“MOM PLEASE!” Evergreen shouted, trying to get through to her mother, chasing after her through the hallways. “She didn’t kidnap me! She saved me! Did you even read my letter!? I knew I shouldn’t have sent you it! You always overreact!”

“That’s enough!” Evergreen’s mother shouted back. “My decision is final! Whoever that insect-kin is will pay for her crimes.”

“What crimes!” Evergreen shouted exasperated. “She didn’t do anything!”

“She kept you away from home and filled your head with foolish notions!”

“They're not foolish! And I made it clear on numerous occasions that I wanted to actually do something about the wasp horde instead of hiding and hoping it passes us by. Is it so hard to believe that when I found someone who also wanted to defend the forest from the horde that I would join up with them?” Evergreen complained.

Evergreen’s mother shook her head. “What good is it to fight!? This isn't the first time some hive or another tried to take over the forest, fighting back would just end in pointless lives lost. We will do what we always do, let the storm pass us by, and when it does, we will be better off than most.”

“But do you have to kill Lyn!? She just wants to make the forest a safe place for her hive!” Evergreen tried to argue. “She worked so hard to get people working together! Ant, bee, zapper, and even a few more!”

“And exactly how many forces can she exactly field with all that help? Hmm?” stopping to hear her daughter's answer.

Evergreen hesitated, remembering that they barely even had a thousand combined altogether.

“Like I thought…” Evergreen’s mother said, turning and walking again towards the throne room where she will pass judgment on the insect-kin.

“WAIT! She isn’t just an insect-kin! She’s also a storm fairy!” Evergreen shouted, wishing she didn’t have to say that particular fact.

Evergreen’s mother paused, standing stock still, thinking deeply on what her daughter said. Storm fairies were like the nobles of the fairy world, killing one would not look good on her.

“Not only that, she even has the support of Anya! Anya joined us, and you know she wouldn’t do something like that unless she believed that there might be some hope!” Evergreen said, becoming hopeful now that her mother stopped moving.

“Or that she saw some method of profit either way…” her mother replied. “While it is impressive that she got many different insect hives to work together or that she was able to convince Anya to help as well. It doesn't change the fact that she was probably going to send you all to your deaths.” then started walking again.

Evergreen panicked and her thoughts raced and she started saying anything that would get her mother to stop. “She also has a master! Someone who is very powerful! Someone who can turn insects into insect-kin, and even into fairies! That’s how Lyn became a storm fairy! She was just a regular zapper before he came along! Supposedly he has god blood running through his veins! And you don’t want to mess with a godling and his prophet! Especially one that could do all that!”

Evergreen’s mother paused again, a worried crease on her brow. Offending a god, even a godling, was very foolish unless you were one hundred percent sure that you can deal with them or the aftermath. Otherwise, curses, plagues, and crazy cultists will hound you down for all eternity, or at least for as long as that god holds power.

“She also said that if things don’t work out, that there's a plan B, a promised land of sorts, where we all can hide and take shelter,” Evergreen said, hoping now that her mother would see that they had a backup plan.

Evergreen’s mother seemed lost in thought, before turning to address her daughter. “And are you saying all this because you actually believe she can win? Or because she is your lover? Don’t think I can’t put two and two together, I can smell another's scent on you, no matter how hard you try to hide it.

Evergreen blushed hard. Surprised that her mother found out so quickly.

Her mother gave a long hard stare as if her gaze was piercing into Evergreen’s soul. “Alright… I’ll give her a chance… she will be brought to me and asked a few questions. If she answers them faithfully and satisfactorily then she will be let go. If not… she will suffer the consequences…”

Evergreen felt a mix of both relief and trepidation. Her mother had always been hard to please, but this was also probably the only and best method to save Lyn’s life. She just hoped everything would work out in the end.

Taking her mother’s word for it, the two walked towards the throne room where Lyn will be brought to face judgment. If worse comes to worst, Evergreen was determined to help Lyn fight her way out, no matter what.

---

Lyn never felt like such a twist of fate would happen to her. Normally life seemed to always go her way. Yet here she was, stuck in a jail cell in a high house’s fairy grove. Her future looking very bleak.

One part of her felt a little betrayed, she knew evergreen was probably someone important, but not this important! Another part of her was still very worried for her lover and best friend, wondering what was happening to her at that very moment.

Just then, the door to her cell opened up and she was ushered out by the guards and escorted to meet with the ruler of the house. Pushed through the double doors to the throne room, Lyn stood center in front of the cold eyes of Evergreen’s mother.

“So… you’re my daughter’s lover?” Evergreen’s mother said, sounding unimpressed. “I don’t know what I expected…”

Lyn felt both embarrassed, hurt and offended all at the same time, but didn’t know exactly what to say in this kind of situation, so kept quiet. When she first found Evergreen gone and the soldiers in her place, her first reaction was to demand some answers. But when she thought about it, she needed to know where and how to get to her, so played along with the guards.

But now that she was right in front of Evergreen’s mother, she felt a different kind of pressure than the one that led her to going with the guards for the sake of finding Evergreen. This woman was powerful, like really powerful, and more, there was a weight of experience and age that wafted from this woman. More importantly, the look she was giving Lyn was like a mother when some girl asks for her son’s hand in marriage.

“My name is Gloria, Gloria Viridia,” Gloria began. “And I believe your name is Lyn correct?” she then waited for Lyn to reply, but Lyn only gave a nod so she continued. “I heard from my daughter that you plan to try and take on the wasp horde and termite kingdom… is that true?” her eyes turning unapproving.

“That… in a way… is true…” Lyn began, trying to be careful with her words. “The wasp horde is too dangerous to go uncontested for so long… sooner or later, it will engulf the entirety of the forest, making it an unsafe place for small hives to grow and flourish. Not to mention the… generally hostile nature of the wasp and hornets to those who are not from their race and their tendency to raid hives and caravans, which could lead to great economic problems…”

Gloria looked mildly interested in what Lyn had to say, so she continued. “It is also a problem that there are so many refugees fleeing the horde, slowly they are contesting the… stacked claims of hives who have been around for centuries, pushing into whatever little room is left, making a cramped place cramper. They either litter the floor with the corpses of their hiveless bodies… or they fight for every inch they can get their hands on. And that doesn’t even get into mentioning the fact that people such as me and a few others, can recruit from this pool of workers. And while I try to give them a good home and something to fight for, others use them to turn themselves into petty warlords, turning an already chaotic situation worse…”

Gloria was tapping the armrests of her thrones, looking at Lyn with more interest than she had before, a question on her lips. “So you would then turn these refugees into soldiers to defend the lands that are about to be invaded?”

“In a manner of speaking… yes? Like I said before, I only wish to give them a home and help my hive and the hive of my friends grow to take care of themselves. The wasp horde is a threat, which means we need to defend ourselves from them.” Lyn said.

“And why do you care?” Gloria asked, looking into Lyn’s eyes. “Why would you go out of your way to defend a home, a forest, that you have no connection to?”

“Well… I made it my home… it's where my sister and friends are.” Lyn then puffed out her chest somewhat proudly. “I took two hives that were at war and made them Allies! I fought off spiders, won a tournament, and made many friends along the way! I even was acknowledged by the fairy grove as its ruler! It's where the people I care for are, and that's good enough for me to fight for it!”

Gloria leaned back in her throne as if looking at Lyn for the first time. “And yet… you are going to leave in at most… a week? What can you do in one week? And if you care so much, why don’t you stay?” she asked, looking at Lyn with interest on how she was going to answer.

“Well… I…” Lyn began, unsure of how to reply and giving a quick glance towards Evergreen who was standing nervously behind and to the right of her mother. She then gave a quick shake of her head to get it clear and responded forcefully. “I believe someone has to give the hope that they can fight back, to show people the threat for what it is! If I don’t then the place that is home to all my loved ones would be taken over by wasps! And who knows what would happen to them under wasp rule!”

“And… if I can’t beat them… If I can’t rally people to fight or continue on without me… then… I can take them with me…” Lyn looked up towards Gloria. “I have a place, a wonderful place where the weather can always be what you want it to be, where food isn't as much as an issue, and trees and plants can grow really fast and healthy! If all else fails, I will bring my family to live with me… and… I would like it if that included Evergreen as well…” Lyn finally had the courage to say, shaking a little under the stare that Gloria gave.

Gloria forcefully calmed herself and decided to take a moment to think on Lyn’s offer. If she really could secure a safe haven, away from the wasp horde and termite kingdom, that would be a huge boon, perhaps something that can be used to leverage a few houses and hives to fall in line with her own agenda. Not that she could be sure that such a place truly existed of course… but if it did…

Gloria decided to save such thoughts for later and instead change tact and ask a few other questions that were on her mind. Giving a clap of her hand, a few servants brought in a large table and map, placing it in front of Lyn. She then slowly walked her way down to the other side of the table, followed by Evergreen who had remained largely silent.

“This is a map of the forest,” she said, then pointing to a spot on the map. “And this is where our fairy grove is.” then pointing to a large colored area that looked like it was updated multiple times. “And this… this is the expansion of the wasp horde…”

She then looked at Lyn. “Some of my scouts report that the wasp horde are making a straight shot for the dewdrop river that leads right into the star water lake.” Lyn paled a little at that, the dewdrop river was not that far from her grove. “So I question you… what does the wasp horde want with the river and the lake? They don’t use boats. Yet some of my advisers think it's to disrupt the shipping lanes of us fairies… what few we have of course… but it really is not worth it, hardly anyone uses rivers or lakes for that when they can fly.”

“But then again, it's not like they can use the fairy portals either, they need to either know how to operate it themselves or use a guide to do so for them. Not to mention you can hardly push more than a few people through every few hours. There's no way to field an army using the portals, which is why some think that’s why they are going for the lake and all the rivers it connects to. What do you think?” Gloria asked Lyn, waiting for an answer.

Lyn looked down at the map, her thought process on overdrive, trying to bring out all the relevant data she has on the wasp horde and their plan. Bits of information flew through her head, data points converged, a picture formed, but she had to make sure of something first. Looking up she asked Gloria a question. “These wasps… I heard they are a new variant… like us zappers… they can use Lightning… correct?”

“Indeed, they are now called… Lightning wasps… this new variant seems to have been able to subjugate all the other wasp and hornet hives around, though we don’t know how.” Gloria said seriously.

“Damn… Lightning wasps… that sounds so much cooler than zappers… it really brings a shiver down the spine when you try to think of such a thing… Lightning wasps…” Lyn thought.

“Well?” Gloria asked, now getting a little impatient.”

“Huh?” Lyn asked looking up. “Oh, right! Umm… the answer is the fog storm. That's why they're doing this.” Lyn said matter of factly.

Both Gloria and Evergreen looked confused. “The fog storm? What does that have to do with anything?”

Lyn shook her head like it should be obvious. “While it's only true for greater zappers, that fact remains that we can survive in a fog storm. And if they are like us, so can they.” Lyn then pointed at the map, moving her hand from east to west. “We know that the fog storm comes from east to west, but not many know that when the fog storm passes over a body of water, it can grow in size and become more dangerous.”

“But!” she then pointed at herself. “For zappers and people like me, we can not only survive inside a fog storm but even get a power boost from it.” she then pointed back at the map, “the lake is at the center of the forest… and the wasp horde already has most of the north… if they can split the forest down the middle, following down the rivers… when the next fog storm comes along, they will take advantage of that to unleash raids and massive attacks that most people won’t be able to defend themselves from since they will be sheltering inside.”

Now Lyn was staring Gloria right in the eyes. “This means that if they are not stopped, in a few months and a few fog storms later. They can sweep across the west half of the forest in no time flat. With no one to offer any great resistance, after that is just a war of slow attrition, which they will win since no one wants to work together to fight them off.” she then crossed her arms. “And that’s why they want to control the lake.” she finished proudly.

Gloria and Evergreen couldn’t believe what they heard, and yet, it made perfect sense. “I see…” Gloria began. “So that’s how they have been able to expand so quickly… it's because of the fog storm!” only to be taken aback when Lyn shook her head disapprovingly.

“Even if they used the fog storm to help win battles, that still doesn't explain how they seem to expand so quickly, in fact, the reason for their rapid expansion is another thing entirely!”

Gloria and Evergreen were very shocked now, their expressions now looking very interested, much to Lyn’s joy. “The reason why they can expand so quickly is because… blitzkrieg…”

““Blitzkrieg?”” Gloria and Evergreen said in unison, confused by the strange word.

Lyn nodded, “the lightning wasps aren't just fighting a battle and staying put, they're leaving the second their task is done!” she then started to motion with her hands. “There are two layers to the attack, the wasps, and the hornets and termites that come after. The wasps come in, attack during a time no one can defend from, leaving a complete mess. Then when people are trying to pick up the pieces, the occupying force comes to take over!

“So that explains how they were able to expand so quickly…” Gloria said, only to get taken aback once more in surprise by Lyn who was getting excited.

“Wrong!” Lyn shouted, taking Gloria by surprise once again, “even if they did Blitzkrieg, they still couldn’t expand as fast as they are going! In fact, they couldn’t even hold dreams of conquering half the entire forest! The north and the west. If they didn’t have the numbers for it! Otherwise, they would be stretching themselves too thin!”

“And where… pray tell… are these supposed numbers coming from?” Gloria asked, eyeballing Lyn uncertainly, a little annoyed that she kept being yelled at.

Lyn, still excited, continued. “Think about it! Who are usually not welcomed wherever they go… wasps and hornets! People don’t like them, and while that’s for good reason, they still resent that.”

“Now…” she said with a huge grin. “Who has been missing from the forest? THINK ABOUT IT! When I first entered the forest and scouted the surroundings for days around my grove, I thought it was weird that I did not find a single wasp or hornet nest… maybe I was lucky? But when I went to the bazaar… not a single wasp or hornet… and when I asked around where they went… no. one. Knew…” her smile getting bigger.

“Don’t you get it! They're all joining up with the horde! Somehow, they are all converging on, to join with the horde! That’s where they are getting the numbers to occupy all the land they conquer! And if they can get the entire forest wasps and hornets and termites. Then claiming half the forest if not more would be child's play! Honestly… I can’t believe no one noticed it sooner...” Lyn finally finished, happy that she was able to solve such a puzzle. “Ingenious really if you think about it, this queen of wasps must be very good at organizing, am I right?”

Then looking at Gloria and Evergreen “Umm… guys are you okay?” she asked, concerned by the pale looks on their faces.

Gloria and Evergreen were still in a state of shock. Especially Gloria who hadn’t believed that the wasp horde was truly a threat. But if even half of what Lyn said was true, then they weren’t dealing with a few tens of thousands or even a few hundreds of thousands… but perhaps a few million if not more wasps, hornets, and termites all together. Such a force could easily control more than half the forest. And that was not good… not for anyone…