//------------------------------// // Hatchling's Play // Story: The Naming of the Queen // by LeapingEquine //------------------------------// Flip! Flap! Brown and black, wings like me, black and brown- " Queen, are you paying attention?" The child-Queen looked up, playing innocent. The Shadow-Regent scowled back at her. He was exhausted. In most ways, the Queen looked perfectly normal. She had grown taller, her dark hide taking a more adolescent form, complete with holes and wings. Her hair now streamed around her face, framing her large eyes. Her horn was long and jagged, allowing her to channel the vast amounts of magic in her. Yet she wasn't normal. The magic in her might be powerful, but it also needed to be fed. Although the Scout Parties had increased their love collection in recent years, it was still scarce. Barely enough to feed a Hive that had grown smaller with starvation. Definitely not enough to fill a growing Queen. So she had not really grown. Her exterior fully showed the passing of more than a decade, but she was still a hatchling inside; foolish, and unaware that there were consequences to actions. Actions like watching moths while the Regent tried to give a lesson on power dynamics, gleaned from years of careful watching. He gave off a feeling of disapproval, anger. The Queen tried to concentrate. Regent is speaking...flip! Flap! No! Regent is speaking. Betrayal...betray your enemies... Queens fight back... Flap! No, Regent will make me feel bad again. Weakness...use them, and Regent gives me the thing-that-makes-me-unable to face him, and the thing-that burns me. Another flip-flap! Someone told me about the-thing-that-makes me unable-to-face-him, and the thing-that burns- me. She was muddy. Her cloak was soft. I took it from her, but she gave me the-thing-that-makes-me-feel-mixed-up. The cloak wasn't even worth anything! Muddy, like her. I saw her give the-thing-that-makes-me-unable-to-face-him to the big changeling in hard, shininess. H-Guardion. No! Regent says to abuse power... did Regent abus power? What is abus? The Regent was not pleased. The great, almighty Queen probably did not understand a thing he said. She might not even want to, choosing to devote her life to...moths. There was almost no point in trying to shape her, mold her into his personality. And there was no way to get her to pay attention, unless he tried to hunt down every moth in the immense Queen's Chambers. So he decided to simply abandon her. "Lesson's over, Queen. I have to take care of important duties. Amuse yourself in your chambers. Don't go out!" And then he was gone, darting off into the private tunnels that led from the Queen's Chambers. Like a shadow. The Queen waited a moment after he left. She strained her ears, trying to hear hoof steps that were simply not there. Regent was really gone. Good. She turned around, and bolted into a tunnel, her hoof-falls clumsy and jarring. Dark. Dark and big and lonely. Flip-flaps here? The Queen was beginning to suspect her own judgment. Surely the pretty things that looked like her couldn't be here? Nevertheless, she had seen them fly into here. But maybe was an illusion. Cloaked-One showed me what illusion was. Made Scouts look different. Turned into something... strange. Colors hurt my eyes. Called them Punies. Ugly. Turned into me. Look like changelings, but better. They say I'm pretty. Other-me looked pretty. Didn't like her. Only one Queen. Queen is me. Hive calls me Queen. Most Beloved Queen. Not Regent. Why? She turned a corner in the tunnel, and froze as something blinded her. Bright! Too bright! Punie bright! The light was unlike any she had ever seen. It had none of the subtle glow of bioluminescence, nor the ethereal mist of a Giving. No, it was bold and brazen and daring, and burned her slitted pupils. Her stomach gave a sickening lurch, forcing her to curl up on the ground, and squeeze her eyes shut. It was the most undignified position she could think of. It made her look like a hatchling. But she was in too much pain to care. Minutes trickled by slowly, and when she regained consciousness, the light wasn't so terribly bright anymore. But she didn't take too much notice of it. Her attention was focused on the thousands of moths that flittered around her. Flip-flaps! The tunnel was full of them. They rested on the mossy stone walls, with its deep crevices. Their wings were sleek black, dark brown, the palest grey, and made a faint papery-fluttery sound. A few brushed softly against the Queen. They mostly clustered around a large, jagged fissure in the tunnel's ceiling, where the not-so-bright-now light poured in. The old tunnel was unstable, as it rested just underneath the surface of the Badlands. At some point in the past, it had collapsed. Although rebuilt, it was no perfection, and had thus long since been abandoned, leaving it to insects. One particularly pretty moth caught the Queen's eye. Brilliantly golden, it was almost as large as her head. An impressive specimen. Flip-flap! Look like bright-light. Big. Big like me! Queen of Changelings is me. Flip-flap Queen of Burning Light. Look nice! Queen hurt Queen. Come here, Queen! She lunged toward it, and crashed into the tunnel wall. Luckily, the soft, if damp, moss absorbed most of the shock, leaving the Queen with only a brief jolt of pain. Hissing, she expressed her anger and humiliation. Regent said that Queens fight. Fight, Queen of Burning! Queen of changelings will give you thing-that-burns! Queen of changelings will use fangs! She reared up on her hind legs, and leaned on the mossy wall. Stretching her foreleg, she tried to stamp out the beastly thing, to squish it under her hoof. No such luck. The dratted thing was just out of her reach. Her anger built up inside her, scalding her, filling her with intense heat. The Queen of Burning is my enemy. Regent says to betray your enemies. She was a Queen. She was powerful enough for betrayal. How? A burst of magic was her answer. At first it was a cloud of blue, the color of bioluminescence. Then it flared green, a dazzling emerald green. It crackled from her horn, radiating pure power. It lapped at her slender frame, like tongues of fire. She focused on the moth, directed the greenness toward it. The poor thing didn't stand a chance. The energy curled around it, and solidified into a warm, soft gelatinous cocoon. It would die in there, suffocated. The Queen had won her battle. She smirked. Burning Queen weak. Intoxicated with her victory, she lost interest in the moths. Spying a sizeable crack in the tunnel, she wiggled through. Fun with flip-flaps done. Want to see Hive.