The looming moth wrenched its spear free of the impaled boar, the body tumbling from the shelf and landing on the ground far below with a solid thud. With another swing it battered the second boar aside, swatting it like an irritating pest. Pieces of it peppered the branches behind it. 

In mere moments, the terrors that had threatened to destroy Vittea were demolished, and she was, hopefully, safe in the arms of her mysterious protector. She took multiple deep breaths, calming her beating heart as the adrenaline wore off, leaving her tired. The memory of those awful tusks nipping at her heels still clung to her. She had been so close to death so soon after gaining existence. She had to be far more careful from now on.

It had been so foolish to indulge examining her new body when she hadn’t even made sure she was safe yet. Her stupid oversight had almost cost her her newly acquired life, and-

“Ahem.”

A gentle cough broke her from her spiraling worries, and as she looked up into the stranger’s dark, multifaceted eyes, she remembered she had been asked a question.

 “Oh! Um, I’m sorry. I’m Vittea. Nice…Nice to meet you, and thank you for saving me,” she forced out, her nerves still slightly fried from the overwhelming fear.

The large creature cocked its head to the side, its uncanny eyes taking her in. 

“Simply Vittea? What hive are you from? You seem like one of ours, but you smell wrong, and I would have recognized someone so small.”

“Um…” Vittea gave as much of a shrug as she could, still being held in the stranger’s four arms. “I don’t think I’m from a hive? Leppida was really rude, and she said-” she said before she was abruptly cut off by the large moth lifting her up to face it.

Vittea was starting to get annoyed at being cut off repeatedly. Was it a moth thing?

The moth’s expression turned from curious to deadly serious, as much as Vittea could tell on a moth, but her antennae seemed to catch various pheromone cues. They were telling her to be very careful.

“What do you mean by ‘Leppida said’? You speak as if you have met her,” the moth spoke, slowly and methodically, making sure Vittea understood. If she still had the glands for it she would have been sweating buckets, but she could only remain stock still and answer the questions as honestly as possible. She didn’t want to see what the moth would do if it turned out she had fibbed, though she wasn’t sure she had any reason to lie.

“I did, I swear! I think I did, at least. That’s what she said her name was, and she was really big, and there were silk sheets everywhere. Honestly it looked really cozy, but she was also a-” she startled to babble, but was abruptly interrupted by the large moth tucking her under its two left arms and leaping into the air at speed.

“WHAT DID I SAY? OH SHIT AM I IN TROUBLE?!” she screamed, though the wind felt nice flowing through her wings. The moth huffed in annoyance.

“Silence. You are clearly a complication, and I wish to hand you off to my superior before you say anything important. Also, stop yelling, I can hear you just fine.”

“Then where are you taking me? Leppida didn’t tell me-”

“Silence, I said. Not a word more until we get you to someone else.” 

Vittea huffed, but said nothing more. Instead, she took advantage of her position dangling from the moth’s grip to get a better view of the Library. As she looked at the enormous labyrinth of bookshelves and branches, her frantic thoughts stilled. Bird-like creatures passed beneath them, and beneath them the creatures of the library searched for any scrap of magic they could eat. Her antennae were buzzing, telling her brain just how soaked in magic this entire place was. Everything was working in concert, the magic being absorbed by the denizens, who were in turn either devoured or hunted. 

Their magic leaked back into the land, absorbed by the sprawling trees and turned into plump fruits, which fell and were again consumed. It was one enormous interlocking cycle, everything connected, all of it bound by magic. It was beautiful, and Vittea felt an urge deep within herself, a need to touch and explore and sample all of it. 

The moth looked down at her as she soaked in the view, and she thought she heard a small chuckle.

—

Despite the grandeur of the Library, Vittea was not prepared for the hive. An architectural masterpiece of silk and wood, the hive was made up of dozens, if not hundreds, of woven dollops suspended from the boughs of the great tree. She could see the faint shadows of moths flitting to and fro, some escorting enormous, bulky looking hybrids of moth and beetle strapped with intricate freight harnesses. 

The hive was alive with activity, and her grumpy rescuer was flying straight towards the center of it. Everything here seemed to be built around the enormous shining diadem suspended by countless shining threads reaching to the thick limbs above it. Even without focusing she could feel the intense concentration of magic here, dense compared to the Library which was already saturated with the stuff. 

As they approached, she could make out dozens of holes in the face of the silk gem that the crowds of moths were flowing through, each with their own platform of varying size. Each entrance seemed custom built for a different purpose.

 The moth carrying her flew them to a platform towards the top of the structure, a smaller platform with more guards. To their credit they didn’t flinch as her rescuer’s landing stirred up a strong gust. Unfortunately for the smaller moth that had rushed out as they landed, their stack of papers went flying all over the landing deck. 

“Sentinel Yasua!” They squeaked out as they scrambled to collect their wayward files. “You, again, are coming in far too fast for the Queen’s landing platform!” The guards around the smaller moth remain stock still, letting what Vittea presumed was some sort of clerk scurry around anxiously.

Vittea’s moth rescuer, apparently named Yasua, chuckled softly as they tucked their wings behind their back. They gave the clerk a practiced smile and bent down to help them collect their things. This earned a stern glare from the clerk, but Vittea could see Yasua’s smile grow brighter. Turns out her stern guardian was a bit of a gremlin.

The smirk was gone in an instant, and the calm professional was back. “This is an urgent matter, Merritith. I must speak to the Queen immediately. I apologize for breaking regulations, but I suspect you will understand after I have given my debriefing.” They set Vittea down on the platform with surprising gentleness for their size, and nodded to the other guards. 

“See to it that this one is bathed and shown a room,” they looked down at Vittea with a curious tilt of their head. “She?,” they asked. Vittea nodded, unsure what was going on and resolved to silence until she knew what to say. Yasua nodded, and resumed addressing the guards. 

“She is an important guest, please see that she is treated with kindness.”  With a final nod to Vittea, Yasua strode into the structure, the flustered notary following after them, firing questions at a rapid pace as they left Vittea’s hearing range. She turned to the guards, who all looked at the smallest among them. The smallest sighed and stepped forwards, offering a bow. Vittea smirked. Someone had been volentold.

Oh well, best foot forwards and all that. Vittea smiled warmly at the smaller guard. “Hello. I suppose I follow you?” The guard nodded, doing a very smart heel-turn before walking quickly into the diadem. Vittea, a good foot shorter than even the relatively small guard, had to scurry to keep up. The guard looked back over their shoulder and slowed their pace. 

“Yes. Apologies, we do not get many non-hive visitors. I am Hendria, and I will be showing you to your room. One of the clerks will be by to collect you when the court is ready to receive you. Do you have any questions?” Their voice was smooth, with a slight gritty edge that made Vittea want to ask them anything to keep them talking, but she focused. Everyone else seemed business focused, she should at least try to match the mood.

Vittea straightened her posture and shrugged, immediately failing to be hyper professional. “I have a lot of questions, but I’ll try to save them for the clerk. Thanks.” Vittea gave another hopefully charming smile to the guard, who simply nodded back and resumed walking. 

The rest of the walk was in silence, which Vittea appreciated for allowing her to gawk at the architecture. If the outside was awe-inspiring, the interior was mind-blowing. Her antennae confirmed that every strand of the silk that hung from wooden supports was soaked with magic. There were no doors, only odd symbols at intervals along the hallway that moths walked through, the silk parting for them before sealing behind them. 

The halls were lit by glowing crystals suspended from the ceiling by, shockingly, more silk. There seemed to be a theme, but who was Vittea to judge? If it worked, it worked. Her mind wandered as they walked. She had antennae, and moth eyes, and moth wings…could she make silk like this too? They took a right, then a left, but Vittea was only paying enough attention to make sure she was following her escort. 

She didn’t really know what she should expect. Yasua had reacted strongly to her mentioning Leppida. Were these moths her worshippers, or minions? Leppida did seem like the kind of goddess to have minions. She wasn’t sure if the reaction was positive or negative, but it was strong. 

Should she try to hide her involvement with Leppida? Was it even possible to hide that? She didn’t know what people could detect with magic, but she settled on being honest, at least for now. It would be a lot harder to recover trust if she broke it now, and from her brief experiences so far she was certain that she wasn’t going to be able to survive by herself. Time to use her limited supply of people skills, namely just being herself, whoever that was right now.

She felt her wings fidget against each other as her brain spun, a combination of absorbing the literally magical engineering, the silent but oddly thoughtful guard guiding her through it, who she was waiting to see, where the fuck she was. There were a lot of questions she wanted answers to, but she knew most of them would only come in time. In the meanwhile, one step after another.

Eventually those steps led to one of the marked entrances. The guard stopped and turned around, gesturing to the symbol. “This is your room for the foreseeable future. There is a bathroom and bed, please make yourself comfortable until a clerk comes for you,” the guard read off of the script inside their head. Vittea simply nodded along and raised her hand. The guard sighed, and crossed all four of their arms at her. “Yes?”

“Do I just walk into the wall or do I have to use some sort of magic?”

“...”

“...”

“You just walk into the wall.”

“Oh, good. I was worried that I would need some sort of magic key, and I don’t really know how to…use magic.” The guard blinked at her, sighed, and shrugged, which was quite a gesture with four shoulders. 

“Not for the guest room. Again, please make yourself comfortable until a clerk comes to fetch you. Do not leave your room, do not go wandering. Understood?,” they asked. Vittea nodded somewhat nervously, and the guard motioned with their right two arms. Vittea waved back with her own two right arms, and walked into the silk wall, her eyes closed. 

Despite her worries, she didn’t feel a hard surface crushing her nose. She opened one eye to watch the threads making up the wall part in front of her, revealing a decently sized, modestly appointed room. The bed was long enough for her to stretch out without touching the ends, with a small dresser alongside it. There was another mark on the wall to her right, a different shape than the ones she had seen along the hallway. She looked back to the guard, still standing outside her door. 

“Is the bathroom through there?”

“Yes, it is. Hot and cold water, though please do not use more than you need. There is also soap and shampoo, and the drying enchantment only requires you touch the crystal attached to the device, no magic necessary. Any other-”

Vittea bolted into the bathroom, the closing door behind her cutting off the guard. She had been naked since she had gotten here, something she may have forgotten until this very second. She felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment, but there was no time for that. It was time to soak in steaming hot water and feel the grime and sweat…did she even sweat? She was clearly a moth person, though not quite the same as her hosts. She was much smaller, with more of a humanoid face than the others she had met, the guard included, though she still had the wings, antennae, eyes, and four arms…Oh well, questions for later.

Sweat or no, she felt gross, and a firm scrub down was in order. As the guard had described, the majority of the bathroom was a shower, all made of silk and wood. The showerhead was embedded in the ceiling, with the control gem in the wall beneath it. There was also a toilet and a sink, with the sink large enough for four hands at once, and the toilet having a curved back that would allow her wings to hang comfortably while she sat. She had no clothes to shed, so she pushed aside the gossamer shower curtain and enthusiastically tapped the crystal. 

Vittea shrieked as ice cold water was unceremoniously sprayed on her from above. She frantically tapped the gem again, and the water stopped. How was she supposed to adjust the temperature again? She thought of going out to ask Hendria, but they were likely long gone, and now that she was more aware of her nudity she didn’t really want to go traipsing about without any clothes. That wouldn’t be the best second impression.

She fiddled with the crystal, tapping the sides, pulling it out, pushing it in, and after only a few more times accidentally spraying herself with ice water she realized it was a twist knob. Left for colder, right for hot. Now properly steaming, Vittea closed her eyes and lifted her head, feeling the heat spread over her chitin. As the grime fell away, she felt the energy and pep that had been holding her up start to tire.

She had almost died. If not for the guard she would have either been gored and eaten, or fallen to her death, and then probably eaten. And who knew what else was lurking out there between the shelves, waiting for an unsuspecting moth lady to stumble past them? Her hands shook lightly as she ran them through her hair, feeling the odd texture of the fibers. Taking a deep breath, she sought out the soap and shampoo, tucked neatly into little cubbies in the wall.

As the lavender scent surrounded her, she felt her body calm. Sure, she might have died, but she didn’t. Here she stood, with strange people who had honestly treated her very well. She was a stranger to them, but not only had they saved her life, but also given her a room, which while not all that much was more than she had to start with, and was something she had desperately needed. A small little safe room to think, and to plan.

Despite feeling like a stranger here, she felt an odd familiarity. She was mothkin, not exactly the same as them but very close. Did Leppida send her here on purpose, or had she simply gotten lucky? Was there any point in even worrying about that? Sure, Leppida seemed lazy and arrogant, but who knew what gods were really like, and Vittea had only met her for mere seconds before being rudely tossed to the hogs.

She rinsed the soap from her hair and began sudsing up the rest of her body. Four arms made the work quick. She had faint sensations of not having this many arms, of existing in another form, in another world, but they were ephemeral. Any time she reached for the memories those impressions were linked to, there was nothing there. She had clearly not been formed from nothing, but was who she had been truly that important? She was here, now, in honestly a very cool body, with interesting people who seemed mildly interested in helping her, in a world filled with wonders she was itching to explore.

Her hands explored her smooth skin, the fine fluff that trailed along her sides, legs, and down her back, very gently cleaning her sensitive antennae. The small bathroom was filled with steam by the time she had finished, the meditative washing helping settle her mind. She felt centered for the first time since arriving here.

She hummed quietly to herself while drying off, and a polite knocking at the entrance to the room disrupted her reverie. It seemed the clerk had arrived. Adjusting the towel that had been prepared for her, she tucked her hair back in a way that she hoped was mildly presentable and opened the ‘door.’