Regina recognized the mana of the place they arrived in before she recognized anything else. It was thick, heavy, flavored with a certain sensation. And on second glance, it was obvious she wouldn’t recognize anything about this place in particular, either; she didn’t think she’d ever been here.

  It did feel faintly familiar in a more general sense, though. She was standing on a white beach, watching a few idyllic palm trees dotted about, and could just make out the facade of a structure a short distance away. It was a nice, peaceful scenery, almost too much so to be real. Although that might also be because she checked the horizon and confirmed it was considerably closer than it should be.

  “We’re in the Mirrored Halls,” she said.

  “Astute,” Leian commented. She waved a hand and a couple of beach chairs and a table appeared in front of them.

  Regina kept glancing around for another second. The landscape was staying stable this time. “Will you get in trouble for inviting me here?”

  “This is my own little corner of the Celestial Home,” Leian said. She sat down, ostensibly relaxed. Two glasses with little umbrellas in them appeared on the table.

  That’s not a no, Regina thought, but didn’t press the point. She sat down and enjoyed the sea breeze for a moment before focusing. Leian had previously told her that a mortal shouldn’t stay in the Mirrored Halls for long, or something like that; she didn’t remember the exact words. But it meant their time here was limited. And even if she hadn’t disappeared without notice, she didn’t like the feeling of being so disconnected from her hive.

  “So,” she said, “I was wondering how you knew so much about the Hivekind. You mentioned you were part of a delegation from the Aishan to the Hivekind, is that why?”

  Leian idly twirled the glass in her hands, conveniently not looking Regina in the eyes. “Yes and no,” she said. “I was a very junior member. This was back before things went entirely to hell — I must have been sixteen, seventeen or so. Most of the adults who raised me had recently died in another great battle and I was largely on my own, so I wouldn’t call myself a kid, but they didn’t let me into the high-level discussions.”

  “The adults who raised you?” Regina interrupted, curious despite herself. “Your parents?”

  Leian smiled wanly. “Yes and no, again. I was deli’ata; raised by the village, basically. My lineage conceived me in an ill-fated plot to take control of a new world once the empire stabilized, which of course, it never did. I was born in the very last gasps of it, the last time anyone thought it could simply be salvaged. Either way, none of them wanted to raise me full-time, so I was raised collectively, at least by those living in the main estate. It wasn’t that uncommon for Aishan. But you don’t want to talk about my cultural peculiarities, do you?”

  “How long did it take the Aishan to fall?” Regina asked.

  “Decades. Centuries if you count the decline. I was about the age you would have been when you took their offer when, well, when I was captured by a Mesen warlord. Much like the Roman empire of your world, its fall wasn’t a single event and it took more than one cause. In this case, civil wars, epidemics — including one that took Aishan especially, economic unrest, all the consequences of the collapsing portal network, Mesen rebellions, and more.”

  Regina wanted to ask more about the Mesen, but she’d also noticed something. “You never fully answered my question. What about the Hivekind?”

  “They were independent and loosely allied at this point,” Leian said. “They were created and gained their independence long before my time, without too much violence. The company that made them was destroyed and its property distributed, everyone politely pretended it hadn’t almost entirely belonged to the government, and they managed to drag us into a civil war of their own later. But to answer your original question, I learned more when the Hivekind approached me to sound me out as a candidate for joining them.”

  Regina almost choked. “You were a candidate to become a Hive Queen?”

  “Yes. It didn’t work out that way. Things turned to shit, the Hivekind retreated. In hindsight, I don’t think I would have gone through with it, but I suppose we’ll never know.”

  Regina shook her head. It was an odd thought, but she’d never spent too much time wondering about all the other women who would have had their souls transferred to become Hive Queens.

  “You’re being very open,” she said instead, slowly. “I appreciate it, of course, but you’re telling me a lot about your past. Why?”

  Leian visibly stiffened in her chair, fixing her gaze on her glass again before she raised it to meet Regina’s. “Explaining myself is the least I can do. It’s not a nice tale, but you deserve to hear it.”

  Regina’s throat tightened and she dug her fingers into the armrests of her chair. She exhaled heavily, and said softly, “You don’t have to tell me, if it’s too painful.”

  “No, I owe you the story.”

  Leian stood up, looking at the beach, where the (simulated, perhaps?) sun was starting to set, tinting the scenery in an orange glow. She stayed quiet for a moment, clearly struggling with how to start.

  I suppose it takes a while for an interplanetary empire to crumble, Regina thought, looking at Leian. She lived through the downfall of her entire civilization; as the only survivor. I suppose that might be worse than just waking up and learning it is gone.

  “My people, the true Aishan, were all mages of great power,” she finally began. “There were never all that many of us, although we also still had — usually distant — kin with no magic, who were also called Aishan, and some of these ethnic Aishan survived, mostly mixing with the Mesen. I will not pretend my ancestors were saints, or anything but imperialist conquerors, despite their good sides.”

  “But the Aishan of your time weren’t?”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Leian shrugged. “There had not been any new conquests for quite some time when I was born. They simply didn’t have the opportunities.”

  “Fair enough. The Mesen were part of your empire, then? The people who attacked Haven and drained its mana?”

  The goddess grimaced. “The term has shifted in meaning over the centuries, but yes. At the time, the Mesen were arguably second-class citizens, which is still better than people without citizenship. They are not an ethnicity, actually — more like a collection of them. Anyone from the homeworld or their descendants who were not Aishan. Under Aishan rule, Mesen could be, and were, lawyers, doctors and judges, even governors. Perhaps that was a mistake, since those places rebelled most easily.”

  Regina nodded slowly, trying to square this information with the admittedly little she’d hard of the Mesen before, the impression she’d gotten. She hadn’t even realized they were human, or close enough, apparently. But as interesting as all this was, she still wanted to hear more about Leian and the lead-up to the Cataclysm.

  “Alianais said you were as much a tyrant as any of them, once,” she ventured.

  Leian had turned to look at her again, and before she’d even finished the sentence, Regina saw her clench her jaw and something flash through her eyes, too complicated to be sure what emotion it was. Regina stiffened a bit, but Leian only shook her head after a breath.

  “Did she?” Her tone was scornful. “I think that is a mis-characterization, but I can’t argue she was lying.” She crossed her arms behind her back and took a step back toward Regina. “I suppose the story really starts after I was made head of my lineage. There were only a few of us left, though I was the youngest. I tried to do the best I could to protect my people. Everyone there. You have to understand … I was the closest thing remaining to a lawful authority in that sector.”

  Regina nodded. She was starting to get the picture.

  “There were several warlords rising at the time, but one in particular was gathering many Mesen under his banner and gaining a lot of power.” Leian grimaced, clasping her hands behind her back. “His Soul Name was Tyrant and that should tell you all you need to know about him. I will not dignify his memory by uttering his real name. I did not have much time before he set his sights on me and those under my protection. I tried my best, and I managed to hold them off for a while, but eventually …”

  “You were captured,” Regina completed.

  “Yes. It didn’t help that Berren Green-Gray had recently murdered my family, or I might have managed to hold out for a bit longer.”

  Regina blinked, opened her mouth, then closed it again.

  “The Tyrant captured and tortured me for three years,” Leian continued, briefly closing her eyes. “He hated and usually killed all Aishan, but I was the last to resist him and also a pretty young woman. He tried to break me. It was … In those three years, all the scraps that were left of the Aishan crumbled, all of my lineage and Aishan acquaintances died. I will not go into details. Eventually, I managed to escape, and lacking any other prospects, I went to Haven.”

  “I’m sorry,” Regina said quietly. There was nothing else she could say.

  “The gods of Haven gave me sanctuary,” Leian continued. “I accepted it. I knew they wanted to use me. I was not happy with the prospect of becoming a goddess, immortality included, but I saw little choice, so I accepted their help. I was too hurt. For years, I’d been raped, tortured and maimed — my condition was so bad that even our medical technology had trouble with it, and there wasn’t much remaining, but ascending cleared all of that up. It even helped piece my mind back together, although it has a stabilizing effect which means I have not grown as much since then as the years would suggest. Then the Mesen led by the Tyrant set their sights on Haven. I was … not in a good state of mind, back then. Which is not an excuse, but it is all I can offer. I disagreed with the others about the gates, but I did not dare to speak up.”

  Regina breathed in sharply and nodded, a bit jerkily. “I see. They needed your power for the gates?”

  “My knowledge, yes. The portals were made with it, but with their power and skill. I was reluctant, seeing it as a risky plan, but I couldn’t see a better alternative to save the people of Haven. I knew the Mesen wouldn’t spare them in a conquest, but I didn’t expect they would resort to sucking all the mana out of the world. I tried to close the gates when I realized what was happening, but they overpowered me, and I wasn’t able to stop them from completely destabilizing the portals, only buffer it somewhat.”

  “I see,” Regina whispered.

  “I would never have gone along with it if I’d known what would happen.” Leian took another step closer, swallowing visibly, and bowed her head. “I’m so sorry, Regina. I know my apologies are next to worthless, but you’re the only one I can tell it to now. My actions led indirectly to the genocide of your people and the fall of every indigenous civilization on this planet. I know I can never make up for it.”

  Regina stayed silent for a while. She was reeling, unsure what to think, what to feel. To finally hear an apology, a real and heartfelt one … but Leian was right, what good could words do after all that had happened? And yet, who was Regina to say how these events should be judged? She’d been hidden away in a Hivekind egg in stasis and it was pure luck she’d survived, for a given value of the word, when so many died. And is Leian the one I should be angry at? She’s not the one responsible for wiping out civilizations, is she?

  It was all such a tangle, and even this story had only left her with further questions, many of which she’d never know the answer to.

  “I … thank you, Leian,” she finally answered. “I can’t say I forgive you, but I appreciate your words, more than you can know. You’re not — you’re not the one most to blame for what happened. Maybe your actions contributed, but so did those of many others. It wouldn’t be fair to pile it all on you. I can’t say for certain how I feel about it, but I know that much. I recognize you’ve been doing the best you could. It’s the Mesen who are most responsible for all the damage they caused, clearly. I don’t know if I would have survived what you did and then be able to help anyone afterward. Just … we just need to find a way to move forward, I guess.”

  It wasn’t forgiveness or even acceptance, but it was something. Leian seemed to recognize that. She rejoined her, sitting back down and sagging back into the chair. “Thank you, Regina.”

  They sat in silence for a while. Regina’s thoughts circled back around Leian’s story. She shivered, pulling on the collar of her jacket.

  “Is there any way to fight the Mesen?” she finally asked.

  Leian hesitated. “People have been fighting them from the start,” she said slowly. “But it is not simple. Slave rebellions have broken out regularly, but most of them are quickly suppressed. Well, before; supposedly they’ve abolished slavery now, though I think if you asked many of the colonial laborers they would disagree. Some planets have managed to break away from them and kept their independence for decades. Powerful people with heroic Soul Names have caused trouble for them. But if you’re asking if there’s any way you can fight them to get revenge? I can’t think of one.”

  “You traveled off this world, you said,” Regina frowned.

  “Yes, and it’s not easy, even for me. Besides, and please take this advice in the spirit it is offered, do you really think it’s the best choice for you to try and go haring off on some ill-fated quest for revenge? You have people depending on you here, people you are sworn to protect.”

  Regina sighed. “I suppose that’s true,” she said. “I just …”

  “I understand.” Leian smiled bitterly. “Believe me, I do.”

  She stayed silent for a bit, watching the sunset over the sea, still wrestling with her feelings.

  Finally, Regina turned back to Leian. “I have a few more questions, if you’re up for answering them.”

  “Of course. Anything I can do.”

  Regina smiled. “Good. Then tell me more about the Hivekind.”

  Tentatively, Leian started smiling back. “As you wish, Hive Queen.”

  Regina settled back into her seat and closed her eyes for a moment, preparing her mind to focus on and memorize the information Leian gave her.