Dinner was some more fruit and roasted boar, my roommates had their vine ropes untied at the same time it was brought in. At first they refused to eat any, perhaps they thought it was another trick to kill them even though we were already at their mercy. But after they saw me eat some and not die they ate their portion with gusto, having refused breakfast this morning they were starving. Then as soon as they stopped eating they passed out, I hoped that when they woke up they were more talkative. After I was done with my portion I poked my head out the door to talk to the guards.

"Make light sister not light?" I asked while pointing to the little glowing ant

They didn't respond verbally but one of them nodded, entered the room, looked at the little ant, and wiggled her antenna. In response the little ant dimmed rapidly until she was completely dark. I thanked the guard and as I laid down to sleep I wondered if I could at least make the people I am being forced to bunk with not so fanatical after we woke up.

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I woke up in complete darkness and panicked for a second before I remembered where I was. I stood up and felt my way over to the door and asked the guards to get the light ant to start the light again. Shortly after she lit up, the two other guys woke up and grumbled about it being too early and other morning grievances. Their mutual grumbling seemed to have startled them both fully awake, then they grimaced as the sudden movement agitated their busted hands.

"Good morning you two," I called out while I waved to them.

"What?!" both of them yelled in surprise at the same time "whwhytheheredoingwhay?"

"One at a time! Let's start with names. I'm Kadi, you next," I pointed to the one on the left.

"Francis," he said and looked over to the last one.

"Horace, Now why are you in such a chipper mood after waking up in this god forsaken dungeon?" He asked with a grumble.

"Well, why not? We aren't dead and I doubt we will be unless we do something incredibly stupid," I told them with a smug look.

"How can you be so sure? They could be trying to make us lower our guard to -"

"We were asleep!" I interrupted Francis, "How much lower could our guards possibly get?"

"Ugh, fine, so what do you think they ARE going to do with us, smart guy?" Francis glared at me.

"Well, when I asked them they said they needed a husband for the princess," they both gaped at me in horror, as if I just said something horrible about their mothers.

"And you believed them!? These monsters will say anything to trick you!" Horace yelled, and one of the guards poked her head in to see what the loud noises were about. 

"We no fight, men scared," I told her while pointing towards the other guys, she nods and goes back to her position. "See, I just talked to them and they listened to me. Besides, how are you going to fight your way out of here with a broken hand? Just relax and i'll ask whoever brings the food for something to help." 

"I don't like it, but you are right. Even if I tried to fight right now I wouldn't accomplish anything." Francis admitted with a sigh and his left hand on his forehead. Horace just stayed silent.

We sat there silently waiting a couple minutes for the food, it started to feel kind of awkward so I took out my book to read some more. Perhaps a half hour later Fighter came in with a bowl of fruit in three hands and gave one to each of us. Hmm, I wonder if I could teach them agriculture, if they could gather food on a larger scale than a hive should get bigger and stronger. Something for later, now that Fighter was here I could ask things.

"Fighter, men hand break, help?" I said and pointed to francis' right hand.

"Me see, get worker bring more little sisters." She poked into the hall and communicated something to the workers and came back in. "Other Needs?"

"Yes, bathroom please?" My gut had filled up after that breakfast. 

"Bathroom?" 

"Uhh, relieve self, waste, excrement." I said while pointing at my butt.

After thinking for a second she said, "Ah, me get pots" and left.

"See guys, just some words and they are bringing something to help your hands and some chamber pots," I said proudly.

"Yeah, it was... surprisingly easy," Francis agreed. Horace just glared at me and grumbled but didn't say anything.

Shortly two workers came in each holding a little light ant. They motioned for the guys to hold their wounded hands out towards them. It took a minute but after looking at me and nodding to him Francis held out his hand. The worker placed the little ant's glowing end on the hand which made him flinch from the contact for a second, and then the worker wiggled her antenna at the little ant. Slowly the... I suppose you could say 'quality', of the light changed, turning from pure light into something more profound. The change kept building for several seconds then with one last burst of brightness that forced me to close my eyes the light stopped. 

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I opened my eyes again and looked at Francis' hand, the redness had gone down a lot. The little sisters must be able to do a burst of healing light instead of constant mundane light. The little one that did it was breathing harder from exertion but seemed otherwise okay, and was still asleep. The second worker with a light ant approached Horace next, held her up and gestured for him to hold out his hand. He stared for a minute, then he started sweating profusely and his eyes darted back and forth between Francis' hand and the ant.

Suddenly his still working hand shot out, grabbed the small ant from the worker, threw her to the ground and stomped on her before anyone could react. "You wont use your demon magic on me!" He yelled before jumping on the worker that was holding the light ant and started fighting. I'm stunned that someone would be so hateful they refused healing because of who was doing it. Francis jumped into the fray to stop him but his hurt hand meant he couldn't get a good grip and Horace already had the worker in a chokehold. I run to the doorway and almost hit the guard ants who were rushing in.

I pointed to the fight and the guards quickly overpower him and pulled them apart. One of the guards held Horace in a quad grip on his limbs while he thrashed and yelled about demon magic. I helped the wounded worker to her feet and then checked the light ant. She was very much dead, her thorax had been pancaked and there was blood everywhere. Francis seemed okay but I was feeling awful, logically I knew it wasn't my fault, but emotionally I felt like I could have done more, made him non-hostile enough he would have let them help.

Fighter came back holding three large baked mud pots, while I was sitting there on the bed feeling terrible. She looked around and saw Horace being restrained, then she saw the crushed light ant. 

"What happen?" She asked while squatting down.

"Horace, the held man," I pointed to him, "was scared of the light, he killed the little sister then tried to kill the worker," I switched to the worker he attacked.

"Need ask queen what do with man," she said while setting down the pots. She then scooped up the body of the light ant, stood up, and left once again. 

This incident really brought home just how hard it will be to change these people. I'll get successes like with Francis and set backs with people like Horace. Something told me success will be in much shorter supply than set backs for a long time.  From looks alone it seemed like Francis was younger, which could be what made him less set in his ways. Several more minutes pass before Fighter came back and behind her was the largest ant yet. She looked to be over two meters tall, her face was even more human looking than the guards', by having a nose, and her body was much more clearly female with the lack of an armored chestplate, replaced with breasts.

She stared intently at Horace for several minutes, while her antenna wiggled madly, next she shifted her head slightly to look at the guard holding him and wiggled something else, then she turned to me, her face cool and unemotional.

"Can you tell me what happened from your perspective?"

"Well, uhh, one of the workers had a light making ant and was going to have her heal his hand. But he, um, freaked out and killed her then attacked the worker, and the guards rushed in and broke up the fight." It was kinda hard to talk to her with her breasts being level with my face.

"Hmm, yes, that would make more sense then what he thought happened. According to his thoughts of the event, my daughter was trying to steal his soul and now we are going to eat his heart." She then seemed to notice my eyes struggling to not stare at her chest and crossed one pair of her arms over it. 

"I'm sorry!" I yelped while looking away.

"Hmm, it's fine, i'm the one without any coverings, and I wont ever get any, not with my hive doomed as it is." She said with a forlorn expression before shaking her head. "Anyway, it is clear to me I can't hold you all here without things like this continuing to happen, what do you want to happen?"

Horace jumped on the question with "Release me, demons!"

"Done, but not now, you will be tied up and dropped off near the human city," she then wiggled at a worker who left the room, probably to get some rope.

Next up, Francis, "I... I want to go home too. You aren't nearly as evil as the stories say, but I have a family to care for."

"Agreed, you will be tied up too, but because you didn't attack anyone while here, you will be untied when you are dropped off and you can untie the other man."

Do or die time, I had to ask myself, what do I want? ... "i'll stay, I have no family here and your people have been the nicest I have met."

The queen finally smiled, "thank you, that means a lot to me."

The worker sent for rope returned with three bundles of it, I guess the queen thought all three of us would want to go. Fighter took the ropes and tied up Horace first, who had stopped struggling from exhaustion. She then moved on to Francis who didn't struggle and was thus given a slightly more comfortable series of knots because of his cooperation. Right before the workers carried them out I stopped the one with Francis.

"Hey man, could you maybe try to convince people to at least not capture ants and force them through a humiliating march to their death? Don't risk yourself being overt so they call you a heretic, and if you can't do it I wont hold it against you." I pleaded with him.

He looked up at me while held over the shoulder of the worker. "Heh, don't worry, I know what I can get away with. But I will try." With that I let the worker ants march off with their human cargo.

I turned around and the queen was still there, smiling at me. "I see you really do care about us, even though you have only been here for less then a day."

"Well, I just have this feeling that getting to know your people better will make the whole world better eventually," I told her with a grin.

"Very well, Fighter will be your escort, and you can care for this little one," she reached up and gently pried the light ant from the ceiling before handing her to me, "she will be your light as Fighter shows you around the hive."

"Thank you for trusting me," I told the queen before I nodded towards Fighter and we left the room to start the tour.