Keylynn sat in the front row of chairs for the floor-wide team meeting. In her hands she had her team's history printed out, seeing as she is lacking a matrix tablet. She had never wished for the nuisance of a device more. If she had it, she could have spent her evening at home reading through everything while eating chilled sweetened cream. But she doesn't, so instead, she had to stay late in the office meeting with floor seven's janitorial staff.

  Her team, to her shock, has never conducted an assessment of any kind in the field. They have never left the office, not even for consultation work. Some of her team can consult, Zukyov and Ragna specifically. For the most part they are assigned to conduct annual assessments of quests, guildhalls, or academies. But true annual assessments of any kind cannot be conducted from the desk. She frowned and made a note to ask Lark to follow up on the case file numbers they have submitted.

  Her eyes froze on one of their submitted annual assessments as Akzer droned on about current assignments for the other teams on the floor. That has to be a coincidence, or did Lark already know and is testing her?

  BEEG’s disgruntled groan pulled her back to the reality of Akzer’s endless talking. “Our newessst team Floor Five, will be valiantly digitizing our entire floorsss recordsss, sssomething we were told to do from our audit.” They looked across the room, their cold eyes refusing to settle on a single person. BEEG quietly groaned from behind her, and she didn’t blame him at all. BEEG isn’t good at paperwork of any kind. “And I’ll asssk that anyone who findsss their workload shallow offer their asssissstance.” Their tongue flicked as their eyes settled on Keylynn. That meant her team.

  “And that bringsss usss to the final item for our meeting today. Our unnamed team hasss been asssigned a team lead in training that isss quessstionable,” Their cold eyes bore into Keylynn's soul, sending a shiver down her spine. She stared back. It must be the work of Demetra. “So Keylynn, I’d like for you to put thessse allegationsss to ressst.”

  She timidly stood up under their scornful gaze. This isn't how the conflict resolution handbook recommends dealing with conflict between coworkers; in fact, it recommends against an audience. Floor seven needs an appropriate HR floor manager. Grief would never have let this happen.

  “You’ve had a day. Prove you are qualified to be a team lead in training and tell Tell usss what your plansss for the team are.” Their cold eyes fall upon someone lining the back row. She avoided looking at Demetra, knowing her cold sneer was not going to be helpful.

  Keylynn heard several bees buzz around her before she spoke. “Having a singular day to assess my team is truly not enough to have conducted a full and proper assessment of their skills and capabilities.” She started with truth. “That being said, I would like to ease them into conducting assessments in the field. I can understand the hesitancy of sending a team without a team lead. We can all agree that the wrong team alone in the field could be disastrous.” The last thing she wanted to do was accuse anyone of any wrongdoing, and keeping them from the field without someone who has proven to be capable in the files is standard protocol. “I have proven myself more than capable in the field, being able to conduct complete assessments on my own. As part of the leadership training program, I have a mentor who will be providing us with support as needed.” She explained feeling hyphae crawl up her arms. Where did the bees go?

  Akzer’s eyes flicked between her and back to Demetra, letting the silence envelop the room. “It ssseemsss thossse complaintsss were unwarranted. Would you like to presss the isssue and file an official complaint for ssslander?” Their gaze softened when looking at her. Akzer meant to humiliate Demetra; questionable as their actions are, she has to admit they are effective.

  “Everyone is allowed a singular mistake. Should they continue, then that will be the only appropriate course of action.” The bees were gone. She didn’t dismiss them, and no one sounded as if they were stung, so where did they go?

  Akzer gave her an approving nod. “That brings our meeting to an end. Have a productive day.” They dismissed everyone.

  She looked at everyone in the meeting room as they left, looking for signs of her bees. She saw nothing to tell her where they went.

  “Sky nuts tasty and stingy to chew and swallow, Keke have more?” BEEG asked from behind her, his face covered in small lumps.

  “BEEG, did you eat the bees?” She asked gingerly, touching one of his lumps. She reached out with her magic, and inside the lump was her bee's venom, only stronger.

  “They fight back, but the taste is worth it.” He nodded. “Keke, make more?”

  After a moment she nodded. It's been a long week for him without all of her daily snacks. “How about I make you a snack pack?”

  Behind BEEG, Barnibus walked up. “He’s eaten your bees before. They never did this before. I’d like to test the reaction more.” He looked at her hand still on one of BEEG's lumps.

  She withdrew her hand before she healed his welts. “I thought he was scared of bees?”

  “He was,” Barnibus agreed, measuring the swollen welts on BEEG. “Exposure therapy.” He stared at her for a second, then chuckled. “Who am I kidding? I told him they were new snacks.” He grinned.

  “Thank you both. I was worried about the bees causing a problem during that dreadful meeting, and I couldn’t focus on making them disappear.” She felt her bell caps chime in agreement. Was her newfound loss of control due to the different mushrooms she was hosting or something she didn’t notice in her matrix? She might ask Dauven to take a look later. Or it's stress. She used to turn into a swarm of bees as a child whenever she was scared.

  “We're coworkers, and we happen to like you. Oh, speaking of, I’d like you to help me with the finishing touches of your matrix. You can make his snack station while you’re at it.”

  “Keke, come make snacks,” BEEG agreed with a big grin, revealing the many welts covering the inside of his mouth. She winced at the sight. Anyone else would find the same number of stings lethal.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “I don’t have any other pressing matters that I know of,” she agreed. The only concern she has is what she is going to do with Demetra and her new team. She knew she had to find them in fieldwork, but based on what she’s learned about floor seven, fieldwork isn’t going to just appear on her desk.

  Together they left the meeting room and entered the elevating chamber. After a laboratory explosion resulting in damages to nearly a dozen floors, all of the laboratories were moved to their own lab building. Keylynn rarely found a need to leave the main office for the Research and Laboratory building. It was a short walk from the main office building, and aside from being wider and shorter, it was relatively the same. If Barnibus could live in his laboratory, he would, except it poses too much of a risk for the Health and Safety Board of Directors to allow.

  Expecting Barnibus’s old cramped lab made seeing his new one a surprise. He now had dedicated stations for working on his various projects, including a large area exclusively for BEEG. She didn’t understand most of his instruments, but some definitely looked new.

  “Don’t tell Lark, but some of his funding found other uses,” Barnibus grinned and gestured for her to sit in an office chair by a station with a computer and a collection of wires.

  “I have no understanding of your lab and research. How could I possibly explain your appropriate usage of funds? What are you needing from me?” She couldn't make sense of his laboratory, nor could she understand where BEEG's snack station was supposed to be.

  He sat down in a chair by the computer and began tinkering with a contraption connected to the computer with a series of angry-looking wires. “I had the thought to imbue your matrix with your fungal spores. That way you will have innate control of the device regardless of how mushroomy or unmushroomy you are in the future,” he explained and paused at her dazed look. None of what he’s saying makes sense. “Think of it as a magical signature ensuring you will never have problems using it.”

  “I think I am understanding.” She was not, but she trusted that he understood and could make it work.

  “Alright, so I need you to reach your hyphae out and embed themselves all over this.” He set a thin metal frame on the desk.

  She picked it up gently and reached out with her magic first. There was little for her hyphae to attach to, but she will try. “I don’t know how well metal will house them.”

  “Just give it a try.”

  She nodded and bit her lip as she eased and gently prodded her hyphae to reach out and wind themselves around the metal frame. They were hesitant at first. The metal was cold, hard, and lifeless. She pushed all thoughts of doubt from her mind, focusing instead on her trust in Barnibus. He made her a keyboard that, no matter how many spores drop into it or colonies try to grow, works. She once had a miniature mushroom and moss forest covering the surface, and she was still able to type. If anyone can make her a matrix tablet that agrees with her touch and suits her, it’s him.

  Her hyphae travelled across the metal frame, finding small pores speckled all over it that gave them handholds. The metal warmed as her hyphae wound themselves around it. The surface that she initially thought of as too smooth was in fact porous but still smooth enough to ensure no harm came to them as they moved. At this point, all they are missing is a medium to nourish them.

  “Now the tricky part is disconnecting from them so you are not attached to them, but keep your magical connection if you can.” He said, breaking her concentration on the metal plate. She almost retracted them on impulse.

  “I have never done that.” The idea felt like removing a part of her, like her arm or a leg.

  “BEEG bees.” Barnibus ordered BEEG brusquely. BEEG hurried over and started catching the bees. He slapped his hands together and licked at them happily. “Either the bees have replaced the puff shroom spores, or this is something different, or it’s that new one you are growing. Bees are odd. You’d think it would be flies, locusts, or carrion beetles.” He returned to his calm, speculative voice as he continued to work, making something new.

  “I have always liked bees. And from death comes life and renewal. Bees are fitting in, are they not?” She asked, fighting to remain calm. She has never had to fight to remain calm.

  “We can check what’s going on once I get your matrix going.” And that’s all he said. He never pushes or nags.

  She closed her eyes and focused on doing the one thing she has never done: separating herself from her hyphae. Her hyphae and her colonies were two very different things. Her hyphae were part of her. They were there for as long as she can remember. Her mother loathed them, her aunts scorned them whenever possible, and her peers mocked them. They were the first indication anyone had that her magic was different.

  But they weren’t here. Barnibus and BEEG are. If she needed them, the rest of their team would be here too. She wasn’t reviled; she is wanted and liked. Even when her puff shroom spore clouds were wearing everyone’s patience thin, no one said anything truly cruel.

  She can do this.

  She opened her eyes and handed the metal frame holding her hyphae to Barnibus. It felt strange seeing them but not feeling them. She can reach out with her magic, and there they are, filling her with all the sensory information she lacks without her connection to them. She feels strange. Different. This must be how her slime mould feels when it's divided into pieces. They are still connected, but from a distance. Despite her biggest fears, she’s not alone.

  Silently and quickly he got to work assembling a casing to go around the metal frame. She saw him add components to support the living hyphae that he collected as well as electronic ones that were part of the matrix.

  “The hard part is done. I was worried for a moment there that it wasn’t going to work. While I finish up, you can help BEEG with his snack garden. I have loamy soil already for you and lots of detritus.” He explained while his eyes remained focused on his task. He had several magnifying globes floating in front of him, each giving him the perfect view of something else. She knew he had a light source, but she couldn’t tell if it was his magnifying orbs or something else.

  Cultivating the snack corner was much easier than separating herself from her hyphae. There were several mushroom cultivation beds waiting for her spores, along with a bee house ready for a hive. She closed her eyes and focused on all of the mushrooms BEEG loves to dine upon the most. The Burning Pine Mushrooms took the largest bed, while she filled the others with slugs and puff shrooms. She added a few smaller toadstool mushrooms that she thought he could like as well. She then added a few bell caps because he likes to play with them.

  Turning to the bee house, she summoned a hive of bees, including the queen. She filled some of the honeycombs with eggs and larvae, royal honey, and normal honey. She wanted to give them the best chance they had to survive. Not that she doubted Barnibus's ability to care for a colony of bees.

  “You did give everything a heavy dose of grow-fast magic, yes?” Barnibus asked with a matrix tablet in his hand.

  “I did. The bees will need flowering plants because they need the nectar to make honey to feed the colony.” She explained trusting him to care for her stripped friends.

  He nodded, watching BEEG hunt down a bee. Keylynn added more larvae, eggs, and bees to the hive. Just in case. BEEG has a big appetite.

  “If I’m right, it should work perfectly for you.” He handed the tablet to her.

  In her hands it didn’t feel like the usual inert, dead box of wires, metal, and glass. It felt alive. She pushed the button, waking up the screen, and it was different. The unnaturally smooth screen and the blinding light were gone. The screen now is gently illuminated and has a subtle texture to it. She smiled as she navigated through her menus and application options. The screen responded to her as if she and it were one.

  She reached out with her magic and asked it to open up her matrix screen. She watched as the tablet opened her matrix without her touching the screen. She can even operate it free of touch if the need arises. Not even Dauven can accomplish such a feat.

  “You are a true wizard of technology. I care not for what Dauven or Riv say about what is and is not a wizard,” she beamed at him.