Quirrel dropped into his seat at the meeting table with a sigh. Honestly, there was a part of him that almost wished that he had ended his life at the Blue Lake, simply so that he would have never had to do all this work!

It was a joke in poor taste, but Quirrel couldn't find it within himself to care. As one of the appointed leaders of this new Hallownest, Quirrel was constantly looked to for answers, guidance, and leadership. Some bugs couldn't move their legs without asking him how, it seemed; others wanted to go their own way and make changes that would run counter to all the work that Quirrel was doing, and he had to set them straight. Why, one turn of the burning orb ago, a former noble had tried to convince some of the bugs in Dirtmouth to invade their hy'leen neighbors!

Ridiculous and idiotic. Such actions could easily spark a war, and that was something they did not need right now (or ever). Quirrel hoped the harsh berating he had given the noble and the listening bugs had dissuaded them properly. If not, and they attempted something...well, Hornet did not strike him as someone who would be overly merciful to traitors.

A banging sound brought Quirrel out of his thoughts, and he straightened up in his chair. The meeting had begun.

Ogrim, who had been the one banging on the table to get everyone's attention, nodded and said "Very good. My Queen, your council stands at the ready."

"Thank you Ogrim. Your words actually remind me of something that I wanted to address," Hornet paused, then said, "I never officially asked if any of you actually wanted to be part of my council. I ordered Elderbug to join, partially in jest, but I have since realized that...I want these positions to be voluntary. I do not wish to force any of you to assist me if you do not wish to. And so...the first order of business of this session, is that I ask each of you: Do you wish to continue in these roles in a more official capacity, or do you wish for me to look for another to take your place?"

There was silence around the table at this as bugs thought about the question, but only for a moment. Ogrim, as expected, was the first to speak.

"My Queen, I served your father faithfully, and I wish to serve you as well until my dying breath. I will not abandon the duty that you have given to me!"

Hornet chittered in amusement and said "I didn't want to speak for you Ogrim, but yes, I expected that."

Elderbug was the next to speak, saying "I was unsure of my ability at first...and I still am. But, you wanted me to be on this council, and I cannot deny that I have been able to help the bugs that you placed under my command, and bring new life to Dirtmouth. I do not think I wish to serve until my dying breath...but until you or I can find one better suited to this position, I will stay on this council."

Hornet nodded to Elderbug, who settled back into his seat with a grunt, his ever-present pale flower clutches tightly in his claws. Cornifer and Iselda, who had been discussing in low tones, piped up soon after.

"We have been enjoying exploring this new land, and we have similar sentiments to Elderbug," said Iselda, "I do not wish for us to serve in this position until we grow old and withered, but the work we are doing now is important. We will stay."

Finally, it was Quirrel's turn.

"I confess...I did not want to hold this position when it was given to me. I still do not. I never wished to be a leader, I am more comfortable in a dusty archive or a forgotten cave. I am meant for scholarly pursuits. Sometime in the future, I do not know when, I will want another to take my place...but, not yet. Monomon did everything in her power to ensure Hallownest's salvation. I cannot dishonor her memory by abandoning it in it's time of need."

Quirrel looked directly at Hornet and said "I will stay on the Council."

An invisible weight seemed to drop from Hornet, and she sat up rigidly.

"Excellent. We can bestow official titles later. For now, thank you all, and let us move on to the next topic. In this new land, it seems, most if not all of the sapient beings live aboveground. Before, Hallownest had no need for a large opening to the surface, as the only import from the surface was the occasional traveler from the wastes. However...that is no longer the case; I am quite certain that it would be beneficial to the future of the kingdom if we had a much larger surface entrance to Hallownest. What are your thoughts on this?"

As the room descended into discussion, Quirrel felt a tap on his thorax. Turning, he beheld a timid looking beetle.

"Oh...yes?" asked Quirrel.

"I am terribly sorry to disturb you sir, Quirrel, but umm...your child is trying to set one of the former nobles on fire."

Quirrel let a breathy sigh out of his spiracles and excused himself. He supposed he should put a stop to that.

. . .

Once again, they were back on the road. Not that Zelda minded terribly. After a century of imprisonment, she appreciated the opportunity to roam the countryside.

The departure from Zora's Domain had been warm, but understated. King Dorephan, mindful of the grudges some Zora bore towards Zelda, had sent them off early in the morning with no pomp or circumstance, instead simply bidding her farewell and telling his son to look out for her.

The trip back down Zora River had been uneventful. They'd spent the night at Inogo Bridge, woke the next morning, and reclaimed their horses. Several hours of riding later, and here they were. A single day's travel away from this kingdom of bugs. If all went well, they'd arrive at the Torin Wetlands tomorrow at noon.

Zelda found the prospect exciting and alarming in equal measure. The scholar in her leapt for joy at the opportunity to study an entire new race and culture, one that had a unique system of practicing magic if the charms were anything to go by. The diplomat in her was cautiously optimistic that these bugs could become an ally of Hyrule. And the rest of her was just full of fear...so much fear...fear of war, fear of evil, fear of the unknown. She could scarcely bear it sometimes, the questions that kept her up at night. There were too many things that she didn't know, too many–

A hand on her shoulder stopped her swirling thoughts. Zelda looked over to see that Link had guided his horse to ride next to her, and reached over to check on her, a concerned look on his face.

"Oh! I'm fine, just...you know that I can't help but think sometimes. Too much. I...thank you, but I really am fine." Zelda said, trying to brush his concern off.

Link gave her a look, but he released her shoulder and moved his horse away. Zelda sighed and resolved to corral her thoughts, if only to prevent another situation like the one that had just occurred.

Thankfully, her embarrassment was interrupted by a fork in the road, and three travelers coming down from the Death Mountain side of the fork.

Link made a surprised noise and spurred his horse forwards. Zelda, knowing that he could handle himself but curious about who could cause such a reaction, spurred her own horse into a canter to follow.

It didn't take them long to reach the travelers; two Rito and a Goron, ones that Link seemed to be familiar with, going by the grin he had as he signed at them.

"Why don't you introduce us, Link?"

{Of course. This is Yunobo, this is Teba, and this is Harth. And this is Princess Zelda} Link signed, pointing at each of them in turn. Zelda studied them as they bowed to her, taking note of the royal blue bandanna around Yunobo's neck.

"Yunobo...pray tell, you wouldn't happen to be related to the former Goron Champion Daruk, would you?" Zelda asked.

Yunobo jerked his head up to Zelda and he gave her a nervous smile.

"Yeah! He was m-my ancestor...uh, y-your magresy. I mean uh! Your gravesty! Oh, boulders and bedlam..."

Zelda giggled behind her hand, then she said "There's no need to stand on ceremony with me, Yunobo. Just Zelda is fine. Are the three of you heading to Tarrey Town and Dirtmouth as well?"

Teba nodded, eyes studying Zelda.

"We would have been there days ago, but first we made a stop-over at Hyrule Castle, then we ran into Yunobo, who was being chased by some kind of giant centipede. We scared it off, but it didn't feel right to leave him on his own. Not when that thing is still out there."

Zelda raised her eyebrows in concern, then she looked at Link, then back at the trio of travelers.

"A centipede? One that came from the bug kingdom?"

"I mean...where else would it have come from?" said Harth.

Zelda nodded absently.

"If this giant centipede indeed came from Hallownest...the kingdom may be much larger than we anticipated. It could extend miles away from the Torin Wetlands…" Zelda muttered, then shook her head and said, "But that isn't important right now. Have you sensed the centipede since it attacked you the first time, Yunobo?"

The Goron shook his head.

"No, I don't know where it went. I hope i-it's not attacking anyone else, it was terrifying!"

. . .

Elsewhere, a Yiga Blademaster yelled in panic as another Yiga footsoldier was swallowed whole by the horrific insectoid monster.

"Kill it! Kill it!"

The small group of Yiga, who had been camping on the road up to Akkala to ambush Princess Zelda when she and the bastard Link crossed their path, scattered. At this rate, none of them would be left alive by the time the Princess came through.

The Yiga Blademaster looked up to see the maw of the beast bearing down towards him, and he activated a dozen explosive seals with grim purpose.

"For Ganon!"

The jaws closed over him, and in the darkness, the Yiga Blademaster smiled one final time before light and fire consumed him.

. . .

Zelda shrugged.

"Well, if it bothers us, Yunobo should be able to sense it before it attacks, and then Link can handle it. No use worrying about something that's out of our hands...anyways. If the three of you are traveling in the same direction as we are, do you wish to join us? I'd very much like to hear about how you met Link."

The two Rito discussed in low tones before they nodded in assent, while Yunobo simply looked relieved to have more companions.

Fyson landed near Harth and soon was embroiled in a conversation with the dark-feathered archer, while Teba was the first to offer up his story to Zelda.

"I guess I'll start with my own story. I was born in Rito village, and I grew up hearing stories about Champion Revali. I wanted to become the best warrior or the Rito, just like he was, and after many years of practice, I was recognized as such, alongside Harth over here. Then Vah Medoh started acting up in the beginning of spring, and so…"

. . .

Hollow moved through the village of Dirtmouth. There was an air of tension among the bugs who lived there. The sky, which was usually blue as lifeblood, was now full of grey and foreboding clouds. Some unexplained energy, along with a distant rumbling sound and flashes of light, had set every bug on edge.

They didn't like it. Was this an attack of some kind? They weren't sure. They needed to ask a hy'leen. But the closest hy'leen were in Tarreh T'aoun.

...wait. Hadn't they heard about a strange hy'leen living in Dirtmouth? They should find them. Perhaps the strange hy'leen would know why the sky had changed.

It took them some time, but eventually they found themselves in front of the home of the bug Bretta, who was allowing the hy'leen to live with her. The presence of the foreign being was apparently quite the source of gossip among those in Dirtmouth. Theories on why the hy'leen was there ranged from Bretta keeping them as a pet, to an interspecies romance, to Bretta raising them as an experimental food source.

Hollow didn't care about any of that gossip though. They simply knocked on Bretta's door and waited.

When the door remained closed for several moments, Hollow knocked again. After waiting for some time again, the door finally opened a crack, and they could see the eye of a beetle that he presumed to be Bretta.

"Y-yes?"

Hollow looked down at Bretta and considered whether or not to use Voidspeech. This beetle looked like the shy sort, and their 'voice' was somewhat frightening to those that weren't used to it.

However, it turned out that they didn't need to speak at all, as the next moment, the door was swung wide open, and Hollow beheld the hy'leen they were after.

"Ohai! Ah...what can...I do you!"

Hollow felt an emotion that they tentatively labelled shock. Amazing, this hy'leen already knew a smattering of the Hallowtongue, and in such a short time as well! They'd need to tell Sibling Hornet about this. But first, Hollow pointed at the sky.

Bretta and the hy'leen looked outside. Bretta released a confused scent.

"The sky looks like it was back in...back before we came to Hy-rule. I didn't know it could look like that here. But what's the matter though?"

Hollow looked on as Bretta and the hy'leen communicated through a combination of Hallowtongue, the hy'leen language, and body language. Hollow did note that Bretta did not use scent-speak, and resolved to tell Sibling Hornet about that as well.

Eventually, Bretta turned her attention back to Hollow and said "O-oh, Beedle says it's about to rain, like it does in the City of Tears. And that there may be some...hot fire from the sky? But he says that bugs should stay inside. Ah...is...is that what you wanted to know?"

The Hollow Knight nodded, and they gave Beedle a shallow bow. The hy'leen made a burbling sound that wasn't too dissimilar to a chitter and he returned the bow. Hollow then turned and began striding towards the house where Sibling Hornet was holding her meeting. They had information that needed to be shared, to keep the bugs of Dirtmouth from panicking.

. . .

The sound of shuffling feet was accompanied by distant thunder as a warband of monsters crested the hill. It had taken time to regroup since the death of their lord and master, but they had managed with the help of their general. And now, they were out for blood.

The Lynel general at the head of the warband held up his fist and snarled, and the warband behind him ground to a halt. Bokoblins, Moblins, Lizalfos, Wizzrobes, and two Hinox waited patiently as the Lynel studied the town below him. He didn't remember this settlement existing in Akkala, but it wouldn't surprise him if this new village was an expansion of that one in the middle of the lake.

It mattered not. They would burn either way.

The Lynel bellowed out the order to march forwards, and the warband began to move once more. A few drops of rain pittered down as hundreds of feet stomped towards Dirtmouth.

April Fool's Omake: Hornet Deep'nest Infection Herrah Shaw

Hi my name is Hornet Deep'nest Infection Herrah Shaw and I have a pointy needle (that's how I got my name) with a long handle and white silk that I collect on a spool and solid black eyes like void tears and a lot of people tell me I look like the Hollow Knight (AN: if u don't know who they are get da hell out of here!). I'm not related to the White Lady but I wish I was because she's a major fucking hottie. I'm a spider but without the eyes or legs. I have a pale white mask. I'm also a sentinel, and I protect Hallownest from intruders like I have done for many cycles (I'm 32 in Hylian years). I'm a goth (in case you couldn't tell) and I wear mostly red. I love Bug Topic and I buy all my clothes from there. For example today I was wearing a flowy red cloak with nothing else. I was wearing no black lipstick, white foundation, black eyeliner and red eye shadow, because I'm a bug and makeup isn't something we know about. I was walking outside Dirtmouth. There was water and white stuff falling from the sky so the burning orb was blocked, which I was very happy about. A lot of former nobles stared at me. I told them to "Git Gud."

"Hey Hornet!" shouted a voice. I looked up. It was...Mantis Lord Quan!

"What's up Quan?" I asked.

"Nothing." she said rudely.

But then, I heard my friends call me and I had to go away.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading. I am happy to say that this is going to be the new format of writing for this fic...pfft, lol, ok. April Fools y'all. The real chapter will be edited into this one tomorrow.

Actual Author's Note:

Hey thanks for reading, let's talk comparative metallurgy.

So, in Hollow Knight, the only ore we know of is Pale Ore, which is very rare and only used for high quality weapons. I'm guessing that all of the other metal machines used in Hallownest are iron or steel (with other common metals).

In Zelda, we have just...a smorgasbord of mystical materials. Interestingly, in Phantom Hourglass, Link has to find three Pure Metals to forge the Phantom Sword to defeat Bellum...which kinda makes me wonder whether I should have Pale Ore also be a Hylian thing...but then that creates all sorts of linking issues, like "Why does Pale Ore exist in both verses prior to this contact". Idk man. Do y'all think I should have the LoZ side of this crossover have exclusively LoZ ore, or do you think they should have Pale Ore as well?