Rythica squirmed as Julia ran the brush through her hair, getting it tangled in at least a dozen knots. She made her displeasure known, quite audibly, and made a few opportunistic strikes at both the wooden hairbrush and the hand holding it. Despite her claws doing only minimal damage to the thick gloves Julia wore, the nanny still flinched back with a slight scowl.

  "Hey! No using your claws!"

  The angry child hissed.

  "No hissing either; use your words."

  Rythica, not in the mood, made a gutteral chirping sound and made to swipe once more. However, her hands slowed when she saw the drone reaching for the water mister. The small queen hesitated, eyeing the deadly weapon with apparent apprehension. She debated whether the petty revenge was worth it. The water blasted her in the face an instant later as she resumed her attack, causing her to splutter.

  "No spray!" The princess shrieked back, buzzing and furiously trying to wipe the water off.

  Her drone was unrepentant, merely shrugging. "Don't attack me, and I won't."'

  "Hurt!" The vex indicated her hair. Honestly, if the drone didn't want to get punished, she should have known better than to pull her queen's hair.

  Julia sighed. "That's why I offered to wet it. It'll help with the knots."

  "I'm not going to spray you." She shook her head. "I'm only saying it would be easier."

  Rythica huffed as Julia pulled her back down onto the floor, cross-legged, and resumed brushing her hair, albeit a lot more gently.

  "Seriously, what did you do to your hair to get it like this?" There was exasperation in her tone, mixed with perhaps the tiniest bit of awe.

  The adventurous young vex thought back to a few hours earlier when she had discovered the most amazing trick. By rubbing her head against her blankets really fast, her hair would start to stick up and float on its own. She thought it was hilarious. Apparently, Julia simply lacked the ability to have fun. Rythica almost felt sorry for the poor, boring drone. Rythica went back to playing with her toys as the drone needlessly fussed over her hair for unknown reasons.

  The drone had been acting strange for the past many sleeps (about two weeks) ever since her meeting with the big queen. Rythica understood; the old woman was very intimidating. , her drones would be unsettled. Julia kept looking at her with concern and a few other emotions Rythica couldn't parse, but she understood her drone was clearly anxious. Rythica didn't think the drone needed to worry; the big queen was the master of the hive and would undoubtedly lead the hive to greatness. What was there to fear? Did Julia not believe the big queen capable? The queen was very big. Obviously, the queen understood how to rule a hive. It was an opportunity, a path for survival and for the future of the hive.

  And herself, perhaps. Maybe she would no longer be so small...

  But, as soon as her thoughts turned towards the meeting with the big queen, her thoughts began to twist down a familiar spiral. The drone's fingers paused for a moment, somehow sensing Rythica's shift in mood before the princess herself even fully registered it. As expected, of course, a good drone understood their queen as well as the queen understood herself. Still, Rythica floundered momentarily as the oh-so-vivid memories struck her once more—that feeling of overwhelming power, that feeling of something missing, something lost. Suppressing a small whimper, the princess pulled her toys closer. She began to fiddle with the shape matching game with one set of hands and stacking blocks with the other. Managing both tasks at once was distressingly trivial.

  Rythica had slowly been learning something about herself as of late. It was a trick that had been coming to her more naturally as time marched on. Rythica found she had a knack for being able to focus on two things at once really well, sometimes even three things. With so many hands, at least when compared to her drones, she could maximize the efficiency of playtime manyfold with something new in each hand. The princess had felt rather smug about the feat after seeing Bella's stunned reaction the first time that drone had seen. However, as she quickly starting to realize, it made thinking about things extraordinarily difficult. No matter how hard she tried to distract herself, there was always more room in her head for those distressing memories to worm their way in.

  Rythica panicked as her drone suddenly grappled her from behind, wrapping her arms around the tiny princess in a tight embrace. The vex briefly thought she was under attack but calmed herself a moment later. This was not the first time the clingy drone tried to grapple her for whatever reason, and she batted the human away with a scowl. Julia loosened her grip but didn't fully let go, instead pulling the small vex onto her lap and against the leather clothes Julia always wore when around her.

  She made to bat at the human once more but ultimately lowered her hands. Rythica wondered for a moment if maybe her drone wasn't the only one who was unsure about the new big queen. Elara offered her power, a bigger hive, and more, even letting her keep her drones. But being around the queen also reminded her of that something that was missing, like an exposed nerve in her heart. Rythica let herself relax into her loyal, clingy drone's embrace. She wasn't sure why the drone was so eager to grab her or pet her head whenever she started to feel troubled, but while she didn't like being randomly touched, Rythica was beginning to tolerate it. That Aura that seemed to always hover around her drone, that feeling of comfort, of reassurance and a promise of protection, was so much stronger when the drone held her close like this. Was that intentional? It didn't take away those odd memories; it didn't fill that hole or make the pain go away. But it helped, just a little bit, so Rythica let the silly drone do what she wanted.

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  The two lapsed into silence for a bit.

  "Why is?"

  "Hmm?" Julia perked up, surprised at Rythica being the one to break the silence for once.

  Rythica pointed to her hair and then the brush.

  "Why am I brushing your hair?"

  The vex nodded. She didn't like talking all that much. It took a lot of effort to form the words, even if the ring somehow helped make the drones understand them better. Talking for too long also made her cheeks sore from trying to move the mandibles in odd ways so they didn't block the sounds. Not for the first time, she wished the drones would just always know what she was thinking. It would make everything so much easier. But, obviously, that wasn't possible, so she settled for making words the hard way. It was an extra layer of distraction against her racing ruminations, at the very least.

  "Well, sweetie, it's to keep your hair nice, healthy, and very pretty. I brush my hair every day, see?" Julia showed off her long, wavy brown hair with a small smile. "Very neat and tidy."

  Rythica blinked at the long-winded explanation, full of words she only half understood. She glanced back and up at Julia. "Why?"

  "Because messy hair gets into very bad tangles and knots, which can hurt it."

  "Why?"

  Julia gave the princess a long look.

  "Because it does."

  "Why is?"

  Julia closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh. Rythica was a bit confused by her reaction but didn't care enough to comment. The room fell silent once more, the only sound being the clicking of wooden blocks.

  "... Why hurt?"

  Julia almost made a playful, snarky remark before she noticed Rythica holding her chest and looking down, the toys momentarily forgotten.

  "Oh..." The nanny hesitated for a moment, considering her words carefully. "Sometimes... people are missing something, something important. Even if they don't know it's missing." She went back to combing Rythica's hair as softly as possible as she struggled to regain her composure. "It can be taken from them one day... And it hurts. It hurts a lot. But sometimes, there are things that can help, and it doesn't have to hurt so much. There are other things you can use to fill that hole. Things to make it a little bit better."

  Rythica didn't respond, merely resuming her block stacking with all four hands, a look of concentration on her tiny features.

  Julia smiled softly. "You know, I remember you calling me your drone when you stood up to Elara."

  Rythica nodded.

  "And Bella? And Randell?"

  Another nod.

  Julia hummed to herself and nodded, slowly working her way through a particularly bad knot. "I see. So, a drone is someone special to you?"

  Obviously. What was a hive without drones? She nodded firmly.

  "I guessed as much. You know, I thought it was the most adorable thing. I saw how much you cared."

  Of course, Rythica cared. Her drones belonged to her and her alone. No one else could have them.

  Julia gently poked the vex in the chest. "The pain won't go away easily, but you can make it better by putting something else in there. You care about us 'drones,' as you say," she chuckled. "Put us in there, okay?"

  Rythica was entirely confused. She looked down at Julia's finger, still poking her, and then back up at her loyal confidant. She tilted her head, trying to imagine how the massive drone was intending to fit inside her chest ...somehow? That didn't even make sense.

  "Oh, you are too freaking cute." Julia gave her another squeeze, carefully avoiding the delicate wings and gracefully ignoring the princess's small scowl at being squeezed. "Listen, okay? I will always be here for you, Rythica. I will always protect you. You deserve all the love I have to give. You are not alone. You can trust me."

  "Trust?" Rythica tilted her head at the unfamiliar word.

  "It means you know I will never hurt you, and I only want what's best for you. I'm on your side, okay?"

  "Julia, my?"

  "Yes, sweetie." She placed her hand on Rythica's head, careful not to mess up the hair she was still trying to tame. "I'll be your protective little drone, and you can be the big, strong, brave queen, okay? You are special. You can trust me to help you, okay?"

  "Big... queen?"

  Julia beamed. "Yes, you are a very big and mighty queen. And a big, mighty queen needs to trust her drones. Care for them with all your heart. Trust them to protect you and guide you, and you'll have the best hive in the whole world."

  Rythica focused intently on the words. Although she didn't truly understand the meaning behind the message, she memorized every word because, deep down, she knew they were important. It mattered. Over the coming days, weeks, months, and years long after, her growing vex mind would keep those words crystallized in amber and stone.

  She would build the very best hive. No matter what it took.

  "...Am trust?"

  "Yes, you can trust me, sweetie. Always."

  "Trust."

  Rythica glanced down, considering the new word, tasting it. She glanced down at the leather gloves Julia wore, still holding her, the ones she always put on before coming near the queen. The ones she had seen Julia wear. She knew what they were for. Her claws had long marked the surface a dozen, dozen times. Rythica glanced back at the leather clothes Julia had taken the time to slowly don before entering the enclosure.

  Bella hadn't worn any. So why did Julia?

  Things began to click into place. Rythica stared at Julia for a long moment before wrapping two of her claws around Julia's hand and staring at it.

  "... Trust?"

  Julia started, hesitating. "W-well..." She looked away. "I know your claws are sharp, so..."

  "... No trust?" Rythica felt oddly hurt by that. Rythica had been very careful with her punishments. She aimed for the gloves, even. It's not like Julia wore any second skin over her face.

  Julia winced at the accusation. "I-It's not that I don't trust you. It's just..." She sighed and looked at the ceiling, lost for words. "I'm sorry, you're right. I can't ask you to trust me without offering you the same trust in return."

  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before slowly removing the thick work gloves. She dropped the pieces to the ground and held up her bare hands for the princess to see. "Trust."

  Good. Rythica nodded. "Big, Julia."

  She turned around and plopped back down into her confidant's lap and resumed playing with her toys. She let her drone's strange Aura engulf her once more, feeling a teeny bit better. When Julia went back to fixing her hair, this time much more delicately without the gloves getting in the way, a comfortable silence fell between them, and that dull ache faded just a little bit. Not gone, not by any means. But, for a brief moment... almost tolerable.

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