When Regina met Kiara again after her rather dramatic arrival, the young woman was obviously calmer and had collected herself, a polite mask stuck over her features that hid her real feelings from the world. Her mind itself was not quite as good, and Regina caught hints of her thoughts even without focusing entirely on it.

Kiara had clearly been more than a little rattled by what had happened, which Regina supposed made sense. She’d come rather close to death — if she’d fallen out the window the wrong way, there might not have been anything Via could do — and she’d just had to leave behind her entire support base.

Clearly, Kiara was considering whether that had been the right move or if she’d simply panicked. From what Regina had heard, that might be the case, but it wasn’t the wrong choice. Lyns was clearly determined to suppress Kiara’s supporters and not afraid to use violence. If she had stayed there, it would have been hell trying to hide her, and most likely have come to a fight between her and Lyns’ soldiers, where she easily could have been further hurt. At least this way her allies could be sure she was safe.

Regina had already told Via to carefully pass the word that Kiara was well, and Madris was still in position, too, gathering information and occasionally deigning to pass a message.

She still hoped this wouldn’t completely destroy her alliance with Lyns’ rebels, but considering what had happened, Regina knew the chances weren’t good.

“Thank you for taking me in, Your Majesty,” Kiara told her with a small smile, visibly more relaxed.

“No problem at all, I meant what I said,” Regina responded. “And please, no need for formality. Are you doing alright, Kiara?”

They were in one of the upper rooms of the base, where the drones had quickly readied space for Kiara. Close to where they’d prepared rooms for Florance and June. Regina knew Kiara hadn’t seen either yet, especially since June was still in Nerlia at the moment. But she’d go to Florance right after this, if she had anything to say about it.

“Of course, I’m much better, thanks to you.”

Regina gave her a look, but decided not to press the point. “Alright. June will be very happy to meet you. I’m sure Florance is already worried. It’s not my decision, but I’d advise you to be honest with her. And —“

“Promise to ensure my baby brother’s safety?” Kiara said drily.

Regina smiled wrily. “Might be a good idea. I will definitely assure both of you of the same. None of your family needs to die, and you certainly shouldn’t be killing each other.”

Kiara’s expression darkened, evidently thinking of her father. But she only nodded. “I’ll do that. Is there anything else I should know?”

For the next few minutes, they talked about her mother and little sister, with Regina reporting about their respective health. Fortunately, they were both doing quite well. June was almost good enough to cast the healing spells she needed entirely on her own by now, and except for a few odd cravings and the occasional bout of sickness, Florance’s pregnancy was progressing well. Regina thought she was past the dangerous timeframe and told Kiara as much.

Still, Kiara was clearly eager to meet them, and Regina excused her to go visit her mother quickly. She seemed a bit more formal since she’d asked for asylum here, probably still just settling into the new circumstances. Regina watched her go and smiled to herself before she turned to head back, and reached out through the psychic link.

Janis, your girlfriend seems to be doing pretty well now, all things considered.

She’s not my girlfriend, Janis replied. But thank you, Regina, that’s good to know.

Not yet, but you want her to be, don’t you?

Janis was silent for a second. She felt embarrassed, though that was mostly just because she knew Regina could sense her emotions and surface thoughts and thus knew exactly how she felt. Regina didn’t even have to go looking for it.

Yes, I do, she admitted. You don’t have a problem with that, do you?

Not at all, Regina assured her. You’ll need to convince Kiara, of course, which might be a bit more of a challenge, but something tells me she’ll come around. That feeling is pretty unmistakable.

Regina! Janis laughed. You’re incorrigible. But despite her playfully chiding tone over the psychic link, Regina could tell that Janis was relieved. Even if she objectively already knew, getting confirmation that her beloved returned her feelings was nice.

Make sure you at least have the others ready to take over for you before you hurry home, Regina teased her.

I will. I’m already talking to them, and I’ll be home soon.

Regina smiled as she left Janis to her preparations. She didn’t mind. While Janis was currently doing a good job in Nerlia, the others, especially Marianne Neralt and the Nerlian collaborators, had things well in hand. Besides, Regina liked having Janis around too, and Kiara could use the support.

With a sigh, Regina turned her attention away from the two young lovers — she’d need to think of another term, she felt old just thinking that — and to something else. A matter she had been putting off a little, because she knew it would mean more headaches.

Ben, she called, and after a moment opened it to Max and Tim as well. The Hive’s upper military leadership, in a sense.

My Queen. I assume we’re to discuss a reorientation of our forces and strategic objectives? Ben asked, not beating around the bush.

For a war with Cernlia? Max added.

Regina leaned back in her seat, glancing at where he stood near the door to her bedroom like usual, and ran a hand through her hair. I want you to draw up plans, see how you can redistribute our troops. I don’t want the war effort against the gnomes to suffer, but we need to be prepared for fighting on another front.

Well, Tim said, someone already positioned our combined force with the Delvers at a strategically advantageous position.

Regina smiled slightly. That had been in the back of her mind when she’d chosen the location for their exercises and new exchange hub.

Can we do it? she asked. Assuming we do need to fight Cernlia, or rather Lyns’ forces. To be clear, I’m expecting at least some of the lords currently supporting him to be on our side in such a case. But could we fight them all if we needed to?

The others exchanged a quick assessment over the psychic link, more of a feeling than real thoughts, the equivalent of a meaningful look. Yes, Ben finally answered, but not easily. We still have too many other commitments. We need to keep troops and especially sapient drones in our new territories and to keep the Nerlians in line, and taking soldiers from the war against the gnomes just now would be a mistake.

It would be better, Tim started hesitantly, if we could surprise them. Rather than a conventional field battle.

Regina felt the others agree. Unless you want to just bomb them, but I know you don’t want that, Ben added.

Regina considered what they’d said. She knew the element of surprise could be powerful, and so far, she hadn’t actually cut Lyns loose. She was a bit hesitant at the idea of attacking first. On the other hand, if they needed to, it would be good to know they could do it.

We’ll make plans, Tim concluded. It’s probably best if we bring the others in and walk through several scenarios, so we can make contingency plans. I’ll talk to Via and the Keepers so we can get better information on what we might face, and what we might have to work with. If we can get more info from Kiara on who we might get as allies, that would be even better.

I’m a little hesitant to broach the subject with her right now, Regina admitted. Besides, this is just contingency planning, so far. I’d kinda prefer not to fight Cernlia if we don’t have to. We’re getting a reputation as aggressive expansionists fighting all the human kingdoms, otherwise. Anyway, on that topic, what about the gnomes?

It’s going well, Tim replied promptly. Tia is preparing for trying out all those things you’ve talked about, I think? Personally, I’m not sure how wise the idea of flooding their caves really is.

Well, if we can get better maps of the local topography, so we know the settlements’ altitudes and so on, Regina said, it might be worth it. We can’t exactly use our usual tactics involving Winged Drones here. At least not in the cities or bases that are actually underground.

And how many of those are we likely to see? Max asked.

Regina shrugged at him. Depends on how the war goes. I don’t need to occupy the entire Confederation, but we do need to make sure they don’t pose a threat anymore.

The others acknowledged her words, and she sensed them turn their thoughts to implementing their new plans.

Regina took a break to go to the nursery. She walked a circuitous route, checking on the base and stretching her legs. Then she checked on the eggs and imprinted the new variants on the newest Form Drones, after adding some eggs to the nursery. The hive needed more drones that were specialized for underground combat, especially in confined spaces. She’d been experimenting with new templates, and hoped she’d have something to use as a standard tunnel fighter soon. Her efforts were a bit slowed by the need to see how the drones developed and how they worked in actual combat. If she waited for them to level up too much, there would be no point in it, though.

When she got back, Regina stretched out on the bed, working the kinks out of her muscles, and then closed her eyes. She knew she was going to spend a lot of time here, and she’d rather not get too stiff.

Reminded by her recent visit, she first started checking on the newest Templates of her drones, watching through their senses and getting information from the psychic link to evaluate their performance.

Once she was satisfied they were doing as well as could be expected, Regina mentally zoomed out and focused on the map in the link the Keepers were keeping up-to-date with the information the Hive had gathered. Recently, Jem had been working on something like an interactive strategic map that showed the territory of the hive and its surroundings, including what they knew of the Gnomish Confederation. It reminded her vaguely of a video game, which was probably where he had gotten the idea.

Regina paused as she considered the borders laid out on the mental map. The inside of Cernlia was still kind of a mess, and it was hard to know for sure how the battle lines would shake out if it did come to a war. Previously, she’d been hoping to get at least some of the Delvers involved in the war against the gnomes, both to crash-test their willingness to fight for her and because of their undeniable experience and power. Now, though, it would be better to keep them where they were, ready to act if the situation should require it. She had placed them in a good position in regards to Cernlia, and a bit more time integrating with the hive’s forces wouldn’t go amiss.

Then Regina turned her attention to the gnomes and her hive’s own war against them. It was a bit discouraging to realize they’d barely nibbled at the edges of their territory so far. On the other hand, they had established beachheads and laid the groundwork for faster progress. And besides, with only a bit more work, it should be virtually impossible for the gnomes to get at the hive. They’d have to take quite the detours, at any rate. And that meant there was little time pressure. Even if it would be best not to give them time to regroup and to adjust their tactics or replenish their equipment, the hive wasn’t in enough danger to need to see the gnomes dealt with quickly, so they could theoretically take their time.

Regina hoped it wouldn’t come to that, though. She was impatient with the little bastards and their blasted country. It had already been too long since Bea and the others were killed.

And the longer they were around, the more chances they had to spew poison regarding her people into the ears of whoever might listen.

Regina turned her head, opening her eyes for a bit while she focused on one part of the map. It was still pretty easy for the gnomes to get into Cernlia — there was a direct and reasonably long border from the eastern part of their territory to the north — and it wouldn’t be too difficult to get to Esemen. And that was only the beginning. There were a few other countries, mostly smaller ones, beyond those two. She’d been trying to gather information on them, but it was slow-going, sparse and inconsistent. Nothing like a world that had the Internet at its fingertips, or quick transportation with cars and planes.

Regina paced through her bedroom, running a hand through her hair, before she finally made her decision and called on Tia.

I think it’s time to step it up a bit, she said. Are you ready to flood their tunnels?

Tia seemed a bit surprised, but she quickly smiled. Of course, my Queen. Are you sure, though?

Yes. Not everything, though. You have different plans, don’t you? Something smaller scale, at least for now, would be best.

Tia’s mind sharpened as she concentrated on the plans and preparations she had made. There is one potential path I’ve charted out that should take out a good portion of their outposts in this region. With a bit of work, we can make sure it doesn’t threaten our own staging areas. And it should be far enough away from their cities, unless there’s one close enough that we haven’t found yet. Even then, they should have enough time for an evacuation.

Regina considered the images Tia sent her, placing them in the context of the mental map she’d been focusing on.

Alright, she finally said. Don’t use any acids or other chemicals yet, just water will be enough. What else do you need?

Either quite a few barrels of water or a few additional mages to conjure it would be good, my Queen.

Done. I’ll talk to Ben and the others and send a few more your way.

Tia sent a grateful acknowledgment and Regina smiled.

It would still take a bit of time. But then, she was looking forward to watching masses of water spill through the gnomes’ tunnels. It would be a nice prelude to the larger, multi-pronged attack she knew Tim had been considering.