Chapter 5 – “Sharing a Body is Hard”

Today had to be the worst day of Ambi's life. She had become separated from her sisters and she didn't even know if they were still alive, she had been attacked by a hornet whose bite seemed to negate her already poor channeling abilities, and she woke up in a strange body that started to move completely on its own. And to top it all off, she now had to share that body with someone else. Still, it wasn't all bad. She had just figured out who that "someone else" was, and that person had seemed to adjust to sharing a body with Ambi quite well. At the very least, Ambi seemed to be able to depend on her to eat, stay alive, and maybe even listen to Ambi's own requests from time to time. She asked a lot of annoying questions, but Ambi could understand why she asked them. While Ambi didn't feel comfortable answering all of them yet as she didn't know if she could trust the human woman yet, she answered everything she could to the best of her ability so long as she felt comfortable doing so. Although, she did feel a little stupid that the alias she had given the woman was just the first syllable of her name. And given everything she's revealed so far and that the woman had already seen what she looked like before she began sharing a body with the woman, she figured that the woman would have been able to deduce her identity as Third Princess Ambi if she was one of the enemies who was after her.

 Anyways, given that she now knew that the woman she was sharing a body with was the same woman she saw resting earlier, she became a bit curious about the woman. She didn't even know her name! Once the woman figured out that Ambi was the bee she had rescued from the hornet, Ambi figured that it was a good time to ask the woman a bit about her own life. But before she could do that, the woman began examining the hornet that had attacked Ambi earlier and Ambi saw something that chilled her to her core.

"NO!!! BLOOD!!!" Ambi's screamed. The force of her words practically rattled the inside of her skull with enough force to give her a headache if she wasn't already high on adrenaline. "NO, THAT CAN'T BE!!! I- NOOO!" Ambi continued to scream incoherently.

There was blood on the hornet's right mandible. Ambi could clearly see it, the poppy-colored stain right where the mandible had dug into her side when she was attacked. She remembered the moment it happened quite clearly, and the memory of the pain she felt caused her to mentally wince. She hadn't been able to notice the bloodstain earlier, but when the human woman lifted the strange darkening apparatus off her eyes, Ambi could see the hornet's colors much more clearly and the stain fell into focus.

 "'A-AM!?'" she heard the woman yell, gripping the Spear of the Four Seasons tightly as she nervously glanced around her as if she expected a fight. "What's going on!? Are we in danger? Did the hornet changing color mean something bad!?" she exclaimed between gasps of air. She was now in a full panic, and it felt to her like she was being attacked by a crowd of angry people even though there was nobody around. Ambi could tell that the woman felt this way since they were sharing a body, and to be fair, these feelings were just how the woman interpreted Ambi's own emotions. For all the woman knew, Ambi had seen something and was now panicking for some reason. Not knowing why only served to increase the woman's own level of fear, as for all she knew was about to be attacked and 'Am' was too frightened to help her.

 "…" 'Am' didn't respond to the woman. She couldn't. Her mind was cycling through 100 thoughts a second, each one more catastrophic than the last. "They'll take my blood, they'll complete the ritual, they'll summon her, they'll lose control, they'll destroy it all, and it will all be my fault! I'm a failure! Curse my royal blood!" Such were her thoughts. It didn't matter if her sisters, who weren't royal bees, bled or died, as their blood was the color of creeping zinnia flowers. But hers, which was like the inner petals of a poppy flower, was royal blood. It was special. It could be used in certain rituals on certain holy days, and one such ritual was so dangerous that it was forbidden for anyone who had not achieved the status of "oracle." And even then, it was still forbidden except if the world was facing an extinction-level event. Many of the Beings of Mind, high angels and great demons especially, would love nothing more than to acquire the blood of a royal channeler. And now, there it was, spilled and glistening in the sunlight on the mandible of a hornet that had been cursed by such a demon. This was the worst possible situation, and Ambi knew it. The panic this caused her left her unable to even speak.

 The woman, too, couldn't speak. Every time she tried, her voice caught in her throat. She wanted to cry, scream, hide, and fight all at the same time, and she didn't know how to make this feeling go away. She tried to run away from where the hornet was, thinking that perhaps it might resurrect and attack her, but she only felt worse with every step she took. Slowly, it became too much to her and she felt dizzy. She fell to her hands and knees and began staring at the floor below her as she tried to stabilize her emotional state. She sat like this for several moments, the only sounds audible to her being her rapid, heaving breaths and her tears striking the lenses of the dark, glass apparatus over her eyes. The entire rest of the world was muted to her, as though it didn't exist. Resting like this seemed to help as she slowly began to feel slightly better, though she was still very frightened. Now somewhat able to compose herself, she tried to speak.

 "A-A-Am?" she stuttered, her hoarse voice catching several times in her dry throat. "What… what's happening? Why are you so afraid? Are we in danger?" she whispered. Her words were so quiet that she could barely even hear them herself, so she readied herself to repeat her question before suddenly, Ambi responded.

 "Burn it!!!" Ambi yelled. These were the only words that she could come up with. Her blood had to be burned. Nobody had come for it yet, so there was still hope. Despite that hope and despite the woman's best efforts to calm her down, she was still panicking.

 Unsure of what to make of that answer, the woman rested there for a few more moments as she mentally processed what she just 'heard.'

 "…Ex- Excuse me? Burn it? B- Burn what?" Ambi heard the woman's timid voice stammer in her strange new ears.

 Again, it took Ambi several more seconds before she responded. "My blood!" she yelled. "It can't be exposed to the outside world! Someone might take it! We need to burn it! Destroy it!" she continued, her voice growing less comprehensible by the second. It was too dangerous to be left out in the open like this. Her poppy-colored blood had to be destroyed no matter what. Humans controlled fire, right? This woman could definitely make one here, in this large garden, and burn the blood. However, it didn't seem like the woman understood her.

 Though Ambi was still in a panic, a small part of her felt that the woman was now thoroughly flabbergasted. Whatever answer she had been expecting, "My blood!" definitely was not it. She could feel the woman's emotions as she sat there. The panic quickly dissipated and gave way to a quiet calm. Ambi was quite surprised at how quickly her panic dissipated. She was still afraid, though her racing thoughts had receded to the back of her mind. The woman must've felt an emotion stronger than her fear, and that emotion was now taking over their shared mind. While Ambi couldn't read the woman's thoughts, she could feel that this "calm" wasn't a true "calm." It was more like the calm before a storm, the cold, stormy dark one feels around them. They hear nothing but the gentle breeze blowing, but they know that said breeze will soon be replaced by a roaring thunderstorm and a torrential downpour beating down on everything living… plants, animals, even channelers who could manipulate the forces of nature. Her sense of panic quickly gave way to rage, and blood rushed to her head. She knew it wasn't her rage, but rather that of the woman who was currently in control of their body. She felt her eyes close as her upper limbs lifted up the dark apparatus in front of her eyes and wiped the tears off her face. Then, she stood up on her two lower limbs and began to shout.

 "What the fuck does that mean, 'Am!?' 'My blood! Burn it!' What the hell am I supposed to do with that information!? What blood!? Where!? And how the fuck do you expect me to start a fire inside a building!? Do you have any idea how many fucking problems that would cause!? This day's been stressful and weird enough as it is, and right now all you're doing is making it worse! I feel like I've been quite reasonable with you so far despite the fact that I didn't ask for any of this bullshit, so stop giving me the goddamn runaround and give me some fucking answers!" she screeched. As she yelled, Ambi could feel the blood rushing to her face as it contorted in anger. If her face wasn't yellow, it would probably be red as a tomato right now. "I've been very accepting of the current circumstances, and I don't deserve you fucking with my emotions like this for no damn good reason!" she yelled, stomping her lower limb against the ground for good measure. Ambi still couldn't get used to feeling her mouth move in such strange ways when the woman spoke, and her throat hurt from all the air that had just passed through it as its muscles contracted when the woman yelled. This was not a pleasant sensation, and Ambi knew that the woman must be really angry if she was putting herself in such pain to express that anger.

 Ambi's ears were ringing from the woman's shouts. She was now nearly blinded by this woman's sheer rage and indignation, and almost instantly shot back with a retort of her own. "Do you have any idea how important my blood is!?" she yelled. It seemed that she was feeling Beatrice's anger, too. If I b-" suddenly, she was interrupted by the woman.

 "No, 'Am,' I don't. I don't know how important your blood is. So do you mind fucking telling me, for once!? Or are you going to make me have another panic attack again!?" the woman shouted. The woman stood there, a firm expression on her face, as she patiently waited for 'Am' to be straight with her. She was tense, tired, scared, angry, and in a body that wasn't completely hers. And she had just come out of a panic attack she hadn't caused. She had a right to feel this way.

 "…" Ambi didn't respond. How should she? She'd clearly upset the woman, but they needed to act quickly to burn the hornet's corpse and any blood on the ground before someone came for it.

 "…I'm sorry," 'Am' sighed. Suddenly, her emotions began to settle, but the anger still lingered. Apparently the woman didn't want to calm down. Not yet. She had a right to feel the way she did, and so she held on to her anger even though it had been starting to dissipate. She'd clearly said what the woman wanted to hear, but the fact that she was still this riled up was not good.

 "You're right," Ambi continued. "I'm sure that wasn't pleasant for you, but I need you to-"

 "No," the woman interrupted.

"No? What does she mean, 'no?' This is too important for her to stop listening to me now!" Ambi thought, her fear beginning to return. If the woman stopped listening and tried to go back to her home now, Ambi would be forced to take over the body and try to burn the blood herself. This would not be an ideal situation as she had no idea how to control this body, save for her antennae and her wings. It would take a long time for her to start a fire like this. And it would only further anger the human woman, perhaps to the point where Ambi would be unable to reason with her later or get her to help Ambi look for the Season Spirits. If that happened, Ambi would be in a state no better than being dead, as she'd be completely unable to carry out her mission or pass her spear off to another channeler. As she was contemplating this, suddenly, she heard the woman's voice once more.

 "No, 'I need you to do this, or that, or whatever other nonsense.' Because you're right. That was not fun. Going from being fine one moment to having a panic attack in the next and having absolutely nothing explained to you is not fucking fun. It sucks. And you did this to me. So why don't you explain to me what the problem is, tell me why you gave me a panic attack, and only then will I let you ask things of me. Do you understand?" the woman said in a firm voice, as though she was disciplining an unruly teenager.

 "You don't underst-" Ambi tried to say, but she stopped herself. She was currently stuck sharing a body with a human who had little knowledge of the Nest, channelers, or even her current situation. She was confused and scared, feelings that Ambi was all too familiar with since she had also woken up in an unfamiliar body. And the woman was clearly frustrated and out of patience. Even though it was urgent, Ambi trying to get her to do something without telling her why first would only upset her and Ambi might lose her only chance of having the blood cleaned up before someone or something came for it. She should try her best to cooperate with this woman for the time being, as for better or worse, Ambi currently relied on her.

 "I'm sorry. That was unfair of me. Let me start by telling you why I became so panicked when you lifted up your vision-darkening apparatus. You see-" Ambi was suddenly interrupted by the woman.

 "My sunglasses?" her voice sounded in their body's ears. The woman didn't sound as angry anymore, but Ambi still didn't like that she was being interrupted when she needed to explain this quickly so she could get the woman to help her. Still, asking her not to interrupt might only anger her and worsen the situation. Sighing, Ambi continued.

 "Yes. Sunglasses," she said, the strange word echoing in her mind. "Anyways, when you did that, I saw a bloodstain on that hornet's face and that blood could only have come from me," Ambi continued. This next part would be difficult for her to explain as she didn't want to tell the woman about the rituals that could be done with her blood, but she also needed the woman's help and she couldn't afford the woman getting too angry with her for withholding too much information. Steeling her resolve, Ambi continued, hoping that what information she had decided to share would be enough and wouldn't be used against her later. "My blood is very special. While there are many other-" Ambi almost said "channelers," but stopped herself because the woman did not know what a channeler was and would probably interrupt her again to ask what "channelers" were. "-bees like me, most of them have blood that isn't that color," Ambi said, trying very hard not to characterize the blood's color by the color of a flower that the woman might not be familiar with. "Normally, their blood is the same color as their bodies. I am one of very few who have darker blood that is like the petals of a poppy in color, and that color in a special bee like me means that it can be used to do very dangerous things if someone with bad intentions gets it. Very dangerous things. As in world ending things," Ambi paused to let her words sink in. She had exaggerated somewhat, but she knew that she had to get her point across.

 The woman didn't respond for a bit and instead continued standing there, but her limbs had relaxed and Ambi could feel that her anger was finally beginning to dissipate. Ambi only hoped that this meant she had gotten through to the woman, and that the woman would help her.

 "I can tell that there are some things that you are trying very hard not to tell me," the woman started. At this, Ambi tensed up, or at least she would have if she was in control of the body. Her fears had been realized: she had been too vague and now the woman wouldn't help her. Or at least, that's what she thought.

 "But I can understand why you'd want to be so withholding if it's about something so important. But Jesus, 'Am,' you should have told me sooner instead of making me panic like that. That was not okay! Don't ever do that again, understand!?" the woman said sternly.

 "I'm terribly sorry, but when I saw my blood it was like my worst nightmares had come true right before my eyes! Anyways, are you willing to help me destroy it?" Ambi asked, a sense of shame washing over her as she realized that her current circumstances now required her to keep her emotions in check out of courtesy for the human woman currently sharing a body with her. "I'm really worried that more of the creatures who attacked me or something commanding them might come for it."

 "Something commanding- you know what? I'll ask later," the woman said. "I can't start a fire in a public place, but I do have chemical disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer in my purse. I can put the hornet's remains in a small plastic bag in my purse and then wipe up your other bloodstains," the woman replied, already moving the body toward a yellow object that was on the thing she had been sleeping on earlier.

 "Wait," Ambi choked. "Other bloodstains?" Ambi asked, fear starting to rise in her mind once again.

 "'Am,' what did I say about panicking?" the woman said. "Don't be afraid. When I saw you fighting that hornet earlier, I saw some of your blood stain the ground below you. I'll wipe it up and use multiple wipes to clean up the ground before dumping hand sanitizer on it. Trust me, the wipes will soak up your blood even if it's already dry and all of these harsh chemicals should be more than enough to destroy the molecular bonds that form it. I will burn in a pot them when I get back home, okay?" she said in a reassuring voice. As she spoke, Ambi began to calm down again.

 "I'm sorry. Thank you," she said.