If I was going to keep things simple, then picking an Ability the CBU thought up would be the best way to go. So which to choose? There were plenty of interesting options, but picking one would go a long way to make things easy.
Was there something I desperately needed? Some tool I had been missing all this time?
Not really? I mean, I could do pretty much anything with Mind at this point, or at least it felt that way. It was a bit obvious when looking at what I had done, but I’m powerful. Very much so. And flexible too. If I’m not challenged in some way, then what need is there for me to develop something?
I tapped my head as I thought. Though I was a bit lost in my head, I did notice something. I was tapping my head with my right arm, since I was used to it. My left arm was destroyed long ago, after all. Way back when the human knights first attacked the forest, Queen had lost the majority of her front left leg, one of several injuries she sustained at that time.
Injuries, huh?
For the first time since returning, I looked through someone’s eyes to peer at a few mounds of dirt near the hive’s center. Under those mounds were wax capsules, each containing a body of a dead bee. Causalities from the conflict in Yiwi, which had spiraled out of control. And they weren’t the only ones.
Nothing could be done to help the dead, not that I knew of. But some had suffered less grievous injury, like Bend, for example. There were plenty of bees who had missing limbs because of one reason or another, and plenty more that had scars and so-on. Though the hive has gone through conflict, we’ve never emerged completely unscathed, and that’s despite the fact that those conflicts rarely put the hive in serious danger. Well, in part thanks to me.
What if a bee suffered from a mortal wound? What if someone took the hive by surprise? If powerful people like the knights came around, or the mercenary companies organized against us? It was doubtful that our conflicts would be unfairly advantageous like the Yiwi Operation, or that a deus ex- er, planned intervention like Bedivere would come in to save the day. If something like that happened, and we just sat and took it…
In some way, I think I’ve been waiting for some sort of doctor bee to pop up among the workers, but something like that couldn’t be relied upon. As usual, I should make use of my power and take things into my own hands.
It was about time to figure out psychic healing.
__________________
Bella looked out towards the city of Yiwi and its tired populace. She could just make out a group of humans painstakingly stacking stone bricks on each other, a few others patching walls with thin sheets of metal, and even some simply sitting in the streets. Staring.
Despite all that drudgery, she nodded in satisfaction as a squad of flower Gatherers crested the wall and began the journey back to the hive. As soon as she had arrived at the city alongside the entirety of her Gatherer drone swarm, she got to work. As bees do. She split the swarm into smaller squads and assigned each a commodity to gather. Some squads, like the one that just passed by, were tasked with collecting flowers to replant in the forest. Others, like a squad she could presently see nearing the wall, were given the job of gathering food of all kinds. Cakes. Loaves of weird bread. Druid cooked in a million different ways. Birds. So many birds.
For the most part, her job was exceedingly easy. Simply find food or nectar and transport it back to the hive. With Yiwi here, that already easy job became practically effortless. Now she didn’t even need to find food before transporting it; it was all piled up right there in shops and kitchens, packed neatly inside stone and metal squares called houses.
“Ah, but the obstacles! So many obstacles in the way of my beautiful and bountiful harvest,” Bella remarked. As for what these obstacles were….
“Oh sure. Stuff it Bella. Getting food would be a massive pain for you if it weren’t for us,” a nearby voice said. Bella glanced down and saw a face staring up at her, one belonging to Merchant Queen Mesne.
“I apologize, great Merchant Queen. Please continue supplying us with food from your expansive coffers, I beg,” Bella retorted, as had become customary for the two over the course of a few short days.
Alright, maybe a title like ‘queen’ was far, far, far above Mesne’s station, but Bella thought it would be funny to refer to her as such. Considering how much it seemed to bother her, especially.
“Shut up…” Mesne mumbled. Bellas could feel the torment her title inflicted on the merchant and giggled. She partially knew why it bothered her so much, but she didn’t really care to know the full story, at least not yet. She wasn’t family. Mesne was intriguing, but she wasn’t interesting.
Bella was sure there was some difference between the two ideas.
“But man, I’m glad that you guys make the gathering so easy, even if your food sucks. I’m not sure what I’m gonna do when I have to go far away to gather stuff.”
Despite the fact that the siphoning of Yiwi’s lifeblood had only just gotten underway, Bella was already thinking of the far-off future. Did she have other options? At the very least, she had no choice but to excel at her job anyway. Might as well think of everything. And in thinking of every possibility, she thought of what would happen once Yiwi was no longer a paradise of abundance. More of an inevitability than a possibility, really.
Flowers and nectar which they could use to make true honey would all be relegated to the forest, but those particular resources would have their limitations. All the nectar they gather from the flowers would be great, but most likely not enough to feed an ever-expanding hive. So would they have to gather more actual food from further away? Most likely. Bella and Belle hadn’t tried to make honey from the disgusting human food yet, but if things kept up, that would end up being necessary. That might at least make the slop taste a bit more palatable.
Bella once again looked down at the human woman who was making her life easier than it should be. Not only was she providing the hive with easy access to food, she was ensuring that ordinary people didn’t become suspicious or even aware of bees carrying away desperately needed supplies. As usual, when not fretting about her businesses, she was looking into the distance with a thoughtful, almost lost expression. Bella recalled their first encounter, before such chumminess had entered their conversations….
Bella looked at the fuming woman before her. Her bloodshot eyes and wild mane of brown hair didn’t quite fit with her simple yet elegant gray suit and flowery bow tie. She had been waiting outside the city walls when Bella arrived, and had supposedly already received plenty of instruction from Trice on what her next job would be. So why…?
“I know I don’t have a choice, but tell your asshole boss to back the fuck off! The citizens are already hungry enough, you fucking bees! And she’s overbearing. And mean!” the woman, Mesne, shouted at Bella, who just hovered there flabbergasted. What had she done to deserve such an outburst? She had just gotten there!
“Whoa buddy. First off, Trice is not my boss. I do what she wants because Mom thinks she knows what she’s doing. It’s not my fault you guys are so chumpish that Mom dumped your fates into Beatrice’s nasty hands. And besides that, it’s not my fault you’re hungry either. From what I know, it’s got nothing to do with us.” Bella thought for a moment before continuing.
“Actually, shouldn’t you guys be fine for a while? I know you merchants are super rich and stuff. If you have so much food that we’re going to be taking some, then why not give that to the starving people? Oh yeah! A bunch of humans died, too. So less mouths to feed, I think.”
That did it. Bella watched with some mixture of satisfaction and shame as the fuming human was set ablaze. She could feel the anger radiating off her weaker Mind like actual fire through the Link, and prepared to give a command for her to stand down. However, to Bella’s surprise, she instantly calmed, adopting a deadpan stare.
“Haha, good one,” Mesne chuckled without a drop of mirth. “But seriously, I get what you mean. My company wasn’t very big before, so our food supplies weren’t much to speak of. But the new business I… inherited is a different story. In fact, it belonged to a man who specifically trafficked in foodstuffs. A profitable venture in these trying times, as I’m sure you can imagine. So now I find myself in possession of piles of admittedly unappetizing food while simultaneously being surrounded by starving masses. While it is true that many have died and so any resources they would consume are now free, there still are not enough to go around. And in order for the city to make a true recovery, what with the injured and tired and downtrodden, plenty of food is needed, as long as it provides energy. So things are not so simple.”
What the fuck? Bella thought, staring at Mesne with wide eyes. It was like she had transformed into a completely different person all of a sudden, speaking pleasantly and politely, yet firmly and full of confidence. Not only had she rebuked all of Bella’s jabs, she had hit at the very heart of what Bella cared about, that being good food. Bella took a moment to search through her thoughts, especially the B-mail briefing she had received from Trice. She had only skimmed it after all…
There. Buried along with information on the other merchants was Mesne’s profile, including details on her Ability.
[Just a Formality
Level 3
Acquired by: Despite your attempts, you lack any sort of business, conversational, or social acumen. Thus, you created this Ability by solidifying your Mind and entombing your emotions.
Your Mind condenses, speeding up processing power and dulling true emotion. Allows you to draw from your knowledge and experience, as well as the knowledge and experience of those you are dealing with, in order to interact in a truly formal manner.
Level up: Use the Ability without dispelling it for one week.
]
What a boring Ability. It was likely extremely helpful for the frazzled woman, as she didn’t seem to have a knack for business, but did she really create an Ability just to do that business? Bella scoffed at the thought. If you had the power of Mind at your stingertip, you should use it for something cool. Something combat-oriented, perhaps, or for making food.
“Oh your merchanty highness, a thousand pardons for my insolence,” Bella said with a bow. Let’s see what will work.
Mesne squirmed. She didn’t even think of firing back after that comment. Which meant Bella had already found her weakness. A beautiful reaction. And beautiful ammunition…
As Bella recalled the encounter, she giggled again. From that point on, she had taken to referring to Mesne using all sorts of flowery titles just to bother her. In hindsight, she should’ve led with the classics. She didn’t know why some people became so bothered when you called them strange things. Ben didn’t seem to mind. But Trice sure did. Mom even seemed to like the various names the bees had for her. And Mesne absolutely despised being referred to with titles above her station.
People - and bees- could be so odd.
The memory reminded her of another thing. Bella still hadn’t created an Ability. It wasn’t that she couldn’t, she just didn’t know what to do yet. Of course. It didn’t bother her at all that several of her siblings, some much younger than herself, were creating Abilities left and right nowadays. The Valkybees didn’t count; those freaks had overpowered Abilities nearly as soon as they were born. Oh and Beatrice didn’t count either, ‘cause she’s also a freak. Little Ben also didn’t count. Or Bedivere. Or Beck. Or Bess. Or Belle. Or Beau or Becky or Beckham or Bennet or Benita.
Actually, those last few were pretty infuriating.
“Waah! You poor human. I was looking in the city and… Can we leave some food for the humans, sis?”
Speaking of infuriating. Belle chose to ignore Bert’s weeping for the moment. At least there was one other bee as incompetent as herself. Was it something about being a natural gatherer that made her and her crybaby younger brother so inept? Belle wasn’t sure.
“Would you… like bread?”
“No thank you Bert,” Mesne sighed.
Belle crossed her six arms and began tapping them. No. No, she wasn’t inept. Far from it. She refused to adopt a defeatist mindset like some of her other siblings. Sure, she hadn’t managed to create an Ability just yet, but her talent with Mind was second only to those who were true monsters. She wasn’t combat oriented and had no desire to be. Her skills were completely focused on gathering food, bringing it to the hive as efficiently as possible, and creating efficient and delicious food for the hive. For Mom.
She nodded. Across all her siblings, Bella didn’t stand out at all. She didn’t struggle to the point of helplessness, like Bess. And she didn’t go above and beyond to an excess like Ben or Beatrice. She simply did her job and did it well. She was instrumental to the hive’s survival, and she was proud of the work she did.
So why did she still want to make an Ability so bad?
It was a frustrating conundrum. Making an Ability wouldn’t even do much of anything for her at the moment. She had ideas for making food, sure, but they could still make honey with the current process perfectly fine. For gathering food? All she really needed was a large number of drones. Perhaps something for controlling the drones, then? Nah, she didn’t need help like Bess.
No, as hard as she thought about it, Bella couldn’t imagine a single Ability that would elevate her to the next level and make Mom notice her. Wait. If she made some Ability to create honey…
At least one of her siblings would care, right?
If I was going to keep things simple, then picking an Ability the CBU thought up would be the best way to go. So which to choose? There were plenty of interesting options, but picking one would go a long way to make things easy.
Was there something I desperately needed? Some tool I had been missing all this time?
Not really? I mean, I could do pretty much anything with Mind at this point, or at least it felt that way. It was a bit obvious when looking at what I had done, but I’m powerful. Very much so. And flexible too. If I’m not challenged in some way, then what need is there for me to develop something?
I tapped my head as I thought. Though I was a bit lost in my head, I did notice something. I was tapping my head with my right arm, since I was used to it. My left arm was destroyed long ago, after all. Way back when the human knights first attacked the forest, Queen had lost the majority of her front left leg, one of several injuries she sustained at that time.
Injuries, huh?
For the first time since returning, I looked through someone’s eyes to peer at a few mounds of dirt near the hive’s center. Under those mounds were wax capsules, each containing a body of a dead bee. Causalities from the conflict in Yiwi, which had spiraled out of control. And they weren’t the only ones.
Nothing could be done to help the dead, not that I knew of. But some had suffered less grievous injury, like Bend, for example. There were plenty of bees who had missing limbs because of one reason or another, and plenty more that had scars and so-on. Though the hive has gone through conflict, we’ve never emerged completely unscathed, and that’s despite the fact that those conflicts rarely put the hive in serious danger. Well, in part thanks to me.
What if a bee suffered from a mortal wound? What if someone took the hive by surprise? If powerful people like the knights came around, or the mercenary companies organized against us? It was doubtful that our conflicts would be unfairly advantageous like the Yiwi Operation, or that a deus ex- er, planned intervention like Bedivere would come in to save the day. If something like that happened, and we just sat and took it…
In some way, I think I’ve been waiting for some sort of doctor bee to pop up among the workers, but something like that couldn’t be relied upon. As usual, I should make use of my power and take things into my own hands.
It was about time to figure out psychic healing.
__________________
Bella looked out towards the city of Yiwi and its tired populace. She could just make out a group of humans painstakingly stacking stone bricks on each other, a few others patching walls with thin sheets of metal, and even some simply sitting in the streets. Staring.
Despite all that drudgery, she nodded in satisfaction as a squad of flower Gatherers crested the wall and began the journey back to the hive. As soon as she had arrived at the city alongside the entirety of her Gatherer drone swarm, she got to work. As bees do. She split the swarm into smaller squads and assigned each a commodity to gather. Some squads, like the one that just passed by, were tasked with collecting flowers to replant in the forest. Others, like a squad she could presently see nearing the wall, were given the job of gathering food of all kinds. Cakes. Loaves of weird bread. Druid cooked in a million different ways. Birds. So many birds.
For the most part, her job was exceedingly easy. Simply find food or nectar and transport it back to the hive. With Yiwi here, that already easy job became practically effortless. Now she didn’t even need to find food before transporting it; it was all piled up right there in shops and kitchens, packed neatly inside stone and metal squares called houses.
“Ah, but the obstacles! So many obstacles in the way of my beautiful and bountiful harvest,” Bella remarked. As for what these obstacles were….
“Oh sure. Stuff it Bella. Getting food would be a massive pain for you if it weren’t for us,” a nearby voice said. Bella glanced down and saw a face staring up at her, one belonging to Merchant Queen Mesne.
“I apologize, great Merchant Queen. Please continue supplying us with food from your expansive coffers, I beg,” Bella retorted, as had become customary for the two over the course of a few short days.
Alright, maybe a title like ‘queen’ was far, far, far above Mesne’s station, but Bella thought it would be funny to refer to her as such. Considering how much it seemed to bother her, especially.
“Shut up…” Mesne mumbled. Bellas could feel the torment her title inflicted on the merchant and giggled. She partially knew why it bothered her so much, but she didn’t really care to know the full story, at least not yet. She wasn’t family. Mesne was intriguing, but she wasn’t interesting.
Bella was sure there was some difference between the two ideas.
“But man, I’m glad that you guys make the gathering so easy, even if your food sucks. I’m not sure what I’m gonna do when I have to go far away to gather stuff.”
Despite the fact that the siphoning of Yiwi’s lifeblood had only just gotten underway, Bella was already thinking of the far-off future. Did she have other options? At the very least, she had no choice but to excel at her job anyway. Might as well think of everything. And in thinking of every possibility, she thought of what would happen once Yiwi was no longer a paradise of abundance. More of an inevitability than a possibility, really.
Flowers and nectar which they could use to make true honey would all be relegated to the forest, but those particular resources would have their limitations. All the nectar they gather from the flowers would be great, but most likely not enough to feed an ever-expanding hive. So would they have to gather more actual food from further away? Most likely. Bella and Belle hadn’t tried to make honey from the disgusting human food yet, but if things kept up, that would end up being necessary. That might at least make the slop taste a bit more palatable.
Bella once again looked down at the human woman who was making her life easier than it should be. Not only was she providing the hive with easy access to food, she was ensuring that ordinary people didn’t become suspicious or even aware of bees carrying away desperately needed supplies. As usual, when not fretting about her businesses, she was looking into the distance with a thoughtful, almost lost expression. Bella recalled their first encounter, before such chumminess had entered their conversations….
Bella looked at the fuming woman before her. Her bloodshot eyes and wild mane of brown hair didn’t quite fit with her simple yet elegant gray suit and flowery bow tie. She had been waiting outside the city walls when Bella arrived, and had supposedly already received plenty of instruction from Trice on what her next job would be. So why…?
“I know I don’t have a choice, but tell your asshole boss to back the fuck off! The citizens are already hungry enough, you fucking bees! And she’s overbearing. And mean!” the woman, Mesne, shouted at Bella, who just hovered there flabbergasted. What had she done to deserve such an outburst? She had just gotten there!
“Whoa buddy. First off, Trice is not my boss. I do what she wants because Mom thinks she knows what she’s doing. It’s not my fault you guys are so chumpish that Mom dumped your fates into Beatrice’s nasty hands. And besides that, it’s not my fault you’re hungry either. From what I know, it’s got nothing to do with us.” Bella thought for a moment before continuing.
“Actually, shouldn’t you guys be fine for a while? I know you merchants are super rich and stuff. If you have so much food that we’re going to be taking some, then why not give that to the starving people? Oh yeah! A bunch of humans died, too. So less mouths to feed, I think.”
That did it. Bella watched with some mixture of satisfaction and shame as the fuming human was set ablaze. She could feel the anger radiating off her weaker Mind like actual fire through the Link, and prepared to give a command for her to stand down. However, to Bella’s surprise, she instantly calmed, adopting a deadpan stare.
“Haha, good one,” Mesne chuckled without a drop of mirth. “But seriously, I get what you mean. My company wasn’t very big before, so our food supplies weren’t much to speak of. But the new business I… inherited is a different story. In fact, it belonged to a man who specifically trafficked in foodstuffs. A profitable venture in these trying times, as I’m sure you can imagine. So now I find myself in possession of piles of admittedly unappetizing food while simultaneously being surrounded by starving masses. While it is true that many have died and so any resources they would consume are now free, there still are not enough to go around. And in order for the city to make a true recovery, what with the injured and tired and downtrodden, plenty of food is needed, as long as it provides energy. So things are not so simple.”
What the fuck? Bella thought, staring at Mesne with wide eyes. It was like she had transformed into a completely different person all of a sudden, speaking pleasantly and politely, yet firmly and full of confidence. Not only had she rebuked all of Bella’s jabs, she had hit at the very heart of what Bella cared about, that being good food. Bella took a moment to search through her thoughts, especially the B-mail briefing she had received from Trice. She had only skimmed it after all…
There. Buried along with information on the other merchants was Mesne’s profile, including details on her Ability.
[Just a Formality
Level 3
Acquired by: Despite your attempts, you lack any sort of business, conversational, or social acumen. Thus, you created this Ability by solidifying your Mind and entombing your emotions.
Your Mind condenses, speeding up processing power and dulling true emotion. Allows you to draw from your knowledge and experience, as well as the knowledge and experience of those you are dealing with, in order to interact in a truly formal manner.
Level up: Use the Ability without dispelling it for one week.
]
What a boring Ability. It was likely extremely helpful for the frazzled woman, as she didn’t seem to have a knack for business, but did she really create an Ability just to do that business? Bella scoffed at the thought. If you had the power of Mind at your stingertip, you should use it for something cool. Something combat-oriented, perhaps, or for making food.
“Oh your merchanty highness, a thousand pardons for my insolence,” Bella said with a bow. Let’s see what will work.
Mesne squirmed. She didn’t even think of firing back after that comment. Which meant Bella had already found her weakness. A beautiful reaction. And beautiful ammunition…
As Bella recalled the encounter, she giggled again. From that point on, she had taken to referring to Mesne using all sorts of flowery titles just to bother her. In hindsight, she should’ve led with the classics. She didn’t know why some people became so bothered when you called them strange things. Ben didn’t seem to mind. But Trice sure did. Mom even seemed to like the various names the bees had for her. And Mesne absolutely despised being referred to with titles above her station.
People - and bees- could be so odd.
The memory reminded her of another thing. Bella still hadn’t created an Ability. It wasn’t that she couldn’t, she just didn’t know what to do yet. Of course. It didn’t bother her at all that several of her siblings, some much younger than herself, were creating Abilities left and right nowadays. The Valkybees didn’t count; those freaks had overpowered Abilities nearly as soon as they were born. Oh and Beatrice didn’t count either, ‘cause she’s also a freak. Little Ben also didn’t count. Or Bedivere. Or Beck. Or Bess. Or Belle. Or Beau or Becky or Beckham or Bennet or Benita.
Actually, those last few were pretty infuriating.
“Waah! You poor human. I was looking in the city and… Can we leave some food for the humans, sis?”
Speaking of infuriating. Belle chose to ignore Bert’s weeping for the moment. At least there was one other bee as incompetent as herself. Was it something about being a natural gatherer that made her and her crybaby younger brother so inept? Belle wasn’t sure.
“Would you… like bread?”
“No thank you Bert,” Mesne sighed.
Belle crossed her six arms and began tapping them. No. No, she wasn’t inept. Far from it. She refused to adopt a defeatist mindset like some of her other siblings. Sure, she hadn’t managed to create an Ability just yet, but her talent with Mind was second only to those who were true monsters. She wasn’t combat oriented and had no desire to be. Her skills were completely focused on gathering food, bringing it to the hive as efficiently as possible, and creating efficient and delicious food for the hive. For Mom.
She nodded. Across all her siblings, Bella didn’t stand out at all. She didn’t struggle to the point of helplessness, like Bess. And she didn’t go above and beyond to an excess like Ben or Beatrice. She simply did her job and did it well. She was instrumental to the hive’s survival, and she was proud of the work she did.
So why did she still want to make an Ability so bad?
It was a frustrating conundrum. Making an Ability wouldn’t even do much of anything for her at the moment. She had ideas for making food, sure, but they could still make honey with the current process perfectly fine. For gathering food? All she really needed was a large number of drones. Perhaps something for controlling the drones, then? Nah, she didn’t need help like Bess.
No, as hard as she thought about it, Bella couldn’t imagine a single Ability that would elevate her to the next level and make Mom notice her. Wait. If she made some Ability to create honey…
At least one of her siblings would care, right?
