POBee 55.1 - The Role of a Queen
The Fourth of the Seventh zipped up and down the tree. She flew right up to one of the apples, the bright red fruit as large as her torso. She brushed her antenna against one of the pink and white flowers. She took it in with all her senses, memorizing its colors with her eyes, its scent with her antenna, its touch with her legs, and even the charge of the petals that changed if she brushed her legs and wings together to make tiny-lightnings. She unfolded her probiscis and drank directly from the flower’s nectar, dancing about at the sweet taste she had never experienced before.
One of her workers watched from a polite distance, swaying back and forth. She wanted to get moving, but she did not approach her queen. Her queen was unlike any other in that she wished to see the world outside of the safety of her hive, much to the chagrin of all of her children. But, it was the workers’ duty to see their queen’s will fulfilled. Their queen knew her role and her importance, and so held back her desire to see the world. The workers wished that she could do as she pleased, even as much as they wished she would remain safely within the hive. So, the workers let her fly about while they moved the hive, and even act like a worker would. It was the least they could do, since her role would prevent her from doing so under normal circumstances.
The worker thus ignored her instinct to pull her queen to safety and glanced back at the rest of her siblings. The move was well underway, with countless workers carrying single wax cells filled with honey or with the brood. The worker flew over and danced a command to a group of scouts, sending them to assist a group of workers that were falling behind. Normally, this would be the role of the queen, but the worker did not wish to interrupt her in the moment of her joy. And well, at this point she was used to it. It wasn’t the first time she had taken care of details on behalf of her queen.
Their hive was a bit unique in that regard, in that the workers were left to their own devices to an even greater extent than the other hives. They didn’t have the rigid and efficient discipline the First of the Fifth’s hive did, nor the urgent energy the workers supporting the Firstborn’s army strove with. Instead, they had grown used to taking matters into their own hands and organizing themselves, leaving their queen free to do…whatever it is she chose to, within reason.
For example, raising soldiers.
The worker glanced over as the two soldiers that had recently hatched carried larger pieces of comb. The worker still didn’t fully understand her queen’s intention with those, since their hive did not participate in the grand war, but at present their bulk and strength was proving invaluable. One of them was even carrying the Daughter of the First of the Fifth on her back, since the young queen grew exhausted by the trip.
It was moments like these that the worker was reminded why she was not queen. For monster bees like them, the queen was more than just the mother of the brood. She was larger, stronger, and more intelligent than any of the rest of them. She could see the world in a way that they couldn’t. She could think thoughts that never crossed their minds. And more than that…she connected them. Each of them had a bond with her through which mana…and more…flowed. She elevated them all and they, in turn, acted as the implements of her will. For monster bees, the queen truly was the heart of the hive.
The queen could, therefore, see further and more than the normal worker could. Even this worker, who had taken on many duties beyond her instinctual tasks, generally saw the world through her instincts. She saw flowers and predicted whether or not they would produce good nectar. She saw the brood and felt the urge to check them for healthy growth and illness. She saw the hive and sought to ensure its security.
Not the queen. She saw the world and saw possibility. That was why she was so excited to go and see more of it, even though every instinct in the worker’s body told her to keep the queen secure and safe.