Hey There, Honey

"Yes," she said quietly. "watching the little rams grow up,of course I get attached. But wolves have to eat, and if they weren't in my flock, protected, most of them would not live to see weaning. They would die of disease, of starvation, at the teeth of predators who did not know them or care if they suffered. I give them a good, happy life,and on their very last day they die quietly without fear or suffering. If we must eat meat by our very nature, I can at least give them peace in that."

She gave the moment the solemn silence the topic deserved, staring at the softly buzzing bees she had revealed and letting their tiny sounds fill the silence. She refocused as the woman returned with a small box, and shook herself mentally out of the heavy thoughts. "Don't worry about the hive, we always keep extras just in case. I would be happy to help you get started. That box will be just fine for now, until we get them into a proper hive. When they are swarming like this, they are very calm and gentle. With careful handling they will stay that way while we are moving them."

Showing her how to position the box under the swarm, she took a forepaw,and carefully scooped it through the swarm, for all the world like scooping up a handful of buzzing sand, and with a few firm but controlled shakes deposited them of her paw and into the box. "You don't need to capture all of the swarm right away, but you need to take care that you get the queen, or the hive you captured won't be able to reproduce and the bees left behind won't be enough to build a healthy wild hive either. She will look different than the other - ah, see her there?" She pointed out the bee that her last scoop had just revealed at the center of the storm that looked rather different from the others.