The Needs of the Colony and her Queen

>The hot sun bakes the trail under your feet, but you’re forced to keep following it by the soldiers marching beside you
>Drawing closer to the giant termite mound fortress, you can see antennas poking from the upturned brim of slender morion helmets as more insects like the ones guiding you forward patrol the tall light brown walls
>Even below the guards standing atop the fortifications, the structure is filled with signs of four armed activity
>Similar women in lighter clothing slather on more clay and mud while others lug long wooden supports in teams to keep expanding their growing hive
>Only their helmets and the occasional weapon at their hips gleam of metal here… that and the restraints on your hands
>Most of their uniforms consist of leather and light fabric that tapers off to cover the top of their large abdomens, but you’re still in the simple rags you were wearing before being pulled from your nearby farm
>The woman beside you like all her compatriots eyes your every movement with unclear intent as she ushers you through the gates
>”We’re almost there, don’t get any ideas before you can face the trial.”
>Taking you down a dark tunnel, you speak up as you adjust to the cooler underground temperatures and dim torchlight
>”You still haven’t told me, why did you take me? I have no business with the termites, good or bad.”
>Without warning you’re swept into a narrow corridor, and both the soldiers push unnecessarily close into your sides like a chitinous sandwich
>”Don’t worry about it, your business with us will be over soon enough.”
>The other less stern one pressing into you adds on
>”And hey, unlike her we soldiers aren’t quite so picky. Very rarely do we have a man inside these walls…”
>You nearly jump as you feel an unwelcome insectoid digit give your back a squeeze
>”So I think we’ll keep you a little longer in the barracks like the others that got churned out, the girls need a little stress relief sometimes.”
>You think about asking more questions, but you’re already in enough hot water as is
>Staying silent as they continue to push you forward deep into the maze of earthen tunnels, you draw up to an immaculate door of heavy iron
>Beside it two guards stand, one holding alert… and the other leaning up to pinch off a bit of wood from one of the supports in her mandibles
>”ATTENTION! We’ve got another one for the queen!”
>Standing to attention, the sneaky snacker fumbles the latest splinter in her mouth, a rather crass squeak fluttering the back of her uniform for a second before she can act professional
>Unable to fan your face, you can’t help but notice the rather earthy smell of moldy wood mulch you’re dragged into before the entrance
>”Open the gates and get him inside”
>Leaving you there as they turned back, she calls out behind her with an echo against the tunnel
>”And STOP eating the infrastructure! The ventilation is bad enough down here already, we don’t need you making the air any worse.”
>Light blush on one of the royal guards aside, they heave and pull the sturdy doors so weighty that they left indented tracks in the floor
>Unsure what your fate could be so deep in their buggy domain, you’re astonished by the sight within the safeguarding barrier
>An array of candles shine beautifully over an elaborately ornate chamber that’s tapestries and adornments contrast heavily with the otherwise spartan style of their lair
>Eagerly stepping down the regal rug was a tall slender termite who must’ve been a couple feet taller than you
>However the build of her body was in stark contrast to the absolutely massive abdomen she drags behind her, nearly double the size of the rest of her and far wider
>Unlike her stern subjects, she approached you gingerly like an angel of mercy
>”Oh hello! Please come in. I promise you this will not be much trouble at all, just a moment of your time.”
>With a small crown in place of a helmet and silk robes going down her body like curtains that struggle to cover the massive wagon behind her, you have no idea how to react to her stark difference in demeanor
>”Follow me, follow me! Take a seat here and I’ll ask my questions.”
>Following behind her like she instructed, your eyes have trouble straying from that barrel attached to her hips
>How could you look anywhere else? It was so large even gravity held it covetously in its grasp, pulling it down slightly despite her sturdy frame
>You spot small precious jewels adorning the silk hanging over the top of her abdomen, swaying in a way that reflected the candlelight hypnotically
>However you couldn’t be caught staring, especially by what appears to be the only royalty you’d seen in person in your life
>The moment you look away, a much shorter assistant pushes you lightly into a throne, unceremoniously plopping a crown on your head and thrusting a scepter between your rigidly bound arms
>”Uh… what’s going on here?”
>Nearly smacking you with her backside as she turns around, the queen reads from a scrap of parchment unaware you’d even said anything
>”Okay first question, would you rather partake in a grand feast or attend a decadent ball for the evening? Hypothetically, well maybe not hypothetically but assume that for now.”
>She clenches her mandibles in what you recognized as a smile of anticipation, so you return a considerably forced smile in kind
>”Uh, well I haven’t done either of those things before, but who could turn down a feast?”
>She slaps her small assistant on the back with two arms, almost lifting her off the ground as she laughs uproariously
>”How hilarious! I too would never turn down a feast, and dancing is always murder upon my back. Splendid, splendid! You even look good in the get-up so far.”
>The unamused assistant straightened her hat as the larger woman continues to administer her test before you
>”Off to a wonderful start, but let’s talk strategy. Let’s say we come into a great war, and the enemy walls themselves off. How dreadful, they even have a moat! Just imagine it dear. What do you do? I don’t want to put words in your mouth but you’ve got sappers at your disposal, engineers, siege weaponry, we’ve got a lot to work with.”
>Pressing closer to study your reaction, you rather meekly stammer out the first thing to come to mind
>”I would… um, I’d rather not go to war. My uncle died in a war.”
>For a tense moment she looks you up and down before laughing haughtily once again
>”We’ve got a diplomat here! A real peacekeeper, our people do flourish even when they’re not under the flag of war.”
>Giggling to her once again unamused assistant, she drops her notes to give you a smoldering look
>”I don’t mean to be crass here, but I have an important question for you. Something very important that divides all men and their… proclivities.”
>She takes a deep breath, allowing you to squirm in the cushioned throne a moment longer as she twirls before you
>”What part of the lady do you admire most? Be honest, I won’t be offended by your mammalian sensibilities.”
>The way she moved, you couldn’t resist gazing at that slight bounce her heavy backside gave as she moved so fluidly
>Calling upon the first thing you see in the room after being put on the spot like this, you utter a single word
>”Abdomen?
>”The abdomen… I think.”
>The perpetually apathetic assistant’s face grows crimson upon hearing that, but the queen laughs coquettishly
>”How forward! How incredibly forward of you! Completely unexpected from a human such as yourself, but simply aristocratic taste. I don’t mean to boast but my own has hardly even begun to grow.”
>For the first time since you’d been dragged here someone reacts to your intensely confused look with an explanation
>”Oh dear did they not tell you? I suppose they didn’t. I’m the new queen around here, you could even call me a bit of a princess if you will.”
>She punctuates that statement with a cute curl of her antenna, appearing playful with all four hands supporting her chin
>”I’ll fill out a lot more once I can find a proper king to aid me in such matters.”
>Her assistant clears her throat loudly, whispering something to the queen on a tangent
>”How could I forget? Especially with the answer you gave, I think you’ll be the first candidate to advance to the second part of the test.”
>Pushed off the throne by the assistant, you manage to eek out a quick question of your own
>”Why was I abducted for this? Please, I’m so confused.”
>She answers you by throwing back the cover over her pale abdomen, fully exposing the noticeably softer part of her body to you
>”Please take off his shackles, he will need his hands for this. I’ll answer your question dear you just need to do something first.”
>Feeling the heavy metal relinquish your wrists, you stand dumbfounded until the dour assistant nudges your closer behind the queen
>”Darling, how could I be so insensitive? You’ve probably never been so close and personal with such an intimate part of a lady before, have you? No worries, I’m sure as a farmer you have enough strength to get the job done.”
>Stuck frozen unsure what she expected you to do, the assistant leans up to whisper in your ear
>”ᴴᵉʳ ᵐᵃʲᵉˢᵗʸ ʷᵒᵘˡᵈ ˡᶦᵏᵉ ʸᵒᵘ ᵗᵒ ʳᵘᵇ ᶦᵗ.”
>Upon recognition you immediately feel your cheeks burn
>Maybe you saw the termites occasionally in the village dealing with the traders, but something about this felt a little too intimate with a woman you hardly knew
>How would you even…?
>Surprising yourself, you reached forward and sunk your hands into the luxuriously plush surface before you could think of a plan
>The color and plumpness reminded you a little of working firm dough, encouraging you to stroke with unexpected passion
>Feeling a little uneasy this was waking a previously unknown desire in the back of your mind, you tried to think of it more as passing this test so they didn’t do god knows what to you
>Looking up from your momentary trance, the royal antennas seem to twitch in time with the rhythm of your hands
>It was hard to tell when she was facing the other direction, but after a few moments her antennas whip forward like she’d found her voice again
>”Heavens! Perhaps I pegged you wrong, you’re a natural at this, a virtuoso with that smooth skin on your hands. Mmm, those rosy palms are quite warm too...”
>Continuing to lose yourself kneading her abdomen in a way that made her assistant look envious, you pipe up once more
>”About my question…”
>”Oh? Oh yes, I lost my thoughts for a moment there… don’t stop though.”
>Recomposing herself she spoke with a casual grandeur seemingly interwoven into her character
>”Yes, about the unexpected invitation. I hope you liked the surprise. Bachelors of my own kind are so rare I couldn’t just wait for a suitable king from distant lands.”
>Midway through she pauses, and you can feel a subtle ripple in her densely packed abdomen as something moves to the other end with a great gurgling like a submerged cauldron of boiling water
>With nothing more than a subtle pause in her speech to strain for a moment, the building force inside of her bursts into the open air with a deep bellow like a warhorn or sputtering cannon
>Unfazed by the outburst, she pushes out the startlingly powerful few seconds of broken wind without a second care
>You’d never heard such a beastly sound escape any person let alone a woman before
>The hot air billows past your shirt, the warmth lingering before dispersing in thick wafts around your face
>”Mmm, pardon me. I couldn’t help but let something slip when you’re doing such a wonderful job back there. That’s a very important duty for a king, regular sessions just like this.”
>The smell was indescribable at first, strangely sweet and alchemical from the heavy dose of royal pheromones, but with a wooden mulch undertone mixed alongside a cannon’s worth of brimstone
>As unbelievably bombastic as it was, she makes a halfhearted fan with two of her hands while still clutching the other pair to her chest
>”As I was saying though, the colony needs a fully fledged queen, and I need a king to become one. So I sent out some soldiers to invite some of the local peasants. What an exciting opportunity for them!”
>Once again her abdomen rumbles ominously
>Was she really about to pass gas again so soon after such an outburst?
>The answer of course was yes, you should’ve anticipated she had room back there for more
>Louder than last time, this fart starts high pitch and airy before resuming that terrible beefy bass she’d just shown you as her second release revs on long enough to exceed the first
>”Ahhh, imported woods always leave me a touch bloated. I’m sure you don’t mind? So as I was saying…”
>Her words begin to seem distant, the rumbling release of what felt like a woodcutter’s day of work distilled into sickly sweet decaying wood make your head spin
>Pressing down more on her abdomen, you can feel only the faintest bit of tension relieved by those two dress ruffling releases
>Meaning by your estimates hefting her majesty’s carriage, she had a royal reserve of gas that far outweighed anything you could’ve imagined previously
>”...you wouldn’t believe the last person to come in. He said ‘bugs are gross’ and threw a fit after a tiny slip of wind like that. The nerve! Termites may be rather gifted in that aspect among all the insect kingdoms, but it’s an entirely harmless feature I assure you.”
>Her assistant whispered to you in your stupor
>”I assure you she’s VERY gifted in that regard.”
>The queen shushed her with a wave of her inhuman hand
>”Don’t make it sound so scandalous! It’s just a natural… a hhhngh!”
>Clenching her abdomen in a way that made it very obvious to you this didn’t just slip out, she forced a behemoth of raw bug fumes out the tip of her abdomen like an explosive oriental firework
>Bringing forth a stream of more fermented fibrous mulch, you are shocked to see the banners behind her flap and rattle as she deflates with an enamored sigh of relief
>You were nearly choking on the density of regal flatulence casually dispatched to swarm your senses, the scent even forcing itself upon your tongue whenever you dared draw breath when the assistant whispers once more to you
>”We might install an extra support in here when you two get… acquainted. The walls tend to rumble in here on her bad days and judging by how much worse the previous queen's ‘gifted quality’ became when she became fully fledged… well I fear it might be necessary.”
>You look at her waiting for her to finish the joke
>But she doesn’t radiate a single spark of humor as the blissfully unaware queen exhales joyfully
>”You REALLY ease the tension out of me. Why, I feel like a fresh spring breeze already. That settles it! I want this one, this lucky commoner shall have my hand in marriage. Prepare the paperwork and come back here as fast as you can.”
>Shocked by the realization of what she was getting at, you were left mouth agape as your hands continued on their own to massage her abdomen like a prized sack of fresh harvest
>You try to speak up again, but like playing a bagpipe you were interrupted by a wispy note of more foul effervescence leaking from her volatile brew as she proclaims once again
>”Darling you’ll never need to return to that drab farm again! You can spend your days in the royal chamber with me, attending the occasional important ceremony… like our wedding! It gets a bit stuffy down here but I assure you, I can think of a few ways to keep you busy when there aren’t official duties to attend to.”
>With a shake of her hips and a rather foul swampy sputter, she holds her abdomen with a pair of hands while teasing your hair with the other two
>”We will have to wait until after the wedding to do that however…”
>All that you can hear outside the opening heavy doors was a distant jest from the guards
>”So when do we get the spare ‘wood’ the queen turned down?”
>”Shhh, don’t say such crude things about the new king.”
>”The new WHAT?”
. . .
What have you gotten yourself into?