Juosiutik walked out to the side of her home. There, in a small fenced area, was a small garden. Or rather, a mostly empty patch of dirt with a handful of flowers growing. One of them had barely managed to bloom. She frowned and turned to the pair of worker bees flying around her. Apparently, the First of the Fifth wanted her daughter to work with Juosiutik in the future, so both queens currently had a worker accompanying her.

As far as Juosiutik was concerned, the more the merrier.

“This is quickblossom, a key ingredient in the potion I told you about.”

The First of the Fifth’s worker buzzed her wings as she danced.

“New flower? Why didn’t give to King?”

Juosiutik’s face fell.

“I would have, but this is all I have. If I remember correctly, the Sacred Den Master normally needs a few more before he can reproduce them. I’m trying to grow a few myself to make sure he has enough. As you can see, it’s been slow going.”

Juosiutik motioned to the one flower that had bloomed so far.

“You’re welcome to drink from the ones here, though. In fact, I’d be grateful if you would.”

The worker bees zipped around her.

“Will send one gardener, Third Daughter will send workers to gather.”

Juosiutik tilted her head.

“Gardeners?”

“New type of worker. Checks plants, finds what they need, helps spread. Will find best way to forage.”

Juosiutik froze.

“A bee that…can tend to plants? And help spread them.”

“Yes. Need to go now. Talk to Third Daughter if need.”

The First of the Fifth’s worker stopped dancing, but Juosiutik hardly noticed. Her mind was racing with the information the First of the Fifth had just dropped on her. She glanced over at her sad little garden, and imagined it filled to the brim with quickblossom…and new variants the bees could supposedly help create. She couldn’t help but grin.

“Bees are amazing.”

A short while later, a group of bees flew to Juosiutik’s garden. Juosiutik stared at the promised gardener with interest as she flew to the quickblossom, rubbing her fluffy antennae all over while flaring her mana. After a bit, the gardener flew over to where the worker bees and Juosiutik were waiting.

“Not enough mana, hard to grow.”

Juosiutik tilted her head.

“Really? The ambient mana in the Sacred Den should have been higher then where these were gathered…”

“Wrong type. Wants…little lightnings?”

Juosiutik’s eyes widened and she slowly nodded.

“Ah…if I remember…my…mentor said that quickblossom normally blooms after thunderstorms. I’m…not sure myself, I never had the chance to see it…”

She then frowned.

“So, it won’t work, then? I haven’t seen a cloud in the sky of the Sacred Den since arriving here…”

But, to her surprise, the gardener bee danced a negative.

“No, is fine. Queen will ask Beero to help.”

Juosiutik paused at that.

“Um, Beero?”

“Wounded soldier. Makes lightnings with mana now. Queen will ask Fourth of Eighth to help too.”

Juosiutik could only tilt her head at that. There were bees…that made lightning? Well, she supposed that these were monster bees created by a Sacred Den.

“Queen says ok. Beero coming now.”

Juosiutik slowly nodded. She guessed she would see these bees soon enough.

A short while later, Juosiutik heard a commotion, with karnuq shouting and scrambling about. She looked over to see what the matter was and her eyes widened.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

There, up in the sky, casting a large shadow over the settlement, was the largest bee she had ever seen. A big ball of black and yellow fuzz flew over the karnuq, its wings causing a loud beating noise heard across the room. The flowers of the field around them swayed in the breeze created by its wings as it began to descend upon the ground…right towards Juosiutik, in fact. She couldn’t help but take a step back when the bee landed right before her. To be fair, now on the ground it hardly came up to her knees, but it was still gigantic for a bee.

“U-Um, hi?”

The bee crawled about in a circle before flattening itself against the ground and then several more bees crawled off of its back. These were the usual soldier bees, if she considered bees the size of her hand normal now, but with one glaring exception. All of them were missing at least one pair of wings…and all of them had crackling lightning flowing in place of those missing wings. One of them crawled to her and started to dance.

“Hi, am Beero. Heard need lightning?”

It took Juosiutik a second to reply.

“Ah, um, yes. Hi. I’m…Juosiutik, nice to meet you? And, uh, yes, the quickblossom need some lightning, I think?”

She turned to the gardener who flew over and began dancing with Beero. Beero danced a salute and then lead the wounded soldiers to Juosiutik’s garden.

“How much lightnings?”

“Lots! Normally wants big sky-lightnings!”

Beero danced her salute and then spread the wounded soldiers around one of the quickblossom, the one that had already bloomed. Juosiutik’s eyes went wide as the wounded bees began to dance…and their lighting wings crackled. Lightning mana began to form in the air, and then link between the bees. They began to move in a circular dance, causing the lightning mana to spin around as well.

Bits of lightning then began to shoot off of the circle, pulled into the quickblossom. The flower began to grow before Juosiutik’s eyes, blooming fully. The other flowers around it also began to grow and their buds started to open.

“They’re…casting lightning magic? …bees are really amazing.”

----------------------------------------

The Firstborn paced about in a circle, buzzing her wings and cleaning her antennae over and over. To her side, a tight ball of red bees buzzed and crawled over each other, the Third of the Sixth presumably somewhere underneath them all, but the Firstborn was paying them no mind. After all, how could she? Her mind was completely occupied with the final guest she was waiting for.

And there he came. The King himself strode towards the Flower Meadow’s Shrine, standing tall and brightly illuminated by the pseudo-sun he had made overhead, the Conduit flying by his side. The Firstborn came to a stop for but a second before she launched into salute and apology dances. She had originally wanted to discuss her matter with the Third of the Sixth and the Conduit, but the Conduit had told her to ask the King directly. The Firstborn had objected heavily, but the Conduit stood firm. Or, rather, the Conduit had just left to go get the King herself, leaving the Firstborn no choice but to wait for him.

“King! Thanks for coming! Sorry for calling, shouldn’t have interrupted…”

But the King just raised his hand and spoke with that voice that rumbled through her body.

“It’s fine, you didn’t interrupt anything. I want you to tell me anything you think of.”

The Firstborn completed three “King best king!” dances before she caught herself and proceeded to stop wasting the King’s time. The ball of bees stopped climbing over each other and spread out, revealing the Third of the Sixth shivering underneath.

“Yes! Had idea, w-wanted to ask if ok?”

The King smiled at her with all his kindness and grace.

“Of course, I’d love to hear it.”

She stopped herself from celebrating and proceeded.

“Spoke with First of the Fifth, recommended specializing queens. Can use latest delivery to. Means won’t use honey for soldiers, some queens will be evolving too, so less new soldiers. If King planning battle, then won’t. Also, want to raise burning queen, but would need to move to new room. Wanted to ask if King and Third of Sixth approve, burning queen will follow Third of the Sixth if so.”

She had spoken with the First of the Fifth and heard how the Apiary queens had been specializing. She also reflected on the Second of the Sixth assisting them with all her medicinal hive, and the Third of the Sixth moving into the Lava Field, which may one day face the shades before the Flower Meadow. At this point, she felt it would be beneficial for the hive of hives if some of the Flower Meadow queens started specializing as well. In addition to diversifying the army and reducing the burden on the Apiary queens, there were some honey and bee types that just didn’t fit well within a mixed hive. Most notably burning bees like the Third of the Sixth, whose home was too hot for any other kind of bee and who was now feeling chilly in the regular temperatures of the Flower Meadow. Or the Dirt Tunnels, where most regular bees couldn’t fight on account of the darkness and tight quarters. The Flower Meadow queens were about to raise some digging soldiers but realized that depending on Ground mana honey donations from the one digging queen in the Apiary would restrict the number of such soldiers they could raise, a major problem when those soldiers would have to fight alone in their intended environment. As such, it made more sense to use that honey to evolve a queen who could then keep the digging soldiers’ numbers up.

Of course, all of this was contingent on the King and the Third of the Sixth’s approval. The Firstborn would not allow her ideas to interfere with the grand designs of the King, of course. And the Third of the Sixth was now the queen of the Lava Field, so it only made sense to check with her before any other queen moved into her territory. She could only tremble as she awaited the King’s judgement. Not only had she called the King from his work to propose this idea, but she was also a queen who had failed at her duties more than once. What merit did her ideas and plans have? How did she dare waste the King’s time with them? She knew that he, as gracious and kind as he was, often sought their opinions, and that was the only reason she dared to dance at all now. But now, she could not help but feel she had made a grave mistake…

But the King just kept smiling at her and nodded.

“That sounds like a great idea. What about you, Third of the Sixth? I can add new beehives so you won’t need to share yours.”

The Third of the Sixth was already dancing.

“Ok!”

The King nodded at her and turned his smile back to the Firstborn.

“Sounds like it’s settled, then. Let me know if you need any help, I also have extra honey if you need it.”

The Firstborn danced a refusal with all her might. The King already graciously shared his tribute with them during the victory celebrations, she could not possibly ask him for more.

“Haha, ok. Great work, both of you. I look forward to seeing the queens!”

It took the Firstborn a while to get to it, though, for her mind went blank for quite a while at this turn of affairs.