Okay, a meeting of the broodmothers.
According to Liseti, it's simply an occasion where the princesses and the queen come together so they can discuss urgent and important matters.
This only includes the present ones, as it would be too much of an effort to call princesses from the other, mostly autonomous hives together.
The queen apparently came up with this in an attempt to delegate some of her responsibilities to the others.
Yet because Honiu is usually declining all invitations of the queen it never came to a real meeting.
Which is the reason why Liseti got such great influence by being responsible for assigned patrols, security units, and general administration.
But now I am here as well.
And this topic, for maybe the first time in centuries, is a thing of really great importance since the swarm is surprisingly isolated and rarely has to discuss new developments.
There seems to be something like a protocol to this we need to follow.
It seems we have to wait in our quarters till a messenger calls us to the queen's chamber.
Which should be logical as it's almost impossible at her size to change locations.
A short time later exactly that happens.
I meet Liseti close to the entrance with all the guardians waiting in front of it.
Sorry, but I doubt many could say yes when it's about standing your ground against a true titan.
And with the pheromones as a factor, lying is not an option.
(E)
I breathe in and follow Liseti inside.
Now that I'm a bit more focused than the other times I notice the scent in the air.
Quite sure those are lingering pheromones from the queen.
Which should be a given.
Shortly after we entered I receive the first message.
The pheromones help with the direction, but I still can't see her.
Well, until she's suddenly directly in front of my face with her lowered head, making my heart skip a beat.
She can say whatever she wants, I can feel the truth through the pheromones.
Is that simply how she is or did she want to get at me because of the topic of our discussion?
Anyway, I think we should get started.
I get that she has more experience than me at her age, but on the other side, it might be that being several millennia old might screw one's outlook on such matters.
Huh, what does she mean?
(L)
It's rare to see Liseti being flustered.
But this is one of the rare moments when she's troubled.
I'm still slightly confused.
But then I notice the pheromones of another presence entering the hall.
And I know them.
I felt them before.
Truly.
Honiu just entered the hall and walks over to Liseti, so we all stand in a half-circle in front of the queen, who claims the rest of the area.
This is a bit too much at once.
And why does it concern her as well?
(H)
If she could sneer or have bad enough manners to spit, she would.
At least her pheromones convey this much.
(H)
It's actually a bit hard to hear how something like this might happen to my brood.
I'm not sure if I see them as my children, but honestly, I don't wish them to die.
Okay, now it's my turn to state valid reasons. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. While I feel that her comments are also a bit because she thinks it's unfair that I'm having so much freedom to act the way I want, her arguments are not easily set aside. She's wiser than I granted her. I need to say something before my chance to negotiate peace with humans ceasey to exist. It's good that I wasn't just spending my time idle but was trying to think about convincing arguments. Yes, I know. And that's the reason why this might work. It seems I'm mainly up against Honiu here. (U) Finally, Liseti partakes as well. Fortunately in her special field of expertise. Huh? Why am I hearing just now about this possibility? Liseti doesn't seem to be surprised at this revelation. She's admitting it?!! Says the one always talking with reverberating intensity. I certainly have mixed feelings about the fact that the queen is working to establish access points to every single human settlement she finds. This has quite a huge risk to be misused. Yet even more problematic is that I am now supposed to help them to find our capital. While it's not extremely confidential information, it feels a bit like selling out my old country. On the other side, the direction this discussion goes is quite positive. And she only wants me to describe it. If it's already discovered, then its location is known, no matter what I'm doing. Guess I've just told them the general direction where I would think Valera would be on a map. Makes sense that they wouldn't know this. Already the sea should be quite a thing for them. I'm already glad that concepts like "floating" are explained through the pheromones while I say them. Wow, great. An invasion force below Valera. If people hear about this... (E) I doubt they heard the word "week". Rather it was about the expected number of intervals. Honiu feels annoyed, agitated, and... jealous? Wow, that was... surprisingly deep. That's actually quite nice of Liseti. I'll feel safe if she is there to ascertain that everything proceeds as it should. Too many good things at once happened, huh? Liseti is now completely off. She, she can't be serious. The pheromones already hint at it, but she can't be real! She is real! How, how whimsical can she be? This queen is simply too much. I don't even know what to say anymore. My mouth is agape and all my pheromones convey is "Huh?". I hate it. Now I am even depending on Honiu? (H) Wha-... She truly said yes? This is unexpected. And with this, the meeting of the broodmothers is concluded.