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BD - POBee 302.4 - The Queen of Queen's New Groove
🕑 Added 2025-07-30 20:05:00 +0000 UTCThe former queen of queens stared at the capped wax pot before her. She felt mana pulse as the bee within stirred. Now…now would be the moment of truth. Now would be the most decisive moment of her hive, more even than her first battle where her empire was born.
The past few weeks had been…trying. The newcomer, in the name of an empire called the hive of hives, gave tributes of honey not only to her, but to all her subject queens. And since she used her soldiers to deliver that honey, it was a display of both wealth and power unlike anything her subjects had ever seen before, even from her. In a single instant, every queen in the empire knew which hive was the most powerful.
Her empire had all but disintegrated in the days that followed. Her reputation kept her subjects in line for a time…but the newcomer made it clear she would protect any queen from reprisal from any other, while the Flower Tender had forbidden violence between hives. The newcomer’s honey tributes also made the former queen of queen’s control over the best foraging spots irrelevant, as her subjects were no longer dependent on her good graces to feed their hives. One by one, her subjects broke away from her authority until only her daughters even entertained her envoys. Every queen now grew her hive unfettered, soon every queen in the Flower Tender’s realm would become a legitimate threat. She was no longer the ascendent queen, merely the second strongest among soon to be many.
But what could she do? The Flower Tender had made her will clear and the former queen of queens would not compromise on fulfilling it, not even to preserve her own empire. The Flower Tender had only ever directly commanded her once before. She had been a mere mundane bee back then, unable to even understand the Flower Tender’s words beyond vague impressions. The Flower Tender had brought her to a palace built by the Flower Tender personally, gave her nectar and pollen filled to the brim with mana, and commanded her to eat and rebuild her hive. It was then that she became a monster, a true defender of the Flower Tender’s realm. It was then she conquered all other bees and became queen of queens.
Nothing was more important to her than the Flower Tender’s will. Indeed, the revelation that she had been acting against the Flower Tender’s will was a heavier blow than the loss of her empire. So, she did not resist as the newcomer built her hive of hives. Instead, the former queen of queens did as the Flower Tender commanded and observed the newcomer, attempting to learn her ways as the Flower Tender desired.
What the former queen of queens found shook her to her very core.
The newcomer had naively invited the former queen of queen’s scouts into her hive. She had not only allowed them to investigate anything they wanted, but she also actively explained her hive to them. The former queen of queens still couldn’t believe this, but apparently that was how the hive of hives’ empire functioned. They shared resources and information to strengthen all hives simultaneously. The former queen of queens could not argue with the sheer wealth and power that had apparently resulted, but to this day she could not determine how the hive of hives maintained its rule when its subjects were strong enough to break away at will.
She had been able, however, to learn as much as she liked about the inner workings of the newcomers hive and the bees she had available. The honeypots were apparently the secret of the newcomers wealth, able to process vast amounts of honey quickly and so free up many more workers to go out and forage raw nectar and pollen. The communers were beyond convenient, enabling the newcomer to immediately communicate with scouts in the field…or with other hives.
It had been yet another shock to learn the newcomer remained in contact with the hive of hives empire in the new realm…and that they could mobilize forces and resources if the newcomer had required them. The newcomer’s already overwhelming army was apparently only a fraction of the might the hive of hives had been prepared to employ. The former queen of queens had been doomed from the start. At first, she thus dreaded the fate of the daughter she had thus sent against the hive of hives…but the newcomer had told her that apparently her daughter surrendered on arrival and had become a subject of the hive of hives. The best outcome the former queen of queens could hope for in the face of such overwhelming power.
It was therefore no shock to learn of the powerful new soldier types the newcomer had available, it was only natural such an overwhelming bee empire would possess such forces. In fact, up to there, all she learned of the newcomer’s hive made sense to her. The hive of hives had power unlike anything she had imagined possible, but that was not what had shaken her.
What had shaken her were the monster bee gardeners. Her scouts initially reported a new kind of worker not only present within the newcomer’s hive, but also visiting from other hives of the hive of hives. Observations of the new workers along with an explanation by the newcomer revealed their purpose: these gardeners not only foraged more efficiently, they tended to and spread flowers.
They were mini-Flower Tenders, bees that could do the same job as she. Bees that could help the Flower Tender with her main focus, that could help the Flower Tender’s primary defenders. Bees that were closer to the Flower Tender than the former queen of queens.
It had been then that the former queen of queens understood the Flower Tender’s will. The former queen of queens and her entire empire had only ever taken from the Flower Tender’s flowers, only ever benefited from the Flower Tender’s work. This newcomer and her hive of hives could participate in that work directly and give back to the Flower Tender in a way the former queen of queens never had.
And then she learned that one of those gardeners had been blessed by the Queen of All Flowers herself.
She knew then what she had to do. She had withdrawn all the scouts and envoys keeping track of the her former subjects. She had pulled back her armies, she had abandoned the outposts. She had halted her vigil over the less bountiful foraging spots, no longer concerned if the other queens made use of them or not.
She had then turned her entire hive’s efforts to a singular tasks. All scouts had been tasked with observing the gardeners as closely as they could. All envoys had been assigned to speak with the newcomer and envoys from the hive of hives to glean as much information as possible. The most skilled of her foragers had even gone to work with the gardeners directly, to try and mimic their ways. From these efforts, they had learned that the gardeners were filled with Nature mana, the same kind that dwelt within every plant and flower.
She had thus mobilized her entire hive. All foragers had been sent to the flowers with the densest Nature mana in all the Flower Tender’s realm. The honey-makers had worked harder than ever before, processing and reprocessing the honey beyond what they had done before to pack as much mana into it as possible. Even the soldiers took part, inspired by the newcomer the former queen of queens had them help gather and transport balls of pollen back to the hive so that the foragers could remain out by the flowers.
She had taken the resulting honey and bee bread and mixed it with the tributes she received from the newcomer. Then, she had taken the oldest and most skilled of her foraging workers, had lined them up before cells packed with the best honey she could produce, and had given them the same command the Flower Tender had once given her.
Eat and evolve.
And now, after a terribly long period of waiting, the first of those workers was stirring within her capped wax pot. Now the former queen of queens would learn if her efforts had borne honey. Now she would find out if she had successfully learned the newcomer’s ways. Now she would learn if she had fulfilled the Flower Tender’s will…and if she and her hive could fly at the Flower Tender’s side and join in her work.
Now she could find out if she could repay the Flower Tender for all she had been given. Or if she would be left with nothing but the broken shell of an empire as newcomers the Flower Tender had not raised supplanted her.
Mandibles pierced through the top of the wax pot. The former queen of queens moved to tear the cap off herself and then out crawled the worker…
No, out crawled something else. A bee larger than any other worker, covered in fuzzy hairs and with fluffy antennae on her head. A bee…filled with Nature mana.
The bee’s antennae twitched. The former queen of queens held her pheromones, unable even to bring herself to ask. But her child knew what was at stake here and so took it upon herself to report. The former queen of queen’s antennae twitched back as her child’s pheromones contacted them…
“Queen, worked! Know how to tend flowers now!”
The former queen of queens nearly collapsed, but she knew now was not the time to show weakness. Instead, she took to the air and spread a blast of mana and pheromones across her entire hive.
“We succeeded! Will join Flower Tender!”
Her entire hive erupted into buzzing, while pheromones flooded the air. The former queen of queens basked in the success. She would not be abandoned by the Flower Tender after all.
And then the ground began to shake. The former queen of queens rushed out with her soldiers…and found the Flower Tender herself running towards her hive. The Flower Tender stopped before them and looked down on her with wide eyes.
“My stingless queen…did you do it?! Did you evolve a stingless monster bee gardener?!”
The former queen of queens gave a command to her children, then hovered up to the Flower Tender and proudly released her pheromones.
“Did!”
As she commanded, her workers brought out the newly evolved gardener a moment later. The Flower Tender beamed like the sun and began jumping up and down, shaking the ground.
“YES! You did it! You really did it! We have gardeners now! We have our own gardeners now! This…this is amazing!”
Now, the former queen of queens was too overwhelmed to respond. The Flower Tender’s response was unlike anything she ever imagined. She could barely comprehend the sheer joy coming off the Flower Tender…when the newcomer arrived.
The former queen of queen braced herself. How would the newcomer respond to this? How would the newcomer react to seeing the former queen of queens raise one of her own gardeners, who were originally a bee type of the hive of hives?
To the former queen of queen’s surprise…the newcomer broke out into a happy dance.
“Wow! Stingless queen raised own gardeners, and now can too! Amazing, incredible!”
The former queen of queens watched as both the Flower Tender and the newcomer danced with glee over her achievement. As the Flower Tender sang her praises and celebrated in the same way she had when the former queen of queens had first evolved.
And in that moment, she thought…losing her empire to this hive of hives was worth it after all.
Author’s Note:
Moar POBees, MOAR! Well, it’s about time to check on flower one’s bees again. And of course, the First of the Fifth’s granddaughter has already dismantled the queen of queens so-called empire. As expected of her! And a queen raised by the Fourth of the Seventh has introduced revolutionary new concepts to flower one’s bees, as expected of her!
Yeah, former queen of queens really had no chance, did she?
Anyways!
Will the former queen of queens come to understand this hive of hives thing? Can she remain by the Flower Tender’s side? What will become of the former empire? Tune in next time, to find out!
Comments
Lisa
The one from the God of Fire? Last we heard, Rippotis has bees in hives that he doesn’t have to destroy and is experimenting with ways to make them ingest mana. The others couldn’t find any bees. I don’t think it’s been very long in-world since then? Personally, I want to see a human PoV to see how they’re reacting to the gods telling them not to destroy Belissar (or whatever the exact missions were).
Coleman
Ah yes, the “poison” of friendship. Feeling good because you did good and acknowledged your former misdeeds. Sometimes change just needs a good example and a helping hand.
Polyist's Apostle
Will we get an update on the hive making quest any time soon? Im hilariously curious to see if anyone else has figured it out yet?
