Lost In a New Land

The waves crashed against the beach’s shore. The smell of the salt and sea permeating the area as a girl was carried in along with one of the waves, washing up onto the shore. Her bleach blond hair mixing in with the sand as she lay unconscious. After a few minutes, June awoke groaning and sitting up as the sand fell from her soaked shorts and shirt. “What…” She blinked a few times looking out over the vast seemingly infinite sea in front of her. “Where… am I…”

An androgynous voice groans out beside her, as a feminine boy with brown hair, coughed and pushed himself up in the sand next to her. “I don’t know… who are you?” He shakes his head a little and looks her over before blushing and looking aside. His own clothes were barely ribbons, which could only suggest the state of her own.

June nearly collapsed from the shock of the boy’s arrival, looking down at her clothes seeing that they only barely covered her breasts and hips. “I um… I am June.” She tried to stand up fully, her knees quivering from soreness. “What’s your name? And more importantly where are we?” She looked back towards the island behind them seeing nothing but thick jungle and forestry.

The boy smiles nervously. “Well, My name is Jesse, and as for where we are?” He looks around a bit “I…kind of don’t know. I just woke up on the beach to the sounds you were making.” He tries to think a little bit, ending up with his hands on his head. “I… remember the sea… drowning, and obviously my name.”

June frowned, starting to take shaky steps walking over to Jesse. Falling onto her knees in front of him to continue their conversation. “Well, I guess we have that in common. I just remember a massive storm and shaking… and welp now I’m here.” She reached over patting his shoulder.

“I guess we are in this together. What do you say we go see if we can find a cave or something to set up a base?” She smiled softly trying to encourage Jesse, her eyes showing the fear and uncertainty she was experiencing clearly.

Jesse nods a little bit “Yeah, we need to figure out what we have available for food and well… hopefully a source of freshwater.” He gently puts his hand on June’s shoulder, rubbing a little as he presses down the embarrassed feeling, knowing that they needed to be serious right now.

June nodded before starting to walk towards the inner island. Almost immediately starting to wince at the rocky uneven ground not being helped by her shoes only barely hanging onto her feet, the soles entirely gone. “You’re right, here hoping this place isn’t crawling with animals.” She chuckled nervously as she led the way through the thick forestry, not having any real path to follow and just heading straight as she could.

Jesse has her stop as he gathers sticks and some thick grasses. “I don’t know how I remember how to do something like this, but I have an idea.” He guides June to sit down on a rock before tying the sticks together into a sort of sandal. He repeats the process to make himself a pair to go with what he makes for June. He then gently ties it to her foot. “Here, we shouldn’t run or anything, but this should at least make it easier on our feet.” He smiled softly.

June gave a weak thumbs up before standing back up and continuing their walk. “Here’s to hoping we aren’t the only people on this island, but given the already heavily forested appearance I doubt it…” She sighed as they continued their walk. After nearly two hours straight of walking quietly between trees, the pair approached a clearing. “Oh thank gods.”

Jesse looked it over, there were a few fruit trees and something that looked like cabbage growing. He then walked over to a stream and knelt down to take a handful of water before sipping it. “Well, food and water, I’d consider this lucky.”

“I would say, almost too much so… ” June started walking around, looking over the variety of fruit available, eventually stopping at an apple tree. “Well, do you want some fruit while we take a break?” She smiled, picking two apples before walking over to sit next to Jesse. “It’s not like we are on a real time table. I’ve not seen any form of cliff or cave in the distance so far, so no need to rush ourselves.”

He nods and takes a bright red apple from her, and biting into it. “Yeah, if we can’t find a cave, maybe we can figure out a good way to camp out near here. And even if we find a cave, we should make sure we know our way here unless we find another spot closer to the cave.”

June nodded while eating her apple. “Yeah, I’ve got an idea to help us keep track.” She leaned down grabbing the rock from the river, before standing up and walking over to some trees starting to chip off some wood in the shape of an F. “We can put F’s on the way here, and away from here, so we will know where a good food source is.”

Jesse smiles, “That is a good idea.” He starts to look at some of the thinner rocks, and takes one that looks like a long arrowhead, getting some of the spare grass that he had used to make their shoes and wrapping it around one end. “This isn’t too sharp, but a little could go a long way, at least in cutting some vines or something.”

“At least you know how to do this kinda thing.” June chuckled, taking the knife, before looking back at the fruit trees. “Hey, Jesse, while I lead, can you hold some fruit in case we can’t make it back before night falls?” She twirled the makeshift knife, heading over and grabbing a few more ripe apples.

Jesse nods and grabs a few, before taking some of the oversized leaves, and wrapping them to make a sort of bag. Filling it with the apples June collected, and grabbing one of the cabbages. “It might not taste as good, but this should at least provide a bit more to fill us up.”

“Yeah, here’s to hoping!” June gives a thumbs-up, before starting to mark the trees that would act as their path to return to this grove. The march onwards continued, the sun beginning to set on the first day of their travels. During one of their breaks, the pair could see small plumes of smoke in the sky. “HOLY HELL, SMOKE!”

“Let’s go check it out!” Jesse clutched the leaves holding their food, starting to sprint in the smoke’s direction, stopping every once in a while, so they could keep marking the trees back to their food source.

Once they arrived at the end of the forest, it was abundantly clear where the smoke came from. There was a small almost entirely wooden village before them. All the houses under further investigation appeared surprisingly complex, with floral carvings on the doors. “Holy hell YES!” June jumped several times in excitement, before turning to Jesse. “Let’s do thissss! We can hopefully find a way home through these people!”

Jesse giggles and hugs June “That sounds really nice. Maybe we can even get some clothes, ya know that are not about to fall off our bodies.” He looks around curiously “This place is really nicely put together too, they must have been here a while.”

“Yeah, I’m just happy this place doesn’t look deserted.” June marched happily up to one of the cabins. Knocking on the hard oak door only to have it creak open slowly revealing a humble but comfortable interior to the cabin with no one inside. “Well, this is… weird.”

There is a noise inside the house. Jesse looks around cautiously. “H-hello? Is anyone here? We could really use some help.” He took a step inside and looked at the unintelligible runes designed into the style of the home. “I… something about this doesn’t feel very ‘human’.”

“What could it be? It’s not like there’s anything other than humans.” June rolled her eyes while following Jesse inside. “I bet they are just out gathering or hunting right now.” Almost on cue the door slammed shut behind the pair, causing June to jump up and scream. “WHO’s there?!” She looked around seeing a shadow run past the outside of the cabin. Whatever it was, cast a shadow much taller than the barely five foot tall duo.

Jesse frantically looked around as the shadow quickly evaded their eyesight. After a moment, two vine lassos flew out from opposite sides, encircling his upper body and arms before tightening, causing Jessie to drop their little ‘bag’ of food. As he is tugged to the ground, someone almost 7 and a half feet tall, appeared behind June and pulled her into a full nelson, speaking in some sort of language that neither could understand.

June started struggling in the women’s grasp, only able to assume her assailant’s gender, because of the plush feeling of breasts on her back. “JEESE!” She looked over at Jesse on the ground trying to get a look at the people who were attacking them. “Can you understand them!?”

The women stepped into the light so the two could see them. “I can’t understand a word they are saying!” The women had long pointed ears, their muscles lean but firm, and they were seemingly comfortably naked. With long copper and black hair to accompany their elvien bodies as the two spoke some more. Jesse was lifted up as the door opened to the fire pits in the village now being surrounded by many elves and a number of almost… animal human fusions all curled next to each person’s feet.

June started nearly hyperventilating, the woman who had been holding her still easily, threw her over her shoulder, beginning to head towards the fire pits with Jesse. “Jesse! What are these things! I think I’ve seen them in fiction novels? Whatever those are? But that can’t be right! Also, why are they naked!?” As the two were brought closer to the fire pits there was a clear missing person in the spot where a ‘leader’ would be, leaving nothing but an intricate empty chair in their stead.

Jesse wiggled in his bonds, but was quickly pushed down, in front of the chair onto his knees. June was pressed down in a similar way next to him as the… elves began to speak amongst themselves, despite being unable to understand any of it, the pair could tell that they were arguing about what to do with the pair.

June looked over at Jesse with tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry… fuck I had no idea THIS would happen!” She whimpered helplessly as she looked at the ‘pets’ that were nuzzling into each elves’ side. “Gods are they gonna make us into that?!” She sniffled before one of the female elves lifted her up, starting to look her over before ripping the remainder of June’s clothing off of her. Once fully nude, the elf tied up June’s hands, and legs before setting her back down leaning on the chair.

As the elves talked some more, they brought a collar over and wrapped it snuggly around Jesse’s throat, while at the same time, resting a circlet of flowers around June’s head. “June, whatever happens, I just want you to know that I trust you… I don’t want to be alone” He whimpers out.

June sniffled slightly, nodding. “I promise I won’t let you be alone. I’ll… find a way to do something ANYTHING!” She screamed out in a sob trying to knock the flower crown off of her head but Jesse could see that it seemed to tighten perfectly to stick onto her. Her ears started to slowly extend just enough for Jesse to see they were resembling the elves’ ears.

As the initial changes started to set in, June was able to decipher “Good, it is starting” though most of the elvish words were still beyond her understanding. Jesse meanwhile, whimpered as his own clothes were torn off, a brown fluffy tail growing out from his tailbone as his own ears began to shift and perk up. “I feel funny.”

June looked at the voice that had spoken to her as Jesse’s words fell on seemingly deaf ears. Slowly June’s body started getting longer and larger while not matching up to the rest of the community she had shot up in height to 6’5. Her hair lengthened down to her shoulders as her new elven ears fully developed. Once the buzz of the transformation had subsided, June looked over to Jesse. “Jesse you’re turning into a dog!”

Jesse looked at her confused as he changed “What was that? I can’t understand what you are saying?” His words sounded like a muddled mess as fur began to grow in, his ears fully changed to cute floppy dog ears, and his tail grew fully in.

June looked over at the group of elves with tears still leaking from her eyes. “What’s happening! WHY CAN’T I UNDERSTAND JESSE!” She sniffled trying to break out of her restraints. A few of the elves on the other end of the fire started giggling at the display. Along with one of the cat anthro pets starting to come over and nuzzle into Jesse.

Jesse blushed under his fur and wiggled a little, appreciating the nuzzles but still wanting answers. “What is going on?” One of the elves came over to June. “We have chosen you to join our clan, and you brought your pet with you as well, he is turning out well.”

June was shaking before looking over at Jesse again. “But he’s not a pet! He’s a person a human!” She was almost immediately shut down by an elf taking a knife and cutting the bonds on her. “It’s simple sister, he didn’t meet the needs of the community. He will be much happier like this anyway.” The male elf leaned down scratching Jesse behind the ears. “See, my kitten even likes him already.” The cat anthro didn’t verbally respond, only mewing and licking Jesse’s cheek.

Jesse gasps, and can’t help but wag his tail. “Why aren’t you saying anyth-bark!” His eyes go wide “Ruff what is happening to me Bark.” Coming from him all June would hear is more gibberish and some doggy sounds. He looked at her desperately.

June at this point entirely collapsed from an anxiety attack. The male elf looked down at Jesse and pulled a leash out, clicking it onto him. “Come on, your owner is… adjusting. Hopefully, she will calm down during dinner.” He then started pulling Jesse along, two of the women picking June up and carrying her towards a massive lodge at the end of the village.

Jesse whined but followed, looking at June worriedly as the cat kept nuzzling into him. Everything suddenly smelled so much better. The women helped June sit down, in the lodge, as dinner was being set out. It was a wonderful spread of cooked game, and veggies. At her feet a bowl was filled with some less fancy but still good food as Jesse was tied down to her chair legs. “There we go sweetie, now just relax, take everything in.”

June started taking deep breaths, looking over the fairly large group of elves. It seemed like there used to be a small male majority before June had turned into an elf herself. She sheepishly started taking some food, eating it more because of the pain of an empty stomach than trust for this new community. “S… So… Me and my…” She looked down at Jesse sadly. “Pet… just washed up on shore do you know where we are?”

“This is our island, there are others who claim it is theirs, but overall, there is no widely accepted name for it.” One of the women rubs June’s back, while the men all boisterously laugh as they play with their own pets. Jesse quietly eats the food, his tail wagging, though he cuddles up under June’s chair, feeling extra nervous at everything that is going on.

“Is Jesse ok?” June looked down at Jesse petting him gently behind the ear. “He still seems scared and doesn’t seem like he can understand me…” She continued her quiet eating until she had her fill. “What do we even do now?”

“He will be fine, he just needs to learn his place, as his mind is still stuck between human and pet. As for what you will do, we will train you in the ways of our people, so you can truly take pride in being an elf.” Jesse blushes at the petting and his ears start to twitch a little bit.

“You were talking about there being other groups on the isle?” June leaned in slightly trying to swallow down her nerves as she spoke to the seemingly head elf. “Are they dangerous too?” She continued petting Jessie, wincing slightly as her hand passed over his collar.

Jesse lets out a little bark of happiness, his tail beginning to wag more while the elf nods “For starters, there are the bees and ants. They work together against us, and they control the eastern end of the island. Then there are the living plants, they lay traps to capture our people for sustenance near the northern ends. There are some feral beasts, but we tame those we come across, or change the frail humans that do occasionally appear, so they can stand up to the forces of the island with us.”

June’s eyes sunk down slightly after a moment looking up. “You’ve talked about this end and the side opposing this one but.” She takes a plate and knife to show her meaning using the knife to show she split down the middle of the isle. “What’s on the other half of the isle?”

The woman is quiet. “Well, the forest is strong through this half of the island, sure it thins out a little bit further towards the dividing line for a village, but it is still firmly the forest. Past that point… there are many machines, factories, a casino, and more beyond that. We do not go there, for any who do are never seen again.”

June gulped before looking down at Jesse. “I only have one more question… has anyone ever left the isle? I didn’t see any form of boat, or pier that indicated that there had been attempts to leave?” She smiled nervously, still clearly hesitant about trusting the elves. “Also is there a home where me and Jesse can rest for the night? We have been traveling all day and the transformation has been… draining, to say the least.”

She smiles a bit “Of course, we have a so-far empty home where you two can rest up. Then tomorrow we can get around to helping you learn our ways, and training your pet.” She reaches down and guides June’s feet onto Jesse’s face, the dog boy shaking his head but not seeming displeased. “Make sure to instill your scent as a dominant force with your pet.”

June blushed but nodded, rubbing more into Jesse’s face trying to make it seem strong. “I will, ma’am.” She finished rubbing her foot into Jesse’s face, before standing up and snapping her fingers. “Come along Jesse, we are going to rest.” She swayed her hips, trying to have a more relaxed posture.

Jesse’s tail wagged as he followed her, the woman helping to untie his leash, and hand it to June before leading her over to the house. “Now we have had a few try to run in the past, they always get captured by the other species on the island, so do try to be more intelligent than that.”

June nodded, leading Jesse inside before closing the door. “FUCK!” She started panting before flopping down on the bed, pulling Jesse in until she’s able to unhook his collar. “Jesse, can you understand me? PLEASE understand me!” She whimpered looking at Jesse desperately.

Jesse barked and started to speak gibberish “I can tell you are talking, but I can’t understand anything you are saying” He barked a few more times before nuzzling into her. He can’t help but lick at her neck and chin gently.

June groaned, before pushing Jesse down. “Alright let’s get outta here… as much as I worry about our odds on the rest of the isle… well this isn’t worth it. Losing my new friend isn’t worth it.” She looked at the sliding window next to them. Looking out into the forest watching as groups went by as guards of the village.

Jesse looked around nervously and back up at June, he seemed worried as he looked back at everything here. It had a pretty nice bed, both for the pet and normal. As well as several quality of life things for them. He nuzzled into June before looking outside some and quietly barking.

June sighed before going over to what appeared to be a dresser. Despite lacking any form of clothing a pair of shoes were inside. June slipped them on before sliding up the window and quietly guiding Jesse outside it. Several rotations of the guards went by while June waited for a gap to escape. After a near hour of waiting she sprinted alongside Jesse, out back from the entrance to town that they had entered from, starting to follow their markings back towards the fruit tree clearing.

Jesse ran alongside her, keeping up rather easily while he was on all fours. As they get to the clearing with the fruits, Jesse looks up at her panting happily, his tail wagging. “Bark, that was fun! Bark” Still gibberish aside from the barks.

June frowned before snapping her fingers. “I’ve got it!” She went over grabbing a rock before starting to chip away at the side of a tree. ‘I can’t understand you. I think the elves did something to me to change my language.’ This took about half an hour to write out and was very crude but got the point across. “PLEASE understand this!”

Jesse nods and grabs a rock before carving ‘I do!’ Before sitting and wagging at her. “Ok, she wrote in a way I understand, so I hope that this at least works in the short term.”

June sighed before snapping her fingers to get Jesse to follow her over to a tree laying down against it. She then quickly jotted ‘sleep’ down. She held Jesse close before closing her eyes and starting to rest for the night.

Jesse cuddles into her, a part of him embarrassed about both of them being nude, but at the same time it felt right. He cuddles right under her chin, and gives her neck a little lick of approval as his tail curls in.

June woke the next morning having flopped down from her position against the tree. She pushed herself up, yawning before looking over Jesse frowning at his half-dog nonthreatening form. “The hive is to the north… I guess it would be for the best if we go there first.”

Jesse yawned and tilted his head, drawing in the dirt a little bee and an ant, obviously having the same idea. He then gathers some fruits for them to eat before giving her some apples and a little bit of cabbage.

June nodded, taking a bite out of the apple before starting their march towards the other end of the isle. Having to take a more roundabout path to not get too close to the elven village.

Jesse stops, and sniffs around a little before barking and pointing towards a field of flowers. His ears perk up and he listens for a little bit before writing ‘Bees’ in the dirt and starting to run into the field, continually listening in for more buzzing.

June runs behind Jesse, smiling softly as the smell of flowers permeates the area. “At least it’s nice out. Not having a place to stay if rain hits would be bad…” She looked up at the sky, noticing that there were surprisingly few clouds in the sky.

Jesse stopped and peered over some tall flowers, motioning for June to stay low as his tail wagged. They could see several bees giggling and gathering nectar from the very large flowers. These flowers were so big, either June, or Jesse would be able to climb fully inside.

June took a deep breath before standing tall and walking up to the bees. “Hello! Can you understand me? We are lost and looking for a place to stay after the elves kidnapped us.” She waved at the bees gently, trying to come off as non threatening as possible, given what she had seen the elves do.

The bees look at her and buzz angrily. One of them gets behind the other, while the more aggressive one growls out “What are you doing here elf!” She grabs a spear that she had put down, and was holding it in a way to stave off any attack, her eyes glanced between June and Jesse.

June screamed, putting her hands up. “We aren’t elves! They kidnapped and changed both of us! I can’t understand my friend!” She teared up looking down at Jesse. “Please help us!” She kept her hands firmly raised but they could see her knees were shaking in fear, as she quickly looked back and forth between them and Jesse.

The bees cautiously looked at June, before whispering to her friend. “If you are speaking the truth, then you will willingly submit, and allow us to take you in. No questions, just let us do our jobs.” Jesse gulps a little and nods, getting the feeling that they should play nice.

June nodded before starting to follow behind the bees. “We will come, it’s no problem. We just don’t want to be brought back to the village… I fear what they would do to us.” She started gently petting Jesse’s back, frowning as they walked through the field, and towards the bees hive.

The bees quickly used some nectar to stick June’s and Jesse’s hands behind their backs. “This is just for our safety, too many elf tricks.” They soon approach the hive where several bees are all looking at them cautiously. And in the distance, they could even see a few ants watching as the pair were brought into the beehive.

June shuddered looking at the odd fully inhuman creatures. “What do the elves even do? I know they took us but… they mostly claim that the rest of the isle is too dangerous for people to go out into. I assume this was a trick? I have no doubt this land is dangerous, but I just… don’t trust them.”

They are brought to a large queen bee who looks down upon them, one of the bees whispering to her. “So, you are freshly turned? The elves have a…superiority complex. If they can’t control it then they must force it to submit, or claim it as taboo.” She looks them over closely. “What is your name miss?”

“My name is June! Me and my friend Jesse just washed ashore on this isle. We simply want to discover where we are, and understand if we can even leave.” June looked up at the queen nervous at the sight of someone taller than even her new increased height.

The queen nods “I see…and they still don’t know common, and didn’t even attempt to talk to you like a normal person, did they?” The queen leans forward “And now their transformation upon you has changed how your brain processes language, making common speech completely foreign, and you now naturally speak elvish.” She sighs a little bit “Well, we will help you if you can agree to help us.”

“Please, I’ll do whatever you need. I just want to be able to communicate with and help Jesse. What exactly do you need me to do?” June smiled wearily at the queen. “The elves did exactly what you said. I’ve been worried about Jesse’s ability for speech; he keeps making barking sounds.”

She nods “It is good that you left when you did, if they spent too long training you, you would have had that superiority pressed in, and he would become fully beastly.” She sighed “Our princess and her personal guard went on a journey to make peace with those on the more…industrial side of the island. They were doing well…until they just disappeared. I will help you, if you will agree that the two of you will go look for them.”

“Absolutely! I was already planning to head that way, in order to learn more and find a place to stay ‘permanently’ so we will definitely go find your princess for you!” June smiled wide, bouncing slightly. “If you can give us someone to guide us to the divide we would massively appreciate it.”

She nods and motions as the guards melt the nectar off their hands. “First, let me change you, given how short of a time you have been an elf, I think we can give you your ability to understand common back.” The queen smiles and sits on her throne.

“Thank you.” June shook her hands a bit, looking over at Jesse, before giving him a thumbs up. Hoping that he could understand at least the other half of the conversation. “What kind of change will be needed?” She then moved up to stand before the queen, a soft smile creeping onto her face.

The queen smiles gently “You must be reborn, you have been changed, and nothing will undo that…however, I can change you more…and by reducing the percentage of elf genetics, your mind will change along with it, which will open your understanding back to common.” She gently strokes June’s cheeks. “I’ll be needing you to be complacent. We will also ensure that your friend will get a bit of an upgrade as well.”

June gulped looking with wide eyes. “What do you need to do for me to be ‘reborn’?” She rubbed her shoulder while looking over at Jesse. “Just please help us… if you do we will find your princess and bring her and her guard home.”

The queen nods and one of the guards gives June a sting. “This is just to help you relax, let the queen do her work.” Another guard was talking to Jesse to calm him down and escort him out. The queen spreads her legs with a smile as the guards begin to push June headfirst into the queen’s now open abdomen.

June groaned her legs going limp before her head hit the pussy. “What?!” She squirmed around as her head slipped into the first fold. The sticky warmth and honey scent filled her mind to the point of haziness. “WHAT ARE YOU DO-” She groaned as the relaxant hit its second wave of warmth and weakness in her core.

June would find herself fully enveloped, her body almost being, pulled inward by the queen, until she reached somewhere warm, safe. Jesse meanwhile would be taken to an area underground, meeting the ants and ending up with a similar treatment. Overtime, June would feel something like… an larva begin to form around her, as her body would get a very hot feeling.

She squirmed slightly at first but each time she did the larva around her tightened against her body. After a few minutes of squirming, and greater squeezing, pushing down on June, she was stuck curled up into a ball. Her eyes started to grow heavy as the beating of the queen’s heart lulled her to sleep.

Soon everything would feel odd, at first, her location started to get cold and bright, though soon it warmed back up and dulled the light as an almost, sticky feeling would seep into her very being. After a good long while, a tapping was heard. “Time to wake up sweetie, once you do we can go pick up your friend.”

June started shifting around in her larva, her arms bumping the side a few times before causing rips to form in the outer layer. She pushed her arm through one side, causing more space for her to crawl through to form. As she crawled out there was a slight buzzing, her head popping out first now with a yellow fluff surrounding her neck. Then her arms with yellow fluff around her wrists, finally her torso which had tiny bee wings on her back that were buzzing curiously. June, once fully out of the egg, was still covered in the honey-like goo as she stood up looking at the queen. “H… Hello…” Her voice had raised a whole octave causing it to sound more high pitched and buzzy.

The queen smiled. “Very good, you spoke common there.” She pets June gently “I’m very proud of you, now then June, shall we go see what the ants have done for Jesse?” She helps June stand up, her hands brushing over the sensitive skin on the new bee elf.

June buzzed at the contact letting a squeak out before nodding. “Thank you, and yes please I’ve been worried sick about him, so actually hearing his voice would be amazing.” She smiled before starting to follow the queen, unable to shake the feeling of attachment that she had formed to the queen. “Is there anything else you can tell me about my si-… I mean your princess.”

The queen chuckles “In a way she is partially your sister now June. I birthed you anew, so while you are still half-elf, you are now half us. Her name is Arti, she has a pink and black pattern, and her bodyguard and brother is Jackie. They are both about 4 feet tall, cute, but reliable.” As they talk, the queen gradually leads June outside and to a tunnel. “While we gifted you with being a bee, we asked our allies to gift Jesse with being an ant.”

“So they were last seen heading over to the tech side of the isle… is there anything that you can tell us about it, in advance so we don’t get caught off guard.” June looked at the tunnel heading inside while suppressing a slight blush. “I know everyone keeps ignoring my asking about this but… is there even an outside world? All I remember before washing up is a huge storm.”

The queen nods a little “There is a larger population of various kinds there. Some strange technologies exist over there…as well as many temptations that could lead you down a dark path. As for the outside world…we don’t really know. Several of our kind have tried…and they just wash up on shore with their memories messed up a day or so later.”

June nodded. “Well if that’s the case, then you can definitely rely on us. If anything has become clear in the short time we have been here, it’s that surviving needs to be your priority not escape. I promise my sister will be returned, or at least we will find out what happened to them.” She walked inside the cave before clearing her throat and yelling. “JESSE I’M HERE!”

An ant sitters up to her. “Brother is almost ready to hatch, would you like to see friend?” She smiles and takes June’s hand, leading the girl to a closeby egg chamber, there was just one egg that was wiggling and cracking as Jesse started to break out. He now had several ant traits, antennae, thinner legs but she could tell were dense with muscle. While he still had his doggy ears and some fur, he looked like an ant/dog crossbreed. “Hi there June!”

“Oh, Jesse thank gods you’re ok!” June dashed over to Jesse giving him a firm hug before pulling back with a soft smile. “The queen told me what we need to do. Luckily, it seems like we would have been headed that way anyway, so trying to find the princess is our main priority.” She kissed his cheek a few times in her excitement before pulling back blushing.

Jesse blushes himself but pulls her back in with a tight hug and kissing June’s cheek as well. “I was really worried about you. Even when you were trying to keep it together…when we couldn’t communicate… I could feel your pain. It may not have been for long all things considered… but I won’t lie… I do think we have been messed up a little upstairs from that brief experience.” He rubs her back gently “Finding a princess though? I think we can do that.”

“Yeah we are heading to the other half of the isle. It’s apparently technologically advanced so we can hopefully also get answers about why we showed up here while we look.” June smiled before starting the walk back out of the cave. “As for the being messed up in the head thing. We almost definitely are because I’ve gone from absolute horror to… I don’t know how to describe it, just kinda indifference. Like this is just the way things are in this world and we just have to deal with it.”

Jesse nods and follows her dutifully, his antennae twitching a little bit “Yeah… hell, I’d consider this new change… not really a fix on what was happening to us, but just overwriting it with a different change.” He shudders a little. “Also I can tell that you are releasing pheromones that basically say ‘follow me’ which I assume is just part of this change.” He runs up and waves at a few of the ants, almost having silent conversations… which June would be able to pick up on as well… lots of ‘how are you’ and ‘don’t be a stranger!’

“Well, apparently I’m another princess now that the queen did the change to me. That might be the reason for giving off the domineering energy.” June giggled a bit waving to a few of the ants, as they fully exited the cave. “Alright, so are you ready to head over to the other side of the isle?”

Jesse nods eagerly “I am, I feel extra energized like I can do anything!” He grins and effortlessly picks June up. “So we just have to find a missing princess and figure out… well… whatever we can about why we are here. If we can find a way out, great… if not. I think we can make something work out for us.”

“Yeah, we made it this far after all. There’s no reason to give up now.” As they continued through the forest June’s confidence quickly decreased, the seemingly infinite repeating trees making it feel like the pair hadn’t made any progress, even after hours of marching.

Jesse rubs her back “I think we need to take a break… and I remember hearing about fairies while I was being changed… they could be trying to mess with us.” He pulls June over to a rather large and tall flower where they can rest in the shade.

June sighed, flopping down under the flower before leaning back against it taking deep breaths as she enjoyed the feeling of the pollen in the air. “It’s possible but hey this is at least a nice place to take a break.” She sighed, closing her eyes and leaning onto Jesse’s side.

Jesse blushed a little and wrapped his arms around the bee elf. “Yeah, it is.” He yawns a little and closes his own eyes, letting himself drift off. While the two slept, giggling could be heard as the flower they were under shimmered.

After a few hours of resting, June started squirming under the flower, fighting against waking up for a few minutes before stretching and yawning. “Jesse… it’s time to keep moving.” She looked around the area, the dark night sky and full moon over them indicating how late it had gotten during their rest.

Jesse yawned and nodded, hugging her a little more “Wow, we were more tired than I thought.” He begins to stand up but stumbles lightly, using the large flower as support. “We should find something to snack on before we go too far honestly.”

June snickered a bit buzzing and hopping up onto the flower and starting to feed off of the flower and its polen. “Just find something close I’m gonna just eat here for now.” She giggled a bit, enjoying the sweet taste of the insides of the flower.

Jesse nodded and looked into the tree line a little bit, becoming… rather quiet. Soon strange giggling could be heard all around June. “Look a bee” another voice comes up “a cute bee” and another “a fun bee.” The three voices all giggle in tandem.

June jumped slightly looking around at the words. “Holy hell! Who’s there!?” She looks around the area rapidly, not able to see anything but still having her head filled with the buzzing of not only her wings but other wings around her.

3 lights close in and seem to grow to 3 little pixies with beautiful multicolor butterfly wings now. “Hello miss bee, we haven’t seen you around here.” “Do you want to play a game?” “Yes, a game, a fun fun game!”

June chuckled a bit, backing away from the group. “What kind of game? We need to get over to the other side of the isle to find the lost princess so if you can help us get there I’ll play with you.” She looked at pixies wearily.

They all whisper to each other a little bit before breaking “TAG AND SEEK” The three shout together and giggle “We will hide and you will seek, but then you have to catch us! If we get away, you gotta try more! If you catch us, we will give you something special for each of us. Catch the third and we will lead you out!”

June nodded. “Thank you, this sounds really agreeable, honestly.” She looked at Jesse before jumping down and walking over to him. “Hey, Jesse we are gonna be playing tag and seek. If we get all three of them, they agreed to show us to the other side of the isle.”

Jesse seems to have fallen asleep, a cloud of light dust around him while the fairies giggle “No help, you gotta do this part all on your own cutie!” One taps Jesse’s head, and he shrinks down as she quickly pockets him. “1 2 3 GO!” The three laugh and fly into the forest, all going in the same direction.

“JESSE!” June growled before running towards the forest and through the foliage. “That’s not fair! I JUST GOT HIM BACK!” She clenched her fists, starting to run as fast as possible following the sounds of the pixies buzzing.

They split up, two rushing further ahead while one zips through the trees near June, obviously wanting her to see. “You agreed to the game, time to play play play!” She flicks behind a tree and disappears.

“FUCK!” June stomped her foot before starting to walk around the forestry marking her path by scraping the sides of the trees that she passed by. “JESSE if you can hear me make noises!” She huffed a bit trying to maintain her composure, despite the circumstance.

There is a giggle…so close to her. “So close, so close, but does this bee know how to find a flower?” The giggle, so so close. “Perhaps princesses don’t know how? After all, they have workers to find it for them.”