POBee 219.1 - Bee-assurance
The next morning, First of the Fifth’s Fourth Daughter’s wings and antennae drooped. When the scouts reported it, she hadn’t believed it. It had to have been a mistake. When news came in over the Orchard’s communer network, she hadn’t listened. But then came the King’s council, when all the queens had the honor of gathering in his presence. There, with her own eyes, she confirmed the truth.
The Seventh Daughter had finished a mobile hive and now used it to travel about, while she had barely begun work on her own. Her queen mother had assigned her a task, and then another daughter had gone and proven that she was far better at it. That meant the Fourth Daughter was now engaging in that which her queen mother hated most.
Inefficiency.
The Fourth Daughter had no idea what she should do about it. Should she persist in spending hours and days of her hives’ labor on a task that the Seventh Daughter could complete in an instant? Or should she abandon a task assigned to her by her mother, wasting her childrens’ efforts on a project that would be left unfinished? No matter what she did, she would be wasting efforts that could have been spent elsewhere, failing every lesson her queen mother ever taught her.
She had failed.
The First of the Fifth awoke and began her day. First, she checked on the tray of honey they would offer to the King today, ensuring that it remained of the finest quality they had available in the hive. After that, she arranged an offering of equal quality to be delivered to the Queen of All Bees, having learned that she desired such things from watching the King, the karnuq, and Frelis. Third, she checked on each of her children, ensuring she remained fully aware of their current state. One daughter neglected had already been too many.
So, today, she paused, and then immediately flew over to her Fourth Daughter’s part of the Bee Apartment. Her Fourth Daughter buzzed her wings and stumbled over her greeting dance.
“Q-Queen mother.”
“Keep working. Didn’t fail.”