Path of the Hive Queen

Regina knew training June in psychic abilities would be a long and hard road. Not only would she need to figure out how to translate her knowledge into something helpful for someone who largely used regular magic, not the innate kind of psychic skill she had, but she would also need to tailor her approach to June herself. It was not the kind of thing that could be taught by rote from a textbook. On the contrary, the subject depended a lot on someone’s mental state. By its very nature, it was changeable and prone to misinterpretation.

As such, she tried not to get discouraged when they couldn’t even move on from the first step. Unfortunately, June sensing other minds for a second wasn’t the breakthrough she might have hoped for, and didn’t allow her to reliably repeat it. It would take training.

And even then, when June had progressed far enough that she could sense psychic presences with about sixty percent probability, she could only hold on to it for a second.

“I don’t get how I’m supposed to do this,” June whined after a training session that she couldn’t say had gone well. She slumped in an armchair in Regina’s living room and pouted.

“Do you want me to explain it again?”

“No, I mean —“ she waved her hand impatiently, “I understand what you said, I’m just not sure how it helps. I get a headache even after just sensing other minds for a second. How by all the gods am I supposed to retain and integrate all that information while I’m keeping my focus on sensing them?”

Regina opened her mouth, then paused. She sat down opposite June and rested her chin on her hands. “Maybe you have a point,” she said after a moment. “I get some help from the psychic link with that, I’m pretty sure. You might just have to manage on your own.”

“Oh, thank you very much for that, Your Imperial Majesty,” June answered sarcastically. “That’s so helpful.”

Regina sighed. “It has to be possible.”

“What, because you can manage on your own?” June interrupted. “I don’t have the psychic link, Master.”

Sometimes it was easy to forget June was still a teenager. This wasn’t one of those times.

“Not what I meant,” Regina frowned at her. “If you’d just let me finish. But you can sense and interpret more information with your magical senses, can’t you? Your mana senses are very good for someone at your level. Clearly, the capability is there.”

June hummed, sitting up a bit straighter. “That’s a good point, actually. Then what makes it different?”

“How should I know?” Regina rubbed her forehead. “Maybe it’s just a matter of tapping into that working memory space or whatever, whether it’s somehow interacting with the System or just storing information in mana, or … I don’t know. Maybe we just need to train your capacity.”

June chewed on her lip for a bit. “I’m going to have to do a lot more training, aren’t I?” she grumbled.

“Do you want to have the abilities afforded by psychic magic or not?”

“Yes, yes, sure.” She stood up and paced a few steps around the room. “Let’s get on with it. At least I can cure my headaches now.”

Regina mostly sat and watched as June tried again. She strained her own senses, trying to pick up the nuances of her apprentice’s focus and attention. It was better if she didn’t create an actual connection for this part. This time, she was actually able to see a small shift. It lasted for maybe two seconds before June reeled back with a wince. She wasn’t joking about the headaches, Regina could sense her pain as well.

“Let’s stop there for today,” Regina said. “You shouldn’t overexert yourself, and constantly healing headaches would only be covering up a deeper problem.”

June grumbled but acquiesced to her words without fighting about it again, luckily.

One advantage of these training sessions was that they provided a good distraction for Regina. This way, they kept her from dwelling on and mentally hovering around the negotiations taking place at the front. It was still frustrating, but she suspected she would have been a lot more annoyed if she let herself obsess over it.

While the negotiations had taken a few days so far, it was becoming pretty clear that they were running out of things to talk about. Not that there was a lot of agreement, on the contrary, there were many important issues where both sides simply could not come to a resolution. Regina had questioned her own decisions and goals more than once over that time, but ultimately held true to the line she’d set out before. What the gnomes offered simply wasn’t enough.

To be fair, they were now willing to give up some outlying towns and cities, but that was simply too little too late. It wouldn’t help to protect Regina’s drones from further aggression, or curb the Confederation’s capacity to wage war in the future.

They wouldn’t even offer public apologies or any kind of recompense for the murders of Bea or the others, let alone acknowledge they’d been the first to invade. She knew it probably shouldn’t be that important compared to decisions about the future that could shape the lives of millions for decades to come, but it was a key issue. In a way, it might have become a representation of the entire conflict.

Besides, she had to think about her own internal politics, too. The Empire was calm for the moment, but it was still very young, and she could not afford to let discontent rise. Giving in to the gnomes, possibly even allowing herself to be humiliated in many people’s eyes, would be dangerous, at best. And the nobles and those who’d been directly or indirectly involved in the war effort would expect something to show for it. Whether that was territorial gains or a new vassal or even just a lot of gold, she suspected it didn’t matter much as long as they unambiguously won. It is the first war the Central European Empire is waging in its history, I suppose that means something.

Regina had also told Janis and the other delegates to demand the resignation of the Gnomish Confederation’s current political leadership and democratic elections for the next government, according to their own traditions, but to not push the issue too hard. As much as she wanted to, it wasn’t something she would hang the entire negotiations on, and she knew very well that the gnomes’ regime would never agree to that. They didn’t have the leverage to force it through along with other major conditions, not yet.

Janis had been more intransigent on the matter of the Gnomish Confederation’s status. They might retain most of their autonomy, but the Empire needed to have some political oversight — enough to stop them from raising another army and starting another war. The original proposal had been some form of vassalage, but they’d softened their position to instead demand a demilitarized status enforced by treaties. The Empire would send observers with free access to the Gnomish Confederation to monitor its compliance. In addition, they would limit the number of soldiers the country was allowed to muster, and oversee an effort to purge anti-Hivekind propaganda.

Of course, the gnomes weren’t happy with those demands. Although Regina suspected they were easier to move on the treaties than the issue of recognition and amends for the crimes that started the war. If the gnomish leaders allowed that, it would severely weaken their own position, she supposed.

That was why, at the end of the third day of this, when it finally came up again, Regina reminded Janis not to let them get away with weaseling out of it.

And Janis took no prisoners, figuratively speaking, of course. She stood and delivered a scathing speech, listing all of the gnomes’ crimes and mistakes from the very beginning, and lauding Regina’s mercy shown in the terms she had offered them. It ended with a few oblique and not-so-oblique threats regarding the Hive’s numbers and the military power of the Empire.

After that, the chances of reaching an agreement in these negotiations were turning to ash. Not that they had likely ever been high to begin with. The gnomes were intransigent in not straying from their core terms, and the Empire likewise would not accept anything less than a clear win with tangible benefits to show for it, specifically ones that would handle the threat of another war with the gnomes in the future.

“Your stubborn insistence on empty, humiliating ‘restitution’ is an insult, almost as much of one as suggesting we should simply kneel to your Empress,” one of the gnomes, a woman called Dekilakel who was apparently a Historical politician and recently appointed to an important committee, said.

“If you will not even admit your past wrongdoing, how are we to trust that you would keep to any agreement we might come to?” Janis retorted.

“It does not appear you actually want peace. If you do not move on from this insulting demand to talk reasonably,” another gnome said — Etiaken, a member of the executive council who didn’t seem to be directly responsible for military matters, “we will be forced to consider these negotiations a loss.”

Duke Bluegrass, who’d arrived to represent Cernlia in the negotiations, scoffed. “It seems to me you are the ones who are not serious about wanting peace. You are in no position to refuse to pay reparations or offer homage, and Her Imperial Majesty’s terms are quite reasonable.”

Predictably, this exchange did not improve the negotiations.

It only took five more minutes until they had gotten so heated that Etiaken actually stood up and declared that the talks were over. Dekilakel joined him quickly, and the rest of the gnomish delegates followed.

At least it looks like not everyone is happy about ending it like this, Janis commented as she watched them, and Regina could tell she was swallowing a sigh. Her gaze had wandered to the two senior military officers present. They probably did think their politicians were idiots, Regina supposed. She would.

It’s a good thing that they were the ones to walk away, though, she said, letting some of her satisfaction show. It makes the gnomish leaders look selfish, which is only going to bolster our position. Or that of the opposition in the Confederation. They may even be able to organize more protests.

Let’s see, Janis responded. For now, I have to touch base with the rest of our team.

Regina watched the gnomes leave, intermittently checking their surroundings through Swarm Drones they’d stationed at various positions, but her thoughts were still on the talks.

The Nerlians had been pretty quiet, she realized. But they didn’t have much skin in this game, since they didn’t share a border with the gnomes and had only sent token support for the war. Presumably, they didn’t want to offend any factions in the Empire who wanted either peace or war, so they didn’t commit to a position.

In contrast, Bluegrass grumbled about the gnomes torching the negotiations and the other Cernlians voiced their displeasure as well. Regina understood, they were more affected by the war and would like to see it end soon. Particularly since Cernlia was still recovering from its own civil war. On the other hand, they had a vested interest in seeing  a proper resolution to it.

“Our assault will proceed as planned?” Owin asked.

Janis nodded, and the others fell silent to hear her response. “Yes. We will give them the two days required by the terms of the truce, but not a minute longer.”

An approving mutter swept the tent. Janis went to circle it for a few minutes, talking to everyone and making sure she had given them at least a bit of attention. In the meantime, Regina focused on watching the scene from above.

She had the feeling she had missed something, but she didn’t know what it could be. Regina focused on the gnomes as closely as she could, stretching her psychic senses to get an idea of their mental states. The emotions she could pick up were not particularly surprising. None of them was happy. Instead, anxiety, resentment and even anger dominated. The only one who felt a bit of satisfaction was Etiaken, who’d clearly ended the talks on purpose, and from the exasperation Dekilakel felt, she’d probably only backed him up to present a united front. The rest of the delegates were lower ranking; politicians, a few senior officers and one or two in more administrative capacities to make transcripts or provide information. Still, the entire group moved back in the direction of the pass at a decent pace, without dawdling.

Regina prowled through a few more Winged Drones flying above and hopped through some War Drones on the ground, but she knew it was pointless, just activity to soothe the restlessness she felt. The next few days waiting until the war properly restarted were going to be frustrating.

She would try and talk to her ‘contacts’ with the gnomes, see if they could perhaps offer some insight. None of them seemed to have anticipated the regime’s sudden desire to talk to the Empire,  but it had clearly been something decided at the highest level.

In the meantime, drones had already started packing up the accommodations they’d prepared for the negotiations. Soon, it would look like they’d never been there. The Imperial officers and officials were returning to the army encampment. Ben was making plans for a large-scale artillery exercise. Ada was drawing up plans for scouting out the gnomes’ positions and deployments in the aftermath of these talks.

Kiara was preparing a royal tour through her country, now that winter had lifted and spring arrived. Maybe Regina would join her. She still hadn’t visited the Nerlian capital in person, either.

As long as the war allowed for it. God, I’m tired of it, Regina thought, sighing as she blinked her eyes open and stared at the ceiling. She felt bad about complaining since her people were fighting for her and it wasn’t like she was risking her life on the front lines.

But she would dearly like to have a year of peace sometime. Just a single year, is that so much to ask for?

After this, she told herself. The Esemen and the Western Confederation and whoever else could go hang, she wasn’t fighting anyone else for a while.