Regina really was getting spoiled, she mused as she rode the Winged Drone Mount through the sky. She could have flown to the entrance to the underground tunnels herself, and a part of her really wanted to do it to stretch her wings, but June was riding another drone beside her and she’d decided to stick with her. They’d managed to set off pretty quickly, since her drones had organized and prepared everything for the trip as soon as Regina told them about it.

Right now, Max and a few others were accompanying them directly, while a small swarm of Winged Drones circled a bit farther out. Since there was a war on, she’d agreed to the protection detail; since it was the middle of their territory and she could sense everything around them anyway, it was a small one and she might have them hang back depending on the circumstances. A few of the drones were carrying packs of supplies, and Max had already adjusted the regular patrols around the area.

Their flight didn’t take long, of course, although Regina had not chosen the closest entrance to the village. Their drones were fast in the air, though, and it wasn’t that far. Regina had them circle above the bush hiding the tunnel once, as much to show it to June as to look at the area, before they touched down. It was in the middle of a pretty rough patch of land, although only a few hundred meters to the east, one of the hive’s new outposts was marked by a rough fence, demarcating the edge of a field. It was mostly a patch of weeds that let Production Drones graze there, so she would probably miss it without that marker.

“These are the underground tunnels? To the ruins?” June asked quietly.

Regina nodded. “This is just one entrance,” she said. She wasn’t surprised that June had heard about them, probably even before coming here. It seemed like the kind of thing Lyns’ family would be informed of.

“Please let me go first, my Queen,” Max spoke up.

“If you insist, fine.”

She waited for a second as Max entered the tunnel, ducking to not bang his head against the rock, then followed. Regina glanced at June. “Well, while we walk, let’s review your reading. Was there anything you didn’t understand or want to discuss in more detail?”

“Actually, I suppose, I am not quite sure what particles actually are, how the different kinds fit together …”

While they walked, Regina and June got into an animated discussion of basic science. June seemed to have picked it up pretty quickly, even if she still appeared hesitant. Regina was aware that a lot of what she was telling her had to seem downright absurd to the girl, but June was taking it pretty well all things considered. She was obviously hesitant about questioning Regina, and a lot of this material were things you couldn’t easily prove, but she also displayed a degree of trust in her teacher that Regina had to admit was rather touching. Not that she was going to admit it to her face. She was glad about her own discussions with Galatea, though — a lot of what they covered were things she would only have vague, half-remembered memories of at best, otherwise.

Regina held up a hand and told the others to slow down as they started to near their destination. She was using a mix of her mana sense and her psychic senses, relying on the sparse life in the tunnels around them, to map out their path. It helped that there weren’t a lot of branches. Still, the change in the mana she was feeling told her they were close. “Let’s be careful,” she said. “Shouldn’t be an issue, but just in case.”

June looked curious, and the others just nodded before they continued on.

This time, they approached the underground city from a different direction, closer to where their base was. In fact, they reached a part of the outskirts that Regina hadn’t been to personally before, only seen through drones. It looked pretty rundown and degraded, but there was a passage linking to the larger part of the old buried city. It didn’t matter much, though, since they were close enough to sense a difference in the mana. It was just as affected as the rest.

They walked most of the way in silence, then stepped around rubble and what used to be buildings in the larger cavern. Regina glanced around, feeling solemn. June was quiet as well, although she looked around with wide eyes.

Finally, Regina came to a stop and sighed. “Can you sense anything?”

June nodded slowly. “The mana is different here.”

“It is,” Regina agreed. “How so?”

June hesitated, then slowly shook her head. “It’s hard to describe,” she said. “I can sense it, but I’m not certain what I feel. It’s like it was twisted. Like something set in and nestled into the ambient mana and stayed there, and it’s been left to stew for a long time.”

Regina raised an eyebrow. That was a surprisingly detailed and insightful answer. “I see.” After a moment, she stepped forward and laid a hand on the girl’s shoulder, trying to peer deeper with her own mana sense.

“Master?” June asked after a minute.

“I think we’re on the right track. But … I’m not really sure.” Regina considered for a moment. “Let’s go to one other place. I said I wanted points of comparison, didn’t I?”

She turned away and told the others about the change in plan. A few seconds later, the group set out again.

Regina considered going back to the surface and flying, but decided it would be an unnecessary detour. Instead, they traveled deeper into the cavern system before taking a branching tunnel, which they left after a few minutes for a route leading into the direction of their main base.

June started shivering slightly a few minutes in, and she obviously wasn’t feeling too well. Regina checked on her, but it didn’t seem to come from her illness. Assuming it really was one, she was having doubts. Regina set a quick pace, only moderating it to make sure June could keep up, so they could get out of here more quickly. Unfortunately, the closer they got, the worse it seemed to get.

“Are you okay?” Regina asked, not hiding her concern. “We can leave, tunnel out and get back to the base.”

The girl shook her head. “No, I am fine. Thank you for your concern, it is appreciated, but I wish to continue.”

“Alright, if you’re sure.”

Luckily, they weren’t too far from her destination, since Regina had considered that they might want to go there. They reached a familiar tunnel quickly and followed it up, until they reached the door of the old base she’d explored … was it only a few months ago? It seemed like longer.

Regina would have liked to take the chance to explore the place a bit more, but June’s condition was worrying her a bit, so she simply hurried them through. June clearly wanted to investigate the bunker, but they could always do that later. It had been a while, but Regina remembered the layout. She passed empty rooms and the remains of modern furnishings, then came to a halt at the slightly damaged door that had given them pause last time.

“I’m not sure what this is like now, but brace yourself,” she warned her.

June nodded, and they carefully started going closer to what had been Galatea’s part of the bunker. It clearly hadn’t fared too well on their last visit, although Regina didn’t spare her surroundings more than a glance. Her attention was on the mana.

“This is different,” June said. “Even different than the ruins before. This is … strange.”

“It is,” Regina said. “Not as bad as before,” probably because Galatea had left, “but still weird.”

“And you think this … seems like me?”

Regina paused. They wouldn’t get much farther anyway. Instead she turned to June and laid a hand on her shoulder. “I’m pretty sure you have to deal with twisted mana of some kind,” she said. “The exact sort is hard to assess, and not that important for now. Just comparing what I sense from you to the ambient mana here is making that much pretty clear, though.”

“I see,” June said quietly. “I’m not sure what that means, Master.”

“Neither am I,” Regina admitted. “I don’t think you’re just ill, June. At least not a natural illness. With all this, I can’t help but think it’s some sort of curse, that maybe someone cursed you.”

“Not cursed, a curse doesn’t work like this.”

Regina managed not to jump and turned to the person who’d just appeared, her mind seemingly springing into existence near them. Galatea looked much the same as ever. She leaned against the wall beside them.

“Thank you for coming,” Regina said, then glanced at the door further in, unsure if she should bring it up.

“Being back here is … interesting, and I won’t be sad when we’re gone, but I’m fine here,” Galatea said. She looked at June and smiled in greeting.

The girl hesitantly smiled back. “You said I’m not cursed, Lady Galatea? What is it, then? If I have twisted mana in my veins somehow, how did this happen?”

“It might be something similar enough in practice,” Galatea admitted. She took a step closer, crossing her arms thoughtfully. Her form seemed to flicker slightly, but it might have been an artifact of the sparse lighting coming from the drones, who hung back to give them a respectful berth. “The easiest way I could see this happening was if your mother spent some time down here, in or close to the city, while she was pregnant with you, or perhaps some time in very early childhood.”

Regina frowned. “June, did your mother do something like this?”

June looked confused. “Not that I know of, Your Majesty. It seems unlikely.”

“We’ll have to ask Florance,” Regina muttered. “But there are other possibilities?”

“Maybe someone introduced a large quantity of twisted mana into her system, enough that it took hold and started to affect her own mana system,” Galatea said with a shrug. “I guess it wouldn’t functionally be different from poisoning or cursing you. It could have happened by accident, I suppose.”

“That would be a hell of an accident,” Regina muttered.

June stayed quiet for a minute, frowning. “That makes little sense,” she finally said. “I suppose I could see someone trying for a deniable sort of political assassination. But if someone was after Lord Lyns’ family and potential heirs, why target me and not Kiara?”

Regina was silent for a moment, exchanging a glance with Galatea. She couldn’t help but think back to the many miscarriages and difficulties Florance had apparently had. Could this actually have been introduced to her maternally, even if Florance has no symptoms?

“It’s possible you weren’t the only target,” Galatea said before she could ask. “If both you and Kiara encountered whatever poison or attack this used, she may have simply been less affected and managed to fight it off.”

“Because she was older?”

“Perhaps, but I’d actually find it more likely due to a difference in the makeup of your own mana systems.” Galatea smiled wrily. “You’re more innately talented than Kiara, June, your mana pool may have simply been more robust or adaptable, and, ironically, more susceptible.”

“How do you know that?” Regina asked, curious.

Galatea shrugged. “I can see it,” she said. “Obviously, I haven’t seen Kiara’s before she was close to her current level, but if I extrapolate a bit, it fits.”

June just stared at her for a moment, before she seemed to sag slightly. Even without her psychic abilities, Regina could tell that she was feeling conflicted and unsure how to take this.

“But how did it work?” she asked to divert from that topic. “So, it changed June’s mana or mana veins or whatever, even if slightly — apparently no one noticed before, after all. How does that lead to her displaying her symptoms?” She frowned. “Was her immune system affected?”

"Almost certainly,” Galatea agreed. “Besides, you seem to have an affinity for water magic, June. It wouldn’t surprise me if that was involved as well, and led to some issues with your body - the lymphatic or vascular system or water technically outside the body.”

Regina nodded. “That matches what I’ve seen, more or less.”

“Beyond that, I’m not sure, but I suspect there may be another aspect.” Galatea hesitated, then shrugged. “If June was sick while she was hit with this, it may have … adapted wrong, or locked in her state somewhat. The way it seems to return to her state of illness whenever she’s healed seems to suggest that, if it’s not just a normal progression of this illness or ‘taint’.”

Regina gave her a hesitant look. “Are you okay, Galatea?” she asked quietly.

She knew that Galatea had basically been composed out of this twisted mana, at least in large part. She probably still had some of it in the structure making her up, however being a mana-form worked.

Galatea smiled back at her. “Of course,” she said. “I wish I could help more.”

“If what you have said is true, then at least now we know.” June frowned. She clearly didn’t feel happy about this scenario. “Is there some way to remove this, or, I don’t know, reset to a healthier state?”

Regina didn’t answer right away, instead just looking at Galatea. The AI seemed conflicted — Regina couldn’t read her mind like she could others, but she did know her friend.

They were silent for a bit. “Galatea?” she prompted.

“There is one thing.” Galatea sighed. “Even if I misread or am just mistaken about some of this, I’m sure it would help. Actually, regardless of the details, I’m fairly sure, with this ‘twisted mana’ condition, you could do something about it.”

“Resetting that mana, or her own system?” Regina guessed. She glanced at the door again. “Don’t tell me …”

“There’s a comparison to be made here, I suppose,” Galatea said. “Although my situation was obviously quite different. Neither of you is literally made out of mana, and I was not actually connected to the System.”

June was following the discussion with a frown, clearly unsure about it but taking in the information she was learning. “You were only inducted into the System recently? But I already am connected to the System, as you said.”

“You could be connected to the Hive,” Regina said, narrowing her eyes. “It would affect her on this level, right?”

Galatea smiled faintly. “There’s a reason your Ability is called ‘Infection’, Regina. Sure, it’s a psychic connection that links someone to your little hivemind, but that’s not all there is to it.”

That makes sense. It increases their Experience gain, if nothing else, Regina reflected. Janis was already a bit different from the norm and my senses weren’t as good when she was inducted, yet, but it’s pretty clear there is a difference, even if it’s subtle.

“So Kiara was right,” June said quietly. “There is more to Janis’ membership in the hive than simply moving to a new nation.”

“Yes.”

June hesitated, then shook her head. “Father would never agree to this,” she stated. “Not even if it heals me.”

“I’m sure there are other ways, if we can find them, but it would be an option. Would you want to?” Galatea asked.

June didn’t answer right away.

Regina sighed as she looked at her. “We’re going to need to think about this.”