The Bee Dungeon

The Firstborn crawled through her section of the fortress. The Flower Meadow queens had finished moving their hives a while ago and had fully settled in. Everywhere the Firstborn looked, worker bees from many hives crawled, hovered, and buzzed about with their countless tasks. Foragers brought in new nectar, medicinal bees tended the brood, and she even saw a group of scouts dancing with workers from the Fourth of the Seventh, passing on their knowledge of the beyond. And, of course, workers beat their wings across trays full of honey of different types. The slightly golden glow of mana honey, the bluish-green tone of healing herb honey, the purple of the mad honey, and a few more. There was a small section devoted to the red honey from the flame radishes, though that honey seemed to generate its own heat. They could only keep a small amount of it to prevent it from growing dangerously hot, threatening to melt its wax containers, or worse.

The honey from the newest flowers were currently mixed together. The Flower Meadow queens were aware that not every flower type could raise a unique type of bee. They were also aware that the Apiary queens would certainly categorize and experiment with each of the new flowers and determine which ones could. So, they decided to wait, and focus on maximum honey production instead. They were the hive of hives, honey was the Apiary’s specialty, battle was theirs.

Besides, right now, they needed the extra nutrition.

The Firstborn saw and greeted the Second Second of the First as they both crawled over the top of their trays before she moved down to her destination. In the center of one of the trays was a particularly large cell, currently covered in wax, as well as countless smaller ones. The wax cover on the biggest one was just starting to split. Then, two mandibles pierced through, and the medicinal workers got to work. They helped pull apart the wax cover so the cell’s occupant could crawl out.

The Firstborn’s First Daughter, a princess ready for her nuptial flight. She crawled out of the cell and then the workers poured over her, helping clean her off as she beat and dried her wings. Once she was clean, the Firstborn approached her. Her daughter turned to face her and then began a salute, indicating she was ready to go.

But the Firstborn had other ideas. She gently brushed the young queen’s antennae with her own before stepping back and beginning her dance.

“Go, wait for drones. Then, return here.”

Her daughter looked up to her before beginning a slow and unsteady dance.

“Return?”

The Firstborn confirmed and then danced for the new princess to follow her. The two climbed up to the top of the frame. The princess began looking around every which way as the full barracks now spread out before her. She flinched and backed away as a worker with a different mana signature flew past, but the Firstborn touched antennae once more.

“We building hive of hives as King demonstrated. Many queens work together, many hives work as one. You also return and join hive. Have space, will help you set up. No need to do it alone.”

The new princess still swayed about and recoiled a bit every time another hive’s workers flew past her, but she still saluted.

“As queen mother commands. Will return.”

The Firstborn brushed her antennae once more and then stepped away. Two of her workers then landed nearby and stood next to the young princess. The young one turned to face her mother again, who simply danced a confirmation. The young princess thanked her and then began to fly, with the two workers escorting her for comfort’s sake.

She was followed by the princesses from the other queens. A moment later, the drones began to hatch as well.

After a while, the Firstborn’s daughter returned, now a queen ready to build a hive.

“Queen mother, have returned.”

The Firstborn came out to greet her and danced for her to follow. She led the new queen into her frames, where a new nursery had been prepared. A couple of medicinal workers were crawling over it, checking the wax cells for hygiene.

“Here, can start laying brood here. My workers will tend, bring honey, so don’t worry and lay as many as you can.”

The Firstborn’s daughter stood completely still before slowly, ever so slowly starting to dance.

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“Is that…alright? Sharing wax, honey, and workers?”

The Firstborn immediately danced her confirmation.

“We hive of hives, remember? All help each other. I help now, you help later, ok?”

Her daughter still swayed a bit, but managed to dance her salute.

“As queen mother commands.”

The young queen stepped forward towards one of the cells, finding it full of honey already. She went ahead and laid one of her eggs. The medicinal workers then crawled over and began to check the egg with their mana. The young queen watched them for a bit before shaking herself and starting to lay more. The Firstborn walked over, brushed her antennae one more time.

“Will find you later, ok?”

After her daughter confirmed, the Firstborn set off to resume her own work.

***

Later that day, the Firstborn came back to her daughter’s tray, as stated. A good number of the cells now held eggs. Her daughter was currently resting and replenishing her mana with the honey provided to her. She got up when she saw her mother and started to salute but the Firstborn began dancing first.

“Come with me, something you must see.”

The Firstborn led her daughter up to the top of the hive. There, they found all the other Flower Meadow queens, each leading their own daughter as well. Her daughter glanced around at them until a loud buzzing drew her attention.

Soldier bees flew through the upper entrances and landed before each of the young queens.

“Get on.”

At the Firstborn’s command, her daughter crawled on the back of the larger soldier. The Firstborn then took off with her soldier following along. All the queens thus made their way across the Flower Meadow towards the entrance. Her daughter stared at the sight before her.

“What…is this?”

“The army.”

The young queens all froze as they saw the massive numbers of soldier bees flying through the air. And then, they began to shiver.

“Queen mother…there’s something…”

The Firstborn confirmed.

“Yes, the invader approaches. Watch closely.”

Her daughter backed up a bit on the soldier carrying her but looked to the direction the Firstborn indicated.

There, at the entrance of the hive, two wolf-shades appeared. Her daughter recoiled and began to beat her wings, instinctually wanting to flee. But the Firstborn remained still and had commanded her to watch, so she remained.

She ceased all movement as she watched the soldier bee army set upon the shades and eliminate them in minutes, without the loss of a single bee. The Firstborn flew in front of her.

“This is the hive of hives, and this is our duty.”

Her daughter danced her acknowledgement in a bit of a daze.

After that, the Flower Meadow queens gathered and introduced each other to their daughters. And so, a new generation was inducted into the hive of hives.

The Fourth of the Seventh, her lead worker, and the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter stood at the entrance of their joint hive to the Orchard. In front of them where thirty-two workers arranged into squads of four. The lead worker began her dance.

“One squad in each direction. Preliminary scouting, only check flowers if in abundance or if possess mana. One scout memorize terrain, other three watch for danger. Turn back when sun begins to fall. Understand?”

The worker bees all danced their salutes. The lead worker saluted as well and then turned to face the queens. The First of the Fifth’s daughter turned to the Fourth of the Seventh, so the Fourth of the Seventh started to dance.

“Go! See the beyond!”

And with that, the workers began to beat their wings and flew away from the hive. As they left, the Fourth of the Seventh turned to both her lead worker and the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter.

“Thank you both! Couldn’t have done without you!”

The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter immediately started a rapid dance.

“Of course! Will always help Fourth of the Seventh, with anything!”

The lead worker paused for a moment. She…could not bring herself to state she would help with anything, knowing what her queen truly wanted. And that killed her, given an unrelated queen was offering to do just that. Her loyalty and her instincts warred with one another as she tried to determine what she would dance.

“As the queen commands.”

She settled on that, for it was true. If the queen commanded her, she would follow through, whatever it was. Previously, her instincts might have prevented her from following a command that might doom the hive…but with the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter’s cooperation, their hive would now always have a queen present, so there was far more leeway. So now, she could follow her queen with no reservations.

Besides, in the end she trusted her queen. She knew the queen would not harm the hive. And her trust was proven as the Fourth of the Seventh danced happily.

“Thanks! Let’s get to work then?”

The worker and the other queen saluted and then all three returned to their hive.

As for the scout group, after leaving the hive they beelined straight for the Flower Meadow, and then flew straight towards the Tower’s entrance. Soon, they passed out into the unknown.

They paused for but a moment as they saw the world beyond the King’s domain for the very first time. The sun beat down on them, flowers spread out before them, and trees rose in the distance.

But this was an area the Flower Meadow hives had already scouted, so the workers quickly set to their task. As they had arranged, they split up with one squad of scouts flying off in different, evenly spaced directions, using both the sun and their ability to sense the tiny-lightnings all around them to stay on course. They flew out above the land, racing forward until they reached the limits of the Flower Meadow’s scout reports, just past the ruins and the karnuq camp for the scouts that flew in those directions.

And once there, they slowed down. They began a more thorough search, with one bee making note of the terrain while the others kept an eye out for anything unexpected.

And so, the scouting of the Beyond resumed…

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