The Bee Dungeon

The Fourth of the Fifth stood in the Fourth of the Seventh and First of the Fifth's First Daughter's joint-hive, one built up into the canopy of a grove of trees. The digging queen admitted she…didn't feel comfortable there, not anymore. Back before she evolved, she might have liked the safety from predators the tree-hive provided…but now she felt lost and exposed without walls of dirt all around her. She put up with it, however, for today was an important day. Today was the day that would decide the future of subterranean Beyond scouting.

The Fourth of the Seventh herself was off on a scouting mission, but the First of the Fifth's First Daughter was there, and the Fourth of the Seventh had sent her first communer, a worker who somehow knew as much about the hive as a queen. Both bees joined her as they all hung on a brood tray, waiting by one particular capped cell. The Fourth of the Fifth's antennae twitched about as she observed the cell.

"Did honey work?"

The Fourth of the Seventh's first communer danced slowly.

"…think so. Queen mother's egg growing, ate Fourth of the Fifth's honey. Brood tenders say healthy, but don't know if evolved. Should hatch soon."

The Fourth of the Fifth lightly buzzed her wings, then tried to calm herself by grooming her antennae. She had come to consult with Fourth of the Seventh about scouting earlier. The Fourth of the Seventh was much better at it than the Fourth of the Fifth, even before she evolved specifically for that duty.

And…truth be told…the Fourth of the Fifth was overstretched and needed help. She was the only source of Ground mana honey in the hive of hives as the only digging queen, and she was also the primary source of bees that could operate effectively in subterranean environments: the blinding bees also could fly in the dark but couldn't feel or dig through the ground like the digging bees did. Her bees were both in high demand for the bee army, which needed them to fight in the Dirt Tunnels, and for the Beyond scouts to keep an eye on the Underway.

Honeypots and broodmothers had helped, but the Fourth of the Fifth felt that her focus was being pulled in too many directions at once even still. Trying to keep efficient honey lines, expand her unique subterranean hive, manage groups of scouts far away in the Beyond, and training a small soldier army of her own was simply too much for any one bee, or even one hive, and she couldn't optimize for everything. Ideally, she'd raise princesses to help…but her only child right now was a thermal mining queen whose hive grew slower than normal and who had King-granted duties of her own, while new princesses were off the table until the drones evolved.

So, the Fourth of the Fifth had asked the Fourth of the Seventh for advice and help…and naturally the First of the Fifth's First Daughter had weighed in as well. The most promising solution they came up with was this: what if they tried to evolve one of the Fourth of the Seventh's nomadic bees using the Fourth of the Fifth's Ground-mana honey? If they could raise a nomadic bee that could operate underground, the Fourth of the Seventh could then take over scouting the Underway, using all the advantages her nomadic evolution gave her for that task. The Fourth of the Fifth could then withdraw her hive and her focus back to the King's realm. She was loathe to give up the scouting task the King had asked of her, but there was no denying the Fourth of the Seventh would be far better suited to it if she could raise some sort of digging bees of her own.

As for the Fourth of the Fifth…she could not help but admit that the achievement she was proudest of was raising the digging bee assassin. That one bee had ended invasions all on her own, allowing the Fourth of the Fifth to contribute as much to the defense as the entire soldier bee army. She wanted to do more! She wanted to see what invasions an entire squad of digging bee assassins could stop! She wanted to evolve digging lancers and archers and see what they could do! She wanted to evolve captains that could manage fights as well as the battle meadow queens! She wanted to raise more queens and expand her hive until she could support a fully-fledged digging soldier bee army that could hold the Dirt Tunnels like the Flower Meadow queens did their home!

So…if she could both improve the scouting of the Underway by letting the Fourth of the Seventh take over while also freeing herself up to focus on her contributions to the defense…everyone would benefit, wouldn't they?

But that all depended on what emerged from the wax cell in front of her. The Fourth of the Seventh's mana couldn't be more different from the Fourth of the Fifth's. One was light and constantly in motion, the other was heavy and solid and didn't like to move. None of the bees, therefore, had any idea of if a bee could be born from the Fourth of the Seventh's hive that had the mana and characteristics of the Fourth of the Fifth's. If one could, the Fourth of the Seventh could then raise a broodmother with a one-time donation of the Fourth of the Fifth's honey and have a constant source of those bees independent of the Fourth of the Fifth's own hive. But if not, if the nomadic bees were too different to raise their own digging bees…then even if the Fourth of the Fifth could hand over scouting to the Fourth of the Seventh, she would still have to provide all the digging bees necessary for the task. Her hive would still be stretched in different directions.

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"Bee hatching!"

All the Fourth of the Fifth's thoughts halted at the first communer's dance. The Fourth of the Fifth forgot to move her abdomen to breathe as the cell's wax cover began to break open…and the bee inside began to crawl out.

The bee was larger than any digging bee. She was longer and sleeker than them as well, clearly more like a nomadic bee in shape. But…she was not a normal nomadic bee, either. She had shorter and thicker legs and far smaller wings, and she had the brown coloration of a digging bee. The Fourth of the Fifth reached out with her mana, hoping she'd be able to feel the new bee's through the hive of hives.

The new bee's mana was…strange. Parts of it were as solid and heavy as the Fourth of the Fifth's own…but it was constantly in motion as well, like the Fourth of the Fifth's. More like pieces of sand being blown about than empty wind or solid rock…

The Fourth of the Fifth turned the Fourth of the Seventh's first communer.

"Worked? New bee part of Fourth of the Seventh's hive?"

The Fourth of the Seventh's communer danced a confirmation.

"Is! Queen mother very excited, flying back to come see as soon as can."

The Fourth of the Fifth danced one loop of a happy dance. That was one hurdle overcome, the Fourth of the Seventh had clearly raised a nomadic bee part of her own hive that had been changed by the Ground-mana honey. But the Fourth of the Fifth calmed herself, for there was still one more test to go.

"Can see if new bee can scout tunnels?"

The communer's antennae lit up.

"Queen mother wants to know too!"

The communer then danced with the new nomadic bee and the new bee danced a salute. The Fourth of the Fifth followed as the communer led the new bee out of the hive. The group flew to the Orchard's shortcut wall and from there to the safe Dirt Tunnels where the Fourth of the Fifth made her hive. The Fourth of the Fifth took over as the bees landed and crawled into the Dirt Tunnels, until they had gone deep enough into the tunnels that no light from other rooms reached them. They stood in complete darkness, no barrier to the Fourth of the Fifth, but clearly uncomfortable for the communer, whose antennae were rapidly flicking around to try and keep track of her surroundings.

And now came the true test. Would the new bee be as capable as the Fourth of the Fifth's at scouting underground? The Fourth of the Fifth used her mana pulses and vibration sense to check on the new bee…and was met with a wave of mana as the new bee sent out a mana pulse of her own. A mana pulse…even stronger than her digging bees' own!

The communer's antennae flicking calmed down as the new bee danced around.

"Can see!"

The communer's antennae glowed and lit up the tunnel as she used mana to reply, not wanting to dance while she couldn't see.

"Yes, new bee can sense in tunnels. Hive can see now too!"

The Fourth of the Fifth began buzzing, nearly taking to the air.

"Then, can dig in dirt?!"

The new bee could apparently scout as well if not better then her own bees, but could it dig through the dirt? Her bees were currently hiding in the floor, roof, and walls of the tunnels in the Beyond, concealing themselves from predators and enemies while keeping an eye on the paths towards the King's realm. The new bee would need to be able to do so as well if it were to stay safe while scouting.

The new bee stirred up her mana…and the Fourth of the Fifth watched something amazing. The new bee began to vibrate and beat her wings, causing the air to vibrate around her. She then dove down into the ground. Her vibrating legs cut through the dirt…then the air moved by her wings picked up and moved the pieces of dirt around her. As a result, she not only burrowed down into the ground even faster than the Fourth of the Fifth's digging bees could…the dirt was naturally moved and deposited behind her to seal the entrance back up, making it even harder to tell she had been there. Her movement…almost resembled the swimming bees moving through the water more than the digging bees burrowing into the ground, with the way the dirt almost flowed around her.

Most of all, she was noticeably faster than even the fastest of the Fourth of the Fifth's hive. There was absolutely no doubt now. This bee could not only match the Fourth of the Fifth's at subterranean scouting…she was altogether superior to them. The Fourth of the Fifth could not only entrust the scouting to the Fourth of the Seventh's hive, she needed to prevent inefficiency.

…for some reason, the exact success the Fourth of the Fifth hoped for didn't feel as exciting as it had before…