Honeycomb Hearts

Point to Prove

It took a whole week for Yang to even walk any closer to the apiary than the preordained path towards the town, and even then, it was just a couple of steps. Blake hadn't been there for those, Yang had gotten a burst of confidence and managed to walk two steps closer before backing out. Another couple days, and Yang got two more steps. Before the month was over, she and Blake were standing right behind the apiary. Yang had dressed in heavy denim jeans and a winter coat, despite the temperature still rising above ninety.

"You're gonna get heat stroke," Blake said.

"I have tons of water, I'll be fine." Yang said. It did look to Blake like Yang had a good tolerance for heat. Maybe she got it from having such long, bushy hair? Blake unconsciously brushed her hand through Yang's ponytail.

"So, how do we even get honey out of this thing?" Yang asked. "It doesn't look like any apiary I've seen online."

"I asked Pyrrha and she said the honey collects in a tray down below, you just need to open up the box and pull the tray out, then tip it into the container you want to store the honey in." Blake raised up a mason jar. "Which we have several of."

"So we need to open it up? Reach right into where all of the bees live?" Yang asked.

"Well you can grab the tray with your left hand then back away. I assume we can just close it up afterwards, no?"

"Yeah. Here goes nothing..." Yang slowly lifted the back wall of the apiary away from the main body. Several columns of plastic and wood were inside. To Yang, it reminded her of ancient architecture, just covered in bees. She carefully closed her left hand around the tray beneath the columns and pulled it away, careful to keep it steady. After the tray was completely out, she handed it to Blake and closed the apiary shut.

"You did it!" Blake cheered, "I'm proud of you!"

"Yeah, I did, didn't I?" Yang asked. Sweat was dripping down her face, and she could feel the rest of her body swimming in sweat as well. "Maybe I should take this jacket off, you're right." Yang stripped her jacket off and tossed it aside. She turned towards Blake, who had already started pouring the honey into one of the mason jars. "How does it look?"

"Well, it looks like honey. We can apparently eat it right away, but I want to double check before we start scooping some for ourselves," Blake said. She turned towards Yang and froze. Yang's tank top had stuck to her body with sweat, and left almost nothing to Blake's imagination. She could see the outside of Yang's abs underneath, and also – Wait, Blake thought, Is Yang not-

"Blake, the honey!" Yang shot forward and jerked the tray of honey upwards. Blake turned her attention back to the mason jar to see it had very nearly overflowed. She shook her head and began to fill the next one.

"That was close!" Yang sat back down and stretched her arms over her head. She could have sworn she felt something hit her right hand, but she disregarded it. "Anyways, what are we even gonna do with this honey?"

"Well I know it's good in some teas, and I've heard fresh honey is much better for your health than store-bought. As for other uses, I was thinking-"

"Ow!" Yang slapped her right arm and rubbed it. She winced as she put pressure on her arm. Her face fell.

"You okay?" Blake didn't look up from the mason jar.

"Blake."

"Yeah?"

"Blake."