And here I hoped that presenting reasonable arguments would quell protests of my Advisers (especially my wife).
"Amby, this isn't what you think! That's… Alright, I can't lie to you. The truth is–I like dragons very much when they don't try to kill me! These dragons are almost friendly, and I *really* want one! Imagine what we can achieve if we train it to… carry things, for example? Or attack our enemies!"
"This sounds very useful. A single dragon can carry as much as several dozen bees," Workharder mused. "But this doesn't explain why *you* should be taming them yourself, Father!"
"Yes, yes!" Things-Things agreed. "We can learn how to work without you some other time. Or we can never work without you at all!"
"But then *someone else* would be the dragon's tamer…"
"I see," Ambrosia said. She was still frowning. "Can't you just tame dragons here? They live everywhere."
I thought about it, then shook my head.
"I don't know what sort of dragons live around Hive Supremo. If we just place bait for them, I'm afraid we will easily attract the wrong attention. We already were lucky at the siege site. I expected having to fend off someone more aggressive than some cro—I mean, black dragons."
Ambrosia tilted her head.
"You are right that the Empire and Hive Supremo should learn how to exist without you, Nectus. There are other Queens with other Drones to populate it in your absence from our bed. But why do you even like dragons so much? They aren't bees."
The way she said the last words made me study her face closely. A second later, I realized Ambrosia sounded… almost jealous?
For herself, or for the bees?
I couldn't tell, but I grinned at her, anyway.
"Of course they aren't! But imagine them… like hammers, for example. You like hammers, and I like dragons. But I wouldn't want to *give my seed* with a dragon, you know? They are just animals!"
"Yuck! It even sounds disgusting!" Things-Things grimaced. "Father, you think weird things sometimes!"
"A hammer, hm? And I'm not a hammer, then?" Ambrosia suddenly smiled at me, and I felt like I passed some test. "Alright. Do what you feel will be the best, but come back to Hive Supremo as often as possible."
And that's how my next tiresome week began. I flew from the siege site to Hive Supremo and back basically every day. To save time, I flew at the limits of my endurance, and had to switch bodyguards at every fort on the way.
Destroyer and her team were very unhappy about it. The Beemarines I made spare guards out of were just as protective as Destroyer's team.
During this week, there was progress both in the siege and in the taming.
Hornets that tried to leave the nest became slower than usual, but there were more of them. Their faces were gaunt, and they flew right to the army's food stores… Where they were immediately killed.
The dragons kept eating our offerings, and even beat off a few smaller dragons that tried to get to them on one occasion.
I felt like they were really getting tamer and tamer by the day! They were used to Beemarines being nearby so much that instead of sitting and waiting, they began doing training drills during the dragons' visits.
And by the end of the week, there was the first big success.
I was at the siege camp this evening, having just arrived from Hive Supremo. By then, I didn't expect a dragon to appear—they usually came in the morning.
But I saw one flying low through the sky, carrying something in its mouth.
"Ah! Destroyer, did you see this?" I pointed at the dragon as it landed. "Hurry, we have to get there!"
"Father, wait! It's dangerous to go without more guards!"
I ignored that protest and forgot my exhaustion as I flew to the dragon feeding spot. By the time I arrived, the beast had left its item on the meadow and flew away to watch from a distance at which I couldn't make out more than its silhouette.
But my eyes were only on the item the dragon left behind.
It was a flower with a piece of a thick branch it was growing on. I could smell the nectar inside of it from ten steps away.
A weird object for a dragon to bring. Perhaps, it saw that bees often visit flowers? I doubted the dragon was courting me.
The dragon must've felt some gratitude toward its feeders. It was moved by an unknown social instinct that I meant to exploit more!
If only I could teach the dragon to bring us heavy logs from the area, or perhaps—perhaps even shiny things like metal nuggets it might see around!
The possibilities made my head spin.
"A~ma~zing~!" I sang, making a little victory dance. "Zing~zing~zing~!"
"Father, what kind of dance is this?"
I turned around and saw Explanatory with a pair of Researchers nearby, as well as three squads of Beemarines, several Commandos, and a bunch of bees who wandered over out of pure curiosity.
"When did you get here?"
"We saw you rush here, and wondered if you might need help or protection, Father," Explanatory said. "Were you dancing a direction-to-flowers dance? Or summoning-flowers dance?"
I stood still and tried to not look embarrassed.
"Ah… in a sense. Hey, have you already written that a dragon brought it here? We must teach it to carry more things!"
"Finally, these freeloaders might learn to earn their food," some Foreman Bee grumbled.
"This is very interesting, yes, Father. But… does it even understand what it just did?" Explanatory frowned.
"It understands enough. Someone, pass an order to the army camp to place an extra portion of dragon food somewhere nearby. Good behavior must be reinforced! Then, after the dragon learns it can get more food for bringing stuff, who knows what it will bring?"