The Bee Dungeon

The Firstborn, and indeed all of the Flower Meadow queens, began their meeting standing still in silence. They had had much to think about recently and had come up with few solutions to their concerns. What could they even say when an enemy repulsed every force in their army, invalidated every tactic and strategy they had prepared, and rendered all of their efforts for naught? When even the King’s mighty chasms and honey sprayers could not turn the tide? When the hive of hives had no choice but to rely upon an outsider of questionable trustworthiness?

Well, the karnuq’s aid in the battle had shifted the Firstborn’s opinion of them but that was besides the point. The point was that, lately, the Firstborn did not feel the Flower Meadow queens were contributing sufficiently to the hive of hives. They had abandoned everything, including competent honey-making, the very backbone of bee-hood, to build the greatest army bee-kind had ever seen. But for all their efforts, their army could not yet match the power of a single karnuq. And worse still, in doing so they had created an unsustainable situation within their hives. They now required the First of the Fifth’s intervention to continue growing. They had become a drain upon the hive of hives’ resources.

That in itself was not necessarily a problem. Even within a hive, soldiers, queens, and drones spent resources while workers gathered them. There was a role to play for bees that did not gather honey, and so in a hive of hives an entire hive that spent more resources than it produced might still have a place. But that was if, and only if, they provided value to the hive of hives that justified the resources. The Firstborn could no longer state this was the case.

There were some new developments. The King had granted them access to a new kind of bee and the wounded soldier, one so honored as to receive a name from the King himself, an honor previously reserved only for the Conduit, had come up with a new sort of attack that could bypass the new shade’s defenses. Yet, the new lancers would require additional resources to raise, which at the moment meant receiving yet more honey from the Apiary queens. And Beero’s efforts belonged to her and the other wounded bees alone, the Firstborn and the Flower Meadow hives had played no part in it besides sharing some of their honey to sustain the wounded. They would be investigating whether the rest of their army could utilize such attacks, but they could not call that their own initiative. They were still receiving from others.

So, the Firstborn was not satisfied with the situation. She slowly began to dance.

“Think…I have an idea. Want to hear?”

She could no longer confidently step forward. While the Flower Meadow queens worked together, the Firstborn had been the one to lead them thus far. But with recent developments, she could not continue to do so on her own initiative. She, thus, waited for the others to dance.

But one by one, the other queens all indicated that she should continue. She wasn’t sure if they still believed in her, or if no one felt confident taking charge in her place, but either way, she chose to dance.

“Other queens have soldiers, soldiers that work. First of the Fifth’s workers help carry honey. Fourth of the Seventh and First of the Fifth’s First Daughter’s workers weave stems. Think our soldiers can work too.”