Bees tell time differently than people do. A day to a person is three years for a worker bee, and a month for a queen. You may ask how that can be? It's because of the honey. You try eating nothing but sugar and then sit still for five minutes you can't do it. It's not possible. I dare you. Tell your parents it's a science experiment.

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Young bees were sitting around the nursery only a few days old and already to take on the world. One of the nurse maids asked what they would like to do when they grew up. Which was funny because every bee would eventually take on every job that the hive had to offer. Or almost every job. Not every bee would take on the task of undertaking which was quite all right with most. Still most bees had a favorite job that they excelled at or just really enjoyed.

"I want to be the best dang pollen gatherer ever," said a bee.

"I want to be just like Maybee," said a bee who had just heard one of her stories the night before.

"I want to be a nursemaid just like you," exclaimed another.

"I want to be queen."

No sooner had those words been spoken that their audience went silent.

"I'm sorry, what did you say, Wildflower," asked the nurse maid

"I want to be a queen," said Wildflower more sure of herself now that she had ever been in her whole three days of existence.

"You can't become a queen, silly," snarked another bee. "you have to be born a queen."

"I'm afraid she's right no one can become a queen. One must be born a queen," the nurse maid replied.

"I can be a queen if I want. You wait and see. I'll be a queen," said the defiant Wildflower.

Some bees laughed at the statement while others were so shocked at it that they didn't know how to react at all. But, Wildflower was sure of herself so much so that in the days to follow no matter what anyone told her she insisted that she would become a queen.

The problem was that the hive didn't need a queen, they already had one. Besides, even though she insisted that she would one day become a queen, she had no idea how she was going to make that happen. Seriously, she didn't even look like a queen. Her rear wasn't near big enough, wings not long enough, eyes not large enough. In fact, nothing about her was quite right. She knew this, but she was just far too stubborn to admit she was wrong. She had to figure out a way to become a queen.

So she started following from afar. She watched as the queen went from cell to cell backing her rear into each one and laying an egg. Each egg standing tall and straight. She continued to follow the queen around but could find nothing to give hint as to how one becomes a queen.

She was intrigued by the attendants who constantly followed the queen around, feeding and grooming her.

That's when she realized she needed attendants. She was pretty sure that attendants wouldn't make her a queen, but for some strange reason she felt a strong desire to have them. She also wanted those long luxurious wings the queen had. The butt she could live without. She started asking around how the queen became queen. Most just answered that the queen had always been a queen. While she was at it, she also started asking if anyone would be interested in taking on the position of an attendant. That request did not get as many replies. More glares really. It wasn't until she asked one of the gatherers that she got her first real answer. Not about being her attendant. No one, other than Wildflower, thought that was a good idea. Instead the answer that she got back was on the mysterious origins of the queen. The flyer had remembered a story that the queen once told that said the queen bees ate nothing but royal jelly while in the comb.

Wildflower was exited. This was her real first lead, and it was a good one. All she needed was the goo that came from every nursemaids forehead. Now all she had to do was get some.

She paced around the nursery contemplating the different ways of getting the royal jelly. All the ideas were easy enough in theory, just not that practical in reality. One being she could sneak up to one of the brood cells and drink it from there but going unnoticed in a hive was hard if not impossible, and others tended to look down on those that stole food from the brood. She didn't know what they would do, but she was sure it wouldn't be good.

The other idea she had come up with was even less likely than the prior one. This one required her to lick the forehead of the nurse maids in order to collect the jelly. She didn't think they would go for it.

It was the first idea, as troublesome as it was, that she would have to go with. She decided that if she took a small amount from each cell it would go unnoticed and that small amount wouldn't hurt in the development of the young.

She tried different methods. She tried walking across the cells dipping her legs in as she went, then licked the jelly from her legs when she was away from the cells. She also walked across the cells dragging her tongue sucking up jelly. It was much easier than she had previously thought. there were people all around her, but no one saw her. They were all too involved in their own lives to pay her any attention. Only once did she get any strange looks, and that was when she got a little cocky and started licking the forehead of a nursemaid. In fact, she had eaten so much royal jelly by night fall that her stomach hurt. She was excited. She just knew that with this much royal jelly in her belly she would surely wake up and be queen.

At the gathering that night she didn't even listen to the nightly story. She was far too busy living in her head so much so that she drifted off before the story was even done.

In her dreams she was the grandest of queens with more attendants than anyone had ever seen. She walked through the hive all the other bees declaring their love and wooing over her sweet smell.

Then she awoke with an abruptness as another climbed across her back. At first she was downhearted to be woken from such a great dream. Then she was exited to see what the new day brought. She turned in circles trying to see her new wings and elongated rear, but no matter how fast or tight she made the circles she couldn't see them. In a fever she grabbed a passing bee and asked them if she looked different to them.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"I don't even know you," said the bee.

"Do I look like a worker or a queen to you?"

"What a silly question," said the bee trying to pull away, but Wildflower held tight.

"Do I look like a queen?" she asked, more stern.

"No, no, of course you don't," the bee said looking quizzically back.

Wildflower loosened her grip, and the bee pulled away leaving her to take in the information that she was not a queen. Eating the royal jelly had produced no effects. What was she supposed to do now? She felt like a failure. She sulked off into the darkest parts of the hive far from the Sweet smell of the queen. She couldn't stand the smell of it as it reminded her of what she would never be.

In the darkness she stayed for almost three full days only emerging to feed on the edges of the comb or get a drink of water and then scurrying back to her lonesome refuge as the first sign of the queens scent.

It was on the third day that she did something that she had never expected, she laid an egg. She had been feeling a bit off perhaps even a little ill ever since she had entered her world of isolation, but she had payed no attention to it, believing it to be the angst of her sorrow. Somehow that pain was her changing. The egg was proof of that. She could feel more brewing in her belly, what was she to do? Then she smiled. She knew exactly what she was going to do, what she had been trying to do all along, be queen.

She came out from her hiding and stepped back onto the comb. It felt good. Like it was where she always belonged. She made her way over the comb with a purpose, to the empty cells where the queen laid the brood. She had watched the queen many time, so she didn't even think of what she needed to do. She just stuck her hind end down in a cell and popped out not just one egg but multiple eggs, she couldn't help herself. She pulled herself out of the cell, turned around and inspected it. The eggs were scattered down the cell and stuck to the sides. It did not resemble the work of the queen at all. When the queen was done, the egg sat at the very bottom of the cell standing straight and tall. This was going to take more practice than she thought.

She looked around and spotted another nearby cell that seemed perfect. She tried again and again the same result, awkward eggs stuck halfway down the cell. She moved randomly from cell to cell, thinking that one was better than the other, trying to lay a perfect cell but she couldn't do it. She thought that perhaps her body wasn't done changing yet. That would explain why her rear wouldn't reach the bottom of the cell or why she couldn't just lay a single egg. It didn't matter the reason why, she was exhausted. It had taken her all day to lay the fraction that the queen had.

Wildflower sulked back towards her gloomy hole. Then she thought better of it. Why hide? She had accomplished what she had wanted to, there was no reason to hide anymore. Sure, she wasn't at where she wanted to be with her new ability yet. That just meant she wouldn't tell anyone about it for a few days until she had become a real queen. She turned around excited. A real queen, she liked the sound of that. Then she did something that she hadn't done in a very long time, she nuzzled into the gathering. It felt good, the warmth of the other bees, the sweet scent of the queen and a hum so loud it drowned out all other thoughts of worry. She relaxed in the embrace of the hushida as the queen began to tell a story. She looked up and smiled knowing that one day soon it would be her in front of everyone, the center of attention, telling stories. She wasn't sure what story the queen was telling. She was so very tired and it had been so long since she had been in the gathering. She had forgotten how comfortable it was. It wasn't cold like her little hiding hole, not cold at all. Then she was out.

When she awoke the next day, she felt relaxed and anew. She circled around herself to try to see if her body had changed or more to see if her rear had gotten bigger. She couldn't seem to catch up to it but she couldn't tell if that meant it hadn't grown at all. She hurried off to the comb. Once there she searched out the perfect cell and stuck her rear in it. She couldn't tell if it touched or not. She pushed out an egg and then pulled herself out of the cell. She turned around and looked. Her heart sank. It wasn't just one egg it was multiple, and they weren't resting on the bottom but strewn throughout the cell. There hadn't been any change at all. Disappointment isn't even a word she would've used to describe how she felt at that very moment. More like failure smothered in sorrow. Yet she continued on. She couldn't help herself the eggs kept coming. day after day she scattered her eggs throughout the comb with no avail. Then one day a couple of guards caught her in the act. They quickly grabbed her.

"What are you doing," Wildflower asked?

"We're taking you to the queen," one of them answered.

"I'm a queen!"

The two guards looked at each other but said nothing to Wildflower as they escorted her to where she knew not. The entire way she protested demanding that they let her go. The two ignored her as they brought her before the queen.

"What do we have here?" asked the queen.

"We have brought you the Vajasha," said a guard

"Oh, I see," said the queen who then turned to Wildflower. "Did you know we've been trying to find you for a while, my dear?,"

"Why," asked a meek Wildflower.

"Because you have been filling comb for worker eggs with drone eggs," said the queen.

"How do you know they are drone eggs," asked Wildflower.

"A queen always knows."

"I'm a queen," said Wildflower.

The queen made no gesture of disbelief at Wildflowers last statement.

"What is your name?"

"Wildflower," she replied.

"Wildflower, do you remember the story of the Duwaiha?"

"I do," she answered the queen.

"Then you know that since you have not done the dance all of your eggs will hatch into drones. Do you remember that," she asked.

Wildflower nodded.

"You must also know what can happen to a hive that is over crowded with drones?"

Wildflower nodded again.

The queen was saddened. She didn't want to speak her next words, but she knew it had to be done. "I'm sorry, but I see no other way out of this. I must ask you to leave the hive.

"Why," asked a stunned Wildflower.

"Because, I can't have you over populating my hive.

Wildflower bowed before the queen, pleading.

"Where will I go?" Wildflower asked.

"I do not know," said the queen with sorrow in her voice.

"Please don't make me leave. I'll stop laying eggs. I promise," pleaded Wildflower.

"But, you can't stop can you," asked the queen.

"No, I don't think I can." Wildflower hung her head in shame.

"I know you can't," said the queen. "That is why I must ask you to leave."

"No, please. There must be some other way," Wildflower cried.

"The only other way is if I have one of the guards kill you," the queen said with a tinge of regret.

Wildflower looked shocked.

"Either way you will be gone and the hive will survive," said the queen.

"But I'm a queen," stated Wildflower.

"Yes, in a way you are. If it helps, you will be leaving here as a queen and you will live the rest of your life as a queen."

"Now could you please escort her out of the hive, but be sure to show her the respect that a queen deserves," the queen said to the guards. "Queen Wildflower, It was a pleasure meeting you. I just wish it could've been under better circumstances. I wish you the best of luck in your new life." with that the queen bowed. Wildflower bowed back. The queen turned and left.

As the queen left, the guards graciously escorted a still bewildered Wildflower to the entrance of the hive where they let her go and even bowed before her. The day grew dark and the other bees were making their way back to the hive for the gathering. She looked back once and only once before she started her walk down the tree as her wings were still too immature to fly.