The consequences of the storm

I raised my head and opened my mouth, gathering arguments in my defense, when a thought hit me.

Under Ambrosia's delightful ministrations, despite her words, I suddenly realized… She was only berating me because she cared! For me as a person.

Touched, I straightened up and quickly kissed her on the lips.

"Yes, totally—I *totally* need to do so much myself, Ambrosia! Please, forgive me!" I said cheerfully.

She stared at me blankly.

"What was that?"

"A kiss." I blushed, suddenly realizing we had never kissed before, and pulled away from her. "It means… It means I care for you, too. A lot! We should go on a date sometime."

"A kiss? A date? Are you trying to distract and appease me with more unfamiliar words?"

"N-no, that's not what I wanted! Call me an idiot, and you'd probably be right *this time*—but I'm *your* idiot. Eh?"

Another blank stare.

It was time to try the good old strategy.

"And, and actually, I have a gift for you! Come with me, I will show it."

I took Ambrosia's hand and flew up.

That'd be awkward if she stood her ground, but she followed me to my room.

"You said we had a problem with food supply, and that you were solving it, Nectus. You can't act so recklessly before it's solved," she still grumbled on the way there.

I only laughed.

"It's going to be alright now! I'm almost sure. 99% sure."

And in my room, I showed the "gift" I was preparing—the wax tablets with ABCs and simple pictures.

"Behold! Literacy. Amby, you can learn how to read and write with the help of these examples. I will teach you. And this way you can help the colony and me more than just by telling bees to listen to me. But do that, too—do that *a lot*, please. Some of our daughters still bully me…"

"You don't even have a stinger, Nectus. You are easy to bully."

Ambrosia took the wax tablets from my hands and examined them.

"But these pictures… I don't know how they work, but I can see that there's a deep meaning within them. Like within the honeycomb of the hive. Please, teach me what this all means. All I ever wanted was to make sure our colony is strong enough that, when the time comes, it can send forth a lot of new Queens and its legacy will continue."

I smiled.

"Of course. Our daughters shall thrive! And not just because I'm going to die within a few months if they don't."

Ambrosia tilted her head. "What are you talking about now, Nectus?"

I paused.

This never came up in a conversation before, but… Maybe Ambrosia had to know. She could help more if she did.

"You see, I don't have just a brain inside my head—I have that thing, a *system*! It makes us both better, faster, stronger, when the colony grows—and then our genes go to our daughters, and their next generations also become better in all ways. But if the colony won't grow fast enough, I will still die of old age and leave you all alone."

My shoulders slumped as I imagined this sad fate. Would Ambrosia mourn me? I bet she would, but only inwardly, like the stoic woman she was.

Ambrosia frowned.

"And you only tell me *now*? Stupid Nectus, I was right when I said that you were ill in the head. If growing our colony keeps you alive and able to make it stronger, then I will do my best to help you grow it as fast as possible."

I raised my eyebrows.

"Wait, you believed me? Just like that?"

"Yes? What is it now—was I not supposed to? It explains a lot."

"But… it's so outlandish, though. Literal magic! There's still a part of me that thinks that I must be just vividly hallucinating in a coma. It only exists in fantasy stories, you know?"

"No, I don't."

Ouch.

Silly me. It's not like bees had a concept of lying, even for entertainment.

But she was so eager to help… She definitely cared!

"Now, are we done here, Nectus? Since it's not the time to lay eggs yet, and all the bees are gathered inside to rest because of the rain, it's the perfect time for you to teach me that 'literacy' thing."

Ambrosia raised the wax tablets.

I beamed and nodded when a thought came to me.

'Shit, this rain will eat at least half a day of Foragers' work time. Our food storage is going to diminish again! These border patrols *really* better work as intended.'

"Alright, Ambrosia, let's study. It will probably take a long while, but we can start."

Outside, water kept pouring down the skies, and the wind shook the forests. But we were safe in our mountain pillar and in our warm wax castle.

The wind could howl and throw water in, but it couldn't damage the hive.

***

The storm lasted for the rest of the day and half of the next one. The result of these two days was disheartening.

〔Your colony〕 

〔Wellness〕: 81 % 

〔Population〕: 24 thousand 

〔Development level〕: 2 

〔Development points〕: 10 / 100

〔Species〕: Common Honey Bee 

〔Attributes〕 

> Workpower: 15 

> Military: 12 

> Brainpower: 84 

> Logistics: 16 

> Resilience: 8 

〔Resources〕: 

> Food: 36 units

> Building materials: 8 units

〔Technologies〕 

Dance Communication 

Hive Building 

Food Preservation 

Stone Hammers 

Forager Posts 

Rank-Based Hierarchy 

Primitive Containers 

Border Patrols 

〔〕〔〕〔〕 

No amount of growing brainpower and development points could compensate for the lack of food.

As I watched my Warrior Bees flow off into their patrol according to the schedule I made, I prayed to the Goddess of Bees that if she sent me here to establish bee hegemony, she could at least not screw me over here and now.

'Just send me some good luck for once, alright, Goddess of Bees? Good luck and good weather!'

Another storm like that would really doom us all.