Epic of Bee

I dragged the girls up to the Honey Gate, but then I stopped. I wasn't really sure how the doors worked, but I remembered that they were all hooked together, so there must be something that you had to do to change the path.

"How do I work this thing?" I asked, turning to Messia.

"You just have to know where you want to go. Where would you like to go? We have been to all the current places, so we can take you to each one if you would like?" Messia asked me, but I shook my head.

"I just want to go see Talli and the Crystal flower farms for now, and then I would like to go up top and designate the rest of the Hex-Combs that were built so the people that need them can get started working on what they need," I explained, and Messia nodded to me.

"Do you need me right now? I was working on some Bee-tective work with the other counselor before this, and if you don't need me, I would like to go and get it over with before I get too tired and lazy," Miasma said, letting go of my hand to stretch and yawn.

"That's fine; what are you working on with them?" I asked, turning to Miasma.

"Working on the predator problem and how the markings on the robe were triggered. Gamble is helping me right now as well with it. He also told me to let you know that he has a new gadget that he wants to show you but won't speak a word about what it is," Miasma said as she leaned in to give me a kiss.

"I will come to see when I am done with Talli and the farm," I told Miasma, then she smiled and jumped through the Honey Gate and disappeared.

Messia grabbed my arm and pulled me back gently, and then Joni and Riza went through the gate first. I didn't resist or complain, and I would have to make sure in the future that I let them go first without having to be dragged back.

As silly as it seemed at times, this was necessary, and I had learned that the hard way, but I was learning. I might want people to do things my way, but I wasn't omnipotent, and not all of my choices were the right ones.

We walked through the portal, and on the other side was a sparkling field that filled the entire Hex-Comb. I had never seen one of the massive glass-like flowers, and they were probably the prettiest things that I had ever had the pleasure of feasting my eyes on.

They were three meters tall, and they looked like if you were to combine a dandelion with a sunflower plant and then turn it into glass, but they didn't stop there. The most eye-catching thing was their fluorescent lights that were racing through the flowers.

"Ashia? You finally came to see my rainbow forest!" I heard a familiar small voice cry out, and I turned to find green-haired Talli buzzing towards me.

Messia let go of my hand as Talli landed in front of me and threw her arms around me, but still being mindful of my crushed wing that was still hurting. I hugged her back tightly and then kissed the top of her head and then cuddled my face into it.

"These are beautiful! How do they make the lights that glow and move inside of them?" I asked after we finally broke apart.

"No one really knows, but it is something that I am working on to figure out. When we picked up the Raccoon Folk, they directed us to a place where we could get a lot of good soil, but we are still flying water in at the moment, and it is becoming a full-time job now that the flowers have grown," Talli explained.

"How did they grow so big so fast? It has to be less than a day since you placed them, right?" I asked while retaking Messia's hand.

Talli was leading us over to the field, and as we got closer, something started to happen with the flowers. The colors that were racing now slowed down, and they started to pulse a soft blue.

"That has never happened before!" Talli said excitedly as she ran over to a wooden desk that must have been brought in.

Talli picked up a feather and dipped it into a bottle of ink, and began to write notes down so fast that her hand was a blurb and I was concerned the paper was going to start a fire. Once she was finished, she yelled at one of the Ferret men to come over and help her, and Talli came over with a thick wooden clipboard.

"Okay, now I am ready, lettuce proceed," Talli said, waving me forward.

I grinned and turned to Messia to give her a kiss before pulling her along with me. As I got closer, more flowers started to pulse the same calm and comforting shade of blue.

"Look!" Talli said with excitement as I finally reached the flowers.

The flowers were turning toward me and even leaning down to come closer to me. It was like they were alive, and as I walked through the forest of Crystal Flowers, even the leaves reached out to brush up against me.

The feeling was something else entirely as each leaf brushed up against my skin. The leaves were soft, but they also seemed to transfer something almost like a thought.

Each seemed to call to me, and when I turned, I could see that even though I was far from the first flowers I had passed, they were still glowing blue. I turned back and continued on with Messia walking with Talli and me furiously, taking notes beside me.

When we almost reached the end of the field, I noticed that there was one plant that was taller than the rest. She called to me, and somehow I knew it was a she, but I had no idea how; it was just a feeling, but one that was sure.

As I walked up and got within range of the massive flower, I felt a familiar weighted feeling of pressure. Messia let go of my hand, and both of the girls went down on their knees and pressed their heads to the floor facing the massive flower.

The top of the flower's crystal petals was closed around the flower, and as I walked forward, it lowered down to me. As it slowly opened up, IO felt the pressure increase, and I was confident as I summoned the Queen System.

[Bee-Guage] Activated!