Chapter Text
Ho-Tan found herself concerned. Though he had denied it, there was definitely something wrong with Vex during the day’s meetings - not to mention how fast he had fled the room when they had finished. It was as if somebody had lit a fire under his heels. Again. And they hadn't, she had checked for scorch marks.
She thought maybe about checking in on him, see if there was anything the matter, but as she loitered outside his bedchamber doors she suddenly couldn't bring herself to actually knock. It was strange, she still felt as comfortable and happy around the Wise Elder as she usually did, but the past few weeks it seemed harder to be in his presence. At first Ho-Tan suspected she may have developed an allergy to him, as she kept getting hot in the face and acutely aware of her limbs when he was around, but brushed that off as nonsense.
It was worrying, and she wasn't sure of what it was.
Even worse is that usually with situations such as this she would go to Vex to seek guidance and wisdom, but that's rather difficult when the issue definitely has something to do with Vex in the first place.
She'd even gone so far as to ask Flowers about it, but he just said it was to do with the “flow of the universe”, whatever that meant, and to “trust the ever tangly strings of fate” before walking off into a field. And she definitely couldn't talk to Choop or Pressley about it.
As much as she adored the both of them, they were not the most helpful when it came to this sort of thing. Not that Ho-Tan really knew what this sort of thing WAS, she just knew they wouldn't be helpful. They didn't exactly have a good track record for dispensing immediately helpful and applicable advice in the initial moment.
Also Pressley was often too drunk to form cohesive sentences in his down time. It was fairly well known that he turned to the bottle to Cope, but that didn't make it any less of an Obstacle; and Choop had a tendency to be just as much of a panicker as Ho-Tan herself, so often left to it the two of them just worked each other up.
So instead Ho-Tan has been worrying by herself in her spare time, not wanting to appear off to Vex but also unable to keep her Cool at all when around him.
She had barely been in her bed chamber a minute before there was a sudden knock on her door. After putting her robe back on her shoulders she opened it to come to the face of Pressley, nose as red as ever.
“Oh! Pressley! Can I help you with anything at all?” She asked, opening the door wide to welcome him in, kicking the pile of crumpled papers away from the desk chair.
“No no Ho-Tan, no time for a chat! We've been asked by Debbie to get some ‘Intel’ for her mission.”
“Intel? Is that a fish?”
“No, I checked, it's apparently short for ‘Intelligence’, means we have to find information for her.”
“Ah that does make more sense.” Ho-Tan grabbed her nearest book, scribbling the word and definition in for future use. She noticed halfway through that she was using the quill Vex gave her for her 30th anniversary as an Elder, and a fond smile pulled across her face. She also went all red again, which further put her allergy theory to shame. Unless she was allergic to the memory of him. Can one be allergic to a memory?
Ho-Tan was broken out of her thought spiral by a small jab on her side by Pressley’s cane, causing her to yelp and almost drop her book.
“I say, old girl keep with it! Debbie needs information on the Desert-People - “
“I thought it was the River-People?” Ho-Tan interrupted while putting her shoes back on.
“Yes well seems we got it a bit mixed around, because it's - “
“Oh yes it’s monsoon season. I'd completely forgotten that. Does make sense why there was so much wet sand.”
“Yes… Probably insensitive we made sandcastles with it, now I think of it… Anyway! Choop has assigned you and Vex down in the Archives to find the documents from when this last happened.”
Ho-Tan slowed down at the new information. It's not that she didn't want to spend time with Vex, of course not! She just… Hated having to rifle through the older Elder Scribe’s work. They had an entirely different organisation system and she'd have to rifle through millenia to find the right files. Yes that seems like the right thing to say. It was definitely Truth and not an excuse to avoid confronting what she was hoping wasn't actually a problem. However before she could open her mouth to say anything Pressley steamrolled onwards. Ho-Tan sent a quick word of thanks to Debbie for introducing such an accurate metaphor for how Pressley, and often the elders as a group, behaved. Steamrollers indeed. Ridiculous.
"Oh but uh, be careful with Vex eh? The silly fool seems to have got it into his head that he's going to slow you down and be a hindrance rather than a help. Yes yes he seems awfully Wary about the entire thing, mightily strange but there you go."
And with that, Pressley limped off, his Cape fluttering behind him as Ho-Tan stared after him, trying and spectacularly failing to come up with a response. Vex? Think himself as a hindrance? Ho-Tan knew the Wise Elder was more nervous than he let on, but self-conscious? Vex was many things but insecure about his skills was not one of them. Why on earth would he slow her down?
Ho-Tan kept the questions running around in her brain as she scuttled down to the archives, bookbag in hand carrying her sturdiest quills and parchment.
The archives were even worse than she remembered. She had to make her way through an army of spiders and their webs to even get through the door. And then when In the archives the candles all needed replacing, which Ho-Tan always found nerve wracking, being so close to so many books.
It had been almost ten minutes of Ho-Tan lighting the many candles in the Archives before she heard the door open again, followed by the ever nonsensical mumblings of Vex as he battled a new path through the spiders’ webs.
“Hello Vex! I was about to get worried - “ Ho-Tan’s voice faltered as she saw Vex. Although torches are usually what lights the corridors of the Chambers, the Archives was such a dark place, the thin, flickering candlelight cast a gentle glow. And the way it was gently lighting Vex’s face, sparkling back at her in his eyes made Ho-Tan suddenly feel like she was underwater. Whatever was happening to her was certainly very… localised. And circumstantial. To Vex.
Before she could reflect upon this feeling much further, however, she got distracted by the pallor and general expression of Vex’s face. The poor boy looked positively dreadful. Perhaps he had been feeling sick earlier and that was why he seemed so out of sorts.
“Vex?” She asked softly into the resounding silence that marked his arrival. It was most unlike the wise-elder to not have anything to say. “Are- are you alright?”
“What?” He asked, rather abruptly, “Yes of course. Yes no. yes I’m fine wh- why do you ask? I’m patently fine”
Ho-Tan stared at him. Vex had a tendency to be verbose but even for him that was bordering on nervous floundering and highly unconvincing. She stuck her lower lip out at him.
“I’m Fi n e Ho-Tan.”
She fluttered her eyelashes at him, something that she knew worked well with all the Elders, especially since Debbie had gifted her some ‘false eyelashes’ from her world and Ho-Tan learnt to not glue her eyelids shut. Combined with a casual finger twirling around her hair, Vex stood no chance.
“Are you sure? You seem awfully flushed. Is it the candles? There are quite a lot of them…” Ho-Tan suddenly became sheepish as she noticed the frankly absurd amount of candles surrounding them. There must have been almost 40 in the small archives. Surely, given that most of the archives were made of paper from the most flammable trees, that could be considered a hazard. But the last Scribe did have some vision issues. Downside of being from the Bat-lands, she supposed. Then again, the candle-light did lend a certain… something, to the- the aura… of it all… Debbie called it something once…Jay nay Say Quota?
Ho-tan’s thoughts trailed off into nothing as she stared entranced at how the flickering light and shadows danced across Vex’s face, highlighting the arch of his nose and the laugh lines around his eyes. Ho-Tan loved his laugh lines, they were evidence of a life filled with joy and light amidst the stress and peril of the times they had all lived through.
They stood in silence. Both too enraptured by the other’s face to notice time was passing around them. A candle flickered out. Ho-Tan jumped at the faint sizzle of the final ember dying, what would be seen as an overreaction by some, but Ho-Tan has always been of a slightly delicate disposition. The jolt put some of the brain cells she had back into working gear, and with a cough and a chuckle, she gestured over to the archive desk.
“Shall we begin? Most of the files should be in the boxes by the left wall, if you wouldn’t mind bringing them over while I set up my parchments?”
The idea of having something to do instead of staring into Ho-Tan’s eyes and fearing a funny turn was a welcome relief, and Vex made a noise that sounded agreeable and moved to the left wall.
“Nyeayeahhrgh, good idea, old girl!”
As Vex started pulling the boxes over to the desk, Ho-Tan allowed her love of organisation and the stationary arts to pull her focus to organising the desk to a note-takers heaven. She totally zoned into the task as she organised the parchment and ink to be in the perfect positions for quick quill refills, and thrilled at the flow of her arms as she practiced the movements between picking up a new file over to putting it away again. By the time she had finished, Vex had moved the last box over to the desk, and had taken his place in the chair opposite hers, looking more settled but still wider in the eyes than usual, surprisingly unblinking as he sat awaiting orders. Ho-Tan wondered if she might have something on her face. He was staring around her mouth area, but he never was one for eye-contact so she was unsure.
“Thank you Vex. Now, before we begin, is there anything you would like to talk about?” Ho-Tan hinted, hoping Vex would be the one to reveal his sudden bout of self-doubt, not wanting to embarrass the man. Instead Vex seemed to have been suddenly shocked by an invisible bolt of lightning. His eyes shot wide and his expression somehow became even more panicked. Ho-Tan worried he was about to pass out so started babbling to try and trying to reassure him that everything was fine. Which of course had him leaping to reassure her as Vex never wanted to do anything to upset her. They continued this back and forth until neither one were actually saying words anymore, just vague noises in assuring tones, accompanied by large sweeping, placating gestures, before Ho-Tan stopped herself and recomposed herself.
Vex sat before her like an exhausted Periton-Trainer, and still not any less panicked.
“I just meant that Pressley said you were feeling a bit slow on the uptake, and if you wanted to go over the archiving structure so you felt more confident! I just didn’t want to embarrass you or have you think I thought you were incapable, which you aren’t, obviously.”
Vex immediately started grumbling under his breath a variety of words, none of which sounded particularly flattering, about Pressley and his ability to mind his own business.
“Pressley is an overbearing busybody” He then felt the need to emphasize at a reasonable volume just to ensure that Ho-Tan did get the gist. He was avoiding her eyes. “And a drunk to boot”
“Now now Vex. We all know why he drinks. That’s not his fault”
“No. No of course not. He’s still a busybody though.”
“Well… I didn’t say anything about that.” Ho-Tan raised her eyebrow at Vex teasingly before breaking out into giggles. Vex’s stomach dropped back into his toes. If asked he would swear on Choop’s arduous hair routine that he had physically melted into a little puddle of goo. Like Trevor but less gelatinous. He barely had the breath in his lungs to laugh in return, instead the little breath he had escaped him as if he had been punched solidly in the stomach. Less of a laugh leaving his lips but a sigh that was so ridiculously fond he felt himself cringe at the sound.
He was so caught. Surely Ho-Tan would know now. What if she- No. He stood up suddenly, chair ricocheting away from him and hitting a wall.
“Uh, I’ve just remembered! Ho-Tan, I must go and retrieve…” Vex’s mind drew a blank as he stared at Ho-Tan’s shocked face. He was struggling to think of something to have forgotten. Which is when he noticed the usual fogginess of the items closest to him and remembered that that is Not what most people saw. He had what Debbie called a ‘Bulb of Light Moment’.
“My reading glasses! Must go and collect them, be back quick as a joffrey.” Vex babbled out.
“But you never wear your glasses, Vex! I’m constantly having to nag you about it.” Ho-Tan responded, genuinely starting to worry at the other Elder’s erratic behaviour. Was he developing a mystery allergy as well? Can one be allergic to themselves?
“Yes well you know what Deb-beh says! Nothing adventured no one gains!”
And with that he triumphantly threw himself towards the exit - proud of himself for scraping together the ability to conjure up a reasonable and somewhat believable excuse. If only his disdain for glasses wasn’t quite as well documented it would have been the perfect ruse but needs must.
He ran into the doors.
Head first.
They didn’t open.
Ah. Oh dear.
He slowly turned to face a now bemused and concerned Ho-Tan, who was staring at him with those lovely wide eyes.
“I believe I might have...forgotten...to leave the outside lock on the latch.”
Those lovely wide eyes somehow managed to become even wider as the realisation kicked in.
Another candle fizzled out.