Beekeeping and Overworked Mice

Leon is, sadly, going to be away for about a week! This is him getting himself in the abbey infirmary. He'll be back soon though, so no worries! :)

Taran stands near the bee hive area, looking over the hives, a couple bees fly around him but he doesn't seem to notice, he looks to be putting some honey in a clay jar, even taking a small taste and smileing.

Shandar comes into the orchard slowly, still getting used to not havng the added weight of bandages around her. When she sees the fox, she pauses. She knows the abbey Champion is a fox, and he's very kind, but there /was/ just a fox who was thrown out of the abbey. She hopes that this creature is in no way related to the cast-away. "Um...Hello..." She speaks softly.

Taran lets a bee land on his paw and almost jumps at the arriveal of the mouse, seeing its a dibbun he frowns and moves slowly towards her, "T..T..the bees..n...not to c..close please" He shutters and offers a smile as one bee crawls up his arm then flies away.."Honey..s..some for the bees and..s..some for the abbey, most always..l..leave honey for the bees, they must eat too."

Shandar's eyes widen just a bit as the fox jumps, and then more when he lets the bee land on him. Sure, some of the guards are wary of her for multiple reasons, but she's never startled a larger creature then an otter. And that otter had been sleeping. She stays where she is on the fox's request, though she does want to come closer. All the older Brothers and Sisteres warn the dibbuns away from the hives, and Shandar is rather curious. "They eat honey?"

Taran nods "Yes..t..they do" He seems to stutter less when talking of bees, "Bees make honey for food,..t...thiers and ours, they sleeep in winter, soon sleep now s...see, but also protect the home, sting beasts who get close" He mskes a small buzzing noise as he walks away from the hive and watches the dibbun, "Bees not bother unless you bother them..s..see." He sets the clay jars down, he can take them in soon,"These..bees m..more tame t..than wild bees are outside,even found some while was away, wild honey and honey comb,now in storage in abbey"

Shandar watches the bees fluttering around the hives. When she lived in Mossflower, her parents had always warned her away from hornets and wild bees, and she had obeyed. "When you buzz, do you talk to them? Somebeast said that the GOUSIM can talk to them."

Taran nods "I talk to bees, they talk to me...I am a b..beekeeper,...m..my.." He frowns and takes a deep breath" My name..i...is..Taran"

Shandar smiles at Taran. "Taran...That's a nice name. I'm Shandar. Have you always been a beekeeper?" She's becoming rather comfotable and more forward with this fox- he's clearly not evil, and seems to have been at the abbey for a while.

Taran nods "A..almost, parents had bees..not s..sure how parents are n..now...I not seen.t..them in while"

Shandar has no interest in talking about family. To many painful memories linger there. So she only blinks and nods. "Ah. I hope they are well." Shandar speaks politely out of habit before moving to her /next/ question. "Are you the offical abbey brother beekeeper?" He isn't wearing a habit, but that doesn't mean much to the little mouse.

Taran frowns at the well thing but doesnt say anything on it, he smiles "I am..official bee keeper..ummm...not a brother...err, yeah no, just bee keeper"

"Oh." So not wearing a habit /does/ mean something, although maybe not to Shandar. "And you like the bees?" She doesn't feel a great need to ask this- If he didn't like bees, then why would he be a beekeeper?- but she asks anyway.

Taran smiles "I like bees...e..even had friend bee, named Buzz, he died..s..see bees dont live long 2-3 seasons, he lived 4 seasons"

"Aww. That's nice. " Shandar always thought the bees were cute and fuzzy- so why shouldn't one have a friend bee? She sits in the grass, leaning against a tree. "Wh'd he live longer than the rest?"

Taran shrugs, "M..Maybe c..cause stayed by me all time"

Shandar leans forward. "Are you magic?"

Taran chuckles "Umm...no..j..just a bee keeper and abbey beast"

Shandar seems a little put down by this, but not much. "Oh. but then why'd he live longer?"

Taran shrugs again, "H..He didnt s..stay with other bees, and was inside when..was cold unlike others...but I will..p..put something over hives to help them be..warm in winter, it..it will help"

Shandar makes a noise halfway between an 'ah' and 'oh'. A little like a grunt, but not quite so. "You know a lot about bees. Do they like music?"

Taran tilts his head "They..they dance, w..when need tell other bees..h..hey I know where a flower is..."

Shandar seems fascinated by this. "They /dance/? how?"

Taran chuckle "Umm...you may have to wait till...like..spring, and watch them"

"Will you show me? In the spring?" Shandar won't be allowed by the bees unless she's with an adult- even then , it will sugested that she refrain from interaction. But she really wants to see the bees dance.

Taran hmmms "Maybe...b..but would have to..b..be carefull, not scare the bees"

"I won't scare them. At least, I'l try not to." Shandar is quick to say this, but she does mean it.

Taran nods "W..Will see then, ok...I..been here couple seasons, tis nice here..mostly"

"Yay!" Shandar smiles. "wait..you're not leaving, are you?" Her eyes grow wide again, though she's not excited about this.

Taran shakes his head "N..no..why would I leave..l..live here"

"Cause you said 'we'll see', and 'it's nice here mostly.' Why would you say that if you weren't going to leave?" Shandar is not fully convinced that Taran is remaining at the Abbey.

Taran blinks and ohs.."Ju..just some..d..dont alway like me...and sometimes pe..peace turns..scary and..we see c..cause..d..depends on how bees are any one day"

"Don't like you? Why wouldn't somebeast like you? I like you. You're nice." Shandar gets up to give the fox a hug.

Taran blinks and is surprised at the hug and smiles, enjoying the hug and slowly hugs her back.."Y..you is a nice dibbun...and..don't..know maybe cause..I..I am a fox,..some ok with it..n...now, some arent"

Shandar humphs. "Bein' a fox doesn't mean anything." The power of the hug returns! Shandar likes to get and give hugs, and she's not to bad at telling who really needs one. "And thanks." she says this about being called a nice dibbun- she's never been called nice before.

Taran nods and smiles,.."S..Soon wont be outside as much, more inside"

"Because winter is coming, right?" Shandar is by far old enough to have witnessed winter before, but she's too new at the abbey to have taken part of winter activities here.

Taran nods "Its colder then..a..and most are inside then,not outside much"

Shandar picks up a leaf. The edges are green, fading into red, and the center is orange. She twists the stem between her paws, making the leaf flutter. "But we can come out, right? I like skating in the winter."

Taran nods "If not a..s..storm, yeah...was storm last winter"

"Did it destroy a lot in the abbey?" Shandar remembers the storm quite well, but doesn't know how it affected the abbey.

Taran shakes his head.."Umm..n..no..s..some dibbuns got caught in it...and was in some den...but was found and was ok"

Shandar gives the leaf one last twist and watches it fall to the ground, lost amid the others on the ground. "That's good. What do you usually do in winter?:

Taran says, "Stay warm"

Shandar wrinkles her nose. "Of course. But what else do you do?"

Taran smiles "I..read some..I draw or maybe..just...umm...not much, maybe help w..with chores"

"But chores can't be all winter...." Shandar looks at the abbey building. "Well, i suppose they could. But reading and drawing dont take up that much time. What outside things do you like to do?"

Taran shrugs "I..walk around grounds...check on bees maybe, least..make sure what k..keeps them warm is ok...no cracks ect"

"That's nice. I bet the grounds are real pretty in winter." Shandar's attention is drawn back to the hives. "They crack?"

Taran answers "Hives..d..don't..c..covering in cold weather t..times might sometimes...and grounds all..all white in winter"

"What do you do when the hives crack?" Shandar can't inagine that being very good for the bees.

Taran blinks "Umm...fix them"

"But how though?" Shandar wants to know. She may never need the information, but like most dibbuns, she's enternally curious

Taran shurgs "N..Not sur no..not had one crake before and covering was..was always ok.."

Shandar tilts her head a bit. "That's good."

Taran smiles at this "Y..You ask lots of q..questions..good to learn"

Shandar slides down to sit at the base of a tree again. She's glad that Taran isn't bothered by her questions, as somebeasts find it rather annoying. "I think so...and so much stuff that I dont know is really cool."

Taran smiles "S..Some stuff good ta know..some not"

Shandar nods. "What would you say is not good to know?"

Taran says, "umm..welll ummm...just some not good, like why learn...dont know, hmms maybe ok to know some things after all""

Leon walks along the pond edge, he is tried and it shows, he probally should of rested after helping clean after dinner, but he didnt. He stayed up and helped with a dibbun from the grasslands that got ahold of bad mushrooms, and helped another beast who broke a tail when a door was shut on it by acciedent, he sighs and leans on a tree, yeah he didnt sleep last night.

Shandar turns her heaed in his direction, and calls to him. "Hi Leon! Ho-" She pauses when she sees his face, and some concern creeps into her voice. "You're not ok, are you...Come and sit!"

Taran looks over at the mouse and tilts his head watching him and says "Hello..."

Leon waves slightly, "Hi..guys, oh I am fine, don't need to sit"

Shandar riases an eyebrow at Leon, doubting his word, but she doesn't push it. "Ok. Taran, this is Leon." Under her breath, she mumbles to herself. "Oh, please dont make me have to get Odira and Benar." it isn't that she doesn't like these other creatures, she just doesn't want to have to drag Leon to the infirm.

Taran nods "Hello...there sir"

Leon looks at Taran and Shandar and nods slowly, he sighs and almost tumbles when he goes to sit close by them.

Taran frowns "N..not t..too close to bees..o..ok?"

Shandar sighs and pushes her headfur back. Of course Leon pushed himself to far last night. She leans over to give him a hug, and whispers in his ear "Make sure you sleep tonight, and dont wind nup in the infirmary please. I dont wanna have to go there to visit you."

Leon nods "I will rest later..prmoised I..help somewhere" Yeah he sounds tried, a bee does buzz around him and of course he swats at it, course bees don't like when most does this and it lands on his paw, he shakes his paw to get it off, this turns out to be a bad idea as the bee tells him how it feels about that with a sting, he lets out a small yelp and the bee flys away now finally.

Taran ears go back at the yelp.."No..don't.s...swing" Well too late for that, he watches the bee fly off and stands to look at the paw where the sting is, if he can.

Leon's yelp makes Shandar jump, and she blinks as the bee flies off. "You gotta be more gentle than that with them. Let's see your paw."

Leon holds his paw which now swells up, he breaths in and out slowly as the stinging pain is still there, the stinger will still need out of his paw, this on top of the fact he should be resting, and now has a bee sting.

Shandar takes the older mouse's paw and withdraws the stinger carefully, burying it in the dirt. "There! I was always told bee stings helped you live longer. You'll be ok, but you mayhap would feel better with some ice."

Taran keeps an eye on the mouse who was stung, "I..Ice..a..and vinager works t..too"

Leon paw is swollen and he seems to of had a small reaction to the sting, but the stinger is out and this seems to help some, he closes his eyes and starts to get up.."I..will get something....oooooooh" And getting up to fast was a bad thing to do as he gets dizzy and then fallls right back down, eyes closed, for now unconious.

Shandar throws her paws up in the air. "What'd I tell him?" She stands, and calls to a passing novice. "Can you get Odira? She should be on duty.." The novice nods and runs for the infirmary.

Taran blinks and checks on the mouse, "W...what happen to him?" He is no healer.

Leon lets out a small groan, he may be slightly allergic to the bee sting, or stress, or both, he shivers some and stays semi-conious.

Shandar looks down at the unconcious mouse's face. She's not much of a healer, but she knows the basics, and some more. "He's overworked and tired and possible slightly allergic to bee stings." Odira comes striding up purposefully with the novice in her wake. The tough Sister has loaded the poor novice down with a stretcher and a basket that has been overloaded. She kneels by Leon. "Oh, I can guess what happened here." She hooks her paws under Leon and stands with him. Clearly, she hasn't /just/ been a nurse at the abbey.

Taran frowns "B..b..being alergic can be bad"

Leon groans but doesnt fully awaken, his paw still swollen and some stress is there, he has also not sleep in, well..day and a half,almost two if he goes much longer today.

Odira looks down at him and shakes her head. She looks over at the fox, and surveys him with her eyes. "Shandar, don't spend too much time out here, you'll give youself headache, and i know you don't want to end back in the infirmary." her hidden message is clear to Shandar, who knows Odira's history of fighting. Shandar shakes her head. "Taran is good, Orira. When'll Ahndia be done with chores?" Ordira smiles as she starts to walk away, taking Leon to the infirm with the novice trailing behind her again. "Sometime soon. Then you two can go play. Mayhap you'd like to go to the walls again when I'm done with my work."

Taran nods "I..I am good..b..bee keeper of abbey"

Leon allows himself to be on the cot, liek he has energy to protest, that and the sting did effect him some,not dangerously but enough to add some slight worry with the added stress and triedness.

Odira doesn't turn, but she shakes her head. "So many foxes here..." Shandar runs to give her a hug before she leaves with Leon. "I'l be up to visit him soon, and then you'll take me 'n Ahndi to the wall tops?" Odira nods and pats the dibbun's head. Shandar returns to Taran and explains to him, "It isn't that she doesn't like you, well, i suppose it is sorta like that, but she used to be a nurse in wars and stuff. Her Husband, Ahndia's dad, was killed by a fox. She'll like you in time though." She huggs Taran again before running off to help her friend finish her chores so they can go and play.

Taran nods, he stays put as they head off, he has honey pots to tend to.