Chapter 227: Chapter 227
Ok, so Sehfitis the augur was now his sworn defender. That was nice and all, but now that this affair was handled there were some wyverns Belissar and the karnuq needed to deal with. So, Belissar just gave Sehfitis as serious a look as he could muster.
“Stay here for now, and don’t do anything again. I’ll be back when I have time.”
Sehfitis bowed his head.
“As you will, Tower Keeper.”
Belissar gave one last glance to the man before turning and leaving. Once he left the room, Metsaitti followed.
“It seems it went well, Sacred Den Master? Should we continue guarding him?”
“Oh, right, you couldn’t understand most of that, right?”
Metsaitti shook his head.
“As you will, Tower Keeper, sir.”
Belissar heaved a sigh as he turned away. Talking to these humans was proving…exhausting and bringing up a lot of memories Belissar would prefer to forget. But now, it was finally over…sort of. Now that the augur had sworn to help, Belissar probably should talk with him and figure out what exactly he could do. He knew vaguely that augurs were supposed to divine the will of the gods…but this one had apparently had some trouble with that? Besides, the God of Bees hadn’t had any trouble making her will known to Belissar thus far, and he certainly didn’t trust someone from the Tower Lords to take up that job. Which left a big question of what augurs actually did and how this one could help his Tower.
Belissar didn’t know and couldn’t think of anything in particular, so he decided he would handle that later. After all, right now he had thought of something far more important to do. Something in line with the very will of the gods themselves. He turned to Niobee, and the oracle queen on her back, and gave them both of smile.
“Shall we check on your hive?”
The oracle queen paused, and then began to dance rapidly.
“Yes! Hive-builder check hive!”
Belissar chuckled at that and then turned to Metsaitti.
“Could you let Chief Rohsuak know to gather everyone who wanted to learn beekeeping? It’s a good opportunity to show them what I do with an occupied hive.”
“Right away, Sacred Den Master. Or…should I call you Tower Keeper?”
“Either or, as long as you don’t call me Tower Lord it’s fine.”
Metsaitti nodded and set off. Belissar then did his best to push Tower Lords out of his mind and focus on his bees. He made his way to the oracle queen’s hive…and then looked at her.
“Niobee…your mom doesn’t have a name, right?”
Niobee danced the negative.
“No name! Not from spawner, either.”
Belissar turned his gaze to the queen herself.
“Would you like one, a name?”
The queen danced unsteadily.
“Name is…what Hive-Builder calls worker? Worker has one?”
“Yes, I call her Niobee.”
The queen’s antennae twitched about.
Belissar opened his mouth, but then paused.
“Um…because she’s my friend?”
Belissar had to rub his chin for a bit at that one.
“Um…it’s because I like her and want to distinguish her from other bees, so I gave her a name I can call her.”
“But can call worker worker already?”
Belissar shook his head.
“There’s other workers, though, right? So, I gave her a name that other workers don’t have. That way…she knows when I’m talking to her and not another worker…or something?”
The queen stood still at that for a long while before slowly starting a dance.
“I…see. Worker is special, so not just worker. Niobee is name for special worker?”
Belissar nodded. He thought that was right?
“And you’re a special queen, since you’re Niobee’s mom. So, do you want a name, too?”
The queen stood still for a moment before breaking out into a quick dance.
Belissar let out a sigh and then chuckled.
“Got it. How about we call you…”
He paused. He now realized that in his efforts to explain what exactly a name was in the first place that he hadn’t given any thought as to what Niobee’s mom’s name should actually be.
“Um let’s see is name?”
Belissar blinked and then quickly shook his head.
“Ah, no, I was still trying to think about what your name should be. It, um, generally is a unique word that doesn’t refer to something else…sometimes.”
The queen just looked confused again so Belissar decided to just think of a name instead of trying to explain. What should he call Niobee’s mom, who was also the Oracle of Bees?”
Smashing together part of a famous oracle’s name and Niobee was…pretty much in line with Belissar’s naming thus far.
The queen danced around once with unsteady steps and then stopped. A moment later, her eyes burst into golden yellow light that flooded the area, forcing Belissar to shield his eyes. When the light died down, he found the queen bee dancing about rapidly.
“Queen of All Bees says she likes!”
Belissar smiled at that. Niobee began dancing around as well.