On the fifteenth day of the fourth month of the year 1052, the Central European Empire declared war on the Western Confederation.

The declaration followed a diplomatic exchange, although it had not been a very long one. The Empire accused the Brotherhood of Violets of raiding in its territory, of mass murder, theft and destruction of property. The Western Confederation refused to recognize the charges and extradite its leadership. It was communicated to the Empire that if this had not happened on Imperial territory and the truth was thus somewhat muddled, they would be prosecuting Imperial officials and soldiers for murder of their citizens. The Brotherhood still might. The Empire published their evidence and the correspondence with the Western Confederation, calling its allies to war in response to the attack on their territory.

For Regina, it was April of 3089 C.E. She had spent more than half of her time since she hatched as empress, a startling realization to make. Even more startling was only how much the Empire had already changed in a few years. They had come so far.

The dwarves in the mountains acknowledged their call and started scrambling fighters to send to the Empire in accordance with their treaty obligations. The gnomes were in the process of being integrated into the Empire proper, so any diplomatic exchange was mostly nominal. Their military was already mobilizing, and many of their soldiers had been integrated into the Imperial army.

The elves acknowledged receipt and their diplomats assured the Imperial ambassador that they would carefully look at all provided evidence. What their reaction would be, though, would be decided at the next political assembly.

The Empire also sent notices to all other surrounding countries, including the Eternal Dark. It did not call on the Eternal Dark for military aid, since they did not have a formal alliance, of course.

Plans had been prepared, and the Imperial military started moving.

On the eighteenth day of the fourth month, the Kingdom of Esemen officially declared war on the Central European Empire and its allies, the Gnomish Confederation of the East and the dwarves of the Great Mountains (their phrasing). This followed the terms of an alliance with the Western Confederation, joining them in the war.

No one was actually surprised.

At least, Regina didn't think so. She had called the survivors of the massacre and their families, those people that would come, to the capital. A few had accepted her invitation. They were sitting in the first row when she gave a speech explaining what had happened and the war that was now starting to the court and the people of the Empire. The government had already ensured that transcripts of it would appear in the newspapers, though those were still rather new and limited to a few cities. Word would spread by messengers and town criers.

The speech itself passed in a blur for Regina. She had thought about it off and on for months, really, and drafted and redrafted parts. It had undergone another draft in recent days and a check-up after the official diplomatic exchange. The words were almost meaningless to Regina as she actually said them, but the emotions of her hive and the crowd carried her. She was fairly sure she had still managed to convey the appropriate feelings at the appropriate places.

The shouting from the crowd reached a fever pitch at the end of the speech, and she had to withdraw a little from the psychic link so she wasn't overwhelmed by the sensation from all of the drones around her. Her name was chanted by some people, she noticed. There were calls for the Empire and against their enemies. Regina only noticed she had a slight smile on her face when Max nudged her through the psychic link.

Unfortunately, it wasn't all patriotic fervor and righteous revenge-slash-justice for their enemies' transgressions.

They had prepared for this eventuality for months, but even the best-laid plains weren't perfect. Regina had to spend a lot of time in meetings discussing details and changes, frantically allocating resources where they needed to be and shuffling around people and appointments. The fact that all this followed on the heels of the conflict in the east and they still had to hold Prekan made it harder.

There was also some friction in her inner circle, which Regina really should have anticipated, but which still caught her a little by surprise. Janis wanted to personally lead the charge. Although, that wasn't really true. Janis didn't really want to wage war, but she considered it her duty and thought it would be for the best if she did. She'd done it with the gnomes and succeeded, Janis argued. Politically, she had a good point. But Regina also couldn't afford to risk her heir too much, even if she had been willing to do it on a personal level. They would have to find a compromise that she suspected would have to be adjusted as the war went on. Max was also uneasy at remaining behind, although at least he understood why and didn't complain about staying with her. He just tried to increase all of the security arrangements to a downright stifling level. Tim was like Janis, except still in the east. He offered to go wherever he was needed; what she suspected was code for wherever the fighting would be heaviest. For now, she told him to stay and focus on the Esemen.

What surprised Regina the most was Kiara's reaction. She really should have remembered that her friend was a bit of a warrior queen, who'd led soldiers in battle before. If they'd still been using the old system, Kiara would have led Cernlia's men. They were now part of the unified Imperial military with its own officers, but Kiara still wanted to do her part.

At least no one seemed to even consider the option that Regina should go and fight, or travel at all. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. A part of her did feel like she should contribute, especially if they all did. I can fight. It's been a while, but I'm stronger now. I'm high-level and I have effectively unlimited mana, I think I could turn a battle in our favor. The rest of her understood why it wasn't an option. Someone had to run the Empire and make the important decisions, and she'd built up a government apparatus that couldn't just travel with her. And Regina did understand that she had a duty to protect her own life, given what her death would mean, especially to the hive.

Regina was level 71 now, having finally advanced again a while ago. It had only been a bit more than a month, she'd been stuck on level 70 for several months. Of course, her level was high enough now that it wasn't easy to increase. She was pretty sure that she needed to grow her hive to really start leveling again. She was hoping for another Spell, finally, at the next level. It didn't seem like she would get new Swarm Templates, now that she could basically make her own, and it would probably be another few levels before she unlocked another Inner Hive Template. Regina idly wondered if Leian would be scrambling to come up with something new.

They hadn't heard from Leian in a while. Yet another thing to consider; now that the war had started, it might be good to speak to her.

Now that they were at war, Regina was also growing the hive again. She still didn't go all-out — if nothing else, that would probably decrease her immediately available capacities, since they needed infrastructure and sapient drones to watch over the new additions. It was better to ramp it up gradually and adjust the makeup of the new eggs to match what they needed.

Since they currently housed no Drone Breeders in the capital, a conscious decision to keep them as hidden and inaccessible as possible, Regina also did her own part to contribute. It almost felt good to produce a bunch of eggs again. I wonder what that says about me? Probably nothing I like.

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She sighed and submerged herself in the warm water of her bath, watching bubbles escape to the surface. A side effect of her stronger body was that she could hold her breath for several minutes easily now. Regina stretched underwater and got comfortable at the bottom of the pool. It was technically a bathtub inset in the floor, but big enough that she could stretch out in both directions. The only luxury about her current accommodations she really appreciated, although she'd been too busy to take advantage of it recently. She'd decided to do that now, though, to help with the faint ache in her core, to Ira's quiet approval.

When she surfaced again and laid her head on the edge, another drone, Kay, quietly stepped up to wash her hair. Regina closed her eyes, no longer feeling embarrassed or unsure about it. This kind of thing, attending her in the bath, was still something only her Drone Attendants did, including those who'd Evolved from that Class. She was pretty sure they guarded the privilege fiercely; although Ira no longer did most of it due to her other work, she still showed up to help occasionally. The most important and necessary task was cleaning her wings, which Regina couldn't do herself; that was why she'd let them do all that in the first place.

She ducked back into the water, then stood up, stretching out her wings slightly. They were stiff, and she tried to rotate them a little to help, but it was still a bit uncomfortable. I really need to fly again. Maybe see how far up I can go? she mused as Kay started carefully using soapy water to rinse her wings and the joints where they met her back.

To distract herself, she pulled up her status screen and looked at it again.

Regina Hive Queen Level: 71 Mana: 45382/69750 Hive: 4172/4865, 5 Swarm: 810250/138500000, 400 Con: 18 Str: 17 Dex: 17 End: 19 Int: 38 Wis: 38

The biggest issue remained how close her Inner Hive number was to the limit, even though it had been raised with her last level. There were probably many more Swarm Drones evolving to sapience in her future. Her mana pool was quite big, and she didn't remember the last time it had been close to drained. New eggs would slow down her mana regeneration again, of course, but it should still be fine.

Maybe Regina should think further about how to use it to help. She would be able to Conjure a lot of stuff with that mana, if nothing else.

She shook herself out of the thought as Kay stepped back and she finally left the bath, grabbing a towel and using a bit of that mana to dry her hair.

"Thank you," she said.

"My pleasure, Mother." Kay smiled tentatively. "It was about time for the wings. Do you want me to do your hair?"

Regina swallowed a comment and nodded. "Yes. I think I want to wear it up. With the crown today. Hm, and maybe the pearls from Tim, if it goes with the outfit."

She'd already chosen that outfit, and put it on quickly with a bit of help. It was a gown today, but Regina had decided wearing a dress didn't mean she couldn't look appropriately martial. The black and dark blue coloring with hints of gold looked somber and serious, the cut evoked a military uniform, and the skirt was loose enough to drape artfully but not too long so it wouldn't tangle if she had to run. Regina let Kay put on a hint of makeup, slid on a few rings and a bracelet, and then sat down to have her hair braided. The crown was carefully placed on it and she checked the mirror. All the while, she tried not to think about the occasion.

Max and Ben met her as she stepped out of her rooms, Ira coming up behind them. She couldn't help the thought that they also looked quite serious and almost dangerous; they'd grown a lot. Well, they both towered over her and most other people at court — Regina herself was, by now, tall for a woman but not outstandingly so; and she didn't think she'd grown any taller — although Max was the tallest. They were both in dress uniforms, Max in the Star Guard's as their commanding officer, while Ben was, of course, the Marshal of the Empire, and the only person with five stars as an insignia.

"Ready?" Regina asked.

"Looking forward to it," Max answered with a faint grin.

They departed, Ira maneuvering to fall into step beside Regina and assuring her that everything was going as planned. She fell back a little before they entered through the double doors to their destination.

The large hall was technically a ballroom, though it wasn't often used for balls these days. Currently, it was crowded, with people of the court and others who'd come from the city. She noted a particular group of guests and smiled slightly. The noise in the room rose as they entered, then fell again.

Regina walked to the head of the room, before her throne, though she didn't sit yet. She glanced around, noting the rows of guards. More than usual; no wonder people were curious. Janis was waiting for her, smiling. Kiara had been talking to June and now gave her a nod. Regina nodded back before turning to the crowd and stepping forward. She raised a hand, waiting for silence to descend.

"People of the Empire. My people," she began. "The Empire is at war, a war that we all know will shape the future of this continent. Many of you must be anxious …"

She continued for a bit; reassuring them, reminding them of why they fought, and reporting on the good progress the army had made without going into too much detail. The speech was not long, but it clearly built to a point, and she could sense their anticipation.

"This is a fight not just for our murdered civilians or the insults the enemy has dealt us," she said. "It is not just about the attacks on our family — on Princess Janis, Princess June and even young Prince Robin, a toddler who certainly cannot hurt anyone. It is a fight for the future of our civilization. Our values. A fight in which the enemy is insidious, willing to resort to anything to accomplish their goals, be it killing children, or turning what we hold dear against us. And they cloak themselves in a veneer of righteousness. Because they are doing the will of the gods, they say, anything they do is permissible and indeed good. But that, my people, is not the truth of things. We are not helpless against this vile slithering into what we once held sacred."

Regina held their gazes, sweeping her eyes over the crowd. "It is a fight for the future, for the world in which our children will grow up. And in the future we wish to build, our children will not be ruled by fear. Not by tyrants, be they claiming backing from ever so high. The course of the Empire will be decided by us, the people of the Empire. We know that every citizen of the Empire, indeed every person in the world, holds value. We condemn those that would spit on people and call them nothing better than a serf. Nothing better than a sacrifice. For we are the people of the world, and we will fight those who try to put chains around us. Wherever they may be found."

She paused again, taking a step and gesturing with her hands. "My civilization did not die to let tyrants keep pushing the people of the world into the dirt for millennia untold, citizens!" A whisper ran through the crowd. "Yes, my people died. Those now called the Progenitors. I may be the last of them, but their legacy is not dead. And as long as we are here, standing defiant against those who would destroy it, it will endure!

And thus, we will fight anyone who tries to take what we have gained, what we should rightly have had all along. Be they men, monsters, demons or gods! And so-called holy men, who have done nothing to earn the self-righteousness they cloak themselves in, as they dare tell us who to be, how to be just or good? Those who would push the whole world into war, if only it lets them keep their own power? Those positioned to stab us in the back as we fight for our rights, our honor, our very lives?"

Regina took another step, glaring across the crowd. "Those corrupt institutions will be torn down, my people. Individuals may be misled, may genuinely believe they are doing the right thing, and they will face our justice and mercy. But the corrupt edifice propping up a system of oppression designed to sap your very wills and lives? This, my people, we will burn."

"As your Empress, and for all the Central European Empire, I declare all cults and churches dedicated to the gods of the Western Great Temple proscribed. Their territory is to be seized by the state. Worship of Alianais and Leianaleine may continue, but the cults of Deirianon, Gediarno, and Eteinas are hereby outlawed in the Empire."

The crowd exploded into shouting, and Regina smiled, showing her teeth.

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