Her drones couldn’t really act admonishing or reproachful with her, Regina discovered. At least she wouldn’t call it that. They did express how they felt, that they were upset at her absence, but subtly. She at least tried to act contrite and understanding, and promised to stay in the village or base, with lots of drones around, for the foreseeable future. Regina had no intention of breaking that promise.

She’d barely noticed that her psychic hive link had apparently gone dormant while she was in the Mirrored Halls, but being back with her hive, in range of most of the drones, felt nice. Although the way the Attendants tried to fuss over her might have something to do with it. At least they seemed to understand that she wasn’t in the mood for celebrations or being social and didn’t talk much.

Freshly bathed and with a new tunic and pants, Regina went to talk to Anuis and the remaining leadership of the hive. They met in the castle, where they had a pretty good view of the forest. Anuis seemed to have decided to return here fairly quickly, rather than staying at the hive’s base in the forest. Regina suspected that was because she felt concerned about the hole that a large part of their forces being away made in their defenses. If someone wanted to attack them, like the Cernlian king, it would be a good time, and they might coordinate with the Nerlians to that effect.

“So, we’re sure they came from the Nerlian army?” Regina asked, leaning back against the battlement. They were currently talking on one of the fort’s towers.

“Reasonably certain,” Bianorn said. “Although it’s more like a mixed army that is somewhat headed by the Nerlians. Not all of the people we captured are Nerlians. Some are mercenaries, Delvers or even Cernlian soldiers.”

“They’re not even all human,” Niolo, the Commissar, put in. “I saw a few werekin, a halfling and even a dwarf, and there might be a few demihumans that look human enough to pass unnoticed.”

Regina wondered for a moment if the elves disliking dwarves was true, then decided she had bigger things to worry about. “It looks like the marquis is keeping Cernlia off us for now, though,” she said. “Do you think the Nerlians, and their allies, will keep trying?”

Anuis shook her head. “I doubt you will have to worry about another attack like this any time soon, Regina. By now, your connection to Alianais is quite obvious, and the fact that you were protected by divine power in the battle will come out soon enough.” She smiled slightly. “Most people are rather unwilling to attack a champion of a goddess.”

Regina frowned thoughtfully. “You think that will stop them for long?”

“I can’t say.” Anuis shrugged. “They might try to bring in more help, perhaps even paladins or champions of other gods. And the Delvers don’t care much for the gods, as a rule. It will also be a somewhat different matter for a more offensive conflict. But I’d estimate that you have some time.”

“That’s good to know. Thanks, Anuis.”

Regina looked out over the forest. It would be good. Finally, she’d have some time to focus on building up her hive, establishing themselves. She wasn’t yet sure how what she’d learned would change that, but she’d have time to reflect, hopefully. She also wanted to let Max and Tim know and get their opinions, and a few others, too. But she didn’t seriously consider talking about it with Anuis.

Actually, if anyone still remembered more about those times, it would be the elves. The fact that Enais had recognized the Hivekind was telling. If so, they hadn’t told her about it, and she supposed she couldn’t blame them. They probably didn’t think that she’d have the soul of someone living before the apocalypse, too. Regina seriously doubted the Hivekind had ever made that public knowledge.

She wondered how the Delvers would react if they knew.

Then she shook her head and focused on the situation. She delved into her psychic link quickly, checking on a few drones. After a moment, Regina turned to look at the others again. “Well, you’re welcome to come to the funeral. We’ve decided to do it right away, outside the castle here.”

Anyone who wanted to say goodbye to Ted had already arrived. There weren’t that many drones, probably because he’d been young and had spent a lot of time in the forest with few others around. Plus, most of the drones were pretty busy. Regina considered using her wings, but instead went down the stair to ground level and walked out of the castle’s gate. Anuis chose to come along, presumably to pay her respects as a diplomatic gesture.

An elvish soldier had also died in the fight. Regina didn’t know what arrangements they’d make, although they would probably send his body back to the city for his family. There didn’t seem to be much she could do to help.

The hive was kind of developing a tradition of burning their dead, at least the sapient drones. Other drones had already gathered some wood and built a pyre, and Ted lay on it, wrapped in a big sheet. Regina went up to it and put some accelerant on the pyre. She experimented with a few different kinds of flammable liquids.

This time, Max stepped forward and said some words about the deceased. Regina listened quietly. She hadn’t really known him enough to contribute anything. She knew this wouldn’t be the last time one of her drones died, but it still made her feel like she had a knot in her throat. She wasn’t quite sure if that was from sadness or guilt. Still, her hands were steady when she stepped forward to light the pyre.

They’d also gathered the Swarm Drones who died, quite a lot of them this time. Their current position was close to the river, so she didn’t think burying them, especially in shallow graves, was a wise idea. Instead, the drones worked on building more pyres, these ones lower and wider. There was less ceremony when she set them alight.

After the funerals, if one could use the word, Regina wandered around the place a bit. The castle was bustling with activity compared to before. Well, it was close to the forest, and a fortified base they were using for the defense of the territory Regina had recently come to control and as a potential defensive hardpoint against further attacks. At least, that was how Max had explained it.

Eventually, Regina found herself on a field a short distance away from the castle, with the wind picking up in the direction directly opposite from it. Max had trailed her again, and she waited for a minute until Tim and Tia joined them. Mia was still in the village, but Regina would catch up with her later.

“I’ve got to admit, my Queen, we were worried about you,” Tia said with a serious look. “Especially once Max came back alone.”

Regina grimaced. “I didn’t want to worry you, but I wasn’t in any danger. For that matter, if Alianais wished me harm, she probably could have acted on it regardless of where I was.”

Tia nodded, and Max and Tim looked like they had to reluctantly concede the point, as well. Regina understood how they felt. Even if she might still have been in danger, it would clearly feel different to them if they were with her and could try to protect her. I’m not sure if the drones being so protective of me is a good thing, she mused. I do want to survive, obviously. But it could still cause issues.

“What did you learn from Alianais, Regina?” Max asked. “You’ve been kind of absent ever since you came back.”

Regina sighed, then gathered herself and started talking. She recounted her trip to the Mirrored Halls and her conversation with Alianais, with as many details as she could. She had to stop herself from pacing up and down as she related the story the goddess told her, but talking about it actually helped her to recall and get a grasp on it.

“That’s a lot to unpack,” Tim finally said once she’d finished. The others looked like they had things to say as well, but stopped to listen to him. “How sure are you that she was being open and truthful?”

“That’s kind of a hard question to answer.” Regina shrugged and tugged on her mandible. “She probably had some reason for telling me, but at the same time, it did feel kind of like she was — I don’t know, trying to unburden herself? Mitigate some guilt? Maybe she just wanted to talk about it with someone who wasn’t there and would understand. Anyway, I don’t think it’s the kind of story you would invent out of whole cloth, especially if she wants to get me on her side. It’s probably biased and there is definitely information missing, but that’s kind of a given.”

The drones nodded. “Makes sense,” Tia said. “So, what do we do about it?”

“I don’t think there’s much we can do about it,” Max said. “At least not in the short term.”

“You’re right about that,” Regina agreed. “For one thing, I want to find out more about all this, if I can, but I’m not really sure how. For now, getting stronger so I can try to get past that door underground is on my list. And maybe going back to where I hatched, too. In the meantime, we should probably focus on the human kingdoms. If nothing else, that’s also where we might get more info and knowledge.”

“The Delvers, too, maybe,” Max suggested. “If we can find some way to deal with them, uh, constructively.”

Tia snorted, and Regina almost did the same. “Right,” she said. “The apocalypse happened over a thousand years ago, by the sound of it. It might be hard to find useful stuff.”

In the meantime, well, she had just gotten confirmation that there were no other Hivekind on the planet. That was kind of a big deal on its own. I don’t even know how I would go about repopulating the species — if that’s something I should be doing. And there’s the fact they apparently had advanced technology, and it sounded like they didn’t come from the same place as the gods. But maybe I could find some of that tech? Or even old pre-apocalypse stuff? Though it sounded like that was all destroyed. Regina shook her head. She was starting to get a headache.

To distract herself and think about something else, she called up her status screen.

She had lost some Swarm Drones and her mana had dropped accordingly, although the loss was bearable in numerical terms.

The bigger her Swarm grew, the less every single new drone seemed to add to her mana pool. Although it might just be that her mana pool was capped instead. Probably a ‘soft limit’, if so. She’d have to add one egg of the same kind of drone before and after a level-up and pay close attention to her mana pool to investigate that. Although maybe not when she reached level 30, that might count as some kind of threshold level. And she didn’t really want to slow down the growth of her hive. Still, I’m probably pretty close to level 29, anyway.

Well, visiting the home of the gods and talking to them might not give any Experience, although her drones were busy and probably earning quite a bit, plus they were improving her hive’s defenses.

She was still a long way from reaching her hive’s limit for the number of drones. The two level-ups she’d just gotten hadn’t helped in that regard. Not that she was going to complain. At least it confirmed that she was on track to having a cap of two thousand for the swarm at level 30; before she got her latest Ability, it couldn’t have been over a thousand already.

Regina shook her head. This wasn’t really working if she wanted to relax and stop worrying. Not that she was likely to be able to stop thinking about things any time soon, she had too much to consider. At least focusing on her numbers and the hive’s stats was productive.

Regina decided to head back to the castle and look for Anuis. She could at least plan the defense of their territory, and maybe get answers on a few other things while she was at it. Max, as expected, followed her, although he kept quiet.

Luckily, she caught Anuis alone, or mostly, going from one of the towers to the gate of the fortress. The elven commander nodded at the junior officer accompanying her and he hurried off ahead.

“Is there something I can help you with, Regina?” Anuis asked.

“I wanted to quickly discuss a few things,” she answered. “First off, you said that you think they will leave us alone for at least some time. Can you put any kind of number on that?”

Anuis shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I would hesitate to make any such claims. I cannot predict the behavior of the humans. They might send another force in a few weeks, or not bother us again for months.” She hesitated for a moment. “For that matter, it will depend on our government’s reaction as well, I think. They might recall me in the coming weeks.”

“Alright, thanks for the answer.” That was a shame, but not unexpected. “Otherwise, well, do you have any idea if, when or how I might be able to call on Alianais’ support again? Or use divine magic in general? You recognized her mark …”

Anuis frowned. “I’m hardly an expert. Although I would caution you to be careful. You should in principle be able to channel divine magic, but you would need a Class suited to it to do so safely or efficiently. And I assume that what happened was quite a large exertion, a lot of power being used?”

Regina thought back to the event and nodded.

“Then it may be some time before you should try to do anything of the sort again, even if you were able to.” Anuis gave her a warning look. “If I were you, I should not attempt to use divine magic again for at least a month.”

Regina pulled a face and sighed. “Alright. Thank you for the warning, I’ll be sure to be careful.”

So, she couldn’t count on using that kind of divine power again, and it might take a month before she could seriously try anything with divine magic, maybe more. That was good to know.

“I trust you won’t object to us taking custody of the prisoners?” Anuis asked.

Regine blinked, the change of subject taking her from her thoughts. “Go ahead, but I would prefer it if you left some of them here. We can put them up in the village. I know you won’t give us the recipe to that interrogation potion, but could you leave us a few vials, too?”

They continued on walking to the gate, talking about practical matters. Regina felt like she was getting better at her job, slowly but surely. It helped that Anuis was easy to work with.