Chapter 28: Chapter 28

The Firstborn of the First Dynasty of the Fifth Spawner, the first of her line, paced about after laying another egg. She was...troubled by recent events.

She was the favored of the King, that was the truth. He had granted her rulership of a mighty keep just beyond the gates of his own abode. She was the first of the queens to offer him tribute, each and every day. It was the honey of her children that graced his table. And she was the first queen that he greeted each and every day.

And she had been the first to receive his blessing. He crafted for her a hive with his very own hands, turning towering trees into a dwelling without equal. When he was finished, he inspected her brood personally to ensure their safety and comfort. Ultimately, he was not satisfied, and spawned guards of his own, tasked with the defense of his favored queens.

She was truly the most favored of all bee-kind. The first queen, above all others. Well, the Conduit had the honor of serving the King directly and spoke with his voice, but in the end, she was not a queen. The Conduit was the King’s worker, and the First of the Fifth was his queen, and the queen knew which was preferable.

And yet...she had recently learned of troubling developments.

The queens of the First through Forth Spawners were not like her, or any of her siblings and peers. They were simple, barbaric even. They lived on the outskirts, far beyond the King’s abode at the very edges of his territory. They lived in humble hives of their own make, blessed not by the constructions of the King. They dwelled not within his sight. They rarely offered tribute, he never dined upon their labor.

And it was only natural. They produced the barest fraction of even the least of the Apiary queens. They barely produced enough honey to feed themselves! And moreover...the First of them bore the title of the Second Dynasty. A declaration of shame, a reminder that it was the bees of their spawner who had failed to defend the King, and perished in vain. And to make it worse, those of the First through Forth spawners had been present for the Second Invasion. It was said that the King fought personally in that dreadful time and slew the invader with his own hand. A testament to the might of the King...and to the weakness of all the queens that lived then. Where were their hives when the King was threatened? Where were their armies when the invader assaulted his realm? It was little wonder they had been cast from the King’s sight, exiled to the outskirts of his domain.

Or so the First of the Fifth had thought.

That the queens of the Flower Meadow had produced soldiers of their own was known to the First of the Fifth. She had assumed this was a desperate act of necessity. Those who were not blessed with the protection of the King had to fend for themselves. It was yet another sign of their impoverishment. The First of the Fifth would admit the soldiers were an impressive sight...but a wasteful one. They could not gather the nectar. They could not process the honey. They could not take care of the brood. They were nothing but a drain upon their colony, they consumed that which should be offered to the King. The First of the Fifth would not make that mistake.

The First of the Fifth was despondent at this. The exiled ones had received honors even she, the favored queen, had not. The strength of their arms and the gratitude they had earned called into question all she had ever known. At best...the queens of the Flower Meadows had redeemed themselves and more in the eyes of the King. Perhaps they would even be welcomed back into his abode.

At worst...she was wrong about their exile in the first place. Perhaps they did not dwell in the outskirts because the King was disappointed in them...but because he trusted them the most. Because he believed that they could defend themselves, a trust they had fulfilled. Why else would he grant them such grand treasures such as the mana flowers? Why else would he show them such honor when it was all said and done?

Had she been wrong all along? Did the King care more about stingers than honey? Was she kept near to him not because she was favored...but because she was weak? Untrustworthy?

The First of the Fifth could not remain still. She paced about every moment she was awake, even as her workers tried to calm her. But how could she be calm? All that she had worked for, all that she had built may have been for naught if she had misunderstood so greatly!

Until...she felt it. The rumblings in the ground and sky, the mana of the King stirring to create wonders. She flew out of her hive, wishing to see what had occurred with her own eyes.

And what she saw did not disappoint.

A glowing field of flowers stretched out before her. Countless mana flowers grew before her, nothing like the lone flower here or there the Flower Meadow queens scrounged from. No, there were so many of them their mana began to coalesce and shimmer in the air.

This...this was an abundance an entire dynasty could be built upon.

She glanced at the King. Before, she would have had no question as to his intent to favor her. But now...she could not help the creeping doubt. Was this a boon for them? Or did the King have other intentions with all this she could not see?

But he smiled at her, a sight that brightened the world like the dawn.

“Go ahead, I made it for you all.”

The First of the Fifth nearly fell from the sky as she ordered her hive to swarm upon the flowers below.

Shortly thereafter, the First of the Fifth watched as her workers filled row after row of wax cells with glistening honey. She danced about happily as she drank from the honey packed to the brim with mana and felt her own reserves grow.

She had not been wrong. She was truly the favored of the King. She saw now his wisdom, the intent of his designs. She was the favored...and that meant that she was precious. She had to be protected. So, the King had grown the Flower Meadow queens, such that they might sacrifice in her defense. And he tested the mana flowers upon them, to ensure the gift was suitable for her. Once he had, he had granted her an abundance of the treasures beyond the Flower Meadow queen’s wildest dreams.