[Ashia's View]

The Behemoths were gone when we got back to that cavern, and I wondered where they went. I had not noticed that the beasts were gone from the map, but I hadn't really been paying attention to it with everything else that was going on.

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We floated back silently for the rest of the trip; all of us were tired, and I just wanted to get back to the Crystal Flowers. Once we got there, I created the ten hex containers and then floated up to the flowers and filled them all as they floated around me.

Once I was done that, I filled up our cups and handed one to Helaina, who accepted it gratefully. The rest waited patiently until we finished, and then I let Maurice and Hamble lead the rest of the way.

"What do you think is sealed away? Where you said that you wanted to go, but the Ravager warned you not to. You're not going to listen to him, are you?" Helaina asked as we floated.

Thanos and Tigra were both resting on my shoulder; neither wanted to get their paws dirty from the Slug Folk Thrulls. I couldn't really blame them, and I enjoyed having them there so I could pet them when I wanted.

"I don't know, but I do want to find out. I don't think that it is sealed, or the OpsBees wouldn't be able to get through. Either that or the barrier destroyed them because they were able to sense it, but the sensors were hooked up to me. Regardless, I want to go and take a look at whatever is there," I explained, and Helaina sighed and then leaned her head on my shoulder.

"I kind of thought that you would be like that. I haven't known you very long, but you must have done a lot of work for the people around you," Helaina said as we passed through another empty cavern, but I was slowly starting to hear noises coming from up ahead.

"Yes, you are not wrong, but because of all my actions, we were able to advance farther than ever thought possible for most of the people that became my subjects. What has happened now is a slight hiccup, and once I can get to Rai Cait, I will be able to get everything moving," I said, but I knew that I had caused my people a lot of headaches because of just how much I took on.

"I don't doubt that at all. I think that you are pretty good at this Queen thing; I guess that I am just not used to seeing such a capable person as a Queen. I was taught that a Queen has everyone waiting on her every command, but I don't like that. I want to be the type of person that helps people to become more, but not by ordering them to do it," Helaina explained; I picked up on the lack of adding the Queen title.

"You don't want to be a Queen?" I asked curiously.

"Why? If you are going to help me get rid of whatever is forcing me, why do I need to be a Queen?" Helaina asked me, and I guess she was right.

"Are you going to be fine with a place at my side? You will still have to birth the fertilized still, but I won't ask a lot from you. Still, you are a Queen, and I would be willing to help you, and let you go to start your own hive, if you want," I explained to her as we got closer to the sounds of voices.

"Yes, I never wanted this, but I will still do my job. There are many unborn children inside of me, so I will have no problem helping out with anything that you need. I just want to stay with you; I have never ever had an experience like this in my whole life. There is something about you that makes me want to be more than what I am supposed to be. You make me feel like I am allowed to be more," Helaina explained to me, and then I kissed the top of her head.

"Good, I want to keep you close to me as my other girls. They are all friendly, and I am sure that you will get along with them," I said as we came up to a large cavern that was filled with tunnels everywhere.

They weren't just on the ground level; it was like their cavern was a mesh strainer bowl that had been turned upside down. There was another Slug Folk moving around, but there were also some other races that I didn't recognize right away, but I was much too far from them to get a lock for my scan.

"Bill's tunnel is over here," Maurice told me, as Hamble was already heading inside the tunnel that he was pointing at.

I floated after him, but now people started to notice us, and there were people slowly starting to come over to us. There were some lizard folk and a couple insect-like people, but they still stayed back from us, preventing me from getting any kind of lock on them.

"Do you know what race those people are? I have never seen them before," I asked Helaina as we floated into the cave.

"Lizard Folk of some kind, but the others are Mite Folk and Roach Folk," Helaina explained to me, and my body gave an involuntary shiver.

Roaches and Mites? Those were two of my least favorite things!

"Are you okay?" Helaina asked me, and I shook my head.

"I just don't like bugs, but I will get over it. I am sure that they are very nice people, so I will just have to put my old reservations away," I said, and Helaina giggled at me.

"It's almost nice to see that you are not impervious to everything. Makes you seem a bit more like the rest of us, just a bit," Helina said and then squeezed herself into my arm.