Timestamp: 74th of Fall, 512 AV
Kavala hadn’t had a chance to look over the pile of supplies that had been delivered. When she’d purchased the materials in the materials in the bazaar they had assured her that everything she needed would be delivered. Kavala had drawn a rough map of The Sanctuary and had carefully outlined where shed like to see hives, and the keepers selling honey and beekeeping supplies in Riverfall had quickly made adjustments to her plan and then sold her equipment accordingly. Some of it needed to be made, so they’d agreed there was no hurry and that everything would be delivered when it was completed, along with enough bees to colonize their hives.
The Sanctuary ultimately would have ten.
The reasoning was simple. They had gardens, fruit trees, and all sorts of medicinal flowers and herbs that needed pollinating. They also had a huge no tremendous need for honey. They used it in a great deal of medicine and in a huge amount of cooking. It was a natural antiseptic and one of the best materials a healer could have on hand, regardless. So it only made sense that the next step for Kavala was to get bees. The problem was, she knew nothing about them. There was a freshly copied book on a shelf in her library that was available for loan which contained a whole host of information on bees. But she’d never had time to actually look it over and read it.
That would change with late fall and winter occurring. That was Sanctuary’s downtime and it would give her the knowledge to make sure the hives thrived if possible. And the lady at the booth, a Konti named Serene, assured her that if she indeed could learn to garden, she could learn beekeeping. But first, she had to get educated. And education meant studying. Kavala was no stranger to studying, so she carefully moved all the hives, the beekeeping tools, a singular complete hive, and her book down to a corner of the Commons where she could set up, be warm by the fire, look at the equipment and read.
It was dark, so she lit a lantern, stirred up the fire, and then settled into a high-backed wing chair to get more work done. Kavala honestly didn’t know where to start first. Should she actually learn about bees? Or should she learn about the equipment? Since the equipment was right in front of her, the Konti opted to start there. Kavala opened her book, turned to the equipment section, and began to read, looking at the sketches.
”There are two main structures that bees are kept within. The first, a Skep, resembles a woven basket turned upside down with an entrance and exit point near the bottom. Skeps, while still used by portable cultures like The Drykas, are not as durable as more permanent structures like hives and have the big disadvantage of having the comb and complete hive being destroyed during each harvest. Hives, far more common, are permanent structures to house bees that can be broken down and moved if necessary. Hives have six parts: The Hive Stand, The Bottom Board, The Hive Bodies, The Medium/Small Honey Supers, The Inner Cover and the Top Cover.
Kavala noted the picture of the Skep in her book and shook her head. They looked awkward and not something that the denizens of The Sanctuary would have scattered about on stands. Kavala was into sustainability, meaning everything had a lasting purpose and could be reused if necessary. Raising bees in something that needed to be destroyed each season didn’t seem productive to her, even though the skeps were very similar to the ones she’d seen growing up in the horseclans.
