They're EVERYWHERE!

CH: 7/13 - Rend

"Do you have any idea what happened to the hive mind revenants?"

"They jumped out of your head, using hive links and killing the weaker changelings they jumped through outright. There are only two options, really - they either found a suitable enough changeling host in a safe place and they're changing them to suit their needs or they miscalculated their power, landed inside the wrong head, and starved to death already."

Hmph, I suspected that much.

"Yes, you did," Rend's smirk only grows.

"You must be irritatingly good at mind tricks to be able to tell what I'm thinking."

"Not exactly, Chrysalis. You just completely misunderstand what warriors are. Reading body language is just as much of a survival trait for us as reading minds is for you infiltrators. Only, you are used to doing so in a conversation while our observation skills are the sharpest in a fight. Right now, we're in my territory," Rend walks over and pats the smaller queen's head, making Chrysalis bare her teeth at her in response, "Now, now, we wouldn't be talking if I didn't see potential for the growth of our species in this."

"I brought down Mandible. Everyone knows us changelings have only grown in power throughout time, adapting to do more with less."

"See?" Rend's expression grows serious, "That's where I think you're wrong, and if you don't learn some sort of humility that sticks you'll die."

"You can't stop me."

"I am not talking about myself. Now let's stop with the ovipositor measuring contest because the more you open your mouth, the more I'm starting to think that I overestimated your intelligence. Take a deep breath."

To her own surprise, Chrysalis takes a deep breath. The knee jerk reaction was just an instinctive response to a presumed threat to her queenhood. A sign of...

... of insecurity.

After all, she has nothing to fear from Rend. She is vastly more powerful and she is inside her own body. What Rend is trying to make her realize is the difference between confidence and overconfidence. That's all. She knows she won't win a fight and yet she surprised and ambushed Chrysalis just to show her that there are many things she has to understand both about herself and about changelings as a whole.

"Better?" asks Rend.

Chrysalis looks her in the eyes with a stern expression and forces out a polite and factual:

"Yes. Explain what you meant by changelings not getting more powerful over time. From everything I've seen and experienced that is true. What makes you think it isn't?"

"You started this spring cleaning because you knew something other queens didn't. Someone within the hive mind believed that you were a queen who might not be a slave to the rage and said someone helped you keep your sanity. As you pushed through more and more memories, you learned that the rage wasn't coming from us queens as you thought but was infecting us, forcing us to see enemies where they didn't need to be, and in the end being amplified by us as we gave in. Correction, most of us. Venom was special and she could have become the most powerful queen ever and that's why she had to die."

"Then the question is - who helped me and where is the rage coming from?" Chrysalis states thoughtfully.

"Unfortunately, that's where my usefulness ends. Warriors are very good at spotting enemies and allies, that's our job. Sadly, we are nowhere as good at digging deep or influencing others. That's your job."

"Then what did you spot?"

"I just had a passing thought while watching history through your eyes without the corrupting influence of the true hive mind. The thought was - if there's someone powerful enough to control other queens then why ARE there still other queens. You know we can be reborn, even if the process is exceedingly dangerous. Why would someone with enough power to influence all the other queens to a degree that shaped the entire history of our species wouldn't simply get reborn and rule us instead?"