Belissar invited Wardmaster Varilold and the sentries she had brought to the post-purification celebration meal. She gratefully accepted, to the delight of the sentries, all of which gushed praise for the bees’ honey. After that, the wardens set up a camp in the nexus door room. Belissar guessed they were staying there from now on.
The next day, Belissar came to the bumblebee room as part of his daily rounds. As usual, he was tackled and brushed by happy bumblebee queens. But as he petted the bumblebees’ fuzz, the queens suddenly began circling around him and a new bumblebee soldier descended down from the sky.
“You want me to see this one?”
The bumblebees buzzed and continued circling around him, so Belissar turned his attention fully to the newcomer. She was smaller than the others, but he guessed she was newly born and might grow bigger with time. He furrowed his brow as he looked her over. At first glance, she didn’t seem any different from the other bumblebees. He began to brush over her fuzz, seeing if he could find any differences.
His eyes widened when he observed her abdomen up close. She didn’t have a stinger! He had missed that since even the bumblebee soldiers’ stingers were usually hidden among their hair, but this bumblebee lacked one entirely. Instead, she seemed to have some sort of nozzle where the stinger would usually be…which meant…
“Are you a sprayer?!”
The bumblebee sprayer buzzed her wings and ran about in a circle. She then shot up into the air, curled her abdomen towards an empty space, and unleashed a torrent of toxic spray. Belissar soon began to grin. Even now, she was bigger than a monster bee soldier, much less the usual monster bee sprayers, so her spray attack covered a much larger area than theirs. And, if she was like all the other bumblebees, she’d only grow bigger from here.
“That’s amazing and incredible! Great work, everyone!”
The bumblebee sprayer and the queens zipped another circled around him before tackling him once more. Belissar laughed and resumed petting the bumblebee pile.
He walked over to one of the bumblebee nests, peering inside with his Tower sight. Inside, a giggling pixie waved her hands around, causing streams of nectar and pollen to curve and swirl around her before landing into wax pots. Bumblebee workers zipped circles around her before moving to the pots to begin processing the contents into honey and bee bread.
“Princess Finnakynne?”
“B-Beely? You’re out there?”
Belissar nodded…not that the pixie princess could see him at the moment.
“Yes…are you helping the bumblebees?”
Finnakynne jumped for some reason.
“Ah, no! This is…it’s a trick! It’s totally a trick!”
She waved her hands about in a panic and glowing dust spread out across the streams of nectar and pollen, which shimmered and vanished.
“S-See! It’s a trick! There was nothing there all along!”
She tried to puff herself up…and then glanced around. The bumblebee workers had stopped buzzing and their antennae began to droop. Finnakynne jumped once more.
“Ah! No…that’s…you…see…”
Her eyes widened as she watched the workers slowly crawl about where last they saw the nectar, antennae twitching as they tried to find it again. Finnakynne bit her bottom lip…and then quickly began waving her hands around once more.
“I’m sorry! That was a lie! It was really there! See, it’s still here!”
The dust shimmered once more and then the nectar and pollen reappeared. The bumblebees immediately resumed buzzing and flying happy circles before returning to work. Finnakynne made a deep sigh, drooping to the floor.
“…yes…I’m…helping the bumblebees…”
Belissar smiled at first.
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“Yes? That’s great, thank you Princess Finnakynne. Is…something the matter?”
Finnakynne scooted over to one of the walls of the nest and sat down against it, bringing her knees up to her chest.
“…Beely, I’m the pixie princess. Daughter of the Queen Vanieskon, the trickster of all tricksters, the reason for half the legends the mortals tell of the fair folk. I’m living proof she seduced and manipulated the gods, such is the heights of her mischief and trickery. And my dad…my dad is the God of Mischief himself. I’m literally a demigod of trickery on top of all that and daddy gave me his blessing to boot! And yet…and yet!”
She buried her head between her legs.
“I tried tricking the mortals one time, failed, got caught, and then ran away. And now, here I am, helping people…honestly…and for free…what am I even doing…”
Belissar tilted his head.
“Is…that bad? I mean, I’m happy you’re helping the bumblebees and they’re happy too?”
The pixie princess let out a sigh.
“You don’t get it, Beely. I’m literally born to trick people and that’s all mother dearest ever wanted from me. It’s all that I was ever meant to do, the entire purpose to my life. But now…apparently I’m terrible at it.”
She pulled her knees even closer, whispering her next words into her legs. Belissar wouldn’t have heard them if he wasn’t using his Tower senses for this conversation.
“Now…I’m not even sure I want to…”
“But just…who am I if I fail at that, the one thing I’m supposed to be good at?”
Belissar’s face fell as Finnakynne buried her head into her knees and covered herself with her arms and wings. This was entirely beyond him. Demigods…yet another concept from myths and legends that he had assumed were just a story, or at the very least something from ages long past. And now, apparently, he had one about to cry in his Tower.
It wouldn’t be the first time Belissar had to deal with issues of a mythological scope before, though, and Finnakynne was very clearly not alright. So, Belissar tried to put aside the whole fact that he was dealing with a demigod and looked for anything she had said that he knew anything of relevance about.
“Well…do you…have to trick people?”
Belissar wasn’t sure where he was going with this but he already started so he kept at it.
“Do you have to trick people?”
Finnakynne looked up and narrowed her eyes.
“Um, yes, Beely. I just told you I’m the pixie princess and mischief demigod and all that!”
“Right. And…I was supposed to be a peasant. The Tower Lords told me that I would defile a Tower with my very presence and that the gods would strike me down if I ever touched one, but they didn’t, and now I’m a Tower Keeper and haven’t died yet. They also told me the beastkin were savage and unable to talk and would attack on sight…but then the karnuq showed up and started talking right away and now we get along. Then everyone told me the spiderkin kids would attack us the moment they hatched, but instead they apparently learned from the bees and wanted to join the hive of hives. So…what I’m trying to say is…maybe you can be something different even if everyone told you you’re supposed to be one thing? I think…”
Finnakynne opened her mouth…then paused…then tilted her head.
“Huh. Beely…you were a peasant?”
Belissar nodded before remembering Finnakynne wasn’t actually looking at him directly.
Finnakynne’s eyes widened a bit.
“So, you, ah, didn’t know anything about dungeons? Your parents didn’t teach you anything?”
Belissar shook his head on reflex.
“No. My parents…died when I was young anyways, so they weren’t able to teach me much. Mrs. Imkomos, an old beekeeper, took care of me, but she only knew how to take care of bees so that’s what she taught me…other than that, we just did whatever the Tower Lords told us…”
Finnakynne blinked and then leaned back into the wall.
At that point, some of the bumblebee workers crawled over and began to brush their antennae over Finnakynne. The pixie began to giggle involuntarily.
“Ah, wait, that tickles!”
One of them carried over a piece of the honeycomb the rest of the hive of hives delivered daily to the bumblebees, dropping it in Finnakynne’s lap. The pixie princess looked up at the bumblebee with wide eyes. She quickly covered her face.
She refused to show her face as the bumblebees buzzed and spun circles.
“…Beely, it’s ok if I stay here a bit, right?”
Belissar hummed and rubbed his chin.
“That’s fine with me but…I came here to let you know I signed a deal with the Compact, so…people might start coming here sometime? I…think Henilett’s supposed to swing by sometime today for a separate deal between me and Queen Vanieskon?”
Finnakynne stiffened.
“A…separate…deal? Beely, you’re making a deal with my mother?! Directly?!”
Belissar hesitated at her tone.
Suddenly, the pixie princess zoomed out of the nest, just managing to hold the piece of honeycomb so as not to spill it. Her eyes were open wide.
“Beely! Tell me you didn’t sign it yet! Tell me what she’s asking you to do and tell me you still have time to refuse!”
Belissar quickly shook his head.
Finnakynne let out a huge sigh of relief.
“Ok, whew. Now then…”
She opened her eyes to glare at Belissar.
“Beely! What are you thinking?! After all that Tarwy and Tammy and Neny warned you to be careful around me, you’re going to go and sign a deal with my mother?! The trickster of tricksters herself?! Why would you do that?!”
Belissar found himself taking a step back.
“Ah…that’s…we’re supposed to make separate deals since the Compact doesn’t apply to me. Nenavann told me it should be ok…”
Finnakynne waved a hand so that the honeycomb began to float safely around her, and then grabbed and pulled her hair with both hands.
“Ok? OK?! You’re trusting Neny to tell whether my mother dearest is tricking you?! Beely! That’s…”
Suddenly, she stopped her tirade and blinked.
“Wait…what was that about the Compact not applying to you, Beely? You said you just signed a deal with the Compact, right? Surely they would have wanted you to become a signatory or something? Or is it some kind of leave the door open but don’t interact with us arrangement?”
Belissar filled in Finnakynne on all that had been going on while she was staying with the bumblebees, including the details of his deal with the Compact…and the implications of certain clauses as pointed out by Henilett.
A moment later, Finnakynne had dropped to the ground, and began rolling around while laughing with all her might.