• Solo • Smooglenuff Bees: The Flowers

[Devin]

Ymiden 2, Arc 722

Contrary to popular belief, Devin Thorn, Baron von Smooglenuff and High Priest of Delroth, did not mind kneeling on the ground and sticking plants into it. He actually didn’t mind his clothes getting dirty too much – because it gave him an excuse to change into new clothes and show off more of his amazing collection of outfits, and wasn’t that great?

This particular trial, he was wearing knee length trousers and a skirt, because both knee length trousers and skirts were in fashion this season. Well, his skirt was actually a kilt - and it was bright orange, because orange was in fashion as well. His pants were a deep shade of emerald green, and he was wearing a somewhat loose-fitting and short-sleeved purple sweater. His eyes were purple, so he had decided to incorporate that color into his look as well.

Finally, he had put a wide-brimmed hat on, to protect his head. Ymiden on Scalvoris was hot!

Next to him, Anthony Adams, Smooglenuff Manor’s resident beekeeper was kneeling. When Devin had first met him, he had thought that he had absolutely terrible taste in fashion. He still thought so, but the young man was also pretty much a genius, so he’d decided to forgive him his lack of style (which currently involved muddy brown pants and a shirt of the same color that had leather elbow patches). Maybe, he’d give him a makeover later on, but for now he considered it to be more appropriate to tell him what to do.

He loved telling people what to do!

“You told me that kittenbees love daisies and roses, so I thought I’d give our future kittenbees some so that they are happy and content and hopefully make more honey”, he told Anthony. When the human nodded, he continued, “I think it’s too late in the arc to sow daisies, so we’ll use the finished plants instead. That should still work in early Ymiden. At least, this book here says so”, he proclaimed and pointed at a thin book that was lying next to him on the ground and that showed a smiling old lady with a watering can.

Its title was “So you want to start a flower garden?”.

“We need to dig holes that are twice the diameter of the pot the daisies came in”, he said and pointed behind them where a number of daisies in small flowerpots stood.

Devin had ordered them from the main island, and a servant had gone there to pick them up. They seemed to have survived the trip, but Devin had decided that it would be better to plant them as soon as possible anyway. He was not a very good gardener, but he doubted that plants that were meant for the garden would survive very long in a pot!

“I’m not sure if I should help you. I can deal with the bees, but I’m not a gardener”, Anthony replied in a soft tone of voice and blushed a little when Devin thrust a pretty bright red shovel at him and proceeded to smile absolutely radiantly at him.

“That's nonsense”, Devin retorted in a firm tone of voice. “You are a bee expert. Flowers are an important part of beekeeping. So, you have to be good at planting flowers and digging holes to put them into. I’m absolutely certain that you are in fact great at digging holes and sticking stuff into them”, he added with a radiant smile on his face.

Anthony returned the smile, took the shovel and started digging away. Before long, Devin followed suit. He did realize that he didn’t necessarily have to plant the daisies himself – he had servants – but people loved and admired a Baron that worked rather than just giving people orders, and he wanted to be the most loved and admired Baron in all of Idalos!

[Devin]

Contrary to popular belief, Devin didn’t hate math either, even though it was a science that was often described as boring and tedious. On the contrary, he loved it even though he wasn’t very good at it. Math helped him figure out how many nels he had and keep track of all the stuff he owned in general. Currently, he was using math to make sure that the various holes were all spaced about one foot apart, because he didn’t just want to make sure that the kittenbees had all the flowers they needed – he also waned the flowerbeds that Anthony and he were just working on to look good, at least until the kittenbees devoured the flowers.

That was important!

He used some sort of very long wooden ruler to measure the distance between the holes – and to make sure that they were approximately in a straight line.

That was something that he disliked, because he didn’t always get everything right immediately and had to start over as a consequence. He liked not immediately being perfect!

The daisies that Devin had decided to plant in the garden of Smooglenuff Manor were of the big, bushy variety rather than those tiny daisies that you could find in the wild. Those looked more impressive. Devin was quite eager to get them out of their pots, but he didn’t hand Anthony a pot right after he had finished digging regardless. Instead, he reached into the small bag he had brought with him, a huge grin on his face, and removed a bottle from it. It was a drink that tasted of strawberries, with just a hint of alcohol which made it even better.

“I think that we deserve a little break before we continue”, he proclaimed and proceeded to remove another thing from his bag, a small jar with chocolate chip cookies. “So, let’s enjoy these here - and maybe we can discuss what our next steps should be once we’ve finished planting”, he added, in order to give Anthony the opportunity to talk about one of his favourite topics – bees – and because he was quite interested.

A few seasons earlier, he had already begun to work on a vineyard and plant grapevines. His goal was to make wine with honey – from Smooglenuff Manor’s own apiary!

[Devin]

“So”, Anthony said while he munched on the cookies and enjoyed the delicious strawberry drink. “It’s a little late in the arc to start an apiary, but I think we’ll manage. We should of course have the necessary equipment in place before the bees move in. I’d recommend just buying beehives rather than making them ourselves as that will be faster. Although I could probably design a beehive if you want me to, Your Grace”, he added. He sounded rather proud when he said that, Devin observed.

Anthony was often a little withdrawn and a little on the quiet side, but at the moment, he was talking a lot, and with obvious enthusiasm, and what more, his brown eyes were shimmering brightly!

“Apart from that, there really isn’t much that needs to be done. Bees need plenty of flowers, but that won’t be an issue in our case, especially once we’ve finished planting. I’ll take care of feeding the bees, and I’ll make sure that they’ll adjust to their new home, of course”, he told Devin and grabbed another cookie before he informed him in a very serious tone of voice, “These are quite delicious!”

“Maybe we could surround the beehives with some sort of fence so that the other animals that live here won’t be able to reach them?” Devin suggested and proceeded to take a sip from his drink. He was a little worried about Heidi, his pet goat, wandering up to the beehives and sticking her snout into one – or trying to take a bite out of a beehive!

She had eaten his homework once, so he didn’t consider her trying to eat a beehive to be entirely impossible!

“I was just going to say”, Anthony replied and swallowed before he continued, “Fences might be a good idea. They will encourage the bees to fly upwards and get above head height. I can take care of the fences with Marvin, provided that he has time”, he offered. Marvin was the chief engineer of Smooglenuff Manor – a small mouse cadouri.

“I think buying beehives is okay for now”, Devin decided, figuring that he could just make them look pretty and customize them a bit if they didn’t meet his high standards. “And I’d appreciate it if Marvin and you could make some fences. As for the equipment, just tell me what exactly you need, and I’ll make sure that everything will get delivered from the main island as soon as possible”, Devin told him with a grin. He loved spending money and ordering stuff and making everybody happy.

Including himself, of course!

“Anyway, shall we continue now?” he asked once they had finished their cookies and drunk their drinks. Anthony nodded, and before long, they were both busy gardening again!