The Firstborn flew to the Memorial, the first to arrive as the queens of the Flower Meadow gathered at the end of the day. They had agreed to confer with one another once each day so that the queen in command of the army could report to the others on what she had done and any changes she had made, as well as to confirm would be in charge next. Soon, they all had arrived and formed a circle with the queen in command for the day, the First of the Third, in the center. She began to dance…

The First of the Third’s report resulted in buzzing wings and twitching antenna. The Firstborn herself couldn’t help rise in the air a bit. The sprayers had performed remarkably well in their first battle. The shade had hardly a chance to retaliate as they took it down and not once was a single bee in any real danger.

The Firstborn’s mind wandered a bit. Would these sprayers have changed the outcome of the battle against the flying enemy? It certainly seemed possible. The shade’s overwhelming speed may have been less of a hurdle to the sprayers, who could still have landed attacks even if they couldn’t catch up to it. Bees attacking from a distance also would have had more time to evade when it turned to assault them or when it unleashed its lightning attack.

On the other hand, the sprayers did not seem faster than the shade had been, so if they had all been deployed forward and the shade got past them the outcome may have ended the same regardless. The shade may have taken a toxic spray or two, but would that have been enough to bring it down? It may have been weakened, but the Firstborn imagined it would still have come down to her and the wounded soldier in that case.

Still, she had not yet seen the sprayers in action so she could not say for sure. The point was that they should not neglect their current efforts just because they had a new type of soldier. The sprayers would do their job and do it well. It was the queen’s role to put them in a position to succeed.

But she put her wonderings aside, for the First of the Third indicated she had more to say.

“Also, met Fourth of Seventh, here in Flower Meadow…”

That alone stopped all dancing and pondering and brought every queen’s attention back to her, the Firstborn’s included. The only time queens had moved between the rooms were major battles, the King’s banquets, or when the First of the Fifth came to coordinate with her. So, the Firstborn knew that this news must be important.

But even she did not anticipate the First of the Third’s next dance.

“Has new way of organizing hive. Formed joint hive with First of the Fifth’s Daughter. First of the Fifth’s Daughter watched joint hive while Fourth of Seventh visited Flower Meadow.”

The Firstborn dropped a bit as her wings paused for a second. The Fourth of the Seventh…had formed a joint hive with another queen?

The Firstborn started to tremble. What an incredible idea. An incredible, amazing, and simple idea. While she and others talked about the hive of hives, the Fourth of the Seventh and the First of the Fifth’s Daughter had gone and built one. Not just as an idea, but as a practical reality.

And what’s more, no queen in the Flower Meadow missed the implication for their current efforts. The First of the Second, in particular, began a slow dance…

“That…seems efficient. Two queens in one hive, if one queen leaves, other still commands. Workers not left on their own, still get half of eggs laid.”

The Firstborn danced in agreement. It was, of course, something she had noticed after her day of command. Her hive had dropped in efficiency and honey production for that particular day. The next day, the First of the Second had reported a countermeasure, also developed by the Fourth of the Seventh’s hive, but this would go beyond even that. With a second queen, the drop in efficiency from one queen being absent would be minimal.

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So…the idea would be remarkably beneficial to the Flower Meadow queens, whose command of the army took them away from their hives on a regular basis.

Well, the others who had not commanded yet seemed a bit uncomfortable at the idea, judging by the way they slowly swayed and spun about, but the Firstborn knew they would realize the benefits once they had their turn. Still, this would be a difficult idea to put into practice in the short term. None of them had built their hives with two queens in mind, so moving in together would be a process. Likewise, there was the question of which hives to expand and which hives to abandon. Forcing one queen to double her efforts and another queen to abandon hers was not a good way to go about it.

But the Firstborn had an idea that might be, again inspired by the Fourth of the Seventh and that would pair nicely with their existing plans. She flew forward a bit, signaling her desire to take the floor. The other queens danced their asset and the Firstborn flew to the center.

“Fourth of Seventh didn’t join existing hive but took new queen under wing. How about…expand hives while raising new queens, then keep new queens in hives? We help set up, they help take care of hive when we lead army.”

The Flower Meadow queens were already planning to expand their numbers, but were finding it difficult to justify the expense. New queens would need to migrate out, find suitable location, construct their hives, fill out their worker ranks, and absorb the requisite mana to grow. Then, and only then, could they begin to contribute soldiers to the army. With the King’s battle and the casualties that resulted, the weakness and flaws that battle revealed, and then the new soldier types to raise and integrate into the army, it was hard to set aside resources that would not boost the strength of the army for such a long time. The queens could help speed up the process by donating workers and honey but that, too, would be a drain on their immediate resources for a future payoff. It was something none of them felt like they could afford.

But the Fourth of the Seventh had revealed a simple solution. What if the new queens didn’t have to migrate, scout locations, and build new hives? What if the Flower Meadow queens didn’t have to wait for their children to match their growth before they could begin contributing to the fight? If they formed joint hives from the start, the new queens could start laying workers right away. They would immediately begin contributing to the joint hives, for even a small addition of extra workers would allow the older queens to devote more resources to soldiers. And, of course, there was the aforementioned benefit of having someone around to watch over the hive when it was a queen’s turn to command the army.

The expense was far easier to justify if the new queens would boost their hives directly and from the start. The new queens would also grow more quickly since they would receive resources directly from their mothers and so wouldn’t need to keep as careful a balance as an early hive normally would. And once they had grown…well, the Flower Meadow would then have twice as many queens that could raise soldiers and take command.

And, perhaps most of all, it would turn the hive of hives ideal into a reality. They would not merely pursue the King’s vision, but they would each live it.

The rest of the queens paused and slowly began to dance as they considered the Firstborn’s words.

“Joint hive…but if with daughter then…”

“…could work. Would still need bigger hive, though.”

“King is building palace, though? Will need new hive anyways?”

“That’s…right. If that case…can do?”

The Firstborn danced once more.

“Then, in agreement? Start gathering honey for new queens?”

One by one, each of the queens danced their answer. The First of the Second went first and immediately agreed. The First of the Third followed and then each of the queens confirmed their agreement. From there, each of the queens began to report the status of their hives and honey stockpiles. They estimated how long it would take for each queen to be ready for a daughter, and discussed how they might share resources to balance out the process.

As the Firstborn watched the dances and danced in turn, she could not help but feel her wings beat faster. Here it was, queens of different lines and unrelated lineages working together. Sharing honey instead of fighting for flowers. Acting as one to build something greater than any of them could achieve alone. And all based on the example of two queens from another room entirely.

Individually, she might have failed utterly. But…this was exactly the sort of thing she needed to overcome her own limitations. She was not alone. She did not need to overcome her challenges on her own. Within the King’s realm, no bee did.

The hive of hives was taking shape in more ways than one.