When Tim had first heard about the new teleportation link that Iseis Alturiel was apparently setting up between the old base and the new temple, his first reaction had been intense relief, followed by creeping worry. Still, the prospect of going home more easily was enticing. He’d barely been able to think of anything else in the first few minutes.

  Now that it was actually happening, he was suddenly a lot more apprehensive.

  Partly it might be because he felt he was leaving things unfinished here, but he had to admit that it wasn’t a very large issue. The base was about as safe as it was ever going to be, most likely, and while the fighting between the various cities hadn’t finished yet, it didn’t seem likely to come this way.

  It hadn’t been that long, and said fighting had mostly only begun. Their hopes that a war would be averted and it could all blow over without violence hadn’t come true. If Tim was honest with himself, he’d never expected it to come true.

  That was one thing he’d have to face the music for, when he returned to his Mother. He wasn’t looking forward to that. Not because he thought she’d be angry — even if she had been, she would’ve had a lot of time to calm down in the meantime — but because he hated the thought of disappointing her.

  At least it looked like it wasn’t going to be a large war, here in the south, and it probably wouldn’t spill beyond the bounds of this region or draw other city-states in. From what he’d heard, anyway. He’d received a few letters. Veragles was still propping up Iliucin, but it seemed decidedly unenthusiastic and would probably press for some kind of settlement soon. Iliyan was, he suspected, taking the opportunity for a land grab, to get some new territory in their claws, and then they’d settle when they had achieved sufficient success. Whatever issues Lucian or the other leaders of Veragles had worked out with Iliucin hadn’t become public, but he could more or less guess how it had gone down. Either way, the people interested in this base should have far too many other worries to even think about coming back for more.

  No, while it felt a little weird to leave before the war was over, Tim wasn’t really concerned about the base’s safety. Especially not with this teleport link.

  “Is everyone ready?” Zephyr asked, glancing behind him at the assembled people.

  They would be traveling in groups, and most of the men stationed here would actually remain here for now. Tim and a few of the leaders, and all of the sapient drones, would return, to be switched with another group that was already preparing for a turn here outside of the psychic link.

  “Whenever you are,” the priestess who had actually built the conduit drawled, gesturing with a sweep of her arm.

  She’d come back a few times before this point, testing the teleportation capability. It had given Tim the opportunity to talk to her a little more. Once he got past the fact that she was a little intimidating, he found she was nice enough. She’d told him to call her Iseis and had answered his questions patiently, for the most part.

  It was how he knew that it took a lot of mana to use this teleportation link, the amount increasing linearly with every additional person added, but with a high ‘offset’ cost to activate it in the first place. So, taking an entire group at once wasn’t that difficult, comparatively. It also took quite a bit of skill, apparently. It was why Zephyr was doing it right now, to show that he could, and so they knew he had the ability it when it was needed later. Tim briefly wondered how many people his Hive Queen would be able to teleport, but decided he’d probably see that happened eventually — and the answer would change with time anyway, as the hive grew. Either way, Zephyr wasn’t a Thaumaturge for nothing and would be more than capable of this much.

  He raised his hand, and a light started to shine in front of him, just slightly. Perhaps some kind of spatial warping messing with the artificial light around them. Tim barely had time to wonder about it before the world wrenched.

  He clenched his teeth instinctively, stiffening as he resisted the urge to fall over. It was profoundly uncomfortable, like being forced into a strange shape, and for an endless moment, his world was swallowed by white noise and light. Then everything snapped into place again, the world suddenly different.

  And the Hive was back. His mind snapped into place in the psychic link, and he felt the presence of other drones around him, stretching out into the distance. He was no longer alone.

  He blinked against the change in the light level, taking a deep breath and noting the different scents of his surroundings. It was much noisier, too, but that might just be due to their arrival.

  “Tim!” The first person he properly saw was Tia, stepping forward from a crowd who’d gathered to watch their arrival.

  “Tia,” he replied, grinning widely. The rest of it was unimportant as he stepped forward into her hug. Tim clutched her tightly to him, basking in the feel and scent of her as much as the welcome and joy she sent to him over the psychic link. Feeling his sister’s presence again was a relief. He blinked hard.

  He wasn’t supposed to have favorites, but if he did, he had to admit she would be his favorite little sister.

  Then he stopped focusing on his immediate surroundings as more minds clamored for his attention in the psychic link. In particular, his Mother reached out to him. It was always easy to distinguish her in the psychic link, she was on a whole other level even when she wasn’t trying to be overbearing. Now she greeted him with a wordless hug and he simply enjoyed it for a while.

  Come back home, she told him finally. I want to see you in person again.

  Of course, Mother.

  She retreated, probably to make way for Max and Mia, who immediately greeted him as well. Tim sent positive feelings to them and got them in return, exchanging a few words. Then he focused on his surroundings and stepped forward. He had to make sure everything was properly sorted. The others also deserved to go home.

  The temple was pretty impressive, he noted. Not quite as large as he’d thought, but it was nice to look at. The island was a bit cramped, though, and they moved everyone away from it to the shore pretty quickly.

  Tim was pretty distracted right now, while they organized the group and prepared to set off again. Suddenly being connected to the psychic link again was a bit overwhelming. It was also a temptation, trying to delve into it and catch up on everything he’d missed. Luckily, Owin and the others were competent enough that he didn’t need to focus very much.

  There were a lot of new minds in the psychic link. Of course. He’d been gone for roughly a year. That was a lot of time for new drones to be born, especially with the exponential growth of the Hive, even with the limits imposed by their limited resources and need to actually mentor sapient drones. He felt a lot of curious minds, metaphorically watching him attentively but from a distance, so many they blended together into one. Tim tried to ignore them and focus on his immediate situation.

  “Eager to get back to the capital, Your Imperial Highness?” Owin asked, stepping up beside him.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Tim side-eyed him. “You weren’t that formal before we teleported.”

  The Delver commander shrugged lightly. “Just helping you get used to it.”

  Tim snorted and shook his head, but he didn’t respond. Of course, that’s another thing. I’m coming back as a prince. It was a good thing they were going to Forest’s Haunt first.

  Finally, the men started to march off, and Tim turned to Anuis and the few other elves. They would be returning to Ariedel for now, although he strongly suspected he’d be seeing her and Tirias again. “This is goodbye, then,” he said, inclining his head. “I truly enjoyed your company on this journey, and I value the companionship, support and advice you offered highly. It was invaluable. I hope we will be able to see each other again soon. Either way, it was an honor.”

  Anuis bowed, but she had a slight smile on her face. “The honor was all mine, my Prince. We enjoyed your company on this mission just as much. We will certainly meet again. Until then, please convey my well-wishes to your siblings.”

  He promised he would, asked her to remember him to a few elves he remembered in Ariedel, and they exchanged a few more pleasantries. It was polite and courteous, but he could tell the Three-Century Commander meant what she said, and so did he.

  He was pretty sure he knew about at least one faction in Ariedel that would be pro-Empire and at least tentatively supporting joining it. And he didn’t need Ray’s reports to know which family would be at the heart of that faction.

  The elves vanished into the forest surrounding the lake quickly, spurning the road, as they clearly intended to make their way to the Great Forest more directly. Political importance aside, he supposed Anuis was a good ranger and they’d all earned their levels protecting their city in the forest.

  Then it was time to leave as well. Tim made sure everyone was ready before he climbed on his Winged Drone Mount and took to the sky. Nucme and Alvol were coming with him for now, accompanying them until the capital, where they’d presumably rejoin Icnes Oliren. He wished he could be a fly on the wall for that report.

  Regina must have worked things out with Madris to ensure they would keep certain information secret. There had unfortunately been no way to hide the underground chamber from the dark elves. But he also suspected their ambassador wouldn’t necessarily feel compelled to report everything to whatever rulers she might have back home.

  The flight took a while, but Tim barely noticed the time passing. He was too caught up in looking at the changes that had happened in the Empire during his absence. He glanced down at the landscape they flew over, but except for some general details, it didn’t tell him much. Although it was apparent that the new roads were being built steadily. Instead, he took advantage of the psychic link, both to talk to other drones and to just lurk behind the eyes of a few Swarm Drones, watching cities, villages and farmland through them. There were a lot more to choose from now, and they were strategically scattered all over the Empire, as far as the psychic link reached (and a little beyond the Empire’s borders, in select cases).

  There were a lot of new buildings in both the capital and Forest’s Haunt, which was growing into a real city, but also in other cities and town. They housed schools, workshops and simple proto-factories. Or manufactories? He’d have to ask Tia, but he didn’t care much about the terminology. It was interesting to see how many humans, normal Imperial citizens, were working at them along with Hive drones, though, in all sorts of positions. And Swarm Drones were used as labor in quite a few of these projects, as well. He hadn’t realized their efforts were going this well.

  You’ve been busy while I was gone, he said to Tia. She was sticking close to him, so he could have tried to say it out loud, but he’d have to shout over the wind. Besides, he enjoyed being able to use the psychic link again.

  We’ve all been busy, she responded with a shrug. The good kind of busy, though. I think your time was more stressful.

  Tim thought back to a few days over the last few months and pulled a face. He wasn’t going to argue with that assumption.

  Then they were close enough he could see the town from above directly, and Tim leaned a bit to the side to watch it. The Hive’s base had grown substantially, but not all of it was visible, since a lot of the base was underground. The drones headed directly for a cleared strip of earth that resembled an airfield, and he enjoyed the wind whipping past him as they dove and came in for a landing. Tim hopped down, waiting for Tia, who immediately confiscated his right arm and dragged it and him into the base.

  After that came a whirlwhind of greetings. He’d already seen them in the psychic link, but many of his siblings and closer friends wanted to greet him in person. And he wasn’t the only one coming back, either; he caught Ace almost tackling Ash to the ground in a hug.

  Finally, some of the crowd dispersed and Tim found himself maneuvered into some kind of common room with the older of his siblings, Regina, Janis and June. Max had taken over from Tia and was sticking to his side. He seemed to have actually grown a little in the last year or so and was taller than everyone, but Tim didn’t mind his bulk, he only leaned into his side and rested his head in the crook of his shoulder as they sat down on a couch.

  “Have you tried the ice cream yet?” their Mother asked. “We had to guess at your favorite flavors, but I made sure there’s some of everything ready. And the drinks.”

  “And we’ve got lots of new games you should try,” Mia added cheerfully. “And you missed a lot of the music!”

  Janis laughed. “He hasn’t even been back half an hour yet, don’t suffocate the poor boy.”

  Tim shot her a dirty look for the ‘poor boy’ part, although he was privately a bit grateful for her intervention.

  “You’re not one to talk about anyone’s age,” June said, smirking slightly.

  Janis gasped in mock offense. “I’m older than everyone here!” She glanced at Regina, then nodded decisively. “Everyone.”

  Regina hid a smile behind her hand, though Tim could tell she was amused at their antics over the psychic link. She didn’t protest.

  “Yes, but relatively speaking, you’re earlier in the course of your life than I am,” June said. “Practically still a child.”

  “And what is everyone else here, little kids?” Janis countered, waving a hand impatiently. “At least I’ve seen more than one monster wave.”

  “I don’t know who you want to call ‘little’,” Max said, smiling. “I’m glad we’re not building our tunnels to your scale, that would give us a lot of neck pain, right, Tim?”

  Janis shook her head sadly, hiding her own amusement. “Such disrespect toward your crown princess,” she sighed theatrically. “Alas, we’re surrounded by those who cannot understand our worth.”

  “Yes, some of us don’t have titles inflating our self importance,” Max agreed, deadpan.

  Regina was actually frowning a bit now. June didn’t seem to notice, but smirked. “Aren’t you second in line to the throne, Max?” she asked.

  That seemed to sober the rest of them up, and Tim had a feeling he knew where this was going.

  “Since you mention it,” Regina spoke up, sitting up a bit straighter. “Max is my oldest child, but he does not want that position.”

  “I told her we needed to solidify the official line of succession,” Max explained, his arm around Tim’s shoulders tightening just a bit. “But I don’t want to be the official spare or whatever it’s called. You’re much better suited for that, Tim. Honestly, I’d prefer to be behind Mia and Tia, too.”

  Tim frowned. “You want it to be one of us either way?” he asked cautiously. “Is it wise to name a drone?”

  Regina tilted her head. “At least Leian confirmed that if I die, I’m not taking all of you with me. The psychic link would collapse and you’d only maybe keep scraps of it, but you wouldn’t die or go mad, at least not beyond what grief and loss would do. So there’s that.”

  Tim grimaced. He really didn’t want to think about her dying. “Still, I don’t know about this. You don’t need to be demoted, Max. What do you think, My Queen?”

  Regina tapped her fingers on the armrests of her chair. “You’re my Champion, Tim, and you have more experience in some things. You’re more of a diplomat. This isn’t really about who’ll inherit what, but it would make sense to name you heir behind Janis. I’d still stick with primogeniture as a principle beyond that, though.”

  “I’ll sign whatever I need to or proclaim whatever I need to,” Max added. “I think the best thing would be an official line of succession with Janis, Tim, me if our Queen insists on that, Tia and Mia. That’s what we discussed, anyway.”

  Tim nodded slowly. He could see their point. He wondered for a moment why they put Tia ahead of Mia, but it was easy to see. If it comes to that and every one of us ahead of them is dead, a slightly more warlike leader would be better.

  “I didn’t want to talk about politics right now, though,” Regina added, a note of finality in her tone. “We’re here to have fun and welcome Tim and the others back.”

  The conversation quickly returned to more joking and banter between the others, while Tim only chimed in occasionally. He was a little too tired and content to participate much, but it was relaxing to simply sit and bask in their presence and companionship.

  The small gathering broke up a bit later, probably because it was getting late and he was tired, and Tim went to bed early. He was looking forward to sharing a ‘nest’ with the others again.

  When the door creaked open half an hour later and his Mother quietly stepped into their bedroom, he only smiled and scooted over to make room on the large mattress. Sandwiched between her and Tia in a tangle of limbs, he drifted off to sleep happier than he’d been in a long time.