Chapter 19: Chapter 19

Kai suddenly woke up with the vivid image of a drone being eaten by a gigantic lizard-like predator. She had never seen such a thing, but she would call it a dragon despite it not having wings and its overall wolf-like shape.

Kai blinked befuddled, trying to get a grip of the situation and a sense of what the hell was going on, but failed miserably. It took her a few more minutes to find her way to reality.

The image stayed the whole time and she slowly realized that she was not looking at the last remnants of a dream of hers, but at something the mana brain was showing her.

She sat up and opened the drone manager. Only 9 drones were currently available for the hive and it had been 10 before she had gone to sleep so one was definitely gone.

Kai felt bad about not feeling bad about the drones death, because they were living beings too. She was well aware that a lot of them would likely die in the future and she didn’t want to drown herself in sorrow and self hate because of that. This was also the reason for her not interacting with the drones too much personally. It was a lot more difficult to mourn for the death of something you had no relation to, like the cat of your great great great cousin.

Kai tried to find out which of the drones had died and it took her another minute to find the option. The drone had been Tina’s and her daughter would have to give birth to another one.

The hive queen stared at nothing particularly and a gut wrenching feeling of worry slowly spread through her being. Hadn’t Tina’s drone been one of the two Artemis had taken with her on her hunt?

She slowly zoomed out of the map, searching for Artemis' location. When she saw her moving towards the hive Kai let out a small sigh of relief. Her daughter was alive and hopefully well. She asked the mana brain to make sure of that.

Kai got up and hurried out of her room towards the eastern entrance of the hive. She didn’t even bother dressing herself as the silk clothing would likely rip outside of the hive anyway. Her fur had to be enough of a cover for now.

She was about to leave the silk covered area when she heard steps coming from behind her. Kai looked over her shoulder and saw Anna catching up to her. She stopped and turned towards her daughter.

Anna smiled and did her small customary bow. “I greet you my lady.”

She looked up from her bow. “I hope you slept well?”

Kai frowned and put her hands on her hips. “You should be asleep right now.”

Anna nodded. “And so should you.”

Kai’s frown deepened. Something was fishy here, but she didn’t have the time to bother about that right now. Kai turned around and began to hurry eastwards again, closely followed by Anna. “I slept well until the mana brain notified me that one of our drones died and now I am going to make sure Artemis is well.”

They left the hive and Kai slowly began to jog in Artemis' direction. Anna moved next to her. “Haven’t you asked the mana brain about her wellbeing?”

Kai clicked her mandibles together in annoyance. “Of course I have, but I still want to make sure she is well mentally.”

She sighed a bit, but still made sure not to speak too loudly in her agitation. They had no need for anything else to become interested in them. “The girl isn’t even a day old and has already been in a very deadly situation. I don’t want her to have any mental scars!”

They parted to move around a bush and then Anna took Kai’s hand. “You are really caring, my lady.”

Kai looked at her daughter and slowed a bit down. “It’s just that I feel responsible for you.”

She looked up to the dark violet sky. “I am the one who puts you into this life so in my opinion the least I can do for you is to make sure you get to live the best life possible.”

Kai looked back at Anna seriously. “I can’t treat this like the game it feels like or I will one day wake up and regret what I have done.”

Anna smiled and squeezed Kai’s hand. “That doesn’t change that you are a caring person.”

Kai looked ahead and fastened her pace again. “If you think so.”

She didn’t think of herself as especially caring, but she was also not an expert in the field so she wouldn’t argue with Anna about it. That would be a waste of time anyways.

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The two of them continued in silence and only slowed down every few minutes when Kai made sure they were still traveling towards Artemis.

After half an hour they met each other and Kai ran towards the huntress without giving her a chance to do a proper greeting. She hugged Artemis, who let the animal she was carrying fall in response.

Kai looked up into Artemis' face with a worried expression. “Are you okay? Do you feel alright?”

Artemis was a bit unsure about what to do and looked to Anna for help. Anna mimicked hugging someone and then pointed at Kai, so Artemis gingerly hugged her queen.

She cleared her throat before she responded. “I am not hurt anywhere, my queen.”

Kai took a step back and flicked the huntress on the forehead. “That’s not what I wanted to know.”

Then she looked pointedly at Artemis' bruised shoulder. “It’s also not true.”

Kai met Artemis' eyes again with a stern expression and continued before the girl had a chance to respond. “I wanted to know how you feel.”

She tapped her finger on her head. “How you are mentally.”

Kai turned towards Anna who was slowly inching towards the drone. “Would you be so kind and carry the game Artemis has hunted?”

Anna looked at the drone for a moment longer and then nodded towards Kai. “Of course I will.”

Kai turned back towards Artemis and took her hand. “Now, let’s start this again. How do you feel? Is there anything you want to talk about?”

Artemis looked at the hand that was holding hers a bit lost. “I am not sure, my queen.”

Kai smiled softly. “Just tell me about your day and your encounter with the dragon.”

Artemis nodded and the two began to walk back towards the hive while Artemis told her tale. Anna and the drone lagged a bit behind after a bit cuddling and petting. Some things just had to be done.

They were still a few minutes away from the hive when Artemis finished her story. The violet of the sky was also deepening and the time of the hell moths was coming closer. 

Artemis bit her lip. “It just stood there, looking at me as if it was looking at a rat.”

She looked a bit forlornly into the distance. “It could have killed me then and there without much effort, but it just turned around and walked away with all the peace in the world.”

She sighed deeply. “I don’t know what to think about this.” 

Then Artemis looked at Kai. “But it makes me feel unworthy of the gift of life you gave me, my queen.”

Kai squeezed her daughter's hand and smiled reassuringly. “You are not even a day old, Artemis and have a lot of learning as well as improving before you in your life. Don’t be so hard on yourself, that helps nobody.”

She thought about it for a minute longer. “As for the dragon's behavior, why don’t you take it as a challenge, a challenge to get stronger and prove yourself.”

Artemis smiled to herself and mumbled a bit. “A challenge… I like that.”

Kai could only sigh in her mind. She had just created the foundation for a second monster next to Anna, hadn’t she?

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