Ambrosia visibly hesitated.
I had just sprung this question on her, and honestly, I expected an almost imdiate no. When, instead, Amby began to think this through, I was surprised—and curious. Although I rarely did it, this ti I listened in.
I barely had to focus to hear all the nurous thoughts in Amby’s head.
’The ceremony is going to be held in human territory, since nobody wants to bring this many humans to the heart of the Bee Empire. It’s bad enough that Necty will have to travel all this distance. Entire weeks might pass before he can return ho... And if I go with him, it will be the sa for . Managing the Empire won’t be easy for us already with Nectus alone leaving...’
As I watched and listened to Amby’s doubts, an idea struck . I flew even closer to Amby and took her hand in mine, ignoring the puzzled gazes of the surrounding bees.
’Amby, but if you co with , we will be together all this ti! And, you know, *together*,’ I ssaged, breaking into her thoughts. ’It will be like a vacation where we can see distant places, try their food and have sex in places we never had sex in before!’
Ambrosia stared at in shock and astonishnt.
’Mate? Outside of the hive! That’s... Hm. Hm!’
Emotions switched on her face. Astonishnt beca a deep thoughtfulness, which grew more and more lustful by the mont. Whatever was in Ambrosia’s head at that mont, I couldn’t tell despite actively trying to hear it—which ant that her thoughts were all images. From the look of her, they were awfully lewd, too.
And probably included a lot, a *lot* of eggs being laid. Which wasn’t sothing I had thought about until now.
’I can lay eggs in the sub-hives standing in the Naregan Kingdom,’ she ssaged, answering the question that just ford in my head. ’Of course, it won’t be the sa as laying my eggs in my own hive. But the entire Bee Empire is our colony, so does it really matter? The Queens of these sub-hives will probably complain, but I know how to convince them to take good care of our daughters. Or they show their smarts and realize that they have been given a great boon.’
I smiled fondly and patted Ambrosia’s head.
’Ah, you always think about having more daughters first... So you are coming with ?’
She nodded seriously and replied aloud,
"Yes, Nectus. It will make our administrative work much more complicated, but this way we won’t stop making progeny while we are away."
"Oh, and you don’t want to see new places at all? Look at the best of human cities? Or nature in places beyond the Bee Empire?"
Ambrosia wrinkled her nose.
"I don’t think so."
I kissed her cheek.
"You are such a hobody–it’s adorable... But maybe I will convince you that things aren’t so bad outside of Hive Supremo yet!"
***
This required careful preparations, of course.
Nectus II was going to travel to the place of the ceremony—the Naregan capital city—first on foot, then on a ship. By the ti the cha will reach its destination, the invited kings of other protectorates will have ti to reach the city, too. And Farini, together with the bees living near him, will have the ti to prepare for the grand ceremony.
To spend less ti outside of Hive Supremo, Ambrosia and I were going to travel to the ceremony on dragons and arrive just a couple of days before it.
This ant that although Nectus II had already begun its journey in the company of Tamsha—who was going to travel all the way to the capital—I and Amby still had at least a week to prepare.
I was used to the wind blowing in my face and other general discomforts of traversing long distances on dragons, but Amby was not.
With this in mind, I went to Things-Things and gave her a special crafting order.
"I need a saddle for a dragon. It must be a closed one, like a tiny house that can be strapped to a dragon’s back and protect the people inside from the wind and cold. I want Amby to be comfortable inside of it, yeah? And have soft pillows nailed to all its walls..."
Things-Things gasped and waved with two hands while using the other two to cover her mouth.
"Ah, Father, I was so silly-stupid! I should’ve done this before, yes-yes—for you! There’s a week until you have to leave, right? It will be done! A saddle-house for the best and tast dragon we have that will carry our Mother-Queen... Wait, which one is this?"
I scratched my cheek, thinking.
We had a lot of them by now. So were raised by us from eggs, so kidnapped—ahem, *found*—as chicks, so tad as adults. The eggs-reared ones were usually the most obedient, but...
"One of the first ones. Scourge, Disaster, or Woe," I said. "They are lazy and greedy bastards, but they are very smart for dragons. So of the smartest ones we have, probably! And they have gotten used to bees a lot. I think any of them can be trusted to carry Amby."
Things-Things nodded so energetically that I feared for her neck.
"Yes-yes, Father! My sisters and I will make the saddle-house from the lightest wood so that the dragon can carry it, and put the softest pillows inside! And we will make it the prettiest saddle-house there is!"
"Just make it comfortable first. The decorations are really secondary in these circumstances," I said.
"Sure-sure, Father! The softest pillows with the softest feathers of the softest lizards..."
I left Things-Things at that, made a ntal note to send an Attendant to make sure the result of her work was *actually* comfortable, and returned to other preparations.
The Empire had to be as ready for our leave as I and Amby had to be ready to leave.
A great vacation-adventure-ceremony was waiting for us!
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