POBee 63.2 - Failure
Despite all that she currently had to do, the First of the Fifth found herself standing at the front of her hive. Dancing in front of her were several workers from her daughter, giving her a report on recent affairs. The first of which had the First of the Fifth confused, confused to the point that she was now here to hear and clarify the report in person.
The start of the report had gone well, beyond the First of the Fifth’s wildest expectations. Not only had her daughter successfully made the move, the King himself had built a perfect place for her to construct her new hive, well-defended and stocked to the brim with resources. The King was directly supporting her efforts. It took a while before the First of the Fifth was cognizant enough to receive the rest of the report. Which only made the next piece of news all the more confusing.
“My daughter…formed joint hive? With Fourth of Seventh?”
The workers danced the affirmative. The First of the Fifth did not consider for a moment if they had told the truth, for anything else was unthinkable. Besides, these workers, the children of her own child, were still partially under the effects of her ability to command her own offspring. They replied to her questions as honestly and thoroughly as her own workers would. So, there was no mistake in the report itself.
“…why?”
Try as she might, the First of the Fifth couldn’t see any rationale for this turn of events. Coordinating and cooperating with the Fourth of the Seventh was one thing. Forming a joint hive with her was something else entirely. That was a measure that could be taken…but only ever by related queens. Mixing workers and broods and honey with an unrelated queen could only produce inefficiency and dilute her offspring’s achievements. How would her daughter possibly achieve the rigorous quality control to produce acceptably good honey if she wasn’t even in command of all the workers in the hive? The First of the Fifth knew the Fourth of the Seventh had been surprisingly cooperative and subservient, but she could not believe that extended as far as the Fourth of the Seventh subordinating her own hive to her daughter, a bee far younger and smaller than she. Nor could she imagine her own flesh and blood subordinating herself to the Fourth of the Seventh, one of the least of the Apiary queens. So…how had these events come about?
And as mentioned before, since these workers were partially under her ability to command her offspring, they answered truthfully and in detail.
“Running out of honey, not enough to move and raise next generation. Fourth of Seventh offered help. Workers worked together, built hive together for better efficiency.”
The First of the Fifth froze solid.