The Bee Dungeon

POG 368.3 - Bee-vine Reactions

As the investigation group continued to stir up a fuss around the new bumblebee, Finnakynne patted Bumbly, then took off to fly with her own wings for once. She flew over to the bumblebee worker minding its own business nearby and grabbed it in her hands. She held it up to her face and stared at it.

“Ok Daddy, any reason why the god in the room isn’t saying anything?”

The God of Mischief chuckled.

“Curses, foiled again! And here I though all the divine power flying around might give me some cover. But hey, don’t mind me, this is Flower and Tree and Bee’s moment, I’m not going to steal their thunder. Flower will be upset enough once she realizes I’ve actually visited the Bee Dungeon before her, you know?”

Finnakynne gave him an unimpressed stare.

“Uh huh. So, you’re telling me you’re not just enjoying watching all of us flail around while you already know the answer?”

The God of Mischief buzzed his wings.

“I’m doing both! I’m being considerate while I enjoy the chaos!”

Finnakynne’s hard expression broke and she giggled while the God of Mischief spun around in her hands. But, a moment later, her expression fell.

“So...are you going to tell them? Or...do I have to?”

The God of Mischief’s antennae twitched about.

“Tell them what?”

Finnakynne gave the God of Mischief another hard stare, but he just cleaned his antennae. Finnakynne made a frustrated sigh.

“Daddy, don’t play dumb. Demigods have to be dungeon masters, don’t they? You’re not going to make me tell Beely he has to give up his new bee, are you?”The God of Mischief’s antennae twitched.

“They don’t, though?”

Finnakynne gaped at him for a moment

“...what? But...I thought the gods forced mother dearest to make me a dungeon master. That’s what she always said...”

The God of Mischief cut in.

“It’s true, mostly. The gods did say they would only allow your birth if we bound you to a dungeon. They’re afraid of the Hunger eating a demigod whose aspects aren’t settled and all.”

Finnakynne’s face scrunched up.

“Then...”

She suddenly paused and then her eyes widened.

“Wait...just bound to a dungeon? Not master of a dungeon?”

The God of Mischief spun around in her hands.

“Precisely! Sworn defender and dungeon monster count! So Beely and his bee and flower are all fine!”

Finnakynne furrowed her brow.

“Then...why did mother dearest always say master...”

The God of Mischief waggled his abdomen up and down to draw in more air.

“Ah, Vanie, Vanie, Vanie. Vanie always hated the idea of being beholden to a greater authority, the gods in particular. It’s why she keeps refusing my divine blessing, you know, as if that would give me any authority over her! As you might guess, she very much hated the idea of binding you to a Tower of the Gods as the humans like to call it, I barely managed to convince her to go that far. So, you know...do you think she’d be happy if you weren’t even in charge of the dungeon you were bound to?”

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Finnakynne thought for a moment and then frowned.

“No, I guess not. So that’s why she never scolded me for running away from the dungeon to play...”

The God of Mischief spun around.

“Exactly! She was just waiting for your divine aspects to settle so that you could be released from my oppressive clutches! That’s also why she really wanted you doing as much mischief as possible as soon as possible and preferably nothing else. But it didn’t go the way she wanted, you can’t force a demigod to take on the aspect you want them to. Just ask every god parent there’s ever been!”

The God of Mischief crawled out of Finnakynne’s hands, took off, and landed on her head.

“What that means for you, Finnakynne, is that there’s no reason for you to manage the dungeon of Mischief if you don’t want to. You could make Talforess the official master and join another dungeon as a defender, for example. Or you could just wait until your aspects settle and go off on your own, free of any divine commitments.”

The God of Mischief tapped his legs on Finnakynne’s head.

“Just know that, no matter whose dungeon you’re bound to, what god you’re blessed by, or what aspect you pursue, you’ll always be my daughter. And now we can talk without trying to use missions as messages! So, the best thing you can do for me is whatever you want to! Technically, if it helps your aspects settle, that’s what Vanie thinks she wants too! Don’t mind us and just consider what you want, Finny, and what sort of demigod you’d like to...hehe...bee.”

With a final giggle, the God of Mischief disappeared, leaving Finnakynne to watch the commotion around the bumblebee on her alone. At least until Bumbly flew over to tackle her again. Finnakynne laughed, petted Bumbly, then took up her normal place on Bumbly’s back, a thoughtful smile on her face...

As King and the various other King-things talked, the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter approached the new flower and bumblebee. The flower apparently wanted to join the hive of hives, so she extended her mana to the bee and flower.

Her mana connected to the bumblebee with even more ease than the other bumblebees before her. The new bumblebee happily spun around once before spreading her wings once more...now that she was fully connected to the hive of hives, the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter learned she was apparently foraging nectar directly from the sun. That was amazing and incredible in and of itself, but the First of the Fifth’s attention was focused elsewhere.

The new bumblebee was connected to the new flower more closely than anything the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter had ever seen. It was closer than a drone joint-hive link, it was closer than the hive of hives, it was even closer than a queen’s connection to her children! In a way...the bumblebee was the flower...and the flower was the bumblebee. So...as soon as the bumblebee joined the hive of hives...so too did the flower.

The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter could now feel the flower. It was a soft, vague presence, like that of a larva still growing in its cell. But it was there, reaching for the sun like the new bumblebee. And it reacted slightly to her presence, not with any dances or pheromones, but with a vaguely positive feeling.

The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter took off from the flower and flew up high, to where the Fourth of the Seventh was zipping around overhead.

“Fourth of the Seventh! Look! Flower joined hive of hives!”

The Fourth of the Seventh sped up even more.

“Amazing! Incredible!”

The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter joined her in celebration. This was truly an amazing, incredible day for the hive of hives.

Meanwhile, Frelis and her slime rose both stood completely still. Frelis stumbled as she attempted to tap out a dance.

“N-New flower...joined hive of hives?”

As a gardener, she could always dance with flowers. She could always reach out to them and hear from them what they needed. But this...this was different. She could now feel the new flower within the hive of hives. She could feel it forage nectar from the sun, she could feel it gather water from the ground, she could feel its wants and needs as if they were her own without needing to scout it with her mana.

Frelis slowly turned to the flower she had raised.

“Flower...want try join hive of hives? Like new flower?”

The slime rose immediately began to wiggle about so violently Frelis nearly fell off its flower.

The God of Flowers squealed, hugged the God of Bees as tight as she could, and spun around.

“She’s perfect! She’s absolutely perfect! Our daughter is perfect!”

The God of Trees chuckled from above her.

“See, Flower? Isn’t this great? Isn’t this better?”

The God of Flowers frowned and averted her gaze.

“Well...I guess...”

The God of Trees chuckled again...then narrowed her eyes.

“And now...those naughty humans seek to fell the forests and flowers and threaten our child. Why don’t we show them it’s not just the great elemental gods they should be worried about?”

The God of Flowers’ expression turned dark.

“Yes. No one’s going to take Bee from me. No one.”

Meanwhile, the God of Bees happily spun about. Lots of gods were now working together to protect her master, who had even defeated a strong champion of dragons with bees! And now the God of Light’s Oracle and the God of Fire’s dungeon master were both relying on bees! She was gaining more authority than ever before and that was before all the authority Light had gifted to her for this war! And now she had a joint demi-god with Flower and Tree, one that was deeply connected with her dungeon in a way that greatly increased her ability to act on its purified area. She could even start stinging those who earned her wrath directly!

It was all amazing and incredible...and the God of Bees knew exactly what to do with it. Her best dungeon master had gotten a lot of missions from other gods lately, so she decided it was time to give him some of her own too!