Path of the Hive Queen

It had taken Regina far too long to admit, even to herself, that she was afraid. Well, maybe ‘afraid’ was still putting it too strongly. Tense, though. Nervous. Worried. Those all fit.

It was a combination of several factors. The attack on the base had shaken her a little, especially combined with the increased pressure from the north. It drove home the precariousness of their situation. And how much she still needed to tread carefully in some respects; the base was a bit of a millstone around her neck right now.

But mostly, Regina was nervous about talking to Janis. Not because she thought Janis would shout at her or do anything drastic. She wasn’t exactly afraid of a fight. She just … didn’t want Janis to be upset with or disappointed in her? I think I really don’t like the idea of being wrong, Regina mused. Even inside her own head, the thought felt sharp. She had her pride. It had been challenged before, of course, but maybe not quite like this.

It was silly. Even if she granted that Janis was right — which she still had severe doubts about — that didn’t mean Regina was going to lose something. Beside the obvious. It didn’t mean she was deliberately doing wrong. Be some kind of power-hungry tyrant. But they had foregone talking about it for too long, and now the silence had festered between them and grown into something ugly.

Regina looked at her heir and was no longer completely certain what she would do. That hurt a little, but it also felt cleansing. Like she was proud that Janis had grown into her own. Maybe this was what Galatea had meant.

She hadn’t chosen Janis just because she had more experience than her drones.

It still didn’t make the moment less awkward as they hovered in the placebo placed at the covered entrance of a garden, which suddenly felt far too small. Regina looked at Janis, who looked at her; her face was serene, but she could sense the awkwardness they both felt.

“How’ve you been doing, Janis?” Regina asked, unsure where to start.

“Pretty well,” Janis replied. Then, as if realizing she should say more, added, “I’m recovering my magic faster now. It’s still not where I’d like to be, but I’m getting there.”

“Good. That’s good.” Regina glanced around. “Let’s sit down?”

They settled down, still a bit stiffly, Regina on a garden bench and Janis on the stone base of a flower bed.

“I’m sorry,” they both said at the same time.

Janis laughed lightly and Regina smiled. “Well, that wasn’t so hard, I guess.”

“Yeah. I am sorry,” Janis said. “You know I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. I shouldn’t be putting my issues above that or making my loyalty seem conditional.”

“No …” Regina shook her head. “You shouldn’t have to be called disloyal just for disagreeing with me. I’m sorry if I’ve given you the impression that was how I wanted things.”

“Thank you. I know.”

“And I should have spoken to you sooner. I do understand you just want to do the right thing. And that you made good arguments. I can be stubborn sometimes.”

“It goes both ways, Regina,” Janis said with a faint smile. “You’re not wrong for disagreeing with me, either.”

Regina exhaled a deep breath. There was still a lot hanging in the air between them, still unsaid, but the tension had eased.

“I don’t suppose that means you changed your mind,” she said, keeping her tone lighter.

Janis shook her head. “I still think giving more power to the people is the right decision, even if the circumstances aren’t ideal.” She paused. “I don’t suppose you’ve changed your mind on that?”

“Not really.”

They were both silent for a long moment, and she could sense Janis was also feeling contemplative.

“If the war wasn’t so dire, would you agree then?” Janis finally asked.

Regina hesitated. She wanted to say yes, to reassure Janis, but she knew she should be honest here. “I’m not sure,” she answered instead. She shrugged at Janis’ look. “Not because I don’t want to. I really do. But, I’m just not sure the people are ready. It’s only been a few years since we founded the Empire and introduced something new to this world. We’re still technically in a feudal system, more or less. Are people really ready for democracy?”

Janis frowned. “But this wouldn’t be real democracy, anyway,” she pointed out. “You would still have a lot of power. And one of the main points of this move would be to further siphon power away from the nobility.”

“I know, but it would still be real power, Janis. The power to make laws. Can you honestly say people wouldn’t just vote for their local bigwig? Their noble patron?”

“We’d have a party system.”

“Yes, but what sort of parties would emerge? And what would they vote for, in a system that doesn’t have entrenched international standards, accountability or a culture of journalism and new media? Say we capture some land from our enemies and have to decide what to do with the population. Wouldn’t it be easy to just deport them? Or to make some people second-class citizens?”

Janis was quiet for a while. Regina could tell she was thinking through what she’d said and carefully considering her own stance and arguments.

“I think I understand your position better now,” she finally said. “I still think you’re being too conservative. Uh, pun not intended. You have a point, but you may be expecting too little from your people. Or maybe too much from your old people.” Janis grimaced faintly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. But if the people don’t know enough, then they have to learn. Elections aren’t a new concept, Regina. Sure, it’s on a much smaller scale, but they should know enough to get the basic principles. Now we just need to make it work on a larger scale. And make sure we have legal protections and human rights enshrined in the law, or sapient rights or whatever, too. Which we have been working on.”

“Just like that?” Regina asked. “It takes time to entrench new ideals and institutional norms.”

“Yes, but we have to start sometime. I think at some point, we have to trust the people of the Empire.”

“I trust them to be people, and it took a lot of back-and-forth, unrest and sometimes political violence, to establish stable liberal or democratic systems. Why would today’s people be any better?”

Janis fell silent, chewing on her lip. Regina didn’t feel like she’d won the argument. She suspected she wouldn’t feel any better even if she had actually won the argument, either.

"Sorry, I wasn’t trying to argue with you,” Janis finally said. “I just wanted to talk, and now here we are again.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t trying to start an argument, either,” Regina said, shaking her head. “Still, it’s probably good we had it out.”

“I guess.”

They fell silent again. Regina sighed a little and relaxed deliberately, slumping further into her seat.

“Has anyone been calling you disloyal for having your own opinion?” she asked. Something about what Janis had said before still bothered her.

Janis hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. “Not really? A few people, but it was nothing major. They didn’t come out and accuse me of anything, they just implied things. I simply ignore that sort of thing.”

Regina tried not to let her sense how she was feeling about that. She could tell that Janis wasn’t too upset by it, but she was also probably downplaying it a little, and Regina disliked what it meant. It felt like failure. She was supposed to protect Janis from stuff like this. I’m a terrible adoptive mother, aren’t I? Not that trying to clamp down on her ‘court’ or government officials would be likely to help much.

“If you’d like, you can tell me who they were and I can take care of it,” she said. “It’s fine if you don’t want to say, either. I know you don’t need me to fight your battles for you, but I can still ensure you get the respect you deserve.”

Janis smiled faintly. “It’s really not a big deal, Regina. But thanks. I appreciate that you care.”

“Of course.”

Janis stretched out her legs, turning her face up toward the sun. “There’s something else I guess I wanted to ask, since we’re talking about that,” she said slowly. “How do you deal with your instincts? In your personal relationships, I mean.”

“I suppose I’ve found a balance,” Regina said, a bit confused where this was going. “It’s easier to channel them into productive directions. Like trying to make things better for the Empire and the Hive, that’s an obvious answer to any protective or possessive instincts I get. And my children help, of course. I would probably really hate having to give up any territory, but fortunately, it hasn’t came to that, so far. And, uh, well, the Empire has been expanding pretty consistently since we all started … I can’t honestly say that wasn’t due to Hivekind expansionism, too.” She paused. “What is this about, Janis? I didn’t think you got that sort of instinct. I mean, from your elemental heritage?”

“Well, not really.” Janis sat up straighter again. “I don’t really need territory. Although I hate being stuck, I suspect that comes from the air element. But that’s not it. In my relationships, well — I also feel protective-or-possessive of Kiara. Not really sure which word fits.”

“I get what you mean,” Regina agreed, nodding. She’d had a bit of an inkling of this; it would be difficult not to given that Janis was in her psychic link. But she hadn’t realized it would be an issue. Which, in hindsight, maybe that was another aspect of her thinking differently, since it should have been obvious. Or maybe she was just bad at relationships.

She should still try to say something helpful. “Has Kiara complained?” Regina asked.

“No, not as such, she hasn’t. But I still worry about it,” Janis confessed. “She’s a confident, powerful queen. She doesn’t need me to treat her like she’s mine — not that I want to treat her she’s my property or anything, of course. I just, it feels like we’re running down the clock on an argument. And over-thinking it is just making it worse.”

“Huh.” Regina was honestly a bit unsure what to do with that. “Well, this is obvious, but I think you should just talk to her. And if she doesn’t seem unhappy and doesn’t complain, then maybe it’s not so bad. I think some people feel flattered if their partners show signs of possessiveness, right? To be wanted and all that.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Janis sounded unconvinced. Regina didn’t think she’d really told her anything new or helped particularly, either.

“I’m not even sure if I’m not just imagining things,” Janis continued. “I mean, maybe everyone feels like this, it has nothing to do with territorial instincts and I’m just worrying for nothing.”

“… No, I don’t think that’s it,” Regina responded, tugging on her mandibles as she considered. “I mean, you might be worrying for nothing, but I think it is, well, real, and has to do with territorial instincts.” She frowned. “I may be aromantic, but we do have humans in the Hive now — you know Edmund is in love?”

“He doesn’t exactly hide it very much,” Janis replied with a small smirk.

“Yeah, anyway. He doesn’t feel like that. Neither did Lily or Fred. I’ve also looked into a lot of people’s minds by now, even if that’s more transient. It does feel a bit different. Not that humans can’t feel territorial about their relationships, of course.”

“Thanks. That’s surprisingly good to hear.” Janis managed a smile.

Regina hummed. She hadn’t thought she’d be giving relationship advice, but it was much better than arguing over politics. And she had missed just talking to Janis about personal stuff.

“What is it that you want? I mean, do you want the relationship to be more public?”

Janis seemed to consider the question for a moment. “I think that’s part of it, but it’s not all. I want to mark her as mine. I want everyone to know she’s mine, and that I will protect her. I want Kiara to know it, to know that she’s safe and cared for. And I guess I want to make sure to warn others off so she doesn’t sleep with anyone else. I want to fight our enemies together, or kill enemies for her and bring her their heads — at least that’s the basic feeling, but maybe not literally, I don’t actually like killing. And I like to have something of hers, maybe some marks that prove she’s claiming me in return, too.”

“That sounds pretty reasonable to me, honestly,” Regina shrugged. “I mean, maybe it’s not human standard, but still valid.”

“It’s not that easy. I don’t want to weird her out or anything. Can you imagine if I actually tried to bring her a trophy of a defeated enemy? Maybe I should just ignore those ideas, it’s not like I have to act on them.”

“You shouldn’t have to change yourself just to fit human expectations.” Regina scowled. “And if Kiara demands that, she’s not the person I thought she was.”

“She doesn’t,” Janis said firmly. Now she was glaring a little. “Of course not. You do know her better than that, Regina.”

Regina sent her a feeling of apology. “Of course. I didn’t mean it like that, sorry.”

“It’s fine. And thank you.” Janis pulled her leg up, balancing on her stone bench in a way that looked precarious and uncomfortable, but apparently wasn’t. “It would be easier if one of us was a man. But I guess not that much easier.”

Regina found she couldn’t really imagine that situation. “Would you still be together if Kiara was a man?”

“Probably not. I think she’d be a pretty different person, anyway,” Janis mused. But she was smiling again, clearly finding the thought amusing.

“At least she’d get away with wearing trousers everywhere,” Regina joked.

“Yeah. She’d be a picture-perfect knight.” Janis snorted.

Regina was glad that they’d at least had another good conversation again. Janis felt more at ease now, and she was the same. The issue between them wasn’t solved — and Regina was pretty sure they would, at minimum, debate the merits of electing a parliament any time soon again. But it was better than it had been.

Regina reached out to the psychic link, which she’d mostly pushed away for this conversation. She hadn’t wanted the distraction. But having it humming away at the back of her mind was relaxing.

At least, until she became aware of something happening to the west. Another drone was trying to get her attention. From Ariedel?

Regina sighed. “I think work has found me again,” she muttered.

Janis glanced up sharply, and she felt her mind in the psychic link sharpen, checking up on where her own attention was aimed.

Regina focused on several drones who were currently standing on a rooftop terrace half-nestled into a big tree. Two of them were Swarm Drones, one was a younger sapient drone. All of them were watching Anuis, who was pacing up and down. “Just let your queen know as soon as you can,” she half-snapped at the Drone Worker.

Regina took control of one of the Swarm Drones. “Is something the matter?” she made it say.

Anuis stopped, turning to her, and she saw the realization pass briefly across her face. “Finally,” she muttered, then bowed her head slightly. “Empress Regina, I have urgent news to discuss.”

For the first time, Regina noted how pale the elven warrior looked. Her ears were angled slightly differently from each other, mostly pointed back, and her left hand was visibly inching towards the sword at her side.

“Can we speak here or does this require more privacy?” Regina asked through the drone. At least she hoped the words were clear enough; this wasn’t one of her speaker drones.

Anuis seemed to understand her. She shook her head briefly. “In person or at least through a proxy with your most trusted advisors would be better, Your Majesty. And if possible, somewhere your Delver Seer can join us. His input might be valuable.”

As if on cue, Regina also noticed another message waiting for her in the psychic link, this one older and given less priority. Alix Castaway had asked another drone to pass on a message to her.

Well, it was clearly important, whatever it was. Another army to the west? Maybe a message from Alianais? Regina probably shouldn’t speculate right now. She reached out instead to arrange for a crisis meeting.

At least she’d managed to talk to Janis before they were interrupted.