The First of the Fifth crawled her way out of the hive, shimming about to maneuver her body out the entrance with as little disruption to the production lines as possible. Her new evolution was truly amazing, but she had to admit it had its downsides at times. Generally, whenever she needed to move.

    But movement was necessary today. The First of the Fifth had much to do. The newest queen to join the hive of hives had shocked all the queens of the King with her tale. She told of hives that knew not the glory of the King and who were so vicious towards one another that they would even attack each other. And not only would the hive of hives now come into contact with such bees, they were sending one of their own number to live among them. The First of the Fifth’s very own descendent, even.

    The hive of hives needed to ensure her First Daughter’s Third Daughter was fully prepared for such an environment. Beyond that, they needed to be prepared for a potential conflict with the vicious queens, whether to intervene on behalf of her First Daughter’s Third Daughter, or to defend their own home. And for that, they needed honey. They needed honey to expand their hives, they needed honey to raise evolved soldiers, they needed to create stockpiles for times of great need, and they needed to continue evolving queens. The First of the Fifth’s honey would be in even greater demand than ever before.

    Not to mention, she didn’t need a communer to feel her First Daughter’s utter commitment to protect her own child. And, well, she knew exactly why her First Daughter would feel that way. She felt a stinger pierce her own torso knowing her First Daughter was still driven by events that she had caused. So, she would spare nothing ensuring the hive of hives was completely ready to assist First Daughter’s Third Daughter as necessary.

    Except for this. Having made her way out of the hive, she looked over the preparations with her own eyes. Two trays of swirled honey shone bright in the light as workers attached them to soldiers via the Fourth of the Seventh’s woven stems. They saluted to her, indicating all was ready. The First of the Fifth acknowledged them before beating her wings and slowly rising into the air herself.

    Even though she desperately needed to start evolving her own hive into honeyswirlers in order to scale up production, she had not. She had gone and made two whole trays of swirled honey all on her own, reserving it for the journey she now embarked on. She slowly, ponderously led the way as her soldiers carefully carried the two trays behind her.

    One would be brought to the King and offered at his table. The first taste of her new honey should be his. That was the one thing the First of the Fifth couldn’t bring herself to compromise on.

    As for the other, the First of the Fifth had the soldiers bring the tray to the Queen of All Bees’ shrine, laying it down in her chest. The First of the Fifth then danced before shrine.@@@@

    The Queen of All Bees was the only other who deserved to share this first taste with the King. After all, it had been the Queen of All Bees’ honey that had opened her eyes and revealed how far her own had to go. It had been that taste that showed the First of the Fifth her ideal place within the hive of hives. Her discussions with her First Daughter’s Third Daughter on how to deal with rival queens had been...concerning. It was frighteningly easy to fall back into her previous mindset before she truly understood the King and what he was trying to achieve. So, the First of the Fifth once again thanked the Queen of All Bees for showing her the way just before her own evolution and resolved herself to focus fully on the honey from now on.

    This hive of hive things really was amazing! Normally, a new butcher hive would have to grow cautiously. They could feed existing adults off of flowers and nectar alone if they had to, but the young needed meat to grow and the adults wouldn’t stay healthy if they went too long without any themselves. But a small hive would have trouble hunting, so they’d have to scavenge whatever corpses they could find...or maybe try to take small bites out of big meats if they were feeling really bold and hope some of the workers escaped with their prizes.

    But not her! She received powerful mana honey each day that stuffed her with energy from just a single sip! And she got at least one new corpse each day, a huge source of fresh meat normally only a well-developed hive would have access to! Even when her little sisters were born and she had to share with them, she still had a far greater abundance than any new butcher hive would have ever dreamed of.

    And that let her grow her hive in a way no other new butcher hive ever would have.

    She and what few workers she had hovered around a couple of really big wax pots at the center of her hive. With no need to scout for corpses to scavenge or to accept casualties biting big meats, she only needed a bare handful of workers to collect the meat, forage the nearby flowers, and build up the wax pots. Instead, she used her resources on a different kind of child.

    The wax pots now began to break open. Huge, serrated mandibles ripped through the wax. The workers didn’t even get a chance to help before the bee within emerged. A bee even larger than the First Butcher stretched her wings and her legs before presenting herself to her queen. In addition to her huge mandibles, her chitin was tough yet sleek, providing protection and mobility in equal measure. Her legs featured little hooks that could grab and hold meat chunks for later transport.

    The first butcher bee soldier had been born. For her big sisters, who apparently only ate nectar and pollen, soldiers were purely a drain on their hives. But it was not so for butcher bees. For a butcher bee hive, soldiers were yet another forager, one that could open up entirely new, more active means of acquiring food.

    And this soldier was not alone, as all the big wax pots began to break open. Thanks to the donations by all of her big sisters, bee and meat both, the First Butcher was able to skip directly into raising soldiers. She could simultaneously skip several steps in the development of her hive while also fulfilling the King’s purpose for her.

    She began to lay out her orders and the orders of the King to the new soldier squad...and then watched as they began to fly. Within mere days of starting her hive, she was ready to begin the hunt. ?α?N?BE?S??