Its been over a week since the battle that ended with the defeat of five great queens; and since Chrysalis tried to take over Canterlot. As of now, the queens have decided to gather up in a meeting where it would be, formerly, decided what to do with the aforementioned events and, from what it looked like, it was going to be another hard day for the queens.
By this point, it was a common thing for all the changeling queens to meet, minimum, on a weekly basis on a parliament, called "The Collective's Palace", whose location was well hidden and any attempt to figure it out would be responded with a "close enough to Canterlot, so we can stay aware of its affairs, and far enough to not be touched by them" followed by a very strong "and it's not Ponyville!" It was here where all the queens would discuss the affairs happening during the week, including any kind of world event, how they should react to it and, most importantly, what problems would the queens have at the moment along the ways avaiable to fix said problems. Since there were too many queens and some were more powerful than others, it was decided to divide the parliament into two chambers:
The Low Chamber was the place created for all the queens that had hives containing between 50 drones to 2.000 drones. It contained the biggest amount of queens between the two chambers, once 30 and now 28. Its walls and domes, made out of white marble, were decorated with various moments of changeling history and it was wide enough to host, almost, a thousand queens but, ironically, it was the weakest of the two chambers. It's most powerful asset was controlling The Taxation in the changeling territory as well as The Education, regulations on The Media, The Culture among the changelings, The System regarding their growth(a.k.a. Love Collecting); and The Justice System but most of the decisions it made had to be either approved or ratified by the other chamber.
The thing is that this chamber contained, as one could infer, the weakest queens in Equestria. Too weak to give an actual battle or too concentrated to actually be capable of expanding their influence. They weren't stable enough to hold their hives on their own or, what they actually feared, defend themselves against invader forces. The one thing keeping them together were the Great Queens, the ones that held enough power, and resources, to fend off most invaders and to keep them hidden from the pony population. This is why most of this lower queens were on this chamber, they worked more as a muscle trying to force the will of their protectors, or trying to earn enough favors from other minor queens to not depend on the great queens too much.
This was the chamber where queens like Chrysalis worked to try and maintain the local stability between the changelings, and it was this chamber that was furious the most after her attempt to invade Canterlot, revealing their especies to the world. Centuries of espionage and hiding, an eon's old never written pact that was respected above any type of war and mistrust between the changeling especies. Breaking it was a crime beyond heresy, to reveal themselves was something above blasphemy and the judgement would've been, just a few decades ago, for all the queens to join together right then and there to go against Chrysalis and erase her, her family and her hive from changeling history. But that was then and this was now, and now war and aggression was becoming the old. More and more it was being debated whether or not it was a good idea to remain hidden from the ponies and the Great Queens were now against physical persecution.
For the Lower Queens, it was a forced yoke upon them to accept their will and not murder Chrysalis, although that didn't mean that there would be no consequence for it. It was a high debate how to handle her, and an even greater one to determine how severe it would be, but they managed to find a solution and send it to the Higher Chamber. Granted, it wasn't the only decision they made that day.
These decisions were taken straight away to the higher chamber, in the hopes that it would be taken and accepted as quick as possible, hoping that they would manage to get away with as much as they could.
This High Chamber, was a much smaller one, but it was made up in how magnificent it's construction was compared to the Low Chamber. While the lower chamber was made as a great but humble abode, the higher chamber was made as a symbol of who were the ones in charge among the changeling queens. With its obsidian columns, its top covered with baked gold and adorned with multiple beautiful gems (from rubies to sapphires and emeralds); they were perfectly fitting with its platinum walls painted with poly-chromatic glasses, showing the moments that changed changeling history, which were illuminated from the inside. Big enough to house over one hundred queens, although it currently housed just eight and, previously, nine. It was a testament of how powerful were the Great Queens, whose hives could go beyond the 2.000 drones and up to 50.000 drones, showing here who were the ones in charge of the species's survival.
This chamber was the one in charge of the distribution of the land, the defense measures for the species' survival, and the decisions that all queens would take for, both, the foreign and interior affairs for all of them, among other powers, that were rarely considered a priority. Nothing the Low Chamber did could be done without their approval but, as a sign of fair treatment and recognition towards the Lower Queens, no decision made by the higher chamber could be passed without the approval of the lower chamber as well.
This is why, even though the higher chamber had so much power, the great queens never tried to impose their authority on the Lower Queens. They were they're protectors, not their slavers and they were also well aware that abusing them would only create unnecessary tension that could, inevitable, lead to their demise. In other words, this was a very thin balance where the Lower Queens would respect the authority of the Great Queens, while the Great Queens wouldn't try to abuse said authority over them.
Granted there were some exceptions, since some queens were in there more out of fear rather than drone numbers or territory controlled but, as previously mentioned, said queens had power beyond those numbers that guaranteed their position in said chamber. This is especially important because, when there were nine queens, the three committees (Defense, Treasury and Political Affairs) were perfectly balanced between them, by distributing three queens for each committee. But now there was one less queen and that meant that someone was going to have much more power for the following months.
This was especially troubling for the blue queen Valeris, as she was trying to find a way to calm all the queens from not killing each other, by trying to fill the vacant spot left by the Great Queen Zirconis after her hive was invaded, and destroyed, by Anidis. Not only had her spot in Treasury was empty, but now her territory had to be distributed as well, including Appleloosa and the southern territories. It was clear that a spot like The Treasury was too great for certain queens to let it empty, but these fights...
"No Amaryllis! You won't get in the Treasury Committee. You already preside the Political Affairs and getting here now would be an abuse of authority."
Said a very angry Fortis in a tone that was very close to shouting, although the amber colored queen gave a nice retort.
"And you can? The presidency over the Treasury Committee belonged to your mother, not you. Just because you're the new queen of your hive doesn't mean that you can come here, and take over all of her duties without passing the due process, isn't that right Valeris?"
The very angered queen Valeris was trying really hard to not murder everyone there and then. This, along Fortis' coronation, was the last thing they had to talk about during the week before hitting a month worth of vacations that they all certainly needed, but it looked like the queens still weren't capable of understanding the idea of just waiting until they could legally shift places. But she believed in diplomacy, so she would try once again to keep the discussion calmed and respond in a very soft, although slightly menacing, tone.
"Amaryllis is right Fortis, your mother was the one in charge of said committee, not you. That means that, legally speaking, you shouldn't be able to preside it but" -, she then turned to the amber colored queen and her liquid-like amber eyes. - "The thing is, Amaryllis, we don't have an actual rule about it because we never thought of the idea of having a murdered queen in the middle of all this. Not even counting that you already preside a very important committee, and leaving it would create a vacuum in one of the worst moments in our modern history. Where we, now, have to figure out what to do with the equestrians now that they've discovered our existence" -. She then turned to all the queens and gave her, hopefully, final piece. - "At the same time, since we're just a couple months away from the Great Council, where we can make the proper changes and name a replacement for Zirconis, and have a more consistent decision regarding Anidis, I say that we can name Fortis as a temporary replacement for her mother, then do her due coronation during this vacation, so she can be formally recognized as a queen and then we can sort out which queen will be in which committee. Sounds good?"
Both Amaryllis and Fortis weren't feeling so well but they just couldn't find a good response to her, especially because Valeris was having that face she usually did whenever she wanted to kill someone, and they've already seen her fulfilling that threat before. But, before any comment could be made, a very soft, and much more calmed but still energetic voice, sprung in the chamber, formally voicing her own desires towards the verbally fighting queens.
"Well, it sounds good for me" -. Said the rose-colored queen Cerebelis. - "But, Valeris, if all your worries are just who's going to preside the Political Affairs Committee, then you could just give it to me and-"
In that moment, all the other seven queens responded with a powerful and monstrous voice that, very simply, could be translated as the equal feeling of having someone like Cerebelis even near the Political Affairs Committee, with a mixture of both fear and defiance towards a monstrous concentration of power.
"NO!"
There were queens like Valeris, who managed to become strong through war, having one of the most populated hives and by controlling key territorial places in Equestria, and then there were queens like Cerebelis, who didn't have much territory or changelings for that matter, but she was much more feared than anyone else for being able to hold influential power beyond drones and land. The type of power Cerebelis had went beyond war or work force, and its very nature was the main reason why nobody wanted her controlling a committee that just made it all easier for her, which is why all the queens agreed to never let her be anywhere near to it.
As Cerebelis flinched at the rejection projected at her, she just grunted in annoyance and simply responded by calling her fellow queens "killjoys" with a pout. Thankfully, it was the very idea of the rose menace having that power, what settled the power dispute between Fortis and Amaryllis, by accepting Valeris's proposition.
"So" -. Said a very tired queen Luxis, her pearly white carapace losing its glow as stress started to weight on her. - "With that sorted out, we can state that for the High Chamber has agreed in:
First Point: The High Chamber rejects the recognition of Anidis as a queen of any kind until a delegation made between the two chambers can go and see if she follows any of the necessary requisites to be part of the Changeling Society. Resolution approved by unanimous vote.
Second Point: The High Chamber agrees in not making a territorial rearrangement on the minor hives belonging to Queen Zirconis and they will have a lower trade taxation until the Great Council of the Queens comes on the following months. Resolution approved 5 to 3 votes.
Third Point: The High Chamber recognizes Princess Fortis as the rightful heir and new queen of the Castleen Hive and will accept her as part of the next Great Council of Queens. Approved by unanimous vote.
Fourth Point: The High Chamber agrees in letting Fortis handling, former, Queen Castis's position on the parliament until she gets crowned and no change whatsoever will be made to the composition of the committees until the next Great Council of the Queens. Approved by unanimous vote.
Is that alright?"
And, after an unanimous, and very tired, "yeah", the session was finished and the queens prepared to leave the chamber.
This would've meant that the meeting on the High Chamber was over, and the queens would finally have a vacation from this meetings but, like a rooster singing to a worker that has just tucked himself into his bed, a changeling delegate came to the chamber, just in time to give them the resolutions made by the lower chamber, with the explicit explanation that this was demanding an immediate response, much to the queens annoyance who, very tiredly, decided to make an emergency meeting to give the delegate their immediate response.
"Couldn't they just wait until next month?" - Asked a queen Fortis already wanting to leave now that her position was secured, at which a green queen Gardenis responded. - "Get used to it newbie, the Low Chamber loves to pull this one out on us every. Single. Time. We're about to hit vacations or recesses."
Luxis then started to read the series of resolutions.
"Alright, first point: The Low Chamber decides to rejects Queen Anidis as part of Changeling Society and demands full military move against her. Resolution Approved by 17 votes but having 5 votes against it and 6 abstentions. What does the High Chamber says?"
After a series of approvals and rejections were made, almost at the same time, Luxis quickly wrote on the answering scroll.
"The High Chamber rejects the first point, 5 votes against 3".
"One would think that, after hearing our report, they would understand that war isn't a viable option against her."
Said a very annoyed queen Valeris, at which she was responded by a despondent Queen Cerebelis.
"Indeed, but it's also normal that the ones who love war the most are those who have never faced it and, let's be honest, most of these queens wouldn't go to war even if it were their only choice, so they prefer to send others instead."
After a silent agreement on Cerebelis' statement, Luxis went to the next point.
"Second Point: The Low Chamber agrees on making a tax alleviation on all the minor hives belonging to Queen Zirconis until the following Great Council of the Queens comes and the territory can be redrawn. Resolution approved 20 votes against 8. What does the High Chamber says?"
The eight queens gave their responses almost immediately and their voices creating a noisy cacophony that made almost impossible to discern what they just said but, surprisingly, the pearly white queen understood it all.
"The High Chamber Approves the Resolution 5 votes against 3."
"It's quite interesting" -. Said a very bored queen Gardenis. - "That they didn't mention how high will be the alleviation, but I can just imagine how much will they reduce the taxes for themselves, those greedy, love sucking, queens."
After a very cynical agreement, Luxis went on with the next resolution.
"Third Point: The Low Chamber has decided to..." - Luxis gave the scroll a second glance to be sure of what she was reading. - "Well, I was expecting that they would get though on Chrysalis after what she pulled on Canterlot, but not on this level" -. All the other queens gave her an inquisitive look, wanting to know what she just read. - "The Low Chamber has decided to restrict Queen Chrysalis of any kind of trade with all the hives living in Equestria, she can no longer get love from any pony settlement belonging to a hive that isn't hers, she cannot trade her goods with any type of hive or pony settlement that isn't on her territory, she cannot be part of the Low Chamber until the next Great Council is held and her ultimate fate is decided; and she is banned from all the hives and their respective territories as long as she remains as the queen of her hive. Resolution approved 28 to none. What does the High Chamber says?"
"Wait, didn't she go to hide in the badlands?" -. Fortis decided to ask first. - "Wouldn't a resolution like that be an overkill? I mean, don't get me wrong, she did something horrible to us as a whole, but isn't it a bit unfair to punish the drones for something the queen did?"
All the queens looked at each other with certain levels of doubt, they were angry at Chrysalis for what she did, but they never expected the other queens to respond with such a way.
"You are correct, Queen Fortis" -. Responded Queen Gardenis. - "It is unfair that the drones and innocent civilians pay the price for what she did. But, as queens, it's our responsibility to work and act for our servants, never to act regardless of them. This is all Chrysalis's fault, no one else. What I wonder now, though, is what prompted the Lower Queens to act in such a way."
"Well, I suppose that, they decided to respond like that because they can no longer get to her through war" -. All the queens looked at Queen Lixis and her radiant yellow eyes, sympathizing with the emotions they all held. - "I may not share that sentiment, neither the sentence done to her, but I do think that Chrysalis still did something very wrong and we must condemn her for that. So I accept."
The queens thought on this and, before saying their votes, a grey queen Dustis added.
"I agree, but, let's also add that, should she decide another attempt on invading Equestria, all the queens will get to invade her and terminate both her and her family. That should be enough warning for her to understand the severity of her acts. Agreed?"
All the queens agreed and decided to go to the fourth and final point made by the Low Chamber.
"Fourth Point: The Low Chamber demands..." - Once again, Luxis gave the scroll a scrutinizing look, after which, she responded with much anger. - "Oh, those opportunist, two-faced leeches!" - The queens were now wondering what the Lower Queens just decided that, it could anger one of the most diplomatic and well mannered queen among them, thankfully, the answer came right from the source. - "The Low Chamber demands to speed up the Great Council of the Queens meeting to the following month, after the vacations, to recompose as fast as possible the composition of both chambers and the territories for each queen."
"What!?"
This made all the queens to rage at the Low Chamber's decision, each one of them getting close to the scroll to read it right away just to see if they heard wrong, with Cerebelis being the most angered one at that.
"And the love-sucking pupas couldn't even agree on this one and still passed it!"
Indeed, while the Low Chamber was composed of 30 queens and required the approval votes of 16 queens to pass any resolution, the fourth point had only 13 approval votes, 12 rejection votes and 3 abstentions.
"I can't believe it!" - Said a very angered Amaryllis. - "They reject Anidis as a queen but still decides to use her as a way to see if, at least, one of them can come here and gain more territorial control."
"They think that, just because we lost a battle, they are now stronger than any of us" -. Said a furious Valeris.
Queen Fortis was angrily looking at the very scared delegate who was hoping that it were just rumors the popular saying that the High Chamber loved to shoot the messenger.
"I would really like to see what kind of logic Faustis used to pass this resolution" -. Said a queen Dustis who looked like if she would catch on fire at any second. - "With this, it's now five times she has decided to ignore due process and try to make us approve her demands" -. She then looked at Valeris, who had the look of murder she was very famous for. - "Valeris, are you sure that we cannot do anything about her? Zirconis isn't around anymore, there's no great queen protecting her now."
Valeris looked at Dustis and responded with a cold tone that sent a shiver to the spines of all queens that has seen her in battle.
"She has the support of enough queens down there to block any attempt to go after her through the rules, and trying to kill her could cause a civil war due to her connections with the black markets and rogue drones, not even counting that she would try to use both Chrysalis and the Equestrians to fight us. Trust me, I would jump right now to kill her if I could."
"Wait a second" -. Interrupted Queen Gardenis. - "So it's true that she's connected to the changeling black markets?"
Cerebelis interjected right away.
"Yes she is. My drones found out that she, not only, helps the changelings to make contraband and sell our goods at a higher price on other continents, she also trades with the other kingdom's black markets, ponies, dragons, deers, you name it. We have copies and evidence of her using multiple cities under Zirconis' territory to help on those trades. We were going to pressure Zirconis to stop supporting her but then Anidis came and invaded her hive."
As the queens were enraging, one queen in particular, a very keen Fortis noticed something.
"Wait a second, all of this resolutions have twenty-eight votes. I know Chrysalis didn't come, for obvious reasons, so who else didn't come today?"
All the queens stopped their rage and started to think about it, there was no reason whatsoever to avoid this meeting, after all, it was a very important one but no queen came to their mind until the delegate decided to interrupt them with his very fearful, dry and shy voice.
"Well... about that..." - All the queens started to look at him with a very poisonous glare, hoping that the news he were about to give weren't as bad as the monstrosity held in that scroll. - "You see, the other queen that didn't come was Charbonis" -. In that moment, all the great queens froze, the one queen that didn't come was the one living just a few hooves away from Anidis' new hive. That meant that... - "After you left, Anidis quickly put her hive into siege until she surrendered, and the only one that has managed to escape from there was her daughter, Princess Diamantis."
After hearing that, Fortis got closer to the delegate and looked at him with a very angry growl.
"And why wasn't I informed that one of the hives I protect was under siege?"
The very scared changeling, who was very good at keeping his tone while being totally scared of the queen looking down at him right then, answered as quickly as possible.
"That's because the princess just got here and delivered The Low Chamber a letter from her mother asking for help. That's all I know, Faustis told the two of us to come here and ask you for advice."
With this, the anger of the queens just raised beyond what was conceivable to them but, unlike the other deformity brought to them, the queens started to use their rage to formulate a plan against Faustis, one that they were very eager to do.
"So" -, said a very calmed Valeris. - "You're telling us that the Lady of the Low Chamber decided to avoid her responsibilities, ignore the situation of a fellow Lower Queen, and threw the corpse at us?" - The delegate could only silently nod at the dangerous queen looking at him. - "I see, go tell Princess Diamantis to wait for us in the Parliament's receiving hall. We'll tell her our decision very soon after you receive our response to the lower chamber."
The delegate nodded very quickly and decided to wait. As Valeris looked at Luxis and quickly dictated her decision.
"The High Chamber rejects the Fourth Point for (A) lacking the needed votes to be considered a legal resolution and (B) the High Chamber has already decided the following steps regarding the Great Council of the Queens. Agreed?"
All the queens lifted their arms and silently agreed. Luxis finished writing the response and gave it to Valeris, who then gave it to the Delegate with the following addendum.
"And tell Faustis that she can take her time with this, she doesn't have to decide right away or when the vacations are over She can take as much time as she wants and you will not tell her anything else regarding the conversations held on this chamber." -. And then she finished on the most menacing tone she could make. - "Understood?"
The delegate quickly nodded, delivered the letter given by Princess Diamantis and darted off to the Low Chamber, hoping to never go back to the Great Queens or summon their rage.
As the queens were saying their goodbyes and leaving, only two were left, the one that was supposed to take responsibility and the one planning her next step against her enemy.
"Fortis" -. Said a still angry Valeris. - "I'm glad to see you willing to take responsibility of this even though it was my fault of her current situation."
The Bronze queen looked at her blue ally and simply retorted.
"Don't misunderstand me, this is my duty as her protector, I should be the one thankful to you for admitting your part on this."
The blue queen simply smiled and opened the letter.
From: Queen Charbonis
To: The Great Council of the QueensI, Queen Charbonis, write this to whoever queen has decided to come to my aid to ask you to desist. My forces has already been destroyed by Anidis, as I write this to you, and my personal guard will be used to escort my daughter outside of this hive, in the hopes of her to be able to start a hive of her own.
As you may have guessed, by looking at her, she's a very young queen and, I'm afraid to admit, I couldn't properly give her the training that all changeling princesses requires at the age she should've gotten it. I may excuse myself under the guise of a lack of time or that it wasn't among my priorities, but I won't go around that. I admit my mistake for breaking traditions based on discipline and forewarning; and, now, I must pay the price of that. All I hope is that, whoever decides to read this and aid my daughter, do not come here and try a rescue mission. I already decided to give up my hive to Anidis in the hopes that she won't try to squash us, I had to tell my daughter that this letter contained details that would aid said rescue mission to success but, sadly, I doubt it will come that.
To those who care about my beloved daughter, please, do to her what I failed to do as a queen, train her to be a proper queen and, continue where I more tried to succeed; give her the love a mother always provide to her daughter, for she will need all the strength possible to survive the hurdles coming to her.
My daughter, if you're reading this, please forgive me for my lies and mistakes, should I've put as much effort in being a good queen as I put into being a mother, perhaps you would've been better prepared to the trials ahead of you. Just, remember to be strong and that you'll always be in my heart.
Signed:
Queen Charbonis of the Coal Hive
The queens started to look at each other, understanding even more why Faustis decided to throw this problem at them and decided to formulate a plan for the princess who would be soon called queen.
"So" -. Started Valeris. - "Since it looks like we'll be handling a very rookie queen. Do you know of any territory you could give her?"
Fortis gave her an inquisitive look and answered after giving it a good thought.
"Well, there's Ponyville. I have no minor queen in there and it's... 'close' enough to my hive to protect her should anything arise in there."
Valeris quickly looked at her with a baffled look on her face.
"Ponyville? Are you sure? The Elements of Harmony make that place very hard to work around with, not even counting how close it is to Canterlot."
The bronze queen looked at the warrior queen and simply shrugged.
"It's the best I have. The blast that took out Chrysalis cleaned Canterlot of changelings and recovering that city will be a very tenacious task. I won't give such dangerous place to a rookie queen."
At that, though, Valeris decided to smile, plans formulating in her head.
"Oh!" - She said in a very dramatic tone, a tone that weird out Fortis. - "So Canterlot is empty right now?" - As Valeris spoke, Fortis started to realize where she was going. - "Perhaps you could, pass it to me? I now a few queens who would gladly populate it and are more than ready to use it."
Fortis quickly retorted to Valeris with a scowl.
"No way Valeris! My mother fought very hard in the first Great Council of the Queens to get Canterlot and I won't give it up to you, not after you had to give it up to her on the first place."
Valeris flinched, not expecting this level of refusal but, she wouldn't give up even if that meant to accept Fortis's response to her, at least for now.
"Fine, have it your way" -. Said the blue queen. - "But that still leave us with a very important problem. How will Diamantis have her hive populated fast enough for the next Great Council of the Queens? She cannot be recognized as a queen unless she has 50 drones minimum."
As both queens passed through the desolate passages of the hidden parliament, moving as slow as they could, both to think on this problem, how to engage it and because Valeris was still limping for the wound in her rear leg while Fortis still had her wing cut. Both queens came to the same realization to their problem.
"We'll have to bring drones from other hives until she manages to create drones of her own" -. Said a very sad Fortis, realizing what it meant to do that. - "That means that she'll have to-"
"-Meet other queens and hope that they'll be kind enough to give her the drones needed to start building the hive without asking much in exchange" -. Finished a very troubled Valeris.
As the two queens started to get close to her target, they could start to hear a very nervous series of steps going around the waiting hall, telling her of the current mental condition of the princess, now queen, awaiting them.
"This meetings won't be easy ones. That's for sure" -. Said Fortis as she started to imagine the kind of demands other queens would give the rookie just to even consider to borrow her some drones.
"Perhaps we could make it easier for her" -. Said Valeris as a confused Fortis looked at her. The warrior seasoned queen looked at her equal and continued. - "We could give her the transforming wax."
As she said this, Fortis wide her eyes, not sure how to react at such idea.
"Valeris, that wax is top secret from each hive. Are you sure you're willing to give her some of your wax?" - Valeris just scoffed at her fellow queen, as if a bad joke was just given. - "Don't dream it, I'll just give her the formula and ingredients to make one of her own. That way, the ponies she picks to become into her drones will be more loyal to her."
Fortis, understanding this, simply looked at the ground and gave this a bit more thought, and, before reaching their target, made a final question.
"So, you'll let her pick on her own which ponies will she turn into her drones? Are you sure that's a good idea?"
Valeris never looked back at Fortis, but her tone of voice said how determined she was with this.
"She must start to take responsibilities and this is the best way to start her training to become a queen. Besides, there's no way she can make it any worse than Chrysalis has already done to us."
Fortis looked at her fellow queen doubtful but decided to not pressure her anymore and, as they were looking at a very young, probably a 15 years old, queen, unable to even lay fertilized eggs yet, and made a simple statement.
"You know nothing about being 'a good mother', right?"
"No."
"That's what I feared."
And, as the two queens finally got close to who would become, very soon, a new Lower Queen, their heart almost breaks as she started to look at them with very worried and hopeful eyes and pleaded with a broken voice common from those who haven't matured yet.
"Are you the queens that will answer to my mother's call? How are you planning to help her?"
The two queens looked at each other, knowing very well what was going to happen very soon, and looked at the princess, her shining white carapace, her forming crown, her eyes starting to form the cat-slit irises and her body starting to form into what was common for a Changeling Queen and Fortis responded to her.
"We read your mother's letter and, after making some discussions, we came to some conclusions" -. The princess was still looking at her with hopeful eyes and both queens knew how bad it was going to be to destroy them. - "But first" -. Her eyes started to falter. - "You must first listen to what you mother wrote."
And, without quavering neither breaking her voice, Queen Fortis started to read the letter that broke Princess Diamantis' heart, now realizing that she may never see her mother again and that she was going to enter into a very harsh world. A world she was not ready for, and all she could do about it was to make the floor meet the water in her eyes, as a pair of blue legs tried to comfort her.