For a time, Skith joined labors in the higher tunnels. They were not unlike the labors of the lower tunnels, and Skith was served well by what she had learned of sharing food and of cleaning there. But above, there were labors to be learned that were not done in the lower tunnels, and these labors tested her eyes and her legs and her feelers in new ways that mixed her thoughts together.
She learned the labors of picking and stacking as she came upon the great hauls that were brought from those who foraged. She learned from those who labored beside her of the smells and tastes and textures that were good, and those that were evil. Those things that were kept glittered brightly, smelled of food, or felt tough and springy. Things that stung the feelers and the tongue, or did not hold their shape when lifted, were left behind, for these would be buried.
Skith went to chambers with stilled air and well-managed dirt, where she found the labor of egg-tending, and she felt an eagerness in it that she had not found in other labors. The eggs smelled of the Queen, and in that smell there was comfort. Many others felt the same, and Skith often labored with those who were young, with searching thoughts like hers. Many small learnings were traded in the cool egg chambers, and many learned Skith's name there. She learned the songs that were sung to the eggs, and the eggs joined her singing with tiny voices of their own. These thoughts would be difficult for Skith to later bury.
Each time that Skith would return to Akkis and have the Colony's smell put freshly upon her, Akkis had much learning of egg-tending to share, and Skith gathered it in the manner of a hungry beetle, and she became skilled in that labor. She found greater comfort in egg-tending than in tending to the softlings that followed. The larvae had a great hunger for both food and learning, and Skith lacked a sharing-stomach large enough to satisfy them, and she had learned little of the leading that they needed, for she had only followed.
Skith also learned of breaking in the higher tunnels, and it was a potent labor for her. Many things that were kept in the labor of picking and stacking were too large to be lifted, and would be broken. It was a labor that asked much of her legs and her jaws. Her legs were not so strong as some, but she found in the labor of breaking that her jaws were stronger than most, her jaws that had held the walls of the pit so tightly in her climbing that had been her labor only.
It was in the labor of breaking that she first walked with soldiers who she was very small beside. Not often did soldiers, who bore the heavy scent of Rakkitik, join the labors of the workers who smelled of Iki-Ikas. But there were soldiers who were smaller than most, and at times they joined labors of breaking. Skith could not keep fear from her thoughts when she was near these soldiers, for they were still large beside her, and Skith had learned the pit's rules of size.
The smell of kissec upon her, the kissec that shrouded her in the Colony's scent, was often strong enough to mask her fear. She did not smell such fear in other workers when they were among soldiers, and she learned then of how she was strange beside them. This unsettled her thoughts, and even when she was eager, she learned to avoid the labor of breaking because of it.
It was in the autumn-season that the bustle of the higher tunnels was greatest, and the conduit-lines were at that time watched by soldiers. Skith had long been eager to learn of the labors of the conduit-lines who carried many things to far chambers, but she could not mask her fear from so many watching soldiers who were skilled in finding even the smallest strangeness. Skith's learning of silence, from the pit, served her well, and she passed by the conduit-lines to the egg-chambers many times without trouble.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
But there was one soldier which Skith could not evade. Her name was Rathak, and she had lived for over two-and-one seasons. Her feelers had tasted many scents from many places, and there were no impostor's shapes that could slip past her thoughts that gripped tightly. With her jaws that were lined with sharp points, she had broken the armor of sisters, of beasts, and of impostors all. She smelled on Skith a familiar strangeness that had seemed long-buried inside her, and she held open her jaws in anticipation when Skith was near to her.
Skith then strove to walk far from Rathak, but with a soldier's eyes upon her and a soldier's feelers tasting her, her fear was thickly upon her armor. She stepped away from Rathak, who followed her eagerly. Skith squeezed between the workers of the conduit-lines to avoid being watched, but her legs tangled with the workers of the lines and alarm passed between them. Skith sped away, and Rathak followed with searching thoughts.
Skith came to the Replete's chamber, having learned of the comfort that was found there. But Rathak still followed. The Replete smelled Skith's arrival, and she said, “I smell the sister Skith, whose name I made. You will approach me, for I smell also your hunger, and I have much kissec still to spare.”
Skith could not resist the offer of sweet and perfect kissec from the Replete, who made the stuff sweeter still in sharing it. Skith filled her sharing-stomach and made to leave, but the Replete saw Rathak too, and said to the soldier, “I smell the soldier Rathak, whose name the nest-keepers made. You will approach me, and I will keep hunger from your thoughts, and you will be settled here.”
Rathak, her feelers bouncing, approached the Replete, but her great wide eyes were on Skith. She disagreed then with the Replete, and would accept no kissec. “There is a strange smell upon the worker you have shared food to—an impostor's smell, it seems to me.”
The Replete said, “I have not learned of the smells of impostors, for I have learned only of sharing the kissec that fills me. But I have also learned that the Gods Inside would not have a worker kept from her good labors.”
Rathak bore down upon Skith, her jaws wide and leaking sour scent. “The smell of kissec that is strong in your chamber has made my feelers imprecise. There is fear upon her, this I have learned. A worker who is a daughter the Queen and our Gods Inside should not feel fear beside a soldier of the Colony.”
The Replete whose legs could not move her swollen body passed her feelers between Skith and Rathak. “I have shared the kissec inside me with many daughters of our Queen. The workers who labor most eagerly in the egg-chambers have learned of Skith's name, and they have shared with me of her skill in egg-tending. She has learned from Akkis, who was skilled also in egg-tending before she walked Outside in war-making.”
“I will smell you beyond this chamber, where your smell will be clearer,” Rathak said to Skith, who then felt venom welling behind her jaws. But the Replete said to Rathak, “It is the autumn season, and Rakkitik would not have a daughter of hers so kept from her important labors beside the conduit-lines. If you have no hunger, Ratkhak, it would be good to return to your labors beyond my chamber which you are large within.”
Rathak's feelers flicked, and they twisted, and the stale scent of knotting thoughts was about her as she left to be once more beside the conduit-lines. Skith, with utter stillness, watched the soldier leave, and the Replete waited in silence until Rathak was away. “You will stay beside me, until your fears have quieted, Skith who is skilled in egg-tending,” she said.
“Do I have the smell of an impostor upon my armor?” Skith asked. “I have not learned of this smell that Rathak spoke of, and so I cannot find it.”
“I have learned nothing of the smells that soldiers are skilled in finding,” said the Replete. “But here, in my chamber, I have learned much of the softening of fear's edge. You will stay, and I will share the stories I tell with skill, and you will be within the sweet smell of kissec that settles thoughts and bears the scent of our Queen and the First Queen Atiati-kikitia.”