Location: The King's Personal Study
The Pale King's stylus scribbled furiously on yet another draft of a letter to be sent out, this one to Herra. Under normal circumstances he could have gone the rest of her life span not seeing her and would have been pleased with that state of affairs. However now was anything but normal, and he knew that they would both have to shake off their mutual dislike of each other's company for the good of both of their realms. They had already reached some level of understanding with them both attending the summit at the Hive, however grating it was for him personally to attend.
With a final stroke of the stylus the draft was done, and the Pale King took the time to read over this draft, looking for the rare but still possible spelling or grammatical mistakes he makes from time to time. The Pale King nodded to himself, 'yes this was satisfactory, finally,' the king thought to himself as he looked over to the pile of crumpled up pieces of parchment on the floor of his study, the trash bin he kept in his study had long since overflowed. Writing to one he personally did not even want to be in the presence of was difficult, luckily Hera was the only one who he needed to write to that he had such a relationship with.
The Wyrm neatly folded the letter and slid it into an envelope, and closed the letter. He grabbed for his wax stamp, some of the imported beeswax dripped on the table, the King cursed himself for his carelessness, the stuff was expensive to procure, and could only be purchased in certain quantities at any given time due to the Hive's less than open nature. Nonetheless he brought the stamp down on the envelope pressing on the closed flap, and finally lifted off, leaving a wax Royal Hallownest insignia on the envelope.
He put the letter on the designated completed pile, and rubbed his eyes. That was most of them complete, and only one left to make. He had briefly considered making an invitation to the Shade Lord, but decided against it almost immediately. He did not wish to crash diplomatic relations with the tall beings for nothing. The Shade Lord held little concept of diplomacy, after all why would it? It was the most powerful being around and did not wish to rule a kingdom, the only thing that appeared to get it to care about its outside surroundings were the new arrivals, and his… tinkering with the void.
No, the Shade Lord could very well instigate a war between the tall beings and Hallownest, and should be kept as far away from this event as possible, for the continuation of Hallownest's prosperity… and the prosperity of the tall ones. He did not wish to for another rampage from the metal giant, and the Tall One's likely do not want another one of theirs kidnapped, he hoped they shared such a mutual understanding.
The last one on his list to write to was not the Lord of Shades, but his root, the White Lady herself. This letter would be… challenging, as his root had been distant from him ever since their disagreement over what to do with her 'children'. In truth, he did not know where to start in requesting her presence, would she even trust him? He didn't know, and he did not truly wish to know what her reaction would be, he'd rather keep it in blissful ambiguity, though he no longer had the luxury of staving off an answer he may not wish to hear.
The various realms of the land of Hallownest, not just the kingdom the bore the name of the land, but the entire land, and all it's kingdoms must meet the tall beings as a united front. Show them a cohesive whole that is more worth being amicable towards than belligerent, and having the various gods and rulers of the land join him in this effort would be a crucial step.
Uun was unlikely to heed the invite, though he did write here one, though he believed he could justify her absence as he has mostly retreated in on herself, she was a near non entity outside her personal dwellings.
Vespa couldn't show up due to her being too large to fit through the entrances and exits of the Hive, though she would likely send a trusted representative like she does with all diplomatic overtures to the other realms in Hallownest.
And then of course was his root, and having her be absent would have three gods not show up to the summit. Uun was an isolationist who was easy to forget existed for even the well read in Hallownest. Vespa sending a representative because she is physically unable to attend wouldn't be too difficult to explain while still keeping the look of unity.
However if his root did not show… it would cause a question in how united this coalition really is. Her being his mate, and showing such derision towards him would lead to questions about the stability of Hallownest itself. The Kingdom of Hallownest, like it's name would suggest, is the largest kingdom in the whole land of Hallownest, it showing such critical instability as to have it's two monarchs be in feud with each other, beyond being an embarrassment, would outwardly show incredible weakness. Weakness they could not afford to show to such unknowable and as seen with the metal giant, a very mighty outside force.
Dryya had informed him that the Queen knew of the metal giant's rampage, and he does not believe her to be a liar, even if she does have distaste for him. So the Queen would at least not take his urgency as a lie, she would know what kind of danger the taller beings posed. However she may have different ideas on how to approach them, which could cause a division.
In any event, he needed to secure her cooperation on this matter, and leaving a good impression would be a vital step in doing so. The question was how? How could he possibly make a good new impression that would get her to look past their differences? Should he write with his heart? Or would that look too sappy and desperate? Should he write with logic and the facts as they are? Or would that come off as too cold after so long of being apart?
He didn't know, and it felt like his kingdom's fate was being balanced on a nail's edge over how he writes this missive. He wasn't even sure if there was a right way to write it, if anything could convince his root to help him. After all, the last time she helped him, the abyss gained new flooring, and while he personally couldn't understand her attachment to the vessels, that even did put her in a heightened state of emotional distress. She probably would associate any new request of assistance as another possible repeat of what she saw as loss. Perhaps it was best to just avoid the whole incident all together, and just start preparing on what to do without her.
'Why reopen old wounds?' the Pale King thought to himself, why get an answer he didn't want to know?
Thump thump thump
The Wyrm tore himself away from his thoughts as he heard the sound of knocking on the door to his study.
He sighed to himself, he had told the retainers not to trouble him while he wrote the invitations unless it was absolutely necessary. Though in truth he wasn't confident that they would make good judgements on what was and was not necessary. Retainers had come to him about forty three times now, with 'sightings' of the metal giant, each time absolutely certain that it had returned, only for it to have been a case of a bug who lived outside the city mistaking a great sentry for the description of the metal giant. A few times it was a miner bug new to the crystal peak mines, who happened upon one of his failed experimental mining automatons. The automatons were an attempt at mimicking constructs left by the ancients he had come across in his journeys, though of course, he never managed to figure out how to make it work.
The Pale King's steps clacked on the metal floor as he made his way towards the door.
He had so far been tolerant of the constant shouting of the false alarm, as the hysteria surrounding the metal giant was great. He couldn't blame the common bug, or even those of the nobility for their fears. Though he had to admit it had become quite the annoyance.
The Wyrm pulled the door open, and…
Soft blue eyes stared directly down at his own, as he stood there, speechless, unable to speak.
"Much time has passed… Wyrm" The White Lady stated in her smooth voice.
"I-, I- uh, my, er" the Pale King stumbled over his words as his root stood tall before him, the branches on her head were neatly arranged.
The white lady sighed and gently pushed passed the king who moved out of the way of the much larger god, never taking his eyes off of her, the White Lady's robes swaying elegantly as she invited herself into the study. One of the Lady's many roots uncurled itself, latching onto the door, and closed it behind her, before returning to its previous position on her head.
The Queen of Hallownest continued moving forward until she reached the center of the study, the room being built with specifications to fit her massive frame. She stood there in silence for a few moments, her back turned to the Pale King, who just started, still struggling to think of the right things to say.
"W-what, uh, what brings you here root?" The Pale King stuttered slightly. That was an appropriate question to ask right?
The White Lady turned towards the wyrm, her robes shifting with her, shining blue eyes piercing his.
"Dryya informed me of your plan" The White Lady said softly, though still loud enough for the Pale Wyrm to hear.
"So… Do you agree to take part?" The Pale King asked unsurely.
"If you believe that I would let the tragedy of my children lead to more tragedy, you must think so little of me" The White Lady said, her roots swaying slightly.
"That's not what I-" The Wyrm stopped mid sentence, and sighed. "What is your view on the current strategy?"
"It…" The White Lady gave a tense pause. "It is not the most terrible plan you could have conceived" The White Lady said matter of factly. "But I believe it's implementation would leave much to be desired"
"What?" The Pale King asked, confused.
"I would ask that I be at the forefront of relations with the tall ones," The White Lady said, only adding to the Pale King's confusion.
"But why?" The Pale King asked, his root has never been one to care about the pursuit of power.
The White Lady gave a heavy sigh, closing her eyes for a few moments, before opening them again.
"Because you are a coward" The Root said simply.
"What?!" The Pale King said exacerbated, his ego taking a blow.
"That I had to come here due to you lacking the courage to come face me is only the start Wyrm"
"I wasn-" The Pale King began, but stopped as the White Lady raised a hand for him to be silent. She would not be fooled by his excuses.
"Every confrontation you are involved in involves you already being at a great advantage granted by your very nature of being a wyrm, and a god" The White Lady's voice became less cordial as she walked towards the Pale King, her massive form towering over him with her eyes narrowed judgmentally. "The only time you have ever had to face one who was not so woefully underpowered compared to yourself, you attempted to use the power of another god to defeat her! The atrocity you inflicted on my children I cannot forgive, though their pain eventually brought the Shade Lord to undo many of the messes you created." The White Lady was standing over the Pale King who was backed into a corner.
"Every time you enter any form of confrontation, you feel you must be in total control, and if you're not, you do everything in your power to make yourself feel as though you do, even to your own detriment! You have mistaken your near invulnerability as bravery and savviness! Tell me Wyrm, what would happen if the tall ones had more metal giants? What then? What would they do when you inevitably turn your coalition into a nail pointed at them, and you aren't as invincible as you are used to being?"
"That was never my intention!" The Pale King yelled up at her.
"And I believe you Wyrm, I truly do, I do not believe you to do things intentionally malicious or needlessly violent. However you are unable to work with those that are your equal, I can still see the faint crack marks of where that giant hit you."
The Pale king grumbled slightly.
"Your coalition would turn from a united friendly greeting into a threat the moment the tall beings did not concede to you. This is why I ask that I take charge of these relations, so that the friendly greeting can turn into dialogue, and not violence brought on by paranoia."
The Pale King's head lowered "Very well My Root, I leave it to you" The Pale King said quietly, the shame evident in his voice.
The White Lady lowered herself into a sitting position, still towering over the Pale King, but not as much as before.
"I am glad you have seen the reason in my words Wyrm, I didn't do it to insult you, only to explain it in a way you would understand"
The Pale King nodded silently.
The White Lady stood once more, and made her way to the entrance. As she opened the door, she took one last look at the king that was once her Wyrm. "Farewell" She said in her soft voice, before closing the door behind her, leaving the King alone with his thoughts and crumpled papers.