Chapter Text
Upon arriving to the kingdom, Shadow Milk Cookie had expected Pure Vanilla to immediately show him the room of the castle he would be shut up in, hidden and safely stowed away. Instead, Pure Vanilla Cookie had insisted they walk through the markets.
“Can you do something for me? Turn into a shadow and sit in my cloak. Is that okay?”
Shadow Milk had initially refused. He protested being so physically close to Pure Vanilla, protested having to be hidden away. He teased Pure Vanilla for trying to keep him out of the public eye, but the former king had smiled at him kindly and immediately provided solutions to his problems.
“I figured you’re still too tired and overexerted to hold a disguised form for too long. And if you hid in my shadow rather than the dark of my cloak, wouldn’t you risk being stepped on?”
And well, Pure Vanilla wanting Shadow Milk to see the markets instead of immediately being shuttled away to his room was enough proof that he wasn’t necessarily hiding Shadow Milk away. Laying low, maybe. But not hiding him.
He’d given in. He’d given in far too easily. Pure Vanilla was right. He was tired, pushed too far both mentally and physically to fight back anymore than his first few quips. His body felt heavy, stiff, and ached. The collapse of the Spire had resulted in a three day long sleep where Shadow Milk had stirred a few times only to fall back over. Every time he awoke, they were somewhere new, already on their way back to the Vanilla Kingdom. There was no defiance in Shadow Milk Cookie for now.
Settling into the cloak of Pure Vanilla had been an easy ordeal, and a comfortable one at that. Pure Vanilla’s body radiated a warmth Shadow Milk hadn’t felt in a very, very long time. The atmosphere of the Spire could change temperature on his command but nothing could compare to the heat of another body.
Seconds after entering the markets, both anxious and excited Vanillian citizens hurried up to their savior, their perfect angel, with questions and compliments and little gifts upon his return. It had all made Shadow Milk want to gag with boredom, but to his credit Pure Vanilla Cookie had quickly taken care of his people and their yammering before gently asking for some quiet to explore and observe the markets.
Word spread oddly fast among the Vanillian people. The first swath of them who had first come up to Pure Vanilla must have spread the word that he wanted to be left alone, as after only a few minutes, most steered clear of their abdicated former ruler and only gave passing waves and bows.
Pure Vanilla Cookie took Shadow Milk around the place, lingering at his favorite stalls and quietly murmuring just loud enough for Shadow Milk, who was settled along the collar’s edge of the vanilla scented cloak, to hear. First it was a baked good stall, then a plant stall, a glass trinket maker’s pop-up, and another plant stall but for the rare stuff that came from out of the kingdom.
In all honesty, Shadow Milk Cookie had been half asleep for most of Pure Vanilla’s roaming. He heard everything and saw most of what Pure Vanilla had for some reason wanted him to see, but he was still so tired. Sustaining his shadowy form was peacefully easy and the warmth he felt within the heavy cloak on Pure Vanilla’s shoulders was practically an invitation to take a nap.
Shadow Milk had stayed awake though, to ensure he didn’t miss a single detail about the Vanilla Kingdom. Which cookies set up their stalls every day, who came and went, who sold what. How the train system and manufacturing of goods worked. How materials are gathered. All helpful information that he stowed away for later. What that later was, he wasn’t quite sure, but Shadow Milk felt mild unease about Pure Vanilla’s motives. While his intentions had seemed to be, well, pure, when insisting Shadow Milk should come back to the Kingdom with him, taking Shadow Milk to the market first thing instead of the castle was strange. Pure Vanilla was one strange cookie.