'Cicada Hive' is one of the nine Hives of Pantala. It was the former
home of Blue, Burnet, Luna, Cricket, Swordtail, Io, and Silverspot, as
well as many other SilkWings and HiveWings. It was formerly ruled by
Lady Cicada and houses her aunt, Lady Scarab. Cicada Hive is located in
between Hornet Hive and Mantis Hive.

## Description

Cicada Hive is best known for its Mosaic Garden which reflects the well
maintained and orderly caretaking taught at Cicada Hive University. The
Hive is described by Cricket as "regimented and orderly." It contains
hallways and a market with various displays. Some of the halls and
tunnels are covered with posters, half of them warning dragons about
LeafWings. It is described as a beautiful Hive to enjoy nature.

## Notable features

### Cicada Hive Univeristy

Cicada Hive University is the university of the Hive. It trains its
students to be farmers and gardeners for all of the Hives.

### The Mosaic Garden

The Mosaic Garden is what Cicada Hive is known for. It is on the highest
level of the hive and is on the right of the end of the tunnel from the
Hive entrance. It is a giant garden filled with orderly flowers and
hedges, located on gently sloping hills and grass, and crisscrossed with
a seemingly random path that leads to the center. It is glimmering in
droplets of amber and gold, cobalt and jade, obsidian and pearl. The
garden contains different mosaics depicting famous scenes. A notable
mosaic is the Salvation Wall, a mosaic depicting the end of the Tree
Wars with Queen Wasp standing over a pile of dead LeafWings and lifting
the Book of Clearsight, done in gold tiles, into the sky.

### Marketplace

The Cicada Hive marketplace is a huge, vaulted space that hums with
activity. The best shops have permanent six-sided cells around the outer
wall. All other shops are in stalls in the labyrinthian middle. Yellow
and orange lanterns hang along silk filaments that hang on the ceiling.
Blue describes these as "criss-crossing the ceiling like necklaces of
tiny suns." Soldiers watch the market from balconies above, and they can
be summoned by any HiveWing at any time. Some carry long, needle-like
lances. There are many posters and murals of Queen Wasp all over the
market, some depicting her claw stingers. The marketplace also has candy
stores. The Sugar Dream has a tall, imposing cell-front with its
delicate sugar confections arranged in the window. The Sugar Dream
generally only serves HiveWings, as the items sold are expensive and
considered luxury items. It is owned by a HiveWing named Chafer.
Droplets is another candy store more friendly to SilkWings, and it is
the store that Blue and Luna usually go to.

center
Known products at The Sugar Dream

  - Apricot taffy
  - Chocolate stars with orange peel
  - Honey drops
  - Honey sticks
  - Nectar vials
  - Pale pink and lavender candies
  - Sugar cubes
  - Sugar insects (including sugar wasps)
  - Sugar-spun artwork

### Misbehaver's Way

Misbehaver's Way is the prison of Cicada Hive. It is described as having
pathways made of sharp, cobbled stone. HiveWings from an elite unit of
soldiers inject offenders with a special nerve toxin that causes a
dragon's muscles to stiffen, freezing them in place for one day.
Prisoners can see, think, and feel while in this state, but cannot move.
They are placed on stone pedestals, accompanied by a tablet explaining
their crime in dramatic detail. The pedestals have quotes about law and
order from famous HiveWings, and a few from Clearsight herself.

The only named prisoner of Misbehaver's Way is Swordtail, who was freed
by the use of a green stimulant, usually used to make plants grow
faster. This caused excessive energy, unclear thinking, and a green tint
to his eyes and silk.

### Terrarium Academy

Terrarium Academy is a HiveWing school run by Lubber|Principal Lubber.
It is based around agriculture and plants and is meant to train HiveWing
farmers and gardeners. Each student possess a terrarium, most of which
contain one type of plant in neat, orderly rows and small flamesilk
globes acting like little suns to the plants. The school also possesses
chemicals, with purposes including killing weeds, accelerating plant
growth, and healing plants from poison. Cricket's grandfather described
it as a down-to-earth place.

The academy also offers art classes, mostly based around painting
plants. Dragons may be barred from art class if their art is "too
messy." The art room has an enormous glass window, long, neat rows of
easels, a cabinet with paintbrushes in it, sponges to smooth out paint,
a mirror, and a shelf with jars of paint in it, all in color order. The
only known attendees of the academy are Bombardier, Katydid (formerly),
and Cricket, while the only known staff are Principal Lubber and
Earthworm|Professor Earthworm.

### Silkworm Hall

Silkworm Hall was one of the schools for the SilkWings who lived in
Cicada Hive. It taught young SilkWings basic knowledge, silk studies,
art, and the history of the Tree Wars. It also taught obedience to Queen
Wasp and the HiveWings. Swordtail said that there was a Manners and
Proper Behavior class, although it is unknown if it exists or is a joke.

Like all other SilkWing schools, attending students had to wear a metal
wristband with the school's name on it. The metal wristbands likely all
had toxins used to paralyze runaway or fugitive SilkWings, though the
only wristband that has been observed to have the toxins belonged to
Blue. Silkworm Hall took field trips twice a year to Misbehaver's Way to
scare their students into obedience.

### The Cocoon

The Cocoon is where SilkWings who lived in Cicada Hive underwent their
Metamorphosis. It is close to the lowest level in the Hive and is the
main feature of the mostly empty level. It is a long oval dome two
levels tall. When a SilkWing emerged from their cocoon, they were
expected to create their first silk tapestry and donate it to the Cocoon
as an offering of thanks, where they are used as decoration. Because of
this, the Cocoon is swathed in so many weavings that it almost looks as
if it is made out of silk itself. Each weaving is said to have the mark
of the Chrysalis on it, hidden in some way. The entrance is low and
arched and dimly lit by lamplight. Dragons going through metamorphosis
will go through the archway to the Cocoon floor and any guests that come
to watch will go to the balcony. The balcony, also referred to as the
gallery, has ancient silver-silk carpets and goes all the way around the
dome and overlooks the floor below. It is only lit by small candles
floating in a central pool of water.

### Lady Cicada Art Gallery

The Lady Cicada art gallery is a section in Cicada Hive that is
dedicated to its ruler, Lady Cicada. It is on one of the lower floors
and is dimly lit. The art gallery has different rooms, including one for
sculptures (made of wood, metal and marble) and one for tapestries.
Luna's favorite room is the tapestry room, and her favorite tapestry
depicts Lady Cicada flying with a long trail of radiant SilkWings behind
her in the sky.

## History

### Pre-Series

On her first day attending Silkworm Hall, Luna experienced many
hardships due to the strict rules imposed by the HiveWings running the
school. During recess, she witnessed a HiveWing guard trying to scare a
SilkWing dragonet named Glider into thinking that she was about to push
him off the balcony. After yelling at the guard to stop scaring Glider,
the guard threatened to send Luna to Misbehaver's Way until Swordtail
jumped in to distract the guard, pretending to lose his balance and
potentially fall. The guard then pulled Swordtail off of the railing and
sent him and Luna to see the headmaster for punishment, but they instead
stopped at a corridor where they introduced themselves to each other.
Swordtail then showed Luna the art room, where Luna declared that she
would do what it would take to show that the way HiveWings were running
things was wrong and oppressive, convincing Swordtail to help her fix
the world.

### The Lost Continent Prophecy

#### The Lost Continent

Cicada Hive served as the setting during the first half of the book.
Blue and Luna spent their time throughout the Hive before the latter's
Metamorphosis. Upon being hunted, Blue became a fugitive and hid due to
possibly being a flamesilk. He met Cricket at her school and they
plotted to rescue Swordtail from Misbehaver's Way, then fled from the
Hive soon after.

#### The Hive Queen

In a flashback, Cricket witnessed an elderly HiveWing get chased down in
Cicada Hive because he could not be controlled by Wasp.

#### The Dangerous Gift

In Snowfall's vision of Blue, he was in Cicada Hive. Under the control
of Wasp, he smashed displays in the market, rounded up SilkWings that
were peacefully lying in the Mosaic Garden, and threatened more
SilkWings. The SilkWings were gathered in the Hatchery. Later on, in
Snowfall's vision of Io, she and Cinnabar were outside of Cicada Hive.
Io suspected that something had gone wrong in the Hive, but Cinnabar
reassured her that it would be fine. They both flew into the hive.

#### The Flames of Hope

While Luna was trapped in the abyss, she asked Freedom if she could see
Swordtail. Freedom agreed and mind-controlled a HiveWing near Swordtail,
in Cicada Hive. Later Cottonmouth said that dragons were causing trouble
in Cicada Hive, and that Freedom should go kill some SilkWings there to
shut them up. Freedom noticed the look on Luna's face and decided not
to. After the othermind was defeated, Luna flew to Cicada Hive's Mosaic
Garden as agreed to see Swordtail.

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### Field Guides

#### A Guide to the Dragon World

Cicada Hive was mentioned in Io's literature#Named books|Rules for
Happiness and Prosperity in the Hives.

In the HiveWing chapter, it was mentioned in Cricket's scroll about
coursework at Terrarium Academy and was featured in An Official Guide to
the Hives.

## Trivia

  - Scarab owns Cicada Hive's only telescope and does not lend it to
    anyone.
  - Blue and Luna's home has a dew collector.