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.

    She felt no better as she arrived. Swarms of workers spread across the fields of flowers. One of them noticed her immediately and approached.

    “Hi, looking for queen mother?”

    Well, she apparently wasn’t going to sneak up on the new queen either. Not that she intended to do so.

    “...yes. Need to...welcome.”

    “Ok! Queen mother says will meet!”

    The worker then led the stingless queen and her entourage towards their doom. Her workers buzzed as more and more bees flew around them but she forced them to stand down. No amount of courage would help them here.

    She hovered in place for a moment when the new queen’s hive came into view. Apparently the Flower Tender had built a magical palace for the new queen as well...a much larger one than any of them possessed. And, as the stingless queen had once hoped but now dreaded, the place was crawling with soldier bees, clearly on alert for any sign of attack. Just the soldiers she could see represented a force that would give even the domineering queen pause. Her hive, with its grand total of two soldiers, had no chance if a conflict started.

    So, she could not help a tremble as the new queen crawled out of the hive and flew over to her, escorted by her soldiers. The new queen then began to dance for some reason.

    Stolen story; please report.

    “But...didn’t give all honey? Have plenty more?”

    The stingless queen twitched.

    “Huh?”

    “Here, will show!”

    The Third Daughter thought this would be easier, so led the stingless queen inside her hive. The queen froze.

    “What...how...?”

    The Third Daughter danced before entire trays of glistening honey.

    “Is from hive of hives! All queens help, so help all queens!”

    The stingless queen was leaking mostly incoherent pheromones, but eventually the Third Daughter worked something out.

    “Hive...of hives?”

    The Third Daughter stepped forward and gently brushed the stingless queen’s antennae. The other queen flinched at first, but the Third Daughter spread calming pheromones as she did to reassure the stingless queen she meant no harm.

    “Yep! Want to join? Can share honey if need!”

    The stingless queen did not reply at first, staring at her and her honey for a good minute. Then, she slowly began to release pheromones and mana.

    “I...see. If have this much honey and soldiers already...yes. Will submit to new queen, if promise to protect from domineering queen when finds out.”

    “Ok!”

    The Third Daughter happily accepted and then instructed her workers to deliver some honey to the stingless queen’s hive. The stingless queen didn’t seem to fully understand the hive of hives but that was ok! Queen mother and queen mother’s queen mother warned her that would happen! So, she’d follow their advice!

    She’d just have to show them what the hive of hives could do!

    And so, the Third Daughter recruited the first member of a new hive of hives...