Characters: The Pale King/The White Lady, The Pure Vessel, Broken Vessel, Ogrim, Isma
Word Count: 6.893
Summary: Pendry has a difficult conversation, a name is given and then he has to face his regrets.
(Author's note: Not gonna lie, I had no clue what to put in this chapter, so I just started to write and managed to jot down 4.2k words in two days, then stuff happened and I had to stop writing, for no time and energy, only to come back and finish this chapter in another hour or so...)
Pendry looked from Ogrim to Isma, Ogrim having crossed his arms and Isma tapping her foot and felt more and more awkward about his silence. Of course they had been seen, of course they would have been spotted when they brought the child into the palace... the secrets that he hadn't spilled yet. The truth about the Abyss.
"Well.", Isma said, her indecent tapping of her foot making Pendry wince, for he felt so judged (rightfully though) before she had even said a single word. "Isn't there anything you have to tell us, your majesty?"
Pendry finally lost his vocal block. "What have you seen?", he murmured, feeling how his tail crept up his leg, starting to curl around it. He wasn't ready to have this conversation a second time.
"The child.", Ogrim hissed out. "All their siblings have been stillborn, your majesty? I thought there weren't any more secrets you hid from us."
This sentence felt like a whiplash for Pendry, for he hadn't told the truth to his trusted knights. He couldn't tell the truth. If they knew about the whole existence of his crimes, they would all leave him without a second though. A part of Pendry felt like he very much deserved this.
"We thought so...", Pendry replied. "We were absolutely sure that Hollow was the only one who survived. They... actually told us that they weren't the only one the day when we got sick... we had no clue, really, or we would have..."
Would what actually? Opened up the Abyss? It was still closed and Pendry didn't know if he had the strength to open the door and see if more vessels, no, children, waited for him, eager to fill out the role of Pure Vessel or filled with rage at his abandonment. Even more, the fact that the broken child had managed to get out meant that even more of them could wander the kingdom.
He would never find a good explanation for this.
"We are sorry.", he muttered instead. "There is no excuse for our actions, even if we didn't know about the child still being alive. We shouldn't have kept the details of the vessel plan from you in the first place."
He looked at the ground, his light low, his wings drooped, his left leg hurting from how hard his tail clenched around it. There truly was no excuse he could make, all he could do was confess his crimes.
Ogrim and Isma shared a look. Ogrim very much still looked rather outraged. "I say this with the utmost respect, your majesty, but I don't think you are cut out to be a father.", Ogrim said, voice still low and with this hissing quality, so unlikely the normally jovial knight.
"I know.", Pendry dropped the royal pronouns as he whispered that. Ogrim didn't know how much easier it would have been for Pendry if his children had resented him. How much he wanted for them to tell him how much he messed up. Instead he got hugs and forgiveness.
"Well, we won't go anywhere if you throw around accusations that our majesty already knows.", Isma intervened to calm the waves. "The important thing is... are there any others?"
Pendry looked up and cleared his throat, to get at least a bit of his volume back. "Hollow said they knew about another one.", he replied. "We haven't found them yet. There may be more. We don't know. We were absolutely sure that outside of Hollow no one survived..."
"Thank you for being honest with us.", Isma smiled at him, but her eyes made it clear that she wouldn't tolerate him telling another lie. "Now, I would like to see the child. They seemed to be hurt. Maybe I can help."
Pendry briefly asked himself if this was a good idea, but Isma was the most popular knight with the children, so clearly she would know what to do. Also, because he clearly had failed with them already.
"Sure, our Root is with them at the moment.", Pendry said and tried to move, only to remember that his left leg was held hostage by his tail. While he worked on unclenching it and taking a step forward, he heard Isma ask if Ogrim wanted to come as well.
"No, I can't.", Ogrim replied. "I need to... calm down first. You know where to find me, Isma."
"Of course, dear.", Isma said and gave Ogrim an affectionate pat. Pendry couldn't blame Ogrim for his decision. He was lucky that the White Defender didn't turn around and leave him for good.
Once Ogrim was out of sight and blood had rushed back into his left leg, Pendry led Isma to the infirmary room in which the child was. As he entered, he saw his Root sitting next to the bed and the child facing the wall, not moving at all.
"Ah, Wyrm, what in Hallownest have you said to the child? They haven't moved at all and they didn't even want any tea." She gestured at a cooling cup on the nightstand. "Oh, hello, Isma, what leads you in here?" Rydellia's tone changed in an instance to a cheery greeting once she spotted Isma.
"The child actually.", Isma said. "Though I believe you and your husband have something to talk about first. Please, your majesties, act as if I wouldn't be in the room."
It was easier said than done when Pendry confessed to Rydellia that he had told the child that there was no need for a Pure Vessel anymore and now the child probably felt like they had lost their purpose.
"Who would have thought conditioning children into believing they are a pure vessel was actually a bad idea...", he finished his explanation.
"Insight is the first step to betterment.", Isma said from her corner, walking towards the bed. "Please allow me to speak with the child."
"Please do.", Pendry said, feeling defeated. Neither him nor his Root had managed to get through to it, Isma could as well try.
"Hello, little one.", Isma said, kneeling down at the bed. "We haven't had the opportunity to get introduced yet. I am Isma, one of the five great knights of this land."
Pendry had seen Isma interact with children sometimes and he knew that she normally would ask for the name of them, but... her knowing Hollow, she clearly knew that they wouldn't be able to answer.
The vessel hadn't moved after Isma had started speaking, but there was a shift in them when Isma said the word "knight" and they looked at her. Their gaze went over her, it looked like the child was studying Isma from head to toe and when they were finished, they reached out... and touched her armour.
"Oh, do you like my armour?", Isma looked down at herself and adjusted the leaves that made up parts of her armour. "I grew it myself. I have a grove where I grow all kinds of plants and some of them are amazingly sturdy. It may look weak from the outside, but not a single nail has managed to rip this armour apart."
At the mention of the word nail the child reached under their blankets and pulled out the nail they had used to threaten Hollow. Pendry still asked himself where they had found it.
"Yes, a nail like yours.", Isma said. "Though this one is in a bad shape... we should make sure to repair it once you feel better."
The child cocked their head, it seemed like excitement to Pendry.
"Would you like that?", Isma asked.
They raised one hand in the air. "It means yes.", Pendry murmured, reminded of the code they taught them earlier, so that they didn't have to jostle their injury by nodding or shaking their head.
"I have a nail as well.", Isma unclasped it from her back and showed it to the child. "You may touch it, but please don't take it. You are hurt and I fear it could be too heavy for you."
The way the child touched the nail, almost reverent, Pendry had the feeling they were starstruck by Isma. He didn't know how much the child knew about the world... could it have heard about the five knights? Did they maybe start to idolize them... well, whatever it was that did distract them from not being the Pure Vessel was fine for Pendry.
After Isma took her nail back, the vessel grabbed for a sheet of paper and the crayons. "Do you want to draw a picture?", Isma asked.
"They communicate like this.", Rydellia said, like Pendry having been a silent observer of the scene. "Let's see what they want to tell you."
The three of them waited while the crayons scratched on the paper and after a while, the picture was finished. It depicted the child wearing armour and wielding a nail, raised to the heavens.
"You would like to become a knight?", Isma asked after having studied the picture. They raised one hand for a yes.
"Hmmm... we just took in Hollow as the sixth great knight and you still need to heal...", Isma said before Pendry could stop her.
"Isma, no.", he hissed out when the child huffed, crossed their arm and looked the other direction, void tears awfully close to falling.
"Did I say something wrong?", Isma looked very confused.
"Just... don't mention Hollow to them.", Pendry said.
"We'll explain it later.", Rydellia added.
Isma looked at them a few seconds longer and then addressed the child. "You didn't let me finish.", she said. "You still need to heal, but we surely can train you in knighthood once you feel better. Would you like that?"
The child looked back at Isma and cocked their head a tiny little bit before slowly raising their hand.
"Wonderful!", Isma said. "Now you have to promise me that you let yourself heal properly."
After the child promised it, Isma smiled at them and then said: "You need a name. Or do you already have a name?" Her gaze went to the royal couple, only for both of them to look at the ground.
"We forfeited the rights...", Pendry said, feeling a lump in his throat.
"Yes, we forfeited them...", Rydellia added.
"Well, I guess I have to give you a name then.", Isma huffed. "Let's see... your horns remind me of certain plant life... plant life that stings and hurts, but protects what is most important. Like a knight protects their ruler. Your name from now on will be Thorn."
From the way Thorn hugged Isma after that, Pendry knew that they were more than happy with the name.
He left after it, leaving Isma and Rydellia to discuss what they could do to replace their broken shell as well as explain Thorn's relationship with Hollow. While he was glad that Thorn seemed to feel better, that still didn't solve the problem with them resenting Hollow. He went to their room and knocked three times, entering when the three knocks came in return, his sign that he was allowed to enter. Hollow was still laying on the bed, on their stomach, clearly still moping.
"Make some room, Hollow.", Pendry said and pretty much laid down in the exact same position as them on the bed, sighing. This day had been wild.
He looked up when Hollow tapped him and read their signs: "Father? What are you doing?"
"Moping.", he replied and then rolled around to lie on his back. "Truth is, Hollow, I messed up your sibling, then got called out by Ogrim and Isma. I am lucky that Isma came and handled the child... she even gave them a name. They are called Thorn now."
"Thorn.", Hollow signed the actual sign for it. A name like this was easy for them to sign, for they didn't have to sign out all the individual letters or find a nickname. "A good name. It fits their horns."
"That was Isma's reasoning as well.", Pendry raised his upper body up and skidded back until he was leaning against the backrest of the bed. "Her and Rydellia are discussing how to repair their broken shell."
"Good, that is good.", Hollow signed and then lowered both of their arms. They stayed like this for a while and then signed. "Thorn still dislikes me though..."
"Give them some time.", Pendry said. "They surely just will need to get to know you."
"Hopefully.", Hollow signed and then moved to the footrest of the bed, looking at nothing in particular. Pendry didn't feel like saying anything either, so the two of them just stayed together in silence, both of them feeling bad about something different in their life, even though the catalyst was the same child.
After a good while, Hollow came closer to Pendry. "Thorn won't be able to help with the plan, right?", they asked.
"Yes.", Pendry confirmed. "Not only are they terrified of the colour orange now, they also won't be able to contain someone like the Radiance inside of them for long. She already has succeeded with them, she would just succeed again and... the process could kill them. We have to keep searching."
There was no guarantee they would find the vessel Hollow had mentioned though. Another one that had made it up. Material for a Pure Vessel. Surely they would be the best bet, but where should they even start looking...
"Let's get back to the Abyss.", Hollow signed.
"Huh?", Pendry was taken aback. "Now?"
"Yes, now.", Hollow replied. "We won't ever find out if another sibling is stuck there if we don't look."
"...I don't feel ready.", Pendry said.
"I can look.", Hollow offered. "You just open it up, I will go in and search."
Pendry was quick to shake his head. "No, no, this isn't right. I have to face my crimes. I have to go into there myself." And one day he would show the Abyss to his knights. One day he would tell them the whole story about the vessel plan and how it had been born from desperation and a misguided foresight. He took another glance at Hollow and lingered at the bandage around their left arm.
"Will that be fine with your arm?", he asked.
"It barely hurts anymore.", Hollow replied. "Let's go."
Pendry pulled himself up and took a deep breath as he sat on the edge of the bed, claws clicking on the floor when his feet reached the ground. "Alright, let's go."
On the way to the Abyss Pendry tried to tell himself that it would be easy. He just had to go there, open the door and maybe, imaybe/i they would find a vessel in there who was willing to help them with their plan. If not, they would at least have closure that what they searched wasn't down there.
In reality, Pendry barely managed to get a foot in front of the other, seeming to slow down the closer they came to the Abyss.
After they covered maybe two metres in five minutes, Hollow appeared before his face and shook their head, then they grabbed for his arm and pulled. Which did nothing, for Pendry's claws had firmly stuck themselves in the ground.
Hollow let go of his arm and crossed their own ones in front of their chest, cocking their head a tiny little bit. A judgemental look of theirs.
"My apologies, Hollow.", Pendry murmured. "I appear... to be more nervous than I thought."
It was an understatement. Nervous couldn't even begin to describe what he felt at the thought of opening up the Abyss. He was anxious. Terrified even.
iSurely it won't be as bad as I think./i, Pendry tried to reassure himself, but then the pictures of the vessels, his children, falling to their death flashed in front of his inner eye and he was down on his knees, hugging himself with all of his four arms, shivering violently while his tail trashed on the ground and his wings flared out against the invisible threat that were his own feelings. iPathetic./i He was so pathetic...
He felt ice-cold arms engulf him and after having spent a minute in Hollow's hug, he took a deep breath and managed to get back on his feet.
"Shall we head back?", Hollow signed. "Are you sure you are up for this?"
Pendry took another deep breath and then looked down at the ground. With a crack, he freed his feet from it and then said: "I have to do this, Hollow. I can't run away from the truth forever."
After all, him having faced the truth about Hollow not being void of emotion had led to him gaining a child and a very possible tangible solution against the infection that didn't involve having to sacrifice said child.
Pendry had to breathe in deep another time before he was able to put his foot in front of him, but once he did, it felt like an inner lock was lifted from him. The rest of the way went smoothly, well, as smoothly as it could when his tail once again tried to strangle his left leg. It hurt pretty bad already, Rydellia probably had to take a look later, he must have given himself quite a bruise.
Pendry's throat felt dry when they arrived at the door. He... would really do this, right? He would step up to the door and... use the king's brand and... open it, even though he had sworn to enter this place no longer.
Instead of opening the door though, he just stood there and stared at it for ten minutes straight. It surprised him that Hollow had waited for so long, when they laid a hand on his shoulders, the cold sensation startling him.
"I am here with you, Father.", they signed. "You are not alone in this."
"Thank you, my child...", Pendry said. It was time. If he wouldn't do it now, he would never open this door. He raised his hand and let the soul flow into his king's brand. The brand on the door glowed in unison with his and then the gates he had erected back when he first had picked Hollow up, swung open, revealing the eerie blackness of the Abyss.
With his hand still stretched out, he fell to his knees. He had done it, he had really managed to open up the door to the Abyss. The next step was... to actually go inside.
Hollow helped him up on his feet, which Pendry accepted wordlessly. They were the first to step through the door, looking back at him, their body of void completely melting with the background, only their pale white mask a stark contrast to the darkness they were standing in.
If Pendry wouldn't have known that it was his child standing there, the sight would have given him quite a scare.
Using Hollow's mask as anchor point, he managed to shuffle forwards, his feet being rather uncooperative again. After what felt like an eternity he managed to cross the door, Hollow pressing their hand into his. He knew that it was for him, not for them. They didn't show any sign of fear. For them, it was like coming home. They wanted to reassure him.
Together they walked forward until they stood at the end of the platform. Hollow pointed at it and made a few simple signs that could be interpreted as: "It was here."
"It was here where you saw your sibling?", Pendry asked for confirmation.
Hollow nodded. Pendry looked down and clearly didn't see a vessel still hanging on for dear life. If they had survived... where they still down there? And if they were still down there, would they even want to help?
Pendry found that they had all the rights in the world to kick him in the guts and leave him in this very place to rot.
Hollow gave his hand a squeeze and then pointed down into the blackness. Yes, they had to go down... but... looking at the platforms and the razor sharp spikes, Pendry felt too reminded of the cruel scenes that had transpired here... the vessels that had fallen, the vessels that had cut their shell open on the spikes, the vessels that had gotten pushed aside by their siblings... and he had simply stood there and watched, letting it happen, letting them die, for only the one who would get up without taking any consideration for others would be the Pure Vessel, but none of them was a Pure Vessel, all of them had just been children and he had murdered them... not even actively, but by sheer inactivity...
He felt Hollow rub his back when his breath hitched and his tail squeezed his leg so hard that it started to pound.
They raised their hand and pointed back at the door. "We can still go back.", they wanted to say. Pendry knew that it was an option, but... he had come too far to give up now. He shook his head and squeezed Hollow's hand back. "Let's go down together."
The descent was slow and collected. They had to be careful, for they could easily rip themselves some grave wounds at the spikes and one misstep would be a deadly fall. Even with Pendry's wing he didn't think he would be able to use them in time, for he was so clenched up that they stuck to his back, unable to spread even if he wanted to, and then... they were on the ground. His feet touched a floor that felt uneven and made a clicking sound.
When Pendry looked down he saw that the shells of his thousand dead children littered the ground and he fell over, catching himself with his arms somehow, not wincing even when the jagged horns on the shells pierced his palms and his knees.
He couldn't breathe. He couldn't see clearly anymore. He couldn't even hear. All that he knew was that he was back at this place, back then, when they still had been in their eggs. He had lowered them down in the Abyss and spoke to them, the mantra. Again and again.
iNo cost too great.
No mind to think.
No will to break.
No voice to cry suffering.
Born of God and Void.
You shall seal the blinding light that plagues their dreams.
You are the Vessel.
You are the Hollow Knight. /i
He had believed these words back then, he had believed that he was right, that this was the only way they could save the kingdom from her influence, for she was about to destroy it all, not even conquering, it was blind and pure rage. Bugs killing themselves under the influence of the infection left and right, he had been desperate, he couldn't let this kingdom he worked so hard for let fall to ruin, he couldn't let the ones that looked up to him for guidance down, he had to do something, anything.
The void felt like it was the right solution, but what had he been thinking? Why had he decided that his own children should bear this burden, almost all of them never being able to ever see the light of Hallownest, having been born and died right away or... fallen on their way up, and he did nothing, absolutely inothing/i to save them.
Ogrim was right, he wasn't fit to be a father and he should have never been one.
When he looked up, he saw the shades. Lingering regrets of the vessel's past life... if they even had one. They turned towards him and Pendry was more than ready to receive their punishment. They were in the right to strike him down, for nothing he could do would ever right how much he had wronged them.
He saw their void tendrils reaching out, ready to close his eyes while they punished him for all eternity, when something dashed through the shades and left nothing but liquid void which dropped on the ground, staining the broken masks.
It had been Hollow, nail in their right hand, reaching out their left to him. After a good while, Pendry finally took it and let himself support back on his feet for what felt like umpteenth time this day.
"Hollow, these were your siblings.", he said weakly.
"Not anymore.", Hollow signed. "They once have been... now they are only regrets... Isn't it a mercy to not let them linger on?" Hollow looked down at the floor and picked up one of the masks. They stared at it for a while and then let it fall. "I am at fault for their deaths. I didn't look back... I only wanted to get up... and when I looked back, I didn't help as well. I just knew that I had to be the Hollow Knight to survive."
Pendry thought his chest couldn't feel any tighter, but Hollow's words punched him right in the guts. "Hollow, you are not at fault for any of this. It was all me. I put the eggs down here. I have let you climb up and didn't help. I closed the entrance to the Abyss and acted like all this had never happened."
"That doesn't make me feel less guilty about my own faults.", Hollow signed, shouldering their nail and then starting to walk. Pendry just stood there with his mouth agape, any words he had wanted to say completely snuffed out.
Hollow, the child that had spent such a long time hiding their feelings, that only recently had begun to act like a child their age was supposed to act, that only today had moped in their room about their still living sibling hating them, and here they were, teaching him a lesson about not being forced to not feel something that they did.
He really was a terrible father.
"I am sorry, Hollow.", Pendry whispered. His knees and hands stung, but he didn't want to heal them just yet. Instead, he wiped away the blood and followed Hollow, first trying as hard as he could to not look down, but then he decided against it. These children deserved that he remembered their faces. It was the least he could do after having denied them a life of their own and doomed them to an early death in a place void of light.
They only walked a few metres before Hollow stopped and picked another one of the shells up, studying it closely. They then carefully put it back on the floor. Pendry came closer to look at the shell as well, seeing one with long, jagged horns, similar to Hollow.
"Is that...?", the question was unspoken between them, but Hollow knew the answer to it anyway.
They shook their head and then signed. "Similar, but not the one I saw."
Pendry knew that they couldn't go and look at each of the shells before the day would end. It would take them hours, days even to look at every single shell. All the shells of children that had been denied a life, their mistake simply had been that they were "impure", and he had been the judge of it, watching them fall to their deaths.
The farther the two of them got in, the more Pendry got reminded of the time he had ventured down into the Abyss, placing the egg capsules with the seeds inside. Telling them the mantra of the Hollow Knight. Lowering them into the void and then, when every seed had been stained black and not even his light reflected from them anymore, he would put the egg capsule down and leave, only to return once they had grown and were ready to hatch.
The first clutch hadn't survived the procedure. Not a single one of them had been born alive, he had come back to an egg capsule full of stillborn. He had felt a tight pain inside his chest back then, thinking it was because his plan and his idea had failed, but now he was pretty sure it had been because the first children he ever had, had never lived to see the rest of Hallownest and he had never been allowed to hold them.
Not that he had allowed himself to hold them back then. Not that he had shed any tears. It had been a failed experiment, nothing more. He had told himself that no cost would be too great.
It only surprised him a little when it was now that he shed the tears he had denied himself back them, not trying to stop them, simply wiping them away with his sleeve as they walked, only stopping when Hollow turned around and appeared to be distressed about his tears, signing at him if he was hurt, if they had to head back and, worst of all, blaming themselves from talking him into coming down here anyway.
"I had to come down here, Hollow.", Pendry said between sobs, "I just..." How should he put this? He was letting himself feel emotions he had suppressed for years. "I just need a moment.", he decided to say and he and Hollow sat down on the ground, his child's cold hand on his back, rubbing the spot directly beneath his wings. A spot which normally helped to relax him and calm him down. He wondered if Rydellia had told Hollow about it?
Pendry soon noticed that he wasn't the only one crying, for he could see liquid void dripping on the floor. Even in his state it fascinated him that his light wouldn't reflect upon it. He looked at Hollow to confirm and they were crying along him, probably not about the exact same thing he was finally managing to cry over, but certainly about the fact that so many of their siblings had died... maybe even about the fact that they almost had become an useless sacrifice, for they wouldn't have succeeded in containing the infection... in containing the Radiance.
They stayed like this for a good while and when Pendry felt his tears finally dry, he didn't know why he started to talk and he didn't know to whom he talked in particular. Even though Hollow was right there, it felt more like he was talking to himself... or the Abyss around him maybe.
"The first clutch didn't survive.", he told. "I thought I was disappointed that my plan was a failure, but in truth I was devastated that the first clutch me and my Root ever had... died... because of my carelessness. I handled the void wrong, they didn't survive being dunked directly into it, it was too much for their little shells..."
He laid his hands in his lap and continued with the tale not directed at anyone: "I got more careful with the next one. Instead of dunking them, I carefully put low doses of the void into the capsules and put the seeds into it a few times a day. Only when it felt like they had enough tolerance to the substance, did I bring them down here to wait for their growth and their hatching. I continued this with several more clutches... and then waited. I waited until they were grown enough to hatch and then the one who would make it would be the Pure Vessel... and I just stood up there and let them fall to their death. This place is full of my regrets, but nothing I do can ever undo what happened down here."
He got up and flared his wings. "I still have a duty to fulfil! I will put an end to the infection and after this is done, then you can come and get me! I won't fight, I won't stop you, I am fully aware I am deserving of any punishment you have in mind for me!"
Heavily breathing, his tail thrashing and his light impossibly bright, Pendry felt himself being grounded back to reality when Hollow hugged him. His wings relaxed and smoothed against his back and his tail sneaked around Hollow's ankle as he reciprocated the hug.
When they released each other from the hug, Hollow signed to him: "Father, I don't want to punish you."
"I wasn't talking to you.", Pendry said, rubbing his forehead, he felt a headache after this outburst, no, after this whole day, "I think I was talking to the void."
"I am void as well.", Hollow replied and left it there. Pendry didn't have an argument either, so he just kept his mouth shut as they continued.
"Only shells as far as my light reaches...", he said, looking down at the ground. "Of course this can mean that the one you have seen made it out of here... but it also can mean that... that they didn't make it..."
Both him and Hollow knew that it was a possibility, but the existence of Thorn gave Pendry a tiny little shimmer of hope. The picture that they had drawn hadn't shown how they dug a tunnel, it had shown how they had discovered a tunnel. If another vessel had gotten out before them, the chances were not bad that they had survived.
Hollow turned to him and signed two simple words: "I know."
Soon they started to walk on ground that wasn't littered with the corpses of his dead children anymore. As Pendry looked into the distance, he could see the writhing tentacles of the void sea located in this place.
"How strange...", he said. "I have built a lighthouse down here to calm the void sea down. Why is the light off?"
Yes, he had built a lighthouse down here and a volunteer had been chosen to operate it, one of his Royal Retainers, having been told to keep the light switched on and to maintain the lighthouse so that it wouldn't switch off. A bug that Pendry barely had even wasted a thought about. It had just been one of his loyal servants, from whom too many existed, who died in a blink of an eye compared to his lifetime.
Even though as a Higher Being his morals were different from that of mortals, him spending more time with his knights taught him how disgusting they would find that. He couldn't help but feel a stab of guilt about it.
"Let's check out why the lighthouse is dark.", he said, not only wanting to go up to see what the problem was, but also because he wanted to check up on the loyal servant he basically had trapped in the Abyss.
Hollow nodded and the both of them climbed the lighthouse, well, Hollow was climbing it while Pendry managed to fly up, finally feeling comfortable enough to use his wings. He always had an eye on Hollow, who sometimes was in trouble of falling over, but managed to catch themselves and continue. Their horns were barely bothering them anymore.
In a sense, they felt physically and emotionally now more at balance than Pendry.
They arrived at the top of the lighthouse soon and Pendry opened the door, entering it, bracing himself for what he would probably see, for there was only one logical explanation for why his retainer would have switched off the light.
As soon as his light illuminated the room, he saw the corpse. Void stained the shell of the retainer and his hand was still on the lever which switched the light on or off, having been brought to the position of off.
Hollow ran over once they saw the corpse and kneeled down, touching it and only shaking their head. Pendry continued to stand at the switch, letting his feelings wash over him. Here was another victim that he could have avoided, by finding a better plan, by not relying on Hollow to be void of emotions, by not having relying on his foresight alone.
"We are sorry...", he said, slipping into his royal pronouns, for this victim was very much one of the Pale King.
He was startled when he heard a high pitched sound and a flash of light and realized that Hollow had struck the corpse with the dream nail.
"What did you do that for, Hollow?", Pendry asked. He couldn't see a ghost floating over the corpse, the retainer hadn't lingered on. They wouldn't be able to reach the dream realm with him.
Hollow got up and slowly turned around to him. Then, they signed: "He said that the sea was calling to him." A short pause. "He also apologized to you... for... failing."
Pendry was a bit taken aback at first, for he had no clue that the dream nail actually could let its wielder hear the last thoughts of a dead bug. He wondered if Hollow had found that out by studying the book of the moth tribe with Quirrel? Then, his already festering guilt only got worse, for the retainer had apologized to him.
"That wasn't his fault.", he once repeated to himself. "All of this was my fault."
Hollow cocked their head and then signed something that ingrained itself forever in Pendry's mind. "And yet we didn't want for you to take the burden alone."
The "we" Hollow talked about... he knew who they were. His Root. The dreamers. Hollow themselves. Even that lighthouse bug whose name he didn't even remember. And yet he had decided to bear the burden alone and almost plunged the kingdom into ruin.
"You would make a much better ruler than I ever have been, Hollow...", he said, head hanging low.
Hollow came over to him and cupped his head into their hands, forcing him to look at their hands. "No, I won't.", they said. "You had several more centuries of experience at ruling than me. I am more content with being your knight."
"Right, of course...", Pendry said, looking at the switch. "Let's switch that light back on and give this poor soul a proper burial outside."
Technically, all his dead kids would have deserved a proper burial as well, but there were so many of them that the ground was practically littered in their broken shells. It would have been unfair to only choose a few and the Resting Grounds were too small to contain them all.
After they had switched the light on and found a spot where they could cover the lighthouse bug's body with some stray rocks and rubble, the void sea calmed down and let them cross without too much trouble. Sadly, on the other side, they also couldn't find anything. Every vessel in the Abyss was dead and the ones that had survived must have wandered out of it.
"At least we have some closure now.", Pendry said as they walked back. "If your sibling is still alive, they are not here."
That only led to the question of where they had gone. If they were still in Hallownest, then there was a good chance of finding them, if they had left and wandered into the wastes... the chance to find a vessel there was for naught, especially because even Pendry would have trouble keeping his memories out there, as with how connected he had become to Hallownest.
"We can search on.", Hollow signed. "I still have to do the ritual for Grimm. I will keep an eye open."
"Oh right...", Pendry had forgotten the ritual for a hot minute, with all that had happened lately. Soon Hollow would have to summon this little nuisance of the Grimmchild... and he didn't want to think about it.
"For now, let's call it a day and go back to the palace.", he said. The both of them silently ascended from the Abyss and when they stepped back out, Pendry looked at the door and touched his king's brand.
He... he wasn't ready yet for anyone else seeing what had happened down here... so with a flick of his wrist, he resealed the door. Now at least they knew that nobody was tapped in there anymore.
"You are shutting it again?", Hollow signed.
"One day I will open it for good...", Pendry answered with a sigh. "But this day is not today..."
Falling silent again, they travelled back to the palace. Feeling a headache as well as being all sore, Pendry decided it would be best to take a bath, eat something and then go to sleep, when a Royal Retainer appeared and handed him a letter... with the symbol of Deepnest upon it.
He sighed and thought about not opening it and reading it later, what could Herrah want, but the fact that the infection was still rampant and he feared that something had happened to Hornet, he opened it to only find the words: "Wyrm! Come to Deepnest as soon as possible. I have to show you something important."
(Author's note: What is it with me and cliffhangers lately? They motivate me to write the next chapter actually, it is easier to continue when you put a cliffhanger in the one before it.
Well, some headcanons in here... Thorn actually has wandered around a bit before going back to the Basin and blasting their head open, so they got wind of the knights and found them to be fascinating, dreaming that they wanted to be one of them. They heavily idolize Isma and the other five great knights and would love nothing more than to stand at their side.
The way how the vessels came to be, I headcanon that there are several methods, but Pendry and Rydellia used the "fertilizing the seeds" method, means they did the sexy dance with each other while Rydellia was in bloom, then her flowers turned into seed and with proper care these seeds would grow into children. Pendry then gave the seeds the void treatment and put them all in these egg capsules we see in the Abyss. So every capsule housed several vessels.
Please have a bit of patience for Grimmchild, the plot just isn't right yet to introduce them! But it will happen soon.)