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The winding and overgrown roads of Greenpath are breathtakingly beautiful, every turn was lush with life, both plant and bug. The roads were illuminated by gentle beams of light streaming in through cracks in the cave ceiling, making the dew on leaves glisten like gold. The air seemed fresher and the environment quieter than the city. There were only a couple beings leisurely strolling about and any bugs they met on their way would wave at them politely before moving on. Hornet had always liked Greenpath; or well, most of Greenpath anyway.
The invitation had arrived late in the evening while Hornet sat up going over plans. Like so many nights before, she had been trying to work out the minutiae details and technicalities of running the ruin of a kingdom their parents had left behind for them. There always seemed to be some new, unexpected issue bubbling to the surface, and having no one there to guide her meant she needed to figure it out herself. With the Radiance gone for good it had quickly become clear that the land would live on after all, and that it desperately needed a ruler. Hollow had outright refused, similarly Kin and Greenie were out on “disinterest” and “being too small” respectively. Which left only her and Ghost, who she hadn’t let slink away so easily. If she was doing this, they were doing it with her. However, Hornet quickly came to discover her mistake, because even though they were impartial like no other in their governing they were also stubborn and Awfully. Terribly . Restless. Ghost had found the engraved stone tablet on the desk where it was left and promptly forgotten about, and they had latched onto the idea immediately. There was nothing Hornet could do because by the time they even handed it back to her to finally read they had already banded together all the others (of course they asked her sist, the conspiring little thing they were) and she knew she couldn’t tell them not to go, and she also knew that she couldn’t trust Ghost and Hollow to keep them all from running into a pool of acid.
And so it was that instead of working Hornet found herself evading spikes, carrying the smallest sibling on her back, and trying to keep the others from wandering off. Ghost was leading them since they were the one who knew their hosts and so knew the way, but she had also assigned them the job of watching over the Grimmchild, both to keep it from setting fire to the whole meadow, and to keep at least one of their hands occupied. Since the child had grown and gradually become more earthbound it had become a lot more manageable, but it still liked to cause chaos and had little control over its powers when it became frustrated. Ghost cared for it though, so she put up with sometimes being called to put out random fires. As of right now neither of them seemed to mind the setup, the child was just happily hopping and mewing away and occasionally pointing out stuff or momentarily stopping to collect an assortment of random leaves, a large portion of which would ultimately end up in its mouth. Hollow was walking with Kin in the middle of the procession where Hornet could keep a close eye on them. Despite being physically the biggest out of the group (though, Ghost was very quickly catching up to them) and having been the one of her siblings free from the depths below their feet the longest, Hollow was also the one who had the most trouble getting around. Decades of being strung up and losing an arm had left them rigid and unbalanced, something they were still only learning to deal with, but Kin was swift and easily jumped around their uneven terrain, helping Hollow up after them.
“Ghost!” she called up ahead as they’d once again stopped and the rest of the band had a chance to catch up somewhat. Ghost turned back and Grimmchild soon followed suit (Hornet noted the greenery sticking out between its teeth.)
They tipped their head to the side inquisitive and gave them a moment to all walk up so they could form a group in the narrow walkways.
“Is it much further ahead?” she asked, shifting Greenie off her back and lowered them to the ground, taking their small hand instead.
Ghost shook their head, before turning to look at the path before them, pointing into an opening in the cavern wall. Constructed walkways overgrown with sharp spikes beckoning them inside. Hornet grew wary, looking between Ghost, her other siblings, and the entrance to what she knew to be a treacherous path overgrown with the same deadly spikes. The only way to pass was a frustrating and finicky passage that demanded full attention and control, how in the world had they imagined to get Hollow and Greenie through this?! “Little Ghost, please tell me you’re not serious” they just looked at her, before turning and walking inside, Hornet sighed, mentally readying herself to drag them all back to the stagstation again, and followed.
The spikes covered nearly every inch of the glade, their tips gleamed in the light, a constant and very real threat. Hornet knew that she would be able to pass it without problem, Ghost and the child should be fine too. They should be able to get Greenie and Kin over as well if they worked together, but Ghost had to realize that there was no way Hollow would be able to traverse this. The knight was skilled and lethal with a nail, and could be very fast, but this was something else entirely. Hollow seemed just as uncertain looking it over, it was undeniable that this would be near to impassable without the use of two arms of their own, even with Kin or someone else by their side there was little hope. And that was completely overlooking the fact that the passage narrowed at sections, barely giving them any room to get th-
Something tugged at her cape, Hornet spun around, faced with Ghosts expressionless mask, they pointed up. Her gaze followed their finger to find an opening into another passage, a walkway seemingly going over the one before them, the sides up to it were covered with a thicket of thorns, but the walkway itself looked safe. She looked back down to Ghost, they were signing a single word with rigid, unnatural motion. “Silk.”
Oh.
Getting the big knight up there still wasn’t an easy feat but they managed to do it without any major scratches. Hollow didn’t seem too content having to almost crawl with how far they were bent over, but they didn’t complain about it openly. Just wandering on. Kin had taken Greenie off her hands and followed them through the passageway, after getting confirmation that everything was alright up there Hornet turned to Ghost, looking at them expectantly. They simply shook their head, pointing instead at the spike filled trek.
“You wish to take the dangerous route?”
They nodded, then moved their fingers to point from themselves, to her, to the trek, and back to themselves. Hornet knew them well enough to know what they were trying to ask.
“A race?” they nodded, she just snickered, glancing towards the way lying before them as if she was examining it and weighing her options. All the while her hand discreetly moved to the needle and string strapped to her back, drawing it loose.
“Well then little shadow” she drew the needle, looking back at them for just a split second, and she could see that they were catching on to what she was doing. They scrambled to grab the Grimmchild off where it was playing on the ground and she took her chance, throwing the needle. It stuck to a pillar some ways from them, she held onto the string, flinging herself forward.
“TRY TO KEEP UP”
“Oh come now little ghost, stop sulking about your loss, you were the one who suggested a race” Hornet was unapologetically smug, looking up at them from where they were standing slightly taller than her, and even though their mask was perpetually unchanging she could feel their glare. Ghost was the one who had the hardest time communicating and rarely took to signing, but she didn’t need them to in order to understand what was on their mind. She could practically read the word off their nonexistent expression. Cheater.
Hornet just shook her head, fastening the silk on the ledge and hopping down to help haul up the others to where Ghost could reach down and drag them up to the building, after everything else they’d made it through this last challenge felt like a walk in the park and they made quick work of it. Soon enough their small party was finally standing grouped up outside the house of Ghosts friends for “arts and crafts” as the invitation had called it. They could hear content humming coming from inside. Kin and Greenie took initiative, going up to the half open doorway and knocking, the humming stopped and soon the metal spikes used as a door swung up all the way. Kin froze, seemingly taken aback by something. Hornet however didn’t have much time to think on it, because in the doorframe stood a hefty bug in a paint splattered apron, he laughed heartily. “Little grub! You came! And I see you brought your family, it’s wonderful to meet you all, come in, come in!” he stepped aside and one by one they walked inside in a single file line. Hornet thought she saw Kin hesitating for just a second, staring up at the man towering over them, but then Greenie who still held their hand dragged them inside. Hornet decided to stick around, looking him up and down. They seemed so awfully familiar.
“Am I correct in assuming you to be Sheo, one of Hallowests great nailmasters?” She finally asked, only slightly unsure. He grinned back at her.
“Used to be, now I am just Sheo, the artist. And you are Hornet, the princess of bug and beast” his voice sounded completely sure of himself, had they met before? Had Ghost found a way to tell him about her? “Queen now, I suppose, it’s still very strange. But yes, I am. It is nice to meet a friend of Ghost’s. They were very excited about this”
He motioned for her to follow him inside, she did so.
“I’m glad! You know, I actually invited them to do this back when we first met. I can’t fault them for forgetting though, knowing now how grand of a mission laid before them. When we got the news of the plagues end and them setting up with you to build the lands anew we knew we had to re-invite you lot.”
He led her inside, pointing her to sit at a low table, Hollow, Kin and Greenie were already seated at it. Ghost was running after the child who must have finally gotten fed up and wrangled out of their grip. She took her seat next to Kin. “I admit, we didn’t expect the smaller ones, but the more the merrier! The great thing with art is that it’s for everyone!” he returned with a pitcher of water and a stack of glasses, they looked hand blown. “Feel free to have something to drink, coming all the way here from the city isn’t an insignificant journey.” Hornet looked at her siblings. Hollow turned to Greenie, pointing at the pitcher questionably, the smaller sibling nodded and Hollow first placed two of the glasses in front of them and then picked up the pitcher to fill them up while Greenie gripped the glasses, holding them securely in place. When they were done Hornet filled herself a glass. It was cold and just what she needed. The room grew quiet and the atmosphere was somewhat tense, she looked over at Kin, they were still just staring at Sheo as he sat down at the head of the table, he finally seemed to notice and looked as if he was about to ask if they wanted anything when there came a loud crash.
They all turned around to see Ghost had fallen to the ground, taking down a huge nail that had been leaning against the wall with them, in their hands they held up the giggling Grimmchild triumphantly. The surprise of it ripped Kin out of their trance, and they looked as if they were doubling over laughing, only they didn’t make a single sound. After a while they just got up and walked over, clapping their hands at their siblings graceful descent.
When they reached where Ghost was still lying, they took the child out of their siblings' hands and helped them to their feet, the Grimmchild still laughing as if it was having the time of its life.
Sheo took the chance to talk before things could get awkward again, and as Ghost and Kin walked back to the table he introduced himself properly the way he had done earlier talking with Hornet, then he announced that his husband would be joining them shortly, and that if they wanted to begin already he could bring out materials for everyone, otherwise they could also just sit and talk.
“It’s a good opportunity to just get to know each other and give you all a chance to rest up.”
Resting up sounded nice, in the end it was only Greenie and the Grimmchild who would rather sit and draw. Sheo took out some paper and colored pencils for the two to share. Both Hornet and Hollow eyed the wooden pencils warily, filling up their glasses of water some more, just in case.
Sheo clapped his hands together “So! Why not start with names, I don’t believe I catched yours. I know Ghost and Hornet, and you’re Hollow right?” They nodded.
Kin started signing at him, introducing themselves, but Sheo just looked back perplexed. Kin dropped their hands, suddenly unsure, looking at Hornet for help.
“They said that you can call them Kin, and that the small one is Greenie” she looked around at the child as it was chewing away at a red pencil “And umm this is the Grimmchild” it looked up, waving and cooing at him.
“That wasn’t standard Hallownest sign, was it?” Sheo asked sheepishly, after saying hello to them all. Hornet shook her head, looking back at Hollow, whose face fell.
“No. It was never taught to any of us, Kin takes very easily to communicating, they were the one that introduced this to us, I believe it’s a modified standard one?” Kin nodded
“I’ll gladly translate as needed.”
“Thank you, I’ll try to follow along and remember as much as I can for next time. How exciting, even for an old bug like me there’s still much to learn in this world!” he said. And he kept to his word, asking questions and repeating signs gleefully, while teaching some of the standard versions for words they had yet to decide on a sign for. It was nice.
Hollow had taken a paper of the pile themselves and joined the kids in trying to draw, the paper sliding slightly as they worked. Hollow seemed to not want to bother Sheo with it but at one point he noticed himself and got a weight to put on the paper, apologising that he hadn’t thought about it sooner. Hornet looked around all the drawings, she guessed that Hollow’s was supposed to be a mosscreep, but she couldn’t say for sure. The Grimmchild was mostly just scribbling in different shades of reds and pinks, while Greenie was drawing a flower with all different color petals. Ghost was trying very hard not to look bored, but she knew they most likely were, after a while they got up to pick up the fallen old nail they had neglected, looking it over curiously. Hornet just followed along in the conversation, in the end there wasn’t much for her to translate anymore and she just took to listening.
By the time another bug stepped into the small house Hornet had completely forgotten that Sheo had mentioned his husband arriving later and it took her by surprise. No one else had seemed to notice him yet, he was shorter than Sheo but just as hefty, a big navy rhino beetle with a long grey beard. It took her by even bigger surprise when she found she recognised the old bug.
“Nailsmith?” He turned towards her slightly surprised too, his face lighting up, and he was just about to greet her when the pleasant chatter of Sheo died down and everyone else finally noticed him. Ghost sprung up from their seat, dashing towards and hugging him tightly, almost lifting him off the ground. Their newcomer was only slightly taken aback but laughed it off and hugged them back.
“Missed you too, kid” he said, his voice was rough and deep, his words sounded like they were loaded with emotion. Hornet had met him before, but Ghost was clearly a dear friend.
Sheo got up too, going up to them and hugging his husband when Ghost finally let him go. They tenderly touched their foreheads together, such a small, but loving gesture.
“Welcome home dear, as you can see we have guests”
They laughed together happily, breaking apart, the old smith held up a slim, rectangular package tied closed with twine. “Heh, just in time too.”
They walked back to the table, taking their place at the head end. Sheo introduced them all, his husband nodding along happily. Hornet had known him from back before the fall of Hallownest. He had often worked with the court, making their nails and armor. Even though Hornet had been very young she could still clearly remember spying on him when he came and went, she’d thought she was being so sneaky until he called out to her one day. He had been the one who fixed up the old needle her mother had left her, doing all he could to delay the inevitable, and when she had ultimately outgrown it he surprised her with a new one, forged in it’s image. She noted that his face seemed to falter just a bit when it came to Hollow, he looked almost apologetic. She never thought about the fact that they must have met him as well, it simply made sense. He was the best nailsmith in the land, and the Pale King pampered his pure knight, maybe because he wanted to make up for what he intended to have them do. The bug sitting before her was likely the one who made the longnail the knight still carries around with them, and likely the one who made the chains and armor that Hollow was strung up in. What must it feel like, to now know how his work was used?
“It’s wonderful to meet you all, thank you for coming” he started off, looking over the crowd, he looked genuinely happy in a way Hornet had rarely seen him in the past.
“I know some of us have met already, and that you knew me as the nailsmith, but nowadays I go by my hatchname, Gentrise. It only seems fitting, having left the trade behind.” She could feel him glancing over at her, as if addressing her earlier comment.
“You gave up on forging?”
“Oh, I didn’t give up, I did all I could, and then I was done. And-” He looked at Sheo, looking for confirmation, the bug simply nodded as a reply. “I didn’t completely drop blacksmithing, the forge still calls to me, I am simply done trying to perfect a tool intended for harm. Now I can finally say I forge for myself and my desire to create. And well… the little knight told us about you all, and I recognized their description of you, and remembered you liked needlework as a young bug. And I just… umm…. Maybe it’s easiest if you just open it and see for yourself” He reached out, slightly unsure, holding the package from earlier for her to take, she was so taken aback it took her a second to actually grab hold of it. It wasn’t very heavy, inside the box something shifted as she turned it and she heard the distinct clank of metal. She looked up at Gentrise for confirmation, trying to see if he had changed his mind, but he just nodded approvingly. She could feel all eyes on her as she untied the twine with deft fingers, her siblings leaning in to look closer. Even Greenie and the Grimmchild had stopped their scribbling. She lifted the lid.
Inside were a pair of long, thin knitting needles made of a dark, blueish steel. The tops decorated by the distinct shape used for Deepnest’s spool pins back in the day. A shape so achingly familiar to her. She let out a gasp, small and broken. They were cool to the touch and had a nice heft to them. When Gentrise finally spoke it almost startled her.
“We didn’t have any needles at home, and I thought… if you were to come too, we wanted you to be able to create in a manner fitting you. They’re made of the same alloy Deepnest would use for their structures, was hell to get a hold of but I managed. It’s clearly not an exact replica of the work done by smiths of the region, but I did my best. I hope you like them.”
Hornet was all choked up, she could hardly think clearly, let alone speak. She wanted to thank him, to tell him just how much the gift meant to her, to rush up and hug him, but she was frozen in place. So taken aback from the completely unprompted kind gesture and not sure how to react. All she could do was try not to tear up. Kin moved in and put their arm around her reassuringly, she just focused on collecting herself for a moment, no one was rushing her. When she felt ready, she looked up.
“Thank you, this means more than you could ever believe to me. I love them.”
Gentrise shifted a bit in his seat, clearly as unprepared for such kindness, but she could see her words meant a lot to him and that they must have lifted a weight of doubt hanging over him, because when he finally settled down again he was a lot more relaxed and open than he had been since he first saw her.
“Ah, it’s no problem.”
Sheo got up from his seat, saving her from having to deal with the weight of everyone's gazes any longer.
“What do you say we get out the supplies and get started properly then?”
Hornet and Ghost helped Sheo and Gentrise carry out big boxes of art supplies. They had most anything you could ever need and more; canvases and big stacks of paper of different weaves and weights, pencils, crayons, paints (acrylic and watercolor. Sheo was reluctant to get out his hard to find oils, and they wouldn’t dry anyways), yarn of almost all colors of the rainbow for Hornet, thread and beads, clay, and even a couple whittling knives and blocks of wood.
“It took quite a bit of experimentation to first figure out what I wanted to do.” Sheo said, laughing it off.
Hornet dragged the basket of yarns towards her, rummaging through it and trying out different combinations of colors next to each other. In the end she settled for a nice light blue, orange and yellow combo. Hollow eyed the orange yarn almost judgmentally.
“Shush, I wanted to represent Hallownest.”
Hollow shrugged their shoulders, signing “won’t wear.” back at her as a reply.
“Oh don’t worry, I think orange suits you rather poorly anyways.”
It was a lighthearted joke, and she swore that if they could they would be smiling, instead they just shook their head like one does when they hear an exceptionally bad pun and leaned forward to find something for themself to do.
Kin scootched in closer to Hornet, watching her keenly as she cast on a decent amount of stitches for a scarf on one of her new needles. They felt perfect in her hands. It had been quite a while since she last tried knitting but it didn’t take long for muscle memory to kick in, and doing it now brought back so many memories of when she was little, it was always a connection she had to her heritage. Why had she ever stopped?
Kin tapped her arm, she looked over at them.
“Can I try a row?”
“Oh! Of course, here, let me show you.”
She handed over the bit of work she had already done, instructing them on how to hold the needles, they were quite a bit long for them and they didn’t make their stitches nearly as taut as hers, but they were picking up the rhythm quickly. When their row was finished they handed it back, exhaustively.
“Stressful.”
“It’s not! You’re just not used to it. You did really well, when we get home I’m giving you your own pair of needles and teaching you properly. Until then… hmmm”
She looked over at the basket of yarns, pulling it closer again.
“Would you like to learn finger knitting? It’s very simple, and common with children in Deepnest.”
They nodded excitedly, already digging through the yarns for a nice color, they had Greenie help out and together they settled on a dark teal one. She put down her needlework and grabbed a random pink yarn to show them.
“Alright, you just loop the yarn through your fingers like this-”
Sheo was making rounds around the table, watching them work and helping anyone who couldn’t decide on what to do. He seemed very curious about Hornet’s knitting.
“Maybe I should get Gentrise to make me a pair of needles too and try it sometime!” He said, to which Gentrise, who was sitting and whittling a small figurine chuckled.
“If you promise to use them more than once or twice, dear.” He joked. Sheo didn’t mention it again after that.
Hollow had seemingly tried to whittle too, holding the wood between their knees, however when the blade slipped and stuck in the table they pushed it away sheepishly. Sheo assured them that it’s alright, instead helping show them things they could more easily do, in the end they chose to try to paint instead.
Ghost helped Greenie and the Grimmchild by grabbing the box of crayons and sliding it towards where they could easily reach them before getting their own quill out and starting transferring their map from their old and falling apart scroll of papyrus to a new and sturdier one. Kin finished up their small scarf and Hornet helped them tie off the strings. They gave it to Greenie who excitedly put it on, then they grabbed a paper and joined them in drawing with crayons. They sat staring at the blank page for a while hesitating, before looking back up at Sheo in the same strange manner they had earlier. When they started drawing they made a picture of themself, standing next to a big bug that looked very similar to Sheo, but without the painter's apron and holding a nail like the one standing against the wall. Every time they were close to finishing it though they’d scribble it over frustratedly and started over. Hornet got concerned and put down her knitting when they drew it for the third time. They laid their head on the table, Hornet touched their shoulder ever so lightly and they jumped, sitting straight.
“Kin? Is everything okay?” She asked quietly, trying not to draw attention. They didn’t say anything, looking between her and something behind her, when she looked she saw Sheo, back turned to them talking to his husband. She looked back at Kin.“Is it because of Sheo? Do you want to leave?”
They shook their head vigorously, signing back “No! No no it’s fine.” and then a bit hesitantly “Can you come with me? In case he can’t understand what I’m saying?”
Hornet nodded “of course, but wha-” they were already getting up, grabbing the drawing off the table. She followed them to where Sheo was standing, they tapped him on the arm and asked him to follow them and the three of them stepped out of the hut, away from prying eyes. Sheo looked between them a bit confused.
“Is something wrong?” he asked, Kin didn’t answer and just handed him the drawing, when he still looked perplexed Kin signed “O-R-O” before pointing at the Sheo looking bug on the paper and then themself. Hornet was still none the wiser, but this clearly meant something to Sheo, whose face turned in shock.
“Oro? You know Oro?”
Kin nodded. Sheo laughed, the kind of breathless laugh you do when your view on reality just changed. Hornet got fed up with being the only one not aware of the meaning of this apparently ground breaking revelation.
“Who’s Oro?” she asked, they both turned towards her, almost surprised that she was there too, they looked at eachother, before Sheo spoke up.
“Oro is one of my younger brothers… I haven’t seen him for years now. He… he’s convinced he did something inexcusable and has to figure out a way to make it up to Mato before he can show his face again…I… How do you know Oro, little one?”
When Kin answered their sign was quick and uncharacteristically messy, Hornet did her best to push back all shock she had about finding out about Kin’s life before joining them to translate for the struggling Sheo.
“Uhhh h-he saved them when they were almost killed and - gods Kin slow down even I can’t understand you - after enough persuasion taught them their sign and how to fight, and gave them a home when they had nowhere to turn to. Eventually they returned to the Ancient Basin though to try and help as many siblings as possible and-”
“And I never saw him again” kin signed, clear and finite. Hornet felt like there was more to it, but it wasn’t her place to pry, she knew little about her siblings' past, and until they were ready she was fine with that. She was certain there wouldn't be many pleasant memories.
Sheo had to take a moment to process it all, chuckling to himself in disbelief.
“Grumpy little Oro took in a child… knowing him I’m guessing he took the parting rather poorly?” Kin kept their head down, nodding slowly. “Guess that explains why you’ve been staring at me all evening, you thought I was Oro?”
Kin looked embarrassed, shrinking into themself. “I’m sorry…”
Sheo knelt down to meet them at their level, putting his hand on their shoulder reassuringly.
“Hey, it’s alright. And I promise you whatever he said he didn’t mean. Oro lashes out to protect himself, I’m sure seeing that you are okay would mean the world to him.”
Kin just hugged Sheo, thick drops of dark fluid dripping from their eye sockets, falling onto Sheo’s apron, staining it. Hornet leaned down, hugging them too. It was strange, she never felt like a very affectionate bug, caring little for family, perhaps because she knew how quickly one could lose them. But now, having her siblings by her side there was nothing more important to her than their wellbeing, she wanted to fix the countless wrongs their shared paternal figure had done, if only in some small way. And to keep them from experiencing more.
“What do you say we visit him together? After we return home, and after you are ready.”
Kin nodded, wiping the liquid of their mask, and the hug dissolved. Hornet and Sheo looked at each other, clearly thinking the same thing, in the end it was Hornet who said it.
“Do you want to go home? I’ll drag the others back at nailpoint if I have to, we can come back another day.” Sheo chimed in, backing her up.
“Yes! You are always welcome.”
Kin shook their head. Signing back “I want to continue.” at which Sheo lit up somewhat.
“That’s the spirit kid! Some of the best work comes out of strong emotions, use them to your advantage, and let them go through creation.”
Hornet chuckled, looking over at the two, Kin getting visibly excited as they were making their way inside. Emotions. Such a strange thing. She supposes if this Oro was so dear to them to invoke emotions where the Pale King had sought to root only emptiness then maybe he wasn’t too bad.
If he hurts them again though she’s kicking his ass.
When she came back inside Kin had gone back to drawing and Sheo was nowhere to be found. Ghost had seemingly finished their new map in the time they were talking and gotten out a big chunk of clay they were stabbing at violently trying to shape it, wet clay splashing everywhere. Greenie was busy trying to wrangle a blue crayon out of the hissing Grimmchild’s mouth. Hornet walked over and picked out a red one, offering it to the child instead. It immediately took it, letting go of the blue one and biting down on it instead with such vigour it almost caught Hornets hand along with it. Hornet thought she could see the crayon melting around the edges. She hoped Sheo wouldn’t notice that a portion of his supplies mysteriously vanished or suddenly had burn marks.
Gentrise waved her over to sit with him, she picked up her needles and went to take Sheo’s abandoned spot at the head of the table, he smiled at her when she sat down and continued on her scarf.
“Sheo went out the back to get something to paint, he put me on watchduty.” he explained when she was about to ask about him, then looking down at her work he continued “I’m glad they work alright. I was afraid I hadn’t polished them enough and that the yarn would catch.” he admitted, relief clear in his voice.
“They might be the best needles I've ever had! May I ask, how did you know about the spool pins? Have you been to the nest?”
He laughed, shaking his head.
“No I’m afraid, Deepnest is too much for my old heart. I made nails for others, I never learned the art of swinging one myself. No, I had some help with that” he pointed joyfully at Ghost, who was making steady progress on a number of clay figurines, roughly depicting everyone in the room.
“Ghost helped? Is this where they’re been wandering off?”
“Sometimes, though I’d be surprised if they haven’t been wandering off to other places too. Curious bug. The whole design was their idea, they got me a bunch of sketches and everything. They really care about you all you know? In their own way.”
Hornet watched as the Grimmchild toppled the statue of Sheo over, it’s face flattened on the table. Ghost just picked it up, fixing it with one hand, while patting the little one on the head with the other, getting it covered in clay too. Perhaps he was right, Hornet was so afraid to be doing everything wrong but right now, right here, her little family were happy, and they cared about each other, as much as each of them was able to.
“I know.”
They sat and talked about nothing and everything for a long time. Gentrise told her about his life after the kingdom fell, and Hornet told him about their efforts to build something new on top of the old one.
“Are you afraid at all? Seeing as what happened the last time someone attempted it. I know it’s been a while since the fall of the infection, and I’m sure you’ve had a lot of time to grow and think everything through, you and the little knight.
“Well… of course, but all we can do is our best. The Pale King had a lot of enemies, he was drunk with power and the need for control. We’re not going for a huge majestic empire. We’re not forcing anyone to join us, or taking over land by force. I am still the rightful ruler of Deepnest, so they stand with us, but we’re not making the children of Unn, the mushroom kin, the Hive and the mantises do anything they do not wish to. They are their own people, instead we’ve sought trade and deals with them. We’re hopeful. But if we should fail then so be it. It is the people’s choice.” She concluded, Ghost nodded along from their seat. Their figurines now standing to the side to dry and with a paintbrush in hand. Gentrise seemed happy with that answer.
“You two really have grown a lot.”
He sounded genuinely proud.
Greenie got up from their seat, small feet pitter-pattering gently on the floor, walking from person to person, handing them sheets of paper and getting hugs from everyone. The Grimmchild looked like they were about to eat theirs, but decisively put it down, grabbing their own drawing and giving it to them excitedly. Hornet and Gentrise were last, she looked down when she felt the small bug tugging on her arm, they handed her a drawing of a bug with two sharp horns, a pink dress and-
...Oh
She put her needles down, scoping them up in a big hug. They pushed away lightly, indicating they still had one drawing to give away, but Hornet didn’t care.
“Thank you so much little bug, it’s beautiful.”
They finally gave in, hugging her back, and she let them go to continue on their journey. Handing Gentrise the now slightly wrinkled paper, depicting a scribbled crayon drawing of himself.
“For me? That’s so sweet of you, thank you little one.” he ruffled their head, they shook him off, looking around for Sheo. Disappointed when they couldn’t find him.
“Sheo will be back, if you want I can watch over it until then.” Gentrise suggested, Greenie nodded and handed over the drawing of Sheo before walking back to their seat, where the Grimmchild cheerfully pointed between the two of them, suggesting they draw each other.
“Heh, such adorable little critters. How old are they?” Gentrise asked curiously, not even knowing the can of worms he just opened.
Hornet, Kin, Ghost and Hollow all stopped what they were doing, staring up at each other. She gave them a pleading look. Hollow just shook their head. “This one is on you.” Kin signed.
She answered back in sign, not wanting Gentrise to hear. “What do I even tell him.”
Hollow stared between them, having to turn to face Ghost, and finally looked back at her before answering.
“Truth?” Ghost and Kin nodded, agreeing.
“But why do I have to be the one?!”
“You can speak, he can’t sign.”
“...Curse the Pale King.” She muttered under her breath. Turning back to Gentrise who was still enthralled in his work, seemingly not even noticing their conversation.
“It’s… complicated. Very complicated.”
“Try me.” She could hear the smile in his voice, damnit.
She sighed.
“Uhhmm alright... the simplified version is basically that all my siblings hatched in close proximity to a substance that didn’t permit for change, so they didn’t grow or develop until taken away from there and exposed to soul. We don’t actually know their ages, and it’s made further complicated by the fact that going off pure technically either Greenie or Kin are the oldest siblings at the table, they were just not in an environment to actually grow up which lead to a sort of prolonged childhood? If that makes any sense? If you were to rank us by age Greenie and Kin would be at the top. Taking up the first and second place, then come Ghost and Hollow, who as far as I am aware were eggmates and were of the last clutch. I would be considered the youngest, I suppose. But because Hollow was taken away from their birthplace first, before I was born, they are developmentally the oldest as such. Ghost has been growing a lot and Kin and Greenie…” Died “missed… a couple years… they’ll be catching up.” Hornet looked at her siblings nervously, Hollow gave her a slightly uncertain thumbs up, while kin just signed “We’ll have to practice if we decide on telling the population.”
Gentrise put down his whittling, nodding along slowly and looking up at the ceiling.
“Right, don’t question it when a higher being calls something complicated.”
The Grimmchild hissed angrily, jumping in it’s seat “Sorry little one, I forgot. And that one might just be immortal, as far as we know.” It mewed, pleased with her description, and sat back down.
Gentrise didn’t say anything for a long time, his face twisting in confusion.
“... At the table…” He murmured.
“Excuse me?” Hornet asked, uncertain.
“You said oldest siblings at the table. ”
The room fell silent.
“Trust me, you don’t want to get into that one.”
“Wha-”
The door swung open and Sheo walked in, saving her as he took Gentrise’s mind off the conversation. They’d for sure have to practice a lot if they decided on telling the population.
The rest of the evening went by pretty calmly. Sheo loved the drawing he got from Greenie, proudly tacking it and the one of Gentrise to the wall.
The children each had a big pile of drawings to take with them, depicting everything from people they knew to places they’d been and things they’d seen. Gentrise also sneaked them a sketchbook and some crayons each when Sheo wasn’t looking. Ghost had made another heap of sketches, an abstract watercolor drawing, a bead necklace they forgot to give an opening and a pointy stick. All of it covered in clay and paint along with them. Hornet was going to have an interesting evening trying to force them to wash before coming inside.
Hollow had also finished their painting. It was rough but recognizable as the group of them, sitting and crafting. Hornet thought it such a sweet gesture. In the end they had to leave it there to dry, but she was already thinking of where to hang it and all the other things her siblings had made.
Hornet’s scarf was also coming along pretty well. She offered to leave it there and that she could continue another time, feeling bad for taking their supplies. Sheo just told her to take the yarn home with her, to which Gentrise pitched in saying that he “doesn’t use it anyways”. She vowed to take the finished scarf with her to show them next time they came. And so they packed everything that was already dry up, bid their goodbyes and began the trek home again, promising to return as soon as they could.