There were thousands of them, tens of thousands. Insect-kin and fairies, all over the place, all in different colors and hues and species. Moths, butterflies, ants, bees, zappers, beetles, dragonflies, and even a few praying mantis and mosquitoes and others she couldn’t name.

The scene reminded Lyn of a mall if a mall was open air and had several dozen layers instead and spread across several giant trees. Banners and tapestries of many colors hang all around her, lanterns with soft glowing gems did the same. The smell of food stalls and restaurants assaulted her nose, as well as the hawking of hagglers her ears.

She marveled at the sights and sounds, never before believing that there could be so many insect-kin kinds gathered in one place, and as time went on, more and more appeared through portals or large caravans.

But the more she looked, the more she realized that there wasn’t a single male insect-kin amongst them, and asked Evergreen about it.

“Do you really think there would be many male insect-kin? In most insect colonies the males usually die off, and when you become an insect-kin you actually need humanoid sperm to reproduce more insect-kin. A male insect-kin is an extreme rarity, and probably would have hundreds of fawning suitors. As for us fairies, we have a few male fairies, but shelter them, lest they be kidnapped by insect-kin or other fae houses.” Evergreen said.

“I see… Do you think we can find what we're looking for here?” Lyn asked, feeling silly for asking but considering how huge this place was, probably a valid question since you could probably look around for days and never even scratch the surface of what this place had to offer.

“Of pollen? Sure. of sperm? Not so much. Like I said before, those kinds of fairies are seasonal, you’ll have better luck trying to ask a moth. They are the number one traders around here, or for that matter, anywhere. If there is something you want, go to a moth. Just make sure you have something they are willing to trade for.” Evergreen said, looking around, trying to get her bearings.

She then grabbed and held Lyn's hand and pulled her into the crowd. “Come, I know a place that might help you out,” she said, pulling Lyn along.

Lyn blushed at holding hands with Evergreen and felt like a kid and her mother with the way that Evergreen was taking care of her. But couldn’t really fault her since Lyn probably would get lost without some help, and that wasn’t even considering that she had no idea on what to do in this kinda situation.

After winding through a few alleys and making the occasional sharp turn, they found themselves in a less-traveled part of the bazaar. Entering an old-looking building, squished together between several others in a darker corner of an alley. Lyn was amazed by the vibrant, glowing, and pristine condition of some of the products on display that did not match the entrance of the building they just entered.

The only issue was that there seemed to be a slight fog constantly hovering above their head and perhaps a few too many lanterns that shined a bit too bright, or at least would if it wasn’t for the fog.

Evergreen then led them towards the back, pushing aside a few strands of beads on the entryway that lead to the back room. “Madam Anya? Are you here?” Evergreen asked, looking around.

“Of course dear, I am always here…” a heavily accented but melodious voice said behind them.

Both Lyn and Evergreen jumped. “Gah!” “wha!?” they both turned surprised.

“Jeez! Stop doing that!” Evergreen complained, “you know it gives me a heart attack every time you do that!”

Madam Anya chuckled. “Can’t help it darling,” she said, pulling from a long pipe and blowing out its contents. “You have the cutest reactions.” She then looked at Lyn. “Who's your new friend? She’s not from around here.” Then her eyes widened. “Oh my… a storm fairy… aren’t you a rarity…” eyes now inspecting Lyn with curiosity.

Evergreen was just about to give Anya a piece of her mind when a look of shock came over her and she whipped around to look at Lyn. “you’re a storm fairy!”

Lyn blushed, wondering when they went from being surprised by a complete stranger who Lyn wasn’t able to sense, to being asked an extremely personal question. “Oh… uh… ya… I guess I forgot to mention that… sorry...” she said nervously.

Evergreen looked incredulous while Anya gave a hearty chuckle. “Oh, don’t mind the poor girl and her secrets, it makes sense that one would want to keep that under wraps, no? Besides… you are here for something else, yes?” Anya said with some mirth. “Please… sit down, make yourselves at home.” indicating the table and chairs behind them.

They did so reluctantly, Evergreen giving Lyn a few sideways glances to Lyn, promising that they were going to have words later.

“Now…” Anya said, taking a seat opposite of them. “How can I help you…”

Evergreen took charge, focusing on Anya and taking a more serious attitude. “My friend here is looking for sperm, and pollen, if you have any, as well as any hiveless looking for a home. We brought a few items to trade as well,” she said, then indicated for Lyn to show her the goods. Lyn let out a few items, mostly old armor and weapons that have seen better days.

Anya quirked a brow at the sight. “You can’t be seriously thinking that this garbage would be enough for a jar of sperm, right? Maybe a few bags of pollen, but not sperm.” Anya said, almost a little offended. “Not that I can trade you sperm if I had any anyway. We are going through a bit of a… drought… When it comes to that particular item… word of the wasp horde and the termite kingdom's expansion has made everyone go a little crazy, now even a small vial of the stuff is worth its weight in gold, to use a human saying.”

Lyn and Evergreen seemed to deflate a little when they heard that. Especially Evergreen who was now worried more than ever. “So the wasp horde really has expanded that far to make even such a remote place like this worry?”

Anya nodded sadly. “These are a new variant of wasps, they're similar to zappers, bigger, stronger, faster, they got all the other wasps and hornets to work under them, increasing their numbers and fighting potential. With the termite kingdom to back them up, almost nothing is able to stop them.”

“Oh, dear…” Evergreen said, now very worried. “I didn’t think it was that bad… I mean, considering how they pushed the spiders out, I suppose that was a clue if I ever saw one, but… if what you are saying is true… then it really is bad…”

“Spiders?” Anya asked, concerned. Evergreen nodded and explained what happened and where. “Damn… no wonder I haven’t heard back from my caravan,” she said with a frown. “I’m going to have to break the news to a few good people of mine, and figure out a new travel route...” seemingly angry and annoyed. “Thanks for telling me this, I’ll give you a good offer on the pollen if you're still willing to buy.” Genuinely thankful and showing it.

After that the two started to talk shop, Lyn displaying all the old weapons and armor and as the fairy and moth haggled over prices. With Anya truly giving them a discount, even throwing in a bonus for old times sake.

“That will come to twelve large barrels of pollen for two dozen sets of old and rusty armor. Is that fine with you?”

Evergreen nodded. “Yes, thank you, Anya, this will be very helpful for Lyn’s hive.”

Lyn wasn’t sure, she looked at all the barrels displayed when the two were haggling, and it looked more like a week's worth of gathering. But then again, she was thinking back to when the hive had over a thousand workers and not the few hundred they had now.

Turning her attention back as the two seemed to seal the deal, Lyn asked Anya a question, bringing out her spear and laying it on the table. “Do you know anyone that can repair or improve my spear? It… kinda has seen better days…” Lyn said sheepishly, a little embarrassed at the state of her spear. Which looked a little cracked in some places and burnt out as if from within, probably due to her using her lightning through it too much.

“Hmm…” Anya took a closer look at the spear. “This is shoddy craftsmanship if I ever saw one. I’m surprised it even lasted this long.” taking a closer look. “looks like it was forged together using summoning alchemy… interesting…” then feeling around with her hands and turning it around to take a look at different angles. “At least whoever made this had you in mind, otherwise it would have shattered the first time you tried to pass lightning through it.”

Lyn looked a little offended when she mentioned the shoddy craftsmanship part, but when Anya started to talk about how it was made with her in mind she got all happy again. “That’s my master for you! He really cares about his followers!” she said with pride.

Anya paused. “A… master… you say…” now taking great interest in Lyn.

“Oh me and my big mouth…” Lyn thought already regretting letting that slip.

“You have a master, Lyn?” Evergreen seemed surprised. “You never mentioned that when you told us your story of coming here. I thought you were some sort of religious preacher or something!”

“Err- I mean, I did say I had a master…” Lyn said, hunching her shoulders in, not wanting this kind of attention.

“Yes! But it always seemed to have been implied as a religious connotation! Not as an actual person!” Evergreen said

“Well… gods are actual people…” Lyn said defensively.

“You know what I mean Lyn,” Evergreen said, crossing her arms.

“Sorry…” Lyn said, looking away.

Evergreen sighed. “Not all your fault, I suppose I should have asked for clarification. Just next time make sure you fill me in on this kind of stuff okay?”

“Ya… I will…”

“Good.”

Anya then gave a small polite cough. “As amusing as it is to watch you two have a little lover’s spat. We probably should get back on task.” making both Lyn and Evergreen blush. “And while I would like to know more about this master of yours, we can save that for later.” then looked down back at the spear. “As for the cost of repairing and upgrading your spear… that would cost you a few small barrels worth of pollen… more if you actually want it more than just… repaired…”

“After all… we're dealing with something that has been creation forged, and by someone who didn’t even realize that they did such a thing, using summoning alchemy to do so, and inexperienced. Which means that there's actually less material and more made up of bundles of mana. So getting a good smith to fix and repair this would require the missing materials and even a proper mage to go over making sure everything is done right... So what I'm trying to get at is…” she then made a gesture with her fingers implying money.

Lyn sighed, not wanting to have to do this, but prepared to do it anyway. Bringing something out that she saved just for this occasion. “Will this be enough?” she said, placing a jar of zapper honey on the table.

“Hmm…” Anya said, interested, taking the jar and opening it up to take a taste. Shivering when the honey touched her tongue. “Genuine zapper honey… These are hard to come by… most zapper colonies rarely if ever are willing to part with them. This is enough for your repair… maybe a minor upgrade… but not much else…”

“Then what about this?” Lyn said, putting a large bundle of spider webbing on the table. “It took me a while to clean it. But thankfully I know a cleaning spell that helped me out. With this, it should be possible to weave this into spider silk. What do you say?”

Anya slowly reached out for the bundle of webbing, marveling at how soft it was to the touch and how smooth it was and how it didn’t stick to her hand. “You must have taken down over a dozen or more webs to get this much… and the quality is amazing… yes… I think this is more than enough for a suitable upgrade… including the honey of course.”

Lyn nodded, “I'm also wondering if it’s possible to get my hand on any soybean seeds.”

Anya looked confused, and so did Evergreen, who didn’t even know That Lyn had these items on her. “What in the world could you want with soybeans? They are hardly tasty, and you probably need a greenhouse to grow them in Alcray.” Anya said, confused.

“That’s for me to know. Sorry…” Lyn said, now more than ever being mindful of her words not making sure not to let anything slip out.

“Hmm…” Anya hummed, tapping her fingers on the table. “I can get you a few seeds… no charge… think of it as a freebie for all the information you let slip previously…” she said with a coy smile. “Anything else?”

Lyn nodded, “I need people, particularly hiveless, outcasts would do to if they're willing to put the work in.”

Anya chuckled. “Sure, I can spread the word around. Is that all?”

“Actually…” Now it was Evergreen's turn. She took out a small envelope and handed it over to Anya. “ Could you send this to my mother so she knows that I'm okay? It should also tell her everything that has happened so far.”

Anya was actually taken aback by this but accepted the envelope. “You are not going to go to see your mother?” she asked, concerned.

Evergreen shook her head. “Not yet… I still feel like I have a few things left to do. And Lyn still needs help. Also… I also want to do what I can to fight back against the wasp horde.”

Anya gasped. “Are you crazy!? If something were to happen to you your mother would hunt me down and rip out my wings! Friends that we are, there are some things that should not be crossed, and that's letting your friend's daughter get herself killed!” Anya said, now genuinely worried and a little angry at what she perceived as naivete on Evergreen's part in her belief of thinking she could actually make a difference in such a conflict.

“I know…” Evergreen said, “but Lyn is planning to unite as many hives as possible to combat this threat… And I know… if anyone can do it... It would be her… I can feel it…”

Anya looked like she wanted to say something more, but paused when Evergreen said she could ‘feel it’. They then shared a look that Lyn couldn’t understand and Anya gave in.

“Alright… if you really think it's possible then go. I’ll send the letter to your mother, and hopefully... she doesn’t rip off my antenna.” Anya said with a sigh.

Evergreen smiled brightly. “Thank you auntie Anya…” she said, genuinely thankful.

Anya grunted, then whipped around and pointed her pipe at Lyn like a weapon. “You better have a good plan on how to deal with that fucking horde or gods help me! Whatever is going to happen to me I'll make it doubly worse for you should anything happen to my Evergreen!”

Lyn nodded hard, feeling the slight killing intent waft off the moth. “Don’t worry! If all else fails I can always fall back onto plane b!”

Anya tilted her head. “And what in the world is plan b?”

“Umm… run away to the… the…” Lyn racked her brain of any possible safe spaces they could flee to should things go south. Fragments of words drifting in and out of her head, thinking of her master, how people confused her as a religious preacher, of a nice open green area where no harm can follow.

“The… promise land?” giving a nervous and awkward smile as Anya and Evergreen looked at her as if she was crazy. But now that she said it, by Van! Will she stick to it come hell or high water. “Sorry master, please forgive me!”