Chrysalis

Despite receiving the justice of my mother, I stoically endured her disapproving gaze for as long as I could manage in order to tickle grubs. Their joyful wiggles warmed my heart even as I quailed inside, anticipating another THWACK at any moment. In the end, I could only hold out for ten minutes before I slunk from the chamber, only to find myself in even more sacred territory, the egg laying room!

Victoriant and Antionette look up at me in surprise as I crawl down through a gap in the ceiling.

"Eldest! What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know me. Just checking in on everyone and seeing how things are going."

"He's avoiding work," the Queen calls out as she enters the chamber after me.

The two younger Queens give each other a brief look.

"The Eldest? Avoiding work? Surely you jest Mother!"

"Such a thing is impossible!"

The two of them laugh together and I hasten to cut Mother off before she can destroy my reputation. What can I use to distract her?!

"Ah! Is that Aphy the aphid Queen I see? She's gotten big!"

It's true, in one corner of the egg laying chamber, a much larger than before aphid Queen is nibbling on some Biomass next to her own little pile of eggs, looking very pleased with herself.

"Yes, she evolved not that long ago," the Queen can't help but rush over to dote on her pet with pats and scritches. "I wasn't sure about bringing her down to this Strata, but in the end I felt a lot more comfortable when she's somewhere I can keep an eye on her. You do like to get up to mischief, don't you Aphy?"

"Chirrup!"

bug monster makes a noise of delight as it leans into the Queen's antenna like some

of the aphid young

from their care just as well as the hatchlings do, and

is going well in the

Queen tells me warmly, still radiating affection towards her pet, "they've been spread to four separate expanses in

FOUR!?

we own that much

were all fired up every time they found a new expanse. I think they sent a thousand Soldiers into the Red Woods Expanse on the

A thousand?! But why?!

confirms, "I think they conquered the whole

really were

are there, right now?" I ask. "The number can't

a moment of reflective silence as the

me. "I haven't been keeping count… perhaps the brood tenders on

echo the sentiment, they've no idea. I can get a rough sense of how many are in range of the Vestibule, but I can't

I move around the nest, someone

off any longer. I limber up my legs and make

Queen asks, barely

work never ends, as

What a terrible thought," she muses before turning back to

head over to the core shapers, then I'll check in with the mages and teach them a few things. I need to catch up with the carvers, talk about their plans.

to find who's making all these carvings of me

find both Bella and Ellie hard at work. It takes a few hours but I'm able to demonstrate