The Queen's Gardens. Hornet had visited the White Lady's demesne quite often during her youth, but seldom since the fall of the kingdom. Speaking to the White Lady had never served much purpose, beyond making her angry; their meetings always seemed to end with Hornet shouting at the Queen and leaving in a huff.
But, with everything that had happened...she owed it to Hollow to take them to meet with the White Lady, and she wanted to know if the Queen had any insight into the event that transported them. As a Higher Being, one who was tied directly to Hallownest's citizens and Hallownest itself, the White Lady would know much more about the event than anyone else, aside from perhaps her Sibling in the Abyss.
Also, a vindictive part of Hornet wanted to hear the White Lady acknowledge her as the new Queen, and to acknowledge her fault to Hollow themself.
With that thought, Hornet looked at her elder sibling as the two of them passed through the Queen's Gardens. They ducked underneath a low overhang, their horns almost scraping the ceiling.
"Hollow...do you…" Hornet paused, then said, "Are you nervous? Do you want to...not meet with her?"
Hollow looked at her, but she felt no Voidspeech in the back of her mind. Instead, Hollow turned away and continued walking, and Hornet left them to their thoughts. She wouldn't force the issue. When Hollow had agreed to come along, perhaps she should have anticipated that they would have mixed feelings about the White Lady, now that they allowed themself to have feelings at all.
She had so many things on her mind lately, it was hard to keep track of them all. Perhaps she should request a bug to help keep her schedule and tasks organized.
In silence, the pair passed through the Queen's Gardens until they reached the White Lady's personal conservatory, where they stopped. Evidence of a great battle was strewn throughout the old greenhouse; deep slashes on the walls, cracked floor tiles, and two corpses. One of a large mantis, and one of a curious and foreign looking bug that looked vaguely familiar. Wracking her brain, Hornet remembered her; a traveler that had slipped past her guard somehow, one she'd seen with the little Knight on occasion. Hornet picked up a carven sigil off of the thorax of the mantis.
"The mantis traitors penetrated deeper than I thought they would…"
Hollow said nothing, but after looking over the bodies, they began moving swiftly towards the mound where the White Lady dwelled. Hornet followed after, and she took note of the many mantis corpses, as well as the body of Dryya, who had been alive the last time she'd seen her. The branches of the White Lady that poked out of the mound still glowed with ethereal light, though, so Hornet knew that she yet lived.
"This must have happened recently...Dryya hasn't even begun to decompose."
Hollow looked down at Dryya, and they scooped the bug up in their claws.
[S̵̝͝a̷̡͊d̷̮̒n̷̛͇e̷͉̍s̸̠̋s̷͠ͅ.̴̫͑ ̵̧̊A̸͔͝f̶͓̈́f̴̟i̷̩͛r̷̙m̶̢̉a̷̜̿t̴̫̚ï̶͉ö̸͉́n̸̘͐.̸̯ ̷̩͋Ć̸̤o̵̼͑n̴͙͘v̷̻̐e̴͎̎ŷ̷͕:̷͓͑ ̸̫̑M̷͈ŏ̵̥ẗ̵̹́h̵̦̄ê̵͉r̷̥͐?̵͔̍ ̷͕̿K̸̢͘ñ̵̲ỏ̶̟ẁ̷͙l̸̢̉e̴̹̒d̷̘̓g̸̰̔e̸̤̓:̴̯͠ ̸̹̆D̸̙̈́r̵̮͒y̸̙̍ÿ̸̢́a̶̜̿?̶̰̉]
"...she might not know. The last time I visited, over a cycle ago, she was...distant. Slipping further and further into her memories, losing her sight. I can see no other reason why she just...left Dryya's body out here to rot."
Hollow had nothing to say to that, and Hornet didn't either, and so, the two of them moved to enter the last sanctuary of the White Lady.
There was a problem, though; Hollow was far too large to fit inside. They tried once, but not even their head was able to squeeze into the tunnel without carving furrows into the walls, and the entrance was the widest part of the interior tunnels.
"I'll go in first...she should be able to open it up for you. Just, wait here, Hollow."
Her Sibling accepted that without any response, and so Hornet moved on, alone.
It didn't take her long to reach the heart of the cocoon-like structure. Within, the White Lady slept, looking much like Hornet had last seen her. As Hornet drew closer, the White Lady stirred, and her eyes opened, though she did not look at Hornet.
"So...you've finally come to see me...and, is that...outside? I sense a presence…" The White Lady trailed off, and for the first time in many years, Hornet heard her composure break, her branches rustling in agitation.
Hornet nodded, and then realizing that the White Lady couldn't see that action, said "Yes. The Hollow Knight is outside. They wish to speak with you."
The White Lady froze, completely unmoving, before her roots exploded into motion. The walls of the cocoon shifted, creaking open further as the White Lady made a path large enough for Hollow to enter. They arrived shortly after, walking into the inner sanctum, Dryya's body held close to them.
No one spoke for a long time. The White Lady tried, but every time she did, her words trailed off before she made more than a sound. Hollow simply stood like a statue, looking at the ground, while Hornet glanced between them both. Finally, Hollow took the initiative and stepped forwards, laying Dryya upon the lap of the White Lady.
The action startled the White Lady, who reached out with her branches to feel the form upon her lap.
"Oh...Dryya. I am so sorry...you were loyal to the end. How long...has it been?" asked the White Lady quietly. She then looked at Hollow, and a branch reached out to them, though it stopped short of touching their mask.
"Hollow, I...I am also so sorry for my part in what happened. I...we...if we'd known that you weren't truly Hollow…" the White Lady paused as Hollow finally looked at them. Whatever words Hollow exchanged with their mother, Hornet wasn't privy to. She could only see the White Lady withdraw into herself, distressed, before relaxing. She saw the branch that had reached out make contact with Hollow's mask, and she saw Hollow lean into the touch.
Hornet let them have their moment in peace without interfering. Hollow deserved that much and more from her.
It was some time later that the White Lady finally turned her attention back on Hornet, though she still devoted some of her attention to Hollow, the Vessel being cradled on her lap. It seemed that Hollow had made their peace with the White Lady, if they were willing to be held by her. It was none of Hornet's business, in any case; she had other things to worry about.
"You wished to speak with me about the strange occurrence that drew Hallownest to this new world, then, Hornet?"
"Yes, I did. What do you know?" responded Hornet evenly.
"Less than you wish to know, but more than you currently do," the White Lady said, "The firmament has changed. Higher beings, by their nature, shift the world around them. To destroy that, to crush it utterly...the death of a god is no small thing. The death of two, with such oppositional natures…"
"Wait, two?" asked Hornet, confused.
"Yes...in this new land, there was another. A force of vile malice, one that I felt on our arrival. The moment, the two deaths, they were the same, and they were different. A connection was made. Hallownest's fate became intertwined with that of this land, reforging the curse that it labored under. It has become...altered."
"The curse? What's the curse?"
The White Lady shuddered.
"I do not know. I only know that there is a chain of destiny, a cycle that has repeated time and time again. We became entangled in that cycle when the Old Light died. If my Wyrm was still here, he could tell you more of the future, but…" the White Lady trailed off again, then said "I am diminished. My senses grow dimmer, and the desire to sleep takes over me. I am not the goddess I once was. Perhaps that is for the best."
Hornet hissed.
"Ah, that defeatist attitude of yours again. And here I'd thought with the end of the Infection you'd actually be willing to finally do something."
The White Lady's branches shook, and Hornet saw the Hollow Knight tilt their head at her.
"...I know you are angry with me," began the White Lady, "And I do not blame you for that. Would you truly want me to help, to have your own citizens doubt your rule for every time when I am around? No...I have accepted my mistakes, and I know I can never atone for what I did. The actions that my Wyrm and I took to save the kingdom rest with us...and that fault will die with me. I am Queen no longer."
Hornet glared up at the White Lady for a long, unbroken moment before she said "Fine. I'll fix Hallownest on my own then. I don't need your help."
The White Lady laughed gently at that, and Hornet felt boiling anger rise in her thorax.
"No...I don't suppose you do. You'll make a fine Queen, I think...she'd be proud of you, you know."
Hornet rustled her pedipalps in agitation and turned to leave.
"I'll be on my way to the Mantis Village, Hollow. Catch up with me when you're done with her...I need to go hit something that hits back."
. . .
The traveling group of Hylians had nearly reached the Inogo Bridge when they were greeted from the water by a Zora. A very familiar Zora, if Zelda wasn't mistaken.
"Prince...Sidon?" she asked, disbelieving. She'd known intellectually that Zora lived far longer than humans, and that Sidon would be all grown up, but it was one thing to know it in her mind, and quite another to see the baby brother of Mipha now grown into a statuesque Prince.
Ignorant of her inner thoughts, Sidon beamed at Zelda as he strode out of the water, watching the group as they dismounted their horses.
"Princess Zelda! Oh, joyous day! When we received your letter at the Domain, I departed immediately so that I could meet you as soon as possible. Truly, you look exactly the same as you did, 100 years ago, and it does my heart good to know that you remember me in turn."
Zelda laughed into her hand, then bowed slightly to Sidon, who returned the motion with a deeper bow, enough to show respect and deference without appearing weak. With that out of the way, Zelda held out her arms and said "Could I trouble the Prince for a hug, or is he too grown up for them now?"
Sidon looked down at her, eyes sparkling, before he swept Zelda up in an instant. She yelped, then laughed as he spun her around. Perhaps it was improper, but Zelda couldn't bring herself to care. She'd adored Sidon as a child, the few times she'd met him, and had wondered what it would be like to have siblings of her own.
After the hug was concluded, Sidon placed Zelda down gently, then he turned the full force of his attention onto Link.
"Ah, and don't think I've forgotten you my friend! It has been too long since you last visited, come, let me take a look at you. Hmm, yes, I daresay you've gotten taller, Link...or is that just the boots you're wearing. Do you want a hug as well?"
Link rolled his eyes expressively, but he held up his arms all the same. Sidon took the opportunity to grab the much smaller Hylian into a crushing hug, one with much more force than the one he'd given Zelda. Link didn't seem to mind, though, and was soon placed on the ground as well.
The Sheikah warriors introduced themselves as well (though all three declined hugs) and Zelda soon found herself speaking with Sidon as they rested on the benches of Inogo Bridge. Zora from the village of Inogo that dwelled under the bridge surfaced as well, though they kept their distance upon seeing Sidon deep in conversation.
"...and that is how Ganon was defeated. I didn't want to burden the outgoing letters with excessive details," finished Zelda.
Sidon nodded and said "So, now you travel to Zora's Domain, and you wish to arrange to have some of my people ferry you upstream? I would be honored to carry you, you highness."
Zelda coughed and waved her hands in the air.
"Oh, you don't have to do that, I'm perfectly fine being carried by another Zora, Prince Sidon!"
Sidon hummed, then shrugged.
"Well, I won't force you, but I have to head back anyways. You're not any larger than Link, and I carried Link with little effort for nearly an hour."
Zelda raised a finger, paused, and turned to her bodyguard, who nodded and shrugged.
"Well...if you see no harm in it. How soon do you want to depart?"
. . .
"SHAW!"
Hornet threw her needle forwards, the tip sailing past Quan. The youngest of the Mantis Lords grabbed the attached thread, and pulled on it, hard. Hornet found herself unbalanced, and she was forced to let go of her primary weapon.
With her needle gone, the battle didn't last long. Hornet was soon pinned to the ground under Quan, the mantises own needle pointing at her mask.
"Yield."
Hornet hissed, but she yielded all the same. Quan looked at her for a long moment, then moved off of her.
"You know, I was surprised when you came into the village and requested to duel with me. I thought...well...but you do not fight as you did last time. You were sloppy, unfocused. Consumed by anger, easily defeated." Quan spun her needle around until the tip pointed at the ground. She stabbed her needle into the dirt, then sat down and said "Come, sit. Something has happened in the short time since you departed."
Hornet did not come and sit, instead choosing to pace while keeping a hold on her needle.
"What's it to you, what do you care? It's not like the mantis ever gave two shits about the rest of the kingdom."
The scent coming from Quan indicated anger, but only for a moment. The scent that followed was...curiosity? Hornet hadn't spent enough time around mantis to recognize their more subtle pheromones.
"I didn't ask about the kingdom, I asked about you. Is this why you're upset? Did something already go wrong with the rebuilding efforts?"
Hornet hissed again, and she pointed her needle at Quan.
"And what if something did, huh, are you gonna abandon your promise? Are you going to back out of our agreement at the first sign of trouble, folding like wet silkpaper?"
The scent of anger returned, and this time it did not go away. Hornet found her mask tilted up by Quan's needle, the tip still coated in dirt from where it had been stabbed just moments before.
"Never question my honor or the honor of the mantis if you wish to continue living, Princess."
"...Queen."
"...what?"
"I'm the Queen. I...went to go see the White Lady. She officially renounced any claim she may have had to the throne." Hornet said, letting out a gusty breath through her spiracles.
The tip of Quan's needle moved away from her, and Hornet saw the mantis tilt her head.
"And this...angers you?"
"Yes!" shouted Hornet, "No!...I don't know. I think...I...it's complicated."
Quan chittered, her previous anger seemingly forgotten.
"Indeed it must be, if it has you all twisted up in knots like a drunken Garpede. So, like I said before. Come, sit. Perhaps I can offer counsel."
Hornet looked at the much taller mantis, and after a moment of consideration, sat down beside her. Quan looked at her, patiently waiting for Hornet to start.
"When the Kingdom fell, and the Infection escaped for a second time...I wasn't scared. I knew that the Infection was bad, but it had been contained the first time. Surely my father would work just as hard to contain it again? Surely there was something that he could do, something the White Lady could do, something…" Hornet shook her head and said "But they did nothing. My Father fled, locking himself in the White Palace, even going so far as to seal it within a dream. The White Lady fled as well, shutting herself within the Queen's Gardens, binding herself to 'prevent from spreading her seed'. They abandoned the kingdom to die."
"And you stayed behind." Quan asked, voice level.
"Yes. I was scared when I realized that they would do nothing...but I was also angry. When the Pale King asked me to come with him, I yelled and screamed and ran away from the White Palace. When the White Lady spoke to me of her decision, it filled me with such rage. How...how dare they. They stood on the empty shells of untold numbers of my siblings, and when their plan failed, they gave up. And I was the only one left who seemed to care."
Hornet looked down at her claws and continued, "I thought...maybe now that the little Knight had done the impossible and defeated the Old Light, maybe the White Lady would finally do something. Anything at all to aid the bugs of Hallownest. Anything to atone for the atrocity that she allowed, that she partook in. But no. She wants to die. She welcomes it. She even seemed proud of me, that I would take up the mantle in her stead."
Quan nodded once, and said, "I can see why that would fill you with wrath. I too would be angered if one whom I shared blood with stooped to such cowardice...at least when Gou accepted the Old Light, he did it for power."
Hornet looked up at that and responded "Oh...speaking of. I found the corpses of many of the traitors near the White Lady's self-imposed prison. One of them was wearing this."
Hornet handed Quan the sigil. The Mantis Lord looked it over, gently holding it in her claws.
"Then Gou is truly dead…"
"Oh...my condolences."
"No need. My only regret is that I wasn't able to kill him myself."
Hornet chittered, then resumed speaking.
"I apologize for my words and actions earlier. My visit to the White Lady...unbalanced me. It will not happen again."
Quan gave Hornet, a long look, then she shook her head.
"It will. Do not hamper yourself with unrealistic expectations. You are a ruler, not a god. You will make mistakes. You will get angry. The important thing is that you don't allow yourself to give up. That which does not bend will shatter if pushed too hard. To feel is not weakness; the truest weakness is to betray yourself."
Hornet gave Quan a long look in turn, then she nodded.
"I accept your wise words, Quan. Thank you for giving me counsel in my time of need. I will not forget this."
The Mantis Lord looked away, and Hornet caught a whiff of other pheremones that she didn't recognize.
"Ah...good. That is...good, yes. Ah...so...do you intend to stay in the Village much longer?"
Hornet shook her head and said "No. As soon as Hollow arrives, we will depart to the Ancient Basin, and then to the Abyss. Then–oh, that's Hollow right there."
Hornet stood up, and gave Quan a respectful nod. She didn't want to take up any more of the mantises time than she already had.
Omake: Two Poor Yiga
Musa and Basjoo, the Yiga clan assassins who had been sent to investigate this new bug kingdom, crept through humid groves of mushrooms. Entering the bug kingdom unnoticed had been child's play, the well entrance not even having a posted guard. Once inside, they had navigated their way through a crossroads of some kind using a stolen map, and had eventually entered this fungal area.
"I still think we should have taken another route to get to the main city. They have elevators on that map, I think." said Musa.
Basjoo grunted and said "Stealth is key though. We need to report back to Master Sooga with the bugs none the wiser. And if any see us while we're in here..."
"Yeah, yeah, slit their throats...or whatever it is that keeps them alive. Stab them until they die. Drown them. Hey, do you think poison would work?"
"Shhh, we're trying to be stealthy, dumbass!"
They resumed their movements in silence. After several minutes of peace and quiet, Musa signalled Basjoo to get down, and the two of them witnessed a parade of...sentient mushrooms?
Yes, there was a long line of...what looked like...honest-to-Ganon mushroom people walking down a path in the center of the cavern. Once they were past, Basjoo and Musa turned to each other.
"...ok, so this place is extra weird."
A rustling behind them cut off any further conversation, and both Yiga immediately drew their sickles.
What stumbled out of the fungal overgrowth was what seemed to be a tiny mushroom child, which immeditaly froze upon seeing them. Small and defenseless, it must have strayed off the beaten path and gotten lost. Basjoo looked at Musa and gestured at it.
"You want this one?"
Musa shrugged and walked up to the tiny mushroom.
"No hard feelings kid, but we can't leave any witnesses behind."
With those words, Musa drove the point of his sickle into the mushroom's body. White fluid gushed out of the impact point. Musa sawed the sickle back and forth, trying to kill it quickly.
"Damn it, stupid...why aren't you dying?"
"INTRUDER."
The single word echoed across the fungal jungle, and both Yiga froze.
"What the hell, what was that?"
"CAN YOU FEEL YOUR HEART BURNING?"
The two Yiga became aware of the stamping of many stubby limbs.
"CAN YOU FEEL THE STRUGGLE WITHIN?"
Hundreds of eyes lit up the cavern, glowing noxious yellow, as all of the mushrooms spoke in one vast and terrible voice.
"THE FEAR WITHIN US IS BEYOND ANYTHING YOUR SOULS CAN MAKE."
The tiny child twisted around, seemingly uncaring of the blade stuck inside of it's body A tiny mouth opened, and Musa could see that it was full of bubbling acid. The other mushrooms around them did the same.
"YOU CANNOT KILL US IN A WAY THAT MATTERS."
The screams of the Yiga echoed throughout the Fungal Wastes.
Author's Notes:
I had to rewrite portions of this chapter because I wasn't sure about them, and I'm still not sure about them, but that's the struggle of being a writer, right? Ah well. Hope all you dudes enjoy.