The First of the Fifth flew and she flew. Her workers flew after her, but she commanded them to leave her alone. She flew and she flew even as her mind raced.

What…should she do? How could she find the answer to these questions, these doubts?

And how could she go on if they were true? If she were not the most favored…but the least? If she were completely wrong about the King and knew nothing of him at all?

She flew and she flew until she reached the end of the Apiary, where the Shrine was. She could go no further from here, and her wings ached. She slowly landed on the ground and began walking around in circles.

What should she do?!

It was then that a shadow passed over her. A large bee landed in front of her. The First of the Fifth nearly stumbled over herself as she tried to dance.

“No! I-I told you to leave me alone!”

“Didn’t tell me, though?”

The First of the Fifth took a closer look and then suddenly took a step back. She was not dancing to one of her own workers or soldiers.

“T-The Conduit…”

The Conduit danced before her.

“First of Fifth ok?”

The First of the Fifth froze and nearly flew off again. But then, she paused. The Conduit was her greatest rival, or so she once thought. The only other bee who could possibly claim to know the King as well as she did, or to be as favored as she was. She, therefore, minimized her interactions with the Conduit, for she did not wish to reveal her hand.

But now?

Now…she realized if there was any bee that knew the mind of the King…if there was any bee who could answer her questions and doubts…it was the Conduit. She reached out to the only hope she had left. She lowered her head as she slowly began to dance.

“Conduit…does the King favor us?”

The Conduit began a hesitant dance.

“Um, yes?”

The weight began to lift from the First of the Fifth’s wings but she couldn’t rest yet. She did not allow herself to hope just yet.

“T-Then…are we the most favored?”

The Conduit rubbed her antenna and then began to dance.

“Most? Like, more than others?”

The First of the Fifth could barely bring herself to confirm.

“Y-Yes.”

“Um, no?”

The First of the Fifth collapsed on the ground, more confused than ever. And then she got up and began to dance. She had to figure out what was going on.

“Conduit…why does King give rewards? Why did he give us palaces? Why is he giving First of…the Firstborn a palace? Why did he help my daughter? Why…”

She paused before asking why he rewarded her. This time, the Conduit began her dance with no hesitation.

“Easy! King loves bees!”

The First of the Fifth paused again. She repeated the Conduit’s dance far more slowly.

“King…loves bees?”

“Yes!”

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The Conduit began an animated dance.

“King loved bees before was king! Made hives for old queen! Safe and warm! Protected us from bears! Saved me from spider! And not just old queen! Also helped other bees! King loves all bees!”

The First of the Fifth fixed her eyes upon the Conduit.

“King loves…all bees?”

The Conduit continued.

“Yes! Even evil hives that wanted old queen’s flowers! That’s why Queen of All Bees likes! That’s why Niobee likes!”

The First of the Fifth fell still as she pondered the Conduit’s words. Only after a few silent minutes did she begin to dance.

“So….King…loves bees?”

“Yes!”

Thus began a quick exchange of dances.

“All bees?”

“Yes!”

“All as much as each other?”

“Yes!”

“Even Firstborn…after she failed?”

“Yes!”

“Even…me?”

“Yes!”

The First of the Fifth fell still again. So…she had been wrong after all. The King did not favor her above all others. His gifts to her were not, in fact, a sign of his special favor for her.

But…she hadn’t been entirely wrong. The King did not hand out assistance to her because she was the least favored either. The King gave her gifts because…he loved her? So…she was favored, just not in the way she imagined and not any more than the others. Rather…the King favored them all, and gave them gifts because of that. In that manner, the gifts were a sign of his favor.

“King…doesn’t favor best or most productive bees? King…favors all bees?”

“Yes!”

The First of the Fifth thought back upon the King. She saw him raising up huge patches of the most valuable of flowers by his home.

“Go ahead, I made it for you all.”

She recalled him after the great battle. His first thought was not to celebrate with honey, or to chastise the First of the First for her failures. No, what he had done was race to a wounded soldier at the end of her life, one who had already been crippled and useless. He gave of his own mana to save her life, she who should have had no value to her hive whatsoever. Who had already fulfilled her purpose and could do no more.

She recalled the moment she had been born. She knew nothing at the time save that she had been born to serve the King and protect his home. She flew to him to pay her respects.

At the time he had been inspecting a magical palace. A palace that would magically boost the productivity of any hive that dwelt within, propelling them to guaranteed greatness. For a newly born queen, such a hive was little more than a dream. She could not help but feel drawn to it, even though it surely must have been reserved for only the mightiest of his servants. So, she tried to put it out of her mind as she greeted her master.

“What do you think? I’m sorry they aren’t the nicest but...do you want to use them?”

She had frozen in that moment. His first words to her…and he had offered that dream of a palace out of hand. She quickly saluted and flew into the hive, for it couldn’t have been real. But it was. The palace, for all its wonders, was empty…and the King has just gifted it to her. She would not need to construct her own hive from scratch, gathering her own nectar and pollen to construct the cells in which to lay her very first eggs. No, she was starting with a hive that would already have been the envy of even a successful queen. And one that was the closest to the King’s own abode.

She had no doubts in that moment that the King favored her over all others, a conviction that only grew as it turned out the King was not satisfied with even that wonder of a palace and had built her a new one with his own hands. But now that she looked back upon it…how foolish had she been? How could she, a newly born queen without a worker to her name, have earned the favor of the King? She had barely finished her very first salute when he offered the palace to her.

If she had been right about the King…then he would not have offered such a palace to her at all. Even if she was right about the existing queens being out of favor, surely he would have had her generation construct their own hives, and then rewarded the palaces only to the most productive of them?

But he had not done that. No, she must have received that palace…simply because the King loved all bees, her newly born self included. He had loved her before she had done anything worth his favor…and it had been that act of love that drove her to become favored in the first place.

She thought back to other interactions with the King. He praised the other bees as much as she. He gifted the same flowers to the Flower Meadow and the Apiary and in the same quantities. And he thanked and praised her most not when she gave honey to him, but when she gave honey to the other bees.

The Conduit was right. The King did not favor one bee…he loved all bees. The First of the Fifth was not the most favored, but she was favored. All the pieces fell into place now. The First of the Fifth could not claim to be happy…but at least the confusion and the doubts had cleared. She had completely misread the King, but now, at least, she had what she hoped was a relatively accurate understanding of him.

She turned to the Conduit. The bee that was once her greatest rival. The bee that had now come and cleared her doubts. She slowly began to dance.

“…thank you. I…need to think. But…will be ok now. I think.”

“Ok! Will go back to King now! Let Niobee know if need help!”

And with that, the Conduit immediately flew off and the First of the Fifth watched her. The Conduit did not spare another moment on her, not even to point out the First of the Fifth’s mistakes or the Conduit’s own superior understanding of the King, but rather immediately flew to be at his side. She truly was devoted.

The First of the Fifth looked up at the Shrine of the Godden, the Queen of All Bees. A soft light filled the statue. She slowly took the air and made the journey back towards her hive.

She had a lot to think about.