Tension pervaded the nursery.

Belle and I sat inside while the rest of the workers looked into the room through various tunnels. Bedivere had to hover outside and peer in through a hole. He was just too huge.

At the very least, we were expecting the eggs that had used the minimum amount of Mind to hatch soon. If that were the case, our numbers were about to instantaneously become several times larger.

"Mother, please. Can the workers get back to work? This is not productive…."

"Oh nonsense Beatrice. This is our first huge batch of bees. It's like a little party! Let everyone have some time off."

"Time off…" Beatrice didn't argue anymore, but she kept mumbling about laziness and schedules. The assessment I had once made was totally wrong. Beatrice was nothing like that manager I once had.

She was an entirely different beast.

Before I had a chance to feel sorry for the bees' future work-life balance, the nursery floor began to quake.

"Here they are! Yay!"

Speak for yourself! The room's structure was sturdy, but could it handle dozens upon dozens of eggs exploding?

Forget the eggs! The bees would be growing up all at once. The nursery was pretty big, but was it big enough for all those bees?

Why couldn't I just become an expert at smoothly hatching bee eggs the size of small dogs?

One by one, groups of eggs cracked open, baby bee grubs flopping onto the nursery floor. I frantically waved for Belle to begin moving the grubs out of the nursery before they grew up and caused some sort of crowd crush.

The better part of an hour saw a similarly goofy routine. Orange orbs splattering open, gray-white worms wiggling on the floor, and those same grubs being lifted into the air and tossed into other rooms of the hive. Eventually, the hive felt unusually crowded.

"Wow! They're so… small!" Ben shouted gleefully. That coming from you, huh?

Besides Beatrice, the other bees were similarly enthralled with the grubs. They hadn't been able to witness Bedivere's birth, I guess, so why not let them have their fun?

"Fifty-six grubs sit on the hive floor; fifty-six grubs await fourteen more. Fifty-six grubs, little bundles of joy; Fifty-six grubs all mine to enjoy!"

"…Are you some sort of poet now?"

"I felt inspired by the precious babies!"

"Couldn't be inspired to think of a more creative rhyme for 'joy'?"

"Oh crap, they're getting bigger!"

Bess' shout drew my attention away from Queen's indignant harrumph. As she said, the fifty-six new bees were beginning to shake and spasm, some more than others. As they did so, they slowly grew.

Although, something seemed… off.

"They are uniform?"

Queen was right. The majority of the new bees were growing to be the same size. I noticed that the bees with more variable sizes generally sported longer stingers. Were these the warriors?

Ah, right; the Link would tell me all.

My suspicions were confirmed; the sixteen bees with longer stingers and less uniform statures were the Simple Warriors that had used the minimum amount of Mind.

Which meant that the forty remaining bees that had hatched were the Construction and Gathering drones. Drones that were looking more and more like regular bees.

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"Could it be? For whatever reason, is it possible that these types of bees are immune to your human influence?"

Only one way to find out.

"Hello, newbees. How ya doin'?"

…

"Atteeeeention!"

Nobody answered, but when one of the warriors shouted at the top of her lungs, the other fifteen warriors spun and stood at the ready.

"Ten hut!"

"Uh. At ease?"

They seemed to relax at that. The pack leader still stood ramrod straight, unwavering, but the others began looking around at the hive. They seemed to emit feelings of comfort and happiness whenever their attention landed on one of the older workers. Seems like they were also born to protect the family.

On the other hand…

The drones hadn't said a word. They expressed little emotion besides some mild curiosity as they explored the interior hive.

"How about you guys? How are you?"

No answer.

Some drones wandered up to me and tickled me with their antennae, but otherwise, they didn't show any sort of higher thought.

"As we thought. How odd. The only thing they have in common is their designation as drones."

It couldn't have been the amount of Mind, right? I was inclined to agree with Queen. Why did their subtype being drones matter? Wouldn't these subtype options have been the same regardless of whether I was a factor?

I could feel some sort of intelligence from them. The drones weren't stupid, just… not totally there. Weird. In fact, I would say this development was disturbing.

I might have been concerned that something I had done was beginning to affect my offspring, but the sixteen new warriors seemed no different from the other workers. Even now, I could see one warrior flexing its chitin while another flew around the hive in a craze. Maybe it was competing with Ben for most hyper bee?

The leader-type warrior had finally broken her posture and had wandered over to inspect Bedivere. A twinkle of admiration sparkled in her eye as she quietly conversed with him.

"Mother," Beatrice whispered, "What would you have me do? I doubt you could predict the behavior of the drones. The warriors should be in good hands under Bedivere, but…."

I shared Beatrice's concerns. While a strong personality might cause conflict or tension in groups and hierarchies, in this case, it actually made things easier. Since the bees could be independently driven or have desires, the amount of direction required was minimal. As long as they understood what to do, they could figure out how to do it.

Would these not-so-Mindless drones fare the same? It didn't seem like they could think for themselves very much, so they would require very specific, direct instruction. In small numbers, it may be alright, but...

"Bess. Do you think you can handle the Construction Drones? They will need very detailed instructions, and there are a lot of them. They may be tough to coordinate."

"I… I think I can handle them, Mother. They are my family, so all I need to do is consider them an extension of myself."

"Alright. Bella, you should have an easier time. Go ahead and practice working with the ten Gathering Drones."

"Alrighty!"

"Bedivere? Handle the warriors, please."

"Of course, Mother."

I shooed everyone out of the nursery, leaving only myself, Belle, Beatrice, and the remaining eggs inside.

"Oh… are we not going to name the new children?"

"Oh? I thought you didn't like the uniqueness of naming?"

"I am beginning to warm up to the idea."

In some way, that was pretty adorable of Queen.

"Hey! I know what you're thinking!"

What an adorable little queen.

Seriously though, names would be tricky. The hive's population before the new generation was only seven, plus Queen and myself. I had enough trouble coming up with all those names, not even mentioning remembering them all. More than fifty new names, all once…?

"I see the issue. Perhaps the drones would be better off without names? Though the more unique individuals may benefit from names."

If that were the case, we would still need sixteen names all at once for the warriors. Even that was too much!

"Perhaps we can 'delegate' this task? Have Beatrice or Bedivere come up with names for the warriors."

Not a bad idea. Bedivere might actually be a great candidate for the task.

Or maybe I should just do it myself? It might be less embarrassing if I ensured I knew the names.

"Perfect. And I mean perfect transition. Let's talk about you for a change, Enno."

"Let Bedivere name the warriors. I wish for you to speak with me for a bit. I have had much to consider since Vulch's… fate."

"I was intrigued by what you told Belle. Having time to reflect on oneself is healthy for your Mind and your mind. And yet, despite the number of times we have discussed your thoughts, you always manage to find a way to deflect the conversation."

"I know, and I'm sorry. But I haven't had a choice. Every time we talk about something, another thing just comes up…."

"You can no longer run. You have no work that urgently calls your attention. The eggs have plenty of time before they hatch. The others will be busy working and managing the new generation of bees."

"Enno, I can do little more. I implore you to tell me about your feelings. Although I can see your Mind, you have hidden yourself jealously. There is little that I can do but ask you to reflect on your situation. I have laid bare myself to you. Shown you my pain. My sadness. I have given a great deal of thought to my family. To my loss."

My feelings, huh? What was this, therapy? Besides, that thing about not having urgent work was totally untrue. There was-

"ENNO!"

Shit, alright.

My situation? It was fucked up. I was no stranger to sudden, dramatic life-changing events. Moving. Leaving home. Going to college. Entering the workforce.

Dying and being reborn as a completely different species in a different world? A bit wack in comparison.

Was there really much to consider there? It was like another part of life to adapt to. Another change I encountered and overcame.

Right?

Yeah. Yeah, it was. If anything, this was a great thing. Hadn't it been easy to make the switch? I didn't miss anything. I didn't feel a particularly strong attachment to anything or anybody from my previous life besides my poor lost pen collection.

Oh.

I had thought of this before, right? Way back when. Why didn't I care more? Was I really so jaded? So eager to distract myself with work?

I was in a life-threatening situation. That was enough of an excuse, right? Although… I didn't have that excuse anymore, did I?

A shiver wracked my body. The stick spinning around my arm's stump whirled like a cyclone. Why? Why didn't I care? I did care, didn't I? How could I not?

My life. More than twenty years, and I missed nothing from them.

I couldn't let that happen again. I would go and expand the hive-

"You are doing it again," Queen said gently. Fuck. I wasn't even trying to do that. I just did it… automatically.

Is that what I always did? Gravitate towards distraction without even thinking about it, all to avoid… things?

“I… er… ugh…”

"That is pain, Enno. I am sorry for forcing you to do this. I will try to use Compartmentalization to give you some alone time, but I think you have done very well. I do not think you need to contemplate these things further for now."

"No. Can you… stay? I want to be… alone."

Queen's humming hit a crescendo. The buzz became so intense that my already weak limbs flopped lifelessly. I could almost see Queen as she had appeared in Vulch's Mind, seeming to move her body.

"Oh, Enno. I am here for you. And not because I have no choice. Because I wish to."