Hotel Honeybee

It had started with a moment of boredom, and watching the honey bees industriously buzzing around on their tiny honey bee way. He’d been mulling over what he wanted in life. To fight for his pack, definitely. He knew he wanted to reach Sentinel. When he’d discussed the possibility with Aurielle, she’d explained more in depth the duties and parts of life the Sentinel oversaw in the pack.

Fighters and Hunters fell under the direct care of the Sentinel, while the Lodestar was more focused on Healers, the discipline if the Spirit wasn’t available to deal it out, and the crafting and agricultural parts of life, as well as the ambassadorial parts of life.

He was pretty sure he would like to run as both a fighter and a hunter. Finally, half lost in thought, he rolled to his paws, following the bees seemingly aimlessly. And then, suddenly, he realized that he was hearing way more buzzing. He faded into full attention of his surroundings as he realized he was at the tree line of the wooded hillock in the plains.

Deep sapphire eyes followed the trail of bees to a gnarled oak, and he paused, worried, as he realized there were signs of a black bear here. The oak was ripped open. Judging by the bees’ behavior, though, the bear was long gone. He’d have to tell Aurielle. Maybe this bear would be the mark for the Autumn bear hunts.

Cai inched closer, cautious of the buzzing swarm of insects. He’d been stung once as a pup, and while he wasn’t sure if that had actually been a wasp, it had hurt like hell. He edged closer and closer until he was a few feet from the trunk of the tree. Carefully, he peered at the milling mass of insects, his eardrums fairly vibrating with the fanning of the colony’s wings.

It was an active hive, if the smell of honey was anything to go by. And he realized an opportunity in the making. Honey had its uses. Paladin had used it on a cut Cairo had gained from sparring with Aurielle. Not only that, he’d snuck a lick of it when the healer had his back turned, and it had tasted incredible.

He leaned closer, raising carefully on his back paws. Maybe if he was really slow and careful with it, he wouldn’t get mauled by bees… that’d be an embarrassing story for his demise. Death by honeybee. He was successful in his careful investigation… uhm… too successful. Apparently, the queen decided his head was the perfect place to expand the colony. And though he, personally, had no way of knowing, where the queen goes, so does the colony.

It was incredibly hard not to run screaming for the nearest pool of water when he found his face suddenly dripping not with honey but with insects as the honeybees dutifully flooded after their queen onto his face,. He froze, taking careful, short breaths as their multitudes of tiny little feet milled over his face, his muzzle, dripped off his whiskers and chin like some insane, crawling beard, clinging to his fur. His world was wings and buzzing and bees.

The hell do I do now?

He was trying not to shake with the feeling of becoming a swarm’s new branch. He’d seen swarms balled on trees before. He hadn’t paid that much mind except to silently marvel at how they clung together like that. Wouldn’t the branch break?

Maybe if he leaned forward again? The bees had finally cleared his muzzle, and as he leaned, he decided that since he was already deemed the new bee den, he might as well try a taste of the sweet stuff before he died, because he really had no clue how he’d get those bees off his head.

His tongue carefully slid out and he snagged a taste. Alright, death by swarm suffocation was worth this. Maybe there was a way to make places for the bees to build a new nest? This one was plundered by the bear’s probing. He sampled again as he thought over the possibilities, both to make notes to talk to Aurielle about in the event he got out of this little situation alive, and to distract himself from the situation.

Speaking of Aurielle, he heard her howl for him. Shit, training time, and here I am stuck in a swarm of bees… Uhm… hm.

How was he supposed to get these ladies off his head? Talk to the queen? Did bees talk? He carefully pulled an ear back, wondering which of the six pairs of tiny feet belonged to the matriarch of the hive. He froze. There were bees trying to crawl down his ears! That was it. He was done. This was a big no.

He braced himself for hell and gave his head a sudden brisk shake, sending bees scattering left and right, up and down as he bolted backward, scrambling as far away as he could, shaking again and again and again, wanting to be sure he got all of the now rather upset insects in his fur.

He didn’t wait to see if the swarm came after him. The buzzing had swelled with his sudden movement, and he was outta there. But he didn’t forget the possibilities.

Wordcount: 886 Words

Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think