The Second Queen of the First Dynasty of the Second Spawner, the first of her line, was about to take her turn at command when she caught sight of the King. The Conduit then came to her.
“King greeting others, come watch?”
The Second of the Second danced her salute and gave orders to the army. They formed up around her as she flew over the King.
She did not like the outsiders. They were from the beyond, where death and destruction came from. They were not born of the King, nor did they follow after his commands. They could not be trusted.
And worse, something about them rubbed the Second of the Second the wrong way. Their appearance set her on guard, stirring up instincts inherited from her mundane ancestors. They warned her of snouts and claws that could shatter the walls of hives, and of fur so thick stingers couldn’t pierce it. A monster so large and powerful an entire colony would be helpless before it as it consumed their winter stores and their young.
Fortunately, the King’s hives were not so weak, and these outsiders not so strong…for the most part. They were not as large as her instinctual warnings seemed to imply, and they had numerous gaps in their fur that could be targeted. Even if they hadn’t had those weak spots, the King’s hives were defended by soldiers far larger than any mundane bee…and with equally large stingers. There was the one who could apparently create flames as large as the King’s fire chasms who would be a threat, but the Second of the Second believed the army could bring her down with acceptable losses if they needed to.
Still, she treated them with wariness, particularly as the King began to speak with them. There was one who was particularly aggressive towards him, and it was only the King’s command that stayed the army’s hand. She did not know why the King exposed himself to such dangerous beings. They could not even speak! The sounds from their mouth lacked the warm mana of the King and so could not convey any sort of meaning.
The King, though, seemed to understand such things, so great was his wisdom and insight. So, as always, the Second of the Second deferred to him, and kept an eye out for danger. She could, however, at least understand the King’s responses, and so gathered that some sort of conversation was occurring.
“Sure, that’d be great. Anything with flowers, especially.”
The Second of the Second flew a bit closer. From what she could gather, the conversation had turned to some sort of exchange…involving flowers? She thought back for a moment. The reports of the soldiers on the aggressive one had mentioned that at one point the King had traded an entire tray of honey for a rock with a hole in it that apparently held plants of some sort. Around the same time as that report, the King had raised a new type of flower.
Suddenly, she understood. These outsiders…could provide new flowers? That would explain why the King was willing to expose himself to their threat. And it made sense, it had been in the beyond where her scouts and those of her fellow Flower Meadow queens located mana flowers, which the King subsequently spread throughout his domain.
Then, the Second of the Second froze. She realized…they had made a mistake. And she would need to report it as soon as possible. Fortunately, the outsiders soon left and the King returned to the new palace he was building, so the Second of the Second was able to return to the hives. She immediately called for a meeting of the queens.
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Every queen of the Flower Meadow, the Firstborn included, stood completely still after the Second of the Second’s emergency report. In the Firstborn’s opinion, the Second of the Second had been right to call them. They had made a massive oversight.
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In the early days of the Second Dynasty, before the first soldier was born, the Flower Meadow queens had sent scouts and foragers to the beyond. The resources of the Flower Meadow had been growing thin at that point and they needed more if they wished to raise an army. It was then that they discovered the mana flowers. That, in hindsight, may have been the most important achievement they had ever made.
And yet, after such a massive success, they had stopped their scouting, almost entirely.
Once the King spread mana flowers throughout his domain, the queens had an abundance of riches right in their immediate surroundings. They could support their entire army on the bounty of those flowers alone, much less the additional flowers the King also raised after that. They, therefore, turned all of their attention to the growth of their hives and the army. All their workers were pulled back and focused on the highest priority flowers.
Expeditions to the beyond were no longer necessary, and no longer worth the risk.
A handful of scouts still held the perimeter of the King’s domain, and kept an eye on the outsiders at the King’s behest, but beyond that the Flower Meadow queens had largely stopped operating in the beyond. They certainly weren’t foraging from the flowers there, nor where they searching for any more.
But, if what the Second of the Second reported was correct, that had been a mistake. There were still more riches to be discovered in the beyond. The King had raised a new flower, one that also contained potent mana within its nectar, due to his dealings with the outsiders. A flower that they had brought from the beyond.
And, because they had stopped their own scouting of the beyond, the King had been forced to act on his own. He had to expose himself to the threat of the outsiders because the Flower Meadow hives had failed in this duty.
That could not be permitted to continue.
And yet, none of the Flower Meadow queens made a move to dance, looking at one another in silence. The Firstborn knew they were all doing the same calculations as she…and would all come to the same conclusion. The Flower Meadow queens had to continue to strengthen their army, raising more soldiers and the new sprayers in anticipation of the greater challenges the King now permitted them to face. They had to prepare to move their hives once the King had finished his grand construction. And they had stock up enough mana-rich honey to raise queens and drones for their own expansion plan. Foraging missions to the beyond had stopped because they were far less efficient than trips to the local mana flowers. Any workers they devoted to scouting would have to be written off in terms of honey production. Sending soldiers, on the other hand, wasn’t as efficient. Their senses weren’t as attuned to flowers as the workers and they had trouble gathering nectar as well. Their search wouldn’t be as thorough or effective. Not to mention that any soldiers sent would have less time to train compared to their peers.
The conclusion was that something would have to give if they wanted to resume this duty, and the duty needed to be resumed. But they did not know which of their tasks they could afford to pause. The army was their primary purpose and necessary for the protection and growth of the hive of hives. The King himself was building their new home and they would not waste his efforts by being unprepared for its completion. The expansion plan had already been delayed several times at this point and the sooner they started it, the more time the new queens would have to grow. It was urgent that they follow through on it as soon as they could.
So…what should they do?
It was at that moment that they had a visitor.
“Hi! What queens doing?”
The Firstborn and her peers turned to see another queen flying into the Flower Meadow. The Fourth of the Seventh had stopped by once again, making her own foraging trip to the flower patch with her workers and soldiers. The other queens turned to the Firstborn, so she took it on herself to respond.
“Meeting. Have…problem.”
“Problem? What problem? Can help?”
The Firstborn considered that. She wasn’t sure if the Fourth of the Seventh could help…but the hive of hives extended beyond just the Flower Meadow, so she figured she might as well let the Fourth of the Seventh know what was going on. The Fourth of the Seventh had already provided several other solutions to issues they had faced, after all.
“Well…”
She had barely finished explaining the situation when the Fourth of the Seventh suddenly burst into a high-speed dance.
“I’LL DO IT! LET ME DO IT! WILL SEND WORKERS RIGHT AWAY!”
The Firstborn and the other Flower Meadow queens were stunned into motionlessness at the Fourth of the Seventh’s sudden assault. Eventually, the Fourth of the Seventh’s soldiers pulled her away and back to the Orchard. The Flower Meadow queens glanced around at one another until the Firstborn began an unsteady dance.
“Guess…Fourth of Seventh will handle for now?”