Regina didn’t like to admit it, but she felt significantly better after Ira’s little ‘intervention’. She really had been overworking herself, which felt a little odd since she’d mostly just sat there and watched things through the psychic link, but she supposed the mental effort wasn’t to be dismissed so easily. After getting out a bit, getting some exercise, and taking the chance to just rest her brain, she felt more productive when she got back to work.

That wasn’t going to be all of it, she knew. Max had immediately started being double as much of a pushy annoyance when Ira roped him in, and Regina mirrored all of the fond exasperation she could tell they felt at her over it. It was kind of nice to know they cared, and having her health, including her mental state, managed was something she’d probably have to get used to. Not wanting to worry her drones was proving to be a surprisingly effective incentive.

Unfortunately, this was still a bad time to be taking a sabbatical. The war hadn’t slowed down, although some of the forces in play had, somewhat. The mixed Cernlian and Nerlian army was making its way towards Nerlia, and it was getting about time to finalize how to deal with it. The hive had been discreetly - hopefully - gathering an army of its own, moving around units of Swarm Drones as more became available after hatching. A lot of the drones in the area were still occupied with skirmishing and harassing the army, of course. From what Regina could tell, its morale was basically in free-fall. The Nerlian army mustering deeper in Nerlia itself was another matter, though, and while it wasn’t as big, it might be more of a challenge.

Regina had kept up with Ben and the other commanders’ plans, although she hadn’t contributed very much personally. They’d also coordinated with Lyns and Whitor, which was probably the most annoying and difficult part, judging by how Ben complained. She found it hard to estimate how fruitful the planning had been, though. There were still so many immeasurable factors. Making further plans wouldn’t help at some point. Sometimes you just have to throw the dice and see where they land, Dan had told her with a shrug when she’d last talked to him, checking in to see how things were going concerning the Nerlian army. She supposed he had a point.

It didn’t matter if she had misgivings, she still needed to project strength and confidence, though. Her commanders needed to know that she trusted them, that she was confident in them. That included what she projected both via the psychic link and with old-fashioned expressions. It was kind of tiring to put up a front, although Regina had found herself doing it more often of late. Not that it was really a front, though; she wasn’t lying to anyone. Just getting to grips with the other aspects of leadership, she thought, watching her hive shape up to meet her expectations in the middle of danger one more time. She was proud of them. Maybe she should tell them that more often.

At that moment, she felt a soft touch on her mind as Ben called for her attention, before he spoke. Has your envoy to the Esemen left already?

Yes, she set off a while ago. Why, is something wrong?

Lady Marianne had accepted Regina’s offer after consulting briefly with her son and even Florance and June Lyns. Regina supposed that was only logical of her. She’d sent some drones with Marianne, of course, and the Nerlian territory they occupied had kindly provided a few horses and a carriage.

Of course, she still needed to send at least one sapient drone with her. Regina had wanted to send a Keeper, but, that might give the wrong impression. So instead, she’d decided to send Ria, one of her oldest Attendants, who’d Evolved to an Elite version of the Class. That was pretty rare for Attendants, but it would give a better impression than sending a keeper with that literally as their Class name for her human spokesperson, if she wanted to make a point of sending a human envoy.

No, but activity at the border has increased. I’ll make sure we keep an eye out to ensure they aren’t stopped. He sighed softly, and Regina could feel his tiredness. It’s a shame we don’t have a good route into their country, but I suppose it’s not really a dangerous journey.

I guess. How are things going apart from that?

Ben hesitated again. We’re about as ready as we can be, he finally admitted. Although if we had other options, I wouldn’t complain …

I’ll get a move on in about an hour, Regina said, grimacing slightly as she carefully felt for her body’s condition. But even if I practice a bit with sensing human minds, it just won’t be enough. I’m not that strong yet, Ben. Or skilled. I might - maybe - be able to affect a relatively small unit and push them into surrendering, but definitely not an army corps or anything.

I know, he assured her. We’re not relying on psychic effects, anyway.

The goal she’d formulated was pretty clear, but still difficult: to get a large number of Nerlian soldiers, probably in an army, to defect or surrender. Or imprison them, she supposed. Unfortunately, their options were limited. Magic wouldn’t work, and she couldn’t use her still meager psychic ability. Not yet.

In the future, maybe that would be a possibility. A push to nudge enemy fighters towards surrender or defeat, and then the hive could treat them well and release them to go back to their fields after laying down their weapons, at least. She wasn’t going to try for long-term mind control even if she thought she had a chance in hell of accomplishing it. That would just be stupid.

Other possible solutions they’d brainstormed, like gas, were out, too, since the enemy soldiers would be strengthened by the System and would have very different levels and stats. A dose large enough to knock one guy out might not do much of anything to a second and outright kill a third. The same essentially went for trying to poison their supplies or water sources.

Right now, while Ben kept their plans flexible, the basic idea was to pen the Nerlians up in a castle or fortified settlement and siege them, starving them out and forcing them to surrender without actually inflicting many casualties. She saw no reason it wouldn’t work, at least for the army in Nerlia itself, which Regina was honestly more concerned about. There were still a few pitfalls, though.

Regina tried not to worry about it as she wrapped things up in the hive, packing a few things she wanted to take with her, and then took care of the hive’s newest eggs. She wouldn’t be able to keep going at the normal rate while she was gone, which meant she was adding a big batch to their hatchery right now. She staggered and almost fell on the way to the hatchery as Ira and a few others carried the eggs, and braced herself with her hand against the doorway for a moment, taking a deep breath. The ache in her core was familiar, although it hadn’t been this bad in … weeks if not months, actually. For all that Ira had gotten on her case about taking care of herself, she hadn’t pushed herself as hard more recently. The situation wasn’t so desperate, Regina acknowledged to herself. And I suppose I might have grown up a little, too, but that can’t have amounted to much.

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She still looked like people would question whether she was already an adult if she was human, at least in the old world. Regina didn’t mind too much, most of the time. Now that she had a better idea of her age before she’d been transformed, or had her soul transferred or whatever, it was actually easier to see it as amusing rather than frustrating.

Once she was finished making sure everything was ready and going to proceed as normal without her, Regina left through one of the newer tunnels and stepped out in an enclosure to the north of their base, where Ira had already gathered a small flock of Winged Drones, all at higher levels. Thor waited for her as well, and Regina greeted him over the psychic link as she waited for everyone to be ready for departure. It didn’t take long, and a minute later, she watched the ground drop beneath them as Thor carried her into the sky. She didn’t think his presence was strictly necessary, but the drones had insisted, and Regina didn’t exactly mind.

Thor had also gained a few levels over the last weeks, and they moved pretty quickly. The weather was nice, with few clouds and only a gentle breeze. Instead of spending the entire trip absorbed in the psychic link, Regina looked down and watched the scenery passing beneath them occasionally. She’d seen all of this through the eyes of Winged Drones, but it felt a bit different to see it herself.

It was hard to see the border from up here, since the landscape didn’t really change, at least not in a distinct line. It was sparsely inhabited, the only settlements clearly placed with regard to the Great Forest. Regina was only certain they were flying above Nerlia when the number of villages increased. The land was apparently a little more fertile here, and while this still wasn’t what she’d consider a booming and prosperous stretch, there was a lot more of a human presence. Neat fields and meadows, clustered around villages. It struck her that it really hadn’t changed that much in a few thousand years, except maybe for the size of the fields, and the settlements. And most people just wanted to bring in their harvests and raise their families without worry.

She’d started getting some of the food they’d produced above what they needed distributed in Nerlia. It left a bad taste in her mouth, since she knew this region had actually gotten off relatively light. Cernlia would need it a lot more. But she could distribute the food reliably here, while she couldn’t really help people in the enemy-controlled parts of Cernlia. She’d have to live with the inefficiency.

Darker thoughts carried Regina to their destination, and she made herself focus on her psychic senses as they approached. She’d been working on disentangling the input from her psychic link to her ‘normal’ psychic senses, at least to a point. While she’d realized they were connected — she probably wouldn’t have any psychic ability without being a Hive Queen — the focus was still different. She wanted to sense and interact with all minds, not just those that were part of her psychic link, too.

Right now, human minds burned like bright candles against a tapestry of darkness beneath her. Regina breathed in deeply and let the sensation wash over her as Thor descended. There was something beautiful about it, in a way she hadn’t really felt from the hive. But she let the feeling pass after a moment and instead focused on what information she could glean from it.

Her practice had paid off, even if it was mostly with Hive drones. But sapients’ minds weren’t all that different when you got down to it, and while she didn’t have the same kind of access as she did to her drones, it still allowed her to get some sense of what she was dealing with. At the moment, that meant she could sense the tension, anticipation and nervousness that seemed prevalent among the people, but also the flickering of different emotions, everything from joy and love to anger and grief, and many more momentary sensations.

Once they landed, Regina stumbled down from Thor and greeted the drones who’d come out to welcome her absentmindedly, still focused on the tapestry of minds around her. She only shook herself loose after a moment and turned her attention to the next steps.

“How are you doing with the prisoners?” she asked.

“Quite well, my Queen.” The drone who answered her, a young Worker called Cao, looked a bit nervous. She couldn’t blame him. “They’ve been behaving themselves, for the most part. Our promise to let them get home soon has helped a lot, although many of them are skeptical.”

Regina nodded. “As expected, then. Thank you. Let’s see what we’ve got.”

She walked through the outskirts of the village they were based in without paying it much mind, since she’d seen it through the psychic link already. It was still just as quiet today. A short distance away, they’d erected a camp of tents and huts of wood and quickly fired clay. A lot of it had been done by the prisoners themselves, she knew. It wouldn’t do as more permanent accommodations, but it was intended to be temporary and should be long gone by the time winter came.

Lots of people popped up as she went, watching her curiously. Regina smiled, but didn’t stop to talk to everyone. She probably should, if she wanted to get more mileage out of this visit from a PR perspective, but she could do it later. For now, she focused on their minds.

Having a large concentration of people close by made it easier. Regina took a deep breath, then threaded her mental fingers through the emotions running through the camp and tried to tug on one in particular, pushing their curiosity higher. She figured it was the most innocuous option out of their prevalent emotions.

It had a noticeable effect, if only slightly. After straining her eyes and other senses to monitor it, Regina figured it depended on distance to her, so those further away weren’t affected, or weakly enough it didn’t matter.

The people did come a bit closer now. Her push had been the nudge some of them, the most naturally curious and fearless, needed to actually approach them. Regina mostly left Ben and Ira to handle the questions as she tried not to seem like she was spacing out, still focused on her psychic senses. She looked around, as if she was just assessing the state of the camp, trying to judge the emotions they showed. If she focused, she could skim the surface thoughts of the nearby humans, though not many at a time. She gently brushed against them enough to confirm her impressions of their emotions.

Then Regina took a deep breath, which ended in something suspiciously close to a shudder, and walked on with a new urgency to her steps. It made her feel slimy to look into someone’s thoughts, even only this distantly, but more than that, it was a strange feeling to be caught up in the mood of a crowd like this.

“Mister Green is waiting at the other end of the camp,” Ira said.

Regina nodded, grateful for the opportunity to stop what she was currently doing. She walked straight to the man, taking a moment to center herself. The camp ended pretty abruptly, and in the shadow of the last largish hut, Green waited.

“Your Majesty.” He didn’t wait for her to act, but took a step forward, then bowed. “It’s an honor to meet you.”

Regina took a quick glance around, noting that a mix of drones and human underlings he must have hired were dispersing the curious onlookers, so they shouldn’t be overheard.

“Mister Green,” she nodded. “I’ve been looking forward to talking to you in person.”

“I’m at your disposal, my queen.” He bowed his head again, smiling.

“Good, I’m sure this will be fruitful for us both.” She paused and cocked an eyebrow. “Before we begin, I’d like to ask for your consent to the use of psychic abilities. A light surface scan of your mind — mostly for training purposes — which will mainly mean emotional reads. You are not required to agree.”

He blinked, and she was pretty sure the moment of surprise was the first genuine emotion he’d let show. “Of course, Your Majesty,” he said slowly, obviously still a bit hesitant. “I have nothing to hide, and I’d be happy to help.”

Regina smiled and didn’t go into it any further. “Great. Then let’s start with the state of the food supplies in the region.”

This conversation really would be necessary, or at least useful, on its own. She hoped it would also allow her to refine her ability to use as a psychic lie detector as a side benefit.