Ez'de has explored what feels like the width and breadth of the Nexus, and chose to settle near Nidus Corona with many other settlers at the time, thinking it a safe space. In all that time, she's unpicked the conditioning she learned about the Smok who enslaved her hive.

When she overheard the news of an invading Smok warship called the Pamiec Sta, she was quick to heed the call-to-arms to make those leaping to battle against the Smok aware of her people's plight, lest the last of the Apidae be destroyed alongside their Smok captors. While there, she managed to convince Ri, one queen of her people, to come away from their captors, and since then she's worked hard to make sure that Ri was afforded the same level of care and detraining that she was able to get for herself.

It's been a hard battle. Ri was at first quite xenophobic and afraid of the people she'd been conditioned to understand as the enemy. Then, when they were both finally making inroads with Nidus Corona, the two Apidae found themselves plunged into what can only be called the Drift-- a thick mist that neither were able to penetrate, even with all their combined might.

The years were long and lonely, but apparently they were even longer outside the mists. Nidus Corona seemed to have been thrown 200 years into the future while Ri and Ez'de had aged less than a handful of years. Previous friendships were rendered moot, and news about the rest of the Apidae had been completely lost.

Now that they're free to travel again, Ez'de is keen on picking up any further learnings of her own people, while Ri has kicked up powerful urges to seek a mate. The pair both, in their own way, are incredibly lonely for a home that no longer exists, and in the absence of that, are working hard to make what they have a new home.