The Bee Dungeon

Vanieskon’s mind slowly began to work again. Her thoughts first turned to her daughter, Finnakynne.

Was Mischief right? Had everything Vanieskon had tried to teach her, everything she had done to her, been unnecessary? Had she been harsh on Finnakynne without cause?

She thought back to a moment when Finnakynne was young, not even a century old. Young Finnakynne had played a game of wits and deception with the pixie now known as Remfalla, the pixie who was in many ways the true master of the Dungeon of Mischief. Young Finnakynne had managed to defeat her and took her original name, Talforess. Vanieskon had been delighted, she took that moment as proof of Finnakynne’s innate affinity for mischief. A sign that her plans for her daughter would surely succeed.

But what if she had been wrong and Finnakynne had succeeded for a different reason? What if Finnakynne had no special affinity for deception? What if, instead, she had used exceptionally powerful empathic abilities to expose Remfalla’s own attempts at deception? Had young Finnakynne instead seen through the machinations of a cunning pixie many times her age by sensing malicious intent? What if, instead of a great affinity for trickery, Finnakynne instead possessed a mighty shield against it?

Vanieskon’s heart pounded as she thought back to the moment when it all went wrong. If it had been Finnakynne there, instead of her…would her daughter have been able to sense the human’s betrayal before it happened? Would her daughter have known from the start that the human had ill intentions for them?

Would Finnakynne have been strong enough to protect the pixies, in an entirely different manner than she?

Vanieskon thought back to her last real conversation with Finnakynne, when she had tried to teach her daughter the true terror humans could inflict upon her. Finnakynne had replied by breaking through cold iron, using her divine power when her magic failed.

Vanieskon’s eyes widened. No glamour or charm Vanieskon could teach would have saved Finnakynne after she had been caught in cold iron. But the divine power Finnakynne had drawn up to defy her teachings had.

Vanieskon began to tremble. Had she…been educating Finnakynne wrong from the very start? Had all the pain she put her daughter through been for nothing?

Had she just been hurting her child out of her own fear?

Vanieskon wrestled with her thoughts on Finnakynne for a while, but eventually necessity drew her thoughts elsewhere. Her allies would resume their war on the morrow, so Vanieskon needed to figure out what she was going to do by then. And once she turned her thoughts back to the present…she realized Mischief had played her in yet another manner.

His mission required her to go home. A home that was far away and across a sea of the Hunger, a journey she could only make with a powerful, dungeon-blessed escort like General Rippotis, someone who would be immune to the Hunger’s corruption. And she highly doubted General Rippotis would delay his war just to ferry her home.

That meant she could not receive Mischief’s blessing until after this war was over, not without abandoning her allies to fight without her. So, even if Mischief did have the power to overcome a dungeon’s anti-charm defenses, she would not gain access to it until it was too late. She was not going to charm an army of Tower Guards, not unless she could find a solution herself.

For the sake of the pixies and the wider fair folk, Vanieskon had to assume that she wouldn’t and explore alternatives. And, loathe as she was to admit it, Mischief was right again. If she could not usurp control of her enemies, then she had to cultivate influence with her allies. She had to ensure that they would not turn on the fair folk once they were no longer necessary.

So, as Mischief had said, she needed to work on the Oracle of Light. Maybe find out just how guilty she felt over humanity’s crimes…or how grateful she felt for Vanieskon’s help in bringing General Rippotis home. An oath from the human leader, one who was deeply devout, would be a good start.

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…which, of course, meant she was doing exactly what Mischief told her to do. Vanieskon grit her teeth but, unfortunately, it was objectively the best move she could make right now. She had no choice but to do it anyways, so if Mischief had some sort of plan with that suggestion, she would fall right into it. She couldn’t help but feel she was getting played and she hated it.

…though, as a warm feeling lingered on her cheek, some small, tiny, traitorous voice deep within her whispered that maybe falling for Mischief’s plan wouldn’t be so bad.

***

The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter journeyed out into the Beyond. She flew high above the King’s Realm, above the glowing light at its peak, and stared out over the sea of the Hunger. The Fourth of the Seventh hovered beneath her, using her big wings to calm the wind and hold them still, while the Fourth of the Seventh’s First Minister stood atop her queen mother’s head. The First Daughter’s antennae glowed and she stretched her mana out towards the distance, using all her might as a monster bee empress to connect with the hive of hives.

The glow faded. The First Minister danced.

“Connected?”

The First Daughter buzzed her wings.

“Connection weak. Can feel bees, bees ok, but hard to see dances.”

The Fourth of the Seventh had asked the First Daughter how the children they sent off with the nice Hive-Burner were doing and if they had seen anything new. The First Daughter realized that it had been a while since she had received a report from them…and then realized, to her horror, that she could barely feel them. She had come out to the Beyond to see if she could reestablish contact with their far off children, but the Hunger was disrupting the connection, just as nice Hive-Burner had said it did for them.

She could at least say they were alive, but she couldn’t get much more than that. She buzzed her wings again, she had evolved specifically to build connections between bees, between the hive of hives! And now, she was failing to keep her connection with her own children, as well as the Fourth of the Seventh’s! How could she have failed her own hive so?

But she felt soothing pheromones and mana come from the Fourth of the Seventh, amazing and incredible queen that she was. She let the mana sink into her and stop her buzzing, even though she didn’t feel she deserved the comfort.

Then, the Fourth of the Seventh started to dance.

“It’s ok! First Minister will help!”

The First Minister and First Daughter both buzzed their wings and turned to each other. The First Minister’s wings fluttered as she danced.

“Could use hive edict, help joint hive’s communers?”

The First Daughter also realized she was not taking full advantage of her powers, or of her joint hive with the Fourth of the Seventh.

“Can make First Minister stronger when does. Maybe use Fourth of the Seventh’s nomadic communers?”

Both the First Minister and First Daughter broke out into excited dances.

“Could work!”

The Fourth of the Seventh happily joined along.

The three bees wasted no time afterwards. The Fourth of the Seventh called up one of her nomadic communers, communers that had a naturally longer range than any other. The First Daughter then used her ability as a monster bee empress to empower communers on the Fourth of the Seventh’s bee, who was practically the First Daughter’s own child thanks to the tight bonds of the joint hive. The First Minister then passed a hive edict further empowering communer range, causing the Fourth of the Seventh’s hive mana to stretch out further than even the First Daughter’s hivelink.

Then, the Fourth of the Seventh’s communer lit up her antennae…and soon began to dance.

“Can feel sisters!”

The First Daughter zipped about before sending her focus through the communer’s mana. There, she found one of her own communers in a far-away land, who was currently dancing a max speed happy dance.

“QUEEN-MOTHER! CAN FEEL QUEEN-MOTHER AGAIN! AMAZING, INCREDIBLE!”

The First Daughter nearly buzzed her wings, knowing her child had longed for her mana so deeply, but her agitation was eclipsed by her own joy. The First Daughter happily leaned into the link, as well as looping the Fourth of the Seventh in so that they both could enjoy the long-awaited report.

The First Daughter’s antennae began to twitch. Now that the connection was stable…she could feel more bees than just her and the Fourth of the Seventh’s children. Somehow, someway…the hive of hives had expanded, unbeknownst to her.

The Fourth of the Seventh’s children had apparently invited every bee they met into the hive of hives. Mundane honeybees acknowledged now acknowledged the First Daughter’s authority in the simple manners that they were capable of…but they were to be expected.

What was not expected were the mana dances that came through the link.

“Am Queen Commander of Second Beehive of Dragon Banner Army. Who this?”

“Am Queen Acolyte of First Beehive of Tower of Light. Who this?”

The Fourth of the Seventh’s children had found other monster bees! Monster bees outside of King’s realm! And…they had convinced those bees to join the hive of hives, at least in part.

The First Daughter wanted to dance an “AMAZING, INCREDIBLE!” praising the Fourth of the Seventh with all her might, but as monster bee empress she had a duty to fulfill first.

“Am First Daughter of First Queen of First Dynasty of Fifth Spawnerof King’s Realm, the second of her line. Welcome new bees to hive of hives.”

And so began the first dance between the monster bee queens of different Towers.

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