After a few minutes' walk, he comes to the forest, which is still lush and green and dappled with shadows.

Oh hey, it's another grove of genital-fruit. Enserric sighs happily. "I remember these. Hours of ill-advised fun."

"I was indeed advised against them. Hours, really?"

"Cumulatively, but yes. I didn't care to involve myself with other sentient beings, and I thought I could avoid corruption if I didn't... ingest. I was wrong, but I caught myself before too much harm was done. Still, they're fond memories."

"What's wrong with other sentient beings?"

A verbal shrug. "My early adventures had convinced me that rape was this world's only idiom. I didn't much care to take or be taken, so instead I contented myself with solitary pursuits. I did eventually learn that even in this land, there are those who respect consent. I enjoyed their company a great deal, until my untimely demise."

"Huh. Fair. Would be cool if there was a way to keep the plants without the corruption part."

"Yes, it would. It would be an interesting project for some mage, after the more important tasks are done with."

There's a faint buzzing sound approaching the glade. "Oh, good, a bee maiden. Have you encountered them before?"

"I do not think so."

"They're relatively friendly. They may try to influence you with their pheromones and get you to bear their eggs, but don't worry, I'll break you out of it if you seem to be acting out of character."

"How... would I bear their eggs."

"A bee maiden would implant them in your ass, and, once they had incubated, the eggs would loosen and release. It's quite pleasant overall, actually, but you have other concerns."

The buzzing grows nearer.

"...how long does incubation take? Wouldn't I need to, ah, poop?"

"Have you needed to use the privy since coming to Mareth? That was a rhetorical question, and the answer is almost certainly 'no'. There are certain fringe benefits to being in a world so thoroughly permeated by intention-based magic."

A young woman flies into the clearing. She has antennae, bee wings and black-and-yellow fuzz all over her body. She looks confusedly at Sadde. "I thought I heard two voices..."

"He talks," Sadde says, lifting Enserric up.

"I do," Enserric agrees.

"Oh!" the bee maiden says. "Well, that makes sense. Um..." She inhales and puts on a bright smile. "Would you like to bear my eggs?"

"...she's asking for consent! Enserric, you led me to believe this would be way rarer than it is." He turns to the bee maiden properly. "Could you explain the procedure in more detail?"

"Well, I'd fuck you with my ovipositor," she says, "and then implant my eggs, and in a few days when they were ready to hatch you'd lay them. And I'd give you some honey, for being a good sport."

"What would it feel like to have them in me? Would they have any effect other than just existing? What is honey's effect?"

She looks slightly embarrassed. "Well, I've, um, never had eggs inside me... and I'm very new to all this... so I don't really know what it would feel like. But I'm told it feels nice. They might, um, make you feel happy or sad sometimes? And the honey cures corruption, and we can purify it until that's the only thing it does if you'd rather not turn into a bee-person."

"Enserric, any insight on what it feels like other than 'nice'? And what's the happy or sad sometimes thing about?"

"It feels like there's a very gentle pressure on your prostate all the time," Enserric says. "It's a bit of a tease, really, but the birth is orgasmic. And I believe the emotions are just a hormonal effect of having living creatures incubating inside you. Your body has ingrained responses to that kind of thing."

"...I would not have expected the living creatures that are inside eggs to have a, what was it, hormonal effect."

"It's not exactly my area of expertise," Enserric drawls. "I'm no natural philosopher."

"Fair." Back to the bee. "Do I have to... be somewhere to, ah, give birth? Like would I have to return here, or would we set up a meeting place or something?"

"The babies will fly back to the hive," she reassures him. "They're smarter than human babies, and they know where the Queen is."