Characters: The Pale King/The White Lady, The Pure Vessel, Grimm, Lurien
Word Count: 7.835
Summary: The Pale King wants to see if Hollow is able to enter the dream realm, but during his demonstration, he has a rather unpleasant encounter...
(Author's note: It's time to move the plot forwards and there will be two new characters added to it in this chapter. It's my first time writing them. I hope you enjoy my interpretation of them.)
Around two weeks had passed since Ogrim had left to be alone with his thoughts. During this time span, the Pale King's day had played out in a very regulated manner. He woke up and took in breakfast with his Root and Hollow, then he would take care of the palace business, take in some lunch with his Root and Hollow, continue with palace business and then would spend the afternoons training soul arts with Hollow until dinner, then they would attend the sign language lessons from Quirrel together and after they were done, Hollow got into bed and the Pale King into his workshop, working on a new void experiment with not much success so far.
The great knights had offered to take up Hollow's training, now that the truth was out, and so sometimes the Pale King had a free afternoon which he would spend in his workshop, because Hollow was off training with the knights, learning how to keep their balance during a fight. Walking barely was a problem for them anymore, jumping sometimes ended in a crash, their biggest problem was dashing and teleporting, that almost always would result in them falling down.
While Hollow showed a great talent in many soul arts, like teleporting, soul pillars, soul projectiles and so on, their healing ability was the worst one. They could focus soul to heal themselves, but they used up a lot of it and they also only could heal themselves, not giving soul to another Higher Being. The Pale King assumed that it came from their void nature.
Luckily the great knights were gentle with Hollow and so they rarely hurt themselves during training. It was mostly handled by Hegemol and Isma with Dryya staying at his Root's side and Ze'mer being distracted by other things, when she even was at the palace. The Pale King knew that she often went to the Mantis Village to make sure that the infection hadn't taken over it yet. He would have send her there even without Ze'mer's love affair, because having the Mantis turned against Hallownest would not only mean a very powerful foe, but also that Deepnest would be able to invade. While he and Herrah had made up some fragile peace thanks to her role as a dreamer, which wasn't needed anymore, and thanks to Hornet, the child they had in common, a lot of creatures of Deepnest weren't that kind and anyone who got infected would be happy to attack Hallownest.
Thoughts like this made the Pale King worry. What if time would run out before he had a solution? His attempts at creating a void construct that would be able to weaken and hold the Radiance went nowhere and so his idea of trying to see how Hollow would fare in the dream realm came back to mind.
Once Quirrel announced that Hollow didn't need sign language lessons everyday anymore, their ability to communicate through it had greatly improved, they had more time for themselves. Quirrel still scheduled to come back once a week to teach additional sign language as well as gave Hollow a ton of homework, which kept them busy in the mornings, before he went back to the archives, but that meant their evenings were free.
It was the evening right after Quirrel had departed that the Pale King had took Hollow to his workshop. They sat down on a chair and looked at him with their head slightly cocked, their sign for curiosity.
"Hollow, I would like to try something.", the Pale King said. "Us Higher Beings have a special ability outside of our control over soul... Though, I have to admit, it isn't my strongest point. It's her domain."
Hollow went a bit rigid when he mentioned the Radiance, but relaxed again when he continued to speak: "It's called the dream realm and it is possible for us Higher Beings to enter it at will. The dream realm is like a shift in reality, a place right next to us, but it isn't possible to see it through one's eyes. You have to shift your mind there to enter it. For mortal bugs, it is impossible to stay lucid there. Instead, they only visit it when they are asleep and it is where their dreams will play out."
Hollow nodded to his words and then signed one singled word: "Dreams?" They put a question mark at the end, so he knew it was a question.
Void doesn't dream.The Pale King thought to himself. It had been his main reason for having wanted to use void to seal the Radiance. If only he had known that it still had feelings...! Well, it was to late to beat himself up over it, he already did this every night anyway.
"For most bugs, when they sleep, they start to dream. It is seeing pictures in their heads while they sleep, feeling like they are being a part of it, but they can't control what happens in them. Often the next day they wake, they can't recall what they were about and if they can, it is blurry and they are unsure about it. They have visited the dream realm in their sleep. It is through dreams that she infects them."
Hollow nodded again and then signed: "Do you dream?"
The Pale King let out a soft sigh and then replied: "Yes, I do dream, though for me it is different. The moment I realize that I dream, I can easily take control over it and explore the dream realm. It is why she can't affect me, I am aware about the infection."
Hollow nodded again and asked no further questions, simply waiting for him to continue: "So I would like to see if you are able to enter the dream realm. It is easiest when you try it with a sleeping bug, but that also means that you are locked in their dream. There is a method to enter the dream realm without needing a bug that sleeps. There are certain places in Hallownest which are full of the so called essence, the resource that wavers through the dream realm like blood, and in these places you can shift your mind into the dream realm."
The Pale King waited a few seconds to let his words sink in and then finished: "That means, that you will basically fall asleep once you are there, leaving your body defenseless. I would like to take you to a place with a high essence tomorrow instead of soul training, so that we can see if you inherited the ability to enter the dream realm."
Hollow nodded and once the Pale King told them that he was done with them, left without signing another word. Once they were gone, the Pale King rolled out a map of Hallownest and determined that a good place to train would be the Resting Grounds. It was an old place of the moth clan, full of essence and because nobody lived there anymore, no infected bugs would be around. As much as the Pale King didn't want to enter a place of Radiance worship, he knew it would be the best place to train entering the dream realm.
The next afternoon the Pale King met up with Hollow at their usual spot for soul training, but instead of training, the both ventured to the Resting Grounds like he had announced yesterday. The trip there was uneventful and once there, the Pale King started to head to the area where essence was abundant. He didn't paid any mind to his surrounding, so he only stopped when he noticed that he couldn't hear Hollow's footsteps anymore. As he turned around, slight panic rising into his chest, he breathed out in relief when he saw them standing a bit further down the path, staring at a certain grave.
"What's this?", they signed once the Pale King had come back to get them.
"It's a grave.", the Pale King said. "It's were bugs bury their deceased, to think about them and remember them, though, this grave has a bit of a different story."
"To... remember them?" Hollow took a bit of time signing the last two words, indicating that they were hesitating. Or maybe they just had to think about which signs to use.
"Yes, it is a common ritual among the mortal bugs.", the Pale King said. "We Higher Beings usually don't die from old age and even if we die, there isn't anyone who would bury us. Especially for wyrms it is common to either use the gift of rebirth or when it isn't used, to get devoured by the next best wyrm to come by."
Hollow seemed to shudder a bit at his words. Thinking about it, what was normal for him, probably wasn't normal for the bugs in Hallownest and Hollow had mainly gotten taught by Quirrel, who probably had taught them about his world view and not the world view of a Higher Being.
"It's nothing you have to worry about now, Hollow.", the Pale King said, in an attempt to lift the mood a bit. "We can talk about this topic another time."
Hollow raised their head to look at him and then looked back at the grave.
"Who is resting there?", they asked.
The Pale King grew silent for a moment, looking at the grave too, before he spoke: "In the early days of the infection, when it barely had manifested itself and only a few knew about it, there had been a soldier. He became obsessed with the idea to fight the infection head on and one day turned his nail against me. His grave was erected in this place to remind others that they never should turn their nail against the king."
Hollow looked at him and then at the grave again. They didn't sign anything anymore. They simply stared and after a while, they stepped away from the grave and looked at the Pale King, waiting for him to lead the way again.
The Pale King asked himself what Hollow was thinking, but he didn't want to ask. He never had talked about the concept of death with Hollow so far, but he knew that they had to be very familiar with it.
After all, right after they had hatched they had seen the shells of their deceased siblings and on their way up they had seen many many others fall to their death.
That they had managed to climb out of the Abyss without stopping or looking back was what had the Pale King convinced that they were the Pure Vessel. How wrong he had been.
There was kind of a heavy silence between them as the Pale King led the way until he stopped in front of a tree with leaves that had a shape that only could be considered unusual. They looked exactly like the essence, the indicator that the rift to enter the dream realm was very near. It was the only way the leaves of this trees could have been influenced to grow in this particular way.
"Here is it.", the Pale King said. "Near these trees, called Whispering Roots, it is possible to shift your consciousness into the dream realm. I will show you how it is done and then we will practice for you to enter the dream realm." Hopefully Hollow would be able to enter the dream realm or they had to start at square one.
Hollow nodded, showing that they understood. "I will fall asleep once I enter the dream realm, so please don't panic. I will wake up as soon as I leave it again. Just... catch me once I fall asleep, please."
Hollow nodded again and the Pale King took a deep breath, concentrating on the shift in reality. He just needed to find the rift, the tiny rift that was filled to the brim with essence and then when he concentrated on it, he would be able to shift his consciousness into the dream realm.
There. He had found it. With his mind fully focused on the rift, he tore it open and felt his body go limp.
When his mind woke up, he didn't saw the usual golden colours and the white coloured essence that was typical for the dream realm. Instead, everything around him felt rather dark and red... even the essence floating around him was red.
He blinked, wondering if something was wrong with his vision. He looked around and then his gaze focused on a bed in front of him, or more, the one lying on this bed.
"Pendry?", the Nightmare King said, pulling himself up, facing him. "What are you doing here?"
"Um...", the Pale King started. That had been entirely the wrong realm. He wanted to enter the dream realm, not the nightmare realm. How had this happened? He even had materialized right in front of the Nightmare King.
"Wrong realm, our apologies.", he just said and then ran out of the room, jumping down the next best cliff, the easiest way to get his body to wake up, hoping that he would forget about this awkwardness once he had woken up.
He jolted awake and looked at Hollow's face above him. Despite them not being able to emote, he kind of knew they were worried. He could feel it.
"I am fine, Hollow.", he said and pulled himself up on his feet. "I just... made a tiny mistake. Let me try this again."
Before the Pale King could concentrate on the rift again however, flames suddenly started to appear and danced around them. Hollow's gaze followed them and they cocked their head at them, seeming to be rather fascinated by the sight.
"Oh no no no...", the Pale King sighed, knowing what would come next.
As anticipated, in a flash of flames, Grimm, the mortal form of the Nightmare King appeared in front of them, spreading his wings in a dramatic manner and bowing to them once his flames had vanished.
"Pendry!", he said, teleporting in another flash of flames to the Pale King. "We haven' seen each other in so long and once you show your face in my realm, you leave with barely an explanation? How should I feel about that?"
Before the Pale King could even open his mouth to explain his situation, Grimm's eyes had locked onto Hollow. "Oh and who do we have here?", he said, teleporting next to them and taking their hand to shake: "I am the Troupe Master, Grimm, and what would your name be?"
"They are called Hollow.", the Pale King answered for them. Hollow just stared at Grimm who still was holding their hand in a shake, seeming a bit confused. The Pale King hadn't taught them about hand shakes as a greeting. As the Pure Vessel, they hadn't been expected to be able to communicate with anyone after all and in his presence, other bugs usually bowed to them.
"Why are you answering for them?", Grimm asked. The Pale King was about to open his mouth to tell Grimm that they couldn't sign when he was occupying their hand, when Grimm suddenly bowed down and took a sniff at their hand. Hollow, apparently, uncomfortable, took a step back.
"I am sorry, child.", Grimm said. "I didn't want to make you feel uneasy... I just can barely believe it." Grimm finally let go of Hollow's hand and turned to the Pale King, his face twisting into a grin, which looked kind of weird with the way his mouth was shaped. "Pendry! Weren't it you who said to me that you don't want to raise a child? And now I see your very brood standing in front of me!"
"We never said, that...", the Pale King started, his tail twitching, but Grimm made a dismissing hand gesture at him.
"Cut it out, Pendry, your smell is all over them.", he said. "There's also the smell of Root... and of Void. Why, you must have been busy, Pendry!", Grimm grinned again and the Pale King lost his patience, his light shining brighter and his wings flaring out.
"With who we share our bed is none of your business anymore!", he yelled, uncharacteristically loud for him. He hated it. Grimm always made him lose his temper and his cool.
"I am just joking, Pendry.", Grimm said. "By the way, you can stop with the royal pronouns, we did the dance together, remember?"
The Pale King gasped and rushed over to Hollow to cover their earholes. In return, they only gave him a glance, seemingly confused. "Not in front of my child, Grimm! Besides, that wasn't you, that was your predecessor."
"Yes, but I have all his memories.", Grimm said.
Hollow, in the meantime, finally got their composure back and signed only one word: "What?"
The Pale King sighed, uncovering their earholes and then explained: "My apologies, Hollow, this must be all very confusing for you. Grimm here is a Higher Being, in charge over the nightmare realm. And he is, uh, a past lover of mine."
Hollow stared at Grimm and then the Pale King and then seemed to gasp. "Your E X.", they signed.
"My what?", the Pale King asked.
"E X. A lover which you broke up with.", Hollow signed to him. It was that moment that the Pale King remembered that Hollow was reading all this horrible romance novels, they probably had the word from there.
"Yes, that would be the correct way to put it.", Grimm said. "Your kid has their wits about them, even though they don't seem to possess.. a voice."
Of course Grimm had to point out the obvious. The Pale King stared at him with narrowed eyes, his light flickering, his tail pounded on the ground. "What do you want?"
"Asking you what you made in my realm, of course.", Grimm said.
"I told you it was a mistake.", the Pale King said, feeling his wings jittering. They were about to flare up again.
"Mistake? Oh no, Pendry, you don't enter the nightmare realm by mistake. There is something about you that pulled you into it. It's pasted all over you. Your failures and your regrets. That is what pulled you in." Grimm's face twisted into a grin again.
"...", the Pale King didn't say anything. Instead, he just turned around, folding his wings back in. "Come Hollow.", he said, taking their hand. "We are leaving."
Just as he did the first step, Grimm appeared out of his flames in front of him. "Just a fair warning.", he said. "The void is nothing to be toyed with. Neither is my sister."
The Pale King stopped and gestured for Hollow to stay behind him. "How much do you know?", he asked, tail starting to curl around his leg.
"My sister is throwing a temper tantrum.", Grimm said. "We both rule over the dream realm, I can feel it. Her anger is leaking out and probably causes massive problems in your realm."
Well, that was spot on. "Unfortunately.", the Pale King said and then glanced to Hollow who still stood behind him, probably still rather confused. "That hasn't been everything."
"I don't spend my time looking at what you are doing with your free time.", Grimm said. "But that child behind you is proof that you tried to do something against it. Maybe... by creating a vessel that could hold my sister? She can't grasp hold of anything which is void... though I think you messed that one up."
The Pale King noticed Hollow flinching behind them and squeezed their hand. "That was very rude, Grimm.", he said, feeling utterly miserable because how true Grimm's words had been, even his light had dimmed in response to his feelings. The original purpose of Hollow, now all a memory of the past, filled with regrets, brought back to the front of his mind, but it was even worse that Hollow had been present when Grimm had spoken these words.
"You should apologize to my child.", he hissed, his wings once again flaring up, his tail uncurling and raising into the air, even lifting his robe a bit.
"Should I? Or maybe... it is you who should apologize?" That nail had went right into the Pale King's chest and he actually physically grabbed for his robes in front of it, having felt the pang there far too intense, as both his wings and his tails went downwards in an instant.
"I already did...", the Pale King said.
"But you don't think it's enough.", Grimm said. "You ask yourself over and over why, every time you sleep you are plagued by nightmares. You despise what you have done and what you have become. No amounts of apologies can make up for what you did. And you know it."
The Pale King felt himself deflate for every word that Grimm spoke. He was right. He was speaking out all his regrets, his fears, his failures and... how much he hated himself for it. The Pale King sank down onto his knees, feeling the inevitable coming, when Hollow stepped in front of him and signed.
"Stop. I have forgive father.", they signed. "Stop hurting him, please."
"You have a good kid, Pendry.", Grimm said. "Fine, I'll stop. I have a ritual to prepare anyway. The flames feel ripe."
This remark managed to get the Pale King to raise his head and he hissed: "My kingdom isn't dead yet."
"I was not talking about your kingdom.", Grimm said and then transformed into a ball of fire. "I will set up my tent in Dirtmouth.", he said. "Come visit me again, Pendry."
Just as suddenly as he had appeared, Grimm had vanished. The Pale King took a shuddering breath. Why, just why did he had to say all these things while Hollow was present? That part of him that he tried so hard to hide...
He felt an ice cold hand on his shoulder and when he looked, Hollow signed: "Father, are you alright?"
The Pale King took another deep breath and said: "I am fine, Hollow. Thank you. What about you?"
"Confused.", they signed.
"Yes, of course.", the Pale King said. "No surprise, it was Grimm after all. It has been centuries since I last saw him."
"Tell me about it.", Hollow signed.
"If that's your wish, but not here.", the Pale King said. "Let's go find a bench and sit down."
Once they sat on the nearest bench, Hollow munching on a sandwich that the Pale King had found in his belongings, probably snuck in by his Root, he started to tell his story.
"When I was still a young wyrm and had freshly transformed into my current form, I was wandering these lands. One day I encountered a strange lantern. I could feel a power emitting from it, so I went closer to it to examine it and once I touched it, Grimm appeared before me.
He was very interested in me, claiming that he never has seen a wyrm transformed, looking through me in an instant, though the same was true for him. I could see that he had only took his form to walk on this realm. His true form is bound to the nightmare realm. He actually can't hold this body for too long, he regularly has to undergo a ritual to renew it."
"He was talking about a ritual.", Hollow signed, their half eaten sandwich laying in their lap.
"Yes, the ritual. He harvests flames of fallen kingdoms and infuses a part of him that he calls his Grimmchild with them. Once the ritual is complete, his current form dies and the Grimmchild grows up to the next Grimm, with all his memories intact."
"Something like that is possible?", Hollow signed.
"Yes, it is, but it requires quite an amount of effort.", the Pale King sighed. "Once Grimm and I met, we decided to try out a relationship, because..." Because they had shared the bed with each other and the Pale King had woken up the next morning and asking himself why he had done that and... he couldn't tell his child the truth. "Because we were both Higher Beings.", he finally said, cringing at his lame excuses. At least it was true that Higher Beings were rare and they usually weren't interested in mortals.
"It didn't work out?", Hollow signed.
"Obviously.", the Pale King said. "At first it wasn't so bad, but over time it just... didn't work out. Grimm just always would teleport and appear from his flash of fire, I swear I never have seen him use that legs of his. He kept appearing in my dreams and mess around there. He had strange fun playing pranks on me, even in the middle of the night. Even though he normally apologized for them, he never would stop. He also told me that I was too stiff and..." No, he probably shouldn't mention that Grimm had said that he literally seemed to walk as if he had a stick in his ass in front of Hollow. "He tried to convince me to fulfil the ritual.", he said instead.
The Pale King still remembered that he had snapped his day, above all the chaos that Grimm had brought in his life, he suddenly had expected for him to take care of his child and even make it into the new Grimm. That was just too weird and during that time the Pale King hadn't even thought about being a father (or ever, though he was a father now and better learned to act like one) and it just had ended with them screaming what they didn't like about each other. The whole Grimm Troupe must have heard their argument.
"During this time I already had met your mother.", the Pale King said. "It was enough for me to break up with Grimm. We just... weren't a good fit. Especially because I knew there was someone I wanted to share my soul with."
His Root hadn't fully ascended back then, still having been rooted to the ground, not able to move. He had visited her often and told her about everything she couldn't experience on her own or slept leaned against her stem or just spend time with her while they whispered sweet nothings to each other. He had known then and there that she was the love of his life and he regretted that he ever had gotten involved with Grimm. Even though not everything had been bad with him... he didn't like to think back about this time and the messy breakup they had.
"I see.", Hollow signed and picked up their sandwich again. The Pale King went silent and just looked at the ground, feeling a bit lost in thought. He had brought Hollow here to train them to enter the dream realm, not to meet his past lover and get reminded of all his regrets through him.
The Pale King only looked up again when a sandwich entered his vision.
"I am not hungry, Hollow.", he said.
"Mother said I should make sure that you eat.", Hollow signed and presented the sandwich to him again. The Pale King sighed and took the sandwich.
"I'll don't have much of an appetite, but I'll try.", he said. The thought that his Root was just worried about him and his admittedly neglected food intake let the sandwich taste a little bit better.
"Tiktik meat.", he commented while he was eating. "That reminds me of the time when there had been an overabundance of Tiktiks. Their population had suddenly exploded. We had to send out soldiers to thin them out and for weeks we only got to eat Tiktik meat in the palace. The kitchen tried to get as creative as possible, but after a while nobody in the White Palace wanted to see a Tiktik in their life ever again. Our diet went to be rather vegan for a while after that..."
"I like Tiktik meat.", was all that Hollow had to sign in response to his little story.
"Let me see if you still would say that after you had to eat nothing but Tiktik meat for three months straight.", the Pale King said and finished his sandwich. "Shall we go home, Hollow?"
"What about the dream realm?", Hollow asked.
"You sure you are up for it?", the Pale King asked. "Grimm didn't scare you off?"
Hollow shook their head and pointed into the direction of the whispering root. "I want to try.", they signed.
"Alright then, Hollow.", the Pale King smiled, there surely was some kind of determination in his kid. "Let's train to enter the dream realm."
The duo arrived in front of the root and the Pale King said: "Alright, Hollow, entering the dream realm is mainly a matter of focusing. You have to find the rift in reality and then concentrate your whole self on it, then you can enter the dream realm with your consciousness intact. Your body will fall asleep for the time, but don't worry, I will make sure that you lie comfortable."
Hollow nodded and sat down, focusing... only for soul to appear around them, like if they would heal themselves.
"No, Hollow, we don't focus on Soul.", the Pale King said and gently took their hand and laid it on one of the leaves of the whispering root. "We focus on essence. Try to remember how this feels and search the rift between it. Understood?"
Hollow left their hand on the leaves for a while before they nodded. They then tried again... only to focus Soul again. The Pale King hoped they would get it soon, because they were in danger to run out of Soul if they kept messing up.
Two hours later Hollow still hadn't succeeded. While they eventually had gotten it down to not focus on Soul anymore, what didn't work for them was finding the rift. The Pale King had demonstrated them again and again how it would feel finding the rift and went into the dream realm himself once even (this time even managing to not entering the nightmare realm), but Hollow just didn't get it.
After a good while had passed, Hollow huffed and threw their nail to the ground which they had held to better focus. "I can't do it.", they signed.
"Don't give up right away, Hollow.", the Pale King said. "It takes time. Nobody has entered the dream realm on their first try."
"I can't even feel it.", Hollow signed, exaggerating the word feel. "It doesn't feel any different for me. It is like it doesn't exist."
"Hmmm...", the Pale King mused. "That can't be... all Higher Beings should be able to find the dream realm, we can dream after all... Wait...!"
Hollow flinched at his sudden shout and stared at him. "My apologies for scaring you, Hollow.", the Pale King said. "Hollow, you don't dream. Because you are void."
Void doesn't dream. The Pale King knew it and still he had tried to teach a void being to get into the dream realm. It had been his reason to use a void being for the Radiance's sealing in the first place. No dreams, no infection. While Hollow clearly had a mind and a will which still could get infected, something they didn't do was dreaming.
"I can't remember having dreamt.", Hollow signed and looked at the ground. "So, it's not possible."
"I am afraid you are correct...", the Pale King said. "You can't enter the dream realm when you don't have a feel for it."
When Hollow continued to look at the ground, the Pale King said. "Oh, but don't worry please Hollow, you can still help me. Maybe we even find a way to let you enter the dream realm." The Pale King remembered that mortal bugs had a way to enter the dream realm, though he didn't remember what it had been. He should do some research on the matter.
"For now, let's go home. You must be exhausted after having used up all that Soul accidentally."
Hollow nodded and stood up, searching for the Pale King's hand. The Pale King knew that they barely fell over anymore, but he still took their hand. They only wanted comfort and he surely wouldn't deny his child this little gesture.
Once they had arrived at home and Hollow had retreated to the bathroom to fill up their Soul in the hot spring, the Pale King went to take a look at his office and noticed that in his absence a new letter had been placed there. He first wanted to ignore it, read it the next day, when he noticed the sigil of the Watcher on it. That concerned him. Lurien normally only wrote when there was some trouble in the city, so the Pale King picked up the letter to read.
The first part of the letter was a long and drawn out apology about that Lurien should have trusted the Pale King more about his plan and that, as long as if the city would be kept save, he would support any other plan the Pale King had, so that he hadn't to follow the Vessel plan anymore. The Pale King remembered that initially Lurien had expressed his dislike for the Vessel plan not coming to fruition.
The next part of the letter was more interesting. Lurien apparently had noticed something unusual in the city, but didn't specify what it was. Instead, he asked for an audience with the Pale King, so that he could tell him directly what concerned him. At the same time, he asked for Hollow to be present too, or the "Pale Heir" as he called them.
The Pale King already had a stone tablet in hand and had Soul focuses on his fingertip to summon Lurien to the palace, when he stopped. Lurien wanted to speak with the Pale King and Hollow should be present too. The Pale King had noticed that Hollow found it rather interesting to see different parts of Hallownest as opposed to be stuck in the White Palace, so the Pale King wrote down in his letter that he and Hollow would instead come to the Watcher's Spire.
After the Pale King had given the letter to one of his retainers to deliver right away, he went to find his Root which he found in one of the usually unoccupied rooms, arranging flowers.
"My Wyrm.", the White Lady smiled once she noticed him standing in the door, but her smile fell into a frown. "What's wrong, my love?"
The Pale King entered the room and closed the door behind him. "Today I have taken Hollow to practice how to enter the dream realm.", the Pale King said. The White Lady's frown deepened, probably asking herself why he found it important for their child to be able to enter the dream realm.
"Did they catch up on it?", she asked instead, continuing to put flowers into a vase, carefully arranging them.
"No, they have trouble with finding the rift.", the Pale King said. "It isn't why I have come anyway. My Root... when I entered the dream realm, I accidentally entered the nightmare realm."
The White Lady stopped in her movements and a rose between her branches snapped. "My Wyrm, nobody enters the nightmare realm on accident.", she said, mimicking what Grimm had said earlier.
"...You know why it happened...", the Pale King simply said and then, before she could say anything else, continued: "I landed right in front of the Nightmare King, which... prompted him to appear in our realm."
The White Lady stopped tending to the flowers and turned to the Pale King. "Grimm is here? That could be your opportunity to talk to him about the infection. I know you had a history with each other, but he knows more about her than the both of us."
"...I actually was hoping you would say something else...", the Pale King said. As usual, his wife was far more practical than she looked like. It didn't even bother her that he and Grimm once had been in a relationship. It also hadn't bothered her that he had a …certain kind of brief relationship with Herrah. In a sense, that she felt safe and secure for his love, made the Pale King feel a bit proud.
"Your breakup has been messy, I remember.", the White Lady said. "But it has been centuries ago and the Grimm from back then isn't even there anymore, he surely has been replaced by his successor." She sat down on a stool big enough for her and gestured for the Pale King to come closer.
"I know, but he still has his memories.", the Pale King said as he walked towards his Root and clambered up in her lap. "What I am concerned about, Hollow was with me and he found out in an instant that they are a void being. He also found out without trouble what I had gone through for Hollow to come into our lives. I know, I should probably go and talk to him, but I...", he trailed off.
"You are scared to get confronted with your regrets.", the White Lady said, stroking his wings, making the Pale King cuddle in her embrace. Only his Root knew how to touch his wings and make it not feel unpleasant. "I get your concerns, my Wyrm.", she continued. "There is not a single day where I don't regret my involvement in the plan we had to abandon. But, I try to make up for it by getting to know Hollow. While I often ask myself how it would have been when our children had survived, it shouldn't have been. But Hollow is still there and they give us a chance, a chance to be their parents, a chance that we nearly threw away."
The Pale King shuddered a bit at her words, as calming as they were meant, he remembered Grimm's remark about him having to apologize to Hollow and that Hollow, the child that had every right to hate him, had forgiven him, stood up for him even.
"Why has Hollow forgiven me?", he asked, looking his Root in her beautiful blue eyes.
"That's easy.", his Root chuckled. "Because they love you."
The Pale King had stayed in his Root's embrace for a little while longer and told her about Lurien's request. When he told her that he intended to take Hollow to the Watcher's Spire, she chuckled again and when the Pale King just looked at her with confusion, she told him it was nothing, she just thought about something funny.
Eventually she went back to her flower arrangement and the Pale King left the room to go spend a bit of time in his workshop again. He still had trouble creating creating the void construct in his mind, but he would go nowhere if he didn't try. He spend the better rest of the day experimenting with spells until it was time for dinner and after dinner, his Root gently reminded him to get to bed, after the both of them had repeated some sign language practices with Hollow, so that they wouldn't get out of practice.
The next day another letter from Lurien arrived, in which he specified a date and time when the Pale King could visit the Watcher's Spire. His letter felt a bit off, the normally beautifully written cursive letters felt crude and as if they had been put on the tablet in a hurry, the tablet was even smudged here and there.
The Pale King didn't paid it too much mind, maybe he just had been busy. He made sure to tell his Royal Retainers about the day he wouldn't be present and also went to tell Hollow about their visit to the Watcher's Spire. As anticipated, they seemed rather fascinated and wanted to know a few things about the place they would visit in roughly three days. Their interest only doubled when the Pale King told them that Lurien could tell them more about the art of music and playing instruments and as a result, they became rather bouncy during lessons, which ended in them falling over far more often than usual. The only good thing coming out of it was, that they learned to heal with Soul a lot faster.
Once the day of the visit had come, the Pale King took Hollow, dressed in their robe, and the both of them went to the Watcher's Spire. It was far closer than Deepnest or the Resting Grounds and they had to cross the City of Tears again. Hollow wanted to watch the rain again, but the Pale King had to urge them to get on, as much as it pained him. Maybe Lurien would let them use his telescope and then they could watch the whole city from above. The Pale King thought that Hollow would like that.
On the way to the Spire, they crossed a room in which six bulky bugs with great nails were stationed. They bowed to both the Pale King and Hollow and continued to watch them after they had left. "These are Lurien's Watcher Knights.", the Pale King explained to Hollow as they gave him the look. "He trained them to protect his sleeping body once he would become a dreamer. Now, that this won't happen anymore, he probably should search for a new task for them."
Hollow looked back at the room with the Watcher's Knights with their hand on their nail. Maybe they wanted to spar with them. The Pale King didn't thought it was the best idea, the Watcher Knight's had been trained to perform in pairs and he found a battle like that could be too difficult for Hollow. He hoped that they wouldn't ask for a sparring match, though, they normally always asked him first when they wanted something, outside of the coffee incident and the Pale King didn't want to be reminded of that.
They rode the elevator up to the entrance and once in front of the Spire, the Pale King knocked at the door. A short moment after, a small bug opened the door and bowed deeply when he saw the prominent guests. The Pale King remembered the bug to be Lurien's butler, though he couldn't recall a name.
"Your majesty.", Lurien's butler said. "Pale Heir. Please step inside."
It wasn't surprising that Lurien's butler knew about Hollow, Quirrel had known too. It was inevitable for those close to the dreamers to get to know the truth. "Rise.", the Pale King said and stepped inside, his hands folded behind his back, Hollow following him, head jerking around, fascinated at the look of the Spire.
It must have been a long time since the Pale King last had been there, but not much had changed. The big telescope pointed at the city was still the main eyecatcher. The room was dimly lit by candles. In the middle, a low table was seen with cushions lined around. In a corner, there was a canvas with a half finished drawing and a suitcase which shape indicated that it housed some kind of instrument. There were also a lot of stone tablets neatly stacked on a desk. The entire place looked strangely clean, as if Lurien had made sure that it would be in shipshape.
"Master Lurien. Your guests have arrived.", Lurien's butler said once the once dreamer came into view, as usual dressed in a long blue robe, making it impossible to say which bug was underneath and wearing his mask with only one eyehole.
"Your majesty, welcome to my humble home.", Lurien bowed down until his head almost hit the ground, his voice feeling a bit jittery. "Lucien, would you please bring our guests some coffee?"
"Very well.", Lucien said. "Please allow me to ask how you prefer your coffee and if the Pale Heir is allowed to get a cup too."
"Just black, twice as strong as usual.", Lurien answered for the Pale King and then looked at Hollow.
"Tell him what you want.", the Pale King encouraged Hollow, still a bit surprised that Lurien knew his coffee preference that exactly. Hollow signed a few words and the Pale King translated for them. "They would like Hot Chocolate." They signed a few more words and the Pale King added: "And they want to be called Hollow."
"Please come sit down while we wait for Lucien to be finished.", Lurien said and soon the three of them sat on the fluffy cushions around the low table, Hollow still being rather fascinated about the Spire while the Pale King looked at Lurien.
"What is it you wanted to talk to us about?", he asked, getting straight to the point. If there was trouble in the city, he was responsible for it, especially when it was a surge of the infection.
"Your majesty.", Lurien started, getting interrupted by Lucien bringing the refreshments, putting a cup with steaming hot liquid in front of each them and adding a few pastries, which Hollow eyed instantly. After the Pale King reassured them that they could take them, Lurien continued.
"You are aware that it is my duty to watch the city and listen to the city. Over the last few weeks, there have been... certain rumours. Rumours about you, who is known to almost never leave the palace, seen wandering the city twice, and both of the times, you have been in the company of the same bug, too young to be one of your knights."
The Pale King got a heavy feeling in his chest. He had feared that it would happen, but he had hoped that he still had a bit of time. When Hollow noticed that both the Pale King and Lurien had looked at them, they stopped eating their pastry and cocked their head.
"The rumours worsened, your majesty.", Lurien sighed. "There are rumours that the bug in your company may be related to you. Their face looks too closely to yours. You have been seen treating them like more than a knight. The rumours went further and further and now it is a common believe that they may be... your own child and therefore, the heir of Hallownest."
(Author's note:
Oh boy, name drop! I was dying to write that scene since I decided for this fic to not be a oneshot and it felt good to finally having it down on paper.
What? Grimm is allowed to know sign language, the guy had a lot of time to learn all kind of stuff and with his troupe, he probably needs to know a few different languages.
So, when I thought about Lurien's butler, I wanted to give him a name. But then ruthlesslistener beat me to it and called him Lucien and that was the iperfect/i name, so I asked him if I could adopt it and I was allowed to, yaaay!
As always, I hope you enjoyed and I would be honoured to read about your opinions down in the comments.)