The next day, a group of sigmaka warriors arrived first thing in the morning, lead by Fourth Queen Pezuya herself. Metsaitti greeted them with the karnuq’s own challengers. After a brief review of the goals and restrictions of their challenge, the sigmaka soon began. Belissar watched them for a bit but since Metsaitti was handling things today he soon left them to it.

    After all, Belissar had a new type of honey to try. The First of the Fifth had given him a full tray of her new swirled honey. Belissar would have preferred she spread it among the bees first, but he knew at this point it would do no good for him to refuse, so he accepted it graciously. And...if he was perfectly honest, he was incredibly curious as to how the new honey tasted.

    And so, without further ado, he scooped up a bit from the new tray with his finger and took a taste.@@@@

    His eyes immediately brightened as the taste hit his tongue. It was like mana honey but...more. Sweeter, yet not in an overpowering way. Fuller, satisfying even from just a taste. A huge mass of mana immediately warmed his mouth, but it did not merely absorb into him as with the mana honey. No, it moved and spun, causing a tingling sensation that was surprisingly pleasant and spread the delicious sweetness of the honey to every corner of his mouth. It then joined with the mana buzzing through his veins to warm up every inch of his body, leaving him feeling pleasant and energized.

    Belissar decided that yes, he did like the new honey. Especially as he came to himself and found he had already consumed about a quarter of the tray on its own. He did his best to put that tray aside and focus on his other fare, fortunately, he now had access to a spread of fruits, cave root dishes, and meat like he never had before. Sure the First of the Fifth would probably give him more swirled honey on a daily basis...but the question that immediately rose in Belissar’s mind was what would mead made from this honey taste like? And since he would be offering some of the new mead if and when he made any to the gods, and also wanted enough to share with the karnuq and Tarwantrad and even the bees if he could convince them to tolerate drunk workers, then he needed to start stockpiling for a large first batch.

    So, he did his absolute best to save the rest of today’s trays for future meals...

    After finishing breakfast, Belissar went about his morning routine, gathering honey, checking on the bees, and making offerings to the gods. When he arrived at the bumblebee meadow, however, he stopped and rubbed his eyes.

    The flowers had grown...and not in number. There were flowers now as wide as his thigh and as tall as his waist, with multiple bumblebee workers crawling around on a single one. Belissar blinked, rubbed his eyes again, then blinked again, but the sight remained. He double checked for any messages from the Tower and the flower menu for this room, but didn’t see anything new in either of those.

    Eventually, he arrived at the Heart of the Forest, where a small little shoot had just recently poked through the dirt. He smiled as he walked over.

    For the first time in a while, neither the Tower nor the people around them needed Belissar for anything. He had a moment to himself.

    So, he promptly decided to use it for the bees. The latest stingless and butcher bee hives had gotten him thinking on his beehouse designs. He had started to adjust his design based on the kind of bee it would house, such as fireproofing for the burning bees, subterranean burrows for the digging bees, or the horizontal trays the stingless and butcher bees liked. He decided to consider different beehives and what other adjustments he could make.

    Take, for example, the swimming bees. The only thing he had done for them so far was place their beehouse near the water. But was that truly all he could do for them? Some bees, like the shining, blinding, and digging bees, liked to immerse their hives in their attribute...but apparently not so with the swimming bees. They liked to dive in and out of the water but didn’t like to raise their young in it, it seemed. Belissar hummed to himself as he observed the hive in question with his Tower sight. Was there a way to put the beehouse in water without it filling up with water?

    The only thing that came to mind from Belissar’s own experiences were beavers, that built some kind of wooden lodge in the ponds they made...

    Belissar’s eyes widened. Maybe he could do something like that? Build a beehouse right in the water but that came up out of it? He walked over to the Apiary farmhouse and his building supplies there as he thought about it and tried to remember as much as he could about beaver lodges. He didn’t know a ton about them but figured it wouldn’t hurt to experiment a bit. It was not as if he lacked materials these days.

    And so, Belissar began to experiment with his beehouse designs, focusing on possible aquatic versions. Niobee, as usual, sat on his head throughout this whole process. She began a quiet “King is best king!” dance, careful not to distract him from the amazing and incredible ideas he was surely having. RΑ??O?E?s

    In the meantime, the Compact’s own experts in crafting and construction were having a discussion of their own. Deep underground the mountains of the realm of the fair, amidst the sound of forges, anvils, and mining, two black elves stood before a private forge.

    “Absolutely not!”

    Dungeon master Tamosmed blinked and even took a step back as Forgemaster Ughlarer bellowed at him. That...was absolutely not the reaction he had expected to his report...