Honeycomb Hearts

Penny For Your Thoughts

Blake retraced her steps and grabbed her basket before heading onwards towards town. While she had been happy all day, she'd felt like there was something nagging at her – like she'd forgotten something important. She passed by the town's archway and waved to Nora and Ren as she passed. She overheard them being heated about something – Nora was saying that for the town's festival they should make an "awesome robot", but Ren wanted to stick to food, as it was a potluck after all.

"Wait," Blake thought, "Shoot, that's that I'm forgetting! I need to get something together for the potluck!" She quickened her pace, eager to get home and search the web for possible ideas that she could easily get. Her train of thought was interrupted again as she remembered the book inside of her basket was due at the town's library today, and she was planning on returning it before she went home. Blake sighed and made a sharp left, eyes pointed right at the library across the river.

Even though she was distressed, she still found herself with a spring in her step and a smile on her face. She just couldn't be upset after the lunch she just had. Being with friends was always fun for her, though it didn't happen too often. Before her preoccupied mind had realized it, she was pushing open the heavy, wooden door to the library. The familiar scent of old books and dust filled her nose, but she was able to stifle the sneeze. She'd been there near weekly for her entire life, after all, and she was still finding new stuff to read.

"Blake! How are you?" A girl peered from aside a bookshelf, revealing a full head of long, orange, curly hair, and a bright green bow askew on her head. She jumped out from behind the shelf and ran to Blake, pulling her into a hug. "I feel like it's been ages since we last talked!"

"Penny, I was just here two days ago. I'm actually returning the book I got that day," Blake said between breaths. Penny was squeezing her lungs nearly empty, causing Blake to take a deep breath when she finally let go.

Penny frowned, "Oh, was it not good? Usually it takes you a few days longer to read something like this."

"No, actually, it was so good I stayed up all night reading it. I was a mess yesterday because of that, but it's nothing a three and a half hour power nap can't solve."

"Yay! Are you ready for the next three books in the series?" Penny squealed, quickly running to a shelf across the room and producing three more several-hundred-page books from the shelf.

Blake couldn't help but chuckle. "Maybe one at a time, I don't want to be a complete introvert."

"I don't think you're an introvert, you just prefer silence! Better for reading after all!"

"Speaking of which, I still can't believe that you're a librarian. The stereotypical librarian is an old coot who shushes anybody who talks over a whisper, and you're..." Blake just gestured at Penny, "Well, you."

"I'll take that as a compliment!" She said, "Here's the next book though. A bit of a spoiler alert, it's a bit fourth-wall-breaky. It's like those stories you read on-"

"Yeah, yeah, the stories I read on Joltpad. Nothing I haven't read before."

"No, I was going to say the ones you read on the news where the newscaster seems to be talking like, directly to YOU. I mean, they're reporting to you, but it feels like they know you personally. Have you ever had that happen?"

Blake mused for a second. "Can't say I have, but I'll keep an ear out for it. Anyways, I'm going to browse a bit while I'm here. I was actually thinking of doing my own thing for the pot luck this year and I need some ideas."

"Well you know this place like the back of your hand, I'll leave you to it!" Penny walked back to the shelf she was at and started reorganizing the books on it.

Penny was an eccentric, even by this town's standards. She never sat still – she always had to be doing something, whether it was reorganizing the books, writing songs, taking a relaxing walk, it just seemed like she never ran out of energy. She also loved to chat and would go on for hours about her favorite books or her latest conspiracy theory. Like Blake said, she was the most unusual librarian anyone had ever seen. But she kept the library freshly stocked with new books nearly every day – jogging to Little Free Libraries around the neighboring towns, and on weekends driving to even further towns ands exchanging books there. Some even say she's never touched the same book twice, making the library ever-so-much more exciting for people like her and Blake.

Despite Penny's recent reorganization of the entire library, Blake found her way to the home and lifestyle section, where she browser the shelves for anything that sparked an idea. When the covers and titled proved ineffective, she pulled out a random book and took a set on the cushioned floor beneath an open window, giving her the perfect light at which to read.

Blake flipped through the book, finding nothing. She grabbed a few more from the shelf, sat down, flipped through those, and found even more nothing. Before long, she had taken nearly the whole shelf back and forth – to which she silently apologized to Penny for, after her careful reorganization, but found nothing. She groaned and threw her head back against the windowsill, careful not to slam her head too hard against the old wood – since she wasn't sure what would break first, her or the building. She closed her eyes and thought – what was something she could do? What was something around here that she could use for a pot luck? She wasn't too good at cooking. Her mom and Ren were the best cooks in town, so she couldn't compete with them. She wasn't good at any arts or crafts, meaning Coco and Velvet would better her in those. She was stuck in the mud, like a fly trapped in...

Before she could finish her thought, she heard a faint buzzing sound and a bit of pressure applied on her nose. She opened her eyes and looked down to see a bumblebee had found its way into the building and decided her nose was a good resting spot, before buzzing off out of the room, content that there were no flowers indoors, only musty books.

"...Honey," Blake said, "Honey! That's it!" She needed no cooking skill to get honey, she only needed to get it from nature! If there's one thing Blake had over others, it was her creativity and love of nature, so she could definitely find a way to get honey from those bees all around the town. She'd need help though from someone fast and someone who could climb – her mind thought to everyone she knew. Only one person came to mind – none other than Yang Xiao Long, the girl with muscular arms and a fear of bees.