Telling the Bees
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Telling the Bees |
| Author(s): | sanguinity |
| Date(s): | 26 March 2014 |
| Length: | 882 words |
| Genre: | Angst, Gen |
| Fandom: | Elementary |
| External Links: | Fic on AO3 |
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Telling the Bees is a short post-Reichenbach AU fic in the Elementary fandom by sanguinity. It's a role-reversal from the Reichenbach of Holmes canon; Joan Watson takes the fall and Sherlock Holmes has to return home to mourn.
Summary
"It fell to me to tell the bees, though I had wanted another duty..."Sherlock returns from Switzerland, but Watson does not.
Recs and Reviews
Excellent. One of the best Reichenbach stories I've read. Poetic, elegiac, evocative...[1] (NairobiWonders' review.)
A vignette more than a full fic, it’s built around an old English beekeeping tradition that Ms. Hudson encourages Sherlock to maintain. Sherlock’s head is filled with bee-related lore and he focuses on it because falling apart is not an option. The way he's holding on to his control by the skin of his teeth is palpable, as is the weight of Ms. Hudson’s own grief.There’s a whole fandom conversation surrounding the fic as well. . . The entirety of that conversation is worth reading and I am recommending it here too.
But “Telling the Bees” is perfect at just 882 words, absolutely heartbreaking, and even though I love the conversation that surrounds it I also recommend reading it just by itself, because its very brevity lends it incredible power.[3] (PhoenixFalls' rec at 221b_recs.)
Related Works
- Endnotes for Telling the Bees: Meta about the mythology and folklore referenced in the fic
- The Steep Part of the Wind by hophophop: A prequel fic in which Sherlock notifies Mary Watson, Joan's mother. (Involves spoilers for Telling the Bees.)
Additionally, Telling the Bees uses the bee nomenclature from La Chanson des Vieux Amants by language_escapes.