now it seemed that misfortune had spread. Perhaps that was why he was now out here, besieged by the Hunger. But what could he do? The situation wouldn’t change if he sat here moping about it. The gods hadn’t smote him yet for defiling their gift, so he may as well do...something.
He walked around the field, passing by the trees and scouring the field around them. He picked up whatever fallen branches he could find. He wasn’t sure why there were fallen branches when the trees had just grown today, but he wasn’t about to complain. Especially not about the inner workings of a Tower of the Gods. He also began to pick some of the dandelions as he made his way back over to the monster bee’s tree.
And then, he got to work.
He picked the flowers off of the dandelions and gathered their stems. He found a low-hanging branch and tied the dandelion stems together, hanging them from the branch. Now he just had to wait for the sun and the breeze to dry them out.
And while he was waiting, he thought about what else he could do. He frowned as he realized his priorities were wrong. If he was going to be trapped here for who knows how long, he would need food, water, and shelter. So once again he walked through the field.
When he was done, Belissar grimaced. There was nothing there but dandelions and a handful of trees. Well, hypothetically the bees would produce honey eventually, but that would take a while, and the bees would need it for themselves. He also didn’t have any of the heavy robes needed to approach the hive safely. Well, since he could talk to a bee now, maybe he could just ask them for some?