Fight of the Bumblebees

 
AUTHOR: bcfan
FEEDBACK: bcfan@shaw.ca
THANKS to MaybeAmanda, a honey of a beta
RATING: Q for Quixotic
SUMMARY: A fandom fable.


Once upon a time there was First Hive. Life was happy enough, as these things go. Queen C-C nurtured the ancestors, a variegated waterfall of honey was produced, and the nuanced flavour of northwest liquid sunshine kept the progenitor group buzzing in appreciation.

Inevitably, over time, First Hive divided into factions, which formed their own hives and also flourished. This was natural and therefore good. When flowers carpeted the earth, when winter snows brought comb-side pleasures, all bumblebees – whether sacred Queens, or workers, or lowly drones – basked in luxurious certainty of their own perfection.

Until the day it all went to hell.

xXx

Dark passageway tinged in red, a familiar snugness brushing against her wingtips. The scent of honey drifted up, and the welcoming hum washed over her in waves. bip unconsciously echoed the hum, adding to the multitude's blessings. Her family.

bip hurried around a gently widening corner, eager with news, and skidded nose to nose with two of her hatchmates.

"News!" bip's eyes sparkled.

sip nodded. "We heard this season has to be the best."

"Yes!" jip added, and bip smiled. The smaller bee was so excited she was wing-flapping in the narrow space.

sip stroked jip's side and the fluttering stopped. jip blushed. "Sorry."

The three sisters gently rubbed foreheads and closed their eyes until calmer thoughts remained.

sip blinked. "New clover. A senior worker found it. The biggest crop in the history of Peachville. Queen I-P must be so pleased."

"Which worker?" jip asked.

"maip." sip added, "she is most experienced in scouting the far places."

bip nodded. Everyone knew this. Not all workers were created equal; some were created yesterday, and then there were those who seemed to have lived forever - almost from the time of First Hive.

A troubled wrinkle creased bip's brow. "I've heard, though, that the clover is on the edge - the edge of Pearville."

They shared a worried hum, until sip said, "Queen A-P has many strong workers, but we are the strongest. The one true hive."

jip bowed her head and used her whisper voice. bip and sip crowded closer to hear. "I've heard - from an older sister who talked to a senior worker who heard it from a captured scout - that Pearville and Plumville both claim to be the one true hive. Can there be more than one?"

"Shhh. We are first Queendom in all the Queendoms of Bees. Best honey. Strongest workers. Mighty Queen I-P." sip glared at jip. "Why do you doubt this?"

jip shrunk back, and bip stepped between her and her sister. It was both their duty and their pleasure to make the honey and consume the honey created in Peachville when the cycle was upon them. It was even true, though no one would admit it, that the honey of some workers was sweeter than others. But jip had always been a far thinker, beyond the hive. "Sisters, we are nourished here. If jip asks questions it is harmless thinking, as long," bip gave jip's side a pat, "as it does not stop our work. Our work is mighty. Queen I-P!"

"Queen I-P!" Their chant extended into an echoing swell, and each knew it was the meeting time.

It was crowded in the large hexagon chamber, but bip hummed contentedly in the crush and rub of bodies. She was never more sure of her place in the colony than when she was one mind, one hum. bip strained to catch a glimpse of Queen I-P, who was surrounded, as always, by her circle of attendants.

The hum swelled, then silenced as Queen I-P stepped forward. "This is our gathering time. Each year the crops in Peachville grow smaller, with fewer choices for harvest. But now, thanks to my skilful scouts, a new and vibrant crop has been found, one that will nurture us in the long cold season."

A confused murmur at the edges of the meeting, and Queen I-P smiled. "I know, my new hatchlings, that you've never heard of the cold season. Don't worry. It is as important a part of the never-ending cycle as is the warm and the rain. Only know this," a sudden serious expression, "Peachville needs this new crop. Every worker is vital. We must focus as one."

"Queen I-P!"

The Queen waited for the chant to lessen. "I will offer each one of you my Blessing as soon as the dance is completed. maip, are you ready?"

The crowd stepped back a respectful distance as maip centred herself to begin the dance. maip's scarred side and tattered wing spoke of her experience and bravery in the face of past foraging missions, and bip was aware - as they all were - of how maip's exact precision in all her directions was responsible for crop after harvested crop.

The hive was silent as maip choreographed her honey dance, an amazing tale of a crop so large it was beyond smelling, located at the very edge of Peachville in territory so far from the hive that no one had dared explore before. bip and her hatchling sisters knew how much this crop was needed to revitalize their meagre stores of honey but, as the buzz of the new echoed in every corner of the hive, she couldn't help but wonder if the clover was truly in Peachville territory at all. With the production of best and most bountiful honey as prime importance, some cheating between the Queendoms was inevitable, and even bip had heard of past fighting that had escalated into epic wars.

All worry was dispelled as bip stepped forward and took her turn to touch Queen I-P and be nourished by her. Excitement ran like a fever through the group and eyes were shining as they received the Queen's Blessing.

The dew weighed heavy on her wings as bip flew into the sunrise. Surrounded by her sisters, a line of workers extending as far as she could see, bip resolved to harvest as she had never done before. A passing thought of drones, and bip smirked - their life was easy, safe and brief, fertilizing and then dying, so insignificant they were all called by the same name - ip. bip had earned her given name though hard work, and if she were clever and resourceful enough she might, one day, be given the ultimate honour - two initials - and the responsibility of Queen's attendant. A high goal, an enormous goal, but bip was determined.

bip spied a small group resting on a leafy branch, and circled down to them as she spied jip and sip.

"Long journey," jip panted.

All hummed in agreement. sip slowly flapped her wings, cooling the group, and bip smiled. "Thank you."

"My sisters." sip declared. "My hive."

"I hear," jip murmured, "that's what all sisters in all hives say."

sip scowled and the others shuffled back. bip wasn't sure if they were unhappy or confused, but felt the separation as keenly as if the others were two wingspans away instead of two steps.

bip ignored the chanting of her inner hive thinking to puzzle over what jip meant. "Why do you think of other Queendoms, instead of our own?"

jip shrugged. "If maip is right" ("maip is right!" everyone buzzed) "yes, maip is right, and there will be so much clover that it would be impossible to harvest it all. We are on the edge of Pearville territory, and it's dangerous during foraging flights. Why should we fight each other?"

A confused humming of "Peachville is the best" and "we must fight Pearville!" closed around bip's head, and she saw jip cringe lower on the branch.

"I'm leaving," sip declared, "to harvest or to fight, whichever Queen I-P needs." sip's angry buzz followed her into the distance and the rush of others followed.

bip moved closer and rubbed against jip's side, comforting both of them. "Sister, you have new ideas."

"They crowd into my head," jip admitted. "I start to wonder why all hives can't be good, instead of just our hive. We are all bees. A different colony's honey can still nurture us."

"How can you know this, jip? Have you ever tasted honey from a different colony?"

"Of course not, but it must be so - aren't we all descendents of First Hive?"

bip hummed in reluctant agreement, then started as she noticed the last group of workers fly into the distance. "Hurry, jip," she declared, "being on our own is more dangerous that any of your new ideas."

Struggling to maintain a formation with the end group, jip and bip flew over a grassy meadow and rise of hill. And entered a nightmare's chaos.

There was carnage on the ground - dead bees with their tongues hanging out. Groups of her shell-shocked sisters were being gathered pell-mell into boxes, and a cloud of foulness choked bip. She quickly swarmed back to join a confused mob, shocked beyond reason. The attackers weren't another colony at all, but giants in strange, stinking, flapping coverings.

"What - what is this?" bip gasped, but no one answered.

maip suddenly flew into the centre. "Don't be frightened, sisters. See how powerful we are. The enemy is so afraid each one has donned their armour - White suits, helmets, veils and gauntlets - in their fight against us"

"No. We're doomed," a worker gasped. "It would take two million of us just to lift one of these creatures."

maip's smile was malicious. "Don't try to lift, sisters. Use your stingers. Crawl into the unprotected places, the soft pink places, and fight to protect Peachville!"

Sorrow clutched bip's heart as she flew back into the fray. Her sisters were dead or captured, her hatchmates were nowhere to be seen, and Queen I-P would not receive the life-giving nectar bip had vowed to provide.

bip warily circled the giant, but began to gasp as the smoke filled her lungs. She faltered, and was shoved unceremoniously into a box already filled to bursting.

As she lay stunned against the rough wood, jip and sip crawled to her side. They clung to each other and felt the box lift into a place which soon vibrated with movement.

As they pulled further and further away from Peachville and the only home bip had ever known, she puzzled over the meaning of jip's whispered message. "I saw this on the box before I was captured," jip had confided as she traced an 'x' over bip's heart.

bip resolved to fight this new and evil future, and whatever part she was intended to play in it. Her colony belonged in Peachville, not a box. The giants would realize their error soon enough.

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