Chapter 1: I am not without sin, but I'm still throwing stones
Wander was bored. Their father was in a meeting.
The White Palace was a large, sprawling labyrinth of adventure for the little vessel most of the time. Wander, a child of the king with two thin horns split at the tips, knew this intimately. They had explored the royal halls multiple times today already, their appetite for adventure insatiable, but even the massive structure of the palace could seem small when you'd seen every nook and cranny at least three times over in a single day (even the nooks and crannies they weren't supposed to know about; they wondered when their father would realize it was Wander shoving their tools an inch further to the left each day? They couldn't wait for when that 'inch' just meant putting the tools on the floor rather than the desk)!
But today their father, the Pale King, was busy. Wander's siblings were all busy too; either they were in schooling, having a nap, or were under the supervision of their Favourite Person. A "Favourite Person" was a special title. All vessels had one of these important individuals around the palace. A Favourite Person was a special and honoured term amongst the siblings for people that they deemed were very good and fun people to be around. Some vessels picked the same Favourite Person as another sibling, and some picked a person no one else had. In the end, each sibling only ever had one that they would pick. Whether it was a guardsman, a particular teacher, or, as in their sibling Hallow's case, one of their parents. Hallow, whose horns were a little bigger than Wander's despite them being egg-mates, was happily sat in the Pale King's lap as he and one of the Dreamers were drinking tea and debating the finer points of some random political issue. Herrah always seemed more pleasant when the Pale King had a little one around, and the king wasted no dignity in taking advantage of that fact.
The Pale King was Hallow's Favourite Person. Wander, bored out of their shell, was about to start bothering their own. Now if only they could find them!
Their Favourite Person was special. Very special. Wander was the only one able to find them with any regularity; in fact, Wander knew they were probably the only one of their siblings that knew about them! Dryya, one of the knights, knew. She was training with them, after all. But she was the only one, as none of their other siblings believed that they existed, and no one else in the palace acknowledged their presence either. Wander wasn't sure they wanted to tell anyone anymore, anyways. They were a little bit greedy, after all, and their Favourite Person was the best Favourite Person of them all.
Fittingly, for being so hard to find, their name... was Ghost.
Ghost was their biggest sibling. They had eight eyes (although sometimes more or less), multiple curved horns unmatched in their regal curvature (even if the exact spread and shape of the horns shifted a little), and four terrifyingly (in all the best ways!) long, sharp-edged arms tipped in wicked claws, and a body robed in vast shadows. Ghost was, without a doubt, the best Favourite Person of all the Favourite People the siblings had. Even if Wander was one of the only ones that believed they existed. Ghost was so sneaky and amazing at hiding that they could hide from anyone, except Wander themselves of course! Ghost could even hide their void-speak and presence from the other siblings, which was amazing. Only Wander could see through their tricks, because Ghost had once admitted that Wander was special. That did mean that no one believed Wander when they tried to tell them about Ghost though. They just said some drivel about how it was 'cute' that Wander had an imaginary friend, and left it at that. Oh well. If no one believed Wander about Ghost's existence, the Wander could keep Ghost all to themself without any guilt. Can't say they didn't try, after all! Ghost seemed to like it that way, anyway.
Ghost was, as it turns out, also very shy. Hence why they were so hard to find usually. Wander could always sense when they were near, but almost never pinpoint where exactly they were unless Ghost specifically wanted to be found. They could hide in shadows after all (and didn't Wander beg them endlessly to learn such a trick)! But today, Wander realized with elation, today was one of those days that Wander was able to find them all on their own. They located them as they watched from a balcony three stories up. As they leaned against the bars overlooking the same garden with the Pale King, they just barely spotted them. Eight white eyes blinked in the shadows cast by bushes around the outside of the garden. It seemed like Ghost was watching over the meeting today, looking at the Pale King and their sibling, Hallow, with a gaze filled with nostalgia and melancholy.
Wander wanted to play. But the bestest Favourite Person of all Favourite Persons was, well, a little distracted to say the least. Fortunately this was an easy enough fix. "Ghost? Look at me Ghost!" They said through the void, poking and prodding at them with a mix of glee and eagerness. Talking directly through the void meant that no one would overhear their conversation, and Wander was a little tired of other bugs asking why they were talking to themselves.
They got something of a grumpy, "Not now," back, along with an emotion a bit between an apology and disgruntlement. That was the nice thing about the void; you could -send- things like emotions, and even memories, if you were good enough. None of this silly 'emoting' or 'sign language' or, worst yet, the dreaded 'words' Wander was always told to write on silk-paper or slate. So slow! So cumbersome! No wonder the retainers in the castle were always taking weeks to get anything done!
Still. It seemed like Ghost was not to be swayed with words or void-sent impressions alone. They usually weren't though, so this was fine by Wander. Wander had more than enough available options. Wander reached under their cloak, and pulled out one of those favourite options. The one that always got them scolded if they were caught playing with them in the halls. Wander leaned out as far as they could through the balcony's fence, stuck their forelimb between the bars, aimed, and let go. With a muted "whunk!", the stone landed smack in the middle of the shadow Ghost was hiding in. Wander grinned at their aim. Ghost became concerned.
Then they dropped another.
And another!
And another.
Ghost began to hiss, and scold, and get angry-but-not-mean, and also get very Don't-Do-That, like every time Wander was being naughty. They especially got like that when they were being naughty on purpose, such as that one time they stole four small cakes from the kitchen. Wander had promptly given them one of said cakes, and Ghost had been less mad after that. Wander did not have cake to give Ghost this time. So as Wander continued to drop stones on their hiding place, Ghost only got more hissy, and scolding, and really-really-mad-but-not-nasty, and very much told them to, "Quit it now!" in a tone that did actually scare Wander a little. But Wander kept dropping stones, because Ghost was feeling something else and not controlling it very well.
Ghost was panicking. Panicking in the same way that three of their siblings had that one time when Wander caught them trying to steal Herrah's mask while she was asleep, and promptly woke her up to tattle on them as they stared on in abject horror.
In short? It was hilarious.
"Stop! No! Don't you dare! BAD WANDER! You'll break my cover! STOPPIT!" Ghost yelped telepathically. Ghost was freaking out, and Wander was laughing. They were laughing so hard that they had to start smacking the bars in front of them with their free hand, making a "ting!" sound every time their claws hit, just to deal with all the hilarity they couldn't get out of their system otherwise. They broadcast utter glee to everyone in the vicinity that would hear them, and dropped another stone right between the pair of eyes that Ghost was using to glare up at them from the shadows.
Their sibling, Hallow, looked towards them from their perch in the king's lap. Wander barely managed to catch a few feelings of puzzlement, curiosity about where Wander was getting all the rocks from, and then utter dismissal and denial as if Hallow wanted nothing to do with whatever Wander was up to, thanks but no, washing my hands of this, have a nice day.
The Pale King was not so dismissive. "Oh look! Little Wander, what are you up to now?"
Ghost had freaked out before, but now they absolutely FREAKED OUT when the Pale King began approaching their hiding place. In a flash they had bolted to a bush a few paces away as they desperately tried to stay hidden. Ghost could hide in the shadows, but the Pale King's glow would banish any and all natural darkness, exposing Ghost's unnatural form. Wander watched the king approach, going very still. The Pale King went to Ghost's last hiding spot, investigating it. "Is there something you wanted to show me, little Wander?"
Wander paused. They looked at the new bush Ghost was under, held up another stone, and threw it at Ghost once more as the eldest sibling shrieked blue bloody murder in Wander's inner ears.
It. was. GLORIOUS.
The same song and danced happened at least three more times. Ghost began to run out of convenient bushes or other plants to hide under. The Pale King looked a little perplexed after the second bush yielded nothing, seemingly confused about which locations Wander would lead him to, so Wander would clap at him happily whenever he got it right. The Pale King was also taking longer and longer to investigate each spot however, humming and hawwing loudly. "Oh, I wonder, maybe it is under THIS one this time! Is it, little Wander? Is the thing here?" Wander couldn't figure out why their father was making such a spectacle of the search, but whatever. It was fun! Eventually Ghost had been backed into a corner, and here, Wander paused, stone in hand. Not only were they a far way aways from Wander now, perhaps too far to throw a stone, Ghost was actually beginning to get scared in the not-fun sort of way. Not only that, there was nowhere left to run. Herrah was watching like a sentinel, her mandibles clacking in amusement under her mask. If Wander threw the stone now, it was very likely Ghost would be found.
Wander paused. They thought for a moment. And then they threw the stone away from Ghost, into the clearing at the center of the garden. It landed with a rustle of grass not far from the table where Herrah sat.
"Oh, over there now, is it? My my." The Pale King trotted leisurely to the spot, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. He stooped down and picked up the stone, Herrah watching him, as Ghost made a breakaway back to one of the original bushes. Wander threw stones at the bush again, because now Ghost had an escape route, and trapping them when they didn't have an escape would have made the game very unfair. Not fair was not fun, after all. This time, however, the Pale King did not go to the spot. "Oh dear," he began, stretching out to his full height "I'm rather tired now. My apologies little Wander, it got away from me, I guess." Wander's father then meandered back to the table where Herrah sat delightedly sipping her tea. Wander tried to throw a few more stones to get his attention again, but no luck. Even worse, Wander realized, they only had a half-dozen stones left!
Wander pouted, realizing that the jig was up unless they wanted to waste their last precious pieces of ammo. Ghost, meanwhile, sent both a sigh of relief and a warning. "You are in SO much trouble when I get up there," they grumbled, unheard by anyone but Wander.
"Then come get me!" Wander yelled happily at them, not bothering to hide their void-borne call. Hallow overheard and gave them The Look, one they had perfected from watching their father. Hallow clearly felt that they were being a little bit childish and unruly. Wander respected this sentiment by ignoring it entirely, instead, dashing away so that Ghost could follow. "Hey Hallow! Come up here and play tag, too!"
Hallow did the non-physical version of blinking slowly, then sent a, "No thanks. I'm good," through the void in response. Wander sent them a whiff of disappointment before they kept running away, entirely sure Ghost was going to follow them now that their mood for spying had been soured. Hallow was the one sibling they really, really wished would believe them about Ghost existing, because Hallow was their next-favourite sibling next to Ghost... but, oh well. One thing at a time. Getting Hallow to play at all was hard enough!
Wander ducked and dodged and snuck their way out of sight. The retainers had long ago given up on keeping tabs on Wander. No doubt they all thought someone else was keeping an eye on them, as was the case with their other siblings. But Nope! Wander could out-sneak and escape them all!
All but one.
Ghost pounced on them. Little Wander was gently bowled over by a large, playful shadow that quickly dissipated back onto oblivion, the world (minus Wander) none-the-wiser about their antics. Wander giggled and squirmed happily. They sat themselves back up, looking around for their sibling. A small little tendril of shadow, like an elongated bee's antennae, began waving around on the floor. Wander immediately set to trying to catch it, even if they knew it was literally just a shadow.
"That was quite a mean little trick," Ghost warned telepathically. The shadow tendril began to form the true shape of their sibling, whose arms appeared to be crossed. Wander felt guilty for a moment. Then they stopped feeling guilty, because it was Ghost's fault for ignoring them in the first place.
"Play?" they asked with sign language, because it made Ghost happy when Wander made an effort to learn.
Even as little more than a shadow, Ghost's eight-eyed eye roll was all but audible. A good-natured aura came from them all the same, filled with fondness. They stuck their arm out to the side, the shadow of their hand clearly visible.
"Play," they signed back, and Wander couldn't be happier. Ghost snuck into Wander's shadow, then immediately started to lead the younger sibling to somewhere they could cavort properly, by making Wander's shadow point the way. Wander followed diligently, because this was a tactic they'd used many times before.
Later, the retainers would all giggle to themselves about Wander's weird behaviour that day, staring down at the floor and all but running while chasing their own shadow. No one could figure out how the little vessel managed to never hit any walls, despite looking straight down...