Chapter 325 Belonging (1/2)

It took some time for the itching to pa.s.s, as it always did. When I finally regained full control of my body again, I picked myself up from the floor, dusted myself off, cleaned my antennae and attempted to move as if nothing had happened.

The soldiers keeping an eye on the room pointedly didn't look at me as I climbed the wall and moved up into the Queen's chamber. Things continued to operate in here as they always did, a cloud of buzzing workers rushed here and there whilst the ever-patient Queen stood still and unmoving amidst the chaos.

She had not evolved.

”I will evolve in good time, child” the Queen remonstrated before I'd even begun to speak, predicting my question with ease.

”What's the hold up?” I asked piteously, ”most ants are happy to have the chance to evolve and dive straight in.”

Perhaps I was being a touch selfish, I'd really wanted to see what shape her evolution would take.

The Queen looked down at me, her eyes like pools without a single ripple and said: ”this decision is more important than most, and due to your … gift” she gestured to the rare core in front of her, ”I will have many options to ponder. I am seeking the correct frame of mind and trying to determine the right path forward, for myself and for the colony.”

Slow and steady wins the race eh? Not an att.i.tude I was super familiar with, but I could recognise the wisdom in it. She was right in the sense that for most ants, their evolution did not weigh on the fate of the colony in quite the same way that the Queen's did. She was the central figure in this family that the rest of the colony turned around, like some sort of caring, soothing hub.

Not to mention she was individually the most powerful individual in the colony, with the possible exception of myself. If she was ready to evolve, with a rare core to boot, just what would she be capable of when she'd finished? What sort of juicy options would she unlock? What kind of potent glands were available to someone with that sort of evolutionary energy at their claw tips?

I sighed.

I'd have to wait to find out. The Queen was taking this situation very seriously, as well she should.

”Did any of the twenty tell you about what is happening top side?” I asked, somewhat apprehensively.

I hadn't wanted to go into too much detail when I first came in, I'd been getting thwacked just on the basis of the rare core I'd brought in, who knows if I'd still have a s.h.i.+ny, unbroken exo-skeleton on my head. I'd figured that one of the twenty would tell her and I'd come in a bit later after the heat had gone out of it.

”That was not a mess of your making, child” she told me, ”you have a.s.sisted the family by bringing news of this threat back to us.”

I could tell by the twinkle in the Queen's eye that she had seen through my scheme to try and avoid recriminations but she was kind enough to make it clear that in this case, she felt I didn't deserve them.

”Thanks Mother” I chuckled.

THWACK!

Oooo, the 'unexpected, tender moment thwack!'