Characters: The Pale King/The White Lady, The Pure Vessel, Greenpath Vessel

Word Count: 4.538

Summary: On their way back from the Queen's Garden, Pendry and Hollow have an unexpected meeting.

(Author's note: I am thinking about that this fic is in its last third, but I honestly don't know how many chapters are left. The more I think about it, the more I feel that I need to let it go slow. The fic has been slow from the start and it wouldn't make sense to rush the ending.

It's a good thing that I have time and can naturally develop the story towards it ending. I hope you have fun with this chapter. It's a bit shorter, but putting more into it would have make it feel bloated. )

"Did you have fun today, my child?", Pendry asked. He was currently walking slowly backwards, his gaze on Hollow, so that he could see them sign. With them having to sign instead of having a voice, it was a bit difficult to converse while the two of them were travelling, so Pendry tried out if he could help Hollow out a little bit by walking backwards, using his tail to feel the territory.

"Yes, it was great.", Hollow signed, "Dryya promised me to give me more cooking lessons. She said it came very naturally to me. I want to try it again. It is fascinating that stuff becomes food."

"I am happy to hear.", Pendry said, hopping on a small ledge that his tail detected, "Maybe that is the way you can express yourself... like Lurien does with his paintings and your mother with arranging flowers."

"And you with deadly gauntlets.", Hollow signed. This took Pendry so off guard that he managed to fall over the next ledge. He frantically stood up again and dusted off his robes.

"Hollow, that was a challenge for you and in hindsight, it was far too difficult and brutal! That you even managed to do this without being afraid..."

"Oh, I was afraid, terrified even.", Hollow signed without hesitation and Pendry already opened his mouth to ask them why, when it hit him.

Of course they had hidden their emotions back then. They couldn't show how they felt, or they wouldn't have been the Pure Vessel anymore.

"I am sorry, Hollow.", Pendry said.

"No, no, it isn't like that.", Hollow signed and then they looked down at their hands for a second before continuing: "I was terrified of disappointing you."

"Hollow, while I am glad about your devotion to our cause, maybe having a more tangible fear wouldn't be a bad thing.", Pendry said. "Like... fearing that an angry god could kill you or fearing the battle with another wyrm or-"

"Fearing having to talk with your ex.", Hollow continued for him and Pendry nearly choked on his own spit, spending a few seconds coughing and clearing his throat.

"Hollow, you are very quick-witted today.", he said, eyeing the Grimmchild on their shoulders. After a whole day of running around and playing, it was now deeply asleep, looking almost peaceful. Hollow themselves, despite not being able to emote, looked kind of satisfied. It was their body language, how they stood tall and straight and their stride had a weight to it.

"But yes... that might be a more tangible fear also...", Pendry said and turned around, knowing that they entered a place where he would need to pay more attention to the surroundings. "Just... there are worse things in your life than disappointing me. Besides, once one of my greatest fears was that you truly were not... hollow and it happened and look at us now. You haven't been a disappointment to me, you were never a disappointment. Thinking about it, in the few months that I allowed you to be the child you are, you grew a lot more than me..."

Pendry fell silent and continued walking, when suddenly an ice cold sensation embraced him. As he looked up, he noticed that Hollow was hugging him tightly, actually preventing him from moving further.

"Thank you, Hollow...", Pendry said and then reciprocated the hug, "I guess I can allow you to stay up a bit longer today."

They stayed in the hug for a little while before they moved again. Hollow drew their nail and kept a good look at their surroundings. They had entered a part of Greenpath where the infection was rather bad and both Pendry and Hollow were the prime targets of the Radiance.

"Don't forget, only strike when you see orange.", Pendry whispered, which was even quieter than his already hushed voice, but Hollow didn't have a problem understanding him. They nodded and kept observing the greenery around them.

They moved through it carefully, Pendry's head jerking around whenever something in the bushes rustled or moved. It didn't stop and halfway through the path, it became apparent to Pendry that someone was following them.

He stopped, which made Hollow bump into him and fall over and as they stood up, looking around in confusion, Pendry confronted their persecutor.

"We know that you are here! Show yourself!", he shouted, which still wasn't loud, but his voice had a commanding tone to it and he knew that no bug could withstand his thrall for too long, not even the ones under Unn's command, when he actively used it.

The bush rustled one last time and then their persecutor showed themselves. Once they were in his sight, Pendry nearly lost his breath.

It was another vessel. A small one, the same size as the twins, with four short horns that spread away from their mask. It had a nail in its hand, not the best work for sure, but they clearly showed that they knew how to use it, judging by their stance. It was very similar to the one of the moss knights.

Before Pendry could say anything, too busy to get his thoughts together, Hollow was in front of him and signed: "Sibling!"

They then sat themselves down in front of the vessel and just... looked at them. Right, Pendry remembered they could do this memory sharing thing. The vessel however, didn't approach Hollow and instead took a few steps back, raising their nail.

"Wait.", Pendry said, raising both of his visible hands, "We don't want to fight you and we didn't come to make trouble. Greenpath is an agreement between us and Unn. If you are one of her followers, we promise it is the truth. We, as the Pale King of Hallownest, are respecting our agreement."

The vessel stopped looking at Hollow and instead looked at him, but still didn't lower their nail. It seemed to be a mistrustful one.

"Hollow, can you put away your nail?", Pendry asked when he saw that Hollow had it in their hands. Well, they currently were threatened by someone, so it made sense for Hollow to act like this.

"This is an order.", Pendry said when Hollow didn't budge first. Finally, they listened and laid their nail on the ground.

"There, we are not here to hurt you, little one.", Pendry said. "Are you willing to talk to us? Do you have a form of communication? Do you maybe have a name?"

Without taking their gaze off Pendry or Hollow, the vessel finally lowered their nail, even though they didn't let go of it. Then, they started to hit the ground with it, making a particular set of sounds.

Hollow looked at Pendry and raised their hands, probably to ask a question, but Pendry noticed what they were doing right away. "Wait, Hollow, that's a code. A code done with sounds. They are communicating!"

Pendry listened closely to the sounds... it had been some time since he last had used this form of a code, but he could make out four letters.

"M-O-S-S.", he spelled out. "Moss. Is that your name?"

A tiny nod. Pendry looked at Hollow who tested out a few signs for the name of their sibling. Then, he looked at Moss again.

"A good name.", he said with a smile, "So, Moss... we... I have to apologize to you."

Pendry fell down to his knees and looked at the ground as he continued talking: "I never knew that some of you survived. I thought that you all died and still.. it doesn't make it better. I still have let you fall. There is no excuse for my actions..., but please know, that I am truly sorry about everything I did."

He noticed an ice cold sensation on his shoulder and knew that Hollow had come over to calm him down. He still didn't look up and waited for Moss to react. After a while, the rhythmic knocking on the ground happened again. It took them a long time until they were finished, having to spell out many many words.

"I am not mad. I have found a family after I escaped. The mosskin took me in. They gave me food and shelter and a home. In turn, I protect the mosskin. There isn't any connection between us anymore, I am one of them now."

Pendry repeated their words to himself and so that Hollow would know them. After he finished, he raised his head and said: "I have no right anyway to call you my child anymore. I am glad to see that you are alive and well. I won't demand that you leave your position. Just... Hollow here would like to connect with their siblings, so if not for my sake, would you please let them come over and let them play with you?"

Moss turned their head from Pendry to Hollow and stared at them. Then, they walked towards them and raised their little nubby hand. Hollow took it into their own and they stayed like this for a few minutes.

Then, Moss let go and returned to their earlier position in front of the bush.

"What just happened?", Pendry asked Hollow.

Hollow didn't waste any time to sign: "They showed me some of their memories. They showed me how they managed to come here and how the Mosskin took care of them. It was very touching. I think... I think it was their way to connect with me?"

Pendry looked at Moss and before he could open his mouth to ask a question, they knocked more words on the ground: "They can come and play. As long as they don't threaten the mosskin."

Pendry translated their words and Hollow made a small jump at their permission.

"Hollow will respect your boundaries.", Pendry said, "Well, Moss, it was nice to meet you, but we need to get moving. It's late already. Please take care. Come, Hollow."

Just as Pendry turned around to leave, Hollow suddenly blocked his path, signing the word "Wait."

"Hollow, what is it?", Pendry asked.

"We can ask them to help us!", Hollow signed. Pendry had completely forgotten about this. After the relaxing day he hadn't even thought about the plan.

"Oh right!", he turned around and called. "Moss, wait!"

Moss, who already had turned back towards the bush, turned around, clasping their nail.

"You surely know about the infection. I mean, of course you do, all of you vessels know, but the thing is... me and Hollow have a plan to get rid of it once and for all. But the plan only works if we have someone who can contain the infection for a while, so that we can enter their mind and fight directly against it. You are one of the only ones who is sturdy enough to do this without falling victim to it."

Pendry fell on his knees again, but not only on his knees, also on his hands and his head almost touched the ground.

"Please, we beg you, as the king of Hallownest, help us save our subjects. Please help us to protect them from the infection."

There was a very long pause. Pendry stayed on the ground like that while he waited for something, anything to happen. After what felt like hours had passed, the tapping of Moss' nail was heard.

"I am sorry I have to decline. I can't leave this place. The mosskin need my protection. I can't leave them alone. The moment I leave them alone they are done for."

There was a rustling sound and when Pendry looked up, out of the bushes around him, a lot of glowing eyes stared, some of them chirping.

"I can't help you.", was the last thing that Moss said.

"We... understand...", Pendry said, slowly getting up. "Thank you for listening to our request."

He turned around and started to leave. Hollow stayed behind a while longer and then followed him.

Pendry stayed silent for a long while on their way back. Only when they were at the crossroads, did he talk.

"So, this makes four of your siblings that survived."

Hollow nodded and then counted to four with their fingers. They presented the hand to him and then counted one more with their other hand.

"Five... right, we haven't found the one you were talking about. But... you know there is the possibility that they..." ididn't survive/i Pendry wasn't able to complete the sentence.

"I know...", Hollow signed, "But I want to believe. They were strong enough to climb out of the Abyss, I am sure they didn't die from the fall."

"The question is just... where could they be?", Pendry sighed. Also, in case they would find the vessel that Hollow had seen, would they help? They had found four siblings of Hollow now and none of them would help.

Thorn couldn't help because of their injury and resulting trauma to the colour orange. If Pendry would ask them to help, they surely would, but the moment they tried to contain the infection the Radiance would be able to take hold of them in an instance.

Nox and Lux were good candidates, but Herrah would never let him have them, even if they agreed. He probably had to gift her a second child so that she would even consider it and Herrah seemed to be content with Hornet.

Moss... they made their point clear. They wouldn't leave the mosskin alone. Of course Pendry could offer that he send his knights to protect them while they helped, but it was clear for him that Moss viewed the Mosskin as family. Even if they would help, their mind would be with them, which would also make them an easy target for the Radiance to control.

It was indispensable that whatever vessel housed the Radiance had their whole mind on the task, so that she would be confined long enough for their plan to work.

"We will figure something out.", he said, to no one in particular. "For now, Hollow, how about we concentrate on your training? We should start it tomorrow. You will need to train quite a bit more when you have to face the Nightmare King."

"I look forward to it.", Hollow signed.

The next day, after a good night's sleep, Pendry met up with Hollow for breakfast. The Grimmchild was sitting under the table eating a liquid meal from a bowl, while Pendry and Hollow shared a more firm meal.

After they were done with eating and Hollow had wiped the Grimmchild's mouth from the mess it made, they found themselves standing in the hallway.

"Hollow, we should talk about your training.", Pendry started. "It would be good if we could start it as soon as possible. In fact, we should go to the training room right-"

Before Pendry could even finish his sentence, he was interrupted by a voice he hadn't heard in some time.

"Ah, there you are, Hollow, are you ready for your lessons this morning?", Quirrel appeared, balancing a stack of books.

Hollow themselves looked from Quirrel to Pendry and then signed: "Sorry, Father, I am having my lessons this morning."

"Ah, hm...", Pendry said, "Then we better meet up this after-"

"Hollow, don't forget your music lessons this afternoon, you have slacked off!", Mara, the mantis, was suddenly standing next to Quirrel, her arms crossed and her foot tapping. "You still need to work on the Elegy of Hallownest. I am expecting to see you on time."

Now Pendry felt a bit at a loss. "Then I guess I see you this evening to-"

"Hollow, don't forget to come for your cooking lessons after dinner.", Dryya suddenly appeared.

"Hollow, why is your schedule so packed?!", Pendry shouted and then moved to Dryya. "And Dryya, why are you even here?!"

"Ah, the Lady decided to cut her trip short. She said that she had to keep an eye on you, your majesty.", Dryya said, "So if I were you, I would make sure to eat enough and go to sleep at a proper time."

Pendry sighed and looked after Dryya when Quirrel said: "Sooo... can I take Hollow to their lessons now?"

"Just a moment, we need to find an opening somewhere in their schedule...", Pendry murmured, when suddenly one of his Royal Retainers appeared.

"Your majesty, there you are! You need to get going. You need to approve all the documents before your meeting with the watcher and then during the afternoon we are holding the audiences and the queen demands your presence in the evening!"

"It appears you are quite busy yourself.", Quirrel said, "I can help find a hole in Hollow's schedule once they are done with their lessons."

"Sorry, Father.", Hollow signed again. "We have to postpone this a little bit."

Hollow followed Quirrel while Pendry was dragged away by his Royal Retainer. He could still overhear Quirrel talking. "That little one is new, Hollow. Are you a babysitter now as well? You know, you will only burn yourself out if you work too much, I have to force ma'am to take a break as well all the time and-"

Quirrel's voice cut off once Pendry was out of reach and he faced a mountain of documents. That was what he got for not doing his duties properly for a few days. At least Lurien had kept his word and most of the documents only needed his approval.

The day was then spent with his kingly duties. At least he could see Lurien, that was always a nice change of pace. Lurien even helped him make a schedule of his duties, which he could use to compare with Hollow's schedule later.

When he met up with Rydellia for lunch, it became clear to him that she would NOT accept him not taking the evenings off. She would spend every evening with him now and make sure that he relaxed and took the break he needed. It pretty much meant that he would not find time to train Hollow in the evenings.

Before he went to grant audiences in the afternoon, Pendry walked past the room in which Mara resided. Hollow was already present because he could hear instructions through the door. He stayed a little and listened. The song Hollow was practicing, the Elegy of Hallownest, was his favourite song. It had been composed as accompaniment for Momonom's poem. Pendry enjoyed the sequence of notes a lot and it sounded fantastic when played on a harp. In fact, it reminded him a bit of Rydellia.

Hollow managed to meet up with both him and Rydellia at dinner and brought the prepared schedule. As the both of them compared their schedules, it became clear that they barely found time to even squeeze an hour of training in.

"Training with the knights tomorrow.", Pendry murmured and then looked at his schedule. "Maybe after lunch I can... Ah no, I need to check-up on Thorn then..."

As he set brooding over the schedules, Pendry looked to Rydellia and said: "Root, please, can't you give me one evening where I can train Hollow?"

"No, I said that you needed to rest. I am done with you always hurting yourself, Wyrm.", Rydellia said, gentle but firm. It was her last word.

Pendry just looked at Hollow and said: "I guess the training has to wait a little..."

Hollow then raised their hands and signed: "Or." and stopped after his single word. Pendry cocked his head, wondering if more would come. Hollow looked towards Rydellia and then signed: "Nothing."

"Alright then...", Pendry murmured, wondering what this had been about. They finished their meal and like Rydellia had said, he spent the whole evening with her, practicing self-care while Hollow went to their cooking lesson.

Of course Rydellia also made sure that Pendry would go to bed on time and once he had laid down, he pretty much entered the dream realm instantly. He wondered if she had used sleeping spores again?

As he waited for any nightmares to come or maybe even the Nightmare King visiting, Pendry just stared in front of him, sitting on the throne of his dream world. He tensed when really something entered his dream and braced himself for Grimm coming and teasing him.

It wasn't Grimm though, it was Hollow who stood in front of him.

"Hollow? What are you doing here?", Pendry asked.

"Father, I've come to train with you.", Hollow signed and then brandished their nail.

It took Pendry a couple seconds to connect the dots.

Oh, of course! They could train in the dream realm! Their real bodies wouldn't even be in danger, they just went to the dream realm with their minds. They could train the whole night and still wake up rested, because their bodies were asleep and whatever happened in the dream realm, would just become another dream they wouldn't remember clearly, but the muscle memory would remain.

"Hollow, you are quite smart.", Pendry smiled and stood up from his throne. Then, he summoned a weapon. A white pole weapon with a three pronged blade.

"I haven't fought with a melee weapon for quite some time, so please excuse me if I am rusty.", he said, pointing the trident at Hollow. "Hollow, don't go easy on me. There are no consequences for our bodies when we fight in the dream realm. Treat me as if I was a real threat."

Hollow's stance lowered a bit and he could see their hand tremble, but only for a second. Then, their hand tightened around their nail and they rushed forward.

It took Pendry so off guard that he almost got impaled by their nail. He stepped back just enough so that Hollow's nail would only scrape him and then swung his own weapon, to hit them in return. As opposed to a nail, his trident had to be wielded with two hands and was a lot slower, but it had more reach and more of an impact.

Hollow sensed this and they raised their nail to parry the attack, their weapons clanking against each other.

"The knights trained you well.", Pendry said, "But Grimm is of another calibre. Especially the Nightmare King. You need to be able to react to lightning fast attacks."

Pendry murmured a spell and once he was done, he could feel the effect of it immediately. It was a spell which enhanced his speed and endurance. Outside of the dream realm, a spell like this would have a huge drawback, it ate a lot of soul and would leave him vulnerable after it wore off, but in the dream realm he could go all out.

It didn't surprise him that the Radiance actually was able to suck in her opponents and force them to enter the dream realm with their whole bodies. It had nearly killed him once... not again.

After Pendry had enhanced himself, he knocked Hollow down with no effort at all. They kneeled down and breathed heavily.

"Again, Hollow.", Pendry said, "You need to get accustomed to this speed! Practice your teleport spell, it needs to get a given to be used in battle. You must be able to cast it without even thinking."

At these words, Hollow was on their feet again. It only occurred to Pendry a few seconds later what he had just said to them and it actually made him a bit sloppy, so that Hollow managed to get a hit in. He could feel blood seeping out of a wound on his arm, but he didn't worry, it wouldn't be there once he woke up.

Even if one of them went too far and really managed to kill the other in the dream realm, they would simply wake up. Still, they shouldn't let it come that far.. that could leave some ugly mental scars.

Their fight continued and again and again, Pendry managed to knock Hollow down, though he already saw improvements... they managed to dodge his attacks more and more so that he knocked them down a lot later.

It was weird to think that this child was barely able to walk just a few months prior, having been weighed down by the weight of their horns.

Their fight stopped when Hollow didn't get up again after a particularly bad knockout. Pendry rushed over to them in an instance.

"Oh no, Hollow, I am sorry, that was too harsh, I know the injuries won't last, but that must have hurt still..."

Hollow stirred a bit later and then signed: "I am fine... just exhausted..."

"Well, we have been at this for quite some while...", Pendry said. "I would say it is enough for today. You are welcome to stay here until you want to leave."

Pendry helped Hollow up and then sat down with them at the edge of the platform. Hollow didn't leave, but also didn't try to converse. They simply leaned against Pendry and let a comfortable silence spread over them.

Pendry embraced the silence. No nightmares had come to visit him. No Grimm to tease him. No self-doubt or self-hatred. Instead, it was just Hollow, who had not only found a way to solve their tight schedules, but also had kept his mind off stuff.

They stayed together like this until Pendry felt his body waking. Ah, the dream was over and he would only remember bits and pieces of what had happened. As he felt himself being pulled out, he saw Hollow hop down the platforms.

When Pendry awoke, his body felt on fire. Oh, what had he done in the dream realm, all his limbs were hurting and his arm hurt as if someone had stabbed him there.

As he looked to his side, where Hollow was, he noticed that they had a similar experience, curling in on themselves, struggling a bit to keep their form, almost melting.

"Oooh, what have we done, Hollow?", Pendry groaned and turned on his back, staring at the ceiling. Then, it slowly came back to him. "Oh yes, we sparred...", he murmured, "And I told you to not hold back and... Hollow, we should maybe take it a bit easier next time. It turned out, that you can feel the results of a fight in the dream realm, even if your body is unscathed."

Hollow, who finally managed to get their void under control, simply nodded.

"Still, that was a great idea.", Pendry said, "Let's keep this up and we have you ready for the ritual in no time. Just... with less intent to hurt each other this time."

As Pendry struggled to get up, it dawned on him that he had to explain his pain to Rydellia somehow. He turned to Hollow and whispered: "And no word about this to your mother."

(Author's note: I planned for them to train in the dream realm for quite some time now, but it was a spontaneous idea to have both their schedules so packed. There happened a lot in the last few chapters and I wanted for them to get back into their daily routine.

Also, feel free to tell me what lie Pendry will tell Rydellia about being so sore and if she will believe it or not.

I hope you enjoyed. Please tell me your favourite part in the comments, like usual ^^)