The Bee Dungeon
POBee 300.1 - Bee-paying the Hive of Hives

The First Stingless Queen of the King’s Tower, the first of her line in the King’s realm. A name, a way to refer to her as apart from any similar queens, granted to her by the King’s hive of hives. Even her queen mother, the queen of queens of the Flower Tender’s Tower, had no such thing. Here, she had been granted one when she was little more than a captured invader.

And a name was not the only thing she had received since she surrendered to the hive of hives. The mana of the King’s Tower had not only empowered her hive physically, it had brought with it new instincts and new knowledge as well. Instincts and knowledge that, thanks to the support and generosity of the hive of hives, the First Stingless Queen had put to good use.

She stood now and surveyed her hive. Stingless workers landed and crawled back into the hive, using their new strength to carry more nectar and pollen than they ever could before. They did not process or deposit this as before, but handed it off to big, round bees sitting at the front of the hive. These honeypots, recommended to her by the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter, could process far more nectar and pollen far more quickly than any worker. This, combined with the free access the hive of hives gave her to mana-packed flowers overflowing with nectar, had boosted her honey production beyond anything she had ever thought possible. And on top of that…her very hive was a magical palace constructed by the King with his own hands and filled with his mana. The very walls of her home now assisted her hive to produce even more honey.

She almost had more honey than she knew what to do with…if not for the other instincts and knowledge she had gained. She crawled to the entrance of her hive and took to the air. There, hovering before her hive, was her very own army. The twenty soldiers granted to her by the queen of queens now taught their newly hatched sisters what they had learned from the hive of hives, splitting the new soldiers into squads and teaching them to dive one squad at a time.

She had already doubled the number of soldiers she had available, and yet her forces were but a pittance compared to the might of the hive of hives. She may have despaired of ever catching up…but such was not the way of the hive of hives. The hive of hives treated entire hives like singular workers: rather than compete with one another, each hive found its own job, its own ways of contributing to the whole, working together as one massive hive. It was by this method that they so easily surpassed the queen of queens the First Stingless Queen once thought invincible. And so, now that her hive had come into its own, the First Stingless Queen searched for her own place within the hive of hives.

It was in her newest children that she believed she found an answer. A new squad of soldiers took to the air, ones unlike any she had ever imagined. Their bodies were small for soldiers and their mandibles thin, yet their heads were unusually large with two big bulges at the base of each mandible. They dove down as directed by one of the original soldier bees, but stopped long before they reached their target. Each of them opened their mandibles wide and the bulges on their face suddenly shrunk.

Then, cones of propolis and wax sprayed from the squad and stuck to the ground. The First Stingless Queen turned to a bee by her side, a communer from the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter, to see what the hive of hives thought of the first stingless sprayers. The communer danced about in the manner of most of the hive of hives’ bees.

“Amazing, incredible! Like King’s honey traps!”

The First Stingless Queen could not help the proud pheromones from wafting off of her. She had wondered what, if any, role her hive could play in the hive of hives. Her soldiers lacked the venomous stingers most of the hive of hives’ bees possessed. Their mandibles were larger in return, but smaller still than those of the butcher bees, who were far better suited to biting and tearing. But the hive of hives was patient, the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter had not condemned her but had encouraged her to raise different bee types and promised they would find a place for her.

And now, perhaps, she had one. She had wondered if she even could raise the so-called sprayer bees, her observations of the hive of hives’ army had been they used modified stingers to coat enemies in venom and her children lacked stingers and venom entirely. But she tried raising some nonetheless and found that her sprayers were unlike any other. Rather than a modified stinger, they had enlarged wax and saliva glands, rather than coating an enemy in venom they encased it in wax and propolis. The First Stingless Queen wasn’t sure if that was better or worse…but, if nothing else, the communer observing her seemed optimistic as she spread word to the rest of the hive of hives.

The First Stingless Queen looked back over her hive and her army. When she had first arrived, she had expected to become a honey slave at best, dead outright at worst. Instead, with the hive of hives’ willing and enthusiastic help, she had raised a hive and an army even her queen mother would be proud of, with bees the likes of which no queen in the Flower Tender’s realm could even imagine. Yes, she had received much since her surrender.

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And now, it would be her turn to give something back. She was an invader and a captive no longer, nor a daughter of the queen of queens. Now, she was the First Stingless Queen of the King’s Tower, a loyal queen of the hive of hives. And soon, her warriors would prove it on the field of battle.

“King returned safely!”

The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter buzzed her wings and struggled to endure the wave of celebration and relief the hive of hives flooded her with. It was only natural, it was rare for the King to leave the safety of his realm and this had been the longest he had ever left them. Not a single bee had been able to rest until he had returned…except some of the Fourth of the Seventh’s children who were apparently used to similar anxiety. The First Daughter herself only managed to preserve the link because of their support.

Her body burned as mana flooded through her, but she held on as long as she could.

“First Stingless Queen has raised sprayers, spray wax and propolis instead of venom. Like King’s honey traps, but can fly. Will send to army if army queens want.”

She was smacked with another wall of mana as all the army queens began “Amazing, incredible!” dances. She scrambled to get out a quick dance.

“All for now, joint dance ending. Dance again tonight with King.”

She couldn’t even wait to hear the hive of hives’ response before she collapsed, lying on the ground as the mana was sucked out of her. Her workers crowded around her and the Fourth of the Seventh’s first communer crawled over to brush her antennae.

“First Daughter ok?”

She twitched her antennae, speaking through pheromones instead of dance due to her fatigue.

“Ok…just…tired.”

The First of the Fifth swung her abdomen up and down to gather as much air as possible while her workers brought her honey. She thought to herself as she drank and recovered. This…couldn’t go on, if she was honest. The hive of hives’ mana was too great for her body to handle all at once and it only continued to grow stronger. Soon, she would be unable to hold the link long enough to have useful conversations with the hive of hives. Adding more communers didn’t help, as the mana of her hive ultimately had to flow through her.

She needed to grow stronger herself. She needed a better body. She needed…to evolve.

She glanced over at the stockpiles of swirled honey from her queen mother, but quickly buzzed her wings. Those were for the hive of hives. Her queen mother, the hive of hives, and the King himself were counting on her to distribute them as the hive of hives required. She could not take some for herself, especially not to make up for her own weakness. She had to find another way.

At that moment, the first communer began spinning around.

“Queen mother is back!”

All the First Daughter’s musings and fatigue were forgotten as she raced the first communer to the entrance of the joint hive.

“Fourth of the Seventh!”

“Queen mother!”

“First Daughter, first communer!”

The two queens and the communer all greeted one another, with the First Daughter and first communer both climbing on the Fourth of the Seventh’s back. The First Daughter rejoiced that she could now stand on the Fourth of the Seventh’s head like the Conduit did with the King.

The Fourth of the Seventh wasn’t done dancing, however.

“First Daughter going to evolve?! Amazing, incredible!”

The First Daughter froze.

“Fourth of the Seventh…knows?”

The Fourth of the Seventh spun about.

“Know! Have joint hive with First Daughter, can always hear!”

The First Daughter double checked her link with the Fourth of the Seventh’s hive and found that their hives had blended far tighter than any other, to the point that they truly were one hive. Which meant that…if the First Daughter let her thoughts drift into her hive’s mana…the Fourth of the Seventh might perceive them as if she had danced them outright.

The First Daughter was happy about that but wasn’t sure how to feel that the Fourth of the Seventh had noticed her weakness.

“…want to, but…need more mana…”

The Fourth of the Seventh began another happy dance.

“Amazing! Incredible! Can use First of the Fifth’s honey for more mana!”

The First Daughter struggled to dance her response. The last thing she wanted was to disappoint the Fourth of the Seventh.

“…can’t. That honey…for hive of hives…”

She should have known, however, that the Fourth of the Seventh would not be so easily deterred.

“Will ask First of the Fifth for more then!”

The First Daughter fell into panic. The very last thing she ever wanted to do was ask her queen mother for more honey! She had needed the Fourth of the Seventh’s help all the way back when she was a new queen because she couldn’t make enough honey to fulfill her queen mother’s will! How could she fulfill her queen mother and the King’s trust in her now if she still, after all this time, didn’t have enough honey?!

“Wait!”

Unfortunately for her, the Fourth of the Seventh was quite fast these days. By the time the First Daughter gathered herself enough to object, the Fourth of the Seventh had already danced through her communers…and the First of the Fifth was already replying. The First Daughter shrunk on herself and curled up…

“First Daughter evolving? Is great idea! Will send more honey now!”

The First Daughter buzzed her wings before collapsing onto the Fourth of the Seventh’s head. Well, she had no choice now. She would have to evolve, one way or another, lest she waste even more of her queen mother’s and the hive of hive’s resources.

“Amazing! Incredible! Can’t wait to see First Daughter evolve!”

Still, as the Fourth of the Seventh happily danced below her, the First Daughter couldn’t help but thank her. The Fourth of the Seventh truly always came to her rescue. She resolved to evolve into something as amazing and incredible as the Fourth of the Seventh hoped for…