The Bee Dungeon

The First of the Eighth stared at the storage cell in front of her, barely moving her abdomen enough to breath as she focused entirely on the task ahead of her. She gingerly began crawling in a circle, pulling on the mana of honey within the cell. The mana began to twist upon itself. At first, it appeared as a tangled mess…but as the queen continued her dance the mass began to coalesce into a more orderly pattern, starting to form a coherent shape…

And then the honey exploded out of the cell and the mana rapidly drained away. The First of the Eighth buzzed her wings…but a moment later she danced about. That was the first time she had been able to make out a coherent shape in the mana. She was close.

She had to proceed very carefully. The First of the Fifth's First Daughter established a communer link connecting the entire hive of hives, which her queen mother was no doubt listening in on. The First of the Eighth had debated whether to join at all, but she had no choice when every other queen had elected to do so. Fortunately, the First Daughter permitted each queen to form their end of the mana link at their own discretion, allowing them to dictate how strong or weak of a connection to form. The First of the Eighth was thus able to keep their prying eyes away from her work, so that the First of the Fifth would not be aware of how close her rival had come to replicating her achievement.

The link had its benefits, too. The First of the Fifth had foolishly established a no-limits link for her own hive, likely intended as a statement of confidence. The First of the Eighth could now see the entirety of the First of the Fifth's hive at will…and so could examine her honey-swirling in far more detail than before. That had set her on the right path and she could sense that she was almost there. Just a few more attempts and she would rise once more!

She crawled over to the next storage cell and prepared to begin another attempt when a wave of mana passed through her own hive's link.

"Queen mother, have something to show. Is urgent."

The First of the Eighth buzzed her wings. She had given orders she was not to be disturbed, under any but the most critical of circumstances! Her First Daughter's urgent matter had better be of that level of import!

But…her First Daughter had been scouting the new flowers the King had planted and potentially interacting with the King himself. The First of the Eighth could not rule out that her First Daughter might indeed have news of critical importance. A task from the King for her hive, for instance, would take priority over the plans of any bee in the realm. So, the First of the Eighth tore her attention away from the storage cell with a buzz of her wings and turned to face her daughter, whom she could sense approaching.

"First Daughter. What so important…"

Her dance came to a sudden halt as she turned around. Her daughter…was not the daughter she had last sent.

In front of her was a queen even larger than herself. She still bore the purple and black stripes of a maddening bee, but something was…off. The stripes seemed to blend together, black bleeding into purple and purple melting into black, only to snap back to their usual places if the First of the Eighth focused on them. Fuzzy hair covered the queen's body that swayed upon seemingly at random, making her body outline fuzzy and vague. The queen also had extra fuzzy antennae like that of a communer…only the hairs were every color of the rainbow but arranged in no discernable pattern, activating both the First of the Eighth's foraging and attack instincts at the same time. As if she were looking at a delectable flower in one moment and an incoming predator in the next, causing her to buzz her wings as her vision spun despite her lack of motion.

The queen then began to dance and spread her mana. The First of the Eighth could feel the mana naturally connect with her own and she knew. This was indeed her child, a member of her hive.

"Queen mother, evolved!"

It took the First of the Eighth a moment before she could dance a reply. Her First Daughter…evolved? A not merely an elemental adaptation to nectar from special flowers, no. Her First Daughter had evolved into a more advanced type of queen, like the Firstborn, the Fourth of the Seventh…or the First of the Fifth.

"…how?"

Her First Daughter danced in happy circles.

"Hive of hives helped!"

The First of the Eighth froze…and then began to buzz.

"Hive of hives…First Daughter, what have done?!"

Her First Daughter didn't need to answer. The First of the Eighth searched through the memories of her hive…and found her First Daughter hadn't even hidden her actions. She had simply been too focused on her task to acknowledge what was occurring when…when…

"You…told First of the Fifth what doing?! You betrayed hive?!"

The First of the Eighth buzzed fully and even extended her stinger. Her First Daughter stopped dancing and her antennae drooped. Her wings fluttered.

"Queen mother…"

Then her First Daughter's antennae sprang back up and lit up, filling the hive with multi-colored light. Her daughter's mana flooded the hive link…overwhelming even the queen of the hive with her evolved might.

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"Queen mother wrong!"

Her First Daughter's mana did not merely flood the hive link. It, somehow, grabbed hold of the First of the Eighth's mind, and forced it to go where her daughter wanted. She could do nothing but buzz as her daughter pushed her attention onto specific memories…her daughter's memories.

"Queen mother hurt by First of the Fifth before, thinks is still trying to hurt! But First of the Fifth changed! King and Conduit and hive of hives made change! Now only wants to help! When asked if could help evolve, helped! Didn't take anything, just helped!"

The First of the Eighth was forced to watch as her First Daughter approached the First of the Fifth. They danced about the new flowers King had planted, flowers her First Daughter had identified as compatible with maddening queens. She watched as the First of the Fifth agreed to process this honey through her honey-swirling honeypots and then subsequently delivered it to her First Daughter, which the First Daughter then used to evolve.

But her daughter was naïve! Sure, the First of the Fifth may have given her some of the honey, but that scheming queen definitely kept a bunch for herself, as well as the method to make it! She probably only gave the First of the Eighth's daughter enough scraps to appease her…

"Watch! See First of the Fifth!"

Her First Daughter wasn't content to stop there. The First of the Eighth found her mind pushed through the hive link…into the First of the Fifth's own memories. The memories the First of the Fifth had made freely available with the strength of her connection to the hive of hives.

And there, presented to her like a flower in bloom, was the precise method by which the First of the Fifth swirled her honey. The process she went through to develop that method, the exact steps of the dance she used, all of her observations on how the mana changed and twisted and what it was supposed to look like at any given stage.

But the First Daughter pushed her beyond that. The First of the Eighth saw the First of the Fifth happily agree to her First Daughter's request. She saw that, contrary to her belief, the First of the Fifth had not kept any of the new honey for herself, giving it all to her First Daughter. She saw the First of the Fifth celebrate when her First Daughter evolved…like she had not, and praise her First Daughter for identifying a new kind of honey and a new potential evolution. The First of the Fifth herself had told the achievement to her own First Daughter, giving all the credit…to the First of the Eighth's First Daughter.

And then the memories went back. She saw the First of the Fifth's despair when she learned of the King's true nature. The First of the Fifth's horror when she learned of the desperate state of the daughter she sent off to the Orchard, and her subsequent gratitude to the Fourth of the Seventh for intervening. How the First of the Fifth struggled to offer new flowers to the other queens after that, but forced herself to do so…even when it would allow queens, like the First of the Eighth herself, to become true rivals.

"First of the Fifth helps now! Hive of hives helps now! Not rivals! Not competing! See, King wants bees get along!"

The First of Eighth jumped back as her daughter guided her through the hive link she had been so wary of to a part of the hive of hives she wasn't aware of. No…a part of the hive of hives that hadn't been there before, that had only appeared in the hive of hive's presence after the First of the Fifth's First Daughter had connected them through the hive link. It was a presence beyond that of every bee, far more vast, and unknowable.

It was King. He…was part of the hive link?! A distant part that was hard for the hive of hives to fully connect to, but he was unmistakably there!

And the First of the Eighth hadn't noticed at all, as focused as she was on her own hive…and keeping it guarded from the rest of the hive-link where King was watching.

The First of the Eighth's First Daughter pulled her deeper in…and brought her into mana contact with the Conduit herself.

"Hi! First of Eighth need something?"

Before she could respond, her daughter answered.

"Want show queen mother King's love for bees!"

"Ok!"

The Conduit's mana reached out, helping them bridge the gap between queen and King. The First of the Eighth was thus treated to…memories of the King himself. She felt his joy as he watched the bees of the Apiary forage about. Where her workers and the First of the Fifth's were competing for the best flowers…King was simply happy the bees had flowers to forage from. He later praised the First of the Fifth when she tried to help the other queens. He…was overjoyed when he learned the First of the Eighth had evolved!

After that, her First Daughter released the hold over her queen mother's mind, letting her attention come back to the present. The First Daughter slowly began another dance.

"Queen mother understand? Hive of hives supposed to help, not keep secret. Daughter evolved already because asked for help from First of the Fifth and hive of hives. Queen mother doesn't have to do alone, doesn't need beat First of the Fifth. Doesn't need become important, doesn't need get King's favor. King already favors, already thinks is important."

The First of the Eighth stood in silence for a long while. She…knew. She knew her First Daughter was right. Deep down…she had always known. How could she not? She had watched the King honor the fallen soldiers. She had watched him honor fallen drones, those bees who were born to die. She knew how much he had given to her, to all of them, before they had done anything in return for him. She knew the heart of the King. She knew the hive of hives, what they had achieved together. She knew that her supposedly vaunted place in the Apiary was a result of her helping the Flower Meadow queens. She would not even have this position if it were not for the hive of hives.

But…there was one thing that still held her back.

"But First Daughter…if don't do this, if don't make new honey on own…then hive is useless? New bees have better venom, army and hive of hives and King don't need anymore! Not helping!"

Her First Daughter crawled over and brushed her antennae, bathing her in soothing pheromones and mana.

"No bee useless to King and hive of hives! King and hive of hives helped Beero and hive of fallen become useful! Helped drones become useful! Still using queen mother's honey! And if stop, then will help queen mother find new thing to do!"

The First of the Eighth just stood there for a while, letting her daughter comfort her as she arranged her thoughts. She knew her daughter was correct. And she knew that she had allowed her fixation to push her away from the hive of hives. If anything, her obsession with getting ahead had only caused her hive to fall behind.

So, she turned to her First Daughter.

"First Daughter…can help? Can help lead hive into hive of hives? Not sure can by self…"

Her First Daughter happily danced around.

"Will always help!"

The First of the Eighth gently buzzed her wings. She was still unsure about all of this…and she still did not fully trust the First of the Fifth. Could not, her instincts still warning her against the rival that had suppressed her. So, she decided to trust her daughter instead. To trust King and the hive of hives instead. And to hope that, like with the injured soldiers and the drones, the hive of hives would find a place for the maddening queen too.