26. LOL

[heisrisen]

[Public]

[The Emperor stands the hallway of Level One, awkwardly clutching a beehive shaped like a small griffon, with soot smudges on his face, dirt on his clothes, a few drowsy bees bumbling around him, and the door of his room, smoke billowing gently through the sliver of open door behind him.]

No need to be - alarmed.

[His breath catches wrong, and he coughs hard for a few seconds.]

Planned incineration. Perfectly contained.

If nobody claims the bees they're going to the greenhouse.



[Private to Barbara]

I'm going to need a new room.



[Spam - deliveries for Bush, Morgana, Hannibal, and Sylvanas.]

[Hours earlier, but not many- On the morning of the 10th, each of them will open their doors to find neatly potted plants. Bush recieves one elegant apple bonsai, less than two feet high. Morgana gets several pots of pansies, in different colors, arranged so as not to block the door, Sylvanas gets catnip, and Hannibal gets herbs - basil, sage, rosemary, and thyme.]

Comments

[onecertainly]

They allow you to keep bees aboard a ship?

[heisrisen]

Yes. There's another hive in the greenhouse already. The Marquis and I stole them when we landed in Chicago.

De Carabas, not de Sade. He's gone now.

[onecertainly]

But why? Why would anyone steal bees -- for a ship, no less?

[heisrisen]

For the garden on the ship.

I'm from a time when bees have long since gone extinct, and he was a subterranean city dweller. We were mutually fascinated.

[onecertainly]

[ He's not sure whether to touch on the extinct bees or subterranean city first.

He goes with bees. ]

How did the bees die out?

[heisrisen]

Nobody quite knows, at least not the direct cause. A lot of nature was destroyed, a few hundred years past your time, and in the midst of it they just...more and more hives failed, until they were all gone.

[onecertainly]

That's... quite disheartening, actually. I never thought I'd mourn bees but --

I'm glad you found these.

[heisrisen]

It is. They're much more important than they seem - they pollinated thousands of plant species. Things got a worse a lot more quickly without them.

Some systems recovered in time, but some did not. These are - precious.

[onecertainly]

Is the greenhouse suited for them? It would be a shame to lose them after such trouble.

[heisrisen]

They're stalwart little creatures. As long as there's flowers or sugar to forage, they take care of one another.