“Lily, where did all this fencing come from?” I asked as we crossed the western border of my claimed land. “We didn’t build all this.”

“Surprise!” Lily and several other pixies shouted.

“We did this for you,” April said.

“You’re welcome,” Yam said.

“He’s got to say thank you first,” Willow told Yam.

Yam shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”

“The fence is finished except for in front of your home,” May informed me. “We thought you might want to add a gate for the path.”

“The fence goes all the way around the land we claimed,” Lily added.

“I…I don’t know what to say,” I replied.

“Thank you is a good start,” Willow teased.

“Thank you.”

“Now Yam,” April said.

“You’re welcome, Jase!” Yam shouted making the other pixies laugh. I smiled. Yam turned serious. “You’ve helped us and given us lots of treats. We did this to pay you back.”

“Besides, you’re going to do us another favor today,” Willow said.

“I am?”

“Yep. You’re getting honey and honeycombs today, which is a favor to us,” May replied.

“Why am I suddenly getting a bad feeling about this?” I asked.

“Because you’re smarter than you look,” Lily teased.

“Lily!”

“What? It’s true!” my familiar protested. “It’s a good thing too.”

“Nice save,” I replied. Lily smiled at me. “Are the rest of you coming with us?” The other pixies confirmed that they were. “Alright. Lead the way.”

*

“Here comes Ama’s pet,” Lily teased.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “Ah.”

“Fancy meeting you here, Jase,” Trinity said in greeting after emerging from some bushes. Rikki chittered and she scooped her familiar up. “Other than rarely in the village, I’ve never seen you away from your land.”

“Keeping an eye on me?” I asked.

“Of course. You are competition,” Trinity replied before giving me a smile. “I heard you made something for Simon, the shopkeeper.”

“All the villagers are gossipmongers,” Lilly said out loud. The other pixies agreed. I laughed.

Trinity just shrugged after giving the pixies a strange look. “So, where are you going with the pixies?”

“The others are leading Lily and me to a beehive that I hope to harvest some of the honeycombs from,” I answered. I didn’t see a reason to lie to Trinity.

“Thinking about making some candles?” Trinity asked.

“That along with eating and using the honey to make candies,” I answered.

“You make candy?” Trinity asked.

“I do,” I answered pulling a few honey drops out of the pouch in my satchel. I held my hand up so the pixies could take the candy. The pixies cheered and quickly took all the candy from my hand. “Pigs!”

“Wha?” Lily muttered around a mouthful of candy. Trinity laughed and gave some kind of treat to her own familiar.

“Would you mind if I accompany you? Trinity asked. “I’m willing to help harvest the honeycombs and we could split the haul between us.”

I glanced at Lily, and she shrugged before shoving another candy into her mouth. The other pixies didn’t seem to care either.

“Sure, why not? Maybe the bees will sting you more than me,” I replied.

“That’s not funny,” Trinity said giving me a mock glare.

“Depends on your perspective,” I replied.

“Who said he was joking” Lily added. I coughed to cover my laugh.

*

“The hive is just around this bend,” Yam nervously said two hours later. I noticed that Lily and the others seemed nervous too.

“What’s with them?” Trinity asked. She had noticed their suddenly odd behavior too.

“What’s with him?” I countered pointing at her ferret as it hid in her satchel.

“He’s afraid,” Trinity answered after a moment. A buzzing noise could be heard as we kept walking. “What is that noise?”

“I don’t know. It sort of reminds me of the sound pixie wings make though,” I replied. I stopped as it hit me. “No way!”

“Yes way!” Lily replied.

“What is it?” Trinity asked. I ignored her and quickly walked to the tree line and stopped. She quickly catches up and stops beside me.

“Behold! Mutated giant killer bees!” Willow exclaimed.

“Wait. Those aren’t killer bees,” Lily said dismissively as we watched the five- or six-inch bees flying around a hive built on a fallen tree in the clearing before us. “Those are just mutated bumblebees. They aren’t as bad.”

“Aren’t as bad?” I asked wide eyed.

“Nope,” Yam answered. The other pixies nodded their agreement.

“Bumblebees are slow and only aggressive when you near the hive,” Lily explained.

“Uh, aren’t we planning on taking their honeycombs that just happen to be in their hive?” I asked.

“Sure. That’s the plan,” my familiar replied.

“You and the pixies are nuts,” Trinity said. She hadn’t taken her eyes off the bumblebees. She gestured towards the clearing. “I was expecting normal honeybees, not…that!”

“You and me both,” I agreed. “But I’m not crazy. The pixies might be though.”

“Hey! The pixies chorused in outrage. I laughed.

“Ouch!” That stings,” I complained as they took turns shooting me with a spark.

“I’m glad you’ve found your sense of humor,” Trinity said. She smiled at our antics. “Do you have a plan for dealing with that or should we leave?”

“They’re bees, even if the bumblebees are mutated huge bees. There’s not much of a breeze, so we smoke them,” I answered.

“That’s my human!” Lily praised. “We’ll be on fire duty just in case.”

I turned to look at the pixies after light briefly flared, and my mouth fell open in shock. All of them were now wearing black pants and coat with yellow stripes along with a black helmet and mask. Yam and Willow were holding little axes.

“What is that?” I finally asked.

“What is what?” Trinity asked. She turned to look at me and then the pixies. “What the…”

“This fire fighting gear,” May answered for the pixies.

“We don’t have hoses since there are no fire hydrants here and we don’t need them,” April added.

“Fire fighting gear and hydrants?” Trinity asked as the pixies buzzed around us. “What are those things?”

“Whatever they’re wearing is the gear and I have no idea what a hydrant is,” I answered.

“Pixies are strange,” Trinity muttered.

“Yeah, they can be,” I agreed. “But they’re wonderful too. Let’s find some dry branches to start a fire with.”