Since the royal visit the entire territory of Fog Canyon and the Fungal Caverns had taken on something of a magical vibration. Those who had seen the king, especially up close, were still energized by the experience. Not only that, the king had declared the area as the perfect site for a Stagway station. The chosen location would be near both the city and the entrance to the Fungal Cavern. Bugs from all across Hallownest who wished to learn from the Archive wouldn't have to take a lengthy pilgrimage to do so.
Once the tour across his kingdom was over the king had retraced his steps, making a quick pass through again. A proclamation was made how he was pleased with the swift progress and it would be known as the Queen's Station, in honor of his beloved. Needless to say, living and working in the area was a wonderful and exciting time.
For Lucan and Duva though, it was coming to an end. There was no sadness except leaving the bugs they had befriended or grew fond of. They were on the threshold of a new and surely exciting chapter. Hallowcrest! The Weeping City! Second in size and grandeur only to the Palace itself. Before they left, Lucan volunteered to the base commanders to scout the territory between Fog Canyon and Hallowcrest. All officers were required to be on rotations for safety patrols anyway. Lucan was going to be on the move so why not get two vengeflies with one stroke?
The bulk of their possessions were shipped ahead of them while Lucan and Duva took the slower route. Though technically on duty every minute of the journey, it felt good to have lengthy alone time with his wife. Open road travel put a special flutter in Duva's step. Growing up on the move was a great teacher for wilderness survival. Her troupe family had to know how to live, eat, drink, sleep and stay safe using whatever was around when they camped. Putting those skills to use again did her heart good.
It was also on that journey their lives changed again.
With only a quarter of the way left to go Lucan and Duva were surprised to come upon a traveling performing troupe. It was not Duva's family. In fact, it was unlike any of the carnival families she'd ever met. The colors were all kinds of ominous reds and blacks with crimson torches lit in elegant sconces. It didn't take Duva much effort to convince her husband they should see the show.
Every performer was colored or dressed in the same reds and blacks. The cast and crews were mostly bugs. Some were sporefolk. Others...neither of them were exactly sure. Either way they had great talent, if not for an odd eeriness about them. After the main show the public was welcome to roam a series of stalls and opened tents called Entertainment Alley. There was story time, a rather creepy puppet show, mimes, prizes for children and many games of chance. The couple partook of a few and, satisfied, they made to leave,
"You are well-versed in the gypsy life of a traveling performer."
A sultry voice made them turn. It was a masked mushroom woman. She stood at the opened flap of her tent, speaking to Duva.
"How do you know that?"
"Fate and fortunes are my specialty, my dears. For a little geo I can tell you more. Perhaps I can change fate in your favor if it is within my power. And before your husband counters that I merely recognized you from a past performance, I assure you I have never laid mortal eyes on you before or have heard your lovely voice for myself. Though with the voice of pale royalty still ringing in his heart it is a wonder he can hear anything at all. Forgive me, my name is Madam Todsol.
Duva looked to her beloved, astonished. "Were you about to say that?" Her eyes widened, recognizing his kind of silence as a 'yes'.
Interested and mostly convinced (though Lucan remained wary) they entered the tent. Madam Todsol closed the flap and invited them to sit at a table in the center. The walls were lined with shelves containing scrolls, tablets and a wide assortment of odd things. They gave her the geo she asked for and she asked them to place their hands on a large polished stone on the table. She too placed a hand on the stone.
"Beetle of duty and nail. Your hopes, dreams and personal goals have mostly remained the same since before you had a shell. Your life changed the most when you met this butterfly of song and stage. Your life was rooted in the ways of the minstrel. Though adored as an artist you left that life. Since then you have seen many changes come your way and pure love abounded as the result of your choice."
Madam Todsol placed her hands atop one another. "Light shines brightly in your lives. You have purpose, love and an open heart for change. There is a corner of darkness. You wish to start a family but have not been successful."
Silent dumbfoundedness answered her report.
"Is there a way for you to see if there are children in our future?" Duva asked, completely awed.
Madam Todsol moved the large stone and laid down a tablet etched with strange markings and lettering neither of them recognized. She gave Lucan a handful of sanded wood chips and Duva stones and crystals, instructing them to drop the pieces on the tablet together. She read the results and reported the chance of conceiving a strong and healthy egg were very, very low.
"You said...you may be able to change fate?"
"Duva!" Lucan scolded. "There is no way she can possibly promise that."
"That may not be true," Madam Todsol said thoughtfully. "Please wait here. I must speak with my master."
Lucan and Duva quickly discussed and argued while she was gone. Lucan was now very suspicious. She was probably just well versed somehow with the wizardry of Soul Arts and was reading theirs and that's how she knew so much. Even if that wasn't the case, could they trust whatever magic was surely involved to make such a claim for a child? Duva couldn't disagree with any of his concerns and acknowledged they were valid. Maybe it was her desperation that made her so quick to believe in the chance. Could this be a scam? Maybe. But if a traveling troupe were to go about scamming their patrons with such big promises eventually word would get out and they would run out of places to set up in order to avoid punishment. Duva asked they at least hear her out.
Some time later Madam Todsol returned.
"Well, well, much to my surprise my master has permitted me to perform a ritual that will guarantee the next egg you lay will be fertile, strong and survive to hatching.
"Such a thing is possible?" Duva whispered.
"What's the catch?"
"Lucan! There's no need to be rude!"
"I understand your husband's skepticism and caution. This is a substantial ask of trust from a stranger. And he is right. This will not be for free. Geo will be required to compensate for the rare materials involved. For the rarest resource in the ritual the master demands you both take a vow of secrecy or there will be no arrangement at all. You will speak of this resource to no one for any reason."
Suddenly the room took on a weight and seemed to look a deeper red. Madam Todsol leaned in and spoke quietly but sternly.
"The resource of which I speak is the very heart of this troupe. Be honored my master is allowing you to use even a precious fraction. But if either of you were to abuse the trust given with this gift there will be consequences. I will have no choice but to call back the spark that gave life, even if that means into the child's breathing life. Let me assure you the thought brings me no pleasure. But my loyalty is to my master. Action will be taken if his generosity is betrayed."
The room lightened but the heaviness remained. Duva looked frightened.
"Anything else?" Lucan asked harshly.
"My master also insists on the promise of a favor."
"What kind of favor?"
Madam Todsol shrugged. "The master did not specify what or when."
"So we could be bound to a contract that could demand we commit treason or some other terrible act." Lucan said angrily.
"Highly doubtful." Madam Todsol waved her hand dismissively. "Criminal activity is of no interest or use to us. Who knows? We may never cross paths again for the contract to reach its full completion. The favor could involve something either of you could do, a useful contact you may have, or perhaps even the child when they are grown."
"The child?" Duva asked, worried. "Y-you have to promise that nothing bad will happen to them if the favor needs the child to fulfill it! That has to be part of the arrangement."
"There will be absolutely no risk of great harm or death to anyone involved in the redemption of the favor."
The tent was very quiet for several moments. Duva looked to her husband with a mix of hopeful nervousness.
Lucan sighed heavily. "The favor can only be redeemed after the child is born."
"Fair enough,"
"And if this is all one elaborate scam, you will be hunted down and arrested for fraud."
"Of that we have nothing to worry about. Shall we begin?"
Madam Todsol clapped her hands. A short circus bug entered. They drafted a contract. Wary, but desperate for a family, they signed. The bug left, only to be joined a few moments later by several others. While they were gone, Madam Todsol collected all manner of reagents from shelves, bottles and chests. In the center of the table she placed two ends of a raised stone stand and set a polished bowl atop it. The bowl looked to be made of some kind of precious gem. The outside was carved with glyphs, symbols and runes. When the other bugs entered they were robed in black. The front one carried a black bowl containing a tiny crimson flame. Unlike the outside torches this red flame had a fearful presence about it. Nothing seemed to be making it burn. The bowl that contained it had no oil or wick. The lead bug slid the flame beneath the jeweled bowl.
"Wh-what is that?" Duva breathed, sensing something unnatural about it.
"This crimson element is a breath of a fragment of what sustains this troupe. This flame and its great power are what you have sworn to never speak of in any way to anyone. As I said, there are ways to call the power back if you ever break your word. For the sake of your future child do not put me in the position where I would have to. They," Madam Todsol indicated the bugs that had lined up against the tent wall. "Will stay as witnesses and lend power to the spell. Are you ready?"
Duva took Lucan's hand and nodded. The bugs in robes began chanting something low and ominous. Madam Todsol spoke her spell in a language neither of them recognized. She recited and put in the ingredients in the gem bowl.
Though Lucan and Duva did not know all of the regents involved or their significance, there is no reason, you, dear reader cannot.
First was poured in a bottle of pure water from the Blue Lake. A sprinkle of crystal dust from the Crystal Peak. Moss from Greenpath. A strand of spider silk. A honeycomb. A drop of condensed mist from Fog Canyon. Rare fungus from the Fungal Caverns. A pebble polished smooth from the winds and sand from what would be known as the Howling Cliffs. A fragment of a mask shard from the Resting Grounds. Lastly, leaves, petals and soil from far away lands. A petal was brushed against the edge of Duva's wings until fine blue scales were rubbed off. A leaf collected the particles that fell away as Madam Todsol scraped a carved stone across a small portion of Lucan's shell.
With each ingredient the tiny crimson flame snapped and writhed dramatically. The symbols on the bowl glowed. With the final word the concoction flashed. The flame was gone. The solid ingredients had vanished. Inside the bowl the liquid whirled despite not having been stirred. At first it was thick and red. After a few seconds it faded to a light pink with the consistency of water.
The robed bugs stopped chanting.
Madam Todsol held her hand over the bowl for several seconds before declaring the ritual a success. The largest robed bugs picked up the bowl and poured its contents into a goblet and pushed it closer to Duva.
"A-and now?" Duva asked shakily.
"You must drink it. The power will rest within you, safe and strong, until you next mate. Then it will transfer to the egg. Oh, and I would expect the flame or its power to manifest in the child somehow."
"What do you mean by that?" Lucan demanded.
Madam Todsol shrugged. "Exactly as I said. Somehow."
Hands shaking, Lucan holding her shoulders, Duva took the goblet and drank. She didn't feel anything at all. The concoction didn't even taste like anything. The troupe witnesses left. Madam Todsol stood up to see them out.
"With that our business is concluded, for now. It has been a pleasure. Oh, and if you will pardon me a selfish personal request? Would you perhaps consider the name Caligo if the child is a girl? Just a thought."
She closed her tent before they could ask anything else.
The hour was now very late. Lucan and Duva made camp a distance away up a hill from the circus. For a long time they stared at their fire. Had they just fallen for an elaborate con? If not, what sort of favor would they owe one day?
The next morning every trace of the circus was gone. Lucan and Duva investigated. There were plenty of signs the area had indeed been used but nothing else. So it wasn't some freak phenomenon of a shared dream. The circus had been there. Investigating further Duva had a tiny patch of scales missing and Lucan had a very slight scrape on his shell. Why did they leave so suddenly? Did they always relocate so quickly and somehow without a trace? Or had they made tracks before patrons like them realized they'd been had?
Worried it was the latter but with no time to look into it Lucan and Duva continued on.
Yes, for the sake of a story that takes place a LONG time before the events of Hollow Knight, I renamed the City of Tears to Hallowcrest. (But the city of HallowCREST in the kingdom of HallowNEST? Kinda close, eh? Consider this, friends: New York, New York)
The friend who got me into the game suggested it since you need a city crest to get in and that it was canon the city's real name had been long forgotten.