POBee 68.1 - To Infinity...and Bee-yond!

POBee 68.1 - To Infinity...and Bee-yond!

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.

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?”