The Bee Dungeon

This was fine.

The First of the Fifth was currently pacing about in her hive. Her first communers had just emerged from their cells. Her mind lit up with the dances of countless bees as the communers focused their attention on their queen and connected her to her workers’ mana as a result. It was nearly overwhelming, but the First of the Fifth did not organize a hive of peak efficiency by lacking will. She managed to organize the incoming information within her mind and get her bearings…and, as a result, caught a glimpse of the King walking through the Apiary. She had the worker in question escort the King, just in case he should have need of her, and so saw the conversations that resulted.

The King had…made a personal request to one of the other Apiary queens. The other Apiary queen that had evolved. The Apiary queen that had evolved specifically through access to a hybridized poisonous flower. A poisonous flower that had grown because the First of the Fifth’s workers had Cross-Pollinated poisonous flowers and mana flowers. A poisonous flower the queen had gotten access to because the First of the Fifth had then given up her own rights to a new flower type that her own workers had been responsible for in the name of loving bees.

This…was fine. Another bee had gotten to experience the personal favor of the King as a result of her efforts. This was good. Truly, she had demonstrated her love for all bees, and had become like her King. Which was why she was not even bothered by the idea of sending the Apiary’s hard work over to the Firstborn! Nor by the idea of the King handing over a full patch of mana flowers to an Apiary queen after she had gone and shared access to her own with those same queens!

This…was…fine…

She was halted in her thoughts by a loud buzzing noise, as well as a thousand urgent dances impressing themselves on her mind. It…appeared that thanks to her communers, the dances of her mind had been conveyed to her workers. Who were apparently agitated and preparing to marshal for war as a result.

Ok, maybe this wasn’t fine.

She took a moment to calm herself and then danced that all was well to her workers, and that they should continue with their work. She would not permit her own inner turmoil to impact her hive’s honey production. As her workers slowly stopped beating their wings and resumed their duties, she tried to take stock of the situation. She tried to come at it from a different angle, that of efficiency.

And from that point of view, the King’s actions made complete sense. The Flower Meadow queens’ lower honey production meant they couldn’t spare as much effort on Cross-Pollination or on producing specialized honeys. Yet, at the same time, the maddening honey and bee types that resulted from the poisonous flowers would certainly aid the King’s army more than it would boost honey production. So, if she set aside her natural hesitation to share honey between hives, it absolutely made sense to have an Apiary queen produce specialized honey for the Flower Meadow queens. It took advantage of their differing roles to achieve maximum effect for the King’s domain as a whole.

It also made sense why the King had requested that specific queen, instead of herself. Sure, her hive produced the most honey and the most excellent honey and had the most workers and the most efficient organization, but in this once, minor use case there was good reason to request another. The maddening queen could produce maddening honey from any source, including the highly productive mana flowers, with no additional effort. In contrast, to produce maddening honey in bulk would have taken the First of the Fifth’s hive significantly more effort, as they would have had to produce it solely from the nectar of the mana-less poisonous flowers. Cross-Pollination would assist with that in the long term but as of now there was only one of each hybridized flower, so was not a factor in the short term. The maddening queen, even if her honey production and quality was lower and her hive less efficient, could produce maddening honey in bulk with no drop in efficiency, the First of the Fifth could not, even though her production and quality would certainly remain the best even with the drop.

Yes, it made sense. The question was…what should the First of the Fifth do as a result?

But then, the First of the Fifth paused as an urgent report came into her mind. The worker escorting the King now indicated…that he was moving directly towards her hive. The First of the Fifth dropped all thoughts to prepare for his arrival…

As Belissar was walking back to the Apiary farmhouse, Niobee suddenly flew in front of him. She hesitated slightly, causing Belissar to raise an eyebrow.

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“Niobee? Is something the matter?”

Niobee still hesitated before beginning a slow dance.

“King, have…request.”

Belissar blinked before breaking out into a wide smile. Niobee never asked him for anything, despite all that she had done for him. He owed her everything, including his very life, so he would jump at any chance to help her out.

“Of course. Niobee…you’re my best friend and you’ve done more for me than I can ever repay. You can ask me for anything.”

Niobee started to object before pausing and continuing with her original dance.

“Ok…can King talk to First of Fifth?”

Belissar nodded.

“Sure. Anything specifically I should tell her?”

Niobee was still moving slowly but picked up a bit of speed.

“First of Fifth’s workers pollinated new flowers, helped other queens evolve.”

Belissar rubbed his chin and nodded.

“Ah, so it’s thanks to her we got the new queens and flowers? I’ll have to thank her then.”

Niobee paused for a bit before bursting into a rapid dance again.

“Thanks, King! King is best king!”

Belissar smiled and shook his head.

“No, I should be thanking the bees for everything to do, this much is a given. And, I was serious. You can ask me for anything, Niobee.”

He then rubbed his chin.

“Say, Niobee, the First of the Fifth is sort of in charge of the Apiary, right? She was also the first to make medicinal and maddening honey, right?”

“Yes, is most powerful Apiary queen. Best at making honey, tries to make new types.”

Belissar nodded.

“I’ve been thinking about the future and I have an idea. Tell me how it sounds and if you think the First of the Fifth could help with this…”

The First of the Fifth flew out to meet the King, greeting him as he deserved. He smiled at her with the warmth of the summer sun, before speaking words that rumbled her very core.

“I need to thank you for pollinating the plants. It was thanks to you that we got some new plants and new bees that will be very helpful for the Tower. Thank you, excellent work.”

The First of the Fifth had a bit of trouble remembering what happened in the next few minutes. Something like falling to the ground as her mind went blank, followed by some sort of dance so rapid the world around her blurred. The King…had seen her efforts. He approved. She had helped the bees and helped the King. Her path was not wrong after all.

But that was only the beginning of a conversation that would change everything. The First of the Fifth listened with rapt attention, and then had immediately agreed with as much gusto as she could muster. She then spent the rest of the day on a full-speed happy dance.

The King had grand plans. He was going to take new flowers and entire new rooms, and then categorize and specialize them. He would have queens like the two that had recently evolved devoted entirely to specialized honey types, which they would then share with the rest. He would thus maximize honey production across all flower types and hives and rooms while ensuring that all bees retained access to all flowers, even ones their workers never saw.

It was exactly what she did in her relentless quest for better honey. The King was taking her methods and applying them on a much grander scale, utilizing entire hives as she utilized single trays.

And he wanted her help. He asked her, as the one who had developed the most new honey types and even new flowers, to take the lead. To determine which flowers were suitable for specialization, to ensure all queens had sufficient resources in the process, and to arrange for the exchanges of nectar and honey.

It was not a dream come true, because the situation far exceeded any dream the First of the Fifth had dared to imagine.

But, finally, when she had calmed down, she paused. To bring the King’s vision to pass would take more work from her than ever before. And, moreover, it would require her to organize the other queens as she did her own hive. She had no concerns about her ability to do so, she had raised communers for exactly that purpose. The issue was…what of the other queens? She…would admit that she had not treated them appropriately beforehand. She had thought of them as rivals and so attempted to overcome and contain them. They, therefore, trusted her about as much as any rival would. She knew that even her recent efforts would not have convinced them. But if they would not trust her, then it would be hard to enact the King’s plan.

So, the First of the Fifth gathered herself and did something that would have been unthinkable for her beforehand.

She left her hive and flew to the King’s abode. She did not dare step inside without permission, instead waiting by the windowsill. Fortunately, she did not have to wait long before the Conduit noticed her and came out to greet her.

“Hi, First of the Fifth. Need something?”

The First of the Fifth hesitated only a moment before beginning to dance.

“Need…help. King’s plan…needs queens to work together. I…didn’t work with other queens before, and other queens don’t trust now. Will Conduit…help me? I know is a lot to ask, but need Conduit’s help for King’s plan.”

Requesting help from another, one she formerly considered a rival, even. It was unthinkable. But the First of the Fifth realized that if the King wanted all bees to help one another…then she should be willing to request help to when she needed it. To admit that she needed it…well, that was unthinkable too. But if the other queens did not trust her, she could not efficiently fulfill the King’s request of her. And that, of course, was the most unthinkable. So, she did what she had to.

She could only hope that the Conduit would be willing to…

“Ok! Will help!”

The First of the Fifth was silent for a bit as she tried to process what had just occurred.

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