The Bee Dungeon
Chapter 278: Bee Civilized?

Tarwantrad skipped as she led Belissar up to the city. Belissar was excited at first…but the stares he got from as they approached the city dampened his enthusiasm. The fair folk would look at their group with curiosity and then shock once they either caught sight of Metsaitti or looked more closely at Belissar’s ears, after which their expressions morphed into suspicion, fear, and occasionally even anger. Fortunately, no one approached them, perhaps due to either Tarwantrad’s presence or the soldier bees buzzing overhead, but Belissar couldn’t say he was comfortable here. He just did his best to draw confidence from the presence of his bees and ignore the stares. At the very least, he knew they couldn’t hurt him, so he didn’t need to fear them.

Tarwantrad noticed and clenched her fists, but she couldn’t control the other fair folks’ reactions so she just sped up the tour. She showed him to the marketplace full of stalls and stores offering all the land of the fair had to offer. Belissar didn’t have any money and hadn’t brought anything to barter with either, so they just looked over the selections for future reference. Belissar did mark some flower and seed vendors to visit sometime, particularly the ones that attracted Niobee’s attention.

Tarwantrad then pulled the group to a quieter street and sighed.

“…I’m sorry, Belissar. After the signatories, I really should have expected this. The Compact really isn’t used to humans, are they?”

Belissar could only shrug.

“As long as they fulfill the bargain. Queen Vanieskon said she’d send merchants to my Tower, anyways, so I can just trade with them there.”

Tarwantrad’s expression fell further but she nodded.

“Hopefully they’ll warm up to you in time. For now…how about we stop by some of the dungeon masters who haven’t given you boons yet? Just…be warned, some of them may not be particularly friendly.”

Belissar nodded.

“That’s fine, I don’t care if they’re rude as long as they give me something for the bees.”

Tarwantrad just gave him a weak smile.

Tarwantrad led him into an area full of buildings made of white wood and stone, with plentiful silver and jewels adorning them. Marble statues and white trees lined the sides of the roads, which were filled with tall elves with blonde, white, and silver hair. Most of them turned their noses up and avoided looking at Belissar’s group, those that did scoffed or whispered to one another. Tarwantrad’s face scrunched up.

“We’re visiting Aratodel, a silver elf dungeon master. As you can unfortunately tell, silver elves can be a bit snobby. Aratodel…ok, I’ll just say it. He’s worse. He hasn’t given you a boon because he refused to go and visit you. He thinks that’s somehow a sign of submission according to some esoteric silver elf etiquette or something.”

She let out a sigh.

“He’s probably going to be very rude, and I doubt he’ll give you anything particularly good. He happens to be the closest one…but I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t want to go.”

Belissar frowned.

“He will give something though, right?”

Tarwantrad hesitated but ultimately nodded.

“He does follow through on his commitments, at the very least.”

Belissar shrugged. He'd put up with a lot if it helped the bees.

“Then it’s fine.”

Tarwantrad sighed again but led the way to a dungeon towering over the other buildings. The dungeon’s entrance was guarded by two elves in silver armor.

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“Halt, who goes there?”

Tarwantrad sighed yet again.

“Tarwantrad, obviously, along with Tower Keeper Belissar. We are hear to see Aratodel.”

The guard scoffed.

“Lord Aratodel has not informed us you had an appointment today.”

Tarwantrad rolled her eyes.

“We don’t need an appointment. We are two masters of the Circle, Aratodel’s peers.”

The guard sneered but Tarwantrad cut him off from whatever he was about to say.

“Fine, you want to play that way? Lord Aratodel is being graced by a visit from a signatory of the Compact itself, as a favor to allow him to fulfill his duty to the Circle at his own convenience. If you wish word to spread that your master has allowed his servants to spurn a signatory in such a situation, then fine. He can come and offer an apology to Tower Keeper Belissar at a later date.”

The guard kept sneering but his partner grabbed by the shoulder, glanced at Belissar, and whispered into his ear. The first guard’s eyes widened and started trembling.

“That…won’t be necessary. Allow me to announce your arrival and I’m sure Lord Aratodel will find time to meet with you.”

Tarwantrad rolled her eyes.

“I sure hope so.”

Belissar glanced at Tarwantrad. She just sighed and shook her head before walking into the dungeon. Belissar followed along.

Inside was a grand hall made of white wood and adorned with carpets and artwork, all lit by a bright silver chandelier overhead. Belissar couldn’t help but glance around, this Aratodel seemed to be quite wealthy. Tarwantrad, however, smirked and leaned over to whisper to him.

“Belissar, you have silver nodes, don’t you?”

Belissar blinked.

“Oh…I do.”

Tarwantrad giggled.

“You could do this much as well if you wished…but you prefer to spend your time on the bees, don’t you?”

Belissar rubbed his chin. When she put it that way…he guessed he shouldn’t be so shocked by all this. It would be theoretically possible to gather as much silver as all this, but Tarwantrad was right. He’d much rather spend the mana and effort on more bees.

A servant arrived and led them to a smaller room with chairs and couches to wait and then brought over some cups and a kettle made of some kind of white clay.

“How would you like your tea?”

Belissar tilted his head.

“What’s tea?”

The room went completely silent. The servant froze and stared at him with open shock. Tarwantrad blinked before smiling and then covering her mouth to hold in a giggle. They stayed like that for about a minute before the servant suddenly straightened.

“If you’ll excuse me, the master has called for me.”

Tarwantrad let out her laughter as the servant all but ran out of the room. Belissar glanced over at Metsaitti but the karnuq hunter just shrugged his shoulders, so he had to wait for Tarwantrad to settle down.

“Sorry, it’s just, tea is huge to the silver elves, so you not even knowing what it is…”

She had another fit of giggles that she shook her head to clear.

“Tea is a drink made from boiling the leaves of the tea plant. It has a stimulating effect and is good for you, it’s very popular among the Compact but especially with the silver elves. They base half their culture around it.”

Belissar furrowed his brow.

“I…see? So…it’s like a herbal infusion?”

Tarwantrad nodded.

“Very much so. In fact, we call those herbal teas here. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about them before, it’s just tea is so ubiquitous here that it didn’t cross my mind you wouldn’t know about it.”

At that moment, the doors slammed opened. In walked a silver elf man wearing long and flowing white robes and silver jewelry. He marched right across the room carrying a huge box and slammed it on the table, glaring at Belissar.

“You there, savage, take this. It is a set of starter blends for novices…and children. Since I have heard you are fond of bees, I have graciously included the necessary seeds to grow more, a greater boon you could not receive. Do not return to my halls until you have learned some civilization.”

He spat out the word and then marched out before anyone could respond. The servant from before followed in a hurry and brought a box with a set of cups and a kettle, all the same kind of white pottery as the ones before.

“Here, the master insisted you have your own tea set.”

Belissar blinked at the sudden storm of events and turned to Tarwantrad. The green elf crossed her arms and huffed.

“Rude as usual. This is why he has no friends in the Circle, calling us savage when he can’t even be bothered to greet us! Honestly, I had less reservations about introducing you to Finnakynne than this so-called lord!”

Belissar let Tarwantrad mutter about their host and turned his attention to the big box. He opened the lid to find the box sectioned into neat compartments. Some held dry leaves, others held seeds, others held books. Something about the art of tea according to the title. Belissar glanced up.

“One question…do these make flowers? He mentioned bees so…?”

Tarwantrad snapped out of her muttering, turned to him, and nodded.

“Well, yes, they do.”

Belissar smiled, packed up the box, and looked over at the servant.

“Then I’ll take it. Could you thank the dungeon master for the boon for me?”

Tarwantrad blinked, glanced over at Belissar, then up to Niobee, then back down to Belissar again and made a warm smile. She shook her head with a chuckle.

“Well, if you’re happy, then it can’t be helped. Come, let’s get out of here.”

Belissar kept his smile as Metsaitti picked up the big box while he grabbed the smaller one with the pottery. After all, he didn’t care about how rude the dungeon master was if he got flowers for the bees.