Free Queen of the Sylphs by L. J. McDonald

strong and friendly, not reliant on us or resentful.”
    Devon sagged in his chair. Airi reached over to squeeze his hand, her gaze never leaving him.
    “I have to think about this,” he managed. His face was still pale.
    Leon nodded. “I can’t ask for anything more—but don’t take too long to make up your mind. She needs help now .”
    Devon shuddered and stared down at his ruined parchment. “Who’ll take my job here?” he whispered. “I mean, do you have someone in mind for that, too?”
    “As a matter of fact, I do,” Leon said.
    Slowly, Ril turned to look at him again.

Chapter Six
    There was something wrong with the queen.
    Yes, wrong. The recently returned healer just didn’t know what it was. She’d tried to talk to the others, but none of them wanted to listen, perhaps for fear they would also become a target. The queen was growing sullen and short-tempered, lashing out with a tentacle whenever she came near. The queen hadn’t laid an egg in days, either, and she wouldn’t let her close, though the other healers still lounged contentedly nearby. The one time the unnamed healer dared ask if the queen was feeling unwell, she’d been chased out of the royal chambers, her hindquarters stinging from a slap.
    She hurt. Not her hindquarters but her heart. It felt like the link between her and her queen was being stretched thin, pulled taut until it was about to snap. That made her feel itchy all through herself where she couldn’t scratch.
    The queen’s chambers were the deepest in the hive. Above were the egg chambers and hatching rooms, and above those the chambers dedicated to food. The healer slipped into these, flowing through a crowd of chattering air sylphs, and she looked down at those that handled sustenance. There were more than two dozen, eyeless and fat, their cloud shapes a soft blue-green, though most were solid right now, forms that were all mouth, stomach, and udders.
    The food sylphs ate, devouring the purple crops brought in by the air sylphs and drinking deeply of the funnelled-in water. In turn, they were milked of pure energy, balls of light that were packed into storage rooms for the rest of the hive to eat later. Any sylph could eat the plants outside, but except for the food sylphs it was a wasteful effort with far less return. The amount they’d need to consume would rise exponentially. A food sylph could drag out every bit of energy.
    It didn’t make the creatures intelligent, which the healer supposed was a blessing. She flowed over them, looking for any sort of illness. Food sylphs didn’t speak, didn’t move, didn’t even feel. They just lay where they chose and ate, only rolling over so that they could be milked.
    It was a peaceful place to visit. Food sylphs knew their place in the hive, and they didn’t have to be concerned with anything else. The healer floated over them, wanting their peacefulness to soothe her as well, but it wasn’t working. The queen was still snappish and angry, and she didn’t know where she fit in the hive anymore.
    The itchiness grew inside her, and the healer scratched, shook herself, and continued on. Restless and not knowing what to do about it, she knew only that for no reason she could fathom, her queen was starting to hate her.
    Galway sat patiently through the long meeting, putting in comments and giving his analysis of economic reports regarding the Valley. The situation wasn’t too bad, but without more trade they’d have to start imposing taxes. It would be easier if their fledgling government didn’t pay the sylphs even the pittance they did—the sylphs would have worked for free, anyway, and most didn’t know what to do with their admittedly tiny salaries—but Solie wouldn’t want to concede the point. Only slaves worked for nothing.
    The possibilities inherent to forming a trade partnership with Meridal were immense. The old empire was already known for its luxury goods, and Eapha had inherited everything. Galway made a