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BD - Chapter 235 - Bee-ware the Pixie?
🕑 Added 2025-02-24 20:05:00 +0000 UTCTarwantrad walked through her dungeon with heavy steps, trying to keep her face as impassive as possible. A girl the size of a hand zipped around her face, a set of transparent butterfly wings propelling her about. She giggled as she flew up to Tarwantrad and tried to poke her cheek.
“Aw, why the long face, Tarwy? Smile, today’s a great day!”
Tarwantrad waved her away.
“That would depend entirely on you behaving, Princess Finnakynne.”
Princess Finnakynne rolled her eyes.
“Come on, Tarwy, why so formal? We’re friends, aren’t we?”
Tarwantrad allowed herself a small smirk.
“Because you dislike it.”
The pixie cross her arms and huffed. But then, she began to smirk once more.
“Oh, I get it now.”
Specks of golden dust flew off Princess Finnakynne’s wings and then lit up, obscuring the pixie from view. She had grown to the same size as Tarwantrad and her features had grown much more mature. She had also traded her normal one-piece dress for something…bolder. She grinned as she came up behind Tarwantrad and wrapped an arm around the elf’s shoulders.
“Afraid I’m going to steal your little boy toy, are you? Is that why you’ve been keeping your pet human from me?”
Tarwantrad didn’t react and just stared at her.
“Finnakynne.”
The pixie’s grin grew.
“Yes?”
“Belissar is twenty. Thirty to forty at most, according to the lore on humans.”
Finnakynne blinked and then immediately reverted back to her pixie form, slowly flying back from Tarwantrad.
“Oh. Wow, Tarwantrad. I, uh, always believed you elves were secretly freaky but that’s…twenty? You’re, uh, quite…bold.”
Tarwantrad just rolled her eyes.
“Of course your mind would go there. Which is why I’m warning you now.”
Finnakynne nodded.
“Right. Absolutely. I’ll leave that to you, freaky elf, at least until he hits three digits.”
Tarwantrad just sighed as the pair reached the nexus door. She turned and glared at the pixie.
“Ok, here we are. Now, let me remind you?”
Finnakynne sighed, dramatically, and waved her hand in front of her face.
“Yes yes. Don’t hurt the bees. You don’t need to look so scary Tarwantrad, I’m a pixie, we raise flowers too. Don’t hurt the bees is like, one of our big ground rules! You can trust me on that.”
Tarwantrad stared at her.
“The last time I trusted you, I lost half my dungeon.”
Finnakynne rolled her eyes.
“Hey, I did nothing but tell the truth! Baby bunnies are cute and fluffy and adorable! And as I told you, you would need a special kind of cruel bloodthirstiness to hurt them. That was honest advice, you know?”
Tarwantrad glared at her, about to reply when she caught herself and took a deep breath. She spun about and ignored the grin on Finnakynne’s face as she marched through the nexus door.
***
Belissar waited on the other side of the nexus door in the setup he usually wore for the sigmaka. He was accompanied by a good chunk of the soldier bee army and karnuq hunters led by Chief Rohsuak and Metsaitti. He even had Sehfitis on standby, waiting further away where communers would relay events to him. He still wasn’t sure how much he could trust the human augur…but given Tarwantrad’s warnings he figured a guy who was suspicious of the fair folk as a whole would keep a good eye out for any deceptions. Niobee sat on his head as always, fluttering her wings on occasion to keep them warmed up and ready.
Belissar steeled himself as the nexus door began to swirl once again.
“Get ready, everyone.”
A moment later Tarwantrad walked through the door, with the pixie princess flying behind her. The pixie, about as tall as a soldier bee was long, stopped and stared at him for a moment before breaking out into a huge smile. Belissar might have found it bright and friendly were it not for Tarwantrad’s warnings.
“Hi! You must be the bee dungeon master! I’m Finnakynne, nice to meet you!”
Belissar blinked for a moment as the pixie flew up to him.
“Hi? I’m…Tower Keeper Belissar.”
Finnakynne’s smile grew and she flew closer, stopping only when Niobee began to buzz her wings. She spun about and glared at Tarwantrad.
“Tarwy, you said he was twenty!”
Tarwantrad smiled back at her.
“He is…I think. The lore also said humans mature quickly, physically at least. What, you didn’t know?”
Finnakynne puffed her cheeks.
“You know I’m banned by that stuck-up loremaster!”
Tarwantrad kept smiling at her. Finnakynne huffed and then turned back to Belissar.
“But enough of that! Let’s talk about you! And your bees! So many bees! They’re your thing, right?”
Belissar was about to say yes before remembering Tarwantrad’s warnings. He was going to nod instead before remembering that was also included in the warnings. He furrowed his brow for a second.
“Bees…are my thing.”
Finnakynne was zipping around the bee army at this point though. Her eyes lit up as she approached one of the bumblebee soldiers and dove towards her, landing on her back.
“So fuzzy!”
The bumblebee buzzed her wings and the nearby soldiers moved to assist at first, but stopped as they realized Finnakynne wasn’t attacking. The bumblebee soldier just swayed about as Finnakynne rolled around on her back.
Belissar wasn’t sure how to respond. He glanced at Tarwantrad. The elf just shook her head.
“Don’t let your guard down.”
Finnakynne popped her head up out of the bumblebee’s hair.
“How rude! Can’t a girl just enjoy some fluff? I mean, just look at her! Isn’t she just the goodest, fluffiest bumblebee! Yes she is!”
The bumblebee soldier grew increasingly perplexed as the pixie played with her hair, but her mana wasn’t indicating distress or discomfort so Belissar let them be. He did make sure to extend his mana towards the bumblebee and asked her to let him know if she wanted help. The bumblebee just began zipping happy circles about, causing Finnakynne to laugh as she gripped onto the soldier’s hair.
Eventually, Finnakynne patted the side of the bumblebee and then pointed to Belissar. The bumblebee soldier flew up to him and Finnakynne stood up, patted her dress, and placed her fists on her hips.
“Now then, let’s get to business. You have bees, honeybees if I’m not mistaken, right Belly? Or should I say Beely? So, Beely…”
She took off from the bumblebee and flew up as close to Belissar’s face as she could get before Niobee began buzzying, leaned forward, and grinned.
“That means you have honey, right?”
Somehow, Belissar did not find that grin as friendly as her first. Fortunately, he had prepared for this situation, so he reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out a small chunk of honeycomb.
“I do. Would you like a taste of this chunk here?”
Finnakynne immediately dove towards it.
“Dibs!”
She swiped her hand across the chunk and put it directly into her mouth. Her eyes immediately went wide and she dropped from the air. She began groaning even as she fell to the ground. Belissar’s eyes went wide.
“Hey, are you ok?!”
He glanced over at Tarwantrad.
“Is she ok?! I thought you said she liked honey!”
He found Tarwantrad blinking with wide eyes and a light flush.
“She’s…fine. I think.”
Belissar glanced down at the pixie and frowned. Tarwantrad had said to give her the sweetest honey he had…but maybe using swirled honey had been a mistake? He wasn’t completely sure exactly what it could do, after all.
As for the pixie, Finnakynne…didn’t look fine to him, but if Tarwantrad said so then what else could he do. He asked the Second of the Sixth to bring up some medicinal workers just in case. Fortunately, though, Finnakynne stopped groaning before Belissar felt the need to send in the workers. She zipped back up to right in front of his face and glared at him.
“What in all that is fair and foul was that?!”
Belissar blinked.
“…honey?”
Finnakynne puffed her cheeks and growled.
“That…that wasn’t honey! That was like…a deadly, concentrated bomb of sweetness! How did you make the mana sweet?! How did you make me taste sugar in my toes? What did you even do to make something that delicious?!”
Belissar took a step back.
“It was swirled honey? It’s…new.”
Finnakynne flew forward to stay in his face.
“Explain. You can’t mean you just stirred it a bit!”
Belissar glanced at Tarwantrad. She just made a helpless smile.
“She won’t let this go, Belissar. I must admit, I’m curious as well. I knew your honey was good but I didn’t expect a reaction like...that.”
Belissar instead sent a message to the First of the Fifth, asking if it would be ok to explain what she does. She, of course, said “whatever King chooses!”
“If I understand correctly, the bees swirl the mana, which allows for greater mana density? I…think that also helps spread the taste around when you eat it?”
Finnakynne held her chin and nodded.
“I see, yes, I can see that now. They’ve crystallized mana formations within the honey itself, improving its capacity for sweetness and amplifying the sweetness when you absorb the mana from it…especially if you’re really good at absorbing mana like us. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant! With this, your plan to bribe mommy dearest might actually have a chance!”
She glanced over her shoulder and smirked at Tarwantrad while the elf winced.
“Oh, don’t look so surprised, Tarwy. We pixies love gossip, you know, so you didn’t think we would miss old Uhgy tossing out his own son and going on big rants on the danger of humans, did you? And then, immediately afterwards, you come to me, offering to introduce me to your own personal pet human, when previously you were gushing about him to every master in the Circle but me? Come on, Tarwy, you and Neny couldn’t have made it any more obvious if you had tried to. And what exactly would a bee dungeon master use to try and lure the pixies, hm? To sweeten the deal? Oh, what a mystery, just what could it…bee?”
She spun about and then flew backwards until she landed on Belissar’s shoulder. Niobee buzzed but Belissar calmed her down for now, not certain how to respond just yet. Finnakynne patted Belissar’s cheek as she smirked at Tarwantrad.
“But you know what? Lucky you, Beely’s honey here is just that good, so I’ll play along, and mommy dearest might too. If…”
Her smirk opened into a full-teeth grin.
“…we manage to come to a little compact of our own. I think I like it here, so I’d love to come back and play…”
Tarwantrad just hung her head. As for Belissar, it was strange. Finnakynne was apparently offering to help as they had hoped…and yet, Belissar couldn’t help but feel a chill go down his spine.
Author’s Note:
Another non-bee, huh? I mean, I guess with the wings and liking honey she’s a step in the right direction, but let’s see if she contributes to the hive of hives first. All I’m hearing is more talk about non-bees so I’m skeptical.
Anyways!
Will Belissar make a deal with the pixie princess? Will he get tricked in the end? Will any of this benefit the hive of hives? Tune in next time, to find out!
Comments
TheLostGolem
Or see the greatness of Bees, dedicate a large portion of her tower to said Bees, and with help from the Best dungeon Master raise said Bees to the point where they can make swirled honey. I mean, the total story so far has taken place in the span of less than a year. I don't see why the Concord dungeon masters couldn't remedy their negligence of Bees in a short timeframe.
BelligerentGnu
1: in the scenario I'm talking about, of course narrative conceit has a bearing. That's more or less what such a reputation would be. 2. Who said anything about Belissar? I'm literally just musing aloud about a concept this chapter made me think of.
John Pratt
You're speaking as if narrative conceit and tautology has any bearing on the decisions a character is making, it doesn't. Bellisar is not, from his own point of view, living in a story. He is not aware of what a monkey's-paw is, he seems to be vaguely aware of campfire-esque stories of fae as tricksters but he also heard that beast-folk are bad and look how that's turned out.
Borindak
Maybe she can play with the enemies during the purification. As long as she doesn't harm or bother the bees!
BelligerentGnu
At a price that is, by definition, not worth it. If you don't regret it, it's not a monkey paw.
John Pratt
Because you can do stuff that nobody else can do.
phantom
Platonic friendship.
phantom
Not gonna happen. It has been made clear at this point that bees are fine with people entering their personal space.
phantom
"Another non-bee, huh? I mean, I guess with the wings and liking honey she’s a step in the right direction," You missed the important part. ", I’m a pixie, we raise flowers too."
BelligerentGnu
I would enjoy this.
Tsorov
Considering we didn't really have any romantic relationships in Minion and TTOW, it is definetly time for some good old romance!
Tsorov
indicating distress or discomfort so Belissar let them be. -> indicating distress or discomfort so Belissar let them bee.
BelligerentGnu
See, this is the issue I've always had with fae/devils/djinn. If you have an unshakeable reputation for monkey's paw-ing every deal you make, why would anyone ever deal with you?
Darius Sanguna
I feel like this is the point at which the Queen of all Bees needs to step in and make it clear that Belissar is HER human and that the pixie princess isn't allowed to put her paws on him lol
Durphymcbob
"Especially if she actually befriends belissar and starts trying to play matchmaker with belissar and tarwantrad. Lol" Good to see im not the only one who thinks this way :)
Maestro
I could totally see the pixie's asking/demanding for a mana sampler of honey with all the different flavors. Maybe even prompting more experimentation by the first of fifth to focus the effects
Durphymcbob
Thanks for the Chapter! Of Princess Finnakynne, I like her, She might be a bit of trickester, but it seems to be in all in good fun. We just need to set up so ground rules on what kind of tricks and pranks she is allowed to do, little things should be fine. And i think Finna, will follow them mostly becasue she will want to keep access to a source of the Swirled Honey. And i liked finna clearly teasing Tarwantrad, about Belissar, but yeah Realsonships like that between different species with different average life and maturity cycles is a bit of thing, and if they do decide to go down that path woul dhave to be something talked about. But i mean Bellisar does techically have the abilty to be as longed lived as elf now with access to the tower. (TLDR thank you for feeding my shipper heart)
Fernando Oliveira
Thanks for the chapter. Loved it. So this seems like the best result we could have had from Finnakynne. She seems moderately friendly. Yeah she likes mischief but that doesn't have to be a negative, can help keep you sharp and active. I doubt she'll hurt the bees but she'll definitely prank the karnuq and the humans on occasion. Depending on how the compact is phrased those pranks could be limited to exposing security weaknesses. Who better to help you patch your defenses than a trickster. Finnakynne she's nice overall, I think I'm gonna like her character. Especially if she actually befriends belissar and starts trying to play matchmaker with belissar and tarwantrad. Lol
Black Esper
The pixi princess wants some honey? Then she needs to bring flowers and practical help 😊🐝
