Cricket
Cricket is a female HiveWing dragonet and the main protagonist of The Hive Queen. She resides in the LeafSilk Kingdom with her parents. She is currently in a relationship with Blue and she was one of the few HiveWings immune to Queen Wasp's mind control before she was overthrown.
Description[]
Cricket has buttercup yellow and orange-gold scales, described as similar to the color of the sun, that are speckled with black scales that look like tiny inkblots. She has golden-yellow talons, golden-orange-black wings, warm, dark brown eyes, and a long neck. She is slightly smaller than Blue, with small, sharp claws similar to a leopard's and an open, curious face. She wears octagonal, gold-rimmed spectacles and a bag tied sideways across her chest. Blue noted that she smells like books, apples, and cinnamon. Scarab noted that Cricket looks healthy, and her eyes make Blue think of owls and tree hollows. Her wings are often kept in beautiful, smooth folds.
Personality[]
Cricket wants the world to fit together and make sense, and she is very fond of nonfiction novels; she is obsessed with books. She is often full of questions, and when she feels simultaneous fear and curiosity, curiosity often wins; Sundew described her as a wide-open encyclopedia. She is hopeful, rebellious, excitable, curious, impulsive, stubborn, thoughtful, intelligent, avid, patient, and clever. She is not very organized.[citation needed]
Cricket refuses to harm innocent dragons and wants to know many things about the world around her, especially when it comes to humans. She sometimes feels awkward and out of step with others, and finds conversation to be difficult, as she understands science more than she understands emotion. She cannot read facial expressions very well, and dislikes socializing, although she cares about others.
She is not a fighter, too easily distracted, and is usually the first dragon to ask questions; additionally, she is often anxious and prefers planning before acting. Despite Sundew's protests, Cricket was insistent that they help Earwig and several other HiveWings find their way back to Pantala, reasoning that it was Wasp's choice to drag them out to sea, not their own. Additionally, she strongly believes that good HiveWings exist, despite the actions of the tribe as a whole.
She is prone to being enormously open about her feelings, so much to the point where she sometimes overshares and spills her worries and fears in front of dragons she barely knows. She is often frustrated when there are things barring her from learning about what she wants to know. However, she becomes so excited that she practically bounces on her talons whenever she is on the verge of experiencing something new. In addition, she is often discouraged by how difficult it is to learn new things. While she is unselfconscious in some scenarios, she immediately apologized and became quieter when Bullfrog implied, she was being noisy. Her talons were gentle as she extricated a violet from the ground, and she was sympathetic towards the flower after moving it.
Relationships[]
Axolotl[]
Cricket helped Axolotl learn the language of Dragon by looking at their book with them each night, and Luna thought that Cricket might almost be a dragon version of Axolotl. They also stayed with Cricket for a while after the team had defeated the breath of evil in order to continue studying Dragon.
Blue[]
Even after escaping Cicada Hive and becoming a fugitive with Blue, Cricket knew that she had no regrets about what she had done. She is instinctively protective of him, and trusts him to always do the right thing. She thinks he is beautiful, and is fond of his kindness, sense of humor, thoughtfulness, and empathy. She adores him, and they are quite affectionate towards one another. He is a great source of comfort for her and does not push her to talk about her problems.
Blue's smile takes up a lot of space in her heart, and while she cares for him romantically, she is unsure if he feels the same, and chastises herself for feeling so affectionate towards him. She likes to laugh and talk with him, and wishes she could tell their society that she thinks he is wonderful, important, interesting, and valuable. He understands Cricket, and wants to go with her wherever she goes. She would choose Blue over the HiveWings and even over her family in a heartbeat, and once stated that he is her favorite dragon in all the world.
Before meeting him, Cricket did not know that dragons like Blue existed, and she had to constantly try not to cry when he was captured by Wasp. She described the feeling of him being gone as having her wings cut off. Despite her emotions, Cricket was determined to keep going and to not let anything else terrible happen to him. Luna speculated that Blue might have found his someone with Cricket, and later realized that Cricket had left behind her entire tribe and risked her biggest secret to help Blue when she had barely known him. They give one another little starry-eyed nudges.
Bombardier[]
Bombardier believed Cricket had a crush on him, making comments such as "Cricket, I'm sorry but I don't feel the same way." Cricket never had any romantic feelings for him, and she describes him as awful, arrogant, smug, and the opposite of Blue. She also comments that there is not much difference between his normal self and his "brain-dead," mind-controlled self.
Cricket does say that if she had the power to save the HiveWings from Queen Wasp's mind control, she would save Bombardier, but perhaps last, after all the others, demonstrating her hate for him. The first time she saw the HiveWings being mind-controlled, while she wondered why they were acting strange, she thought maybe it was because she was too young. She soon realized that it could not be that since Bombardier was her age and was being mind-controlled too.
Bullfrog[]
Bullfrog implied that Cricket was being noisy whilst thinking, to which she apologized and became quieter. When she excitedly asked about his knowledge of the Scorching, he replied "not much," but after he sensed Cricket's disapproval, he explained it further. When she continued to ask him questions, he stated that he was not her walking history book and hurried away from her. He was, however, willing to protect her from Pokeweed.
Bumblebee[]
Bumblebee hatched from the egg Cricket rescued from Queen Wasp's poisons in the hatchery, so she and Bumblebee have a naturally close relationship. Cricket is almost like an adoptive mother towards Bumblebee. Bumblebee adores Cricket, and it seems like Bumblebee has slightly imprinted on Cricket, as she was the first dragon she had met. She currently does not know if Bumblebee is immune to Queen Wasp's mind control, but Cricket infers that Bumblebee cannot be controlled by Queen Wasp. She hugged Cricket's leg after the team had defeated the breath of evil, and her wings vibrated happily.
Cadelle[]
Cadelle is often annoyed with Cricket. When she still lived with Cricket and Katydid, Cadelle would force them to be completely silent until noon, when she was finished working. Cadelle often did not seem to pay much attention or care to where Cricket was or if she was safe, and largely ignored her. When Cricket thinks about Cadelle, she feels a familiar twist like thorns around her heart. Cadelle does not want to interact with her, and considers Cricket to be useless and irritating, despite Cricket wanting Cadelle to love and care about her. She once cried herself to sleep, wondering why Cadelle had taken Katydid to dinner and left Cricket behind. Cadelle would often remark that Cricket was 'no daughter of mine,' and according to Scarab, Cadelle wanted to destroy Cricket's egg as soon as she discovered that Katydid had a daughter. After discovering that Cadelle and her husband were not her true parents, Cricket understood that because her own existence was against Pantalan law, and because she represented Katydid's lie, that Cadelle must have only seen danger, crime, disorder, and lies that could ruin her life every time she looked at Cricket. Cadelle was surprised when Cricket argued with her, as she was usually compliant and had never tried to push Cadelle away.
Dusky[]
Cricket offered one of her talons to Dusky when he was scared, and he touched his nose to it. Cricket told him that it was all right to be scared, and that he could always talk to her or Luna whenever he felt that way.
Jewel[]
Jewel and Cricket met briefly when Cricket was captured by HiveWings under Wasp's control. Jewel freed Cricket from her prison, in exchange for spying on Wasp. Jewel most likely found out what Wasp was doing with the eggs from Tau and tried to stop Wasp. Scarab also believed that Jewel would protect Cricket and Katydid from Wasp.
Katydid[]
Katydid is Cricket's mother and they tell each other almost everything, and she is Cricket's primary caregiver. She made sure Cricket was fed and was brought to school on time, and who took her to an eye doctor for glasses. She was the only dragon that Cricket loved before she escaped Cicada Hive with Blue. Katydid is kind to her, and Cricket's heart lights up when they see one another. They are very physically affectionate, and Katydid kept Cricket's secret immunity to the Hivemind a secret for four years to keep her safe. She missed her mother desperately after escaping Cicada Hive, and Katydid simultaneously worried about her daughter while she was missing. Katydid is often exasperated with Cricket's curiosity, as she wants Cricket to be safe.
Luna[]
When Tsunami explained that Cricket had been the first one to use the dreamvisitor, she felt mutinous and thought of Cricket as one of the bad guys. Her tone was sharp when Luna realized that Cricket had talked to Blue via the dreamvisitor; she felt protective over Blue and felt that she should be the one worrying over him. Whilst flying towards Pantala, Cricket seemed as though she wanted to talk to Luna, but she would always find a reason to fly with someone else instead. Later, when Cricket approached Luna, she considered staying quiet so that she would not have to muster the energy to have a conversation with Cricket, and, more specifically, to pretend that she trusted her; she also felt bitter about the fact that Cricket was safe while Blue and Swordtail were in danger. However, after remembering the way Blue looked at her, Luna could not bring herself to hurt Cricket's feelings. She was reluctant to admit that Cricket's emotions about being invisible matched Luna's own, but Cricket then admitted that Luna felt the most real to her. Luna admitted to herself that Cricket's voice was easier to talk to than Cricket's HiveWing face, but it was still not exactly comforting. Cricket laughed at one of Luna's jokes, and they then began to converse more normally. Cricket wants to be on Luna's side, and despite Luna knowing that Cricket never did anything to help the SilkWings before meeting Blue, she admitted to herself that Cricket is only a dragonet, and that perhaps this had been her first chance; Luna speculated that maybe Cricket, like herself, wanted to change things but did not know how. After Cricket told Luna openly about the way she felt about Blue, Luna wanted to erase the conversation so that they could act normal and deny the fact that they were distressed; she felt enormous relief when a noise distracted them from their conversation. Her instinctual reaction upon seeing Cricket is fear and dislike because of her tribe, but Cricket startled her into laughing, and they then bonded over their feelings towards the HiveWings and the breath of evil; Cricket's thoughts were so similar to one of Luna's own that she reaches out and grabbed Cricket's arm. Cricket is concerned for Luna's well-being, and hid a smile after one of Cricket's jokes, admitting to herself that she saw what Blue liked about Cricket after all. After speaking with her, Luna felt her sadness clearing, as though little cracks of sunlit hope were pushing through her brain. She later realized that, somewhere along the way, Cricket had become her own individual dragon in Luna's mind, and not a representation of her entire cruel tribe; Luna had not thought anything angrily towards Cricket in a while. She believes in Cricket fully and trusted her to rescue Luna from the abyss. When they saw one another again after Luna escaped the abyss, Cricket threw her wings around Luna, and Luna hugged her back, smiling. She took Cricket's talon in hers before telling her mother's that Cricket was part of their family now.
Malachite[]
Malachite patted Cricket's head tentatively, like he was still figuring out the guestues that went with the idea of being a father. They are both authors, and Cricket lit up at the prospect of writing with him.
Scarab[]
Scarab first comes up in a conversation between Blue and Cricket. She turns out to be deeply woven into Cricket's history. In The Hive Queen, it is revealed that Scarab helped cover for Cricket's egg. Scarab often scolds Cricket, but it is unlikely that she actually hates her. In The Hive Queen, she tells Cricket useful information, discussing the HiveWing bloodline and reasons why they both were immune to Wasp's mind control.
Sundew[]
Cricket worries about Sundew when she is in danger and is fond of her. Sundew did not hesitate to fight several HiveWing guards in order to protect Cricket and her friends, and they often laugh and smile with one another. She liked how Sundew stood up for herself, despite her parents' disapproval, which was something that she had never seen with the other HiveWings. Cricket wished she was more like Sundew, whom she believed was a dragon who already knew the answers to all her questions. Sundew believes that Cricket is quite unlike the rest of the HiveWing tribe and is fond of her for it.
Swordtail[]
Swordtail makes Cricket slightly nervous, and she believed that he was not very fond of her after meeting him. However, after Swordtail expressed that she was one of the few good HiveWings, she began to believe he did not completely hate her after all. He was relieved to see her after she escaped from Lady Jewel's prison.
Tau[]
Tau was one of the members of the Jewel Hive Chrysalis, during her meeting with Morpho and Cinnabar, Cricket went on a mission to find the Chrysalis. When they found their meeting spot, Tau tried to hide her face. But when in further interactions, Tau became more friendly to Cricket.
References[]
Information sourced from the Wings of Fire Wiki