What’s a King Without a Queen?

by theOwtcast

The Problem

“...and you should have seen the explosion of love when I pronounced them husband and husband, Pharynx!”

“Mhm.”

“They’re such a cute couple, aren’t they?”

“Uh-huh.”

“They even said they’re thinking of adopting a few of the orphaned nymphs!”

“Mmm.”

“You don’t even care, do you?”

“Actually, I do. Fang is a skilled soldier and Trochanter has a rich aura. The nymphs they adopt should be well fed and safe from danger, which can only benefit the hive in the long run, assuming they don’t spoil them too much.”

“...yay?”

“And since you’re so crazy-thrilled about every wedding you officiate, I’ve been wondering when yours will come up.”

That caught me off-guard. “What?”

“Come on, Thorax, are you gonna remain a bachelor all your life?”

“What’s wrong with being a bachelor?”

“Nothing, except that you’re the king.”

“So?”

“What’s a king without a queen?”

“Uh…”

He groaned. “Thorax, just because Chrysalis is immortal doesn’t mean you are. Okay, so it hasn’t been that long since you ascended, and you could still turn out to be immortal eventually, but do you want to take that chance? And even if you are immortal, that only protects you from old age and from diseases to some extent, but not from injuries. What’s the hive supposed to do if you die without an heir?”

“Couldn’t you take over?”

“In theory, but there’s no telling if I’ll be alive then, either. In fact, if you die anytime soon, it’ll probably be because someone killed you, and by then I’ll most likely already have died protecting you. You need another plan.”

“You mean, getting married?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because you need someling to lay your eggs.”

I tilted my head at him.

“Okay, you don’t need to be married for the biology to work, but since you’re the king, you have to follow tradition if you want one of your nymphs to be eligible for the throne. Didn’t anyone ever tell you how it works?”

“No…”

“Long story short, your rightful heir can only be the nymph that is the biological son or daughter of both you and your wife, conceived and hatched in wedlock, and by default, it’s the one that hatches first. If the oldest nymph dies prior to your demise or is in any way incapable of leadership, then his or her next sibling becomes the rightful heir. Alternatively, if you die childless, your next of kin may claim the throne, but we’ve already established that I most likely won’t be able to do that.”

“Can’t I adopt a nymph?”

“You can, but they won’t be eligible for the throne no matter what you do.”

“Oh…”

“What’s the matter?”

“I, uh… you’ll laugh.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“I… I’ve never fallen in love with or had a crush on anyone, and… and I… don’t think I can.”

Now he raised both eyebrows. “You… can’t.”

“Yeah…”

“Hold on a minute… Are you telling me that you, the changeling who insisted on sharing love since the moment you got out of your egg and were so stubborn about it that you wouldn’t leave it alone until you overthrew the Queen and triggered a mass-metamorphosis, the changeling with by far the richest love aura in existence, are incapable of romance?!”

“...I guess so…”

He facehoofed. “Now I’ve heard everything… But that doesn’t mean you can’t get married. It wouldn’t be the first political marriage in history, and certainly not the first loveless one-”

“I know, Pharynx! But that doesn’t make it right! My hypothetical wife deserves to be loved, she’d probably be in love with me, and I’d probably love her as a friend, but it doesn’t seem fair to her if I can’t give her the same flavor of love that she’d be giving me! And it’s even worse if neither of us love each other because she might otherwise have married someone she would love!”

“Tradition allows you to divorce her in certain conditions without depriving your nymphs of succession rights-”

“I don’t know… seems senseless to marry anyone knowing you intend to divorce them in the end…”

“You’re insufferable,” he groaned. “Just turn a blind eye to her extramarital affairs if it’s bothering you so much and have her lay you some eggs! Is that too much to ask for?”

“Actually…”

“Now what?”

“I’m not even sure if I’m ready to be a father. Don’t get me wrong; I like nymphs, but playing with them casually is one thing, and raising them and being responsible for their well-being and their future… I can barely keep myself together sometimes! Their mother may or may not handle the responsibility better, but even if she would, I can’t just throw the nymphs into someone else’s care and pretend they don’t exist if I’m their father! And that’s all assuming I even get as far as having nymphs!”

“What are you talking about?”

“...the whole... act of… you know… I don’t think I could bring myself to do it. I might physically, but… it… well, I’m not sure if saying it disgusts me is the best way to phrase it, but-”

Pharynx buried his head in his hooves. “Stop,” he groaned. “Just… just stop!”

“Sorry…”

“Don’t apologize to me.”

“Um…”

“Apologize to the hive! What’s gonna happen with the hive if it doesn’t have a leader? It’s your duty to provide a successor to the throne in case you turn out to not be immortal, and you’re telling me you can’t?!”

“I-”

“And this isn’t even the first thing you’re supposed to do that you can’t handle! How did you ever become a king if you’re so useless?!”

“You think I chose this?!”

“Yes! Nevermind that I stopped condoning Chrysalis’ leadership style; you didn’t have to persist in changing our entire way of life! You could have let someling else get around to it, hopefully someling capable of handling royal duties!”

“Well I’m sorry if I can’t feel one of many flavors of love! Chrysalis couldn’t feel any except that for herself and for power and you didn’t complain!”

“It fit her style of leadership and wasn’t stopping her from doing what needed to be done! But this doesn’t fit you, and it could bring the downfall of your kingdom! You’re a disgrace to your own regime!”

Words left me upon hearing that. My own brother, calling me a disgrace after everything I’d done for the hive? I stormed off, barely suppressing a river of tears.

Comments

[BezierBallad]

...ouch.

[CitreneSkys]

Oof

[harts fire]

ouch feel the burn of truth.