Chapter 592: Food, dances and fireworks
Worriesgone asked it in her most pitiful voice. Her eyes were open wide and full of sincerity, but not tearful. There was determination in them—determination to convince everybody that things can only be done her way, because it was the ONLY true way. Everything else was simply absurd.
But Workharder wasn’t easily swayed, either.
“That would be a festival we can actually afford! Especially since you wrote that we must feed not only bees, but also human guests! Humans have even less food diversity available than we do. Say what you want, I just can’t pull things out of thin air!”
Upon hearing this, Worriesgone imdiately turned to .
“Can you, Father?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it… then found words to say.
“Pull things out of thin air? My dear, if I could, so maaaaaany things would’ve been solved much, much easier!” I waved my arms energetically. “C’mon! We must be realistic sotis, too. If Workharder says that we only have a certain diversity of food, then we must use what we have. Be imaginative! Maybe there are so ways to cook things that we haven’t tried? New spices? Putting more salt? Making the food look pretty, at the very least!”
Worriesgone’s shoulders lowered, but only for a second. A mont later, she sat straighter and proudly raised her chin.
“You are so right, Father! I must focus on what my sisters and I can’t do, not on what we can’t. But then we will need extra food for test cooking… And so good cooks that could work together with Artists to make new dishes.”
Workharder relaxed noticeably.
“Sure, we can get you extras for training. The food production is the thing that suffered the least, even when The Fields Region was set on fire. The burned fields were grown anew faster than the trail tracks that burned amid them…”
“The cooks are easily arranged, too,” Ambrosia said when Workharder fell silent. “I believe we can move to the next part.”
“chas!” Worriesgone chirped. “A lot of chas will have to take part in the festival. It would be amazing if their crews could learn to make the chas dance, too! Our dances are so of the most beautiful parts of our culture; it’d be amazing if humans could see them properly. But we’d have to dance right in front of their eyes for that, unless we use chas.”
“They are heavy industrial machines. They aren’t designed for dancing,” Researchina imdiately protested. “The motions used in dances would put much more strain on their joints and motors than ordinary movent. Do I even need to say how large the risk will be of a cha tripping and falling? In other words, this is another impossible thing.”
Worriesgone’s shoulders slumped again. She was almost pouting now…
From a peek at her notes, I could tell that she wasn’t done pouting today. The rest of her list was similarly far-reaching.
“I guess… We can…”
I watched Worriesgone wrack her head with curiosity. At this point, I already ca up with a possible solution, but I wondered if Worriesgone will arrive at it herself.
She didn’t disappoint.
“We can dress up humans in bee costus and make them dance our dances. They won’t be able to fly, but the most traditional dances are done on the ground, anyway,” Worriesgone said, looking decisively unhappy about it. “But it won’t be the sa as bees dancing these dances…”
‘It will spread our culture even wider among humans, sister,’ Whisper’s telepathic voice rang over the table. In the heads of people sitting around it, to be more specific. ‘I bet you don’t want to share the dances your Artists have co up with, but it will do everybody good! Humans will venerate them, I bet.’
Worriesgone nodded, still pouting.
“Fine, fine. Uh… Then the next on the list… Father, I rember that you’ve ntioned ‘fireworks’ once. You described them as things that are often done at large festivals or celebrations. Colourful flowers in the sky made with gunpowder. Can we do that?”
I raised my eyebrows, then glanced at Researchina, who was now also alert like a bloodhound that scented prey.
“We do have gunpowder, but fireworks require more than just that. A small rocket—a bomb with gunpowder—just has to be shot into the sky, where it would explode at a safe distance from everybody. And chemicals must be mixed into it to make the explosions more colourful. I will tell what little I know about the technology of their making, but it’s entirely up to Researchina whether we can or can’t do it. Humans don’t have similar technologies, don’t they?”
I addressed the question to Whisper’s chair.
‘No, Father,’ she replied. ‘But maybe Researchina can use sothing like a cannon for a start?’
I shrugged.
“This is up to her to see if this is viable.”
Worriesgone nodded, looking like she didn’t expect a very different answer.
“Then those were the main things I had doubts about,” Worriesgone said. “We can move to the others. Like, where should the celebration be held? The area near Hive Supremo is too small.”
‘Near the High King’s palace, then? This is where humans of the Bee Empire hold their biggest celebrations,’ Whisper replied.
“But this is all mostly human territory, yes-yes!” Things-Things protested. “There are barely any of our sub-hives there. We need to be festive-celebrate sowhere, where more bees will be able to see it.”
‘Bees can travel easier than humans! This ans…’
We continued to discuss the details and logistics of the upcoming celebration for several hours straight. Even Undecided and her partner-Oracle looked tired and bored of watching us—her expertise was entirely unneeded today, but it was their duty to observe and share information with their sisters-Oracles.
In the process, we consulted telepathically with our other subordinates, argued about minute details and generally spent ti well.
It was good, for a difference, to discuss preparing a celebration, not defending against a threat. A festive mood was already brewing, starting from the Empire Council.
Soon, an invitation will travel on another plane toward Ramwill…
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