Honeybee | Wanda Maximoff {AU}

Chapter Ten: Bicolor

Music is "Panic" by L Devine.

Picture is Claudia Doumit as Sarai.

}0{

Andrena Bicolor

Commonly referred to as Gwynne's mining bee, Andrena Bicolor is a common species which is found over most of Europe, as well as North African, the Middle East, and Siberia. A. Bicolor prefers calcareous grasslands to open woodlands, and is polylectic, meaning that it feeds from a wide variety of flowers. Like all other mining species of bee, A. Bicolor nests underground. Theses nest tunnels may be over one meter in length but are rarely recorded and difficult to locate.

}0{

Chapter Ten: Bicolor

{October -- Four Weeks Later}

In the time that has passed between my first day of the fall semester until now, I've come to realize that coming back to college was the best decision I could've made. After Hal died, and after Steve and I broke up, I didn't think returning to my studies was the right move. I think I wanted to wallow in my grief a little longer, let everything that happened over the summer really sink in.

If I'd done that, I might've never met Carol or Pepper. I might have never made peace with Steve. Who the hell knows if I would have found out about my mother and grandmother, my heritage, my title of Queen. I might have never met Wanda.

Despite Tony's annoying habits, Loki's mischievous pranks, and the looks Wanda and I still get when she pecks me on the cheek every now and then, things couldn't be better. Our project is going perfectly; we're nearly ready to turn it in early. My friendships with Nat and Peggy next door are also blooming; I've taken the occasional ballet class with Natasha and I've helped Peggy organize her first inter-sectional feminist rally.

Carol and Pepper have started to come around to Wanda, too. Every Saturday night, we have a girl's game night. While their boyfriends are out doing God only knows what, the six of us have decent, truly hilarious fun. We get a glass of wine, a good Spotify playlist, and play everything from truth or dare and kiss-kill-marry to charades and poker.

Melizza did return as she said she would. However, she didn't come back with any other bees. To her surprise, the queen of her hive insisted she be my guide.

"Now that the protection spell is gone, your abilities will start to emerge!" Melizza told me excitedly. "You will be able to do many, many things, just like your grandest mother did."

She never elaborated on what those abilities might consist of, but I'm ready for anything.

The books I picked up from the occult shop where Wanda and Stephen work led me to other dead-ends. I should've known that they were aimed more towards practicing Wiccans instead of what I am. Whatever I am, there's no fucking book on it, that's for damn sure.

But I haven't let it bother me. It won't get to me. In time, everything will reveal itself.

It has to.

"Are you sure I can not come to class with you, Sarai?" Melizza asks in the pleading tone of a child.

I shake my head at the little honeybee, standing by the door to the lecture hall. "Go find a flower to pollinate," I tell her with a small smile. "Get some rest and something to eat. Report back to the hive if you want. I'll only be in here an hour, at most."

Though disappointed at my answer, Melizza hops from my shoulder and buzzes into the air. "I will be back as soon as I report to my hive!" she exclaims.