[quest] all creatures great and small (leila)

[cibarium]

It didn't matter whether or not the Multitude was involved: Leila's chicken had bugs crawling over her and that was probably stressing her out, and she didn't see much point in waiting. She hadn't even taken Biscuit to Other Ashdown before. It helped to know the hen was calm enough to accept a connection, but this was still unexplored terrain for them both.

Hopefully she had the sense to close her eyes once the link had been closed.

She'd been running at an even pace in the general direction Aleksy had helped her find, still trying to reach Friend.

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

The connection was still static, sludgey and not really responsive. Sullen, almost.

Leila would discover that the area did, at least, look familiar. A place she had not visited in some time.

It looked to be as if she was being lead to the same place she had once found a Princess and the Multitude.

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

She should have figured.

< Hello? > she tried, quickly making her descent. < Queen? >

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

There was still no response, though the Multitude moved around her.

Opened the path to the Queen. Many eyes were upon her, that sense of sullenness pervasive, but the connection was nothing but static.

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Leila pensively stepped forward, same as she had before. She'd been shown by Friend a vision of the Queen as something else than an insect, and that made the ones surrounding her now an unsettling sight.

Time to approach her again.

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

The soldiers are still there, ready as if to protect their queen, and the workers watch from the paths they have carved.

In the shadows, pincers click (the sound is familiar), and there is a glint of light that hits the Queen's eyes just right to let one know that she is there.

Just out of sight.

When the voice speaks, familiar, it brings forth the sensations as it did long ago: wet earth, soft soil, the smell of wood. What is different is that hunger is not there, instead there is-

Wariness. Accusation.

You remember us now.

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"I should have come back a lot sooner," Leila replied. "I know."

There hadn't been any immediate sign of Biscuit. She did her best to stay patient, which wasn't easy.

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

Why now?

The tone remained.

Need Us? Help you?

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

< Well... right now... I'm looking for Friend, and my other familiar. > "I can leave if they're not here."

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

Friend returned.

To help Us.

There was judgement in that statement.

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

< And the other? >

Covered in bugs, still, probably.

She really wished Queen wasn't so reticent. This was nauseating.

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

Do not know.

There was something sweet to the mental voice, a sickness that hadn't been with the other words.

We have own problems.

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Was she lying? That seemed... unlikely. From a bug.

"What's the problem?"

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

Another appeared. Challenges Us.

Sourness now. Bitterness.

Like Us but not Us. They have stolen from Us. Important thing.

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"Another colony?"

She was open to the possibility but nowhere near expecting it to actually happen.

"What did they take?"

ashdown whaler