"And what's this letter?" Julia pointed at the symbol that looked vaguely like a three-quarter spiral with a vertical squiggly line bisecting it.

  "Ree," Rythica chipped.

  "Very good! And what about this one?" It was a triangle-like shape with three horizontal lines in the middle.

  "Ab."

  "How about this last letter?" The final symbol was a regular hexagon, one of the more commonly used letters in the Pilfirian alphabet.

  "Le." That was always an easy one. Rythica always thought it was the nicest-looking shape for some reason. The best shape, even.

  "Now," she ran her finger under all three letters. "What do those letters spell? Sound it out if you need to."

  The small vex ran over the sounds each letter made a few times in her head. This newest game was a bit difficult, but as far as she had gathered, not in the way the caretaker seemed to suspect.

  Recognizing the letters was especially easy after having memorized the alphabet. Her memory had grown to be quite sound these past months; she was able to finish her memory game perfectly nearly every time, and the letters were just another extension of that. So, matching symbols to sounds was a fairly straightforward operation.

  Between her multifaceted eyes and ever-expanding ability to multitask, she could process every letter simultaneously. Just looking in the vague direction of the page, all three concepts appeared in her mind. It didn't matter how many letters the word had; it was all the same to her. Instant and complete awareness of all the symbols at once.

  The hard part came when converting this collection of sounds into coherent words. Words were... unnatural to her. They were inherently linear, requiring sounds and ideas to be presented in a very specific order for them to make any sense. It was painfully inefficient. Ideas were meant to be expressed all at once, as a network of relationships and connections, not a straight line.

  Rythica didn't think like that, so taking that parallel bag of scrambled word fragments, she had to slow down and rearrange them into something sequential. This task was made even more difficult when Julia showed her two words with the exact same set of symbols, just in a different order.

  This was a big part of the reason that she still spoke a bit slower than everyone else, though she was getting noticeably better with time.

  The girl painfully reconstructed the sounds in her mind, rearranging them into something usable. She made mistakes far more often than not, but it was a work in progress. A few moments later, a matching word popped into her thoughts.

  "Duck?"

  Julia smiled and turned the page of the book, revealing a picture of a duck. "Great job! Such a smart little bug!" She ruffled Rythica's hair with a beaming smile.

  Rythica scowled and batted away the offending appendage. "No pet me."

  Seriously, why did all humans insist on this strange gesture so much? All it did was tangle up her hair into knots.

  Julia raised her palms in surrender with her usual unapologetic smirk. "Sorry, sorry."

  Bella, who was relaxing at a table on the other side of the room, barked out a laugh through a mouthful of sandwich. "Come on, Rythica!. You can't blame us. You're just too adorable not to pet. You deserve all the head pats!" She raised her sandwich in a salute, as if to accentuate her declaration, a twinkle of mirth in her eyes.

  The dretris often ate her lunches in Rythica's room these days, usually bringing snacks for her and Julia. Occasionally, she played pretend with Rythica, though she was terrible at following rules, always accusing her queen of cheating instead. It was Rythica's game, so it was her rules. How hard was that to understand?

  The small vex didn't respond to the maid's teasing, only silently promising to "accidentally" dump the maid's lunch all over her lap if she tried to mess up the princess's beautiful hair again. Did the woman not understand how long it took Julia to brush it this morning? Needlessly giving her poor drone more work, for shame.

  Ever since Rythica had been introduced to the world of fashion three days prior, Rythica's daily morning routine was much more involved. A queen needed to flaunt her colors, as was only proper. Having a pretty hairstyle was also critical to bringing out the best version of herself, even if she was still lacking in the shiny department, aside from the ring that adorned her antennae. The aspiring fashionista made a mental note to address the desperate lack of shinies at a more opportune time.

  Speaking of appearance, the vex took a moment to admire the beautiful grey color of her true complexion. Having seen the sky with her own eyes for the first time, she understood the need for the potion. She still hated everything about it, but she understood. Though the day when she was strong enough to no longer need to hide, that foul liquid would never more grace her lips. Disgusting.

  There had almost been an incident because of it the other night. After having fallen asleep in Julia's lap, she was awoken sometime later to Julia rushing to carry her into one of the unoccupied bed chambers of the servants' quarters as parts of her flesh began to darken to their usual shade. She hadn't been allowed to exit until later that night, wearing an oversized hooded robe and a mask; all while Julia muttered an ominous "only once per day" warning from Elric and something about "transmutation potion overdose?" Whatever that meant.

  As Julia flipped to the next word in the book, the door to Rythica's room opened, making the girl's heart sink. Elara had not visited in the days since the incident. Both Elric and Julia had promised no harm would befall the vex from her actions, but Rythica still suspected her harsh mentor wouldn't let things lie, not entirely. As the woman failed to visit Rythica for the first two days, the girl had slowly let her worries fall to the back of her mind. That false sense of peace shattered all at once, replaced by the foreboding of a child who knew they messed up, and knew it was time to pay the toll.

  The elderly woman entered the room with her usual plastic smile, nodding politely at the room's occupants. "Hello. I hope I'm not interrupting."

  The two servants quickly stood and bowed, returning the greeting. A corner of Rythica's awareness idly noted the odd behavior of the two, realizing that all of the drones within the hive bowed to the queens—well, all the queens except for her, for some reason. What was the meaning behind that gesture? She had seen them bow in the past but hadn't put the connection together at the time, merely shrugging it off as another of the many oddities the drones displayed. But now she suspected there was something more to it than that.

  "Miss Bella, you are dismissed."

  The young maid gathered up her meal with an inaudible sigh and retreated without further complaint. One of Rythica's two shields against the big queen, gone without a fight. Rythica was incensed at her drone being commanded to leave, a direct challenge to her authority, but the short-lived rage was smothered out by the reminder she was already on thin ice with Elara.

  Rythica may have recovered her emotional footing in the days since the accident, but she had still attacked a fellow hive queen in the end. Attacking a drone inprovoked may be a grave insult, but a queen was the beating heart of the hive. There were few worse sins than striking at the soul of a hive. It was the greatest of betrayals, even if unintentional. Shame still burned at her as the memory resurfaced.

  Elara looked at the small bug, talking in her direction rather than addressing her directly. "As our dear little Rythica has finally taken her first steps into the world, officially donning her elevated station, I believe it is time to accelerate our lesson plans. As a noble, understanding proper etiquette is a crucial pillar of society, after all."

  Her eyes flicked towards Julia. "My previous pace of instruction was far more limited than I had anticipated. I see now that quite a bit more training is needed. I suppose teaching was never my strong suit. Nonetheless, I intend to rectify my mistake. For the next few weeks, I will be making daily visitations to provide Rythica here with the best possible guidance I can in order to help her navigate the estate, lest we have any more... accidents."

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  Julia's hands were behind her back as she faced the noble, but from Rythica's position, she caught the clenched fists the caretaker was making, clearly taking far more from Elara's words than Rythica herself was able to glean. The servant's face remained passive, her head tilted slightly downward.

  "Do you mind if I remain here, Mistress?"

  "That will not be necessary. Spend the next few hours as you wish. My lessons shall be concluded by supper's bell."

  Taking the dismissal for what it was, the nanny slowly made for the door. But before she made it too far, Elara pulled something out of her pocket and, glancing at the open door into Rythica's enclosure, gestured for her to wait.

  "Before you depart, would you please give me a quick reading, Mrs. Julia? For my personal reference."

  The woman accepted the Essence Reader and returned to the vex.

  "Rythica, may I please scan you?"

  Rythica glanced between the two humans, trying to infer the subtext that had clearly been exchanged a moment ago. The conversation had moved just a bit too fast for her to keep up, and threw around a few too many big words for her to understand everything. She understood they were talking about her, obviously, but only vaguely grasped that Elara wanted to teach her something. Giving up on parsing overly complicated conversation, she simply raised her hand, palm down.

  The metal disc was placed against her skin, and after an almost intangible flicker of weakness passed, the display lit up with countless letters and symbols, glowing brightly in different hues.

  Her drone recited the reading aloud, though none of it made any sense to the one being scanned.

  Elara pondered the woman's words for a moment. "I see; a pleasant surprise, but not unexpected. Thank you, Mrs. Julia. Your services are much appreciated. You may depart at your leisure."

  A moment later, the two were alone. There was a moment of silence as Elara simply tapped her fingers together, one of them occasionally twitching oddly, as if in remembered pain. Rythica kept her brooding emotions to herself, awaiting judgment. Then, in an act of pettiness worthy of any hive queen, Elara closed the door to Rythica's enclosure, sealing her inside. The old woman pulled up a chair and sat directly in front of the window, peering down at the small princess.

  When she finally broke the silence, her words were thankfully slowed down for the girl's benefit, if much colder than usual.

  "It seems you are growing into your role in more ways than one. You see things differently, and others are starting to recognize you for who you are. Your adventure outside of this room has clearly had an impact on you."

  Rythica nodded. "I am was scared, but for House, did."

  There was a silence as Rythica waited with dread for the big queen to bring up the real point of this conversation. Her fears were realized all too quickly.

  "What did you do wrong?"

  The vex bowed her head in shame. "I am hurt big queen..."

  Another lengthy, festering pause. Elara continued to fiddle with her fingers, clenching and unclenching them, running her thumbs over them to count them.

  "I had planned to file down your claws and mandibles for that, even if I had to drag you back here and do it myself."

  The girl paled, stumbling backwards a few steps. A pair of hands reached up to grab her mandibles, the other pair hidden behind her back. The big queen would truly be so merciless as to take away her only weapons? To leave her so inept as to need drones to tear apart her meals before feeding her?

  What happened to Elric's assurance? Julia's promise? Didn't they vow to protect her from this?

  "No want! No want!"

  "However," the ruthless queen continued. "I have changed my mind for one reason."

  An ember of hope sparked within the accused's eyes. Would she be getting out of this unscathed?

  "You have proven something to me. A mere beast attacks with their claws, but you are a noble now, a queen, as you say. You attack with your words. And you proved you know how to do that."

  Rythica tilted her head, uncomprehending how words were a valid form of attack.

  "Attack by scream loud?"

  Elara stared before moving on without acknowledging the comment. "You knew you were going to be punished. You knew coming with me was going to be bad for you. So you convinced Elric to take you away to Julia, not giving him the chance to be persuaded by me. Then, you convinced both Elric and Julia to stand up to me in your defense, despite both of them knowing what really happened."

  "You use word make people believe thing. I am play too. Is not rules of House?"

  Elara smiled. "Yes. That is exactly how you play the game of Houses and nobles. You understand it perfectly."

  All of a sudden, Elara's demeanor turned icy, and she stood slowly. Her faint Aura, a veneer of cool rationale, shifted to something more intimidating. It wasn't a strong Aura, not by any means, but Rythica trembled regardless.

  "But if you to ever go against me again, you will not like the consequences. Be that by word, by talon, or by blade. bite the hand that feeds you. You are to bear fang and claw against the enemies of this House, . Do not forget that, ."

  Just as quickly as it came, the monster that took the queen's place faded, replaced by her usual polite facade. The girl nodded rapidly, fully intending to take the queen's clear warning to heart. She was given a single warning for this transgression. There would not be another chance.

  "Now, let's move on to today's lesson. It seems there are some misunderstandings about your identity, both your true one and your fake one. That is my mistake. We will be correcting that now."

  Rythica's mind flailed for a moment as Elara switched gears.

  "I imagine you realize you look very different from the other members of this House."

  Rythica slumped at the reminder. "I am not from House. Was from another."

  Elara raised her brows in mild surprise. "I'm impressed you managed to deduce that. You are correct. You were from an enemy hive. All those predators that surround our House? It's called a city, a collection of many Houses working together to protect each other. Your old hive was an enemy of the city. There was a battle, and your old hive was forced to leave. You were captured as an egg by the city, but we managed to rescue you and made you into one of us."

  The emotional whiplash of the day took another hard turn as Rythica processed those words. From what she had seen, it wasn't truly unexpected. She had already suspected she wasn't from this hive. But to hear it confirmed in this way, with this next context behind it... Rythica knew she wasn't part of that old hive anymore. She couldn't consider herself one of them anymore, no matter where her hive had fled to. This House was her hive now, her home. A pang still rang out in her chest. The hive she had been born to lead and protect, taken from her before she even drew her first breath.

  "That's why we need to hide you, pretend that you're a vaneguin, to hide you from the city. So they don't realize where you are from. The city is looking for you; they know the egg they captured is missing and are still trying to find it."

  Rythica listened, half her mind still wandering through her unsteady emotions, the other half focusing clearly on the message. Rythica understood how important it was.

  "Words are the most powerful weapons you can ever wield. You understand a part of it, but the art of deception is vast. If you want to survive, you have to know how to play the game. Because if the city ever finds out who you really are, they will attack this House from every angle. Do you understand?"

  "What deception?"

  "Lying or tricking someone to make them believe something that isn't true."

  "Julia say is lie bad."

  "Julia is a servant; lying is not her place. We are nobles. Deception is our job, not theirs."

  "Oh."

  "Few people understand the necessity of deception. They don't understand how important it is for us to do so, so they can live their comfortable lives. We are leaders, Rythica. It is our job to wage war with words to keep our House safe."

  "Servant attack claws, noble attack word?"

  "Yes, exactly. Now, the first step to making a convincing deception is to mix together truths and lies. Something that is a complete lie is easy to disprove. But a half-truth always sounds plausible. Your vaneguin story, for example. The official story is that you were an orphan, living alone within the city. Randell met you and thought you displayed incredible intelligence and adopted you as his daughter. Some truths, some lies, all woven together."

  Rythica had to ask many clarifying questions as the speech went on, and some parts were rephrased a few times to help her better comprehend the block of information thrown at her. Elara also had to explain concepts like what an orphan was, which diverged into tangents about what parents were and so on. But she eventually understood the message after some time and much elucidating.

  "The problem with every deception is that even when weaving together truths and lies flawlessly, someone will always dig a bit too deep and figure something out. Every story has its cracks. You will never be able to plug them all. That's why every good deception needs to have layers, stacking them so high that you can't see the bottom. Some people might put together that you were living in this room for some time before coming out and meeting the family. Some people might realize you're using a potion to change your colors. That's where the next layer of deception comes in. Do you remember the story I told Elric the other day?"

  For the next few hours, Elara continued to coach Rythica on her cover story and how to maintain the deception. She also discussed more common terminology about how a House was structured and how that tied into maintaining her vaneguin facade. As Elara had promised, this process became a daily occurrence for the next few weeks. A never-ending cram session on "all of the basics any noble child should know," as the woman put it.

  Between being declawed and having a multi-week cramming session thrust upon her, she found herself wondering if the former would have been the lighter punishment.

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