Whilst Tsuna read his way laboriously through the kid's book of bee-keeping manual Giotto had given him, his initial fear of the bees slowly ceased and the child-like curiosity he was known for invaded him, just as he began to see the chaos of the ten thousands of creeping bees that studded the honeycombs become a comprehensible whole. Two of the hives were purely for observation, where the bees' daily life could be seen through the glass.
Giotto gently held Tsuna up as he started his conversation. "Tsuna, do you know, bees are actually deaf."
Tsuna tilted his head cutely along with confusion. Giotto could only laugh at the cuteness that the 5-year old possessed. Giotto then explained, "Which is odd when considered that they make such a myriad of different buzzing sounds. But maybe they could sense the vibrations from the buzzing, or maybe they made sounds that humans couldn't perceive. These bees orientate themselves with their sense of smell and their eyesight. Although they are partly color-blind, they can all make subtle distinctions between different shades of white."
Giotto looked around the bee farm with nostalgic feelings. His previous guardian had been harvesting honey for business, and Giotto had remembered the first time he had tasted honey with such delight.
"Look there, Tsuna! They're talking to each other now." A migrating bee stood on the alighting board of the hives, wriggling back and forth in some sort of entrancing dance.
"See that bee there?" Tsuna nodded.
"Hai!"
"That foraging bee has found a source of nectar." Giotto continued. "Now it's telling the others about the place and the kind of flower. Tsuna, let me tell you a secret," Tsuna crunched his face cutely, deep in thought before enthusiastically agreeing. "When a bee has found a source of pollen, the dance would have been different."
"By wriggling like that?" Tsuna tilted his head in confusion.
Giotto made a curious face. "Mmm… I wonder what it's saying," He mused.
"Then Papa, wouldn't it be impossible to translate?" Tsuna frowned.
Giotto laughed. "Not for your Uncle Reborn, Tsuna. Reborn could talk to any other thing and understand."
Tsuna pouted as he wanted to be like Reborn who could understand every word they were talking about.
"I'm not so sure about translating anything, but I think it's very factual. You see, everything that's beautiful and wonderful and poetic is often very factual, Tsuna. And I think the bee is trying to say something like this:
The wind is coming towards you from the northwest. Your wings must beat very fast. Fly up towards the great warm light, past the apple tree that has shed its blossoms, past the field clover, the orchids, and the two tulip trees. Go behind the tulip trees to where, in their shadow, the wild berry bushes are blooming. Go now."
Suddenly the cluster of bees that had been watching the dancing bee flew away.
Tsuna's eyes sparked at the interpretation that his father made. "Cool!"
As they walked towards another section, Giotto took a small pair of scissors and went off to the next hive.
"Tsuna, now I'm going to teach you to clip the queen's wings." Tsuna frowned at the loss of wings.
"Why Papa?"
"You see the hive here and the ones we visited before?" Tsuna nodded. "The hive is now full. The bees are at their best and richest now, the honey is glistening. Soon the old queen will lay new queen eggs and after that, she will fly out with almost the whole colony to establish a new home."
"So….. Does that mean Tsu-kun and Papa would never see them again?" Tsuna was on the verge of crying, and Giotto cooed at the adorable sight but tone down and pats his head, masking up his emotions.
"Yes, and Tsuna love honey, does he?" Tsuna nodded his head so furiously that Giotto was worried that his head might fall off. Giotto then continued. "They may even disappear completely, so we clip the queen's wings. When she flies outside, she will fall to the ground. Then we can sweep the swarm back to the old hive or put them into a new one."
The queen stood in a circle of workers. They bowed respectfully to her, fanned her with their wings to cool her and showed every sign of veneration. The queen herself seemed a little slow and listless. Without further ado, Giotto gently picked up the monarch and, holding her between his thumb and index finger, snipped with the little pair of scissors.
It was sad to watch for Tsuna, but the queen did not seem bothered by losing a pair of her wings and, when he put her back, her subjects continued their graceful exercises in subjugation, undisturbed.
Tsuna may not know most about what his father talked, but he silently prayed for the safety of the queen bee and went off with his father, back to the Vongola mansion.
I'm just writing this for fun. Let's just hope I could produce the next chapter of Kairos faster.
Word Count: 828