The young bee nodded and winced.
"It's all there, like the buzzing of the hive. But when I talk with you, Father, Mother, I can focus on that. Before, I was all alone, and couldn't stop seeing. Now I can—it feels better this way. That's alright to do, right?"
I bit my lip. Whatever was in those visions, it was clearly traumatic, and I didn't want to torment this girl even more. However…
"Of course. My dear, I want to help you—but to do it, I must know more about your condition. Will you be alright telling me about it?"
She hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
"When I was back in my brood cell, sleeping and growing, I began seeing a dream that felt real. Could've been real. In this dream I emerged and then… Then the dream became many, many dreams, and I saw them all at once. There were some things that were the same in every dream, but other things were different. It's like… What if I did this thing, and not the other thing? Or someone else? Or something?"
The young bee shivered and huddled in her pelt.
"The more I watched, the more dreams there were. I couldn't make sense of them anymore. And there was always something wrong with them. With me, with others… Then, at some point, it became worse. The dreams became full of death and fire. Fire was burning our hives. Even this one. Everybody spoke of the green giants, or humans, or… I don't know, it all stopped making sense…"
She shook her head vigorously, and I tried to comfort the girl by rubbing her back behind the wings.
Meanwhile, Ambrosia sucked in a sharp breath.
"You saw the humans attack the Empire? In the future? How real are those dreams, though?"
The young bee silently shrugged while I racked my brain, trying to analyze things.
So far, it was clear that the young prophet saw her own possible futures. I winced in sympathy, imagining how bothersome it'd be to have a hundred visions in your head all at once.
The 'Precognition V' was another cursed gene, although the possibilities it had were incredible.
"This all needs a longer investigation, but this isn't the place *or* the time to have one." I said. "My daughter… Hm. You saw yourself living a life in the future–did you see your name there?"
The young bee perked up, smiling.
"Yes, I did, Father! So many great names! But…" She frowned again. "I don't know which one to choose. Not yet."
"Then will you be alright if I call you Undecided for now?"
"This is one of them. Yes, it's fine. I can be Decided later."
Thankfully, even the most exotic mutations of today were way less troublesome than 'Precognition V'. And Undecided was the only one with this gene in today's brood.
I ordered a Nurse to keep an eye on Undecided, talk with her, and call for help if she ever feels bad again; meanwhile, I and Amby still had the rest of evolved bees to organize.
We gave them a somewhat hurried goodbye and left them in experienced hands of Nurses. The Nurses had an order to compile a detailed report on their wellbeing for me to read later.
By the time I was done with this, Undecided was shown to her future living cell. There she and her personal Nurse, Larva-Carer, were waiting for me, just like I asked them to.
Amby came with me again, and I felt she was still concerned about Undecided's wellbeing—just like me. However, she looked even more concerned about the visions Undecided mentioned. Especially since I explained her my thoughts about Undecided's ability.
"Father, Mother, you are back!" Undecided smiled when we entered her cell.
This one was of average size—big enough to stand and fit a bed pallet and some wall shelves. Undecided and Larva-Carer were unceremoniously sitting on the floor; at our entrance, Larva-Carer moved aside to leave me and Ambrosia some space.
I sat next to them and smiled back.
"Yeah. You are still feeling well, Undecided? Larva-Carer, no problems?"
"None at all, Father, Mother-Queen," the Nurse assured. "Undecided is a wonderful young sister to have! Too mature for her age, though… And sometimes I don't understand what she's talking about."
Undecided glanced at Larva-Carer, then at me.
"I wanted to look at the dreams again, but wasn't sure. I thought earlier that I shouldn't, but what if I *should*? What if they can help us all? The Empire!"
She shook her head, frowning.
Larva-Carer twiddled her thumbs; her eyes glazed over with a complete lack of understanding.
"I hope so," Ambrosia said, ignoring the Nurse. "If we were to know the attacks on the Empire even just a few days before they happen, it will be a hundred times better than knowing about them *after* they happen."
"But what if the dreams aren't real? I don't know if I saw *this* in a dream or if I didn't or…"
I silenced her by putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Undecided, your dreams are *definitely* real—to an extent. And nobody but you can learn how to pick useful and real information from all the rest. But I swear, I—no, the entire Empire—will do everything we can to help you. And what's more…"
"I want you to learn how to control this gift so it won't hurt you again, Undecided. That's what you are afraid of, right? I don't want you to be harmed, either—but I don't think just suppressing the visions will help you. You will need to sleep at some point—what then?!"
"I understand, Father. You are right! I shouldn't be afraid. I'm lucky to be , if it helps the Empire. It will help, right? But what if it will still make things worse?"
I began feeling that maybe giving Undecided this name was a self-fulfilling prophecy. I had to interrupt her doubts again.
"Between this and that, I had some ideas of what you can do to control the visions," I said. "Please, follow my lead—and we will try making more sense out of these dreams together."