I gave my husband a goodbye kiss and he headed out on a, hopefully, short trip to learn something to help me. It still feels odd that he would be so obsessed with helping me, I had already resigned myself to my destiny well before i met him. He just loved me too much to let me be locked away for the safety of the hive, and his passion made me want to fight it too. While thinking about that, one of my workers came by and requested a new project for her group. I directed her to dig out a side room as a cooking area and she went off. I love my daughters very much but I wish I could just make them smarter, but unless I get lucky they are stuck this way.

It could have something to do with that bonus buildup thing my class gave me, every time I laid an egg a counter next to it went up by one, so it has an eight next to it right now. I have a gut feeling that if it gets to fifty I would be able to do something with it, but that is a ways off. It's so boring down here and I am unable to head topside because my own soldiers can't let me go, they have built in instincts to be overprotective of me, I would need to kill her to get out. After thinking about it, I suppose I could still make myself useful, I told her to send another soldier to me when one returns from her food gathering before heading back to my room.

It felt like forever before one of them came by, I had her get two workers and get them to gather some wood, without my hubby here to keep me company I needed something else to occupy myself. Carving wood seems like an easy enough hobby, my claws may not be able to handle stone but I can cut wood. Another long time passes before the workers come back with an armload of logs, I send them back to whatever they were doing before and they comply without questioning. Sigh, I miss my big sister, Fighter, it wasn't much but that little bit of extra int let her think about her orders and have enough initiative that she could ask questions, which made her interesting.

Isn't much I could do about it now, only momento I still had was my little celestial sister, and once mother was gone she would go too. I sat next to the wood pile and grabbed a hunk of wood, I already knew what I would make, some more momentos, since she was here to model I started with my sister. I ran my claw along the wood and shaved a bit off, I got about ten scrapes into it before I slipped and cut a gouge into it instead. I frowned as I threw the wood off to the side and grabbed a new one, it was surprisingly hard to do, but I was bored so I kept at it.

Another day without my darling, another day of boredom, I wonder what mother did to stop this feeling while father was gone, which he often was. I suppose he probably didn't provide much fun even when he was there, sure he gave mother what she needed, but he never really hung out with her. I ate the food one of the workers brought me and went back to carving, I think I got the hang of it after three failures. The trick was to cut shallower if I hit a hard spot and work my way through it slower instead of pushing harder to cut through it. I start with her face, it is rather similar to mine but each caste has their differences, if you know what you are looking for, for one thing she is always asleep so her face is always relaxed and her expression calm.

In spite of her smaller size and her eyes being closed they actually had a larger ratio to her head, as well as softer more pinchable cheeks. I gave her a pat on the head and told her I love her, she purred at the message and blinked her light happily but didn't send a response. Celestials were a rather sad caste, they were smarter than workers and soldiers but the price they paid to use the holy light was eternal slumber. I heard that before blue box appeared the celestials didn't need to sleep, that holy magic was easy enough to use they could stay awake. But after blue box it's like it all dried up so now they had to act as both user and source which required too much energy for an awake mind.

I finished most of her head on the wood but now the hardest part, her antenna, they were relatively thicker than most, but also longer. I started with the tips and worked my way downward, the whole time I worked it was very stressful, but once I finished the relief was rather refreshing. The body was much simplier, all plates, I supposed the linkage from her head to her neck and from her thorax to her abdomen would be a little difficult. It was time for lunch when I got about a third of the way down her chest, I made sure the worker fed my little sister too, they don't really like doing that because she smells funny to them, but they can't refuse me on this.

It took me till almost dinner to finish her up, was a little rough around the edges but it looked like her enough that it would remind me of her after she's gone, there wasn't anything special about her, but she represented all of her caste. Next up was my mother, she went through a lot for me, dealing with my father for so long and barely got enough levels to give birth to me. The same day she got to level six she put me in the pipeline, father was so suspicious about her only laying five eggs at a time for a month while I gestated. But after I was laid it was easy enough to pretend I was just a worker, he didn't pay attention to what any of my sisters were up to so he just assumed I was a different one every time he saw me.

I wont need to rush out a princess of my own, I would be able to wait until I found a proper husband for her before I even start making her. My husband had spoiled me though, I didn't know how I would be able to find her a man that loved her even half as much as mine loved me. That is far far in the future though, I hoped to get to, I dunno, level twenty before I even thought about finding someone for my hypothetical princess. I only got a rough outline of mother's head done before it was time to sleep, I told my sister goodnight and to shut her light off.

Third day of boredom, I hoped he actually found something so this was all worth it, if he came back with nothing to show for it I would be so mad. No idea how I could punish him that didn't punish me too, I both want and need sex too much to deny that. Make him dig with the workers all day maybe, have him stand guard like a soldier? I'll think about it while working on mother's statuette. Next part was refining her face, I may be an adult right now but it isn't until level four that a queen's body changes from a woman's to a mother's, and it showed in her facial features.

It's rather hard to describe, her eyes had a reassuring quality to them that let any of us that looked at them know she loved us. As well as a soft, but stern, but caring face. I didn't quite manage to capture that look, the shape was an exact match but something was missing, only thing I could think of was the fact it wasn't my mother, just a block of wood. Working down her body reminded me of what will happen to my own, Once I level up again I'll grow a little but my abdomen will grow more. It wont be so bad at four and eight but once I hit twelve it will start getting in the way.

Once i'd worked down to her's I realized the bulkiness was inconsistent with just two more egg chambers, the support structure for all six of them was thicker as well. Which was probably why even though it took her a week per generation at first, after her growth spirt it only took six days, So it is highly likely I would indeed go down to only four days after I bulk up. Once I finished her I started on one of Fighter, she was the only sister I could talk to. Like all soldiers she was more fierce looking than me, but unlike the others she had that spark of intellect. Out of the two hundred other daughters mother had, Fighter was the only one that had something special, even if most of them were lesser workers.

That one thing from the queen approval effect said I would have more special kids, but I didn't know the normal odds of making any so I had no idea how effective the boost could be. I carefully tweaked her eyes, most soldiers had a very neutral expression but Fighter was clearly focused. While I was working on the head it became time for dinner, so I once again had to wait till later to finish up a project. It was once again a fruit and some meat, my husband told me to keep the soldiers on the look out for grains, he would be able to make bread if we cultivate it, and while the workers are fine with the same thing every day me and him want some flavor.

Day four of having nothing to do but cut wood into shapes. He should be on his way back by now, maybe he will be able to get back today if he runs fast enough! No no, I shouldn't get my hopes up like that, i'll just dissapoont myself, he will be here tomorrow. Working on the body of my Fighter carving I try to make her posture look more relaxed, all the other soldiers stood perfectly straight at all times but she was able to be alert without concentrating entirely on being so. It also made her appear more confident, stiff posture makes someone appear tense and unsure, but her relaxed look made her look even stronger.

There was a downside for her though, the bonus made her smart enough to know how stupid she still was. She was caught between, she was smarter then all the other soldiers so her thoughts went over their heads, but she had trouble articulating what she was thinking to me. She listened to me though, and sometimes she could understand something and offer an idea, but most of the time she just listened. I gave her an ear in return when she had an idea and I would try to help her with it, but it was often some vague concept of bettering herself instead of an actual way to get better.

Once done with her I had to think about what to do next, eventually I decided to make a simple one of my father, he may have been a terrible person but he never tried to kill mother or lead an army to the hive. I also owed him for being my father at all, and before he died I thought he was actually kind, but he was just an emotional manipulator rather then a physical one, he never hurt any of my sisters, just had them do stupid jobs because he thought he knew better because he was human. I finished it rather quickly because I didn't put in any real details, but then I had nothing left to do for the day. After some time sitting there petting my little glowbug sister I realized one more I could do, myself as I am now.

I could keep track of my changes like this, but the face will have to be blank, since I have never seen my own face. I carefully feel along my scalp and note the shape of the plates on my head, it isn't quite hair but it is hair like. I go slow and careful to make sure it is accurate as I feel my head, a ridge there, and a groove there. It needed to downsize it once because I started too big but it is looking good. Moving to my neck I felt one of the biggest differences between me and the soldiers. The front of my neck is unarmored which leads down to my exposed chest, unlike them a hit to the chest would probably kill me. I get about half down before it is it time to sleep again, hopefully I can finish it before my husband gets back and I can show them off.