The dinner this time is a lot more awkward. Only Erik is eating energetically as always, unaware of the concerns of his parents. Mark thought that his wife is a bit too naive, but he would never say this aloud. He believes that the egg must come from Sylvia and that it will surely hatch. As he is thinking about how he could prepare for the possibly dangerous situation developing right in their home, his thoughts are interrupted by Elise, who tries to start a conversation by talking about her shopping tour in town.

Elise notices that the interest of her husband in the topic is missing and that he still has this concerned look in his eyes. She strongly believes that everything would turn out just fine. Sylvia thus far behaved and never tried to harm the family although she can eat meat with her teeth in a flash. She also showed some intelligence and some signs of understanding already. This indicates that she is mentally developed way further than human children of comparable age. Her physical development is also extremely fast. When Elise found her, she looked more like a toddler and couldn’t move on her own, while the next day she could already crawl around. Sylvia develops in days like human children develop in years. If she continues with this pace Elise estimates that she could be fully developed in around 3 weeks.

Sylvia once again listens closely to the words Elise speaks about her day in town. She still can’t understand what she is saying, but she already figured some small things out. The young queen noticed that she is called Sylvia and that her benefactor, which found her, is called Mom. She figures that Elise is talking about her because she sometimes mentions her name. She also noticed that Mark didn’t speak much after he found her hive drone egg. She therefore concludes that he considers her a foreign brood and that he doesn’t like a foreign brood in his Hive Complex he shares with the entity known as ‘Mom’. As a result, the Hive Queen decides to stop the production of further hive drones for now and to continue later after she matured some more.

This time for dinner no meat is served. Instead, a vegetable soup is consumed by the family in addition to some bread and water like last time. Sylvia is not impressed but doesn't show it and eats with the same kind of appetite she has shown thus far. She can’t get any new genetic material from this meal, but she still needs the nutrients for her development and she also doesn’t want to agitate Mark even more. From the last lunch where the remains of the Zaramander were served, she got enough tissue samples to acquire one of its core abilities. She can now create a “Rapid Regeneration” Strain, which allows the affected creature to regrow lost limbs with enough time and nutrients. Applying one or more Strains to a creature increases the biomass cost for production, the biomass upkeep to feed it and the production time.

After dinner is finished Elise feels the need to reassure her husband that everything will somehow work out. She starts her preparations to get some time to privately speak with Mark. After dinner, Erik goes to his room by himself and Sylvia gets carried to her bedroom by Elise, where she has a mattress prepared, which she bought in the town earlier. Elise thought that with this setup Sylvia would be able to sleep with them in the same room, while at the same time making her husband more comfortable. After she dropped off Sylvia in her new bed, she goes the stairs back down to the kitchen, where Mark is washing the dishes. She helps him and starts to tell him about her thoughts concerning Sylvia. Mark listens with a stern expression and then gathers his thoughts for a moment after his wife finished.

He answers: “You are right that Sylvia never tried to harm anyone. You are also right that she seems far more developed …”, he looks Elise in the eyes with a serious look and continues, “We still don’t know enough about her species. She could be a risk to our family. If we continue to let her stay here, we have to make preparations for a bad scenario.”, he pauses for a second to let his point sink in and proceeds, “I suggest that we prepare an anesthetic that we can use to stun Sylvia in case of emergency.”

Some seconds pass in silence. Elise gathers her thoughts before responding, “An anesthetic is justifiable in case of an emergency. Tomorrow I will head to Westerville once more and will buy a suitable mixture there.”, she proceeds to hug her husband, “We will get through this situation together. I know that Sylvia's special circumstances can be scary sometimes, but we must not let our fear guide us and instead provide a safe environment to raise her the right way.” Mark returns the embrace and remains in this position for a while. Both parents regain their inner strength and then make their way to their bedroom together.

Sylvia is a little worried now that she is alone again, but she recognizes the environment and regains her composure. It takes a few minutes for Elise and Mark to return together. The young Hive Queen yelps softly when they enter, in order to draw their attention and remind them of her presence. As a reaction, they both go over to Sylvia's new bed and Elise pets her a bit, while both say some words in a friendly tone. The Sylv Queen still doesn’t understand most of the words but recognizes that they care for her. Satisfied with the improved situation she starts a low purr, which triggers a slight giggle from Elise.

“She is sooo cute sometimes!”, thinks Elise and goes to sleep with her husband after she checked the last time that everything is fine with Sylvia's new bed. This time Sylvia doesn't stay in bed and starts to explore the second floor, right after everyone else is sleeping. The Sylv in nature are more active at night and prefer to sleep when the sun shines the strongest. She has not had a chance to explore this floor yet, because she was not confident enough to use the stairs until now. After some time she is satisfied and decides to take a little nap since there is nothing else to do. In her sleep, her physical development continues and she starts to grow some purple-colored hair on the back of her head. She instinctively knew that her first growth phase would end soon and that she needs some time to recuperate before she can start her next growth phase.

The next morning Elise and Mark are a little surprised when they see Sylvia lying in her bed with her new purple hairline. She doesn't have long hair yet, but with some time that will change. They don’t make a big fuss out of it and proceed with their normal morning routine. Elise goes like last morning together with the young queen to the bathroom to help her clean herself. Right after the breakfast is eaten together and Erik also notices the changes on Sylvia. He is quite fascinated and the family talks a lot. The atmosphere is much better compared to last evening. Sylvia listens closely to the conversation to improve her language skills. Breakfast itself consists of some bread, fruits and water.

After breakfast, Elise spends some time with the Hive Queen to test how far her mental development proceeded. First, she sits her on the sofa in the living room, right in front of herself. Erik follows his mother and watches with interest what she has planned. Elise points to Sylvia and slowly says her name. The Hive Queen looks at her interested and tries to figure out what Elise wants her to do. While she is still thinking, Elise repeats the procedure and the Queen decides how to react. Sylvia puts her hand on her upper torso and answers with a high-pitched but understandable voice, “Sil ... wia”, she proceeds by pointing at Elise and proudly applying her learned knowledge saying, “Mom”. Sylvia noticed a while ago that Erik called her so and tries to imitate him.

After Sylvia tried to say her name, Elise and Erik stay silent out of surprise. Then she continues to call Elise's mom, which makes Elise very happy. “That’s right, you did a great job Sylvia!”, praises Elise. She quickly calls her husband and repeats her experiment to show him that Sylvia starts to learn to speak. Sylvia decides to repeat what she did prior but manages to improve the pronunciation of her name a little bit. Everyone is quite excited and Erik tries next. He places himself near Sylvia and points at himself while saying his name.

“Erick”, repeats Sylvia while pointing at Erik. Getting the pronunciation of his name nearly right on her first try. Then Sylvia becomes active herself and points at Mark while looking with a confused expression to Elise. After a moment Elise answers, “Dad”, which Sylvia repeats while pointing at Mark. This makes the whole family happy and they continue to explain some more things to their new family addition. The only one who doesn't get too excited is Mark, but he doesn't let it show openly.