Chrysalis had remained in the nursery until the final cocoon had stilled. The larva inside would now be joining its brood mates, entering into its hibernation and starting its metamorphosis into a nymph. In the coming spring they would all emerge.
The majority of the brood will be drones, filling the jobs of Infiltrators, scouts, caretakers and workers. The remaining few will be soldiers, slightly bigger and stronger than the average changeling. The last cocoon however…
“Your highness?” Katydid softly said, standing just behind and to the right side of the queen.
“Yes Katydid?” Chrysalis answered, her thoughts interrupted but her eyes never leaving the cocoons.
“The larva will be fine, we’ll check on them multiple times daily to make sure no parasites or mites develop on the cocoons.” Katydid said while stepping next to the side of the queen and looking up at her. “Everyling else has left, you don’t have to stay.”
In the past few hundred years Chrysalis very rarely laid eggs of her own. She had left it up to the rest of the hive so she could focus more on leading her subjects and less on raising young. But times are different now and the average female changeling could only lay up to three eggs at the most. She, however, could produce up to ten times that if properly gorged on love.
“I have no doubt about how well you’ll both watch over them.” Chrysalis said, her tone neutral but with a small scowl on her face.
The queen turned to the sisters who cautiously took a step back. With an exhale of breath, she let the frown fade from her features.
“I’m not upset with you two, my mind was just on something else,” She assured them. “You’ve both adapted this chamber marvelously for rearing larva. The temperature is perfect. They’ve been kept properly clean, fed and not a single one was lost nor did any develop an illness. For first time caretakers, and ones so young, you have both done remarkably. In fact, if I didn’t already know better, you would think veteran nursemaids labored over this chamber.”
Normally she didn’t like to heap so much praise on anyling but nothing she just said was a lie. They did outperform expectations and from the beaming looks of pride the sisters now gave her, she knew that praising their accomplishment was a good thing. It would help in keeping them motivated.
When she really thought about it though, everyling around her had been working to their fullest to bring the new hive together.
“I will watch over the nursery till mid-morning,” Chrysalis said with a smirk while giving the sisters half lidded eyes. “I want you both to go out and enjoy yourselves tonight, maybe do a little… hunting.”
“Are you sure my queen?” Lacewing asked.
“Positively,” Chrysalis answered, lifting her leg and moving her hoof in a shooing motion, “and before you go, could you find Phasmid and ask him to come see me.”
Lacewing and Katydid both bowed respectfully before trotting from the cavern.
Phasmid had returned to the decaying halls of the castle above. Currently he was standing at the entrance of a moldering kitchen, quietly tracing his vision over the scattered cooking utensils that littered the floor. His ears rotated from one direction to another as he crept into the room, stealthily moving toward the door of a pantry that was cracked slightly open. Instantaneously his horn glowed green and his magic threw the cabinet open.
Inside was a single scraggly rat. Once again it sat frozen on its haunches, staring up at the changeling, with a smidgen of food held in its tiny paws. A moment later it let out a shocked squeak when it flew up into the air, surrounded by an aura of green. With a triumphant grin and his prize secured, Phasmid turned around to leave; but what he saw caused him to freeze in place.
Lacewing and Katydid were leaning against opposite sides of the door frame with matching smirks on their faces and looking like perfect mirror images.
With his face blushing and heart pounding the magic grip Phasmid had on the rat faltered and the rodent dropped to the ground. He didn’t even register the vermin as it scrabbled across the floor and through a crack in the wall.
“I think we made him lose his lunch,” Katydid said to Lacewing.
“More like we did him a favor,” Lacewing responded, “it didn’t look very tasty.”
Once his brain restarted and he swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat, Phasmid trotted up to the two caretakers.
“Is something wrong?” He asked, going into soldier mode.
“Other than your meal choices,” Lacewing teased, “no.”
“The queen gave us the night off,” said Katydid while pushing away from the door frame and sauntering around him, “and she asked us to find you.”
“Why?” Phasmid asked, his breath hitching when Katydid brushed against him.
“We’ll, she did tell us to go out,” Lacewing ambled up to him and purred into his ear, “and enjoy ourselves.”
Still as a statue, Phasmid stood, while the two female changelings circled him like a pair of hungry timberwolves. After an agonizing moment of torturing him in this way the sisters started to giggle and then cantered back toward the kitchen door.
“And teasing you is very enjoyable,” Lacewing smirked, “even if it’s a little easy.”
“Queen Chrysalis would like to see you though,” Katydid said over her shoulder as she followed her sister out the door.
Phasmid stared at the now empty doorway. Behind him the little rat quietly returned and picked up its dropped meal. It made a very rude gesture at his back and then snuck back through the crack in the wall.
“You wanted to see me your highness?” Phasmid asked as he entered the Nursery.
He stopped just past the doorway and bowed to Chrysalis who was currently resting on a soft patch of moss. With her eyes closed, her ears swiveled in his direction.
“Yes,” she said, opening her piercing eyes and looking over at him, “I want to talk to you about your standing as a guard of the hive.”
“Have I done anything wrong my queen?” he timidly asked and for the second time in the past twenty minutes, felt frozen in place.
“No, quite the opposite,” she said, fluttering her wings as she rose up onto her hooves. “I’ve noticed your initiative and that you’ve been performing extra patrols. You also have good reflexes, as I’ve witnessed in the throne room. However I do have to address that you’re more physically suited to be an infiltrator, or maybe a scout.”
Phasmid had been feeling pretty good about his unexpected evaluation, up until the last part anyway. He shuffled slightly on his hooves, his gaze almost dipping to look at the floor but then with a calm exhale of breath, he steeled himself. Keeping his eyes forward he stood still at proper attention.
“As the hive grows, more soldiers will be born,” she continued while looking straight at him, “and even though it will be years before they're fully matured, I need to know; do you think you can keep up with them?”
“Yes, your highness,” He answered without hesitation.
“Really?” She asked, narrowing her eyes a little.
“Yes, I do, your highness,” He repeated.
“Very well,” she said, “if you feel you’re truly able to continue your duties as a guard, then am I correct to assume that you’ll have no objection to extra training.”
“None my queen,” He said.
“Odonate would be training you,” she said while walking up to him, “and he won’t go easy on you. He’ll put you through the same rigorous exercises as any other soldier.”
“I’m up to the challenge, my queen,” he affirmed.
Chrysalis stopped in front of him. The changeling queen towered over his smaller stature as she looked down at him silently.
“That was you’re fathers helmet,” she stated, “isn’t it.”
“Yes…” Phasmid said after a slight pause, obviously thrown off at the sudden direction she took the conversation in, though he did his best to hide it. “Yes it was.”
“It’s still a little big for you,” she pointed out, “but I’m sure you’ll grow into it; and I’m sure you’ll make him proud.”
At the direction of Phasmid, Odonate headed for the nursery. The younger changeling had found him patrolling the tunnels and informed him queen Chrysalis wished to see him. When he passed through the curtain covering the chamber entrance he spotted the queen right away, standing in the center of the room with her back slightly to him.
“I apologize if I am interrupting anything my queen,” he said, “but I was told you wished to speak with me.”
“Yes,” she said, looking back at him over her withers. “I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’ve been acting differently these past few months. I know others have.”
“You have seemed to be more… maternal, my queen,” he said, “but I’m sure it’s just due to the brood.”
“It’s more than that,” she said, turning around to face him, “I’ve been humbled too many times over the past few years and I’ve lost so much. However, in building this new hive, I’ve been reminded of what it was like to be closer to my subjects. Maybe that distance was another reason I lost the old hive.”
Odonate listened quietly. He was aware enough now to know that she simply wanted to vent her feelings out loud. He was also someling she could trust to keep what she said to himself.
“I believe I’m going to have my hooves very full over the next few years,” she continued while looking up at one of the cocoons, “which is why I’m grateful to have a capable changeling like you in my service. You’ll keep me informed of anything I may overlook?”
“Of course I will, my queen,” he said with a bow.
“I knew I could count on you Odonate,“ she said with a smile. “Now tell me, what do you think about the name Pupa?”