Swarming Sovereignty

Lia wandered the dungeon located within Rose’s tree, lost in her own thoughts. She felt bad for making her lovers worry, and worse that they thought it was their fault. All they had really done was try their best to keep those they loved about safe and provide the best life they could for their people, and Lia couldn’t fault them for that.

Her self-esteem shouldn’t have been a point of contention in the first place, and she hated that she had let it get to the point where it was affecting people’s work. Still, she didn’t exactly have an easy answer to the problem, either. It was one thing to be told that she had value and that she wasn’t useless, and it was another to feel like she was making a difference.

As she rounded a bend in the cavernous dungeon, she caught sight of an enormous spider monster, and she quickly leapt into action. She used magic to accelerate herself, rocketing onto the creature’s back while simultaneously locking it in place using earth magic. She slammed her palms down on it and excreted modeling wax, and soon the creature was caught in a cocoon.

“Wow, Miss Queen, that was so cool!” A childish voice rang out.

Lia snapped her head up to find that she had an audience, a group of children led by Ophelia, coming from the other direction. “Thank you.” She said. “Uh, were you going to use this monster for teaching? Sorry, I didn’t realize.”

“Nothing wrong with letting the kids see someone more experienced in action.” Ophelia replied. "But, kids, remember that the Queen is much higher-level than you are, so if you try to do the same thing now, you might get hurt. For now, stick to your weapons.”

The class chorused their assent, and Ophelia approached Lia. “Mistress, are you okay?” She asked quietly. “You seem out of it.”

Lia sighed. “I have a lot to think about in regards to my place here.” She said. “It’s been weighing on my mind.”

“One of my bodies is currently resting at home, if you would like I could talk it out with you.” Ophelia suggested. “I find that getting an outside opinion often helps.”

Lia hesitated, then nodded. “I think I’d like that. I’ll head up there now, I’ll see you again in ten or twenty minutes.” She turned away from Ophelia and towards the group of children. “You kids are doing a good job!” She said. “Listen to your teacher and I promise that you’ll all grow big and strong!”

The kids gave an excited thank you, and Lia left the group behind. She ran the rest of the way to the entrance of the dungeon, and hurriedly made her way back into the residential floors and towards Ophelia’s residence. Once there, she knocked on the door, and Ophelia answered after only a couple of moments.

“Come on in, Mistress.” She said. “I have some snacks prepared if you’re hungry.”

“Snacks sound great right about now, thank you, Ophelia.” Lia replied, stepping inside.

Ophelia led her to the living room, motioning at a tray of various treats that was sitting on the coffee table. “Take whatever you like. Uh, it’s just from the food dispensers, though, so don’t go thinking I made them or anything, I wish I could cook this well. Anyway, what’s bothering you?”

Lia grabbed a cookie from the tray and began to nibble on it. “I just…I don’t know, do you ever feel…superfluous, Ophelia? Like whatever you do can be done better by someone else?”

Understanding dawned on Ophelia’s face. “I see.” She said. “Mistress, it’s unreasonable to expect to become competent at anything overnight; becoming truly capable requires years of dedicated work and study. However, I get your frustrations, being in your position and trying not to compare yourself to those around you is next to impossible.

“When I was younger, I was constantly comparing myself to my seniors, and it felt like no matter what I did, I would never measure up. It’s a very, very rough feeling, and I’m afraid to say that it doesn’t go away immediately, it requires time and the mental fortitude to tell yourself that it’s all in your head. Still, I think that there is one very important thing about you that Mistress Amelia and Mistress Rose can never hope to have.”

“What’s that?” Lia asked, puzzled. “And I’m sure I’ve said this before, but you can just use our names.”

“I’ll try, but…I don’t think that I’ll be able to call you in particular by name, it just feels too wrong.” Ophelia said. “Anyway, as I was saying, the thing you have is the fact that you used to be normal. Mist – Amelia and Rose are Heroes, and lived lives far removed from anything the average person experiences. You’re someone the people can relate to, and in a way it’s better that you’re not instantly fantastic at things. You can learn, grow, and be a role model for your citizens. Amelia and Rose may be amazing, but as Heroes they’re people that the general populace can never hope to aspire to.

“You’re different. Amelia may have made you someone special in the eyes of the swarm, but you’ve had to work to get to where you are now, and the fact that you’re doing that is inspiring. And, if you would like, I’m sure Nailah would be overjoyed to take some time to teach you the art of statecraft. She may not be as good as Rose, but I think she’s plenty capable.”

“You think she’d be willing to do that?” Lia asked hopefully. “Truthfully, Rose has me on a bit of an extended break at the moment and I’m lacking in things to do. And, with how busy Rose is with the war, I feel bad taking up her time for something like teaching.”

“Mistress, Nailah would do it just to have an excuse to do more work.” Ophelia said flatly. “She loves teaching people as is, so she could hardly ask for a better deal.”

“Did someone say my name?” Nailah asked, walking down the stairs. “Oh, Lia, to what do we owe the pleasure?”

“I was consulting with Ophelia about some of my troubles, and how I feel I don’t measure up to my lovers.” Lia said. “She was suggesting that we have you tutor me in statecraft. It’s not a top priority by any means, but if you have the time and want to, I’d be happy to learn anything you could teach me.”

Nailah’s eyes lit up. “That sounds wonderful!” She said excitedly. “Why don’t we take some time and hash out a schedule? I’m sure you have a lot on your plate, so we’ll need to find what times work best.”

Lia nodded. “Do you have time to do scheduling now?”

“I have more time than I know what to do with.” Nailah replied, finishing her descent and walking over to take a seat next to Ophelia. “What are you thinking?”

“So, Rose and Amelia are having me take a break from the war this week, so I’m free all week. Outside of that…I guess I don’t do much in the mornings? I don’t exactly have a schedule since we just sort of work around things as they come up, but the mornings are usually free.”

“In that case, would a couple of hours each morning starting at ten work for you?” Nailah asked. “And perhaps more this week, since you said you’ve got the time.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Lia replied. “Um…thanks, by the way.”

“It’s my pleasure, really!” Nailah replied, standing up. “Let’s meet at the school tomorrow, I’m going to need to spend the rest of today making a lesson plan.”

She left excitedly, and Ophelia turned back to Lia. “Anything else you want to talk about?” She asked. “I’m all ears.”

Lia shook her head. “That’s mostly what’s been bothering me.” She said. “How’ve you been doing?”

“I’ve been doing well, thanks for asking!” Ophelia replied. “I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting after the incident with the hydra, and I’ve been making an effort to get back to my old caution. Don’t let sudden power boosts make you overconfident, or you’ll end up getting hurt, or worse, killed.”

Lia nodded. “And how’s the arm? No phantom pain or anything, right?”

 “Good as new.” Ophelia replied. “Rose’s magic is really something else.” She leaned forward conspiratorially, glancing at the stairs before she spoke. “To tell you the truth, if it bothered me at all, I’d just use Nailah’s device to kill that body. Mary and Titania would never let me hear the end of it, but it’ll come back after a bit and it’s better than having it in pain all the time.”

“Not Nailah?” Lia asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No, she understands.” Ophelia said, leaning back to her original position. “She knows it’s not that big a deal to kill one of them if we have to. I think Mary and Titania still haven’t fully grasped just how much that changes the dynamic. Anyway, I’ve almost finished scouting a route for our road, and I just need to go through a couple of things with Dahlia, Camellia, and Lily, next time we have a meeting we’ll probably be presenting our findings.

“Oh, and remember how Dahlia and Camellia wanted to be reconverted together? We found a monster that fits the bill for them, they wanted to talk to you about it whenever you had time.”

“I had completely forgotten.” Lia admitted. “Do you happen to know if they’re around right now, or if they’re out exploring?”

“Today’s their day off.” Ophelia replied. “I have a pretty good idea of where they like to hang out, would you like me to take you to them?”

“If you would, that would be great.” Lia replied, standing up.

“Let me go grab some shoes and I’ll be right with you.” Ophelia said, standing up. “One second.”

---

“I’m going to ask one last time, just to be sure, you two are really fine if you end up becoming one person?” Lia asked skeptically. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather call it off? There’s no going back if that happens.”

Dahlia nodded. “We think it’s kind of romantic, like having a child, but more intimate.” She said. “We’d prefer separate but connected, but if that’s not an option with this, then we’re more than happy to merge.”

“If you insist.” Lia replied. “Just let me know when you’re ready.”

“We are now.” Camellia said. “Please, have someone cocoon us.”

Lia nodded to the woman who they had brought to do the process, and in only a few moments the two of them were once again in cocoons. Lia carefully merged their cocoons with the large one that they had said contained the monster, then opened her the conversion options. She scrolled through them for a while, but not a single one of them indicated that they would remain separate people at the end of the process. Then, at the bottom of the list, something caught her eye.

Notification pending? As she puzzled over what that notification was and how she could access it, another window popped up.

Lia had sort of wondered what had happened to that. They had been making efforts to avoid it as of late, yes, but they had never known the exact threshold for it and it had never reappeared, so it had ended up being mostly forgotten.

Curious, she took a look at the potential abilities it could give, and there, about halfway down the list, was one titled “separate consciousnesses”. It only had an eleven percent chance of being picked, but…that was better than zero, so Lia ended up picking the Random Draw System.

Lia hesitated, then dismissed the prompt; she would rather hear it from them. So, she grabbed the book she had brought with her and began to read, waiting eagerly for the reconversion to finish.

After an hour, she heard the sound of groaning, and looked up to see two identical bodies picking themselves up from the ground. They were lamias of some sort, the monster that had been used apparently belonged to a species of two-headed snakelike creatures native to the Spine called an “Amphisbaena”, with their tail and hair a brilliant red. They wore gear not dissimilar to what they had worn before, and born a resemblance to both Dahlia and Camellia.

“Did it work?” Lia asked.

One of the bodies blinked, slowly looking around. “I…am one person.” She said. “In that sense, it worked, yes.”

Lia sighed. “I had to go with a Random Draw.” She explained. “It had an eleven percent chance of keeping you separate, and nothing else did. Um…what should I call you?”

The other body slithered over to Lia, drawing her into a conciliatory hug. “Don’t feel bad, I didn’t want to say tell you this in fear it’d put you off of going through with it, but it was the expected outcome. My name…well, I liked Amphi, and still do.”

“How does it feel?” Lia asked.

“Strange.” Amphi admitted. “When looking at my memories, both sets feel equally mine, and despite having been separate at the time, when I look back at it, it feels like I was a single person at the time. If it’s not too much to ask, do you mind if I take tomorrow off in order to introduce myself and re-organize my living space?”

“Take as much time as you need.” Lia said. She paused for a moment, unsure if she should say what she was thinking, but eventually decided to do it. “Um…do you think that they…you, got what you wanted? Are you happy?”

Amphi beamed at Lia. “Unequivocally yes. If either of me hadn’t been happy with this outcome, I never would have risked it. Thank you, my Queen, thank you from the bottom of my heart.”