After returning to her garden, Faerie brought Queen to meet Arachne, and then to her glowing spring. Being quite thirsty from all the travel, Faerie took a drink, and gave Queen a mouthful as well. She sang a brief tune to Queen, to have her bees drink as well.
After everyone drank, Faerie flew around her garden with Queen still perched on her shoulder, introducing her to all of her flowers. Despite not having eyes or faces, all of the plants in hergarden turned towards her voice as she passed by, and Queen released contented chirps as they passed through the various scents and colours surrounding them.
As the day was coming to an end, Faerie returned to the spring with Queen, and after they both drank again, Queen finally took flight to find herself a perch among Silver's leaves along with her bees. While they hadn't had the time to construct a hive yet, Arachne had woven them some platforms from her silk for the bees to rest among Silver's branches comfortably.
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That night, great changes occurred to both Silver and Queen and her bees while Faerie slept in her lotus with Aracne. Silver’s trunk expanded, with its larger roots forming a ridge around the outside of the spring, and it’s height was now roughly 10 meters. Meanwhile, Queen underwent a transformation, becoming much more humanoid.
Her eyes were large and pitch black while her facial features were sharp and angular, and she retained her antenna extending slightly from her forehead, and framing her face was golden hair that extended to the base of her neck. Her upper body no longer looked like an insect’s thorax, and instead she looked more like a woman wearing yellow and black close-fitting plated armor, with a bee’s abdomen extending from the back of her waist like a tail.
As for her appendages, Queens six insect legs became two rather long slender legs, and two sets of delicate arms, one set directly at her shoulders, and another slightly lower, such that they wouldn’t interfere. Lastly, on her back, were two sets of elegant diaphanous wings. Queen now stood 16 cm tall, and resembled a warrior angel.
Queen’s bees too had undergone changes. Rather than becoming more humanoid, their forms changed to be more efficient in their respective jobs. Some of them had changed to feature heavier plating, as well as growing a second set of wings, and while they still had six legs, the front set now resembled a pair of wicked scythes. In addition, their abdomens and stingers had changed such that they would no longer kill themselves by stinging an enemy, and a dark glistening poison coated the tips. Adding onto the fact that they were now 8cm long, these Soldier Bees were clearly suited for combat.
Queen’s workers too had undergone changes, being bigger now at 6cm long, in addition to having gained stronger and more dextrous arms. They had gained flexible digits at the end of their front two legs, which would allow them a basic level of manual manipulation, but otherwise still just looked like rather large ordinary bees.
When Faerie woke up and saw the changes that had happened to Queen and her bees, she was so ecstatic she grasped Queen’s hands to twirl and dance in the air with her. Queen gave a few wry chirps in response, but both she and her bees were in a very good mood.
Seeing that Silver had gotten quite a bit bigger, Faerie sang to it, asking if it could open up a space for the bees further up, to which Silver obliged. High up in Silver’s branches, a platform extended from the trunk near a large main branch, and small hollow structures began to form at a size ideal for the new tenants. A much larger structure extended out of the trunk onto the platform, sized to be Queen’s residence, complete with doors and windows, and a small fountain of the very same glowing spring water.
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Upon seeing the transformation, Faerie was shocked. She dashed up to the new hamlet that had sprung up in Silver’s branches, staring wide-eyed as she inspected the different buildings. While Faerie dashed from place to place, Arachne and Queen, along with the rest of the bees made their way up to investigate. Once the bees arrived, they entered what looked to be a tall warehouse lined with pillars.
Each of the pillars was slightly textured but otherwise smooth, and had crevices below to pipe honey away for storage once the combs were full. With everything they needed in place, the workers set off to visit flowers while the soldiers either took up positions in their new home, or began patrolling the air around Silver and the edge of the glade.
Meanwhile, Queen looked at her new residence before chirping gratefully at Faerie, who seemed to have calmed down from her earlier excitement. Faerie gave Queen a hug before flying out into the glade to pay a visit to her flowers, singing a cheerful melody all the way.
Arachne found herself a comfortable place out on the platform to sit and weave while Queen began the important task of laying eggs. Fortunately, with the fountain Silver had provided, Queen didn’t need to worry about food, and thanks to its’ magic, it also seemed like the eggs would mature rather quickly.
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Several days passed, and Queen’s swarm grew daily. There were now dozens of soldiers patrolling throughout the glade, and many workers paying visits to the various flowers. Over this time, Silver continued to grow at a startling rate, it’s trunk becoming thicker, and the roots rimming the spring came to encompass its edge.
Along with the growth of her swarm, Queen too grew, gaining the ability to change between a humanoid (albeit with two sets of arms) and insectoid forms. Along with her transformation ability, Queen became able to summon an elegant and vicious looking spear, tipped with a deadly venomous stinger. The spear was patterned in black and gold, with a metallic gleam, and stood at twice Queen’s height (Queen now being slightly taller than Faerie at 17cm when in her humanoid form). Seemingly a part of herself, even when the spear wasn’t in her hand, it would levitate nearby, never out of arm’s reach.
On the day Queen’s spear made its appearance, Faerie stared at it in wonder. Despite being obviously physically separate from Queen, the spear would hover around her and follow her will, as much a part of her as any other. Queen herself was quite in love with this spear, and aside from her time producing eggs, she would spend her days in a small courtyard high in Silver’s branches, practicing spearmanship. Her techniques were ethereal and illusory, unlike anything the world had ever seen before.
Faerie spent her days singing to her flowers and the various bees she would encounter. With Queen’s transformation and new passion for spearmanship, Arachne often spent time sparring against her. While Arachne didn’t appear to carry any weapons, the spider legs on her back were as deadly as any spear, and it seemed that much like Queen, she could manifest monstrous and deadly knives that resembled a spider’s fangs, as well as conjure invisibly thin threads seemingly as strong as steel to bind and slice her opponents.
Despite the various activities Arachne would engage in throughout the glade, there always seemed to be points throughout the day where she would disappear without a trace, always returning before she was missed. Meanwhile, along the edge of the glade, the Thornwall grew thicker and more robust, occasionally striking down creatures that tried to force their way into the garden.
In addition to the thorns, new and enticing flowers began to grow outside the wall, enchanting scents and appearances drawing in creatures and insects alike. Sadly for those caught by these carnivorous beauties, by the time they realized something was wrong, they had already been paralyzed by the flowers poison. Despite the number of gruesome deaths suffered in the area, it continued to look idyllic as all of the corpses quickly became fertilizer, enhancing the beauty of the area further.
As the days continued peacefully, the residents of the glade found plenty of time to grow and enjoy their little piece of paradise, and Faerie’s joy grew with the number of new companions she had gained. While others might have been aware of the movement of time, and that indeed, nothing lasts forever, as far as Faerie new, this was as all days should be.