She's quiet as Legion reveals the truth. She didn't know they had been hiding it, but as they hum, it makes sense why they waited to explain all of it. "So you know them, inside and out." Her voice is quiet, deliberate, as she continues, "Then that means... the ones with unique faces... are all held against their will. Puppetted as soldiers, made to believe they are right, only to loose themselves in the process..."

It's a horrifying thought. That even she could become tangled in the fungus, strung up in defense of something she despises. That she would believe it was the right thing to do.

Tourmaline stops, looking around. The idea that any one of the Hive's number could be watching, and then they'd all descend on her and Legion for daring to disturb their work... She throws her magic in the air, to see if anyone, anything is watching.

It also gives her coworker time to catch up, after their magic fizzles out and dies.

@Legion

There was nothing quite close by--distant heartbeats ranged the cave, Hive or not; they were too far to know but, in turn, too far to be watching Legion or Tourmaline.

That being said, a little closer there were strange... gaps. Places where the faintest rush of fluids were audible, not quite as steady and loud as the drumbeat of a heart but present nonetheless.

And strangely, they were... synchronized. Half-a-dozen not-hearts pumping some alien fluid in perfect time.

They were not dangerously close: indeed, they were not moving. But they were there, an uneasy presence at the edge of Tourmaline's senses.

@Tourmaline

"Unique faces?" they parroted back, after their swarm briefly (internally) consulted and could not figure out the meaning of this. Their time with the Hive had come before any public revelation of its Praetors and Cleaners--something the Mother had shielded from them all. Her first recruits had been handled with kid gloves, and she'd been cautious not to let them see too much of the Hive's inner workings.

So for Legion--for all their swarm knew of the origins of Order in this era--they knew nothing of its intricacies.

"Do some have... Do they share faces?" they asked, puzzled--and a little worried. They were wondering, now--what if their 'siblings' in the Hive had been... duplicates, somehow? Or duplicated? How awful would it be if-

Legion's swarm shuddered as a memory erupted from suppressed darkness. "There is another of us out there," they remembered, abruptly, voice hushed. They paused what they were doing--another swathe of fungus wiped clear to bare rock--and turned a thousand staring eyes to Tourmaline in horror. "Another Queen. She hatched-... she ate us. Our swarm. All of us..." How to explain to another-? How to describe the agony of a second body wrenching from their own, and consuming--as their true Queen lay paralyzed--the fresh-born of their brood..? She had feasted on them and flown away, to start a false twin swarm of her own.

...Had that hive gone to Order?

Was there a second Legion out there, even now?

@Tourmaline

The distant heartbeats are not concerning, too far away to be of danger. And while the same is true of the flowing sensation she feels, the inherent wrongness of what she does not know to be Praetors sends shivers through her. Fur sticking up, she looks back to Legion, "I think we're safe, for now... but there are others in the cave."

But their comment gives them pause. "There... there are the ones like us - they look, and talk, and think, even if they aren't their thoughts... but then there are the pale knights." She does not know the Praetors by name, either, and so describes them in a way she thinks makes sense.

"They're tall, cloaked in white chitin like armor. They come in pairs, and their faces are covered in knives. They were the two that came to us in the bone castles. They did not speak, but I think one of the others connected with them somehow with magic, to talk to the Hive... and when they were done, that was when one bent down to die. And when it was dead, it burst into fungus and shrapnel."

She's trying to remain composed, willing her magic back to life. And sure enough, despite it all she feels the heat in her feet, and continues marching forward, burning the fungus to ashes. "The knights came in Gemini too... First it was just the unique ones, and I thought the ones fighting had a chance. But it didn't last long."

And of course, her partner shares their own horror stories. It all looks grim. But she'll be damned if she doesn't go down swinging. "...That's... We'll stand up to them, too, if we have too. We have allies, if the others from the fight in Gemini escaped too. And surely others, if we can convince them."

@Legion

They considered, as they worked, Tourmaline's words. (And wasn't it strange how easily they fell into this routine--even shrouded by horrors and distrust, working alongside another?) At length--after Tourmaline had fallen silent, and after Legion had given this more thought--they spoke.

"We think we remember one of these. The--pale knights. With knives on their faces," they clarified. And a slow fear was building in them as they considered. "We were at a fight in the crystal room." They did not know it as Gemini, and they had not seen some of the others present--they remembered only a hazy rage and Lamia's face, and screams. And the banana and--the Praetor, yes, now that Tourmaline described it. "There are more of those?" they hummed. But that fear was coalescing in their minds--the Praetor was shaped like them. Different, of course; more like a giant Wind Ant in general shape. But... a carapace, the pointed legs, the exoskeleton...

Was there something intrinsically insectoid about the Hive? Or... Ordered, about insectoid shapes? A buzzing shudder ran through them as they considered this possible eternal link with what they so deeply hated.

They didn't want to think about it.

Quickly, Legion turned their attention back to the fungus--the bare space Tourmaline had cleared--attempting to fill it with another carpet of soft red, antithesis to the foul gray-white. As it sprouted, they turned to the cat again, eyes glittering. "Why there, do you think?" they asked--something they'd long puzzled over. "And why here? They do not take some caves. They take ones that are... strange and almost empty. And then ones full of life. Is there a pattern?" they mused aloud. Maybe the motivations were widely known, maybe Tourmaline knew, and Legion simply hadn't heard-?

@Tourmaline

The simple rhythm isn't unwelcome to Tourmaline. While she hasn't worked this closely in tandem with someone before, the progress is steady, and while they have a lot of work to do, they are advancing through the cave. Even if the distant pulses she felt with her magic intensify her unease.

"They took that room, too. After this one," she informs them, thinking back to then. "The knights came as reinforcements, after we tried to fight away the first group. A pair of them... and who knows how many others hiding. They were here too, when they took Canis."

She doesn't realize Legion was there in Gemini, during that same assault, having never noticed them in the chaos of the fighting. But it's not like it's hard to miss something like Legion, nothing more than a shimmering cloud at a distance.

Tourmaline presses on amongst the fungus, continuing to reduce Mother's influence to ashes and cinders. She considers Legion's question herself - something she'd thought about a little, but come to no real answer either. "I can't tell you. Maybe there's something here, that makes it valuable. Are the bones useful? Or the crystals in Gemini? I don't know myself."

@Legion

A hum rippled through their form, one of surprise as myriad eyes glinted toward Tourmaline.

"Yes... we fought there. We did not see you, but... we did not see many things." It seemed almost embarrassing to admit they'd been blinded, quite literally, by rage. "But you do not know, either? Why that cave? It is strange," they concluded. "Maybe it is places with water, or... maybe it is to do with where they are. And not what they have." Location meant a great deal, strategically, but Legion could not really picture the layout of all of the caves well enough to imagine why those few might be valuable targets.

"But whatever their reason," they went on, another and more aggressive buzz passing along their many wings, "We will take it back."

'We,' in this case, meant Tourmaline too--and any who would fight the Hive. And to drive that statement home, they swept in where Tourmaline had burned the fungus away, aiming to add more of their own. Red fungal fruits popped up in a thin carpet, hairs with little bulbs on each.

"Your magic is... fire?" they hazarded, as they worked--conversational, but curious, too.

@Tourmaline

She doesn't exactly mind. "It's not too big of a concern. There was a lot happening, everything all at once." Tourmaline is pretty small and easy to miss, just like Legion is. At least, in such chaos as a battle like that.

She can't really puzzle it together herself, the Hive's reasoning. But she nods to Legion, agreeing. "They will not be allowed to take these caves from us."

As Legion takes care of the ashes behind her, Tourmaline continues marching forward, the rhythm now easy for her. She glances back of her shoulder, looking at the swarm buzzing behind her. "My magic? No, it's... rocks and dirt. But I was able to learn this fire one. Among a few others. It's just, more difficult. Doesn't come as naturally," she explains.

@Legion

A buzz of recognition went through the wings of the hive.

"We know what you mean!" they assured Tourmaline, at once. "We know what you mean! We have magic that is not as easy." The magic of the fungus itself, while they considered it intrinsic to their nature and to their work against the Hive, actually was more difficult to learn.

The swarm settled around another patch of putrid white, making an idle observation as they did so: "This stuff stinks." It was more casual, more derisive than their more thoughtful conversation, and after a moment their magic had sunk its claws in, ripping up the stinking carpet and crumbling it to nothing.

@Tourmaline

maybe get to 30 and call it a 'day'? :D

She nods to Legion, listening. "Is there a magic that comes naturally to you, or is it all difficult?" Tourmaline hadn't really thought about it, but perhaps magic was easier for some than others. It made sense, really.

She keeps pawing ahead, burning the fungus to a crisp. Humming in agreement, she says to Legion, "Indeed. It reeks of decay, and touching it is even worse... I'm going to need to clean myself after this."

Though as she continues, the Pallas cat realizes she's started to get rather hungry. All the magic has taken it's toll. "I am going to have to take a break, soon. I need food, and I doubt anything in here will be... appetizing. Let alone safe.

@Legion ((Works for me!))