The next morning Maxine drank another one of the snake fruit smoothies prepared by Kerrigan and had nearly fully healed. However she still couldn't move her left arm without quite a bit of pain, and decided to keep it in a sling for the time being. For now, she intended get out of bed and get some breakfast to replenish her reserves before she could drink another one of those things. She couldn't help fight the four-horned kanzils until she healed anyways and she figured it would only upset her if she saw fighting while she was still injured. 

Maxine sat up in the bed and sighed as she realized that she was still naked aside from a specialized sling to hold her arm against her body. With a thought, she activated her Shadow's Embrace armor, but it didn't cover her entirely. Her left arm was completley bare and her left side was partially covered. The Shadow's Embrace armor hadn't been given enough time to repair itself. Well, I should've expected that, but it will do for now until I find some more clothes. I still have a few sets of undamaged training uniforms, but I rather not wear those into battle. I will wear those if I can't find anything else.

She detected a pleasant smell eminating from the kitchen. Ahh, Kerrigan must be making breakfast. I wonder what's she's making. Although, if she is anything like Silky, it will mostly be meat. She crawledo out of bed and walked towards the table.

"Mother, are you sure you are up to walking?!" Kerrigan asked worriedly as she came out of the kitchen with a plate heaped with various meats before Maxine could reach the dining table.

"My wounds are mostly healed, so there shouldn't be a problem for me to move around so long as my arm stays in this sling. It won't do me any good to lay in bed all day. By the way, do you have anything I could wear?" Maxine asked calmly, "But before that, let's go eat at the table." 

"So long as you don't hurt yourself," Kerrigan chirped.

"I won't. The only part of me that's still hurting is my left arm," Maxine said as she sat down at the small table in Kerrigan's room before Kerrigan set the plate full of various meats down infront of Maxine, "Thank you. Can I have some fruit to go with this? Eating only meat is not good for me." 

"Of course, mother," Kerrigan said and went back into the kitchen. She brought back a small bowel of fruit along with a plate of food for herself. Maxine waited for Kerrigan to sit down before she started eating. All of the food that Kerrigan prepared tasted amazing as Maxine chowed down. Meanwhile, Kerrigan was hesitating while staring at her plate.

"What's wrong?" Maxine asked in confusion.

"I'm just worried about those humans in the city," Kerrigan said.

"They should be fine for now," Maxine said to reassure Kerrigan.

"But still, I worry, especially for the little ones, mother," Kerrigan said, "Children are less likely to see me as a monster. A few of them even said I looked 'cool' while I was on Earth."

"I can see that," Maxine agreed. She had seen boys in the past that had spiders for pets for a very similar reason.

"Oh! After we finish eating, could you watch over me for a little bit using your constructs?" Kerrigan asked, "I've nearly finished incorporating the DNA of that female you brought here and I'm about to undergo a brief metamorphosis. It shouldn't take more than an hour."

"Of course, I will," Maxine said happily, "I can't wait to see how your new form will look."

"Thank you, mother," Kerrigan said happily and began to dig into her food in earnest.

"You're very welcome, daughter," Maxine said happily and finished her plate before she added, "But before we start, can I get something other than this tattered armor to wear? I kind of feel exposed." 

"There are some clothes in the bed-side stand," Kerrigan replied, "I made them while you slept. Silky was kind enough to teach me how to weave her silk and even gave me some of it when I became human enough for it to be required that I wear clothing. She even explained to me why I needed to wear them, so you wouldn't have to." 

"Good, you had me worried there for a moment," Maxine said as she walked towards as Kerrigan was finishing up her meal. She opened the draw on the night stand and sighed in aggrivation when she found a sleeveless full length white dress in the drawer. It was rather plain looking, but would suffice for now. This is not attire you would wear to a fight. Well, it's not like I'm in any shape to fight anyways. At least, there is a set of bra and panties under the dress. 

Maxine swiftly created several shadow tendrils to help her get dressed since she still had difficulty moving her left arm. A few minutes later when she was finally dressed, she put her arm back int the sling and retracted her Shadow's Embrace armor to allow it to repair itself. Unfortunately, she didn't have any shoes or sandals of any kind to put on her feet, so she simply went barefoot.

Just as Maxine finished putting on her clothes, Kerrigan walked over to a wall and waved her hand to cause a large section of it to melt away to reveal a small somewhat hexagontal section just big enough for Kerrigan to fit in. "This is room is the inner most portion of my hive and thus the safest while I undergo my metamorphosis. Could you summon up your wolves to patrol just outside of my hive? Their sense of smell will detect anyone attempting to sneak in. My warriors will crawl over every surface inside to ensure that it's nearly impossible to reach here without being detected. The other hive matriarchs insisted on this level of security since I'm doing this on a populated planet." That makes sense. Anyone using a stealth technique has to stay on the ground. If they tried flying, it would defeat the purpose of stealth since they emit essence, mana or ki while in flight. 

"I understand, sweetie. Summoning them now and I'm also bringing out my dragon to hide just outside the main entrance to your hive," Maxine said, "Nothing deters a intruder any better than a face full of dragon flame."

"I'll take your word on that," Kerrigan said as she walked into the chamber and as some of her drones began to seal it, she added, "I love you, mother."

"I love you too, my sweet daughter," Maxine said lovingly just before the chamber was sealed and summoned her Shadow Wolves in the nearby forests. She could instantly sense that Kerrigan had gone into a deep slumber while her body changed and she also felt a strange energy being emitted by Kerrigan. However it greatly disturbed her when she felt a sudden, yet weak, urge to rip open Kerrigan's hexagontal chamber and devour her. What the hell?! It must be my hydra bloodline causing that. Wait, if I feeling like this, wouldn't the local beasts feel a stronger urge?!

Maxine immediately extended out her spiritual sense and became very worried when she saw every beast even remotely close to Kerrigan's hive began rushing at it. I don't think my wolves are enough to hold many back. Thankfully, the vast majority of them are copper and bronze stage beasts and that Kerrigan has so many warriors. We should be able to hang on as long as nothing bigger than an iron stage beasts comes.

Maxine directed her Shadow Wolves to form up into groups of five and to intercept the beasts as they come. They were making short work of all of the beasts by simply ripping out their throats before moving on, but they were still getting closer and closer to Kerrigan's hive. She estimated she had another five minutes before they got could see the hive between the trees. 

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She quickly checked how long it had been since Kerrigan had started her metamorphosis and she was upset that it had only been ten minutes. Fuck, I can't keep them from reaching the hive before Kerrigan's done, but I can bottleneck them at the entrance. Unfortunately, just at that moment, iron stage beasts were starting to arrive while mixed in with the weaker beasts. Hmm, it seems I have less time than I thought. The silver stage beasts won't be far behind either. 

Maxine continued to direct her Shadow Wolves and was able to hold back the approaching beasts with greater ease than she had anticipated. Still, they managed to reach Kerrigan's hive, but it took them ten minutes rather than her estimated five. Mostly due to the fact that the silver stage beasts had yet to arrive. That's strange. Where are they? 

She extended out her spiritual sense to find them and felt a chill when she found a few dozen of them casually watching the weaker beasts charge forward.  Crap, I was worried about that. Smart beasts are a pain in the ass. My guess is that they are seeing how quick the response time is on my shadow wolves or they are waiting for my shadow wolves to tire.

Thankfully, she got some reinforcements from within the hive when some of the attacking beasts tried digging into the hive to reach Kerrigan. A swarm of her warriors rushed out and started slaughtering the beasts. The silver stage beasts looked at each other for a breif moment and promptly fled.

It became much easier at that point. Kerrigan's warriors simply killed everything and Maxine was forced to recall her Shadow Wolves before they were torn apart. But a few moments later, she was surprised when her dragon jerked it's head out and seemed to have something invisible in it's mouth as it shook it's head violently side to side. The beast's stealth technique faded and revealed a black cat-like beast. Wow, that thing just must've just been unlucky. It would've literately had to step on my dragon while it was hiding in the shadow of the entrance for it to be detected. Still, it would've been detected eventually anyways since only about half of Kerrigan's warriors went out to kill the beasts.

She only had to wait until Kerrigan finished her metamorphosis. With that in mind, Maxine checked on Kerrigan just before she was supposed to finish it. Kerrigan had grown long black and yellow hair while her exoskeleton had changed to a cream-like color. Her face appeared to be much more expressive as facial muscles twitched here and there. It was a very good start. Although it was still obvious that she wasn't human, she changed enough that most humans would give her the opportunity to talk without them assuming she was hostile. Kerrigan is clearly going to do an external transformation in stages. Doing it all at once will leave her vunerable for far too long. It's rather smart of her. A few moments later, Kerrigan's eyes popped open and she very gently tore open the hexagontal chamber.

"This is different," Kerrigan said to herself as she practiced making various facial expressions and looked at Maxine, "So, how do I look, mother?"

"It definitely looks like you put a lot of effort into trying to look human," Maxine praised, "I especially approve of giving yourself facial expressions."

"Thank you, mother," Kerrigan said happily, "Did I suffer many losses while I was undergoing my metamorphosis?"

"Less than fifty of your warriors were injured and only a dozen were killed," Maxine answered, "I have to say they are quite fearsome and efficient at what they do. Did the other hive matriarchs help you engineer them?"

"The other hive matriarchs gave me a few tips, but they are mostly of my design," Kerrigan said proudly, "Are they really that powerful?"

"Yes, they are. They could probably face two, possibly three, ordinary cultivators at the same level and win with difficulty," Maxine said honestly, "But against a genius, it's best just to swarm them. All you need to do is wound them a few times with their venomous attacks and it will only be a matter of time before the poison does it's job."

"The other hive matriarchs advised me to do the same some time ago," Kerrigan admitted, "But it's good to hear you say it as well."

"They've been doing this a lot longer than you have, so you should listen to them," Maxine advised.

"I will, mother," Kerrigan said and two antenna rose out of Kerrigan's hair, "Um, do I need to wear clothes?"

"I strongly recommend that you start wearing clothes pre-emptively. Men are not the most picky of creatures when it comes to prospective mates," Maxine said honestly, "And to them, being naked is an invitation, even when you believe it's not."

"But that's stupid," Kerrigan asked in disbelief.

"I know it is, but that's how some of them think. So you have to be careful to protect yourself," Maxine said honestly.

"Thank you for telling me that, mother," Kerrigan said softly, Um, mother? The other hive matriarchs want to know how to spot the good and bad humans."

"You can never know if someone is good or bad person just by talking to them. You have to decide for yourself if you will trust them or not," Maxine said sadly, "I've made a mistake or two trusting the wrong people. I even had a situation where I was going to help other humans kill a threat only to be betrayed at the worst possible moment." Namimgly General Jones convincing the asshole with the guass cannon to shoot me in the fucking arm while I was on the mission to kill that Temptest Weasel! I still can't believe General Jones was dumb enough to pull that shit. 

"I see. Thank you for instructing me, mother," Kerrigan said with a slight bow of her head, "Um, I'm not sure what kind of clothes I should wear. Could you help me?"

"Of course," Maxine said happily as she tried to visualize different styles of clothing on Kerrigan, "I think a backless dress is your best choice."

"Oh? Why is that, mother?" Kerrigan asked.

"There are not many kinds of clothing that can accomodate those wings of yours and a backless dress is one of few that will," Maxine said while gesturing to the translucent wings still sprouting out of Kerrigan's back, "It's what fairies prefer to wear and they're build quite a bit like you are. Although, their skirts tend to be shorter for some reason, but it's up to you what you want to wear."

"I think a full length backless dress would look wonderful on me, mother," Kerrigan agreed as she walked over to an oaken wardrobe and pulled out a robe, "I will make it once I decide on a specific design. For now, I will wear this bath robe since it's just us in here and I don't need to fly inside of my hive."

"Alright. Why don't you get used to your new form while I go for a quick walk outside," Maxine suggested, "I won't be going far. I just want to get some fresh air."

"Alright, mother. Just be careful," Kerrigan said with concern as she tried walking unsteadily.

"I will," Maxine said and she took her time flying out of Kerrigan's hive. She landed on the ground within moments of exiting the hive and started to lap Kerrigan's hive.

She walked slowly and enjoyed the fresh air. With an idle thought, she checked on the four-horned kanzil army through one of her ravens. Their numbers had been severely diminished. She even spotted Shemna next to her mother. Although it was clear that the male four-horned kanzils were still ignorant of her gender. It's good that she was able to keep up the facade. Still, it would be better for her, psychologically speaking, if she were able to join Seton Academy. 

However as she retracted her awareness away from her raven, Maxine felt as if someone was watching her. She looked around and only saw Kerrigan's warrior insects. While they were patrolling near her, none of them seemed to be giving her any special attention. 

Maxine released a gentle pulse of her energies in a rapidly expanding sphere and watched it with her spiritual sense. If there was someone watching her invisibly, her pulse of energy would flow around them. It was one of the countermeasures she came up with for detecting those with high stealth skills, but it was tiring to maintain it. And it had limited range. So she only used it when she felt like she was being watched. 

[I'm sorry to disturb you. I just wanted to see the warrioress that managed to face off against a half-step immortal for a full minute while stilll in silver stage,] a masculine voice said admiringly, [To be honest, I'm rather surprised you are even standing after what I heard happened to you.]

[I don't like being spied on,] Maxine growled, [If you want to talk, get down here and talk.]

[I understand that sentiment, but I'm sorry. I dare not get any closer,] the man said.

[Can I assume it has something to do with my daughter?] Maxine asked with barely contained anger.

[Oh? I thought that rumor was a lie, but yes, it's about the hive matriarch,] the man said calmly, which only served to further infuriate her.

[If you are not going to talk to me face to face, leave, so I can get back to my relaxing walk,] Maxine said, [I can't exactly do that with someone staring at me like I'm some kind of exotic beast.]

[I apologize,] he said sincerely, but Maxine got the feeling he was just putting on a show, [My name is Brant Kelborn and if you wish to talk to me 'face to face,' I will be in the nearby city.] A member of the Kelborn clan? He must be making sure Sandra doesn't escape, or he's here to make sure she gets punished. But either way it's not my problem. I have enough of my own problems to deal with. I need to be strong enough to defend myself when that damn Shadow Lord shows up. But I can't exactly do that until my cores start accepting energies again. I wonder how long I will have to wait for that to resolve itself.