The Bee Dungeon

The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter trembled midair. The hive of hives maintained the formation King had requested, but their mana and thoughts were pure chaos.
The First Daughter couldn’t do anything to calm the hive of hives because she felt exactly the same way!
Fortunately for them all, the Conduit’s mana dance cut through the chaos.
The hive of hives fell silent. King’s…queen mother? The First Daughter would have loved to meet such an existence…but apparently she never would. She could understand, then, what was happening to King. Every bee could, it was the worst fear of every hive to lose their queen.
“…how hive of hives help?”
The First Daughter asked the question they all had. The Conduit responded with the only answer they had.
“Be King’s new hive.”
And so, the hive of hives did their best. King held a banquet after the memorial and the hive of hives brought out the best honey they had, surrounding King with enough soldiers and workers to ensure he was protected and safe. Afterwards, King retired to his personal hive to rest, the karnuq did likewise. The bees were left to their own work for the day.
The First Daughter called a gathering before they dispersed, since all the queens were present in one place already.
“Should discuss new room, one with palaces.”
The First Daughter’s queen mother twitched her antennae.
“Bees discuss? King not giving to new bees?”
The First Daughter danced the negative.
“King gave to hive of hives, ordered hive of hives decided what do with room.”
The queens all buzzed their wings. But the First Daughter spread soothing pheromones until they refocused on her again. She had some time to think about the King’s intentions since he told her he wanted the hive of hives to decide what to do with the room, she believed she had figured them out.
“Is like when Fourth of the Seventh left hive without instructions. Wanted workers figure out how work on own. First communer did figure out, improved worker organization for entire hive of hives.”
The queens of the hive of hives began to dance understanding. The Fourth of the Seventh happily danced about.
“First communer amazing, incredible!”
She really was, as was the Fourth of the Seventh for raising such a good communer. And now, the King wished to do with the hive of hives what the Fourth of the Seventh had done with her communer.
The Firstborn then danced her agreement.
“King trusted bee army with purification, now trusting whole hive of hives with new room. Hive of hives won’t fail.”
All the queens danced salutes at that. The Firstborn then turned to the First Daughter.
“First Daughter, what do? Have ideas?”
The First Daughter danced a confirmation. She did indeed, she had also had some time to consider the new room and the hive of hives’ situation as a whole.
“Think should move as many hives to new room as can. King uses mana on palaces, if bees move to new room King can use palace mana on new flowers or new rooms or new bees or whatever King chooses. Also bring hive of hives to one place, won’t need as many communers to coordinate. Easier to share honey, raise queens and drones.”
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
The queens initially danced their agreement, but a few stood still. The Third of the Fourth raised the first hurdle.
“Burning bees too? Room cold for burning bees, burning bees make too hot for other bees?”
The First Daughter danced an acknowledgement. She, too, had realized that problem.
“As many hives as can, but not all. Hives should try, but if other rooms better or if bother other bees should stay where are. Also if King asked to move to other room, should stay there. But…”
And this is where her battle would begin.
“…battle meadow queens and Apiary queens should move.”
The air filled with buzzing as the queens reacted as the First Daughter feared. After all, she was asking the battle meadow queens to abandon their posts and the Apiary queens to move away from the King. But…those were the queens that either remained unattributed monster bees, or else had evolved attributes that did not require special environments or bother other bees, like the maddening and medicinal bees. If there were any bees who could make use of the new room, it was they.
She just had to convince them as much. She decided to start with the group she hoped would be easier…
“Brood, workers don’t fight. Battle meadow queens can move hives to new room and send soldiers through shortcut.”
The First of the Fourth buzzed her wings.
“Firstborn’s workers fought once! And King made palace for fighting!”
An excellent point, but the First Daughter was the heart of the hive of hives now. She had reviewed the battle meadow queens and their magical palace already, so she was prepared for that objection.
“Can send workers through shortcut if need again. And can still use palace for fighting. If hive doesn’t live there, don’t need honey storage, brood cells. Can change palace to make even better for fighting.”
The First of the Fourth buzzed but didn’t have another dance ready. But then, the Firstborn began to move. The First Daughter readied herself. The Firstborn’s response would likely determine how this conversation went…
The Firstborn danced her reply.
“Agree. All hives living together makes hive of hives stronger. If First of the Fifth’s First Daughter thinks good idea, then should try.”
The First Daughter held back a happy dance as the battle meadow queens fell in line. With the Firstborn’s support, any further objections would be purely logistical and could be solved with a bit of effort. Now, the battle meadow hives would be pulled away from the battlefield. The defeat of the bee army would no longer mean the immediate loss of their brood and queens as well…as had happened to the First Dynasty of the First Spawner.
And now…came the hard part. The First Daughter would have convince her own queen mother to move her hive from its spot right next to the King’s own. She stepped carefully to avoid stumbling as she turned to face her queen mother, the First of the Fifth herself.
Her queen mother looked her in the eye, the big honeyswirler and empress bees facing off. Her queen mother moved first, choosing her steps carefully.
“Daughter…believe this necessary for hive of hives? Believe good for King?”
The First Daughter vibrated with the same force as her conviction.
“Yes.”
Her queen mother watched her a moment longer, then drooped her antennae. She began to dance slowly even for her big body.
“…can still give honey to King’s table?”
The First Daughter began spreading soothing pheromones.
“Yes.”
“…can ask King to still visit, first thing in morning?”
“Yes. Will ask King to move shortcut wall to new room, will ask to add shortcut right to Apiary so King and bees can meet immediately.”
Her queen mother’s antennae perked up a bit at that.
“…can put shortcut in new room next to hive? Can move shortcut in Apiary closer to King’s hive?!”
The First Daughter danced an acknowledgement, though not an agreement. She couldn’t confirm yet since it wouldn’t be her choice to make.
“Will ask King, but believe King will. King likes visiting bees.”
The First Daughter spun around to give each queen a glance.
“Move will make easier for King to visit all bees, for queens to gather when King needs.”
She turned back to her queen mother. Her queen mother began to dance a salute.
“Ok. Asked First Daughter to take care of hive of hives, so will listen. Will move to new room.”
The First Daughter nearly fell to the ground. Convincing her queen mother had been what she had dreaded most, the part she wasn’t sure she could manage. She knew as the First of the Fifth’s own daughter what having her hive close to the King’s meant to her queen mother. But her queen mother had agreed…which reassured the First Daughter that she was making the right choice after all. Her queen mother would never have considered it if she did not also see the benefits for the hive of hives and the King.
But the First of the Fifth was not the only Apiary queen, so the First Daughter turned to the others. The Second of the Sixth was already dancing her agreement.
“If hive of hives in one place, easier to heal after battles. Will move, can send healing bees to help tend brood too.”
The First Daughter turned to the First of the Eighth. The queen she knew was still wary of the First of the Fifth.
But the First of the Eighth danced an agreement as well.
“Can…try. Work together with hive of hives.”
They went through the queens one by one but at this point it was just a formality. A wave of agreement dances passed through the hive of hives until all the bees were dancing the same steps. The hive of hives would follow the First Daughter’s idea.
But she did not celebrate yet. Moving was just the first step, now the hive of hives would have to work to make it worthwhile, to achieve more than they ever had before.
“Then, think hive of hives should do all can to evolve drones, can raise new queens after. Conduit helping, queen mother had idea too, think whole hive of hives should help. Agree?”
And so, the hive of hives began to coordinate and make plans on their own, as the King clearly desired of them…