POBee 232.1 - A New Tributar-Bee
The stingless queen, the first chosen by the Flower Tender to receive a magical palace, now the queen of queens over all the lands stewarded by the Flower Tender, received a report from whichever hive it was she had assigned to scout the newest room. The new bee type had arrived, complete with its hive. The scouting hive recommended immediate subjugation.
The stingless queen did not reply, continuing to sip honey from a cell. After she finished her meal, she proceeded to lay another round of eggs. Then she conferred with her workers on the state of her hive and made adjustments where necessary.
Only then did she reply to the workers from the scouting hive.
“Servant queen inform new hive of subjugation, demand tribute. Take appropriate measures if refuse. Will expect delivery soon, do not fail.”
The scouting queen was truly insolent. As if the queen of queens would bother mobilizing her army to subjugate a single new queen. She had an entire empire to run, countless queens submitted to her will. A single newcomer was of no concern, running her own hive was of far greater importance. One of her servants would suffice to inform the newcomer of their place.
And if the newcomer refused and her servant failed to subjugate them? Only then would she remind the queens of her might.
The stingless queen who had scouted the new bees was currently running about in panic. Her plan…had not developed to expectations. She had not considered that the domineering queen would simply assign her to subjugate the newcomer instead of sending the army. Her choices were now refuse and earn the ire of the domineering queen who conquered all the rest…or tell the gigantic bees that they needed to submit.
Either way, she was dead.
She continued pacing about but time was ticking. Thanks to the vague and threatening time limit set by the domineering queen, she had no choice but to try and work things out on the fly. With her antennae drooping, she slowly began to fly out of her hive. This was a conversation that would need to be handled delicately, she couldn’t just pass a message through her workers this time. She had no choice but to go herself and hope the new queen didn’t take the opportunity to kill her immediately. As such, she took only the bare minimum escort, for what was the point? A subjugated queen like her was only permitted one or two soldiers at a time, a paltry force compared to what the new queen might possess.