All the way back to the hive and for some time after their trip, Regina found her thoughts circling back to her meeting with Alianais.

Unfortunately, while it had provided some answers, it had left her almost as unsure as before. She was uncertain where exactly she stood with Alianais, but more importantly, she also wasn’t sure how she should feel towards the goddess.

If she was honest with herself, that had been building for a while, but it was still something more. Regina was aware that Alianais could have been lying. She didn’t really think so, but if she wasn’t trustworthy, it would be stupid to just, well, trust her on what she said.

The idea that someone - Deirianon - could have subverted Alianais’ network enough to actually turn one of her priests was worrisome. Regina wasn’t sure, but she’d assumed they had some kind of protection, and they probably weren’t left completely on their own with no oversight. Assuming only old-fashioned espionage methods were involved, someone had to have approached and recruited the guy without getting noticed.

Still, presumably Alianais has a lot of priests and not everyone can be a pure example of devotion, so it’s not that hard to imagine. Regina shrugged the thought off and tried to stop worrying about the situation, it wasn’t constructive at this point.

She had more than enough other things to take up her attention, and it was probably a good thing that she was too busy to fret too much. She’d have to come to some kind of decision on how to handle this with respect to the Delvers, but for now Regina focused on more immediate concerns.

They were recruiting for positions in various agencies, departments and military functions; just the core group for now, but it would get everything started. The Delvers were very helpful, and so far, there was no shortage of candidates from Cernlia and Nerlia who were interested. Almost entirely nobles, given the requirements — they tended to be the ones with an education. It was unfortunate, but Regina would have to make do. Commoners rich enough for an advanced education or with jobs where they had to know and use a lot of math weren’t much better. But she’d have to set up her school system and give it some time to work before Regina could really change that.

It was still a relief to get the first few positions filled. They’d taken on those who wouldn’t need much of a supplementary education, for now. But it relieved some of the burden on her hive drones, given the ever-expanding tasks they had to do. Regina had also caved and hired a few people for more traditional court positions. If she was going to set up something that would be recognized and accepted on the world stage, she had to observe some forms and norms.

Since the new capital wasn’t going to be ready in a month, obviously, Regina’s official coronation had been scheduled to take place in Cera. And she was probably going to set up her court there for a bit before they could move it to a better location. Kiara was actually happy with that decision, despite the additional effort, but then again, Regina had assured her she was providing the finances for it. Another sign of support probably wouldn’t go amiss considering the situation with the gnomish border; now she just had to figure out some sign of favor she could give Nerlia to keep them from getting too jealous. That was one reason Regina had recruited people for most of the more ceremonially-oriented jobs from there and handed out some courtesy titles — it wasn’t like she had particularly high (or, at least, untraditional) standards for positions like Master of the Horse or Master of Ceremony. For now, those people were living in housing the drones had quickly thrown together at Forest’s Haunt or already in Cera.

Ira was now officially her private secretary and Max was Head of Security for the royal/Imperial court. Not that it changed what they were doing much. Tim had a nice title provided by his Class, and Regina was intending on roping him into doing some work at said court, maybe hearing petitions. Like Janis. There were upsides to having a larger royal family for those kinds of duties. Well, Regina had a lot of children, literally hundreds, but they couldn’t exactly make them all actual royals, it wasn’t like every member of the hive could be a prince or princess, realistically.

Though it would be amusing to confuse her courtiers and noble visitors with it.

She was hoping to gradually transition job titles to more modern ones and shift their associated duties accordingly, as the Empire would hopefully advance in technological level — and socially — quickly. For now, Regina had been happy to give up responsibility for worrying about things like her wardrobe to Ira and the others and focus on making the decisions she had to make. And they were doing a good job; she’d never particularly liked dresses but she now had a few that even Regina had to admit were quite nice. They’d be able to put on a proper show and tick all the necessary boxes for the upcoming events.

News of the founding of the Empire had spread throughout the country and people were reacting pretty much as expected. There were no revolts, at least. A lot of people were unsure or even dismissive, going by the reports, but it would be more surprising if they weren’t. At least the nobility seemed mostly on board or at least eager to jump on the bandwagon. Regina had lost count of how many letters from various lords of varying importance she’d received, all having little to nothing actually important to say. Meaningless flattery and attempts to gain favor were better than hostility, though. And she probably shouldn’t judge them for doing the polite thing and introducing themselves or issuing invitations.

Regina would have to decline those invitations. There were a few more important letters, though, from international senders. Some trying to keep contact they’d established during the summit alive — Regina was inviting them to the coronation and to establish embassies — and other countries who hadn’t been represented there sending their regards. There were also letters from several Delver chapters, unsurprisingly. They all had clearly also sent letters to the local Delvers, several outright referenced such letters, but they seemed to want to hear directly from her as well. Regina couldn’t blame them. They weren’t hostile or accusing, though; some seemed subtly skeptical, which she supposed was fair enough, but two or three actually appeared enthusiastic about her appearance. She thought they were probably genuine in offering to be of assistance. Considering several of the letters she’d received came from countries within the new Western Confederation, Regina counted herself lucky and was not about to spurn them.

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The letter that had caused the most stir, though, was from the dark elves. Regina could only assume it had something to do with Madris’ presence here. She had been about to call for her and discuss it to find out more, but found that she didn’t really need to do that. Although she would still talk to Madris, of course. But the brief meld they’d performed to assure each other’s trustworthiness had given her some information, and she’d picked up other things in the time Madris was teaching her, both impressions from her mind as well as what simply came up in conversation.

Despite what some people thought, the dark elves did have a unified government, although it was more of an overarching federal structure than a centralized government. The main political entities, though, weren’t provinces or regions but houses, who might have property somewhere outside their traditional borders or business interests intertwined with others, so there was a lot of organizational, infastructure- and logistics-related administrative power in the hands of the central government. Foreign politics also fell into this sphere, by and large. Any deal made with a foreign power would still actually have to appeal to the houses to get implemented, though. Still, the dark elves had somehow managed to keep generally positive relationships with the Delvers for centuries, which couldn’t be an easy feat. It also meant they’d probably gotten information about her, the hive and what she was doing from them.

Fortunately, even after having left, Madris still had a respectably high position in their hierarchy, and would hopefully be able to use that to her advantage if Regina asked her. Although she’d also been gone for a while and from what Regina understood, House Ulaven, of which she was the Mistress, barely existed as more than a polite fiction and some official paperwork. It was probably best not to rely on Madris’ presence too much. Either way, Regina was going to invite an ambassador from the dark elves to her court (as soon as she actually had one).

For now, she decided to discuss this and other issues with Galatea, who had just appeared in the base again. Regina wasn’t entirely sure where she’d been. Her friend had been present for most of the summit but seemed to take its end as a signal to get some alone time. Regina decided not to worry about it. Galatea did what she wanted, and came and went as she wanted, that was just the way it was. Besides, after living alone for centuries, even stuck in one location, it’s probably no wonder she doesn’t want to be around people all the time, or to have her presence regulated. If Galatea was human, Regina would have been quite concerned about her mental state, but she wasn’t, and she was a thousand-year-old intelligence, so it felt silly to worry about her like one of her drones. Although I should probably still tell her what I’m thinking and that I’ll always be there if she needs me.

Regina decided to couple it with taking a flight around town and to invite Galatea along. That was a good occasion to try something else she’d been contemplating. She closed her eyes again and took a few deep breaths to focus her mind, before she homed in on her sense of her friend’s presence in her ‘mind’s eye’.

Galatea had mental defenses, and her mind was different, but not hard to find. Regina focused intently on it and then thought of greeting her, thought of the words she wanted to say, and pushed them along at her mind.

After a moment, she felt Galatea’s pleased surprise as the mental walls buckled a bit, letting her communication in. They were quite different from what she expected organic minds’ defenses would be generally like, and Galatea didn’t have that much control over them compared to someone like Madris, but the conscious and subconscious desire to talk to someone was enough to lower her walls and allow a psychic to open a connection.

Regina? Is there a reason you’re contacting me like this instead of talking in person?

Regina smiled as she examined the words and how Galatea’s mind formed them to transmit to her. Just practice, she answered. How are you doing?

Pretty well. I had some interesting encounters.

Do you want to tell me about them? We could go for a flight around the base, I’ve been wanting to stretch my wings again.

Galatea shrugged internally. Sure. Then she paused, and Regina could almost feel her decide to bring this up now while they were talking like this and she might get a better read on her reaction. You’re not upset that I’ve been gone, are you?

Nope. You do you. I respect that you need your space.

Alright then. I’m on my way.

They met two minutes later at the main entrance to the hive, although it had started out as the back entrance. Regina unfurled her wings and jumped off the ground without ceremony, and Galatea seemed to flash into the air to wait for her as she leveled out high enough up to have a good view of the countryside.

“I missed our lessons,” Regina finally said.

Galatea turned to face her and nodded, frowning a bit. “I suppose we’ve both been busy, but maybe we should make more time. I admit that might be my fault. You’re pretty good with magic, but there are still things I could teach you.”

“I’d appreciate that. But I also feel like we haven’t seen each other a lot lately,” Regina answered honestly.

Galatea hummed in response.

“You never really told me how you felt about this whole Empire stuff,” Regina pressed. She hadn’t seemed to object, but still …

Her friend shrugged. “It seemed like a decision you should make on your own. But I’m not upset if that’s what you mean. If I had concerns about you outing yourself to everyone as a ‘Progenitor’, I would have said so. If you want to build a new nation in the image of our old home, I’d say that’s your right and I’ll help if you need it.”

Regina relaxed a bit at her words. “Okay.”

“And don’t start trying to hand out an official title like you’ve been doing with your hive members,” Galatea added with a smile. “I’d prefer to go without.”

Regina laughed. “If that’s what you want.”

“What did I miss while I was gone?”

She sighed, then started giving Galatea a recap of everything that had happened, especially her conversation with Alianais.

After she was finished, Galatea remained quiet for a few moments, before she nodded slowly. “You’re right, that is a bit concerning. I haven’t really heard from Leian much since all this started, or I’d say I’d ask her.”

Regina made an affirmative noise. She decided not to ask more about Leian or whatever she might have told her; Galatea was usually good about not telling things people might want to stay private, and she didn’t think there was much that would be helpful to figure this out, anyway.

There wasn’t really much she could do about conflict between or involving the gods, which was frustrating but just the way things were.

She let a minute pass in silence. “What have you been up to, anyway?”

“I’ve visited quite a few places, going a bit farther afield than I’ve been up to recently.” Galatea smiled in what looked decidedly like a self-satisfied way.

Regina blinked at her, trying to guess what might make her look like that. “Something I should be aware of? To the south?” she hazarded.

“Let’s just say, if you ever do send a real expedition through the Alps, you won’t be completely shooting in the dark as I’ll have some contacts on the other side.”

Regina stared at her for a moment, before a broad grin spread on her face. “Galatea, have I told you you’re awesome? Because I should be doing it more often.”

Her friend grinned at her and it looked like the most genuine smile she’d seen from her.