The hivemind is conquering for me?

”My honeydew, are you certain you need to go? Wouldn’t it be better for you to stay where you are safest? What if that creature tries to take you from me again?” King Dickon spouted as he walked alongside his wife, Queen Elaine.

As he pushed ahead a little to block Elaine’s path to the courtyard, she frowned at him. ”Move out of the way Dickon, before I fulfil Sigismund’s threat myself. I have been cooped up for weeks! Sure it has been nice just staying at home with our children, but I need space!”

Dickon tried to look tough in front of his wife, before caving after a moment of ’that’ glare. ”Will you at least tell me where you are going? I-I can’t lose you Elaine. I have already lost one wife... If anything were to happen to you... I don’t know what I would do.”

Elaine felt a sickness in her stomach hearing him say that. She still loved her husband, but after knowing what she now knew, she had begun to distance herself ever so slightly out of fear.

”I promised who I am going to visit, especially not to tell you where I was going. That was a clue by the way. Now please move your big gut out of the way.” As Dickon listened to his wife’s words, he grew confused for a moment. Who would not want the king to know about his wife visiting? That was quite a political boon after all. The only person he could think off the top of his head was...

A smile crept upon the man’s face. ”I see. Well, I am sure whoever wants to see you has her- their reasons. Just give me an update when everything is over. Also, I still want you to have some decent protection. How about two-”

”My protection is already behind you.” Elaine said, causing Dickon to turn around, inadvertently allowing his wife to pass. However, when he saw who was standing there without a care in the world, he was both happy and concerned.

”Gabrielle!” Elaine exclaimed as she got close enough to Gabrielle to hug. Gabrielle had been thinking about a certain somebody so her attention was elsewhere, making her genuinely surprised by the sudden hug.

”Oh, my Queen. Hello, are you well? Hugo told me you were being held hostage by your husband? Do you need me to kidnap you?” The no-no word Gabrielle just used in the palace grounds caused some of the nearby guards to come to attention for a moment before a subtle gesture from the queen calmed them down.

”Haha, no dear. King Sigismund has had a chat with my husband already, now hurry up and kidnap me, I have not been off planet in a very long time.” She joked, to the displeasure of the man who had just walked up behind her, coughing to indicate his presence.

Gabrielle looked at the man and frowned. She still bowed as was expected of her, but she was free to dislike the man. ”Dickon.” She said, ”Gabrielle.” He replied. ”You are looking well. I am glad. My daughters protector needs to be-”

”I wonder If I should pick up some of Bellona’s things while I am here, Hailey would like to have some keepsakes. Do you still have them in storage? Or did you chuck them out when you sent her body to Euc 5?” Gabrielle sniped, causing the usually Jovial civilian king to put on an edge.

”Careful Gabrielle. I give you a certain amount of leeway for all you have done for my precious little girl, but don’t you start going on about my wife again.” A tension began rising between the two parties, until Dickon felt Elaine’s hand on his forearm as she said flatly. ”Ex-wife.”

Dickon’s eyes went wide with shock realising what he had just said and was about to correct himself, but Elaine already stormed off to the ship. He then looked back at Gabrielle with a vengeful look, but judging by the expression on her face, she was expecting just what happened to happen.

”Take care my King. Don’t go kidnapping anymore women ok?” Gabrielle jabbed before walking away. King Dickon watched as the woman entered her ship and felt a strange feeling. The woman had a different aura about her. She felt less... Depressed?

Perhaps it was all his years with Bellona before that thing took over her, but he had a sixth sense about it. So despite their differences, he smiled as the ship began to ascend, glad that the woman seemed to have gotten over some big event in her life.

…

After leaving the atmosphere and beginning their travel, Gabrielle let the autopilot do its thing and went to find Elaine. Entering the kitchen, she found the queen searching through the cupboards.

”Strong stuff, top right. Weak stuff bottom right.” She said, using her head to point to the cupboards. Elaine wasted no time and darted to the top right cupboard while saying. ”Thanks hun, I really need to let loose for a day. It literally felt like I was in prison and to top off my already foul mood, Dickon goes and picks a fight with you and brings up Bellona.”

Gabrielle rubbed her head awkwardly at that. ”Sorry about that Elaine. I am sort of oath bound to Pick a fight with Dickon whenever I see him. I had to get Hailey to stop crying once, it was this whole thing I won’t go into it.”

Elaine did not respond right away. as she opened up a bottle of whiskey and began to inhale the contents like it wasn’t 80% Abv. Gabrielle was about to comment further, but the Queen held her finger up as she began to finish the entire bottle.

”*Burp~* Oh fuck, I needed that. Pardon the profanity, You don’t care do you?” The queen asked, her decorum training kicking in one final time before Gabrielle shook her head. ”Good. By the way, what’s with the strong shit? Felt like I was drinking paint thinner.”

Gabrielle shrugged her shoulders. ”It’s Hailey’s ship. She is at that age and with her powers, she wants to drink strong beverages as the weak stuff has no effect.”

Elaine smiled hearing that before she sat down on a bench. ”Oh I am abusing this vacation Gabrielle. No husband, no handmaidens, no kids, no work. Speaking of work actually, are you sure I didn’t need to bring anything? What does Hailey want with me?”

Gabrielle folded her arms as she replied. ”Hailey just needs your help with a personal matter. I have promised not to say anything and I keep my promises. Oh, also. Be right back.” Gabrielle then walked off, leaving the queen to go and rummage through the cupboards again, finding an unexpected surprise as she did so.

When Gabrielle returned, she put on a fake sadness as she said. ”Bad news Elaine. The FTL drives seems not to be working at peak efficiency. That means our one day trip looks like its turning into an entire week until we arrive at our destination.”

Elaine’s face betrayed her true emotion of pure joy as she spoke aloud. ”Oh no. That is such a shame. I sooo~ wanted to get back to the palace by tomorrow. Anyways, since we are going to be traveling space together, we should party hard right?” Elaine then picked up a baggie of blue powder she just found in the cupboard, causing Gabrielle’s eyes to go wide in shock.”

”Goodness, my Queen. Where were you able to get this stuff?” Before the Queen could reply, Gabrielle moved at blurring speeds, taking the baggy from Elaine’s hands and had placed a finger in her mouth before Elaine could react.

”Takot mixed with...char? Yea, this will make you want to party alright.” Elaine had questions about how Gabrielle knew the tastes of drugs, but she felt like she needed to defend herself first.

”Oh, they are not mine. I found them in the cupboard. I thought since they were in there. Why not? I have never done them before. Have you?” She managed to ask what she wanted to know at the end anyway, causing Gabrielle to look at the bag with a great deal of contemplation as she spoke offhandedly.

”Um, Yeah. Olympus makes us take every drug they can find and have us fight on it to make sure we are still combat effective if we have been drugged without knowing. It was a rough month afterwards. Some drugs have horrid withdrawal effects, even for Psionic users... UGH I bet Kathrine gave these to Hailey that Cockfield! She probably gave them to her to give to...”

Gabrielle paused and looked back over to Elaine who had a curious expression on her face. Gabrielle then threw the bag back to Elaine as she said. ”Those are too weak to have an effect on me, but you help yourself. I am sure we can have a pleasant week together before reaching Hailey.”