After her relatively short but rather emotionally intense conversation with Janis and Kiara, Regina found herself going through the motions of the summit for the next few hours.

It was probably to be expected, she’d had a stressful few days and a few emotionally taxing moments. Getting almost killed would do that to someone. Still, for some reason it was seeing Janis and Kiara’s relationship advance that really threw her for a loop.

She hadn’t been lying to Janis, although Regina did downplay the effect a bit. She’d checked in on Janis because she’d vaguely felt something out of the ordinary was going on and then quickly retreated once she realized what was up, but it had been enough to-at least make Regina question a few things, herself.

It’s weird that I’m the only one affected, she considered, but on the other hand, it makes sense. I truly lived as a human — my drones might have my knowledge, but they don’t have my personal experience.

It actually gave her hope. Her feelings and attitude on relationships were different from her drones, because of her former life. She might not remember it consciously, but still … her reaction showed that not everything she’d been was lost. Even if she’d been changed.

If she’d been aromantic and asexual before, that would be different.

Not that it was a nice thing even if it reassured her in an ironic way. On a subconscious level, she expected and wanted intimacy, of a sort none of the drones could give her. Physical intimacy or romance, either or both — she wasn’t sure but it was a bitter thing to realize that she’d given up the ability to want something, to feel something, that she could never have.

She’d never find anyone attractive, she never wanted to kiss someone.

Even if she somehow found another hive, it likely would never be the same. And the chances for that were rather low.

Still, her past self had clearly considered it a worthwhile trade. Perhaps she should just trust she’d made the best choice she could.

It would be ridiculous to be jealous of Janis. And in the meantime, she still had work to do. Regina managed to shake herself out of her thoughts as noon approached and spent a bit of extra time making sure she hadn’t missed out on anything or offended anyone she didn’t want to when she’d been preoccupied.

Luckily, people were still being careful around her and she only risked offending people that she didn’t really care if they felt insulted. There were perks to being the empress. In particular, Regina was growing more certain that a few people present were working for the Esemen, or at least putting their own selfish motives ahead of their responsibilities. Unfortunately, it was hard to narrow down who might be a plant or foreign agent, or bribed, and who just tried to line their own pockets on their own initiative. It was even harder to gather proof of anything. Even if she focused on and listened to what she could sense of their mental states — without actually invading their minds, of course — the most it usually got her was some impressions and guesses. Nothing that would be admissible in court, definitely, and she wanted to be more certain before she overreacted, too.

Which didn’t mean she didn’t make certain people aware of her suspicions. Regina might be trying to be just, but she wasn’t naive or stupid. She made it clear she didn’t want anyone judged too quickly, but psychic impressions were still valid hints and circumstantial evidence, if nothing else.

Max was stepping up to become her chief of security in a broader sense, and Tim was involved as well. It fit the general role he’d take, for public consumption but also in reality. Beyond that, Regina spoke to June when she had a moment and made sure the Cernlian intelligence director was involved. Daine seemed to have gained Kiara’s trust, at least somewhat, so there was no reason not to include him when he would be very helpful and probably involved anyway. Regina wasn’t sure about the same position in Nerlia and decided to hold off for a bit.

In the meantime, she tried to put plotting and schemes out of her head and focus on what else she wanted to accomplish and to prepare. The organization of her Empire was going rather well. They’d started to set up some fundamental institutions, including some agencies to direct or oversee specific parts of her ‘vision’. There were a few additions and points she’d overlooked, as well; Max had suggested a military academy, for which they’d need to involve the Delvers, and there were discussions about institutions that would mint as well as oversee new currency. A lot of the practical details would have to wait until the question of location was settled.

It was something Regina started to discuss in more depth, as well, affirming her decision to found a new capital. The recent experiences had made up her mind for her about that.

She wanted her own seat of power, so to speak. Somewhere she could shape the environment to her advantage instead of having to rely on pre-existing architecture. And it might be best to keep it separate from the Hive proper for several reasons. Besides the fact that the idea of the center of the hive turning into a bustling metropolis where everyone could come and go just felt wrong, there were different requirements and logistical challenges. Besides, if she was killed, and the Hivekind managed to hold on at least for a while, it might be better that way as well — Janis was a member of the hive, of course, but she wasn’t a drone — with the Hive Queen dying the psychic link would dissolve, at the very least, so she wouldn’t be bound to any particular space.

The Starlit Hive was an integral part of the Empire, but Regina wanted to keep them both as entities in their own right, able to stand on their own if needed. She didn’t want the nation she was founding to just be an appendix or subordinate colony for the hive.

Of course, building a new city was a huge challenge on its own. It probably would be easier to at least start around a core of an already existing settlement. And even if she was determined to exclude the hive, which she obviously wasn’t, she couldn’t because she needed the help it provided. Production Drones and Swarm Drones acting as workers would make it easier, or probably feasible at all. Still, she was going to involve the other two countries as much as possible, as well. After all, it was going to be their city, too, they had knowledge and expertise they’d need, and she wanted it to be a place for all the people. Although in practice, it was probably best to start with some obvious Imperial functions and let the rest come with time. Like an official residence and center of government for her, offices for the departments and the various agencies, the military academy, and other educational institutions. And housing for everyone that would be working there and support staff. Well, even just the basics are going to be a lot.

"Let me get this straight, Mother,” Mia said when she finally walked her through what she’d considered so far. It was evening, although they had another dinner meeting later, this time with delegates from the non-Imperial countries, to foster ties and goodwill. Mia had been trying to get out of attending it and Regina suspected she was going to use this excuse, but she didn’t mind terribly much. “You want to build an entire new city, starting with an existing town or even from scratch. It’s supposed to be the capital of a rising global power. It will house all the necessary government infrastructure and its bureaucracy, as well as higher institutions of learning, and probably commerce, the military, and so on. It’s supposed to be built with and for all the people and nations we’ve allied with and probably more who’ll join up.”

“Yes,” Regina agreed evenly. “That’s about it.”

“Well, you certainly don’t lack for vision or ambition, June is right.” Mia smiled at her. “When do we start?”

Regina chuckled. “Is that enthusiasm for the project?”

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s going to be a giant headache, Mother. But it’s also the sort of challenge I’m hardly going to find anywhere else. Of course I want to work on it.”

“I appreciate it, Mia.”

She looked away, a bit uncomfortably. “Naturally. If this is what you think is best for the Hive and our people, I’ll do my best to help in whatever way I can, my Queen. As will the rest of us.”

“And I still appreciate it.” Regina shook her head. “Maybe I don’t say it enough.”

“Sorry, but that’s nonsense. You don’t need to. Although we should talk about the Hive’s assignment of workers.”

“Right. Do we have enough for this project?”

Mia considered it for a moment. “I’m not sure, to be honest. We’re coming up on large demands on our time and labor, if I look at it from a more economic standpoint. You want to uplift Cernlia and Nerlia to a higher level of technology, we’re building schools and the foundations of universities, and a lot of infrastructure. All of that will need a lot of people who know what they’re doing.”

“Would it help if I increased the proportion of Workers in the Hive’s new drones?” Regina asked. It was something that had definitely suffered for this summit, she couldn’t exactly go away and repopulate the hive easily while they were here. But once it was over, she was going to step it up.

“It’s certainly going to help. But, my Queen, I’m honestly not sure it’s going to be enough for the pace we’d want in all these projects. Like I said, we need drones who have the experience and knowledge guiding and teaching others. Newly hatched drones can learn, of course, but they do need at least a bit of time to catch up to where we are. We can’t just get by on instinct and inherited knowledge from you for everything.”

Regina nodded heavily. She’d known that before, of course, but hearing it so starkly stated by Mia still made her pause and consider. “Mia,” she began, “if you ever feel like I demand too much from you, all of you …”

“We’ll talk about it if we feel overworked, don’t worry.”

Regina smiled tentatively. “Good. Then, for our various building and infrastructure projects, we’ll just have to rely on the human kingdoms for skilled workers. We need to figure out the best techniques to build with a mix of our hive’s materials and methods and the traditional local ones, anyway. Maybe we should see how it goes for a few examples first and then reassess?”

“That’s how I’ve been trying to handle it, my Queen. You’ll need to talk with Kiara and the Nerlians for securing our access to that particular labor pool. And perhaps we should start with building something for your city that doesn’t need to look perfectly pretty, so it’s not as much of an issue if we mess it up or decide to switch styles later, but something that would still let us learn how to accomplish this.”

“So, not a palace and probably not the military headquarters or whatever defenses we’re going to need. Maybe you should start with the headquarters of the educational oversight offices?” Regina paused for a moment. “And that brings us to the next and biggest question.”

“The location. What have you been considering?”

Regina sighed. “Forest’s Haunt, but I’m not sure that’s a good idea. I’d like it to be somewhere roughly in that area, though. In the center between Nerlia and Cernlia and close to the hive, not to mention with access to the Great Forest not too far away. It’s not as far from the gnomes as some other areas, but it should be fine. I’ve been considering this town, too. Or trying to raise a new one somewhere between them.”

Mia stayed silent for a minute, looking thoughtful. Through the psychic link, Regina could tell she was considering several things with intent focus.

"We’ll need to discuss it with various people who would be affected, like Earl Whitor,” she finally said. “I’d go for a compromise, though. As long as it’s close enough to an existing town or our base in Forest’s Haunt to be supplied through there, it shouldn’t matter too much. And eventually, we’ll want to build railways to extend the logistics, anyway.”

“I hadn’t considered that,” Regina admitted.

“It’s not something we can do tomorrow. The hive doesn’t have the capacity to produce that much metal easily. But we can piggyback off Nerlia or Cernlia’s; once we upgrade them. It’s just another thing to put on the list that we want to tackle. It is probably a good area to start building rail lines, though. I’ll loop in Tia and see what we can come up with.”

Regina smiled. The two of them, like all of them, really, had grown up and matured a lot. Mia was a confident and in-control adult now, not the scared and hesitant drone who’d run from a monster wave with her. This moment really underlined that for her.

“Mother …” Mia gave her a look. She was picking something up through the psychic link.

“What? I’m proud of you.” Regina kept smiling and increased the feeling of pride she was sending through the psychic link. If drones worked that way, Mia would be blushing. It was almost a shame, they would’ve looked adorable.

Mia’s look gained some annoyance and Regina could tell she’d picked up on that thought as well, but she only grinned.

“We’ll need to call together some architects and whoever passes for city planners, along with you, Tia and Max or Tim,” she said simply, diverting the conversation to give her a break.

"I’ll try to sound out who might be a good choice, but it will go better if you ask, my Queen.”

Regina nodded, already making plans for it. At least she could rely on Kiara, her advisors and the Nerlians not refusing her when it came to something like that. It did make the whole thing a lot easier. Now she just had to be careful to juggle everyone’s interests, contributions and so on.

She was probably lucky that being a Hive Queen had prepared her for being Empress at least somewhat, because it was already quite the task and she didn’t even have an actual court or government apparatus yet.