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Chapter Text

Dying was different than Hornet had thought it would be. To start with, she’d always expected to die in battle, not sinking into the depths of the Void Sea after a failed attempt to rescue both her mother's homeland and the silken vessel who could have become family if given the chance. But even with that in mind this was strange. She'd expected dying to be like drifting into nothingness or, when she was being especially charitable, coming to be in some other realm where the dead resided.

Instead she found herself stirring to confused wakefulness feeling sore, uncomfortable, and all together wrong. Her carapace felt too snug, too tight, and everything hurt. Everything outside of her body felt weird and out of focus, like it was filtering through something that was blocking her ability to hear it clearly, but she did catch the occasional distorted voice. Had she survived somehow then? Made it out of the Void Sea? Perhaps Ballow had grown concerned and sent someone down to retrieve her? Staying too long in the Void could explain why her body hurt so much, perhaps? But then...

"Lace...?" She managed to choke out, her own voice sounding high and wrong in her ears. Something, or perhaps someone, pulls her close. But that can't be right...no one left in this broken land was big enough to hold her like this. She forced her eyes open, but even her vision was wrong, fuzzy and distorted like....like just before a molt.

That was what this felt like, the strange distorted feeling as her upper layer of shell started to peel away, but hadn't quite managed to completely unattach, leaving her with a fading too-small shell that pressed in and distorted her senses.

How odd. She had thought she was done molting. The molt that had happened not long after the stasis on her homeland had ended had caught her by surprise after having lived for so long, but they'd quickly been able to theorize that her physical aging had stopped when time in Hollownest had been frozen. She had assumed that would be her last one. Though she supposed another molt wasn't impossible, not with her unusual heritage, but she hadn't felt any of the telltale symptoms in the time leading up to her dive into the Void Sea. So how...? How long had she been out? And how did she get out of the Sea in the first place? Nothing about this situation was making any sense.

Groaning quietly, Hornet closed her eyes once more, earning her another quite muttering of words from whatever being was holding her. She felt like a kid again, bundled up against the chest of one of her larger mothers. Though...now that she thought about it, the voice was oddly familiar as well. Like something from a distant memory. This molt had to really be taking it out of her. Perhaps it had drawn up a fever like she'd been told her first molt had. Molting after taking a dip in the Void Sea couldn't be good for her after all. At least, wherever she was, she didn't seem to be in any immediate danger. Hopefully this molt would pass quickly and she could move on to seeing if her efforts had made the difference she'd hoped for. For now, though, she let herself drift back into a dreamless rest.

Awareness came in fits and spurts after that, her mind fading in and out as her body worked through what she was now certain was a very difficult molt. She tried to ask about Lace more than once, and about the other survivors, but she could never quite make out the responses she got in reply. She could only assume that her almost-shed outer shell was still blocking her ears. That or the fever she was sure she had was messing with her hearing. It certainly had her out of sorts in other ways. Her entire body felt off in ways she couldn’t quite explain. Like it was too small and full of a strange thrumming energy. She didn’t like it, but she knew that both the molt and the fever would eventually pass so she resigned herself to waiting.

Eventually, her waiting paid off. She wasn’t sure how long it took, not with how often she would sink into unconsciousness for untold amounts of time, but she was overwhelmingly grateful when she finally managed to wiggle free of the outer shell that had been keeping her confined. Relieved, she shoved the shed away from herself and fell back against the soft bed she’d been resting on, breathing deeply and relishing the lack of restriction. She was finally free of that blasted thing! She didn’t feel quite like herself again yet, but she still felt much better than she had since her dive into the Void.

Speaking of the Void, she really needed to check on Lace and the others now that—this was not her bellhome.

Hornet, whose eyes had finally slid open at the thought of what she needed to get done, froze for several beats before shooting to a sitting position and looking around in alarm. This wasn’t her bellhome at all! Where was—no…that didn’t make any sense! She recognized it now, the shape of this room, the curve of these walls, but it couldn’t be possible. Her childhood room in Deepnest had fallen out of use when she’d moved on to train in the Hive, and had fallen into disrepair not long before time had been drawn to a stop in Hollownest. So how was it here now in pristine condition?

Before she could spend any more time trying ro figure out what was going on the door to her old room swung open, admitting someone who threw her mind off track.

"Mom?" Her voice was too high, sounding like a child in her uncertain confusion. How was....Was she dead after all? Were those bugs that said the dead all went to a world together right? Perhaps the molt had been part of the transition to this world? "Mom!" Hornet broke free of the shock that had kept her frozen, scrambling to try and get to her feet and lunge towards the one person she'd missed longer than anyone else. She must have still been unsteady from her molt or the surprise because she found herself stumbling and nearly falling, only to be caught by her mother's large hands and pulled close.

"Careful child!" her mother's voice was chiding, but so so sweet. Even in her red memory the sound of her mother's voice had been faint and wrong, nothing like the deep tenor that was wrapping around Hornet's soul now. Hornet choked on a sob as she looked up, staring at the face she'd long forgotten, trying to memorize how her mother truly looked and push away the ingrained image of the dreamer's mask that had covered her mother's face in all her memories.

"I missed you so much, mom!" Hornet sobbed, claws clutching onto the red veil her mother draped over her horns and chest but refusing to take her eyes from her mom's face even as tears clouded her vision. "I'm so sorry!"

"Peace child," Herrah's voice shifted, soothing instead of chiding, and somewhat concerned as the woman moved to sit on the ground next to her daughter's bed and hold the girl in her arms. "I was only gone for a couple of hours. I am sorry I missed the end of your molt, but I promise I was with you for most of it. I know molts can be disorienting, but they do get easier as you–"

"No!" Hornet cut in, shaking her head. "Before that! You went to sleep for so long! I know you did it to protect me and everyone else, but you were gone! And it didn't even work! The infection still came back and then I had to let Ghost-" Hornet choked, voice breaking as her hands tightened their grip on the cloth under them. "I promise I wouldn't have let them if I hadn't really thought they could fix things! And they did! We were finally starting to recover when...when..." Hornet trailed off, aching grief breaking through her guilt and relief. Oh Ghost...and Holly....her poor siblings! She'd been trying so hard to get home to them, but that wasn't going to happen now. They were going to be so upset!"

"Child? Child!" Her mother's voice cut through Hornet's spiraling thoughts, drawing her vision back into focus to find the large face above her twisted in a strange combination of alarm, confusion, and concern. "Breathe with me, Little One," the larger woman instructed once she saw she had her daughter's attention once again. Hornet forced herself to follow her mother's steady-calm breaths, some shame creeping in as she realized she'd lost control as bad as she had.

"Sorry..." Hornet told her, head ducking down as she regained control once again. "I just-"

"Child," Herrah cut across her before she could continue, but that was ok. Hornet hadn't been sure how she was going to finish that sentence anyways, so she focused on her mother's words instead. "How do you..." Herrah trailed off, drawing Hornet's gaze back up to her face in time to see that confusion and concern were still warring there. "Did someone tell you about the Dreamer's plan, child?" Herrah finally finished.

"What?" Hornet asked, brow furrowing in confusion behind her mask. "No? I saw....I saw..." Hornet trailed off, finally registering how large her mother's face was compared to her. She knew she hadn't seen her mother's face for a long time, but the mask her sleeping body had worn had been around the same size, so why was it so big now?

"Saw what, Child?" her mother pressed, but Hornet ignored her, slowly looking down and taking in her own hands for the first time since waking up. Her hands. Small, unscarred, and uncalloused hands. That...that couldn't be. 

"Child?" Her mother's voice drew her back into focus even as part of her mind started spinning through the implications of what she'd just noticed. "What did you see."

"I saw you go to sleep," Hornet told her. Her voice wasn't just small and childlike because she was emotional, she sounded like a child. Like she had as a child. "You, Monomon the Teacher, and Lurien the Watcher. All three of you went to sleep to become a seal that help keep Holly and The Radiance contained in the Black Egg."

"You saw that?" Her mother's voice shook, staring at Hornet like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "How did you-?" The queen of Deepnest cut herself off, realization lighting her expression. "Your father has visions."

"He does." Hornet frowned. This wasn't like any visions she had experienced before....or would experience? Whenever they happened, her visions always came when she took a moment to rest and always felt like she was watching a quick flash of one or several possible futures that could spell her death if she didn't find another path. They were short and never held anything emotional or super detailed. Mostly just the sense of dangerous spikes or how an opponent would attack. Nothing like this.

"You said you saw the plan fail?" Herrah's voice drew her from her thoughts once again.

"It did," Hornet confirmed, nodding firmly. "Not right away, but the seal didn't hold. The Infection started seeping slowly back out a little while before I fully matured so The Pale King froze Hollownest in time to try and stave it off as long as he could. But even that couldn't last forever."

"Before you finished growing?" Herrah repeated hoarsely, grip tightening on Hornet like she could protect her from the threat that would someday come. Hornet could only nod, her own mind a whirling mess of confusion that was quickly being replaced with alarm. If her mother didn't remember becoming a dreamer then could this really be the afterlife? According to Ghost Herrah had been somewhat aware the entire time she'd dreamt. There was no reason for her not to remember now unless....unless she wasn't dead. Unless neither of them were dead. But if they weren't dead then....Hornet looked down at her tiny, too-clean hands again. Was it possible?

"Mother?" Hornet's voice was off again, but this time it wasn't just because it sounded far too young. She sounded distant even to her own ears. "How much longer do you have before you're supposed to become a Dreamer?"

"Child, you don't need to-" Herrah began, but Hornet cut her off with a shake of her head.

"Please, Mother. How long?" The queen was silent for several beats before she let out a small sign and sat back, adjusting her hold on her small daughter as she did so.

"I am uncertain exactly how long, Child," she admitted. "The bargain was that I would get to witness your first molt. That has come and gone now, so it depends on what all your father and the other Dreamers need to get done before it is time." Hornet's frown deepened, fingers releasing their grip on her mother's cape to tap against it and the hard carapace underneath. 

"Could you stall?" Hornet asked her, mind whirling. "Not forever, but for a little while? I know you made a bargain and honor says you need to fulfill it, but could you put it off for a little while longer?"

"I..." Herrah trailed off, taking in her daughter's expression. Eventually she let out a slow breath. "I will do my best, Child." She would need to talk to the king about her daughter's vision at the very least as well as make plans to be sure the child was given the proper care for that ability. That would take some time at least.

"Thank you,  Mother," Hornet slumped, leaning her face against her mother's chest in relief. 

"Of course, Daughter," Herrah reassured her, one hand coming up to cup the back of her daughter's head. 

They stayed that way for several minutes, together, but both running through different things in their mind, but eventually Hornet pulled back with a yawn.

"Alright, I think that's enough excitement for today," Herrah hummed, getting to her feet. "Molting is hard work and you need your rest to recover from it. I'll send one of your aunts in to wake you in several hours so you can eat something, but for now you should sleep."

"Ok," Hornet agreed, reaching up and nuzzling against her mother's face when the larger bug leaned down. "Goodnight, Mother."

"Goodnight, Child,"  Herrah repeated, leaning down and tucking her child into the plush cushions of her bed. "I will see you after you've woken and eaten." With that, the queen of Deepnest ran a gentle hand over her daughter's horns before standing and making her way out of the room. Her coming days had suddenly become a lot busier.

Chapter Text

Hornet waited until the sound of her mother's feet clicking against the stone floors faded away before sitting up in her bed. She was tired, but the yawn had been a purposeful thing. She needed time to think. To act. And she couldn't do either of those with her mother there, no matter how much she loved the older woman. Wait. Was her mother older than her at this point? How old had the Deepnest queen been when—no. That wasn’t important right now. What mattered was there was no way that her mother would  agree to the plan that was slowly taking form in Hornet's mind, not while thinking that Hornet was still the child she had been likely only days earlier. But Hornet wasn't a child, not in anything other than body. She had countless years of memories of time and timeless existence yet to come as well as knowledge she'd woven into her soul as she claimed parts of the beings that had been scattered across Pharloom in her travels. On top of that she could feel the sink humming in her core, far stronger than it had any right to be. Stronger than it had ever been before. Whether that was because it was compressed into her now-smaller form or something else she didn’t know, but that would be a problem for another time. She had bigger issues at the moment.

Hornet didn't know how she got here to what seemed to be an age long past, but if she truly was in the past then she did know two things. One was that The Radiance was once again a threat to her family and her people. A threat that needed to be taken care of before it brought Hollownest to ruin once again. But the second was the one that had Hornet out of her bed and drawing to mind long-dusty knowledge of the less damaged paths of Deepnest as she settled on her next steps.

Her siblings were in danger. Holly should be mostly ok, at least for a little while. Hornet knew that her sister’s time at the White Palace hadn't been perfect, or even good, but she could survive it. And with her mother agreeing to stall for time Hornet wasn't too worried about Holly being locked away in that torturous attempt at a seal any time too soon. No, the real risk was to her other siblings. Time was odd in the Abyss, so Ghost and the shades of their other void-siblings had never been able to give her an accurate idea of how long they had been trapped down there after the King had sealed the doorway. That meant it was very possible that some of her siblings had already escaped and were at risk of any of the various threats wandering the kingdom that could-and would-kill them if given the chance. And if they hadn't escaped the Abyss yet then that wasn't  good either.

Ghost didn't talk much about their time trapped down there and Holly hadn't been there long enough to know much about it, but Hornet had  gotten the picture that it had been bad. Lack of food, sheer cliffs and spikes to crash from and onto, and other beasts that were more than happy to hunt her small siblings were all dangers that any sibling still enshelled in the Abyss faced. The ones who's physical form had broken and died were safer since they didn't need to eat and they weren't at risk of being hunted, but if any of her siblings still lived inside their shells in that place she needed to get them out of there as quickly as she could.

First thing's first, however. Hornet's gaze fell on an item that she'd completely missed when first coming to her senses in this place. Her mask. Not the grown one she'd spent timeless years keeping intact with dutiful care and occasional trips to the Mask Maker. No. This was a mask she probably wouldn't recognize as her own if she hadn't taken a dive into her own memories recently. The mask of a child. Her childhood mask. Hornet allowed herself only a moment of hesitation before she reached over and picked it up, pulling it over her head with no resistance. That was good. She couldn't remember exactly when she had grown out of this mask, but she knew she hadn't been that much older than she was now. It was a relief to not have to worry about it at this moment. For now she had places to be so, mask firmly in place, Hornet carefully snuck from her room and into the tunnels of her old home.

Ghost had once showed her where they had escaped from The Abyss, a weak point in the walls between the pit and the deeper parts of Deepnest that had given out under time and their desperate efforts to escape their prison. That weak point was Hornet's goal as she wove her way through the tunnels of her homeland, clinging to walls and corners to avoid detection as she went. She had no way to know if it would be broken open yet or not, but even if it wasn't it should still be weak enough for her to dig her way in.

Escaping beyond the bounds of the more patrolled parts of her old home was a relief, but brought along it's own dangers. First off, there was no grantee that there wouldn't be any patrols that she'd run into, they were rarer but did exist and would only increase once her absence was noticed. She rather doubted the short note she had left for her mother would stop the hunt for her that would start as soon as it was found that she was missing.

But, more importantly, there were a number of dangerous creatures that called the deeper caverns their home. Creatures who would love to snack on her small, not-fully-hardened shell. It was those threats that had her making a couple quick detours. Well. That and her growing hunger. Her mother hadn't been wrong to plan to have food brought to her, she needed to eat. Typically Hornet, like most Higher Beings, didn't need to eat nearly as often as common bugs did, but molts always left her needing to replenish.

Thankfully, a couple dirtcarvers taken out with a flare of Sanal's Rune Rage ability would serve her well as both food and improvised protective measures. Once she had cleared the bug's shell of all edible meat she used silk to clean the rest of it to the best of her ability, leaving behind only hard carapace ready for use. 

The sharp feet of the creatures were used as the cores of hardened silk-woven nails that were as big as she was. Hornet had never been fond of using Silk's Pale Nail ability, but without her needle or a way to get ahold of even a nail that would fit her current size Hornet didn't have many other options. Rune Rage was useful, but it was flashy and used up a lot of silk every time she called the runes forth. The pale nails took a decent amount of silk to form, but once they were made it was minimal energy to maintain them or direct their movement. Her silk supplies seemed to be much larger than they should be especially at this age, but she didn't want to find their limit the middle of a crucial or deadly moment if she could help it.

The rest of the carapace was broken into pieces using precise silkwork and then woven into two crude versions of her beloved cogflies. Without all the proper tools or materials they had a fraction of the capacity her previews cogflies had possessed, but the knowledge she'd gained from the Architect and Eva alongside her own experience made it possible for her to spin gears into place and weave together forms that would do the job for now. That job being watching her back as she descended farther into the depths of the caverns below her old home. 

Once the cogflies were done Hornet stepped back and looked them over one last time before nodding and starting off with the silken nails hovering around her and the cogflies flying above. She'd take up enough time with this side trip. It was time to get to work freeing whatever siblings she could.

Finding the place Ghost had shown her was both harder than she had hoped it would be and easier than she had feared. This early in the timeline Deepnest looked somewhat different from what it once would have come to be. Some tunnels that would collapse without maintenance now remained open and other pathways that would have formed due to tunneling beasts or collapsing ground currently didn't exist, but Hornet had patrolled these caverns nearly her entire life. The differences proved annoying, but they didn't stop her from forging a path through the twisting tunnels to where she needed to go. Another issue was the local creatures. In all honesty the dangerous ones were the least troublesome. It was harder at this size, but between her machines and her silk-spun blades they were taken care of with relative speed.

No. It was the non-hostile creatures that gave her the most trouble. Some were docile now without The Infection's influence, causing her to jump to the defensive when she didn't need to, while others were intelligent enough that she couldn't risk being spotted by them lest they report her presence to her mother or her mother's people. She could kill them she supposed, but despite her ample years of doing just that she preferred to avoid to killing sentient bugs unless it was absolutely necessary. These bugs were neither threat to the safety of others nor falling into The Infection's grip. There was no need to send them into their final rest. So instead she carved a careful and creeping path throughout the tunnels of her old home until, finally, the hall she needed came into view. She could only be grateful that the stretch of tunnel she needed was distinct enough that it was still recognizable all these years in the past. The long stalactite in the middle of the path would eventually form a full column that was impossible to miss. It hadn't quite reached the ground in this era, though it was very close, but it was still easily recognizable as the same stone structure.

Unfortunately, finding the exact place along the tunnel wall wasn’t nearly as easy. Hornet set her cogflies to patrol short circles around the area she was in and began digging at various spots along the wall that she remembered Ghost pointing to. For a while she feared that the weak point wouldn't be viably found from this side of the wall, or that it wasn’t weakened yet, but eventually her silken blades found purchase in a section of the stone wall that gave more than the rest had, causing her breath to catch in relief. Finally. Hope surging, Hornet crouched down to begin digging with her own claws as well as the large silk blades. The sooner she got through the wall the better off she and her siblings would be. 

Time passed slowly as she dug away at the less-than-solid stone, carving a small tunnel into the wall that curved down and out from the main path she started in. As she dug she allowed her mind to wander, thinking more on her current situation. She had no way to know how she'd ended up back in the past like this, or even if she was truly back and not stuck in some sort of dying fever dream (though that seemed less and less likely as time went on). And, however she'd ended up back here, had she been the only one to return? She wasn't sure if it would be better or worse if she had.

If she was alone in coming back then she could hopefully spare many bugs the painful parts of their lives that would come if she didn't intervene and save many lives, but it would be lonely to be the only being to remember the destroyed once-future. She'd bear it though, if she had to. She had plenty of experience bearing loneliness to aid the well-being of others after all. Some part of her had hoped that she had moved past that part of her life after Ghost had beaten The Radiance and she'd started to form a life with them and Holly in the rebuilding ruins of their fallen kingdom, but her time in Pharloom had shown her that she hadn't fully left that old part of her life behind. It wouldn't be too bad to take it up once more if it prevented the suffering that was to come.

On the other hand, if others had come back as well that could mean all sorts of things depending on who it was. There were several enemies who could cause her a great deal of grief if they remembered the future she was trying to prevent and even some allies that would likely make things worse if they remembered. Others would be a blessing. She couldn't say she wanted Holly or Ghost to remember the pains they'd gone through, but she'd certainly feel less alone if they did. And they would be irreplaceable allies in dealing with the threats to come as well.

But, without knowing who-if anyone-might have come back with her, all Hornet could do was plan for whatever might happen as a result of each those options. Not while she was digging though, that sort of planning took more focused thinking than she could afford while carving her way into the rock of her homeland. Especially since she was already feeling the wear from both her molt and her actions since it’s end.

To be honest, she was starting to think that she would need to stop and rest for a time when the stone under one of her silk blades gave out entirely, causing stone and dirt to tumble deeper into the ground on the other side of the stone that remained in front of her. Hornet froze. Had she come across another tunnel? A small cave? She didn't know of any other pockets of open cave along this path—wait.

Hornet blinked, staring in shocked amazement as several small motes of void floated up and out through the hole that she'd just made. Was that...? It shouldn't be possible, the Void should be much farther down than this. So how was it already floating up into her self-made tunnel? Had it risen already? Or had she misjudged her location?

She sat back, frowning at the wall in contemplation, but before she could settle on a next step a familiar sound cut through her thoughts. Claws on stone. She'd dismissed it earlier as purely a part of the general noise of Deepnest, or as the sound of her own claws, but sitting back as she was now it was impossible not to realize it was coming from the stone in front of her. Something was digging it's way back up towards her.

Hornet backed away warily. What were the chances that Ghost was digging up at the same time she was digging down? It was far more likely that she'd come across some other sort of creature that dug its way through the stone of the surrounding areas. What exactly it might be was hard to discern, but she wasn't willing to take a chance so she pulled farther back towards the entrance to her tunnel. Behind her, the cogflies that had been guarding the path that led towards the main tunnel darted down to pass her and hover between her and the coming threat. Her silk blades also pulled back at an angle that they could shoot forward to attack, but in this small of a tunnel they wouldn't be able to do much more than that.

Seconds passed in agonizing slowness as Hornet listened to the sound of the stone in front of her get worn away until another section, slightly larger than the last, collapsed. Through the newly formed hole Hornet was finally able to catch sight of the being that had been digging towards her. And what she saw made her freeze

A pair of black eyes stared at her from a bone-white shell, blank in a way that she knew many had mistaken for empty. The face of a vessel. This one wasn’t the sibling she was searching for, but that didn’t mean she didn’t recognize him.

Three, asymmetrical horns curved up and in from their head. Two horns of different sizes on one side and one that was slightly shorter than the rest on the other. Horns that had haunted her nightmares longer than she cared to admit.

For a long moment both of them remained frozen, staring at each other through the hole in the stone. Hornet was fairly sure nosks couldn’t dig, but if they could it wouldn’t be the first time one used this shape to try and trick her. Though she would have thought that there would be others that would be higher on the list at this point all things—

Hornet’s thoughts cut short as the vessel finally moved. Two hands, smaller than she remembered them being, slowly lifted from his sides. Hornet couldn’t help but notice that they were shaking slightly.

’Sister?’

Chapter Text

‘Sister?’

That sign, made by hands smaller than she remembered them being, shouldn’t be possible. If this vessel was just now escaping the Abyss then there was no way he could know how to sign, let alone recognize her relationship to him.

And yet here he stood, watching her with the posture she knew as his way to express uncertainty. A living ghost of her past-now-undone-future she’d long been forced to leave behind, just like her mother had been. But unlike her mother, he seemed to remember at least some of the time that hadn’t happened.

”Tassel?” Her voice was quiet, unsure, but it was all the vessel—her brother—needed to come alive.

’Sister!’ This sign was much more exuberant as he practically lunged forward to be right at the edge of the hole he’d made. ‘You're here! Safe! Was worried!’

”I’m here!?” Hornet hissed, lunging forward herself to grip the edges of the hole and barely remembering to keep her voice down lest it echo down the tunnel and gave her away. Ancient pain-born-of-fear and grief that she'd thought long dealt with boiled to the surface as she stared at the face of a being who had vanished from her life without a trace. “You’re here! You disappeared! I came back to the grove and you were gone! I looked everywhere for you! I—“ Hornet cut off as small, cold claws gripped onto hers.

’Sorry,’ Tassel signed with his free hand, shoulders drooping. After several long beats of holding her claw he let go to try and explain. ‘Had to go. Felt golden dreams seeping in. Wasn’t safe.’ Hornet felt the fight drain out of her all at once and she allowed herself to drop forward and rest her head against the upper edge of the hole in the wall. Of course. She’d always known it was something like that. Tassel was too smart to be lured away by a Nosk or other trickster and too well versed in the caverns near their grove to get lost. His fighting skills were more than enough deal with most infected threats as well. And while part of her had always feared that he'd simply decided to leave her she'd never really believed it. Tassel would never do that. So of course it had been the infection.

”You could have still stayed,” she told him, quieter now. “You hadn’t shown symptoms yet. We would have more time together. And I—“ she choked for a moment, painful images flashing to mind for just a moment. She ruthlessly shoved them down before the remembered sensation of needle against carapace and void was able to fully form. “I would have helped. I wouldn’t have let it take you like it did other bugs.”

‘I know.’ Tassel’s signs were slow and as mournful as the slump of his shoulders. ‘Didn't want you to have to.’ The ‘again’ was left unsaid, but Hornet heard it clearly all the same. Out of every bug in Hallownest’s past, future, or present Tassel was probably the one with the best idea of exactly what that duty took from her when it was someone she knew or loved.

“I could have handled it,” she told him fiercely. She had after all. Again and again as the years of infection wore on and more and more bugs fell to it. Back before she’d distanced herself from most other living beings.

’I know.’ The simple acknowledgment defused her anger before it had a chance to take root again. ‘Sorry.’ He wasn't apologizing for leaving, she knew him too well to think he was. No, he was apologizing for the pain and fear that had come from his disappearance. And maybe for falling to infection at all.

”You’re here now,” Hornet said, not wanting to lie and say it was fine, but wanting to move on. “And I’m here. We can move forward. Are there...are there still other siblings down there?" She pointed back the way they had come. "You're digging up from the..." what had he called it in the past? "The birthplace, right?" Tassel straightened, posture going stiff in startled remembrance before he nodded three times in quick succession. 

'Yes! Siblings! Ghost gathered all survivors together. Had me dig. I'm best digger.'

"Ghost?" Hornet repeated, leaning forward hopefully. She'd question how it was Tassel knew Ghost's sign-name later. That wasn't important right now. "Ghost is down there too?"

'Yes.' Tassel nodded their agreement. 'Sibling-Lord is here. Brought us back.'

"Ghost brought us back?!" Hornet's mind stumbled over the idea as she tried to figure out exactly what that meant, but she forcefully shook her head, shoving her questions back for now. "Never mind. I'll ask them when we get down there." Tassel shook his head, pointing back up

'I need to dig a way out.' Tassel told her. 'Birthplace not safe.'

"I know," Hornet reassured him. His goal had been pretty obvious after all. "But I already dug this far down, and you dug up. So that's a full tunnel out into Deepnest. We'll have to figure out where to go from there, but the tunnel is made." Tassel blinked, looking between her and the tunnel behind her before his shoulders hunched up towards his horns. 

'Right.' He signed quickly, clearly embarrassed. 'Need to tell siblings.'

"Yes," Hornet agreed, nodding quickly. "And we need to plan where we go from there. Besides, I want to talk to Ghost about what happened to get us here." She paused, glancing back the way she had come. "I should block this off some first though. Not a lot!" She added quickly when he stiffened in alarm. "Just enough that people won't be able to tell the tunnel is here when they pass by. I don't want any patrols knowing about this, or any monsters climbing down it." Tassel hesitated, but eventually he nodded, accepting her logic. He knew what it meant to need to avoid detection after all. They'd always been sure to hide the entrance to their grove for similar reasons.

'I'll finish tunnel,' he told her, gesturing at the remaining rock that blocked the path between the two of them.

"Sounds good!" Hornet chirped, turning to go. Then she hesitated, stopping for a beat. Two. She turned back, reaching through the hole to grab one of his void-cold claws in her own. "It's good to see you, brother. I missed you." She didn't give him time to respond before turning to start back up the tunnel, cogflies and floating nails following behind. 

Hornet found herself grateful for her extended well of silk as she crafted what she hoped would be a believable block for the hole she'd created in the cavern wall. Weaving silk and stone into a facsimile cave wall wasn't a simple task and without being on the outside she couldn't even be sure how accurate it looked, but it was the best she could do. And her extended well of silk meant she didn't have to skimp or cut corners to make it sturdy and set in place. With any luck no one would even notice it was there, but if they did they would have a hard time getting through and she'd know if they did.

That done, she made her way back down the tunnel to find Tassel waiting for her right where she'd left him, the final remains of the wall that had separated them laying in shattered rubble along the ground of their self-made cavern tunnel. Hornet hadn't bothered restraining herself when he came into sight again, choosing instead to dart forward and wrap her brother in a tight hug and relish in the cool arms that wrapped around her in return. It wasn't quite right, they were both too small, arms too short, but it felt good all the same.

After that they'd turned and made their way back down the small tunnel that Tassel had dug into the rock, occasionally pushing dirt or rubble down or to the side to make room. As small as the tunnel was they weren't really able to talk as they went—it would be too hard for her to see his signs as he walked in front of her—so instead she reached out and took one of his hands so they could walk down hand in hand. There were a couple times that they had to let go so they could both climb cross something, or move something out of the way, but they always gripped hands again as soon as they could.

Silent as it was, the walk down did give Hornet more time to think. From the sounds of it Ghost had somehow yanked them all back in time, though how or why was very much in question. As well as who all had come with them. Clearly there was her, Tassel, and Ghost themself, but who else? Was Holly back and having to deal with their parents with all her memories intact? What about the rest of their shade-siblings? Was it just Tassel? Or did the rest remember? The Pale King? A lot of future planning depended on knowing the answer to those questions, but she knew she likely wouldn't be able to get all of them until they had all left the Abyss and made their way to somewhere where they could gather information about the rest of Hallownest. All the same, it was good to know that she wasn't going to be alone in this.

The next set of questions was a bit more pressing. The first and foremost being why wasn't she starting to feel the effects of the void? Typically when she'd gone to the Abyss with Ghost and Holly to visit their other siblings she'd tended to stay up near the top parts of the rocky outcropping and could still feel how the oppressive energy was sinking into her being from there. It was a tired, draining feeling that meant she couldn't ever stay to visit her void-bound siblings for long, no matter how much she might want to. She could go down to the bottom of the abyss for short visits, but if she wanted any real time with them she had to stay near the top. But here at this moment she wasn't feeling anything like that. The void-particles were getting thicker as they floated up through the tunnel, many brushing against her and Tassel as they went. She could still feel it, of course, but the cold, draining feeling that usually came with unconstrained void never came. Instead it was just...cold. No feeling of draining or weakness to be found. She wouldn't call it comfortable, but it wasn't harmful either. It wasn't even like the biting cold of Mt Fay. How strange. 

The other concerning question involved her own shell. While the void wasn't causing her to feel discomfort, that didn't mean she was feeling overly comfortable either. She had been startled when-partway through digging her part of the tunnel-she'd realized that her molt-soft carapace had finished hardening. That should have taken at least a day to complete, but it already felt like a fully established shell. She couldn't explain it, but she was grateful for it, even if it was possible that the energy that had to have been spent on that was part of why she was so tired. She would need to take a serious nap once she got down to the others, though she wasn't sure if the buzzing energy running through her body would allow it. Despite how much silk she had used since waking up she still felt like she was running on some sort of soul-energy overcharge. It was odd and disconcerting. 

Hornet wasn't sure how long it took, but her contemplated thoughts were consciously put to the side as the small tunnel opened up to a small covert with walls made up of claw marks. It was clearly something that had been dug into the wall of the Abyss that now yawned in front of them just past the edge of the bug-made space they were standing in. Moving forward cautiously, she was surprised to see how close to the broken-shell-covered ground they were. It made sense though, she supposed. A smaller climb to get to the start of their route to safety was better. She'd heard far too much about how dangerous the climb out of this place was. How many sibling-lives it had stolen.

Below her, the sound of movement drew her gaze towards an area close to the wall almost directly beneath her. There, peering up at her and Tassel (who had joined her at the edge), was a small collection of white masks with black eyes that weren't broken. Siblings. Living siblings. It was hard to tell how many were left—not nearly enough considering the number of broke shells—but it was still more than she had dared hope.

Beside her, Tassel waved down at the group on the ground and soon enough the group was moving. One vessel stepped away from the rest and began directing the others to gather more closely together. Then the one who had stepped apart began to shift and change. Bone white mask vanished in the swell of void that flowed out and encompassed the one she could only assume was Ghost. Eight glowing white eyes opened from inky blackness and the now-much-larger being leaned down to carefully gather up the rest of their siblings in two of their massive hands with two more forming an extra barrier to prevent anyone from falling out of their grip. 

Straightening up, Ghost slowly brought up their hands until they were level with the carved ledge Hornet and Tassel were on, causing the two of them to step back and slightly to the side to get out of the way. Ghost removed the two covering hands shortly after that and Hornet found herself stepping forward before she could think of what exactly she planned to do.

Thirteen. Thirteen living siblings peered at her from the safety of Ghost's massive hands. She only truly knew one of them, but several others were familiar in a faint-faraway sort of way. Like she'd seen them at a glance somewhere. She put aside those thoughts for the moment, focusing on stepping forward to offer her hand to the nearest vessel—one with two horns that started at the upper part of the back of their shell and curved forward and then down—and was gratified when they took her hand without hesitation.

From there she and Tassel helped each of their siblings climb out of the large hands cradling them and onto the ledge in front of the tunnel. The ledge wasn't huge, but with how small all of them were there was more than enough room for all of them to gather comfortably and still have room to move around without fear of venturing too close to the edge. Hornet was grateful for the space, she didn't want to risk anyone falling due to careless movement.

Once they were all on the ledge Ghost moved their now-free hands to grip onto the ledge and lean their massive head into the empty space between the cluster of siblings and the edge of the cliff. At first it looked like they were going try and climb in as they were, but then Hornet realized that their massive form was shrinking and collapsing inward towards their head and their head was shrinking as well. Eight white eyes blinked closed as they collapsed into a formless ball of void hovering just above the ground in front of her. Then, between one blink and the next, the ball shrunk the rest of the way, forming into a achingly familiar body with a beloved shell settled on top. 

Hornet was moving almost before they finished forming, darting forward to wrap her sibling in a tight hug. It was odd not having to crouch or dip down to hold them tight, but their arms around her were familiar all the same. She might have felt bad about how tight her grip was if they hadn't been holding her back just as tightly, though it did take a couple moment for her to realizing that they were both shaking and that the increased cold sensation on her shoulder was from more than their closeness. Void-tears weren't things she was unfamiliar with, but in all the time she'd known them she'd only seen Ghost cry twice. Once was in the middle of their path towards saving Hallownest. They'd been worn down and hurt in more ways than one. It was the first time she'd allowed herself to get close to them to offer comfort. The second was after she and Holly had brought their shell to the Abyss, thinking at first that they were setting them to rest, but ending up allowing them to reform into a more physical shape once more. To be fair, all three of them had been in tears that time. Not that this time was much better, mind you. Her own tears—shimmering ever so slightly under the glow they all gave off— slipped free of her mask to soak into Ghost's cloak.

"I missed you," she choked. "You and Holly both. I missed you so-so much!" She pulled back some, desperate to meet their eyes and make sure they knew she was telling the truth in this next part. "I swear I didn't mean to leave! A group of fanatics from my mother's homeland grabbed me and carted me across The Wasteland inside a rune-woven cage that sapped all my strength. I would have come home as soon as I broke free, but I wanted to make sure that they wouldn't come after me again. And then In ended up accidentally making things worse for the bugs there so I needed to fix that before I could leave and—" Hornet cut off as Ghost's hand came up to press against mouth under her mask. Their tears had dried for the most part by this point, but their posture certainly didn't give her any confidence about them being fully emotionally settled.

'Missed you too,' they told her, defaulting to Holly's one-handed signs even as their other hand moved down from her mouth to rest on her shoulder and grip her cloak there. 'Was worried, but knew you'd never leave on purpose. Didn't know what happened. Couldn't find you until—' They faltered and Hornet reached up to grip their hand on her shoulder with her own, offering wordless reassurance. 'The Void was called up to deal with angry goddess and I started seeing glimpses of you through strands of void trying to break goddess's anchors to surface. Couldn't pay much attention, goddess was angry and strong. Old. Not as old as Old Light, but better at guarding. Lost track of you until...' They trailed off, trembling growing worse, and Hornet had a sinking feeling where this was going. Swallowing hard, she lifted her other hand to touch the side of their shell, wiping away the tears that were leaking free once more.

"Until I jumped into the Void Sea, right?" she finished for them, earning her a small nod.

'Why?' They managed to sign. 'Knew it wasn't safe. So why?'

"I knew it was a risk," Hornet acknowledged, glancing down and away before forcing herself to look at their face again. "But Silk, the angry goddess, had accidentally taken one of her daughters down with her. I was pretty sure that was why she was fighting so hard. She wanted to keep Lace safe. But her fight was tearing the country apart even worse, plus the effects the void coming up her silk was having on things. The bugs there are filled with her silk, so the void trying to grab her silk was sinking into them as well. I wanted to make her let go and figured the best way to do that would be to get her daughter out of the sea. And if I could give Lace a chance at figuring out how to be alive without her mother treating her like a doll I wanted to do that too. And I did manage to get Lace free, but..." She trailed off, frowning to herself as realization started to dawn. "I didn't make it out, did I? My needle and silk didn't go far enough to pull us all the way out of the sea. And then the flower failed..." Ghost's fist tightened on her cloak and yanked her into a hug again, tucking her face against their shoulder as the truth finally sank in.

"I died..." Hornet had died, floating in the Void Sea. It was strange. She'd never thought much about her own death, not with how long her life was and how few things could prove an active threat to her wellbeing. Even the visions she would occasionally get warning her of potentially deadly threats to come didn't make her think much on it, just correct her actions to prevent things from going badly. But here she was. She'd died and..."You brought us back. To save me?" A small, trembling nod against her shoulder told her everything she needed to know. Hornet blinked back more tears and shifted to hold them closer. Moments later, several other cold forms began pressing against her back and sides. A quick glance up showed that their other siblings were gathering around in the best version of a group hug as they could do since she and Ghost were so close to the edge. Speaking of...

"We should move farther in." Hornet kept her voice gentle, but firm as she carefully pulled back from Ghost's grip and shifted to take both their hands in hers. "Away from the edge." Ghost hesitated, but a quick glance around gave them the same understanding of what their siblings were trying to do as she had. A moment later they nodded and allowed her to draw them farther into the alcove until they could settle near the middle, allowing the rest of their siblings to encircle them in the space. They sat there in silent stillness for a while, none of them willing to speak up or move away from the impromptu cuddle circle they had made, but eventually Ghost pulled a hand free once more.

'I wasn't fast enough. Got distracted dealing with goddess. Didn't make sure you got out. Got to you, but....' They trailed off for a moment before shaking their head and pressing on. 'Didn't mean to come back so far, just some. Void isn't...time and void don't...hard to explain. Just knew I could. Wanted to go back to before it too late. Things went...weird. More power, not void, joined. Woke up here, with siblings. Gear gone. Almost all charms gone. Door closed. Body young.' 

"Where did the other power come from?" Hornet asked curiously. What other power could add to what they had been trying to do with the void? Very few things could mix with void without being consumed. Ghost hesitated for several beats before pointing a claw at her. "Me?" That didn't make any sense. Hornet didn't have that sort of power, definitely not enough to make a short jump in time go back this far, but Ghost nodded all the same.

'Still feel it,' they told her somberly. 'In you. Now.' Hornet frowned, looking down at her hands as she tried to parse out what that meant. They still felt it in her now...? Wait...the strange silken energy humming under her carapace. Could that..?

"I see..." She wasn't exactly sure what that meant for her, but it could explain some of the other oddities she was currently dealing with, like how she still felt perfectly fine sitting near the bottom of the Abyss. She'd have to learn to deal with it, she supposed, because she was getting the sinking feeling that it wasn't going to go away anytime soon. In fact it felt more like it was weaving itself more and more into her very being. Becoming a part of her silk and soul. She shook her head, dismissing her musings about things she couldn't control for the time being, and refocused on her siblings once more. "We can figure that out later. We're here now so we need to figure out our next steps. Do you know if anyone else came back with us? Mother didn't remember anything."

'Not sure,' Ghost admitted, shaking their head. 'Siblings' shades there with me when I brought us back. And part of void. Holly not with us, but is part of void. Silk daughter was there, but is not void. Meant to take you, me, and child back.' They reached up and tapped the charm they always wore on their chest, the one that carried the grimmchild they'd raised. She could only assume the child was resting inside the charm, since Ghost wasn't distressed. 

"But you don't think anyone else might have come back?" Hornet pressed, wanting to be sure.

'Don't think so,' Ghost told her. 'Void or there, but not others.' That was good. One less thing to worry about then, outside of the possibility of Holly remembering or not and what that could mean for her.

"Alright." Hornet relaxed back, allowing herself to lean slightly against the wall of cold bodies behind her. "That's good I think. We can work with that. Do you have any plans on your next steps?" Hornet was fairly sure she knew the answer before Ghost moved to reply, but it didn't hurt to check. She was unsurpised when they shook their head before signing back. 

'Get out. Get food. Find you. Find safe place.'

"Right." Hornet huffed a sigh. She always had been the planner out of the three of them, though it would have been nice if some of their other siblings had prompted Ghost into planning a bit further. Oh well. "Well. Deepnest isn't going to cut it. Not only is it too dangerous, but I don't want Mother or her patrols finding us. I love her, but she still sees me as a grub. So I don't think she'll let us do whatever it is we decide we need to in order to deal with The Radiance before the king tries to put Holly in that egg. Plus there's a chance she'll tell others about all of you, and I don't want to risk that quite yet. Greenpath would be ideal for a place to rest and hunt, but it's quite a distance away, and the Queen's Garden is there, so we might be spotted."

'Mantis?' Ghost suggested, tilting their head in question. Hornet hummed thoughtfully.

"That's a possibility," Hornet aknowledged thoughtfully. "They are allied with Hallownest, but don't fall under the king's direct command. Though you'd have to win their respect in combat before they'd even listen to your request."

'Aren't mantis's dangerous?' One of the vessels asked, leaning out of the crowd to make their signs visible. The four horns she bore, two on each side, were achingly familiar as they arched up from the sides of her shell.

"They are," Hornet agreed, giving the familiar vessel a shaky smile. "But Ghost has fought them before, in the future we came from. And they're an honorable group. If they agree to give us safe harbor they won't go back on their word, no matter what." The familiar vessel hesitated before turning her head towards Ghost, presumably listening to something they were saying through the communication Hornet knew they had through the void. Eventually the vessel nodded her acceptance.

"Mantises it is then." Hornet nodded as well. "Though we'll risk Greenpath if they refuse to grant you a boon after you beat them." She waited until Ghost nodded their agreement before turning her attention back to the other familiar vessel and reached out to take her hand in both of hers.

"It's good to see you again, Lily," she told the four-horned vessel, earning her a tightening of the hand she was gripping. She could feel Ghost's gaze on her, but pushed on regardless. "I missed you too, you know. I'm sorry I couldn't help you more than I did."

Chapter Text

"I missed you too, you know. I'm sorry I couldn't help you more than I did."

'You helped plenty,' the vessel—Lily— disagreed with a shake of her head. 'You were there the whole time. I'm sorry I couldn't finish it at the end myself, but I'm glad it was you.' Hornet sucked in a shaky breath, but forced herself to nod. Now was not the time to sink into ill-fated memories.

"I'm glad I could help, sister. I hope it didn't..."

'No pain,' Lily reassured her before she could even finish the sentence. 'You were quick. One moment I was fighting off the golden glow and the next I was sinking back into the void with the rest. Things are hazy after that, but none of us seem to remember much of what happened after we joined the void again.' 

“I…” Hornet trailed off before huffing a sigh and leaning her head down to gently bump her mask against Lily’s shell. “Good. That’s good.” She stayed like that for several moments before Lily squeezed her hand and tilted her head to the side, drawing Hornet’s attention over to where Ghost had their hands raised to sign. 

‘What would have happened if I lost our duel?’ They asked once they had her attention. Hornet grimaced slightly and glanced away, feeling heat seeping up under her mask, but she forced herself to look back at them moments later. That was a fair question. The context they were getting now didn't exactly fit the image she'd put off when they first met.

“If it was the first duel you would have woken up in the grove I used as my camp for a long while. It would have been just us. Tassel was already gone, and you saw Lily’s grave. But you would have been as safe there as I could make it. If it had been our second fight…” Hornet trailed off, thinking back to her mindset during that fight. “I wasn’t holding back then, so you might have died, but if you had gone down without dying I would have done my best to patch you up and take you far away from the brand and it’s responsibilities.”

'It was odd,’ Ghost admitted after several beats of stillness to process her response. ‘You were quick to help after second fight. Saved life after saying you wouldn’t care. And you were different outside of combat. Never thought about it much, but was odd.’

"Sorry.” Hornet could try and explain her reasoning behind why she acted as she did. She could explain the fear of getting close again, or the worry about the failing seal, or even her desperate hope that they could be strong enough to help. But in the end it didn’t really matter. She’d been cruel and made her sibling thing she was trying to kill them not once, but twice. Sure, Ghost had put it behind them not long after taking the King’s Brand, but her actions remained the same.

'Forgive you.’ Ghost signed simply. The same way they had back when she’d first tried to apologize for being cold to them, not long after they’d killed The Radiance. Hornet probably would have chuckled at the familiar reply, but her response was cut off by a yawn that was far less staged than the one back in her childhood bedroom.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, much less coherent this time as she sat up to rub her eyes under her mask. “I just finished a molt before coming here. I’m exhausted.”

'Rest.’ Ghost instructed, posture growing tight with worry. She wasn’t surprised, her last molt had rather freaked them out. None of them had been prepared for it. ‘Need food? Soft?’

“I’m ok,” Hornet reassured them with a shake of her head. “My shell hardened already, somehow. So I don't need soft bedding. And I ate on my way here. Speaking of—“ Hornet shifted to reach into the silk-spun bag she’d made to carry what she needed and pulled out the leftover meat she’d stuffed inside after eating her fill earlier. “—It’s not a lot, but this is what’s left from my meal. You’ve all gone a lot longer without food. You can have this.” 

Hornet could tell Ghost wanted to disagree and tell her to keep the meat, but a glance around them at the rest of their siblings stilled their hands. After a moment they huffed a sigh and nodded, reaching over to take the offered food, presumably to divide it between the rest of their group. Hornet nodded in approval before straightening once more and glancing at the ledge behind Ghost’s back.

"I do need to sleep,” she admitted. “But we’ll need to figure out the rest of our plan soon so we can get out of here. Is there anything else that anyone needs to get from down there before we leave?” She scanned the crowd of siblings, looking for anyone that might indicate that they needed to do or get something, but all she found was a sea of shaking heads and shrugs. Good. ”Alright. If no one needs to go back down, then I’m going to make a barrier so no one falls by accident, alright?”

'Have enough silk?’ Ghost asked, glancing uncertainly back at the large silk-made blades that she’d set on the ground against the wall of the tunnel after she and Tassel had stepped onto the alcove.

"Don’t worry about that,” Hornet reassured them with a short, wry laugh. “I have plenty of silk to spare.” Turning back to the ledge, she raised her hands and began to spin. The silk came easily, and since her goal was just to make a sturdy barrier with no care of the pattern or design she quickly found very little need to use her hands beyond vague gestures towards where she wanted it to go. The silken strands spread and placed themselves where she wanted them with ease that she’d never experienced before. It was a little alarming, if helpful in this instance. All her earlier work had been smaller, more precise. She’d noticed how much easier the silk had been to draw out and weave, but this was something else entirely. She’d need to experiment with it more later, but for now she just let herself be grateful that it sped up her process. Soon enough there was a silken web of sorts spanning across the entrance of the alcove. It wasn’t intricate, but she made sure not to leave any holes that were big enough for any of them to fall through.

"There.” Hornet nodded in approval of her own work before turning around. “I can take it down when we leave, or if someone does need to go down there, but for now we should be safe from falls. Or from anything out there getting in here to us.” She wasn't sure if any of the void predators would bother to try and get up here, but better safe than sorry.

'You learned a lot.’ Tassel noted, eyeing the web with undisguised interest that might have bordered on pride.

“You could say that,” Hornet acknowledged, making her way back over to her spot near the center of the sibling-circle.

'Rest now.’ Lily instructed before reaching over and tugging Hornet down to lay her head in her lap. Hornet allowed herself to be moved without a fight, choosing to relax into the care with a quiet sigh.

To her surprise one of her other siblings—one with three horns that curved back—broke away from the rest of the group to lay next to her and shove their way against her chest, head tucking under her mask as best as they could. A small chuckle escaped her at that and she carefully wrapped her arms around the unfamiliar sibling. Moments later a quiet rumble started up, barely audible, but easy to feel from how close they were pressed against her. Purring. She'd heard it from Ghost and Holly a number of times over their time together, and from Tassel and Lily several times before she'd lost them as well, but each of them had taken time to feel like they could relax enough to allow their void to make one of the few sounds it was able to make. Smiling, she leaned down to gently tap her chelicerae to the top of one of their curved horns in an affectionate gesture before settling back and allowing her eyes to fall closed, happy they felt this comfortable with her already.

"Wake me if anything happens.” The words were meant to be firm instructions, but ended up coming out more mumbled than anything else. She hoped that the pat she got on the shoulder in response was agreement, but unconsciousness pulled her under before she could check to be sure.

Chapter Text

Hornet woke slowly, surrounded by the familiar chill of void-filled bodies, but not in a pattern that she was used to. In the past she would feel Holly's larger form pressed against her back while Ghost—now only slightly shorter than herself—would be curled up at her front or sprawled across the top of both of their siblings. This time she woke with the feeling of void pillowing her mask and wrapped in her arms, as well as pressed in at her from behind and above. She was fairly certain that there were at least two small bodies sprawled across the top of her and one behind as well. Old habit born of survival kept her still as she cracked one eye open to observe her surroundings.

Ah. Right. She was in the past. The unfamiliar sibling with three horns was still wrapped securely in her arms and she caught the sight of another—this one with two horns that went straight up from the top of their head—sprawled out on the ground just past her arms. She could tell there were more scattered around—and on!—her, but she didn't bother turning to try and get a better look. She was...comfortable. At least for now. And the sibling in her arms was still fast asleep. There was no need to move and wake anyone. She could feel a faint thrum of cool energy coming from above and behind her and a strange instinct told her that it might be the feeling of siblings that were awake and moving, or perhaps talking. That was alright, though. She'd join the conversation soon enough. For now she wanted to just lay there and take a moment to think.

They really were back in the past, weren't they? This wasn't some sort of void-or-death-born dream. Ghost had yanked them all back in time in a desperate attempt to save her life. She....hadn't really taken the time to think on what exactly that meant. On the upside, her mother and the other dreamers were alive and awake. The king and White Lady should be whole and hale as well. Oh! And Vespa! The Radiance was too, of course, and they'd need to sit down and figure out their plan for dealing with her soon enough, but Hornet found it hard to focus on her for the moment. There were other matters—other bugs—she was more concerned about. How many of the bugs that she and her siblings had come to care about were still out there? And how many just...didn't exist yet?

Time passed oddly in Hallownest compared to the rest of the world. That was the reason why Ghost, despite having hatched from the same egg as Holly, was—er had been—the youngest of the three surviving siblings. It had taken some time—and several interviews with bugs that traveled from outside of Hallownest—but they'd eventually figured out that for the early years of their lives, Hallownest had been moving in a slowed version of time. The ten years it took for the Infection to break free of the seal in Hallownest time had taken only five years in the outside world. And it just got worse from there. After the Infection broke free their father had frozen Hallownest inside a single moment. Hundreds of years passed in Hallownest in the blink of an eye for the outside world. Generations of Hallownest bugs were born, struggled to survive, and died as their land crumbled around them. There was a small selection of bugs who seemed frozen in time, much like Hornet herself had been, but most of the bugs that they knew that were from Hallownest itself wouldn't be born for several generations. If at all. And those who did come from the outside world would still be several years younger than the versions they'd come to know in the future. Who was left in this—

A gentle hand on her claws stilled her thoughts and the tapping that she hadn't even realized she'd begun. Opening her eyes, she was unsurprised to find Ghost crouched in front of her, concern in every line of their body as they tilted their head in question.

"Just thinking," she told them as quietly as she could. Ghost didn't respond, merely continued to stare at her until she huffed a small, quiet sign. "About people. Who's going to be around…and who isn't." Hornet could practically feel their confusion as they tilted their head the other way so she pressed on. "If the seal hasn't been put in place then we're back before the King put Hallownest into stasis. Hundreds of years in Hallownest's past. There are some bugs that live that long, and others that got caught in time like I did, but most of them…" She trailed off as she saw the horrified realization sinking into her sibling's posture.

'Elderbug?' They asked, forcing Hornet to shake her head grimly. 'Iselda? Cornifer? Mato?' Ghost's hands were shaking now as they signed name after name. Hornet gave up trying to keep still for the siblings sleeping on or against her and unwrapped one hand from the sibling she'd been holding to reach up and grab Ghost's nearest hand, forcing them still while also providing comfort.

"I don't know about everyone," she admitted quietly as she started feeling some of her other siblings stir around her. "But I do know Iselda and Cornifer came from outside of Hallownest. They were adults when we met them too, so they should already be alive, just younger than we knew them as. Elderbug was a descendant of Hallownest bugs and had been at the edges of Hallownest his whole life, so unfortunately I don't think his parents are even born yet. As for Mato…" she frowned, trying to think back. "I'm not completely certain, but I think he and the other nail master brothers came from outside of Hallownest with their parents when they were young. I remember there being some surprised talk when Nail Master Sly took them in. I don't know how young they were then, so I don't know how long it might take for them to reappear, but they're probably alive or almost born. They're going to be younger than us though, Ghost. I'm so sorry."

Ghost stared at her for several long moments, still in a way she'd never seen them be before, before they proceeded to collapse. Their hand tightened on hers as she curled into themself, shaking with sobs that only came out as broken gasps. Hornet jolted, wanting desperately to move to hold them, somewhat trapped by the small bodies crowded around her.

Thankfully, they were no longer alone. Before she could even start to figure out how to untangle herself three other dark bodies darted over from another part of the alcove to wrap Ghost in a collection of limbs. Tassel was first, but two other siblings she didn't really know were right there as well. One was the sibling she'd first helped off of Ghost's massive hands before her rest and the other had horns very similar to Ghost's own, though the prongs faced the other way.

Hornet settled back, allowing Ghost to get comfort from the three sets of arms curled around them and holding them close and her own hand holding theirs. Anchoring. She got it. Really she did. Mato had been the closest thing Ghost had to a parent. A mentor that had been with them from near the start of their time in Hallownest and one that took time out of his day to make room for whatever it was Ghost needed whenever her sibling had gone to visit. Loosing that hurt. And even if they might run across a young Mato in the future it wouldn't be the same.

The others hurt as well, of course. Ghost was a bug that loved fiercely and several of the bugs they loved simply…didn't exist in this era. And those who did wouldn't know them. Not the way the ones from their time did. It was a bitter pill to swallow, and one that Hornet was still trying to take in herself. She'd never grown as close to the bugs of Dirtmouth as Ghost themself had, but she'd cared for them in her own way. And then there were the ones she met in Pharloom. Even if she went back to deal with the mess there later it was unlikely that she'd come across the bugs she had bonded with before, let alone form the same connection. She was grateful that her mask hid the few tears that escaped her eyes to slide sideways down her face. And that hers didn't float up into void particles the way her siblings' did. That would be far more noticeable.

They stayed like that for several long minutes as other siblings stirred and woke either due to the noise, her movement, or something else she couldn't hear the way they could. By the time Ghost had regained their composure even more siblings had joined the group hug around them. Both of the siblings who had been laying on top of her had rolled off to join, as well as two others from behind her. Even the sibling in her arm was starting to stir, though they were moving much slower than the rest.

Hornet wasn't sure how long it took, but eventually Ghost calmed down enough to uncurl from the void-ball they had formed, though they didn't move out from the siblings that had surrounded them. Nor did they let go of her hand.

"Sorry," Hornet told them, giving them a small, apologetic smile. Ghost shook their head sharply in response, tightening their hand on hers hard enough to cause her to wince. They loosened their hold moments later, but didn't let go as they raised their other hand.

'Worth it,' they told her firmly, keeping their gaze fixed on her for several beats before sitting back slightly to scan around at the rest of their siblings. Their shoulders seemed to relax ever so slightly as they nodded and repeated the sign. 'Worth it.' Hornet sucked in a breath and let it out slowly before nodding, eyes flickering from them, to the siblings around them, up to Lily, and then down to the child still in her arms.

"Worth it," she agreed quietly. All of it would be worth it if they could keep their little family safe. She needed to keep everyone on this little alcove safe as well as— "We need to figure out how to get Holly away from the king. It'll be easier if she remembers us, but from the sounds of it we can't count on that. So we'll have to plan for both."

Ghost's posture straightened slightly as they nodded, visibly grabbing onto the important goal.

'Safe shelter first,' they pointed out, drawing a small sigh from Hornet.

"True," she agreed. "Do you feel up to going to win us shelter with the Mantises? I don't know about you, but I'm not exactly…" she gestured vaguely at herself with the hand somewhat wrapped around her still-snoozing sibling. "—up to par for combat at the moment." Ghost nodded back, sharp and confident. "Alright then. Do you know where to get a nail? I can probably make you one if not, but a silk nail won't have the same weight and balance as a metal one, no matter how sturdy it is."

Ghost faltered at that, visibly hesitating as they tried to think back. Eventually they shook their head, shoulders dropping slightly in defeat.

"Silk nail it is, then," Hornet acknowledge, squeezing their hand before letting go. "You will just need to take time to practice with it and familiarize yourself with how it moves." Ghost nodded their acceptance, though they didn't look entirely happy about it. "It's just until we get you a normal nail," Hornet reassured them, though she imagined part of their upset was due to the loss of the nail they'd spent so much time collecting the materials to upgrade. From a Nail Smith that wouldn't exist in this era either. She'd have to be sure to introduce them to this era's Nail Smith once they were able to. For now though she needed to get up and craft a proper nail of silk.

Moving slowly, she carefully slid her arm out from under the sibling cuddled against her chest, leaving behind a small weaving of silk about the same size of her arm in an attempt to keep them comfortable as she sat up. Thankfully it seemed to do the trick for the time being and she was soon sitting cross-legged where she had once been laying, freeing Lily to move as well.

"Could one of you get me one of the silk blades from against the wall?" she asked, glancing at the crowd of siblings gathered around and watching her. She could summon it over, but didn't really want to risk accidentally cutting anyone with it. Plus it gave them something to do as well. She was completely unsurprised with five separate siblings all proceeded to rush to try and grab the asked-for blades. Nor was she surprised when she was presented with both silken blades just moments later, both carried by different siblings. She didn't recognize either of them, though both of their shells were tugging at her mind in a way that said she should know them from somewhere.

Honestly it didn't help that several of their horns were somewhat similar to each others'. And none of them had the detailed ink-patterns that many residents of Hallownest preferred to have done to their masks and shells. Even Ghost's shell was empty of the markings they'd had her and Holly painstakingly add in the first year after the Infection. They'd have to fix that soon, but for the meantime she took both silk blades and laid one across her lap while placing the other on the ground at her side. A gesture from one had all of the silk unwinding from the blade on her lap and forming a small pile at her side, leaving only the dirtcarver claw.

"Do any of you have names?" she asked as she reached into her bag and pulled out one of her makeshift weaving needles. "I can keep calling each of you 'sibling' in my head if you like, but if any of you have names you prefer I will gladly use them."

'All here have names,' Tassel informed her, bobbing his head in a short nod. 'Some long in words.'

"Would you mind telling me them? And if anyone has a gender?" Hornet requested as she strung her makeshift needle and got to work weaving a tighter, functionally wieldable nail. Ghost had told her once that it had taken a while for them to understand what gender was so she wouldn't be surprised if it was the same for the rest of them, but wanted to be sure. Tassel nodded again before gesturing at the one that was still curled up near her hip, the only sibling besides Tassel with three horns.

'Two names. Wants To Leave and Many Cuddles. Uses both.' Next he pointed at the sibling that she had first helped onto the outcropping, with two horns that curved forward and down from the back of their head. 'Protector. Kept several safe down here before Ghost came back.'

It went like that for some time, Tassel pointing at one of the siblings and telling her about them.

'Caught.' Had two horns that went from the side of her shell and curved upward. Apparently she had fallen off the wall in an earlier attempt to climb, but was caught before she hit the ground and decided not to try again.

'Remembers The Fallen' had helped Tassel and Protector comfort Ghost earlier, and looked a lot like them, though their prongs faced outward instead of in. They had several small pieces of shell that they'd somehow attached to their natural cloak.

'Shade' didn't give an explanation for their name, but they had two horns that started at the middle of the sides of their shell and curved backwards.

'Climbs Back Down' had tried to climb the wall to get out once, saw a sibling right in front of him fall, and proceeded to climb back down to the ground. A caution Hornet could definitely appreciate. He had two horns coming from the top of his shell that curved down and inward.

'Catches When Fall' was the one who had caught Caught before she hit the ground and had apparently caught at least two other siblings who had then proceeded to climb up once again, but not survive their next falls. They had spent a good amount of time trying to convince siblings not to climb the wall and catch one ones they could, but it was a big space and many siblings hit spikes or upper parts of rock long before they got down to where they were. They had two horns that came from from upper-back of their shell and curved down and forward.

'Shell' had two horns curving up and in from the top of her head, but no prongs. She also carried around the shell of a sibling that was badly cracked and completely empty. No explanation was given about that sibling's loss, and Hornet didn't ask. She knew that sort of grief well enough.

'Charges Forward' had two horns from upper-side of shell curving down and forward. He had led a small group out through a hole they found last time and tended to charge ahead of the group whenever something caught his attention.

'Last Hatch' had two horns from that came from the back, upper sides of their shell and curved down and forward. They were the youngest out of all the siblings, even those who hadn't survived. They had hatched after Holly had left and the door had been sealed.

'Corrin' and 'Darling' had apparently escaped the abyss and the Royal Waterways together last time and found a home with a couple bugs living in the City of Tears before losing the couple to the infection. They'd both tried to flee the city through Kingdom's Edge, but had fallen into the acid water along the way and had been unable to get out. Hornet pointedly did her best not to think on the kind of death that had to have been. Corrin had two horns from outer top of her shell, going straight up and Darling had four horns, two on top curving up and inward, two smaller ones on upper-sides, curving up. Their horns weren't too different from Lily's, though the upper ones started farther up.

Hornet did her best to store each of the names, genders, and other information she was given, weaving them into her heart even as she continued to weave Ghost's new blade. Both would need to be sturdy enough to stand the test of time and trial. She was grateful that her siblings with longer names didn't seem to mind her shortening them to single word verbal-names and a quiet request had them all settling down to work with Tassel, Ghost, and Lily to figure out sign names as well.

By the time she finished the nail Wants to Leave/Many Cuddles was willing to go by both 'Wants' and 'Cuddles'. Remembers the Fallen wanted to be called 'Fallen', Climbs Back Down was 'Climbs', Catches When Fall was 'Catches', Charges Forward was 'Charge', and Last Hatch was 'Last'. Odd names to be sure, but they made her siblings happy and were easy to say, so Hornet was more than happy to use them.

"Here, test this out," Hornet requested, holding out the woven-nail to Ghost once they had finished helping the last of the siblings figure out a sign-name. "It should be strong enough to last a long time, but it's going to be much lighter than your used to." Ghost took the blade with a nod and moved over to the side of the alcove as several siblings moved out of the way to give them space. Once the area was clear Ghost began working their way through a number familiar moves, testing how the blade moved in their grip. Basic swings in all directions, bouncing off the wall and floor, as well as the moves they'd learned from the Nail Masters were all tested in that small space. Eventually they came to a stop and gave Hornet a nod and a thumbs up.

'It's different, but good,' they told her, using Holly's one-handed sign.

"Good." Hornet nodded sharply before getting up and making her way over to hand them the last thing she'd woven while they tested the nail. "This will keep it on your back when you're not using it." It was a simple belt that went across their chest, nothing fancy, but the silken nail would stick to it with just as much effectiveness as sticking a normal nail in a sheath on their back.

Ghost carefully placed the blade on their back, blinking in mild surprise when the blade stuck when they let go. Reaching back again, they grabbed the handle and tugged, causing the nail to come free with very little effort. They blinked again and replaced the blade before launching themself at Hornet and wrapping her in a tight hug.

"You're very welcome, sibling." Hornet's voice was soft as she wrapped her arms around their body, marveling again at the strangeness of being the same height, but pushing it aside for now. "But if you really want to thank me then you can make sure that you come back from testing your skills against the Mantis Lords safely. The Lords ended up stuck in time as well, even though the rest of the mantises didn't, so they'll be the same sisters you remember. But their brother should be there as well, since he didn't go traitor until a while after the king stopped time. I do not know if his fighting style will be the same or not, or even if the other Lords changed their styles over the time of the infection. So be wary and alert, alright?" Ghost nodded against her before pulling back and flaring their wings twice.

"Alright, alright," Hornet laughed at the familiar signal that they were ready to get moving. "I'll go with you up the tunnel so I can remove the block I put there, but I'll have to stay just inside the tunnel until you get back to let you back in, so don't take too long." Ghost nodded again before turning to point at Tassel and then Protector, earning them a nod from both siblings. Leaving them in charge, perhaps? That certainly seemed to be the case, but Hornet couldn't be sure. The faint tingle of energy that she was growing more and more certain was them communicating through the void certainly indicated Ghost had told them something at least.

"We'll be back as soon as we can," she informed the group. "And once we are we'll be making our way to a new home, so make sure you are ready to leave, alright?" A chorus of nods and a scattered set of thumbs up was her reply and Hornet allowed herself a fond chuckle before turning to start up the tunnel after Ghost, who had already darted inside. A quick tap on her cogflies as she passed had them starting up to follow her as well, along with the last silken-pale nail she had. It was better safe than sorry after all.

Chapter Text

Hornet followed Ghost as they made their way up the claw-carved tunnel, falling into a silence that was more comfortably familiar than her walk with Tassel had been while going the other way. Hornet felt a little bad when she recognized the difference, but no matter how much she loved Tassel she couldn’t change the fact that they’d known each other in her slightly younger years. Back before she closed herself off nearly entirely. She hated to think on it, but the vanishing of her older brother changed her. And not for the better.

He hadn’t been there for her healing either. Ghost had been there while she struggled to try and remember how to truly interact with other bugs. Together they and Holly had learned how to live in a world that was healing instead of sinking into inevitable oblivion. So it was only natural that walking with Ghost felt more natural, even if part of her still felt like she was betraying her older brother somehow.

Hornet shook her head, putting aside complicated feelings for the time being as she sped up slightly to walk just behind her younger sibling.

"You wouldn’t happen to have your map on you, would you?” Hornet asked without much hope. Unsurprisingly, Ghost shook their head with a slight slump to their shoulders. She reached up to pat one shoulder. “Don’t worry. We’ll get you a new map, or at least paper, quill, and ink so you can draw your own. Some routes are going to be different anyways.”

They looked at her then, slowing to a stop as they tilted their head. Hornet huffed a sigh and nodded.

"Deepnest is probably the worst, but in our time some places had collapsed, closing off paths that are open now. But those collapsed also occasionally opened up new paths that don’t exist now. Plus in our time there were more tunnels made by burrowing bugs that haven’t made them yet. I also can’t be certain if all the bridges, trams, and stag stations were used to are built by this time….” She paused, remembering the other struggle she had while making it down here. “The bugs are different too. The Infection exists right now, of course, but it’s…different. Right now infected bugs are either sleeping, lethargic, or reduced to their basic instincts. They didn’t become outright violent until after the seal started to leak. So for the most part they can just be avoided. Here in Deepnest there are aggressive bugs, but not because of The Infection. If I remember correctly it’s barely starting to creep in past our borders at this point and won’t fully take over the area until a good while after the king stopped time. So there are going to be simple bugs that are docile, but the bigger problem is the intellect and semi-intelligent bugs. Those are the bugs that may try and capture you, and will definitely report your existence to my mother. I would also…prefer if you don’t kill any of them if at all possible. Obviously you must do what you need to in order to survive and get out, but if you can attempt to spare their lives I would greatly appreciate it.”

Ghost was still for several long moments, only moving to gently sway back and forth as they took in everything she told them. Eventually they stopped swaying and went to reach into themself only to pause and slump slightly before raising their hands to sign.

'Which bugs docile? Which smart?’ Hornet paused for a moment. It wasn't automatic knowledge, not anymore, but it didn't take her long to have the answers they needed.

"Goams and Garpedes are docile, though you'll still end up hurt if you get in the way of their burrowing. They don't avoid other bugs the way docile bugs outside Deepnest do. Deeplings, Deephunters, and Stalking Devouts are all sentient, though Deeplings and Deephunters are...slightly less so." She almost mentioned the Little Weavers, but a realization stopped her. There weren't any, not wandering around Deepnest at least. The White Lady had granted the other weavers the ability to have clutches around the same time her own egg had been laid. They were far too young to be allowed outside of the village without supervision, much like her own current body in fact. Their parents however.... "There will also be weavers proper. You met Fia once, she was the only weaver that remained in Hallownest after it truly started to fall. The others will all look similar to her, outside of my mother of course. I imagine they've realized I've gone missing by this point, so there will probably be patrols scattered throughout Deepnest searching for me. You'll have to avoid them as you make your way to the Mantis Village. I'd try and lure them away, but if I did I'd have to leave this tunnel at least partly open for you to be able to get back in safely."

'Me fine,' Ghost reassured her, patting a hand on hers. 'You stay. Let in later.' Hornet let out a slow breath and nodded. She trusted Ghost. This world was new to both of them, but Ghost was one of the most capable bugs she'd ever met. They'd get through the twisting caverns far easier than she could in this younger body of hers.

"Can you still shade dash at least?" Their nod was a relief. That would give them a lot more versatility to escape capture. "Good. That's good." She paused for a moment more before reaching up to grip their hand, forcing them to focus on her more completely. "If they do manage to catch or corner you do not risk your life simply to hide this path. If we must I will explain things to my mother. She already thinks I awakened a version of the king's foresight, we can spin what we have to in order to keep everyone safe." Ghost was still for several moments before nodding their acceptance. They understood, keeping everyone safe was more important than keeping things secret. They could figure things out if it came to that.

They stayed like that for nearly a minute, simply standing and holding each other's hand as they both took in the current plan and it's risks. It drew to a close when Hornet gently squeezed their hand before nodding farther down the tunnel, indicating they should continue. The sooner they got this done the sooner they could make plans to deal with Radiance and rescue Holly.

The rest of the trip up the tunnel was simple. Neither of them shared another word or made any moves to release the other's hand as they climbed up the rough tunnel. Once they arrived Hornet was relieved to see that the entrance to the tunnel looked just like she'd left it, not a stitch out of place. They paused there for a moment, both of them listening hard to see if they caught the sounds of any other bugs in the tunnel just outside. Then, hearing nothing, Hornet carefully unwove her work from the walls of the tunnel so the block could be moved like a makeshift door to allow her sibling out. 

Ghost risked a quick glance down both directions of the tunnel and then a brief wave of farewell before turning to vanish into the dark of the tunnels. Hornet closed the door behind them, not willing to risk being spotted a moment longer than necessary. Then she was alone

Hornet stood there for several long moments, staring at the rock and silk block she'd woven back into the surrounding rock for far longer than necessary before turning to slide down the rock wall and sit on the ground. All she could do now was wait and put her trust in her younger sibling. Part of her thrashed at the idea of having to put this on their small shoulders. Ghost had needed to carry far too many burdens already as it was, but when it came down to it they were the best one for this job. Even if Hornet managed to get around all the way to the Mantis Lords it was extremely unlikely they'd even allow her a chance to fight them, let alone her having a chance at winning. The mantises had very little love for natives of Deepnest. Her wyrm heritage might spare her, if they noticed it, but even then she found herself in a state far weaker than any she'd been in for a very long time. If she had time to adjust to this new size she might be able to best them with silk and spell, but that would take a lot of practice and a lot of time. It simply wasn't viable at this point. 

So instead she was left to sit and wait. And worry....And think.

.....

She'd....really died hadn't she? Not almost died. Not leapt back moments before. Not glimpsed a possibility in a rest-born vision. Actually died. Her body, having supported her for ages uncounted, finally gave out under the damage from her fight with Lace and the pressure of the Void Sea. She'd died and Ghost had been left to grieve her and blame themself to the point that they'd rewritten the entire world to undo it. Something else had been involved too, apparently, but she wasn't ready to try and think about the energy buzzing inside her body at the moment, let alone the implications that she'd somehow provided enough power to cast them this far back. Not when she was still trying to grapple with the—slightly—more manageable aspects of this mess.

Like it or not, Hornet was no stranger to grief and loss. She knew how to categorize and compartmentalize it until she got to a safe place to deal with it enough to move on again. She'd done it over and over in her long life as she was hit with one tragedy after another. She'd done it upon realizing she was in the past, and again when she woke up and the realization of what—and who—they had left behind in their time. But she was alone now. Alone and in a relatively safe space with no one around to worry or bother. Oh she knew Ghost would be more than willing to help her work through it, and in the no-longer-future she'd been working on letting her siblings see her in her weak moments. But that was before she'd been thrust into the role of solitary protector once more in a strange new land. Plus they really did need to try and get things set up here as quickly as they could. Their siblings needed a safe place to live that had actual food and other supplies to allow them to grow healthy and strong. Somewhere where the void-energy didn't keep them frozen in the bodies of freshly-hatched—if strange—grubs.

Here, alone, Hornet allowed herself to let go. Allowed herself to feel the shock and grief that had been rolling under her shell since she'd finished her molt. Tears came then, hot and unrelenting even as she realized she had made a mistake. As an adult Hornet had a lot of practice crying silently—plenty of infected bugs could be drawn by the sound of crying if it got too loud—but her younger body had none of the practice that made the behavior so effortless in her future-past. 

Desperate not to accidentally alert anyone outside her hideaway of her presence, Hornet quickly grabbed the edge of her cloak and bundled it up to shove in her mouth, biting down hard to muffle her noise before crawling farther away from the doorway to collapse deeper in the tunnel and curl onto herself and cry. Curled there on the ground she allowed herself to weep for her home, for the land she'd fought so long to defend that was just starting to try and rebuild, and because she never even got to see Pharloom try to do the same. She cried for the bugs she'd left behind, many she'd likely never see again, and for the broken relationships she'd have to try and form with those she'd possibly meet in this new time. She cried for Lace, the silk-spun family she'd wanted so badly to give a chance to actually live instead of just exist. She cried for Holly, left behind and worried in the other era and now trapped in the White Palace remembering who-knows-what. She cried for herself too, cut down in a desperate attempt to fix her own mistakes and now irreversibly changed.

She cried and cried until she had no tears left to shed and her eyes and throat ached from the constant strain. Then she just stayed curled up there on the floor, breathing through lingering grief but feeling a bit more settled in herself and her situation. Yes, she'd lost much in this change, most of which she'd never get back. But she'd gained things too. Her mother and Queen Vespa were alive and well, as were thousands of other bugs who had died in the collapse of her once-great kingdom. She had more living siblings now too, siblings that she'd do everything in her power to make sure they'd get a good, long life this time. This was loss, yes, but it was also a chance to try and form a world where her family was safe and closer to whole. It wasn't perfect, it never could be, but....she could work with this. She had hope here, something she'd sorely lacked in most of her other losses. And, more importantly, she wasn't alone. Ghost was here in the past with her, as were her siblings currently waiting down in the Abyss. She'd have Holly too, once they freed her.

Hornet carefully removed her cloak from inside her mouth, noting the new holes she'd punched in it without surprise. Even this young her chelicerae weren't things to be dismissed. She allowed herself to lay there for a bit longer before pushing herself into a sitting position once more. Reaching into her bag she pulled out her makeshift weaving needle once more. At least patching her cloak would give her something to do for a little while. She had a feeling she'd be waiting for a while.

Chapter Text

It didn’t take long for Hornet to finish patching the new holes in her cloak along with a couple minor tears she found as she worked. It was odd seeing her cloak like this, small and relatively unpatched. She was far more used to seeing it extended to its longer form and filled with the faintest seems and stitches scattered across it from countless years of patching tears and holes. She’d have to take time and see if she could figure out how to recreate the edits The Seamstress had done to it at some point too, but that was not the sort of project she wanted to take on while waiting for Ghost.

Instead, Hornet grabbed her needle once more and drew out fresh silk from her seemingly endless supply. She could distinctly remember the happiness Ghost, Holly, Tassel, and Lily had all shown when she’d gifted them with silk-spun gifts over the times she knew them, and she’d have to remake those eventually. But for now she wanted to gift her other siblings things to hopefully bring them similar joy. And she knew just where to start.

Hornet wasn’t sure how long it took for Ghost to return, but it was long enough for her to finish weaving two of the projects she had planned and long enough for her to start to worry that something had gone wrong. Though not long enough for her to risk going to try and search for them.

She was just getting started on her third woven project when a familiar knock sounded softly against the stone-and-silk door. Hornet broke into a smile and swiftly tied off her current stitch so she could shove the weaving in her bag with the finished projects and hurry over to let them in. Ghost and Holly worked out the knocking system a little while after the three of them had moved into a home in Dirtmouth together. Together, the three of them had designed individual knocks for each of them as well as knocks they could add on at the end to communicate various things.. Each knock one of them did started the same, announcing who it was, but if they weren’t alone they’d add on bits to inform the others if they weren’t alone with family, friends, or strangers. There were also add on parts to say things like they had brought food, saw danger, or needed the others to come to them. The system had helped her siblings communicate with her through doorways, across the house, and even around corners or walls inside Hallownest. It gave them a sense of added safety.

Ghost's unmistakable knock caused the building tension in her body to relax and the added bit saying they brought food probably explained part of why they had taken so long to get back. She was still smiling in relief when she reached the block and replied with her own knock as she began unattaching it from the wall once more so she could open it and let them inside.

Ghost entered carrying the bodies of two dirtcarvers stacked precariously and honestly blocking most of their sight. She could only assume they'd killed them relatively close to the door otherwise they'd have struggled to navigate their way back. Once inside they proceeded to drop both creatures on the ground slightly farther back in the tunnel as she wove the doorway closed once more.

'How'd it go?' Hornet asked as she turned back towards them, shifting to sign to help avoid making too much noise this close to the main tunnel. In response, Ghost shifted their cloak to reveal the Mark of Pride attached to the underside of it. Hornet felt more of her worries relaxing at the charm. 'And they agreed to house your family? Even though not everyone can fight?' Ghost's emphatic nod allowed the last of the tension to seep out of her shoulders as she smiled at them and nodded back. Another hurtle crossed.

Reaching down, she lifted up one of the dirtcarver bodies before tilting her head farther down the tunnel. This wasn't a good place to process the bodies. It would make too much of a mess in the small space and force them to all walk through it on their way out. Not something she particularly wanted to do, let alone subject her younger siblings to. Ghost picked up the other body and nodded in reply so Hornet turned and started leading the way back down the tunnel to where their siblings waited. 

The trip back down seemed to take longer than it had to go up, but it was hard to say if that was due to their hands being full or their anticipation to be back with the others. Either way, they carefully worked their way through the tunnel with her cogflies flying ahead and her pale-silk blade bringing up the rear. She didn't really expect any trouble, but having both directions covered with things that could help protect them would buy them time if something did manage to show up to try and cause problems.

Concerned or not, the sight of faint light produced by her siblings filtering up from the end of the tunnel was a relief all the same. Shifting the dirtcarver in her arms, Hornet reached over to knock her arrival on the tunnel wall. She doubted any of the siblings waiting for them knew the knock code yet, but the noise would allow them to know something was coming all the same.

Sure enough it was only moments later when Protector's shell became visible at the end of the tunnel, peering up at them. The defensive stance they had taken up faded almost instantly as they caught sight of Hornet coming down the path and they stepped aside to let her and Ghost into the alcove where the rest were waiting.

Stepping into the open space, Hornet was greeted by the sight of all fourteen siblings waving in greeting with various levels of exuberance. Charge was literally bouncing in place as he waved both arms. Fond warmth wasn't an unfamiliar feeling in the more recent years of her life, but Hornet was surprised by the strength of it as it hit her now. She barely knew most of these siblings but she already loved them fiercely. Seeing their excitement at her and Ghost's return was....nice.

"Good news," she announced as she placed her dirtcarver against the wall, close to her web at the edge of the alcove. "Ghost secured us all a place to stay for the foreseeable future. We'll be heading there soon, but not until after I've broken this down and all of you have had a bit more to eat." Hornet didn't miss the sharp look Tassel gave her as Ghost placed the other carver next to the first, but she ignored it for now. Recent molt or not she'd eaten recently. She would be more than fine to wait until after they'd gotten out of here until she had another meal.

The reaction to the news was, understandably, explosive. Hornet was fairly certain that if her siblings were able to many of them would be cheering, but as it was several of them were jumping up and down in excitement. Wants and Catches had both launched themself at Ghost, knocking them down and hugging them tightly, and Charges had picked up Last so he could spin around while holding them close. Hornet huffed a warm chuckle as she watched the chaos, more glad than ever that she'd woven her fence earlier when she saw Corrin and Darling crash into it in their excited rolling and bonce back onto safer ground.

Content to let them celebrate, Hornet turned away to the carcasses she needed to turn into food. It was a simple, if somewhat messy job to carve open both bodies and remove the meet from them before cleaning the inner shells with silk and tossing the soiled silk through one of the small holes in her web.

Closer movement caught her attention as she finished cutting into the second shell and she turned her head to find that Shell had come over and was settling down to sit at her side. She seemed to be watching Hornet’s work with intense interest.

”Do you want to learn how to clean prey?” She asked. “I can explain it to you if you want.” Shell was still for several moments before nodding and placing her shell on her lap so Hornet turned back to the carcass and began explaining the process as she worked, slowing her movements so they were easier to follow. Cleaning prey was simple, but a very useful skill to have in order to survive outside of established societies. She was happy to teach it to any bug that wanted to learn, though she’d never force someone to learn it if they had any other options for food. Holly had certainly never been interested.

By the time she’d finished cleaning the second dirtcarver Hornet was pleasantly surprised to find herself surrounded by five of her siblings who had all be watching and listening as she worked with quiet interest. She’d have to get more prey later to let them all try and do it for themselves, but at least they’d all gotten a starter lesson and now they had more meat to pass around.

Cutting the meat up into fifteen pieces didn’t leave a lot for each bug, but it was the best they had to work with and Hornet watched the group carefully to make sure everyone ate their share. It took some work to convince both Tassel and Ghost that she really was fine without food for the moment, but eventually she managed to to convince them to eat their parts as well by promising that she’d make sure to hunt and eat more once they were out.

Once she was sure everyone had eaten she quickly spun a simple silken cloth and made the rounds to each of her  siblings that lacked experience with eating and helped them clean off their shells. That done, she settled down to sit by the empty dirtcarver shells once more.

”I know we need to leave soon,” she told Ghost, noting their eyes on her “But I want to gather a couple parts from these to use before we do.” She waited for their nod before turning to get to work once again. She didn’t want more cogflies, not while they were preparing to sneak their way back through Deepnest, but there were other tools she’d learned during her travels that could aid them here. In this case, tacks. The dirtcarvers had small, sharp teeth. All it took was a little carving and some silk to dashing the parts together and soon enough she had a small array of sharp obstacles that could be thrown on the ground to deter pursuers.

Satisfied, she tucked them into a side pouch inside her bag. Opening her bag to put them inside also reminded her of something else. Quiet nerves reared their ugly head as she pulled the two completed projects from her bag.

“Shell? Fallen?” Hornet ruthlessly shoved down her nerves as she caught the attention of the two siblings she needed. “Could you both come here for a moment?” She could practically feel their curiosity as the two of them made their way over to her so Hornet didn’t let herself hesitate before picking up the first object and holding it out to Shell, allowing it to unfurl into a white-silk bag.

”This is for you,” she told her sister, watching as the younger girl examined the bag with curious surprise, attention darting between it and Hornet like she couldn’t believe it was for her. “I’m hoping it will be the right size, but if it is it should fit your shell. That way you can carry it while having your hands free. The silk is woven thick so it should be protected from bumps and bangs as well.” Shell completely froze for several beats before sitting and carefully placing her shell on the ground next to her so she could reach out and take the bag with shaking hands. Shell didn’t know how to sign, but the way she clutched the bag and looked up at Hornet told her more than enough.

”You’re very welcome, Shell,” she told her sister. She was about to offer to help Shell put the shell in the bag, but Tassel came up to Shell’s side before she could. A few gestures and that familiar-growing buzzing feeling passed between the two void-siblings before Tassel took the bag and held it open so Shell could pick up her shell and carefully tuck it inside. Hornet was relieved to see that her size estimate seemed to be just right. The broken shell slid into the silken bag with ease and sat snugly inside with no issues. She turned away then, as Tassel moved to help Shell put the bag’s strap over her shoulder, and focused on Fallen next.

”This one’s for you,” she informed them, holding out her second complete project. This one was also made of pure white silk, but instead of a bag it was a long, rectangular peace of cloth almost like a scarf, but covered in lots of pockets of various sizes, each with little flaps to secure them closed. Fallen took it, but didn’t seem sure what to do with it so Hornet held out a hand. “May I show you?”

Fallen hesitated for a moment, grip tightening on the cloth before they held it out to her in obvious reluctance. Hornet couldn’t help but smile as she took the cloth back.

”Don’t worry,” she reassured them. “I just want to show you how to use it. Do you mind lifting your cloak?” The curiosity from earlier was definitely back, but they collected the ends of their cloak in their hands and lifted them all the same. Hornet gave them another smile and a nod of thanks before leaning forward to loop the cloth around behind them and settling it at their waist. 

“This is called a belt sash,” she explained as she wrapped the cloth around their waste before tying it off so the ends fell at their side. “It’s a type of fashion, but I figured the pockets could be used to carry the shell pieces if you wanted to move them from your cloak for any reason. Or for anything else you wanted to carry, really. None of them are big enough to carry anything huge, but they’ll—oof!”

Hornet cut off as Fallen dropped their cloak and darted forward to crash into her with a tight hug.

“I’m glad you like it,” she told them once she regained her breath, reaching up to pat them on their back warmly. Fallen held on for several beats before squeezing her once and letting go to run over to where Darling and Corrin were watching. It didn’t take a genius to guess they were showing off their new accessory. Hornet allowed herself a fond huff before she scanned over the rest of her siblings, most of her were still watching her.

”That’s all I’ve finished for now,” she admitted. “But everyone is going to get something eventually. If you decide you want something specific before I get you yours please feel free to let me know. Though I won’t be able to do anything with colors until I have access to dyes.”

’Don’t need to do that,’ Tassel told her, though his posture told her he was already resigned.

”I know,” she grinned at him. “But I want to. They deserve nice things, you all do. I can’t make everything, but I can make nice things out of silk. Might as well use that for this.” The sigh Tassel gave at that was probably exaggerated for effect, but Hornet patted his shoulder all the same. He should know by now that it was near impossible to change her mind once she’d decided to do something. Speaking of…

”About our plan on how to get everyone to the village…” she started, tone shifting to become more serious as several siblings turned to look at her once more, though it was Ghost she kept most of her attention on. “I’m going to need to take a different path than all of you.” As she expected, Ghost sat up in alarm, so Hornet held up a hand to stave off their arguments.

“Like it or not, there’s no way this whole group is going to be able to sneak all the way from here to the entrance to the Mantis Village. Not with how everyone glows and how little practice everyone has in stealth. You’re not going to be able to dodge and escape like you could by yourself either. Something needs to draw the patrols out of this part of the tunnels and the best way to make sure that happens is for them to spot me and chase me to another part of the caverns.” Ghost still didn’t look convinced, but they weren’t interrupting, so she pressed on. “Besides, the last thing we need is someone tracking my trail through Deepnest right to the mantis’s. Mother would start a full on war, something we really don’t need right now. I need to make it obvious that I left by my own choice and exit through a different area. I’ll double around to the other entrance of the village after I lose my tails.”

Ghost’s posture was still argumentative as they raised their hands to sign in reply, but a hand on their shoulder made them stop and turn to find Lily standing at their side. Lily stood at their side for several long moments, meeting Ghost’s gaze with her own while Hornet felt that energy pick up once again. When Lily shook her head moments later Ghost slumped in defeat before turning to look at Hornet again.

’Be safe.’ They told her, the slight tremor to their hands telling her just how much they meant it.

”I will,” she promised, meeting their gaze firmly to make sure they knew she was serious. Reaching out, she took both their hands in hers and squeezed them reassuringly. “I trusted you to get to the mantises and secure us a home. Trust me on this, ok? I’ll meet up with all of you before you know it.”

Ghost let out a slow sigh and allowed themself to sink forward with it until their forehead rested on her shoulder. They stayed there for several beats as Hornet wrapped her arms around them. Then they gave a small nod. Hornet smiled at the acceptance and gave them a reassuring squeeze.

”Don’t worry, sibling-mine. We’ll be just fine.”

Chapter Text

Hornet just had to go and open her mouth didn’t she? She’d gone and—as Sly once put it—jinxed the pot and now she was reaping the spoils.

Leaving the Abyss had been simple enough, Hornet had lead the way back up the tunnel to the makeshift door and made some small changes to it. It had taken some work, but after several minutes she had it set up so she could go out and they could close it behind her and still open it again when it was their turn to exit. Closing it behind them would make it near impossible to open from the outside, but that was fine.

Door set up, Hornet had then proceeded to sneak down the tunnels until she got to the  area she’d picked to be spotted in. She waited until a patrol passed by and caught sight of her before taking off towards the upper parts of the Deepnest tunnels. As expected, the patrol had taken off after her while also sending out an alert to the rest of the patrols and searchers throughout Deepnest.

Hornet took special care to call back playful taunts and allow herself to giggle at the adrenaline-fueled amusement from the chase as she went. It wouldn’t due to be mistaken for a Nosk in all of this after all.

In terms of drawing attention and leading everyone away from where her siblings would be the plan was a resounding success. The problem was she’d forgotten just how many bugs would be available to hunt for her in this era. It was becoming increasingly difficult to duck, dodge, and avoid the massive number of beings that wanted to catch her and her lack of familiarity with the current layout of the tunnels didn’t do her any favors either. She was just lucky that her small size and speed had given her ability to dart between legs and over heads. The tiny, silk-spun Needle that she’d turned her once-floating silk-nail into helped too. Just it’s existence had startled several bugs enough that she’d been able to slip free, as had her ability to loop silk through it and use it to pull her across larger distances with great speed.

It could have been fun, and it was at first. It had been a long time since she had gotten to play the role of prey in a game of Hunter after all, but the number of pursuers and the urgency of actually staying free sapped any real enjoyment out of the game as it wore on.

She did learn two useful things from the whole chase though. The first was that the silk her aunts spun was more…fragile than she remembered. More than once she’d been caught in a silken rope or snare only for the strands to snap when she dug her claws into them or flared her own silk through them. The fact it snapped so easily probably startled her as much as it did them, but she had a lot of practice working through surprise so she was able to dart off while her would-be captors struggled to process what had happened.

The second was…possibly more concerning.  It seemed that she was developing the ability to sense the silk and soul that lay inside other beings. It was a useful ability to be sure, especially in her current need to avoid other bugs, and it was fascinating to note how different beings seemed to have slightly different signatures to their silk or soul. But it had concerning implications.

Considering the effects or meanings behind worrying new abilities would have to wait until after she escaped from her pursuers, however, so Hornet shoved them down and allowed the new sense to help her figure out when and where to dark through the tunnels until the passage that lead up into the Fungal Wastes near the Queen’s Garden resided. Now she just needed to climb up the hidden path and—

“Gendered child! Wait!” A familiar voice cut off her thoughts. One she hadn’t entirely lost to time and memory, but hadn't heard in this chase so far. A quick glance behind her confirmed who it was, but she didn’t let that stop her movement.

A quick flick of her wrists dropped the last handful of tacks on the ground behind her as she dove into the slightly smaller passageway that would allow her to make the climb upwards. She’d dropped several small sets of tacks like this during her escape to this point, never enough to seriously harm, but certainly enough to slow any bug that stepped on them. A pained noise behind her told her that at least one tack had found its mark as she began her climb.

”Child! Come back! Your mother is worried!” It wasn’t really the words that made her slow as it was the one that said them. Out of all her aunts Fia was her favorite, if for no other reason than because the weaver had stayed when the others fled. Sure, she’d taken the surviving Little Weavers and last living clutch and hidden herself deep inside Deepnest proper, but Hornet could hardly blame her for that. Especially not when it led to there being surviving weaver children in Deepnest after The Infection had finally been dealt with.

Hornet nearly cursed her softened heart as she whirled around and shoved her hands out towards the narrowed space in the path between her and her aunt. In an instant silk sprang forth, weaving into a star pattern that blocked the path entirely. It was a simplistic web, but even with the simplicity of it it covered the path well enough that nothing larger than a dirtcarver would be getting through. Fia stared at her from the other side of the near-instant web, eyes wide, before reaching forward to test the web with a claw. 

Hornet barely blinked as her aunt tried to run a claw through the web. Back in the future she and her siblings had come to the realization that soul and silk were essentially the same thing, just with a different natural form. Over time Holly had been working to figure out how to shape her soul into somewhat-unsteady-but-recognizable silk while Hornet discovered how to unravel parts of the silk in her core into pure soul. It was a process, and it was unlikely that either of them would ever be able to naturally produce the other form of it, but the process of learning it certainly had it's uses. Silk was innately better at helping another being heal than soul was, but soul was easier to transfer to another than silk. On top of that, in the process of figuring out how to unwind her silk into soul Hornet had also figured out how to infuse her silk with more innate energy than it would normally hold without it growing thicker. The silk that had been used to weave the web standing between her and Fia now would take a great deal of work to cut or tear.

"How...?" The word was barely a breath, but Hornet heard it all the same.

"I learned a lot during my molt," Hornet replied, skirting close enough to the truth to not be a lie. "But that's not important at the moment. Please tell my mother that I am fine, but there are things I must take care of. I will explain more when I am able, but for now please try not to worry. As you can see I am hardly defenseless."

"Gained knowledge or not, you are far too young to wander the world by yourself, Child!" Fia protested. Hornet huffed a wry laugh that held no real joy. Age had never protected her or her siblings from the trails of the world in their last life. She didn't expect things to be much different in this one, no matter what her aunt said.

"Thank you for your concern, Auntie." Hornet dipped her body in a slight bow of respect, barely registering the confusion on her aunt's face as she straightened back up. "But I must be off. I expect I'll see you once things are settled." She started to turn away then, but paused as a thought hit her. She hesitated for a moment before turning halfway back to peer at her aunt over her shoulder. "And it's Hornet."

"What?" Fia's desperate concern faded slightly, pushed by confusion at the seemingly-random statement.

"My name," Hornet explained. "I can't explain where I got it, not now, but my name is Hornet. If you could pass that along I would appreciate it."

"What?!" If anything her aunt sounded even more confused now, but Hornet didn't dare take up any more time in this conversation. As it was she was starting to hear the sounds of more bugs approaching from the tunnels below. Her silk was strong, but the rock around it wouldn't hold up if midwife or one of her mother's Devouts wanted to carve a new path through it to reach her. So instead of answering, Hornet turned and leapt upwards, finishing her climb up and out of the bowels of her once-home despite the cries of her aunt that followed her up and out.

Compared to her trip through Deepnest, traveling through the Fungal Wastes was practically a walk in the Queen's—uncorrupted—Garden. Most creatures in the wastes were docile without the infection and even more more intelligent ones had little care for the troubles of outsiders. So Hornet had very little need for stealth. Instead she prioritized speed, only slowing down long enough to be sure she left no footprints or threads of silk behind to track her by.

Darting through the Wastes as she was it didn't take long to come across the first mantis warrior. Catching sight of him, she swiftly dropped down a good several feet out of easy attack range and immediately dipped into a bow, though she kept her senses trained on the warrior, not wanting to be caught off guard by an attack. She held the bow for several beats before slowly straightening to find the guard staring at her in confusion.

"Good day, Warrior," she greeted them formally. "I apologize for encroaching on your territory, but I come seeking sanctuary. My siblings should have arrived in your Village already via the other passage. One of them made a bargain with the Lords to grant us shelter after passing their test."

"You tell an interesting tale, Young One," the warrior replied after a moment. "But I struggle to believe that a weaver-kin would find shelter among our Village."

"I am only weaver in part, good Warrior," Hornet replied, though she knew the mantis's keen sense of smell had likely already told her that. "My siblings are only in half, from the other side of my parentage."

"I see..." The warrior stared at her for several long moments before giving a sharp nod and turning away. "Come. We will see what the Lords have to say of your claim."

"Thank you, Warrior," Hornet's shoulders dropped slightly in relief as she moved to trot after the taller woman. Though she never mentioned it to her siblings, there had always been a chance that the mantis wouldn't allow her near their home due to her Deenest origins. She was glad to find those fears unfounded for the time being.

Following after the Warrior proved somewhat difficult mostly due to their size difference. The woman's much longer legs made it so Hornet had to jog to keep up and the warrior made no attempts to slow her pace either. A test of Hornet's skills and endurance perhaps? If that was the case she could only be grateful that she'd had to make her run through Deepnest before this. There had been several stumbles and missteps earlier in her trip as she struggled to remember her current size of body-and-limbs. It would have been far more embarrassing to stumble like that in front of the mantis warrior and her kin than it was to do so in the depths of Deepnest, even with some of the searchers there catching sight of her mistakes.

Entering the Village with an escort was certainly the only thing that spared her having to fight for her survival—or at least for her safety—but as it was she gained a good number of odd looks. Some were even borderline hostile, but no one moved to disrupt her travels as she was lead inside. That didn't stop the looks from setting her on edge, however, so much so that when a dark shape suddenly blurred into existence in front of her she raised a spinning barrier of silk almost on instinct. She dropped barely moments later as the shape crashed into her in what could only big a hug, knocking a gasp out of her.

"Ghost!" Her voice was chiding despite being short of breath as she wrapped her arms around them in reply. "You can't just jump out at me like that!" Pulling back, she gripped their shoulders and gave them a quick glance over for any possible cuts that her silk could have made. "Are you alright? Did my silk hit you?" Ghost shook their head, though they refused to let go of her enough to sign, so she huffed out a sigh and pulled them close again. "Crazy grub." A huff of breath against her shoulder told her what they thought about the term in reference to them, but she just tapped her chelicerae to the top of their shell in reply and was gratified when they snuggled closer. 

"We weren't apart that long, you know." She kept her voice gentle even as her eyes scanned out away from where they were standing, taking in the entrance of the Village and the other beings there. Her escort was watching from a short distance away—also unharmed, thankfully—and was staring at the gouges in the ground her silk had made with something akin to alarm. Past her, Hornet could see the rest of her siblings gathered on the platform just past the acid pit that separated the entrance from the main Village. Unlike Ghost, they seemed content to wait for her there, but thinking back she couldn't really blame Ghost for their behavior. They had seen her die recently after all, and her body was much smaller and less capable than it used to be. That in mind, she huffed another sign and tightened her grip on them slightly.

"I'm alright Little Sibling," she reassured them, voice dropping to a low rumble. "We're all here, safe and sound. You did good getting everyone else here and I made it here to meet you, just like I promised I would." There was no need to tell them about her near-misses. Especially not with how worried they already were. Instead, she allowed them to snuggle close for a while longer, only pulling back when she caught sight of four tall figures coming up behind their siblings in the Village proper. "I do need to go greet our hosts, though." She could visibly feel their reluctance, but eventually Ghost nodded and pulled away, though they did move to grab her hand just moments later and made no move to let go until they both had to make the jump across the acid and quickly grabbed a hold again once they were on the other side.

"You must be the missing sister the young champion mentioned," one of the Lords—Itanni, Hornet was fairly sure—noted as Hornet and Ghost made their way over to stand with the rest of their siblings. The Lord's tone was neutral, but Hornet was fairly sure she saw a smile on the woman's face as the rest of Hornet's siblings gathered around her and Ghost and began to check her over for themselves.

"I am," Hornet confirmed, dipping into a small bow as best as she could around her sibling's fretting. "My siblings call me Hornet, ma'am, and I would be honored if you would do the same. You have my gratitude for being willing to shelter our family here."

"Your sibling is a fierce and honorable warrior," another Lord—Idora—replied simply. "We are happy to fulfill the request made by one such as them. Though I will admit, we hadn't expected to see a weaver's child among their kin. They do not seem much like any of the Deepnest be—...denizens." Hornet almost laughed at the obvious word change, but the Lord was clearly trying to be polite, so she held it back.

"That is because my siblings are not from Deepnest," Hornet told them once she had her urge to laugh under control once more. She paused for a moment, eyes scanning around to take in the crowd that had gathered to watch their interaction. "If you are willing to grant us an audience my siblings and I will happily explain, but it may be best to do so in a more private setting. I mean no disrespect to your warriors, but the fewer bugs that know about this the better. At least for the time being." Unsurprisingly, the Lords appeared surprised by her request, but after a quick exchange of looks they turned back to her with a nod.

"Very well," the third sister—Minae—agreed. The final Lord—and only brother—didn't look entirely happy with the idea, but he kept quiet for now so Hornet kept her peace as well and soon enough she and her siblings were following the four Lords deeper into the Village proper. As they walked, Tassel stepped forward in the group just enough to turn and sign where Hornet could see it.

'All?' His posture was uncertain, but Hornet nodded firmly and signed back a shortened response.

'Strong allies. Honorable.' Beside her, Ghost nodded their agreement so Tassel subsided and turned back to fall into step with the rest of the group.

"Have you all eaten yet?" Hornet asked, breaking the silent communication. A collection of shaken heads caused her to frown and she sped up slightly to get to the front of her gaggle of siblings and politely call out to their hosts. "Excuse me, Lords?"

"We will see to it that food is gathered and brought," Itanni replied without looking back, clearly having been listening in. "Clean water as well."

"Thank you." Hornet breathed a small sigh of relief before straightening once more. "If you allow me, I will endeavor to go out and hunt later to make up for the supplies we use." These words did draw the Lords to a stop and Hornet slowed to a stop as well, frowning in confusion as the four turned back towards her.

"Child." Minae's tone was gentle, but firm. "I do not know how things work where you come from, but here we care for the children in our care, you will not need to hunt or provide work until you are all older. It is no burden to provide what is needed for you all to grow up healthy." Hornet faltered at that, Hemolymph rushing up to her face as she realized how that sounded, especially to bugs who likely already thought so little of the bugs of Deepnest.

"Right. Yes." Hornet agreed quickly. "I just..." she trailed off and ran a hand down her mask with a sigh. "It's not what you think. I'll explain once we're settled." The frowns she got in reply did not look reassured, but eventually Minae agreed and the Lords turned as one to lead them the rest of the way to a slightly larger chamber. It was smaller than their throne-and-challenge room, but was clearly made for the Lords to use. At one end of the room there were four ornate chairs that were much closer to the ground than their challenge-thrones and there were a number of other chairs of various sizes against the walls. The four Lords made a direct path to their respective chairs and settled down in them, but Hornet was unsurprised to see that her own siblings made no move to get chairs of their own. Instead they moved to settle on the ground in a loose circle several feet in front of the Lords.

"You are all more than welcome to use the chairs," Idora told them, a frown crossing her mandibles once more, but Hornet cut in before any of her younger siblings could attempt to decide how to respond to that.

"Apologies, Lords." She dipped into a small bow again before straightening. "My siblings mean no disrespect to you or your home, but most of them have never had access to furniture before. They are much more used to sitting on the ground or rock formations." A small increase in the hum of energy next to her told her that her siblings probably were commenting on what she said or talking about the situation, but she didn't aknowledge it.

"More of your long story?" The Not-Yet-Traitor Lord finally spoke up, tone dry and unamused. For the life of her, Hornet couldn't remember his name, but she didn't dare ask at the moment, so instead she just nodded.

"Then it can wait until after food and drink has been brought." Minae's voice brooked no argument, so her brother let it drop. Hornet nodded again before moving to take a seat at the back of her mass of siblings. She knew she would be doing most of the talking so most would probably expect her to settle herself near the front, but at the back she could see it if any of her siblings wanted to add anything in. Once she was settled Ghost finally let go of her hand so they could flop on the ground themself and lay their head in her lap.

"Comfortable, Little Ghost?" Hornet asked, fond amusement heavy in her tone even as their other siblings began rearranging themself slightly. Ghost barely had enough time to nod before Cuddles made their way over to curl firmly into their side, earning them a startled look from Ghost and another quiet laugh from Hornet. "It seems Cuddles is as well." Ghost hesitated for a moment before nodding again and shifting to lay one hand on Cuddles' back. Hornet was unsurprised when, moments later, she began feeling the quiet rumble of not one, but two of her siblings thrumming into her body through the contact she had with Ghost and it only caused her smile to grow as she settled down to wait.

Hornet was used to silence, but even she could admit that she was grateful that the food arrived soon after that. She knew the Lords were willing to wait, and that her siblings were all settled comfortably, but she didn't want to find out what might have gone down if either group had been forced to sit in silent boredom for too long. The trays brought in by a group of young mantises held what appeared to be a mix of mushroom and mossfly meat as well as bowls of water. After a beat they were hesitantly placed on the ground not far from where the group of siblings were gathered and the younglings departed the room.

"I should warn you—" Hornet spoke up as Lily and Protector stepped forward and began dividing the food among her siblings "—the way my siblings eat may look odd compared to what you're used to, but I assure you it is completely natural for them."

"We see..." Itanni aknowledged, watching as one of void-children proceeded to drop a piece of fungus straight into their eye socket and another shoved some mossfly into her chest's void. Hornet would need to work with them on how to make it look like they were actually eating later. Otherwise her siblings were going to freak out far too many bugs once they were able to wander free, but that would be a problem for another time. For now, she accepted the mossfly meat that Protector practically shoved in her hand and began nibbling on it. The bowl of water she was given next was nearly as forceful and she had to bite back a laugh.

"I'm eating, I'm eating," she reassured Protector with an amused chuckle when they came back over with a mushroom piece. "You don't need to stuff it on me, I promise I'll eat what I need to."

"Your siblings seem concerned," Minae noted as Protector insistently placed the mushroom piece on the ground next to Hornet before going back over to Lily to get their own food.

"Yes," Hornet aknowledged with a fond huff. "I finished my first molt very recently and they know that I need to eat after that, so they're fretting.

'Wouldn't have to if you ate some of what you brought earlier,' Tassel signed over at her, causing her to shake her head in exasperation.

"I told you, I'd eaten before I got to all of you, and you all needed food more than I did."

"Did your siblings molt recently as well?" Itanni asked, tilting her head and Hornet felt her good humor die as she finished her mossfly. She was silent for several moments as she picked up her water and took a sip to clear her mouth and throat before placing it down and focusing on the Lords.

"Nothing of the sort, unfortunately." Hornet waited a beat to let that sink in, watching as the four Lords sat up slightly straighter and Itanni's mandibles tightened in concern. "The story I have to share is...fairly long, but I ask that you please do not interrupt me until I am done. I will happily answer any of your question at the end." Another look passed between the Lords before they turned back to her and Minae dipped her head.

"We will listen."

Chapter Text

"We will listen.

Hornet took a moment to take a slow breath in and let it out before nodding. This would be the first real test. Would they listen all the way through? Would they believe what she had to say? She had no way to know, but she had to try. The Mantis Tribe would be powerful Allie's going forward if she could secure them here, but to have their cooperation she would need their trust. Lying to them only to be found out later would shatter that entirely, so she would have to be fully honest here. She just hoped they'd take her word.

"I do not know how much you already know," Hornet began, resting one hand on Ghost's head and beginning to stroke a claw on their right horn. "So I will start at the beginning. I apologize if I speak of things you already know." Another nod prompted her on, so she settled back to weave the tale of Hallownest and its end.

"When the Pale King first entered the lands that are now known as Hallownest, there were already several Higher Beings inhabiting the area. Some, like Unn, were no threat to the rein he wanted to build and others, like the White Lady, bowed their heads to him as their king. Only one of the original cast of powers held the power and will to post any sort of threat to him. A goddess that went by the name of The Radiance.

"The Radiance was a goddess of Dreams and Light and the patron goddess of the Moth Tribe, a group of bugs she had shaped into existence by her own design. Old as she was, The Radiance was near an even match to him in strength and had no desire to bow to a ruler. The two of them fought, but when The Radiance grew too injured to continue she abandoned her physical form and slipped into the Dream Realm to rest and recover.

"The Pale King wasn't about to just wait for her to uncover, however. So in order ti cut her off from her source of power he quickly moved to ban any and all worship of her, convincing many of her moths to turn to him instead. Those that refused were driven away or outright killed. Thus depriving the dream goddess of any influx of power to try and heal and return to the physical plane.

"But despite all that, The Radiance was not destroyed, she simply had to sit and wait until some bugs took notice of her old statues of worship at the top of what is now called Crystal Peaks. From there, those bugs' imagination gave her all the in she needed. She slipped into their dreams and pulled them into her thrall.

"It started small, just a couple miners, but as word of the strange sleeping plague spread so did her ability to strength and ability to reach more and more bugs.

"The king, seeing the new threat to his bustling kingdom, quickly began searching for a solution to this Infection that was spreading through Hallownest. And, eventually, he came up with one."

"The Pure Vessel." The male Lord's voice was quiet, probably meant to confirm instead of interrupt. Hornet nodded.

"The pure vessel," she agreed, noticing with grim satisfaction that something like realization was dawning across Minae's face as she looked at Hornet's siblings gathered in the room.

"The king decided he needed to form a pseudo-living vessel that would have the capability to hold the angry dream goddess contained if she was trapped inside it. He tried several different methods before settling on using a substance called Void, a strange material that comes from the Abyss below all things. The void is darkness, nothingness-in a sense. It would be perfect to contain a goddess of light and dreams. The problem was that no container he crafted seemed to be able to hold the void in a way that would actually contain his adversary.

"Eventually, the king came up with a desperate plan to get the empty vessel he needed. Metal and stone were too weak and rigid to hold the void, but his own flesh and blood had an enate resistance to it, as did other Higher Beings, such as his wife and Queen.

"So, desperate to save their kingdom, the king and queen went through the process of creating a swath of large eggs and lowering them into the Abyss. Based off of the king's visions and the calculations of his archivist they were sure that the beings that hatched from the eggs would be void soaked and sturdy enough to do what was needed. There was just one risk, after enough time almost any bug can be pulled into her thrall. She plays on the wants and emotions in their hearts and minds to drawn them in. For this to work, the vessel would have to be 'pure', without thoughts or feelings.

"For reasons I still don't fully understand, the king and queen were sure that the beings that hatched out of the eggs would be just that, completely without thoughts, emotion, or will. Just empty vessels that would follow any orders given. So-So they waited." Hornet paused, clearing her throat before reaching over to grab her bowl and take a sip of water. Her eyes scanned the room as she did, taking in how her siblings were drawing closer together as she spoke. If the look of rage and grief on her face was any indication Minae had definitely figured out where she was going with this next part, and it didn't look like Itanni was far behind her. Hornet forced herself to put the bowl down and continue, though she decided right then to keep her description of the climb brief.

"Every once and a while the king would go to the door of the Abyss and call out the order to climb and then wait at the top as the beings that hatched from the eggs tried to climb out across a complicated expanse of floating platforms, sharp cliffs, and sharp spikes. Time and time again he came back until one finally climbed out and he claimed that one as his "pure vessel'. Then he shut and sealed the door behind them, locking all the rest inside the Abyss."

"He what?!" Itanni hissed, but Hornet just healed up a hand to stall the question and kept going.

"On top of his pure vessel, the king also decided that he needed to weave a protective seal around the area where he would set the trap. He choose three beings of unusually high levels of soul and extremely strong will and approached them to become his Dreamers. Monomon the Teacher, Lurian the Watcher, and Herrah the Beast. But Herrah had a stipulation before she agreed. She wanted a child of her own, born from the king's own bloodline, as well as the curse of infertility to be broken on her sisters. The king and queen agreed. The queen's skills were enough to help the Weavers finally break free of there sterility and the efforts of the king and the Deepnest queen conceived me, a child of Weaver and Wyrm.

"If all had gone to plan he would soon be able to seal away The Radiance using his pure vessel and three Dreamers and Hallownest would be allowed to continue on existing without fear of The Infection from there on out, but…" Hornet sighed and looked down at Ghost and then over at her other siblings. None of them were eating at this point, and all of them had bunched up into little groups, drawing comfort from each other.

"None of the vessels were hollow." The not-traitor had caught on now too it seemed.

"If any of them were, they probably sank into the Void Sea long before trying to climb out," Hornet confirmed tiredly. "The rest are just…bugs of strange makeup. Far, far too many died trying to climb out. And even more died from lack of food or from the few predators that exist down there. My siblings here and my sister in the palace pretending to be pure are all that's left." She could see Itanni mouthing the word 'sister', but pushed on. Now they were getting into the parts that would be harder to believe.

"If things had been allowed to continue as they were the king would have soon lock our sister in the Black Egg Temple with The Radiance trapped inside her and the Dreamers blocking the entrance, but it wouldn't have lasted. The Infection would return before my final molt, but this time the infected would turn from docile and skittish to aggressive. In another desperate attempt the king would have frozen all of Hallownest in time, locking it in eternal night.

"For most bugs the lack of time wouldn't have changed anything. They rarely saw the light of the sun anyways and they would continue to grow old and pass on, though there would have been a small group of bugs that ended up locked in time as well. Still living, breathing, and needing to eat, drink, and sleep, but never aging and not dying of old age.

The Infection's spread would have slowed in the eternal night, but not stopped. It would have continued to creep outwards until nearly every citizen of Hallownest fell either to The Infection itself, the attacks of the infected, or from some hazard brought about by the land's collapse. Some bugs would have fled, deciding to risk the Wastlands instead of The Infection, but I do not know what happened to those that did."

A touch on her hand caused Hornet to pause with a small start, but glancing down quickly told her it was just Ghost gently grabbing her hand and wrapping it in her own. Only then did she realize she'd been tapping a sharp claw against their shell. She tried to whisper a quiet apology, but they just shook her head and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before nodding towards the Lords in encouragement.

Hornet huffed a quiet sigh before squeezing back and nodding as well. Then she turned back to find the Lords watching her with various levels of concern. Swallowing back another tired sigh, she continued.

"In the midst of all of that, my siblings here would have slowly found paths out of the Abyss. Most of them would have died from various dangers in our land. One would survive and leave Hallownest behind only to be called back when Holly-the pure vessel, finally fully succumbed to The Infection.

"Ghost would have faced many trials and dangers, but eventually found a way to end The Radiance herself and free Holly, the the remains of Hallownest, from her anger. We would have started rebuilding, then, but rebuilding is slow and there wouldn't have been many survivors to do the work."

"You inherited your father's visions, then." Idora didn't sound like she was asking a question, but Minae shook her head before Hornet could reply.

"While I do not admit to knowing much about how the Pale King's visions work I never got the impression they passed along skills or maturity like what you've shown us today. Nor would that explain the young champion's skill with a nail."

"I did inherit a version of the king's future sight," Hornet admitted "though I cannot say how similar or different it is from his own. But you are right to say that this knowledge did not come from a vision."

"Then how do you know all this?" The male lord—Hornet really did need to figure out his name—snapped, causing several of Hornet's siblings to tense, but Hornet replied with barely a blink.

"Several years after The Radiance was killed and time started up in Hallownest once more a group of bugs from my mother's homeland came and captured me. They carted me off to their land where their monarch wanted to take my strength as her own. I broke free and spent quite some time there trying to make sure she wouldn't come after me again as well as helping the bugs of that struggling land. But one challenge I faced proved to great for even my shell.

"I was in the Abyss under that land when I died and Ghost was there along with the shades of most of our siblings. In an attempt to save my life, Ghost used the power of the Abyss to yank us back in time, but ended up pulling us much farther back than they intended."

"They have that sort of power?" All four of the Lords were staring at Ghost with various levels of shock and disbelief, but the words were from Minae. Hornet hummed as she squeezed Ghost's hand and made a so-so motion with her other.

"Ghost is powereful," she began. "During their fight against The Radiance they gained a great number of abilities, but the strongest of them are hard to use most of the time because they would cause harm to others in the area. The Abyss is also….It exists both within time and outside of it. The fact we were within the Void Sea down there, along with their connection to the Abyss as a whole allowed them to move us back in time. The distance we came back, however…." She looked down at her free hand, taking in the unfamiliar curve of her younger claws and remembering the ease they'd cut through her aunts' silk. Eventually, she looked back up, taking in how the four adult gazes had moved to watch her instead.

"We do not have solid answers on what exactly happened to throw us back this far," she admitted quietly. "But I have….theories. I would prefer to spend more time figuring out exactly what's going on before voicing them, but I can say that a lot happened in my time in my mother's homeland."

The Lords watched her for several long moments of silence before Minae gave a slow nod of acceptance. Hornet couldn't help the small sigh of relief at their willingness to let it go for now. She really wasn't sure what was going on in her body, and none of the theories she had were particuarly plesant ones. She needed time to think and expect her own being, but that simply hadn't been possible yet.

"You mentioned that if things had continued as they were then most of Hallownest would have fallen to The Infection," Itanni began, shifting the conversation back onto safer grounds. "What happened to our people?" Hornet allowed herself to smile at the question, grateful she could share at least some good news.

"The Mantis Tribe was the only group of bugs to survive The Infection mostly intact," she informed the Lords and was gratified to watch them straighten with pride. "The four of you ended up being some of the bugs that were caught in time, much like myself, and lived on to see Hallownest through it's fall. While some mantis were lost to the attacks of infected bugs only a small group were lost to The Infection itself." Her smile faded slightly here, tapping her free hand against her knee. "I believe it is very possible that no mantises would have fallen to it at all, but unfortunately some bugs noticed that certain infected bugs gained more physical prowess as well as somewhat strange abilities due to being infected. A small subset of your tribe fell for the trap of that offered power in hopes that it would aid them in surviving in the world as it had become. They welcomed The Radiance into their minds willingly to gain that power."

"False strength given out by another is no strength at all," Minae clacked her mandibles, shaking her head. Clearly aiming her words at the unknown future traitors. Hornet shook her head wearily, even as she was gratified to see that even the would-be-Traitor Lord seemed to dismiss the idea as much as his sisters did.

"Loss and trial can cause ven those with the strongest core to faulter," she pointed out quietly. "I cannot blame them for doing what they thought they must to protect their own, but their choses led to their deaths in the end. None of the mantises that chose to take in The Infection survived to see Hallownest recover. And they were hardly the only bugs to fall for the same mistaken belief. It is…sad, but it was part of the world we lived in. Part of the world that would have come to be."

"You keep saying 'would have'," the male Lord noted, leaning forward slightly. "Clearly you have already made some changes since you and your siblings are here now. I assume you intend to deal with this angry goddess before she can distroy our home?"

"We do." Hornet's voice hardened into steely resolve that even she had to admit sounded strange coming in her child's voice. "Ghost should still be more than capable of dealing with her, they simply need to gather the tools to be able to access her in her realm. And we wish to rescue our sister from the White Palace before then, that way there is no risk of the king trying to inact his plan before we take care of the threat. There is no reason for her to suffer that fate this time around."

"Does your sister not remember things, as you do?" Idora asked, tilting her head. "You said that the shades of your siblings were all there and remember things now." Hornet shrugged and shook her head.

"We are unsure," she admitted. "Holly was still alive and in physical form back in Hallownest when Ghost brought us back. The void in her might have still brought her memories back, but we have no way to know until we reach her."

"I see…" Idora frowned, but didn't get a chance to say more before Minae cut in.

"So you intend to take your sister, the Pure Vessel, from the White Palace?" It was phrased as a question, but Hornet could tell the woman already knew the answer. She nodded anways, fairly sure she knew where this was going.

"Do you intend to bring her here after you do?" The physically-older woman tilted her head slightly as she asked it, tone light enough that she could have been asking about the number of mushrooms growing on the nearby wall.

"That was our hope," Hornet agreed as Ghost's hand tightened on hers. Around them, almost all of her siblings were now watching the Lords with focused interest. "If we need to make other plans please let us know now so we can take the time to do so. I know bringing her here could possibly cause you even more trouble than our current presence already might. I would never insist that you put yourself in harms way for us."

"We will not go back on our word." Idora's voice was firm and unyeilding in a way Hornet was intimately familiar with. "We promised the young champion that their family would be safe here. If the—Holly is their family then she has a home here as well."

"My sister speaks truly," Minae agreed, holding out her hands in a placating gesture. "I am simply inquiring as to your plans so we can make our own."

"Ah. I see." Hornet sat back from the slight stiffening she'd inadvertently done at the question. That was…resonable. "Thank you. Knowing that Holly is safe here will ease all of our minds."

"When do you plan to retrieve her?" Idora asked, drawing Hornet to a pause. She actually…wasn't sure of their exact timeline. Uncertain, she looked down at Ghost.

'Soon,' Ghost signed from the ground. 'Get Holly here, then collect Dreamnail and other things.'

"Perhaps after one more rest cycle, then?" Hornet suggested, earning her a nod of acceptance from Ghost. So she turned back to the Lords. "Ghost and I should sleep at least once more before we head out to get her."

"Just the two of you?" Itanni asked. Hornet nodded firmly, even as her eyes scanned across the rest of her siblings. Her next words were for all of them.

"While some of our other siblings here do possess skills in combat, the fact remains that only Ghost and myself really know the layout of the land. It is slightly different from the version that we would come to know, but that is still more than the rest. Plus a larger group is bound to draw more attention. And no—" She looked down to pin Ghost with a look before they could finish raising their hands to sign. "—you are not going by yourself, Ghost. You only know the dream version of the White Palace, and you'll need another distraction if you're going to get Holly out without getting swarmed by Guards or the king showing up." Ghost huffed, but lowered their hands without arguing, so Hornet counted it as a win.

"If that's the case, then I am going to go make sure our borders are tightened." At that the male Lord got to his feet and proceeded to exit the room.

"Don't mind him,"Itanni reassured them as her brother left. "Kalor is a bit abrupt, but he means well. And he is not wrong to increase border security for the coming days." Kalor! Hornet bit back a sigh of relief at finally learning the fourth Lord's name. She had been hoping she wouldn't have to ask.

"It is no problem at all," she reassured the remaining Lords. "I am glad he is being proactive."

Silence fell then and Hornet took the time to scan around and take in her siblings and how they were faring. The tray of food had been emptied sometime during their conversation and if Hornet wasn't mistaken several of her siblings were starting to droop. She couldn't blame them. While it was true that all of them would likely need less sleep than the average bug they were still physically quite young, and this was the first time their current bodies had left the Abyss. Of course they needed rest. She herself could probably use another nap as well to help her body finish recovering from it's recent molt.

"May I inquire as to where we will be staying, Lords?" she asked, conciously lowering her voice slightly. "I believe my siblings and I could do with some rest before anything else."

"Of course," Itanni agreed as all three Lords got to their feet. "I'll show you to the guest quarters that you are all welcome to use for as long as you need."

"Thank you." Hornet dipped her head before nudging Ghost to move and getting up once they had left her lap.

Working together, Hornet, Ghost, Tassel, and Protector gathered the rest of their siblings and got them to their feet to follow Lord Itanni to the place they would be staying to get settled for a period of rest. Weave knows they all probably needed it.