It had been some time since the Wasp woman had been in Namiba, her new line of work hadn’t brought her here recently. But it still hadn’t as Sharifa found herself with some free time on her hands so she had decided to visit the markets again that made up most of Namiba. For once Shar wasn’t loaded down with weaponry and had her hood down instead of hiding herself. She only had a few daggers and throwing stars hidden in her cloak, plus her natural stingers that all Wasps had.

Sharif was planning on picking up a few nic-naks to bring back to Angela and her family, but her sweet tooth decided it wanted something first. So Sharifa was at the moment enjoying a sugary treat, some sunflower seeds that were roasted in honey! She was happily eating them as she walked along the market looking at what was on offer when a hand grabbed her shoulder. ”Hey! We’re talking to you, why are you ignoring us?” A voice spoke as the hand forced her to turn around.

Shar blinked as she turned only to see that she was now looking back at three other Wasps, one male, the one talking, and two females. They were all staring at her and Sharifa only stared back for a moment. She hadn’t heard anyone talking to her though! It took her a couple of moments before Sharifa realized that they had been trying to talk to her through the Hive Mind, but since Shar was cut off she hadn’t heard them but they didn’t know that. ”Uh, I’m sorry I…”

”Wait, you’re familiar to me. It’s you! You’re Sharifa, the traitor who was supposed to be executed but was saved by that goddess or whatever! You’re cut off from the Hive Mind, that’s why you didn’t hear us!” The one female exclaimed.

Well, shit. ”Uh, yes I am Sharifa. But I can assure you I am no traitor to…”

”Yes, you are. The Queen found you guilty, the evidence that was presented proved it. Are you saying the Queen was wrong?”

”The situation was complicated, my Queen only…”

”She’s not your Queen, traitor!” The one female cut Shar off preventing her from speaking further. ”I think we should do what the Queen decreed and execute this traitor.” The other two nodded and started to go for their weapons.

”Please, don’t do this, I don’t want to fight any of you.” Sharifa warned and stepped back a pace but she was getting herself ready for a fight.

The crowd around them was starting to see the situation for what it was and started to give the four Wasps a wide berth.

The recent events of the world as well as the Void had taken their toll on Icarus. To compensate for the mental fatigue, he chose to travel to one particular city he had yet to visit. Here, he learned of the customs and laws that prevented all forms of violence being enacted within the city. Additionally, the law preventing all weapons from being carried within the city was another boon that set him at ease.

As he passed through the city on his third day, it seemed the illusion of the city’s peace may be at an end. From the other side of a crowd, he could hear what sounded like shouting and the immediate preamble to a violent encounter. As he glanced beyond the crowd, he could see what appeared to be a familiar wasp lady being confronted by a few others from her race. Why is she always in some sort of bind when I cross her path? he thought to himself as he chuckled and caught sight of the guards approaching the group. They seemed to be moving slowly to see if Sharifa would draw some sort of prohibited weapon to defend herself. If she did, she would be expelled from the city alongside the others and be in harm’s way once beyond the perimeter of the wall-less city.

With a sigh, Icarus shook his head and teleported between the group to place himself between Sharifa and the others. ”My my, would you look at that? It seems some people have violated the law by carrying weapons into the city. Surely you don’t mean to inflict violence on Sharifa, again, in violation of the laws of this city,” he said, appealing to the trio’s reason. They were making a very bold decision that could negatively impact their entire race’s relations with the city.

”This is none of your business, human. Our queen has declared her a traitor and we are bound to execute her,” the apparent leader of the trio stated. Icarus clicked his tongue in disappointment. ”Wouldn’t that bring shame to your Queen? To have her children banished, and by your admission, I’d wager your entire race would be barred from the city,” he explained as he paced around, calmly explaining their situation while maintaining his air of legal superiority.

”In fact, I believe you… Amharans, was it, would end up shaming your Queen. This land is not hers and given the honor of her name, she would likely urge you to follow the laws and customs of those lands you travel to. Am I incorrect in assessing that?” he asked, bringing a hand to his masked chin in a way that would infer contemplation. ”Alas, what would I know? I’ve only been here to stall you so those guards could work their way through the crowd. Hello lads, are you ready to disarm them?” he called out with a wave.

His distraction successful, the guards confronted the trio and demanded their weapons. All in all, there seemed to be a delay as though they were contemplating their options and perhaps even preparing to break the law further by attacking Icarus and Sharifa. Glancing over his shoulder, he looked at her for the first time in this entire ordeal. ”On another errand for your goddess or is your luck always this bad?”

Shar’s attention moved to Icarus as he came over and into the situation, interesting to see him again in a such a circumstance. She listened as he spoke but kept her eyes on the Wasps that had confronted her, what Icarus said was correct there would be issues if they drew weapons in the city. However, they all their natural stingers which they could argue about using within the city while not breaking the no weapons laws. Shar made sure to shift her cloak to hide the few weapons that she herself was carrying but got herself ready for a fight with her stingers and magic.

The three Wasps weighed their options as the guards came over and demanded their weapons. They didn’t need to look at each other to communicate and Shar wished she could hear what they were saying to each other over the Hive Mind at the moment. ”We’ll be waiting for you, Sharifa. If you want to stay alive you better stay in the city.” The female warned before all three opened their wings and took off away from the area.

Shar sighed. ”I’ll have to deal with that sooner than later, I figured it would come up eventually.” She spoke mostly to herself and then looked back to Icarus. ”This wasn’t luck and I’m not on a job either. This was inevitable, I knew since I left the Hive that there were those that didn’t like the fact I wasn’t executed.” She explained as the guards left and people went back to what they were doing. ”I was hoping not to run into another Wasp, but while I’m in Onnen that’s going to happen eventually. They had been trying to speak with me through the Hive Mind but since I’m cut off I didn’t hear them. When they realized that they realized who I was.” She sighed and leaned back against a wall, going back to idly munching on her honey roasted sunflower seeds. ”So what brings you here, Icarus? Out doing some shopping?”

Icarus listened as the group continued with their idle threats. If there was any place Sharifa wanted to go, he could easily open a gate and send her there without difficulty, leaving those idiots to wait for her to leave the town, which would take them quite a while considering she would never cross past the perimeter to their knowledge. Even without the explanation, Icarus had surmised something to a similar extent. To his knowledge, the wasps weren't keen on serving the gods and Sharifa's fealty was akin to happily flaunting a taboo. To them, it seemed the queen was the closest to a god they were permitted to worship, and it was more troublesome the more zealous they were. Alas, it seemed that using his words to dissuade others was still a gift he had maintained in his seclusion.

"As it turns out, I'm just here on vacation. I heard this town was quite peaceful with a very vigilant guard force, though I suppose they can't be everywhere at once. Good riddance to that lot. I'll send you wherever you decide to go upon leaving the city. I'm willing to bet they aren't the most familiar with spatial magic," he said after they left, hinting that he could transport her wherever she felt so inclined. 

He didn't exactly dislike or blame the wasps for being so reverent toward their queen, as humans were wont to do the same as well when it came to their own sovereigns. It was perhaps just how they maintained no situational awareness and blindly obeyed without thinking for themselves. Lack of individuality and the expectation of absolute compliance was what disgusted him. Though he had been an emperor, he hadn't been a despotic tyrant, leading his empire into a new golden age for the few years it had before the demons came and began the war of extermination and consumption. 

Even considering that, however, he still couldn't find much fault with the wasps. Their ability to communicate mentally with one another was also a shackle that prevented them from being able to even develop differing opinions as there was always the possibility of higher members invading one's thoughts. By Gaea, how he hated that possibility. If he had someone reading his thoughts all the time, he'd either kill them or himself if it came to it. Knowing his luck, however, he'd likely just get resurrected a fourth time. "So, what to do from here…" he trailed off, expecting Sharifa to have some valuable insight or something else to make of their current predicament. He wasn't looking to make the hive an enemy at this time since he had already spent quite a bit of effort during the war with the bugs squashing them in horrible ways. He was just thankful they hadn't recognized him from the battlefield, though it was unlikely since he had polymorphed into an ape-man at the time.

Shar shrugged. ”Small fights do break out now and then, hard to not have that happen in a city this size. But things are generally peaceful.” She explained. ”Thank you but no, I can take care of those three if I need to, they’re young and inexperienced. I won’t kill them just hurt them enough to make them back off, if they try anything.” She thought a moment, perhaps she could explain more. ”The Wasp and Ant hive minds are on different levels of, uh, reach. The Ants, as far as anyone has been able to tell, have an infinite range on their Hive Mind to their birth hive, er, colony. If they had been ants they would have been in direct contact with their Queen that whole time. But, Wasps don’t have an infinite range, it’s finite, and these three would have been out of range of the Queen. By the way they acted they were probably out of range of any other Wasps, or they would have all been here. Once they get back within reach of the Queen and they tell her what happened she’ll tell to leave me alone.” She explained, confident in that idea. ”Angela saved me from execution and took me in away from the Hive, peacefully. The Queen knows who Angela is and what she’s capable of and won’t want to make an enemy of her. That and I would hope that the Queen wouldn’t want anyone to kill her own sister.” She grinned and glanced at Icarus to see if he caught on to what she had been implying there. ”Have any questions though? I’m happy to answer.”

”As for what to do, hm, well, I’m here on a bit of a vacation myself in truth. I was going to buy a few things.” She motioned to the bag of seeds she was eating. ”This was a good snack, but want to a proper meal? My treat, call it a thanks for stepping in when you did.” She offered, it was the least she could do and she could eye up some of the stalls and their wears at the same time.

As Sharifa explained the circumstances and the way the hive functioned in terms of communication, Icarus listened intently. Although he might not show it, he was rather studious and all information he happened upon became a portion of his absolute memory. He almost let out a laugh as she mentioned the Queen knew of Angela and what she was capable of. Despite never being present to witness it, he had collected information on how that particular goddess went about her business when she was angered. If things went poorly, Sharifa might become the last member of her species.

The revelation that Sharifa was essentially an exiled princess was new and something he hadn’t expected. He knew she had been exiled, but certainly couldn’t foresee her being royalty. Icarus would have to alter his statistics to account for the new percentile change. 

”Color me surprised, but I have no idea what your species’ gastronomic preferences are. The best I have guessed was simple sugars, though I certainly haven’t been able to really observe your race. I’ll happily take you up on the opportunity and make a note of it if you wish to lead the way,” he suggested. This was invaluable data he could use to alter potential market sales to his advantage, after all, if he could find some delicacies that were less popular among the other races.

Shar nodded as Icarus accepted her offer of a meal on her dime, and turned to head towards where she knew the food was best. ”Us elite wasps can eat just about anything, though, yes, we do tend to lean towards the sweet side of things. Our drone and feral cousins are limited though to simple sugars, as you said.” She explained and it wasn’t too long before she led the way to a good sized outdoor kitchen built into the wall of a building. ”It doesn’t look like much, but they can cook up just about anything you like in almost anyway you like.” Sharifa said as she went up to the counter, which thankfully wasn’t too busy.

”What’ll it be?” One of the cooks asked looking to her.

”Venison, honey glazed with some garlic powder. Do you have any cheese curds left over?” That got a quick nod from the cook. ”Half an order of them…

”You want a bowl of sugar with them?” The cook said jokingly.

Shar’s black eyes rolled. ”Funny. Can you fry them up in some oil with a little bit of hit spice?”

The cook nodded and with Shar’s order done he looked to Icarus. ”What are you having?”


Once Icarus had ordered and they waited Sharifa thought a moment on what he had said. ”There really isn’t a lot about our race to observe, at least nothing secret enough that we’d hide it from the world. The feral wasps are just really large wasps like you would have in Canelux. The drones are mid way between feral and us elites, semi-sentient, strong and able to follow commands. As far as us elites go, we have independent thinking, and not everything a wasp thinks goes to the Hive Mind, it’s something we, or rather they, have to knowingly use.” A moments thought passed. ”The Queen can forcibly enter another’s mind, however, though that is rarely done, and only in times of great need, never done in my lifetime anyway.” Shar shrugged. ”What is it you are hoping to observe anyway?”

Icarus casually followed Shar and chuckled as the cook proceeded to goad her minutely before turning his attention to him. In all, he wanted a simple meal from a flank of meat, some mild spices, and some flatbread. It was a bit less refined compared to what most would order, but the ability to take strips of meat and roll them in flatbread with seasoning was a divine experience for most. The simplicity of the presentation was offset by the combination of flavors.

He nodded as Shar explained the digestive nature of the variations among her people, how the Hive Mind functioned, and even asked what sort of information he intended to glean from their conversation. ”Well, I’m an inquisitive man that always tries to learn about the world around him. In this case, I hope to make a compendium for more advanced adventurers beyond my common adventuring guide I wrote last year. That… and if there were some dietary preference Wasps preferred that was less common among the other races, I could begin moving to corner the market with a foodstuff that was cheap due to being unpopular and pick up a tidy profit among your people as a long-term merchant,” he explained, revealing both scholastic and mercantile reasons.

Even with her explanation that the Queen could forcibly enter the minds of her subjects as necessary and the lack of precedent she had done so, he began to wonder what sort of requirement made it necessary to do so. Existential crisis? Betrayal? No, certainly not the latter since Sharifa has indicated it had not been performed in her lifetime and she was exiled as a traitor based on what he gathered from conversation. In any case, it was certainly far beyond something he could readily calculate in terms of probability and sending information if the need to communicate immediately arose during the annual existential crises this world faced.

Shar thought for a moment on what Icarus’ intentions were and she ran the idea through her head. ”Hm, I’m sorry but I can’t think of anything you could get that we already can’t. We have free trade set up between us and the other insect tribes, for both food, knowledge and daily goods. We’re omnivores, so there isn’t much we can’t eat. The ferals will eat just about anything, but they are mindless, the drones aren’t much better, and we elites can eat just about anything as well. There are some plants that will universally make us sick, some that can even kill, but we know what they are and avoid them at all costs.” She thought another moment. ”You could try and find plants and animals on Canelux and Parvpora that aren’t native to Onnen and sell them to the Wasps as exotic products. But I know they’d be hesitant to try anything new in fear of it being lethal or being something that brings disease to the Hive.” She explained.

”As for your compendium, I can try and help with that. Is there anything you can think of you wanted to ask right now? I can answer some for the Ants, Beetles and other insects as well.” She offered as their food came and she didn’t wait, Shar started to eat right away once it was in front of her. ”Delicious, that man can cook!”