Chapter 28: Life Lived

I got Talli to go get the other three as I stood back up. I wanted to go over and try to scan the documents, but this wasn't my room, and I didn't want to start things off by going through her stuff.

Riza came over to stand by me, and Pixie went out to see what was keeping Talli. She looked like I felt; Riza must have been just as hungry, but I hadn't wanted to stop in the open or float around.

"How are you feeling? Did you get enough to eat from Talli?" Riza asked as she came over to me.

"I probably could use a bit more, but I can wait until we get back from this. I just want to find out what Miasma's view is on all of this. I think that she will be a straight shooter and give us her honest opinion about things, then we will go home," I said, smiling at Riza.

"Yes, that would Bee best, she seem nice, but I don't think we should confront the Chief with this without Leah, and maybe some others. We should have been just going where we said we were going to go. If something happens to us, then no one knows where to find up," Riza said, making an excellent point that I had overlooked.

"You're right, and I wasn't thinking about that," I said, having flashbacks of the Coyote attack and them saying that they wanted to take me.

My thoughts of worry were interrupted by the sounds of the grass door curtain moving, and I pushed it all backdown. I took a deep breath and then let it out to calm my nerves.

"You are feeling more satisfied now?" Miasma asked as she came in, but only she and the girls came back inside.

"What are the boys doing?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I have them standing watch outside. Not for any problems, but this isn't really anything that they need to hear about to be going and spraying their gossip to anyone who listens. By the way, what happened to them? They seem smarter, but now they talk really strange and look funny," Miasma said as she came into the room.

"I gave them a special point that changed them and made them better at the things that they do well," I said to Miasma, and she started to brighten up, but her mood dropped like a rock when I said, well.

"Oh, so you just make good people better?" Miasma asked, guiding me over to the bed and helping me sit back down.

I was thankful for that, my feet were starting to hurt, and I had barely been on them. I looked up at Miasma, and I could understand why she would be acting this way.

"No, that's not completely right. You don't need to be great at what you are doing. The boys told me that you have trouble with your Dispelling Spray, and I might be able to help with that, but there are some things you need to know about this, and there are some things that I would like to know about your people," I explained to her, patting the bed for her to join me.

Riza had pulled the chair out from the desk and sat on it backward, and the girls were both resting face down. The two were probably tired, and I motioned again, and Miasma finally sat down, looking a bit ashamed.

"If you're here about the waste in the water, it's pointless to try and deal with Malodor. They are in league with some bad people, but I don't know who," Miasma told me.

"Do you think that it's the Weasel Folk?" I asked, thinking that was the obvious answer, but she shook her head.

"No, it was something that flew, and I don't want to say it was you, but I am pretty sure that it was a Bee Folk that came, but they were black, not like you," Miasma said.

"Black Bees? I have never heard of them, but I am a new Queen and separate from the main hive. I was forced to leave because I refused to kill one of the other Virgin Queens, and I saved Riza," I said, pointing to Riza, who smiled warmly.

"You were a Queen? I thought that you were some kind of new race of Bee that I just had never seen before, but you were a Queen-like here before? Is this a result of the points that you were talking about?" Miasma asked, looking back and forth from the two of us, but I nodded for Riza to answer first.

"Yes, I was about to be killed, but the other Queen and Ashia risked her life to save me. I will forever be grateful to my sister; I am alive only because she risked her life and refused to follow the Queen's orders," Riza said proudly, and it made me swell a bit with my own pride.

"The points will change your colors, and there is a very good chance that it will give you wings like the boys. The big thing that will happen is that you will get to choose a class, but if you do want to join me, you will become one of my subjects like the rest," I explained, but Miasma was already standing up, and then she went down on her hands and knees, surprising me.

"Please, allow me to serve you. I have lived a life as a joke and a failure among my so-called friends and family. They all laugh in my face and call me a failure! I just want to have the chance to become more than I am," Miasma said with her head still pressed to the ground.

Well, I can't say that I didn't expect her to want to join, but I didn't expect this. Still, I could understand why she wanted this, so I reached forward and put a lower hand under her chin, and raised her cute face to mine.