The group didn’t move too far into the monster room due to the risks. Tarwantrad promised to accompany the bees when they arrived to forage so that she could point out each monster flowers and their unique dangers in detail. After that, the group returned to the nexus door and moved back over to Belissar’s Tower to show Tarwantrad his own nursery. She brought along a few of her stingless bees to scout the area in turn.
Belissar couldn’t help but frown as they arrived. Tarwantrad looked to him.
“Is something the matter?”
Belissar shook his head.
“No, it’s just…as you can see, mine is a lot smaller than yours. I feel…a bit bad, I guess. Like we’re not offering nearly as much as you are.”
Tarwantrad smiled at him.
“But you are. Belissar, my dungeon’s patron is the God of Flowers. Flowers are my primary focus, it is only natural I have raised more of them. But you know what I don’t have as many of as you?”
Belissar could guess where this was going.
“…wouldn’t follow King? Wouldn’t be part of hive of hives anymore? Wouldn’t see queen mother or Fourth of the Seventh?”
Pain spiked through Belissar’s chest but he couldn’t lie to her. He was about to nod…when Tarwantrad interjected.
“Of course, you still can. We’re about to open our dungeons for a flower exchange. I’d be more than happy to let you host your parents or visit them in turn, it’s not a problem. And while you wouldn’t be following your king anymore officially, know that I intend to help him however I can, so you can still contribute to him and your hive of hives with your efforts.”
The Third Daughter broke out into a happy dance.
“Flower one is best flower one! Want to go!”
Belissar turned to Tarwantrad, his eyes widening a bit before he broke out into a smile.
“Thank you, I appreciate that.”
Tarwantrad smiled back.
“Of course, Belissar. I have no intention of keeping your bees from their family even should they join my dungeon.”
“And…if bees that technically belong to me rather than you just so happen to see my dungeon past the wards and report on it back to yours? Well, the orders of the Compact technically wouldn’t have been broken so there’s no problem, right?”
“Oh. I…hadn’t thought about that. Is that alright?”
Tarwantrad winked at him.
“I won’t tell the Compact if you don’t.”
Well, he guessed that settled it. The Compact wasn’t even speaking to him anyways so it wasn’t like he could tell them even if he wanted to. If Tarwantrad didn’t mind, then he wouldn’t either.
And, well, he could only smile as he watched the Third Daughter dance happily about with her queens. It made him unbelievably happy that they wouldn’t have to separate after all.
Later that night, the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter paced up and down one of the trays in her hive. She checked and double checked each and every cell, ensuring that they were all filled to the brim with the highest quality, most mana-packed honey she had available. And yet, upon completing her check, she immediately started a third.
She couldn’t help it. On the one leg, she was incredibly proud of her daughter. She had volunteered to take on great risk on behalf of the King, to expand the hive of hives to the flower one’s realm, and to follow in the footsteps of the Fourth of the Seventh. She could not have asked for a better child.
But on the other leg, she could not help but worry. She had told her children what the Fourth of the Seventh had done for her, but she had not told them the true extent of the desperation she felt back then. She had not told them of spending each day staring at empty cells, living each day by what the workers brought back as she spent everything on new brood. She had not told them how close she came to condemning an entire generation of workers to death by starvation.
So, when her daughter proclaimed she wanted to follow in her footsteps as well, the First Daughter had nearly panicked. It took all her self-control not to deny her daughter right then and there. After all, she would be sending off her daughter as her queen mother did her, only her daughter would be heading outside of the King’s realm where it would be much harder to reach her, even if they could still visit as the flower one had said.
And her daughter was not going with a Fourth of the Seventh of her own. If she got into trouble, there would be no hive of hives to save her.
But what could she do? She raised her daughter to admire the Fourth of the Seventh so could she now tell her not to explore? And her own queen mother had recently asked her to take care of the entire hive of hives as requested by the King, so could she stop her daughter from fulfilling one of the King’s requests? Her daughter had volunteered to no less than the King himself, so she was now committed either way.
So, all she could do now was make sure her daughter was as prepared as possible. After that…
She had been so caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t notice the Fourth of the Seventh approach until her fellow queen was right on top of her. At first, the First Daughter was going to reply that she was fine…but the Fourth of the Seventh had already seen her pacing about. Not to mention that with their hives’ mana blending together, the Fourth of the Seventh would have already felt her thoughts.
“…worried. Third Daughter going far away. Won’t be able to help. What if runs out of honey? What if can’t feed brood? What if needs help…”
“…like I did” was the rest of the dance she couldn’t complete, stumbling as she suddenly halted.
The Fourth of the Seventh crawled forward and began gently brushing her antennae. The Fourth of the Seventh’s mana then began to flare and flooded into her own. The Fourth of the Seventh’s thoughts and intentions grew stronger, until the First Daughter began to see them with her own eyes.
She watched as the Fourth of the Seventh showed her the memories of the day. The wide and varied and most of all abundant flowers that filled the flower one’s realm. Only after the Fourth of the Seventh showed her all she had seen did she start to dance.
“Will be ok, flower one has lots of flowers. King trusts flower one, flower one wants to help King, will take care of daughter too! Will keep scouting and help Frelis in flower one’s dungeon, so can visit daughter too and make sure is ok!”