The inner wall of the hive dome was an excellent subject to stare at. It was intricate, yet simple. All hexagons and warm-colored wax separating our safe zone from the hostile world outside. And hostile it was.

“Stupid thing blocks the whole forest. Stupid, idiotic design. Can I tear it down and replace it with a decent dam?”

The beaver’s words were no longer broken up by chitters, which honestly was starting to feel more like a curse than a triumph. I’d been dozing the entire morning, and in that time, Queen took the liberty of bringing the bear and the beaver closer to the dome’s edge for a ‘tour’. Tour? Of our stronghold? I was starting to feel like she didn’t understand the purpose of a home base.

“It is also a home, and we have many new guests to introduce. We won’t let them inside, but we need to gain their trust.”

Disregarding the good points she made, Queen was still making me nervous with her free-wheeling treatment of the two mysterious reincarnations. But I had to admit that, in this case, her choice had resolved one of the most annoying things I’d had to deal with over the past couple of days. Not having to piece together what the bear and the beaver were saying soothed me more than I cared to admit.

“Sir Beaver, be polite. Our hosts have been gracious enough to feed and shelter us. Please stop making fun of their terrifying fortress.”

I stared at the two creatures just out of their sight, hiding in a wax hexagon in the hive’s wall. When Queen was alone with the two reincarnations, their speech was broken, missing words and sounds replaced with animalistic noises. Now that I was close enough to hear them, it was as if the missing pieces floated into place. As if half the puzzle had been missing entirely. Which, I suppose, it had been. I felt a scowl coming on. If both Queen and I had to be present just to understand what these two were saying, communicating with them would be a massive pain. Hopefully, the CBU would decode their broken speech before Queen and I separated again.

“Enno,” Queen said through Yelah’s lips. “Come greet our guests already.”

A grumble tried escaping, but I squashed it. If nothing else, I could make an impressive first impression on these two to discourage them from trying any funny business. With the lightest signal, I had a collection of warriors led by Beryl flow out of the hive wall, creating a buzzing procession for me to float along. The warriors didn’t form straight lines, but a pair of constantly shifting walls humming with the beat of hundreds of wings. The Valkybees surrounded me, acting as a spear and shield, their dark presence pushing the air away from wherever I flew. Behind me on my left flew Bedivere, eyes sharp and stinger sharper, and behind my right buzzed Beatrice, who was being Beatrice. When I emerged, the bear stiffened, and the beaver’s Mind flared in sudden defiance, only to sputter out as the weight of my procession fell on them.

Queen rolled her eyes, one of her new favorite human things to do.

“Scaring them is not productive,” she said privately.

“I think it’s very productive. At least it made the beaver shut up about dams.”

When I came to a stop in front of them, the bear and the beaver had averted their eyes downward. I caught a flicker in the beaver’s eyes, as if he were reading something only he could see. Most likely a system message. But if he was getting system messages at a random time like this, it meant a god had to be involved. And that meant I had to be careful around these two.

Queen spoke for the both of us.

“Welcome to our hive. We hope you understand that for matters of security, we cannot show you everything. But there are plenty of fascinating things to see along the inside of the dome wall. We hope you are not bothered by the escort; safety is our top priority.”

A pause, then the two reincarnations nodded. I glanced behind them. As if these two weren’t enough, Queen had also graciously invited the four fernen friends to join the tour, which was starting to reach into excessive territory. She’d already given Elofan near-complete access to the hive so she could visit Vlugh, and now the other fernen were getting the red carpet?

“There are far more crucial concerns. If we don’t learn what the bear and beaver know, we will remain ignorant of the gods’ designs. They are weak. I know, I know, I struggled against the bear. But we are still figuring out our split situation. In our territory, they stand no chance. Same for the fernen. And they all know it. They will be good. It is infinitely more important that we get an idea of the gods’ machinations before they result in our destruction. The Human is one thing. And I am certain Vlugh is currently connected to the Dragon in some form, which you refuse to share with me. Yes, I know you’re hiding that. The longer we remain ignorant and tunnel-visioned, the longer we remain little more than pawns in the gods’ twisted games.”

I floated in place long enough for the beaver to work up the courage to wave at me, like it would wake me up from a nap. I gave a single sharp nod, and the procession for a ruler turned into an escort. I let Beatrice lead the way just in front of me, my back confidently turned to the guests as if challenging them to try something stupid. As Beatrice whispered a curated and carefully designed tour script into our ears, Queen translated for the visitors, explaining in carefully edited detail about the wall’s construction, the oddly colored wax, the glacial pace of the forest revitalization near the river. The bear and beaver kept stealing glances at me, as if they could see something stuck to my face. I knew what they were thinking even without the Link: ‘that’s another reincarnated human.’ I wasn’t sure why I was certain they knew, but something told me they did. The tour dragged on, which for me was exceedingly boring, and I became distracted by thoughts of the hive’s progress.

Even without being able to make new queens yet, there were many other roles that were sorely needed. Beck’s group, in particular, was stretched very thin. And the Ben Squad was much too small for a proper reconnaissance force. And as much as it pained me to say, the truth was that our combat forces were sorely lacking. I needed more leaders and more troops. Our swarm numbers simply weren’t overwhelming enough to compete with individual power. But warriors were the most difficult to mass produce without more resources and time. At best I could try making a new team member for Beck, but without a new queen, my confidence in our safety was dropping by the day.

“Well, we have been touring for quite some time. We have prepared an area in a nearby clearing for lunch, so please make yourselves comfortable. Ah, bear and beaver. Please come with me.”

Queen spoke with the tone of a royal and the inflection of a hiccuping sloth. She really needed to get better with her voice. It took me a moment to realize that the procession was filtering away, leaving only the bear, beaver, Queen, and myself, and as I turned away to go chow down, Queen grabbed me by the leg.

“Enno, we have much to discuss with our guests. Privately.”

It was difficult to tell if Queen still hadn’t figured out how to smile or if her grin was simply creepy. She pulled me away from the clearing and the smell of delicious honey towards a nearby electric crystal, where the ozone and crackling of electricity would mask any eavesdropping. Not that eavesdropping was a thing for bees.

Queen rounded on the bear and beaver, who were still looking at me like I was a ticking time bomb.

“Well. We can finally talk in proper language about the thing on everyone’s Mind. The three of you are reincarnated humans from another world, stuck in the bodies of non-human creatures here in this world.” She tilted her head. “Though it seems neither of you has company as Enno did.”

The bear shifted. The beaver finally perked back up and slammed his tail on the ground.

“Yes. Yes! Finally, we can get some damn answers. I’ve been running around like an idiot without a clue, ‘cause this stupid world keeps trying to eat me and the words in my face don’t tell me anything helpful. What is this place? Why is it a totally different world? Why is this world so weird? Why is there magic? Do you have wine? How do I get back home? Is this hell? Why am I a beaver? Seriously, though, you got wine?”

The bear looked she wanted to interject with her own questions, but either the beaver’s were so stupid it was stunned, or he somehow asked exactly what she wanted to know. Queen just stared at the eager beaver, her face blank.

“We were hoping you might have some clues about the nature of your situation. We can share what we know, but unfortunately it is very little of value.”

The beaver slapped his tail on the ground again. He opened his mouth, closed it, grabbed a metal spike embedded in the ground nearby, and started chewing on it. The bear fidgeted, which is an odd motion to see from a bear.

“I see. We simply thought that since you were so well-established and causing warnings in the words, you might have more knowledge than we do. We were given almost no guidance and have spent most of our time escaping capture and death.”

Queen narrowed her eyes. “Warnings in the words?”

The beaver shrugged, his metal spike half gone. “Yeah, the words that appear in our faces talking about Abilities and whatever. One thing it said was that the west was dangerous. When we crossed the mountains, it went away and started saying, ‘watch out, bad stuff over here.’ So, Bear and I set up defenses. I made a dam. Then you guys showed up, and I thought we were going to die.”

Queen glanced at me. Which was very unlike her, because overt actions like that aren’t subtle at all. It spoke to how concerned she became over the beaver’s comment. I tried not to let it show on my face. Well, it was doubtful either of them would be able to recognize when a bee’s face was saying, ‘holy crap that’s scary.’ The gods were communicating with the bear and beaver directly through the system messages. Was it the Human? Or maybe the god of Bears and of Beavers? My guard went back up.

Even so, I gave Queen the go-ahead to drop the big bomb.

“We have further information about the situation behind the reincarnation. If there is anything familiar to you, tell us. But Enno recalls moments during his state of death. His soul was taken from among countless other human souls by one of the gods, presumably the Bee, who then implanted his soul into my body. All we have gathered thus far is that there is potentially a conflict among the gods, especially other gods against the Human god.”

Queen waited. I realized something. The metal spike dangled from the beaver’s mouth like the world’s most inconvenient cigar. The bear went very still, her eyes trying to decide whether to bulge from their sockets or blink. I turned to Queen.

“Uh. I don’t think they know about the gods and stuff, Queen. You might’ve just blown their Minds.”