POBee 204.1 - Bee Devoted?
The First of the Fourth’s gardener landed by her moving flower as she usually did. The flower had grown well in the water and mana rich environment, which the gardener had supplemented with mana of her own. It was now bigger than her, or even a soldier bee, and too large for her to carry on her own. Fortunately, it was perfectly happy in its present environment. It reacted to her presence, reaching out its vine branches to wrap around her before she even landed and guiding her to its newly bloomed flower. It was careful to keep her out of the way of its thorns, so she allowed herself to be caught and carried, dancing happily as she realized the flower had begun to produce pollen and nectar. Not only could the hive of hives now begin to forage nectar from her flower, she could start cross-pollinating it to see if she could raise more of them.
Soon, the hive of hives might have a wall of moving flowers who could wrap up invaders with their vines. And they wouldn’t be as careful about the thorns as this one was with her.
She couldn’t help another happy dance, which the flower responded to by wiggling its stem and branches.
It was then that one of her fellow workers came zipping in.
“Gardener! Queen mother needs you come home! King asking for you!”
The gardener froze completely as she attempted to comprehend the dance she had just witnessed.
The gardener swayed about as she was carried back to the barracks. The flower had refused to let go of her, so she had instead convinced it to walk back with her. This had the unfortunate effect of giving her plenty of time to work herself into a frenzy, pacing about and buzzing her wings.
But she couldn’t help it. By the Queen of All Bees, the King had asked for her! The Conduit had checked up with her and thanked her for raising the new flower, so she knew she had done something important. But for the King to ask not for a queen but a specific worker…that was something else. To the gardener’s knowledge, the only non-queens the King specifically acknowledged was Beero, queen of the fallen, and the Conduit herself.
The Pond wasn’t that far from the barracks, though, so she still hadn’t accepted the situation when they arrived. Her queen mother greeted her first and led her to where the King himself stood, smiling as bright as the sun. The gardener could not help but tremble.