::"Why are all the boys flying?" Greta asked.
"We sensed many ants moving." Said the drone. He had enormous eyes and long antenna. Drones possessed exceptional senses if not exceptional intellects. Greta could see herself reflected over and over in his massive compound eyes. There was something dreamy and distant about drones, almost as if they were listening to things no one else could hear.
"I think The Great Colony is flying, so we, Nearly as Great as They must fly too." the drone said cryptically and he strained to break free from Snap. Snap, small but scrappy, dug her claws into the tunnel dirt and would not let him go.
"Great colony?" Asked Greta.
The drone was so caught up in fighting Snap he didn't seem to hear her question.
"Let him go Snap you're scaring him!" Said Greta.
Snap released his wing and the drone huffed in annoyance.
2/
"You don't need to treat me like a child." He said.
"What is The Great Colony?" Asked Greta again.
"Oh you know, the one you can sense in the direction the the sun shall rise. The biggest colony around of ants like us." He explained. Greta wondered at his ability to sense other colonies. The only colony she could sense was her own.
I was thinking of the European Wood Ant Super Colony... the one that goes all the way over an entire mountain range... but I could go the anti-hero route too and make it about Linepithema humile instead...