Chapter 209: Bee Honored
Belissar rubbed his chin and furrowed his brow, humming to himself. Niobee had told him that any bee, including the queens, would absolutely love a name from him, considering it a great honor. A sign of his favor, that the bee in question was special to him.
And that gave him pause. When he had named Beero, Velebee, and Frelis, it had mostly been because he had nothing else to call them. It was true that they were special and he wanted to keep track of them, he guessed, but he hadn’t really been thinking about it as an honor or anything. However, he had now realized that it was a much bigger deal to the bees than he had anticipated…and especially when it came to the queens.
There was no doubt that the Fourth of the Seventh was special to him and deserved any such honor. The thing was, though, that he already had something to call her, so giving her a name would in fact be purely an honor. And…was she the only queen who deserved such a thing? The Firstborn and all the flower meadow queens risked their lives and the lives of their children to protect the Tower. The First of the Fifth worked without ceasing to provide enough honey for all the hives. The Third of the Sixth dunked herself in the same fire honey that had nearly killed Metsaitti to try and evolve. The Second of the Sixth saved the lives of many bees and even some of the karnuq.
So on and so forth. Each and every one of the queens gave their all for his sake and the sake of his Tower. He wanted to do something to celebrate the Fourth of the Seventh and her big achievement, but he did not want any of the other queens to feel any lesser. So, if he was going to name one, he really should name them all.
“Niobee…can you hold off on asking the queens about names? I…don’t want any of the other queens to feel like they aren’t special to me.”
“Ok!”
Belissar made a wry smile at Niobee’s cheerful dance. He…might be overthinking it. Maybe they’d all just be happy like she was. But for now…the Fourth of the Seventh worked fine as a name, one the bees had naturally chosen for themselves.
Still, he wanted to do something for the Fourth of the Seventh, so he made his way over to the Orchard hives. The Orchard queens, including the Fourth of the Seventh, zipped around him once he arrived. He smiled. He held out his hand…only to quickly realize he need both as the now giant Fourth of the Seventh tried to land. He ended up grabbing her sides with both his hands to hold her up.
“Congratulations on your evolution!”