Chapter 349 Cradle of the end times (1/2)
The role of the Brood Tender seemed straight forward enough. It was mostly in the name, after all. The Brood consisted of the unhatched eggs, the larvae and the pupae that were the future generations of the colony and ensuring that they were cared for in as optimal a way as possible was the Brood Tenders primary responsibility.
”How goes the Brood today, Florence?”
”Theresant? Nice to see you! You've been at the academy for days! The darlings are busy little grubs, as usual!”
The two council members approached each other with gladness ringing from their antennae. The two ants had a peaceful and motherly disposition which was why they had volunteered to take up this role, despite the immense pressure involved.
”Are we going to reach our target for today?” Florence asked her sister, ”two hundred hatchings, two hundred graduations?”
”I believe so,” came the reply, ”my people in the academy have a.s.sure me the current crop of hatchlings will be ready to graduate on time.”
”Wonderful!”
”I agree!”
The two ants fell into a companionable silence as they moved to a brood chamber near the surface. The larvae needed warmth to accelerate their growth, so they were moved to chambers closer to the surface during the day as the sun shone and then deeper underground at night, where the heat remained trapped. With the wave at play however, the Brood Tenders were unwilling to risk their charges in the Dungeon proper, so they'd asked if some fire mage ants could a.s.sist in warming the chambers for the Brood.
The two siblings arrived and were greeted by their fellow tenders already hard at work in the chamber. The overlapping nouris.h.i.+ng auras washed over them and gave them both a little s.h.i.+ver of joy. The aura gland was an expensive part of the evolution from worker caste to Brood Tenders, which seemed like a waste because the gland itself didn't have a powerful effect. It essentially calmed and nourished infants of aura owner's species, helping grow faster and stronger.
When the aura effect was overlapped with others however, the effect became more noticeable. When it had first been noticed that those hatched from chambers with more Tenders in them were slightly more developed, even having a few extra stat points, the colony had decided to produce a large batch of Brood Tenders to further investigate this caste.
It was no exaggeration to say that currently, apart from the soldiers, the colony was pouring the most resources into the Brood Tenders. In order to combat the crisis facing the family, soldiers were needed desperately, but so were the specialised ants required to raise them.
Theresant and Florence cleaned the larvae, tickled them and played with them before they moved onto the next chamber, doing the rounds so that they could keep an eye on the progress of every member of the brood. As they pa.s.sed through the tunnels, other ants made s.p.a.ce for them respectfully as they called out words of encouragement.
”Tenders, work hard today!”
”How fares the brood today, Tenders? Can I a.s.sist in any way?”
”Make sure those hatchlings are putting forth all of their effort, Tenders! We don't want lazy ants in the colony!”
”Small chance of that,” laughed Florence.
The Brood Tenders were given s.p.a.ce wherever they went, nothing was allowed to impede their work. The brood was the future of the colony, it was ingrained into ant nature to prioritise the rearing of the young above almost everything else and that hadn't changed when the species of the colony had s.h.i.+fted.
They'd only grown more thoughtful and calculating about how they went about it.
Florence and Theresant gathered in the main brood chamber, where the pupae, those young in their final stage of development before they emerged from their coc.o.o.ns, where being nurtured by large cl.u.s.ter of their caste.
”Greetings sisters” Theresant called to them as she entered the chamber.