Since Shishayair didn't have them leave Star City immediately, but seemed to have some kind of business there that kept him out of the hive for hours at a time, Proquess had plenty of time to...

... well....

She really shouldn't have. She knew she shouldn't have. She, a lowly drone, even if she did have her small hive now, the three of them bonded seamlessly and wonderfully-- even if she did have Eness, who looked up to her and loved her without reservation-- even if she was the bonded, the chosen, of one of the most dominant and powerful personalities she knew--

She shouldn't have. She didn't have permission, invitation, anything at all. She deserved to be chased away. Torn up, beaten, chased away for her impertinence.

But she couldn't help it.... Even if she was a different species, technically, she was still so much a queen. And Shishayair, with his insistence that she rise above her place, with his solitary mind and its solitary connection to hers, with his complicated plans and motivations and "lessons", was not. For all she... for all she was loyal to him, trusted and looked up to him, he was not a queen.

Tsiasaniess was a queen.

A queen who had spoken to her.

First, as a member of the whole group, candidates and audience and staff alike. ::Welcome,:: she'd said. That had been beautiful, stunning, like home, like life, but it had hardly been surprising. Queens blanket-sent the entire hive often enough that including even the lowest was standard.

But then-- oh, then, when she'd caught her lingering, shy attention so focused, after the hatching-- she'd spoken to her. ::May I help you with something, little one?::

Proquess had been speechless. She merely "stared"-- that, too, was rude of her, but she couldn't help it. The queen had spoken to her.

There had been a long pause, and then the warm sense of an indulgent smile, like Shishayair sometimes only with less edge and less ice. ::Well, I hope you and your friend and my Eness will be happy. I'm afraid the bay is closing, however.::

Immediately, and with many apologies, Proquess had skuttled right up the wall-- why bother with stairs when the wall was so much more efficient, running in a straight line as it did? Mu-Lin trotted hastily after her, after bobbing in a polite little curtsy to the queen. She knew the white creature was important, drawn into the proper mind-set by two bonds now, though couldn't quite fathom the depths of Proquess's shock, awe, and pleasure. But she at least paid her own respects before hurrying after both bonds, leaving the great, kind, white queen to chuckle after them all.

But now, with so much time on her claws, Proquess found herself haunting the Abstract Destiny, stalking its crew when they left, and hanging around its hatching bays and port-- hoping against hope to see that queen again. She'd been warned away twice by polite security personnel, chased off three times by much less polite yautjadragons, but still she came back each time she had more than a few minutes alone.

Mu-Lin didn't entirely understand, but she came, anyway, because she was loyal, too, and felt the pull through her bonds even if she couldn't make sense of it. Eness understood perfectly, and encouraged her with watery trickles of love and springs of rightness. The fact that it kept her farther from Shishayair probably helped, but little Eness was a part of that queen's mindstream, so he could even sense her thoughts more than her mere presence of mind and enjoyed that, too. Proquess was actually a little jealous.

Keeping her growing obsession from Shishayair wasn't hard-- actually, it took almost no effort at all. He was preoccupied, and annoyed when he wasn't preoccupied. He didn't like Eness-- well, Eness didn't like him, but that didn't mean he should have disliked him, back-- and was happier when Mu-Lin kept the little one quiet and occupied whenever he was around. Proquess was properly submissive to him, as usual, which both pleased and irritated him, also as usual, though she was forced to sleep closer to Lohress than Shishayair when they all took their rest, which irritated him more and made her unaccountable sad. Eness apologized when she was sad, with little, shiny pebbles of "sorry", but he also didn't change. Proquess wouldn't ask him to, even though she suspected he might have liked her to order him to stop, despite her certainty that he wouldn't even if told to. She knew what jealousy was like.

The rest of the hive either didn't notice, didn't care, or didn't see fit to tell him. With Uecoss and Alladross conspicuously absent, things were much easier-- though Carskadei and Kae-Ryss still got along terribly, and Venuss refused to talk to most of them, and Greolis jumped at every shadow, and Ominous continually bemoaned Shishayair's lack of faith in her to help with whatever it was he was doing... that really was "much easier". The two other new hive-members, Carskadei's bonds Nalchass and Nyuss, were united in their dislike of Shishayair, Kae-Ryss, and Ominous, and wary truce with Lohress, but seemed quite friendly with everyone else. They even tentatively won over Venuss, though nothing so far could convince Greolis that they weren't evil and horrible and terrifying.

Of all of them, it was those two, and by extension Carskadei, who would have known most easily about Proquess's excursions and growing itch to see the D-strain queen again. Nalchass and Nyuss were a part of the queen's mindstream, the same meeting of minds that their brother Eness was. Of course they knew. But neither of them liked Shishayair-- and both of them liked Proquess-- and Carskadei, who watched Proquess with a knowing yet vaguely sympathetic expression on her multitude of muzzles whenever Shishayair wasn't around to see-- Mu-Lin showed her, even if she couldn't sense the emotions of it for herself-- seemed to think she deserved her secret.

She didn't, of course, but she was grateful that the dogdra thought so.

So Proquess kept haunting, stalking, and hanging around. Of course she knew she had no hope of actually meeting her... no queen would leave her sanctuary. But just hovering around her, knowing she was there, seemed like enough, at least for the time being.

Except-- somehow-- for some unfathomable reason-- she did. The queen left her sanctuary, the ship, and went out onto the station. Proquess followed her progress from the flight deck: she rose in size, first, after being humiliatingly shrunken to fit into the small corridors of the Abstract Destiny; she stepped out into the docking platform; she unfurled her great wings and leapt out to glide. Mu-Lin sent her pictures, flashes of her own sight between the diffuse sendings of impressed feelings and curiosity, of white standing out sharply against black. Proquess shared, back, the beautiful heat- and mental-images of a queen against nothingness, life against cold metal and air and unlife.

The three of them crept after the queen when she landed and walked about the station. It was fascinating, and it reminded her of what Shishayair had said: that she wasn't a real queen. Proquess didn't believe him then, and was loathe to believe him now, but no real queen would have... would have gone about nodding amiably at people. Returning dropped goods to their owners. Letting human and anthropomorph children climb all over her crest. Chasing off muggers. Speaking to anyone who spoke to her, and speaking kindly, at that. Even her three hive members, Eness's siblings, followed her example, despite their still-tiny size.

And yet, for all it was nothing like how a real queen with her hive would act... it only made Proquess want to keep trailing after her. Keep watching her. Forever, if she could manage it.

That only made it worse, then-- or perhaps better-- when, after three days of discretely following her, the queen spoke to her again.

::You need not skulk around in the shadows, friend,:: she sent, making Proquess jump guiltily. It made sense that the queen would know she was there... she was a queen. And there was always Eness. She crept out from around the corner she'd been hiding behind, low to the ground and properly submissive. The queen huffed out a chuckling sound. ::I'm not going to punish you. Come closer.::

Obediently, though nervously, Proquess did as instructed, Eness squeaking happily on her head and reaching up for his queen, his mother. Loruss, Nalrisyss, and Quaiss, perched on various places on her body, chirped back happily at him.

Mu-Lin peeked one head around the corner, as well, and the queen added, ::You, too, child. I don't bite unless you've done wrong, and I believe Eness wouldn't have chosen you if you've done wrong.::

Well... that depended entirely on your definition of "wrong"....

The queen either didn't pick up on that, or didn't find it comment-worthy. ::Would you like to walk with me, instead of behind me?::

Proquess's jaws dropped open-- both of them. She was... being invited? By the queen? :: ... may I?:: she finally sent in a very small, very humble voice.

::Of course. You're... Proquess? And Mu-Lin?::

Of course, Eness would have told her their names, in as much as the little snakeling could tell anyone anything with clarity. Nodding as mutely as her bond, Proquess crept closer, under the half-open glow of a warm wing. Mu-Lin trailed uncertainly behind them.

::Call me Tsiasaniess. Walk with me, Proquess, Mu-Lin. Let us see how many people we can pleasantly surprise today, shall we?::

Right then, Proquess felt she might have died for this queen-- who freely gave her name, invited her to come along like an equal, did good things instead of terrible and didn't wreak havoc wherever she went-- if she but asked. If she were a part of her mindstream, she would have joined her hive without question, without hesitation.

For a few blissful hours, following this queen, she didn't even think about Shishayair and what he might have said.

Chapter Seventeen

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