Path of the Hive Queen Chapter 348: Past

Regina recognized the mana of the place they arrived in before she recognized anything else. It was thick, heavy, flavored with a certain sensation. And on second glance, it was obvious she wouldn’t recognize anything about this place in particular, either; she didn’t think she’d ever been here.

It did feel faintly familiar in a more general sense, though. She was standing on a white beach, watching a few idyllic palm trees dotted about, and could just make out the facade of a structure a short distance away. It was a nice, peaceful scenery, almost too much so to be real. Although that might also be because she checked the horizon and confird it was considerably closer than it should be.

“We’re in the Mirrored Halls,” she said.

“Astute,” Leian comnted. She waved a hand and a couple of beach chairs and a table appeared in front of them.

Regina kept glancing around for another second. The landscape was staying stable this ti. “Will you get in trouble for inviting here?”

“This is my own little corner of the Celestial Ho,” Leian said. She sat down, ostensibly relaxed. Two glasses with little umbrellas in them appeared on the table.

That’s not a no, Regina thought, but didn’t press the point. She sat down and enjoyed the sea breeze for a mont before focusing. Leian had previously told her that a mortal shouldn’t stay in the Mirrored Halls for long, or sothing like that; she didn’t rember the exact words. But it ant their ti here was limited. And even if she hadn’t disappeared without notice, she didn’t like the feeling of being so disconnected from her hive.

“So,” she said, “I was wondering how you knew so much about the Hivekind. You ntioned you were part of a delegation from the Aishan to the Hivekind, is that why?”

Leian idly twirled the glass in her hands, conveniently not looking Regina in the eyes. “Yes and no,” she said. “I was a very junior mber. This was back before things went entirely to hell — I must have been sixteen, seventeen or so. Most of the adults who raised had recently died in another great battle and I was largely on my own, so I wouldn’t call myself a kid, but they didn’t let into the high-level discussions.”

“The adults who raised you?” Regina interrupted, curious despite herself. “Your parents?”

Leian smiled wanly. “Yes and no, again. I was deli’ata; raised by the village, basically. My lineage conceived in an ill-fated plot to take control of a new world once the empire stabilized, which of course, it never did. I was born in the very last gasps of it, the last ti anyone thought it could simply be salvaged. Either way, none of them wanted to raise full-ti, so I was raised collectively, at least by those living in the main estate. It wasn’t that uncommon for Aishan. But you don’t want to talk about my cultural peculiarities, do you?”

“How long did it take the Aishan to fall?” Regina asked.

“Decades. Centuries if you count the decline. I was about the age you would have been when you took their offer when, well, when I was captured by a sen warlord. Much like the Roman empire of your world, its fall wasn’t a single event and it took more than one cause. In this case, civil wars, epidemics — including one that took Aishan especially, economic unrest, all the consequences of the collapsing portal network, sen rebellions, and more.”

Regina wanted to ask more about the sen, but she’d also noticed sothing. “You never fully answered my question. What about the Hivekind?”

“They were independent and loosely allied at this point,” Leian said. “They were created and gained their independence long before my ti, without too much violence. The company that made them was destroyed and its property distributed, everyone politely pretended it hadn’t almost entirely belonged to the governnt, and they managed to drag us into a civil war of their own later. But to answer your original question, I learned more when the Hivekind approached to sound out as a candidate for joining them.”

Regina almost choked. “You were a candidate to beco a Hive Queen?”

“Yes. It didn’t work out that way. Things turned to shit, the Hivekind retreated. In hindsight, I don’t think I would have gone through with it, but I suppose we’ll never know.”

Regina shook her head. It was an odd thought, but she’d never spent too much ti wondering about all the other won who would have had their souls transferred to beco Hive Queens.

“You’re being very open,” she said instead, slowly. “I appreciate it, of course, but you’re telling a lot about your past. Why?”

Leian visibly stiffened in her chair, fixing her gaze on her glass again before she raised it to et Regina’s. “Explaining myself is the least I can do. It’s not a nice tale, but you deserve to hear it.”

Regina’s throat tightened and she dug her fingers into the armrests of her chair. She exhaled heavily, and said softly, “You don’t have to tell , if it’s too painful.”

“No, I owe you the story.”

Leian stood up, looking at the beach, where the (simulated, perhaps?) sun was starting to set, tinting the scenery in an orange glow. She stayed quiet for a mont, clearly struggling with how to start.

I suppose it takes a while for an interplanetary empire to crumble, Regina thought, looking at Leian. She lived through the downfall of her entire civilization; as the only survivor. I suppose that might be worse than just waking up and learning it is gone.

“My people, the true Aishan, were all mages of great power,” she finally began. “There were never all that many of us, although we also still had — usually distant — kin with no magic, who were also called Aishan, and so of these ethnic Aishan survived, mostly mixing with the sen. I will not pretend my ancestors were saints, or anything but imperialist conquerors, despite their good sides.”

“But the Aishan of your ti weren’t?”

Leian shrugged. “There had not been any new conquests for quite so ti when I was born. They simply didn’t have the opportunities.”

“Fair enough. The sen were part of your empire, then? The people who attacked Haven and drained its mana?”

The goddess grimaced. “The term has shifted in aning over the centuries, but yes. At the ti, the sen were arguably second-class citizens, which is still better than people without citizenship. They are not an ethnicity, actually — more like a collection of them. Anyone from the howorld or their descendants who were not Aishan. Under Aishan rule, sen could be, and were, lawyers, doctors and judges, even governors. Perhaps that was a mistake, since those places rebelled most easily.”

Regina nodded slowly, trying to square this information with the admittedly little she’d hard of the sen before, the impression she’d gotten. She hadn’t even realized they were human, or close enough, apparently. But as interesting as all this was, she still wanted to hear more about Leian and the lead-up to the Cataclysm.

“Alianais said you were as much a tyrant as any of them, once,” she ventured.

Leian had turned to look at her again, and before she’d even finished the sentence, Regina saw her clench her jaw and sothing flash through her eyes, too complicated to be sure what emotion it was. Regina stiffened a bit, but Leian only shook her head after a breath.

“Did she?” Her tone was scornful. “I think that is a mis-characterization, but I can’t argue she was lying.” She crossed her arms behind her back and took a step back toward Regina. “I suppose the story really starts after I was made head of my lineage. There were only a few of us left, though I was the youngest. I tried to do the best I could to protect my people. Everyone there. You have to understand … I was the closest thing remaining to a lawful authority in that sector.”

Regina nodded. She was starting to get the picture.

“There were several warlords rising at the ti, but one in particular was gathering many sen under his banner and gaining a lot of power.” Leian grimaced, clasping her hands behind her back. “His Soul Na was Tyrant and that should tell you all you need to know about him. I will not dignify his mory by uttering his real na. I did not have much ti before he set his sights on and those under my protection. I tried my best, and I managed to hold them off for a while, but eventually …”

“You were captured,” Regina completed.

“Yes. It didn’t help that Berren Green-Gray had recently murdered my family, or I might have managed to hold out for a bit longer.”

Regina blinked, opened her mouth, then closed it again.

“The Tyrant captured and tortured for three years,” Leian continued, briefly closing her eyes. “He hated and usually killed all Aishan, but I was the last to resist him and also a pretty young woman. He tried to break . It was … In those three years, all the scraps that were left of the Aishan crumbled, all of my lineage and Aishan acquaintances died. I will not go into details. Eventually, I managed to escape, and lacking any other prospects, I went to Haven.”

“I’m sorry,” Regina said quietly. There was nothing else she could say.

“The gods of Haven gave sanctuary,” Leian continued. “I accepted it. I knew they wanted to use . I was not happy with the prospect of becoming a goddess, immortality included, but I saw little choice, so I accepted their help. I was too hurt. For years, I’d been raped, tortured and maid — my condition was so bad that even our dical technology had trouble with it, and there wasn’t much remaining, but ascending cleared all of that up. It even helped piece my mind back together, although it has a stabilizing effect which ans I have not grown as much since then as the years would suggest. Then the sen led by the Tyrant set their sights on Haven. I was … not in a good state of mind, back then. Which is not an excuse, but it is all I can offer. I disagreed with the others about the gates, but I did not dare to speak up.”

Regina breathed in sharply and nodded, a bit jerkily. “I see. They needed your power for the gates?”

“My knowledge, yes. The portals were made with it, but with their power and skill. I was reluctant, seeing it as a risky plan, but I couldn’t see a better alternative to save the people of Haven. I knew the sen wouldn’t spare them in a conquest, but I didn’t expect they would resort to sucking all the mana out of the world. I tried to close the gates when I realized what was happening, but they overpowered , and I wasn’t able to stop them from completely destabilizing the portals, only buffer it sowhat.”

“I see,” Regina whispered.

“I would never have gone along with it if I’d known what would happen.” Leian took another step closer, swallowing visibly, and bowed her head. “I’m so sorry, Regina. I know my apologies are next to worthless, but you’re the only one I can tell it to now. My actions led indirectly to the genocide of your people and the fall of every indigenous civilization on this planet. I know I can never make up for it.”

Regina stayed silent for a while. She was reeling, unsure what to think, what to feel. To finally hear an apology, a real and heartfelt one … but Leian was right, what good could words do after all that had happened? And yet, who was Regina to say how these events should be judged? She’d been hidden away in a Hivekind egg in stasis and it was pure luck she’d survived, for a given value of the word, when so many died. And is Leian the one I should be angry at? She’s not the one responsible for wiping out civilizations, is she?

It was all such a tangle, and even this story had only left her with further questions, many of which she’d never know the answer to.

“I … thank you, Leian,” she finally answered. “I can’t say I forgive you, but I appreciate your words, more than you can know. You’re not — you’re not the one most to bla for what happened. Maybe your actions contributed, but so did many others. It wouldn’t be fair to pile it all on you. I can’t say for certain how I feel about it, but I know that much. I recognize you’ve been doing the best you could. It’s the sen who are most responsible for all the damage they caused, clearly. I don’t know if I would have survived what you did and then be able to help anyone afterward. Just … we just need to find a way to move forward, I guess.”

It wasn’t forgiveness or even acceptance, but it was sothing. Leian seed to recognize that. She rejoined her, sitting back down and sagging back into the chair. “Thank you, Regina.”

They sat in silence for a while. Regina’s thoughts circled back around Leian’s story. She shivered, pulling on the collar of her jacket.

“Is there any way to fight the sen?” she finally asked.

Leian hesitated. “People have been fighting them from the start,” she said slowly. “But it is not simple. Slave rebellions have broken out regularly, but most of them are quickly suppressed. Well, before; supposedly they’ve abolished slavery now, though I think if you asked many of the colonial laborers they would disagree. So planets have managed to break away from them and kept their independence for decades. Powerful people with heroic Soul Nas have caused trouble for them. But if you’re asking if there’s any way you can fight them to get revenge? I can’t think of one.”

“You traveled off this world, you said,” Regina frowned.

“Yes, and it’s not easy, even for . Besides, and please take this advice in the spirit it is offered, do you really think it’s the best choice for you to try and go haring off on so ill-fated quest for revenge? You have people depending on you here, people you are sworn to protect.”

Regina sighed. “I suppose that’s true,” she said. “I just …”

“I understand.” Leian smiled bitterly. “Believe , I do.”

She stayed silent for a bit, watching the sunset over the sea, still wrestling with her feelings.

Finally, Regina turned back to Leian. “I have a few more questions, if you’re up for answering them.”

“Of course. Anything I can do.”

Regina smiled. “Good. Then tell more about the Hivekind.”

Tentatively, Leian started smiling back. “As you wish, Hive Queen.”

Regina settled back into her seat and closed her eyes for a mont, preparing her mind to focus on and morize the information Leian gave her.