Subjugated Hive 1—its Queen, Rulia, was still considering a good na for it—was a pitiful sight even from the outside.
A quarter of bees guarding it looked like they erged from infected pupae, and another quarter could've been infected right now. They weren't even flying or pacing near the entrance, they just sat and waited.
I told my guards to wait outside—to not provoke anyone—and cautiously flew toward the hive. The guards barely paid any mind.
Following my sense of sll, I quickly found Rulia's royal chamber.
Even the Queen Attendants hanging around looked sickly. A few gave curious glances, but the rest were indifferent—either because I was a Drone, or because they were too tired to care.
"Ahem. Ahem! Hello, daughter mine! My dear princess! I hope you aren't doing anything dirty that your father really doesn't want to see, and he can enter and talk to you! He really doesn't want to stumble upon you making a new generation of bees and have to wash his eyes with bleach! Bleach wasn't even invented yet!"
Half a minute after this shout, the wax flap that covered the chamber was cut open, and my little princess' head poked outside.
Rulia gasped.
"Father! What are you doing here?" She shook her head. "Please, co in. It's like you've heard our questions from all the way in Hive Supremo!"
I raised my eyebrows, puzzled, and followed Rulia inside the chamber.
Drones weren't here—instead, there were four bees that I imdiately recognized as my daughters. They were sent to this hive soon after its capture to keep aiding and teaching young Rulia.
It was almost like a copy of my own Colony Council: a Commando Bee, a Teacher Bee, a Foreman Bee, a Craftsman Bee, and Rulia herself.
They all gasped at my appearance, then began smiling.
"Father ca to us!"
"This is great!"
"Maybe he knows what to do!"
"At least he can send more stuff!"
"Wait-wait-wait!" I waved my hands at them. "I'm happy to see you too, my girls—but let's do things in order, right? How are you dealing with the mites, first of all?"
Rulia scowled.
"Badly, Father. I've followed your instructions to the dot! The bees from Hive Supremo have checked each other for mites, and I've checked my Drones, too. But other bees—I can tell them to stand still while they are being checked, but they don't *understand* how to do checks themselves!"
I nodded.
"As expected… You did your best, Rulia. By the way… Do you think you can tell all bees at once to stand still for checking while a swarm of bees from Hive Supremo looks for mites?"
Rulia stared at blankly, then chuckled.
"Ah, I understand! This was a joke, Father! That humor thing—the impossibility makes it funny!"
Now *I* was the one scowling. But to save at least *so* pride, I looked away while doing so.
"Yeah… hilarious… At least your father has a sense of humor, yes! Shit, but you *realize* how bad it's for this hive, Rulia?"
She stopped chuckling and nodded seriously.
"Of course. But if we can just live long enough for the first generation of my daughters to erge, we will be alright, I'm sure, Father! By my estimation, this will happen tomorrow!"
I raised my eyebrows.
The ti sure flew by quickly.
"Oh, congratulations!.. But I don't want my granddaughters to erge sick, either!" I let out a breath. "So, what problem have you and your Council had, Rulia?"
She suddenly lowered her head and looked at bashfully through her eyelashes. Her lower lip jutted forward, quivering a little.
In an instant, her adorableness went off the charts!
"So, Father… The cooks and Hunters you've sent here were very nice, very useful… Very delicious, I an, the *food* they were cooked was very delicious! Thank you very much for that. But the local Forager Bees are so weak, they can barely bring any food back ho. And there are almost no supplies left for us all to eat…"
"We should just let the sick and useless ones starve," the Commando Bee muttered.
Rulia spun around to send her a sharp look.
"That's why you aren't my Culture Adviser, Knifedancer! Don't talk like that in front of Father, you know he will have head-worms because of that!"
Head-worms? Yeah, I would! Wait, did that an Rulia's only problem with this plan was making sad?
I coughed and raised a finger.
"We shouldn't abandon soone just because they are sick and useless. *Especially* when they can still get better, but even without that. Every bee has a value…"
By the expressions of my audience, I realized they weren't getting all that "humanism" I was spouting.
I sighed.
Alright, I could explain this for bees.
"Look, they can still do *so* work, right? It's more than nothing. Consider how many resources have been spent to raise these bees, and how wasteful it would be to lose them, too!"
Suddenly, every bee in the room looked at with clarity and understanding! Then, Knifedancer lowered her head in sha and began twirling a stone knife in her fingers.
I shook my head like the disappointed dad I was and moved on.
"So, the stores in this hive are already almost over? Shit, I hoped they would last for longer. Well, of course I will send you food, Rulia—I can't let this hive starve. But it won't solve the problem with the mites—"
I cut myself off.
"Father?"
A grin stretched over my lips.
"Or perhaps… Perhaps it *would* solve the problem with mites…"
Rulia tilted her head.
"I will wait until you tell us, Father. It will surely be sothing incredibly useful and worth waiting for, since you smile like that."
I gave her a suspicious glance, but for once, could find not a single trace of sarcasm.
My grin went even wider.
"Well, I just had a brilliant plan on how to solve two problems with one pot of honey. Let explain it quickly, and then I will go bring it to life. There's no ti to waste!"
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