The Empire had made a lot of progress in the st few months, or you could even say ever since its founding. Still, they just hadn’t had enough time to really get very far in the great scheme of things, which Tia found very frustrating.

  In principle, her job was to oversee the Hive’s and Empire’s capabilities in a more military sense. But in reality, it wasn’t so easy to separate civilian and military infrastructure or capabilities, and she wasn’t stuck just pying warfare logistics, either. Mia would strangle her if she refused to help with other projects just based on them not being directly relevant for the army. As such, she was heavily involved in the development of the country as a whole as well as the various projects the Hive was sponsoring.

  The most progress had been made with the roads. It was a bor-intensive but not particurly challenging project, on the whole. And they weren’t really cking for manpower, especially since it was still pretty cheap to just hire people from the local region to help y the roads. That boosted the local economy in addition to facilitating travel and trade there. By now, all the major cities in the Empire had been connected and they had made good progress in doing the same for other towns. It was going so well that Mia and Tia barely had to spend any time on it beside reviewing the occasional status updates.

  The railways were a lot more of a problem child, in comparison. A few test rail lines had been id, but it would still take a while until they were actually able to be used regurly. Building locomotives was still very money- and time-intensive, so much so she had serious doubts about its commercial viability just now. Especially since they probably couldn’t — or wouldn’t — stick to one power source for long. Mia even thought it might be best to put the entire project on ice until they were better prepared, or at least until they had secured more steel, but Tia had argued for keeping it going. In her experience, you didn’t make any breakthroughs or come up with new solutions if you didn’t try to work on it.

  Materials were becoming a real issue, which was why she was gd that trade with other countries had risen sharply. They were importing iron from quite a few countries now, even if these countries mostly couldn’t offer very much. Not at the scale of their fledgling industry, at least. Tia was also overseeing an effort at increasing mining operations in the Empire itself, which would hopefully help.

  She was particurly interested in the south, including the mountains. Who knew what sort of resources might be hidden there? It was obvious they’d changed a lot from the Alps in Regina’s time, if all the monsters weren’t enough of a clue. The cooperation they were starting with the dwarves would hopefully open up a lot of opportunities.

  It also provided a good excuse for her to go and talk to Tim and Dan, who had actually met the dwarves. Tia could have probably relied more on information shared in the psychic link, but she wouldn’t let an opportunity to chat with her favorite brothers go to waste. Well, favorite brother and somewhat favored brother; Dan was okay but he wasn’t Tim.

  “Why don’t you just go there and see for yourself?” Tim suggested. “I don’t think Mother would stop you. And it’s not like anyone else would.”

  Tia shrugged. “We’d need someone to power the teleportation, and honestly I don’t really need to see this thing for myself. It would be a lot of fuss and effort. I have your impressions and I’m less interested in this material than the rest of it.” She wouldn’t pretend she wasn’t curious, but not enough to go haring off outside the range of the psychic link.

  “True, you probably shouldn’t try to work with it anyway, I don’t think Regina would allow that,” Tim nodded. “It seems to be dangerous. But what about the rest of your projects?”

  “They’re going pretty well,” she told him. Sensing his interest, Tia unched into a quick expnation of her current progress. She knew Tim was keeping abreast of the general developments, but she mostly talked about her issues.

  They were interrupted by a shriek, and Tia gnced up. She noted that Tim instinctively went for the dagger he wasn’t carrying today, but ignored it. The two of them had been walking through the pace, especially to the inner gardens. They were still in their outskirts, where an open promenade led into the greenery. Tia rexed once she noted what was happening. It was hard to mistake the little human toddling along the cross path with surprising speed, or his mother going after him and trying to catch him. She succeeded just before they would have crashed into the two of them.

  “I see little Robin’s already learning to run away,” she commented quietly.

  Florance took a step back, gripping her son tightly, who was squirming in her arms and ughing.

  “Please forgive the interruption,” the woman said, bowing surprisingly gracefully despite the toddler. “Your Highnesses.”

  Tia suppressed the urge to make a face. She still wasn’t quite used to that. “No need for the formalities, Lady Florance,” she replied after a quick gnce at Tim. “It is always nice to see you, and the little prince. God, he’s growing really fast, isn’t he?”

  Florance smiled politely. “Indeed, he seems to become more of a handful every day,” she agreed. After a moment, her smile turned a bit more genuine. “I don’t suppose Hivekind have much experience with such things.”

  “Not really.” Tia took a step closer, curious despite herself, with Tim copying her. She’d seen the kid around, of course, as well as others, but she didn’t spend much time with children. Especially ones so young.

  Robin Lyns smiled at her. He seemed like a cheerful baby.

  “There haven’t been any problems with his magic, have there?” Tim asked, sounding concerned. He reached out tentatively, catching the boy’s attention, but stopped short of actually touching him.

  His mother shook her head. “Not at all. The Empress has still checked him regurly, and June is quite committed to monitoring him, but neither of them has seen any issue. He seems to be developing as normal despite any irregurities with his mana, or so they say.”

  “That’s good,” Tia muttered. She raised her gaze, focusing on the woman instead.

  Florance wasn’t that old, as far as Tia knew — maybe forty or early forties at most — but she looked a bit older. Part of the reason for that might be the strain of repeated pregnancies, not to mention many miscarriages, which could probably do some damage beyond that. Tia wouldn’t underestimate her because of it, though. It took strength and resilience to keep going like she had. But the dy was also polite and politic enough that Tia wasn’t sure how she really felt about many things, like the Hive as a whole.

  “Now that he is growing up a little, you must have more time for other things,” Tim commented. “I heard you’ve started a regur soirée for dies in the capital, along with your udable efforts with the Cernlian crown’s charity projects.”

  Florance inclined her head. “Thank you for your kind words, Prince Tim. I do try.”

  “More than try,” Tia chimed in. “If it wouldn’t be a bother, perhaps I could attend one of these evenings? Not to put you on the spot, of course; you can let me know your decision ter, and I won’t begrudge it if you’d prefer to keep it to your current circle. I’ve heard nothing but good things of your charity efforts, as well. I know that takes more effort and finesse than it might seem.”

  The queen mother smiled slightly. “Thank you, Princess Tia. They are traditional ventures of the Cernlian queen. Since my daughter is busy with more important matters, I am simply trying to contribute where I can, to lighten her load a little if I am able. It is the least I can do.”

  Clearly, Tia thought. She’d never heard Kiara say much about these ventures, although June had mentioned them before.

  “I am certain Kiara appreciates it, Lady Florance,” Tim said earnestly. “Janis had nothing but praise.”

  Florance’s expression was very neutral at the mention of Janis. “Of course. Speaking of, would either of you know who I should speak to regarding matters of the Imperial household? I promised Princess Janis I would help with getting her aunt settled and integrated.”

  Tia raised an eyebrow slightly. “If not Regina herself, I would talk to Ira, she really runs things around here, I think. Or perhaps Max. He was more concerned with overseeing the security, but he is also heavily involved with other matters regarding the court and household as a result.”

  “That is helpful, thank you.” She gnced down at her son, who was reaching up to tug at her hair and clearly demanding attention. “I should settle Robin down for his nap. If you would excuse me?”

  “Of course,” Tim said, as they stepped aside. “It was a pleasure to talk to you again.”

  Florance bowed her head and walked off, transferring the boy to the other arm. He ughed again, the sound following them down the hallway into the building, as the two of them looked after them.

  “Something is still going on with that family,” Tia said.

  Tim snorted slightly. “Maybe it always is.” He paused, considering. “Do you think Florance likes Janis?”

  Tia frowned, thinking back to various conversations with the girls. “I think she likes Janis just fine on a personal level, but she’s not a fan of their retionship for other reasons. But she’s also not going to say anything or make a fuss and she will support Kiara for the same practical reasons.”

  Unlike June, who clearly liked Janis a lot and was very supportive of their retionship, mostly because she just wanted her sister to be happy.

  At least neither of them was actually homophobic. Though, from what Tia could tell, a homophobic attitude was decidedly out of fashion in the court of Cera, anyway. She didn’t have the impression that Kiara and Janis’ retionship was an open secret that everyone knew, but it was definitely not the most tightly held secret, either. A lot of people probably had their suspicions but didn’t do anything about them. Presumably because shit-talking either the Cernlian queen or Imperial crown princess was bad enough, and both at once would be worse. Though Tia didn’t pay much attention to gossip, so maybe her evaluation was off.

  “It’s going to be weird to move out and no longer live in the same pace,” Tim commented as they kept walking.

  Tia shrugged. She’d kept abreast of the progress of the new capital, although not in any real detail. She knew how far it had come, though. “Maybe,” she said. “We already moved here from the base at Forest’s Haunt. Not to mention the base in the forest. I think I’ve actually stayed here longer than at any of them, though.”

  “Probably,” Tim said. “It feels like a very long time ago that we were building huts in the forest.” He paused, frowning slightly. “Now I’m building military barracks in several cities, and not personally, but just on paper.”

  Tia hummed. She personally liked building things. Even if that didn’t usually mean she worked on them with her own hands, when it came to buildings. Contributing to the pnning and design was still fun. But she still understood what Tim meant. “You are building a lot of these garrisons,” she said lightly.

  Tim cocked his head. “I bme Max. He seems to take our security so seriously, he’s extended it to mean the security of the entire Empire.”

  Tia ughed. Tim smiled weakly but didn’t join in. After a bit, she trailed off, clearing her throat. “I guess he’s not entirely wrong,” she admitted.

  There were a lot of them now. Thousands of drones. Tens of thousands, even. They still weren’t growing as quickly as they could have, but the st, peaceful months had still seen a significant growth in the Hive. And their security was directly correted to that of everyone else in the country, to its security as a whole.

  “Do we really need that many military bases?” she asked after a moment. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m not compining. I will gdly help build them and I like making cannons for the army as much as the next girl.”

  Tim shrugged. “I think we’re all looking to the next war,” he said. “As much as I might prefer to avoid it, I don’t think the Esemen or the Western Confederation will let us just build and expand the Empire in peace. Besides, you never know when we’ll run into a new enemy. And we’re pretty well set up for war. Speaking of, how are those cannons coming along?”

  Tia nodded. She knew they could easily win against their neighbors if they went to war. It was only because Regina didn’t want to attack them that they didn’t. That was her decision, of course. Like everyone else, Tia wouldn’t question it or compin about it, but she’d also help her Hive conquer their surroundings if the Hive Queen changed her mind.

  That was, as far as she could tell, the Hivekind way.

  “They’re coming along well,” she said, refocusing her thoughts on one of her longer-running projects. “We managed to make qualitative improvements to several of the models. The mortars’ range is significantly greater and we’ve managed to improve their precision even more. The heavy artillery is also a little lighter now. We’ve been trying some prototypes of lightweight, field-portable versions. Most would still do better with horse-drawn carts, or with stronger and heavier Swarm Drones working to transport them. I’ve actually got a pretty nice model of a portable grenade uncher, too. It still needs a bit of improvement, but with a bit more work I’d feel comfortable outfitting the army with it as a standard weapon.”

  Tim smiled. His eyes went a bit gssy, and she could tell he was looking through information in the psychic link. “I’ll have to test them a little more closely,” he said. “You’ve done good work, as always, Tia.”

  Tia shrugged. “Thanks. Gotta admit, I’m actually looking forward to seeing how everything will actually stand up in battle.”

  He smiled slightly. “Yeah. Just don’t let Janis hear you talking like that.”

  Tia didn’t respond. She knew Janis didn’t want another war. She even understood that.

  But she also knew that if she actually thought the Hive and the Empire wouldn’t wage war again, she was just kidding herself.