Chapter Text
Click clack click clack.
Sharp claws click agains the white tiles. A dark shadow glides on the wall. Retainers and servants bow but shy away from the shade. A silver cloak drags on the floor, hiding the many legs of the bug walking in the halls of the white palace.
Four legs. Hiden by the lucurios silk. Four arms hidden as well.
The royal figure doesn't pay any mind to the scuttling of the many retainers. It stops by a grand gate.
Two kingsmoulds give a nod. And the gate opens. The figure doesn't acknowledge them.
Though the garden. The walk is brisk, but the strides are smooth. The mask only faces forward, and the respectful greetings of the gardeners do not gain any attention.
"My Prince. You are late." A pale knight states. From her guardian position by her queen.
"Forgive me, Lady Dryya. The talks and the hearings of the petition hour took more time than I had to give." Prince bows deeply.
"Dear Dryya, do not be so harsh to my child. He has taken more responsibility lately for the kingdom's well-being." A white root, her royal highness soothed her most loyallest subject.
"Very well, my queen." Dryya gave a short bow to her queen and stepped back to give the prince some space.
"Thank you, Lady mother." Prince Ornament straightened out and took the seat that most of them occupied.
From under the cloak he fetshed a spring which he stated to fidle. Attaching a couple of extra strings from silk. Ding ding ding. He plucked the strings to test them before he softly began to play. The gentle humming of the silk filled the garden. Dryya turned around in her spot. An attempt to give them some privacy.
The white lady gazed down. Her blue eyes half closed, and if a root could sight the white lady, she would have done so softly.
"You grew up so fast..."
Prince Ornament stopped his playing to gaze up into the queen's eyes.
"It was almost like yesterday, my roots found your egg. My very own little prince." One of her roots reached to pet the edge of the mask.
A mask designed like a crescent moon. Horns rising high in sign of high status.
"I wish you would have never grown, my child."
Prince Ornament leaned his head against the root petting him, and he answered earnestly. "I wish that too..."
The white lady shook her head. Her great branches reach to the roof of the cave. The root petting the prince dropped and settled to clutch the hem of the cloak.
"Now tell me. What did my wyrm be so invested he hadn't come to see me so long?" The queen shows a rare intrest ot the world outside her domain.
It was not a natural inclination of a root to care about the soil; its roots do not find purchase.
"Lady Mother, a patrol has sent a very interesting report to his paleness. The patrol claims that in the deepness there would be a kindom. A kingdom of predatory bugs that live by silk in the darkness. How long they had been there nobug knows, and what their intentions are, are unknown." Prince states firmly, and the head of Dryya turns.
"Are they a threat to the Hallownest? Has my Worm seen it?" Queen leans in, worried for the well-being of her king.
Prince shakes his head, and one of his hands emerges from the folds of the robe to settle on her root. "No, my Lady Mother. His Highness seemed to be utmost calm when confronted by the news. It seems like a patrol. A great knight will be soon be sent to greet our new neighbors with well wishes. All through, I am afraid it seems they already have had their first contact with the mantist tribes."
"Oh dear. I hope it didn't go bad." Queen tilts her head worriedly.
"Lady mother, I am afraid it went just like it had gone before. The spider and their kin are not on good terms with the mantists."
"Spiders?" Queen leans even more. She was almost folded in half as her interest woke up even more.
"The Weavers they claim themselves. A part of bugs that live by silk, Spiders." The pair of hands clutching the spring fiddle with the silk tied to it.
"You are a Weaver? Is that what kind of bug you are?" The roots reach out to pet from all sides. One of them thumbed a silk on the spring.
"Yes. I think. Thats a bug I am." The Prince admits it as a sin.
The great branches on her head curl around the prince. "Will you join them then?"
"No, my Lady Mother. My place is in the palace sheltered in your garden. I have no desire to leave farther than the city of tears." A spider. A Prince soothes the Queen. "My place is here."