I stood outside the hive. It was a wooden box that protected the delicate paper honeycomb the Wasps had built. "How you doing today, mama?"

Sleepy. All of us are sleepy. My children have fed well and we sleep. I sleep. Leave me to sleep or you'll die and it'll be your fault.

"Okay, if you need anything let me know. The mite problem is going away pretty fast."

Begone, I don't want you to die full of my venom.

"Mighty neighborly of you." Okay, one less thing to worry about. Now for the legs.

Ruhk and his crew had attached the splints. Mabruk the Balloon was doing something with chemicals and Gardener magic. Grafting the wood supports to the legs of the maimed Winnie.

"What can I do for you, Mabruk?"

"I'm worried this will cause her pain. I work with plants, but not plant-animal hybrids like this. Do you have any anesthetic? Truckloads of fifty-gallon drums? I worry about infection. I worry about feeding her, she hasn't eaten since she's been downed. I worry about–"

"You're doing fine. She looks so much better already. You're doing great."

"You think so? Arms twisting and knotting together into a single braid beneath his balloon body. I didn't know what these gestures had meant before, but I did now. Mabruk was worried. "She's such a good girl, you know?"

"Of course, of course. Try not to worry. There's nobody else here who could do a better job than you and Ruhk's crew. It's a big task and she loves you."

MABRUK, sent Molly.

We jumped.

LOVE

"See?" I said.

"...Okay. thanks. You're trying too, I know it. Nobody else wants to be in charge. Being in charge sucks." He patted me with an armored hand. "I remember having this face."

"Miss it?"

"That face causes problems. There are Humans who hate it."

"Humans suck."

"They do. You know they don't like the City of Trees? The Gardener town upriver. The Covenant threatened us a few months ago. Unclean alien monsters, they said. What did we ever do to them?"

"You existed. If you don't mind my asking, what's it like to be in that body?"

"Bitchin! I can fly! And I can see everywhere, eyes all around. And I can work on things and I don't need furniture and if want to keep working I can sleep and this weird Gardener brain shuts down and keeps working on whatever, so it's done when I wake up…" He went on and on, and I got a little jealous.

When he finally wound down, I asked: "Why is she growing so fast?"

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"Some of it's me, some of it's you and your Runes. Amalthea has steel supports that allow Molly to grow new tissue more quickly. But mostly it's Molly. She's learning Magic and she's … motivated."

TODD

"Todd hurt you," I said. "He hurt us."

TODD

We waited, but she said no more on the subject. I met one of Mabruk's many random iridescent eyes and the thought zipped between us: neither he nor I would want Molly angry with us.

He buzzed off with his wrist propeller to work on Left Rear Lower, what we'd taken to calling the worst of the burned legs.

"Red Alert, gents." It was Lir. "Incoming. I've seen this car before: the Winnie Council."

"What do they want?" I was irritated already, and I'd never had a council visit.

"To make sure things are on the up-and-up."

"Who are they to decide?"

Lir's ears went back. "Oh, don't be that guy. It's okay for them to want to keep their city safe."

The problem with having a peer group of people who are copies of you: they see your personality issues. "Bah," I said.

"Adaobi's on the council, you know." Lir's voice was sly, insinuating.

"What do I care?"

"Just trying to keep you informed."

"Bah!" I said.

"Bah!"

BAH

The flying car was Caravan-fancy, which meant it was festooned with quirky artworks and colorful designs. The Council was just one guy today. Adaobi was with him.

Adaobi was in her purple and white again, but the animation playing on her skin was no longer the anime lightning. Now bees and hummingbirds would flit across her bare arms and legs, under her denim shorts and red cotton tank top. I carefully didn't look.

She hugged me hard. I'm not aware of the calculus that goes into such relationship changes, but we were apparently on hugging-as-greeting terms now. So I grabbed, leaned back, lifting her off the ground, and she laughed.

Too far? Too much? I hastily dropped her and scanned her face. Just a grin and good vibes at seeing me and the guys again. Okay, haven't irritated Adaobi yet. I was sure I'd get to it eventually.

She introduced the Council guy as Piscator. I'd flunked Latin once, so I knew it meant "Fisherman." He didn't look like a fisherman. He looked like he'd sprung up from the earth as its protector. A benign-looking gnarled Human male, middle-aged, sun-brown and wearing the same coveralls, safety goggles and gloves I wore. He had a big yellow rubber boots.

Tom Bombadil, I thought. Jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo, here to bother me instead of simping for his hot wife Goldberry.

"Look at this," he said jovially, spinning around, fists on his hips. "You've been busy!!"

I nodded, arms folded. "Thank you."

Adaobi raised an eyebrow at me. I suspected she didn't know how this was going to go. I knew.

"I'm going to look around," Piscator said, and trudged off, over the hill that was the side of my wounded Winnie. "Back in a bit!"

I was sorely tempted to follow him, to make sure he didn't mess anything up or scare Molly. I didn't. These people, they come and they evaluate you and they tell you how you need to be doing things and they get snotty and start criticizing as if they themselves had never failed at anything, ever.

I sent a zap of thought: Keep an eye on this guy, people. He's trouble.

The Walshes responded with grim agreement, Lir excepted. He's just doing his job, okay? It's been a rough patch for Caravan.

That was true. Flaming Winnies, a terrorist attack, news shows broadcasting it all. And if I knew Humans and their organizations, they'd be needing a fall guy.

Adaobi watched me, might have picked up some of my telepathic trash talk. She looked surprised and puzzled. "What's wrong?"

I shrugged. She'd brought him, after all.

She blinked and took a step back. Confusion and hurt from her.

No time for this. "You know what?" I told the assembly. "Let's get this guy out of here."

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