Chrysalis

Mendant and Francis didn’t know when the healers had gotten a reputation for being curmudgeons, but they both strongly felt it wasn’t deserved. They weren’t grumpy! They were providing vital, life-giving services to their siblings! If anything, the accusation they were ill tempered just made them feel like the others were being ungrateful.

“Mendant! Lovely to see you again, how are things down in the tunnels?”

“Francis! Wonderful to see you too. Things are going well, so far. The tunnels are holding steady, despite the number of monsters rising just about every hour. There aren’t enough healers to go around, but then again, there never are.”

“Very true. Come over here and have a cup of tea.”

“Oh? You have tea! How did you manage to get your mandibles on that? I thought we’d run out.”

“New shipment came in this morning and I managed to snag a box for myself.”

“You sneaky thing! I’m in awe of your talents, as always.”

The two sisters settled in around the table and sighed in pleasure as they lowered their heads and began to sip their brew.

“Just the right amount of sugar,” Francis sighed, “you really know how to make a good cup.”

“If only I had some biscuits, but alas, I couldn’t secure any.”

“No need to lament, sister of mine. I’ll be back in a moment.”

Francis rose from her chair and disappeared from the chamber, only to return a moment later with a small platter of biscuits gripped in her mandibles.

“Ah, wonderful!” Mendant exclaimed, her eyes shining in delight. “Just perfect. Thank you, Francis.”

“The pleasure is mine, of course.”

Once again, the two sisters settled down to enjoy their snacks, only to be rudely interrupted as a messenger scout burst into the room.

“We need healers in the tunnels, immediately!”

“What?!” the two council members snapped.

have you done

there?” Mendant demanded, glaring at the scout.

would happen. She employed the expert tactic passed down throughout the messenger corps, ‘divert

for the two of you,” the scout snapped out a crisp

and dashed for

two council members arrived beneath the fortress, it was as if they were followed by individual thunderclouds. Other ants had avoided them the whole time they were making their way down, and now that they’d arrived, even the largest soldiers stepped lightly as they stormed toward the generals in the middle of the

going on, Sloan?” Francis demanded as the two pushed their

had better be good…” Mendant

two made

for coming, you two, I know that you just finished shifts,

it,” Mendant

wasting time,” Francis said

tunnels and the frontline healers are overwhelmed. The hospital

“What else is new?”

“Ah. Yes.”

plans to bring through more healers with the next group of

we’ve asked

“How many?”

“Two thousand.”

how many

“... forty thousand.”

Their

longer,” Mendant warned the general. “And it won’t be me who tears them off. If the healers get stretched any thinner,

need more soldiers for

good if

said, “they aren’t

of us are working,” Mendant grumbled, causing

kept her pheromone gland

two healers stuck together and hit the first tunnel, rushing into the forward

we got?”

in charge didn’t look up from where she was busy