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To see that her sibling had laid eggs had been a shock. Hornet stared at the three pristine eggs, laying neatly in the nest.
"Hollow, who's the father?" The question left her mouth immediately after it had popped into her head. Of course it was none of her business who Hollow slept with; they were a grown bug after all, and this wasn't like the time a certain noblewoman had tried-and failed-to take advantage of their sheltered nature at the time (she had been just old enough at the time to understand why that particular bug was being cast out from her caste.)
As Hollow signed that the eggs were a result of parthenogenesis, that was one small bit of relief. Good, there'd be no fathers she'd have to side eye. (Aside from her and her siblings' own.)
Hollow was brimming with excitement as they signed that they were going to be a parent; despite the worry growing in the back of her mind, she congratulated them. She was very happy for Hollow-why wouldn't she be? The worry came from several reasons-one of them being that raising three hatchlings would be difficult; none of the three had child-rearing experience, and Hornet could only guess the extra difficulty vessel hatchlings would be. Still, Hollow was excited to have them.
"Am I allowed in?" She asks, looking to the nest once more. Hollow did a decent job of making a cozy one; Ghost was already in there; though she had a hard time telling, it appeared that they were asleep, judging from how they were laying. As careful as Hornet was as she climbed in, Ghost stirred.
It was adorable, how they rubbed their eyeholes; though if she were to express such a sentiment aloud, she'd get a swift thwack to her kneecaps. After asking how they slept, Hornet turned back to the tallest of the siblings, her gaze flickering briefly to the eggs. She asked permission to touch them, and Hollow granted it.
The nearest egg felt so smooth when Hornet stroked it; the shell lacked the telltale warmth of budding life. Another worrying thought crept into her mind. To be sure, she gently rapped upon it. It sounded empty. Frowning, she did the same to the other two.
Dud eggs were common. Hornet herself had been the sole fertilized egg in her mother's only clutch. She looked up as Hollow started to sign again, 'what is it?'
She didn't want to stress Hollow out, but she couldn't keep her suspicions from them; a thought flashed in her mind of Hollow eagerly waiting for their babies to hatch, week after week; she couldn't subject them to that ignorance just to spare their feelings now.
"Hollow," She began, still resting her hand on one of the eggs, "I don't mean to burst your bubble, but I think there's a possibility that these eggs are duds."
As she explained to Hollow what duds meant, Hollow stilled. Vessels, face-wise, were expressionless, but the disbelief and growing anxiety was nearly tangible.
"I could be wrong of course-" Wrym, she hoped she was. "I'm certainly no expert! You want Midwife for that." Midwife. Hornet hadn't seen her in such a long time.
As Ghost volunteered to go fetch Midwife themselves, Hornet watched as they teleported away-she squinted in the flash. She then turned to Hollow, before leaning over and patting their knee.
"I'll go cook lunch, okay?" That was the only thing she could think to do. She wasn't great at comforting-and she was already feeling a bit of regret for having voiced her worry in the first place. She still reasoned with herself it was the kinder thing to do-and after all, there was a chance she could be wrong; the eggs could still very well be in early development to where she wasn't able to detect it.
Heading through the doorway, she trotted to where she stashed today's kill-a large, tasty Vengefly King. She wasn't fond of hunting them, but they were one of Hollow's favorite foods and wanted to get them something special due to their recent change in appetite. They'd certainly need it now, they need their energy.
As Hornet struck up a fire, she took a sharpened shell knife and started to break the tough chitin of the Vengefly King. The crack was satisfying, and she worked the knife under the shell, cutting under until it could be pulled off in one swift motion. The raw meat glistened beneath. She carved out a large chunk and stuck it on a stick to hold over the flame, turning it over.
If she had been wrong and those eggs were fertile, this would mean three babies. Three adorable niblings, most likely identical. She herself had never felt the pull of motherhood; Hollow's joy touched a soft spot in her heart that she didn't know she had. Hornet wouldn't mind helping raise the little ones; Hollow would need all the extra help they could get. It'd be just the six of them- Her, Ghost, Hollow, and the three babies. She wondered if Hollow had picked out names already.
Ah, just one other issue. Hornet's soft smile faded; it'd be impossible to keep the babies a secret from the Pale King, with his pathetic habit of lingering around the siblings' home. It was a matter of when, not if, he'd discover his possible grandhatchlings, and gods if he tried to use Hollow's lingering love for him to guilt them into letting him see the babies-he was barely a father, he had no right to be a grandfather. Hornet tightened her grip on the stick, almost missing that she was scorching one side of dinner.
Quickly she pulled it away, huffing at her mistake. She took the knife to trim away the burnt pieces, before she plated it. She cooked her own half, and gotten Hollow fresh water.
There was no need to get worked up about the Pale Loser. If he started to become a problem, she and Ghost would take care of it.
She took dinner back to the blanket nest, handing Hollow their plate. The two ate in silence; she watched her sibling carefully to make sure they ate.
Words of comfort evaded her; she wished she could take Hollow's anxiety and punt it into an acid pool. As she finished her dinner, shrieking pierced the air. Before she could leap up and grab her needle to face whatever that was, a shadowy entity strode through the doorway and dropped a large, dark wiggling spider on the floor.
"Hello there, Hornet dear," Midwife pulled herself into a sitting position, turning that smiling face towards her. "It's so good to see you again. I was relaxing at home when this great shadowy beast just barged in and scooped me up without so much as a please. Friend of yours?"
Oh, dammit, Ghost! Effective as kidnapping was, Midwife was a dearly close friend of her mother's, she was practically family to Hornet.
Facepalming, Hornet turned to Ghost, scolding them and demanding they apologize. The distorted, spine-chilling voice shot back that she had tried to eat them more than once- Hornet bristled from the sound; it went right through her, like metal scraping on crystal.
As Midwife protested Ghost's claim (which was most likely true, given her ravenous appetite) Hornet interrupted, requesting that Midwife take a look at the eggs. Hollow looked reluctant as Midwife asked for permission; Hornet could see in the way they hesitated, tensing. She reached out, gently taking their large, cold hand in her smaller, warm ones.
"Hollow, do you trust me?"
They nodded, letting out a deep beath, a ghostly hiss of air. Hornet slowly released their hand, before kneeling, picking up the nearest egg, before passing it to the spider.
Hornet fetched the Midwife what she needed. The first was the basin full of water, then their lumenfly lantern. The insides of the egg glowed as the Midwife held it to the light, gently turning.
As she declared the eggs as duds, Hornet's heart sank; even without looking at them, she could feel the stunned disbelief practically radiating off of Hollow.
"I know this must be disappointing," Midwife's tone was gentle, "Infertile doesn't mean you're sterile. Many bugs' first clutches are infertile, but they still go on to have plenty of children after another cycle."
Hollow's head drooped. As Ghost returned Midwife back to Deepnest, Hollow's shoulders started to shake, void dripping like tears out of their right eye. Out of everything bad that had happened to them, from failing their sole duty to the Pale King trying to come back into their lives, this was the first time Hornet had seen her sibling so broken-hearted.
Hornet wrapped her arms around them, giving as much of a comforting hug as she could muster, rubbing their back. She wanted to comfort them, to ease their pain. All she could muster was a sorry.
Hollow clung to her, body still wracking with silent sobs, ice-cold tears splattering onto her shoulder. She held them tighter, feeling a lump form in her throat. She felt movement beside her as Ghost rejoined them, also embracing Hollow. Ghost reached inside their cloak, pulling out a charm Hornet recognized-she forgotten the name of it, but Ghost used it in combat. They handed it to Hollow, who pushed it away in their upset. Of course they didn't want a facsimile of hatchlings; the gesture was sweet, but Hornet knew that the soul-born bugs didn't live very long.
A cough caught the siblings' attention. Hornet spun to face the noise; the Pale King wasn't quite inside the home yet, still lingering in the doorway.
"Go away!" Anger clashed with Hornet's sorrow; how dare he show up now! This was the last thing Hollow needed to deal with. Ghost didn't waste no time, already drawing in the shadows, the light within the room dimming as they prepared to launch an attack on their father, more than just a threat display this time.
Hollow made a sudden move, and Ghost looked up at them for a brief moment, before they begrudgingly receded their shadows. Hornet didn't have to guess as to why; even after all this time, Hollow still harbored some love for the Pale bastard. She wished she could say the same; a part of her did still miss the good moments with her father, as rare as they were, but missing something wouldn't bring it back, and it wouldn't rectify what had already been done. After the king had fled and left everyone else behind, it was easier to move on with her life and the duty she had been left with.
“I saw Midwife coming into the house earlier, The eggs were infertile, weren’t they?”
The noise that escaped Hollow made Hornet want to sew the Pale King's mouth shut-for someone who's lived so long, he didn't know how to read the room, did he? Ghost shot a nasty glare at him as they patted Hollow's hand. Hornet still kept her eyes on him as she went back to where she had placed her needle; if he said one more insensitive thing-
Immediately seeing what a mistake that sentence had been, the Pale King wrung all four of his hands. “It’s a perfectly normal thing, actually. For Wyrms, I mean. The laying of infertile eggs. Our eggs are only fertile after a heat.” Oh gods, not this talk.
Thankfully, Hornet had a proper, un-biased 'talk' from the Midwife and the White Lady when she had reached the appropriate age. They had been clinical and to the point, but the way the king tried to explain a heat made Hornet want to bury her face in the cushions from secondhand embarrassment.
"-There is a notable increase in, um, sensitivity." He couldn't keep eye contact as he tried to explain, "When your body becomes, er...receptive, you may experience an uncomfortable warmth all over, though it tends to concentrate in the-"
“Thank you for the explanation,” Hornet had enough, and so clearly did the other two. “We’ll figure things out if the signs of one ever start – whether it is to get a heat suppressant, or something else. Now," She drew herself up to her full height-only a little bit taller than the former king. "Get out of our house.”
There was some small satisfaction in seeing him scurry out of sight. Now that the main problem was gone, there was the matter of what to do with these eggs. Hollow didn't take well to the suggestion of eating them-a common practice in Deepnest. Instead, Hollow had chosen to bury them.
The three of them worked together to dig the hole. Hollow was lost in thought as they dug, the eggs laying in their lap. They lowered each egg into the hole gently, before Hornet covered them. She quietly left Hollow to grieve, while Ghost stayed back for a minute more to make sure that they were okay.
The next several days were emotionally rough. Grief and brooding instincts were a potent mix; Hornet did her best to keep things as routine as possible, whereas Ghost was confined to the nest most of the time. The first time Ghost had snuck out, Hornet had come home to witness Hollow frantically tearing through the house in search of them; the void streaming down from their busted eye had been smeared on the floor and walls as they stumbled; a perfect representation of their emotional state, Hornet had noted. Hollow, who was the calm and quiet sibling, being so heavily affected by this- even though it was normal based on what the Pale King had said, it still worried her.
Having Ghost in their nest, she noticed, helped calm them down immensely. The first couple of days, Hornet had taken to checking in on Hollow; they still kept the nest nearly exactly the way it had been before, only with Ghost taking the place of the dud eggs. At least once she had found Hollow and Ghost napping, Hollow's arm tight around their smaller sibling, all curled up. The sight made Hornet nostalgic for the days when she was as tiny as Ghost, snuggled up in her birth mother's arms as the spider queen hummed an old song; one of the few, very precious memories she had of Herrah.
Hornet hated having to be away while Hollow was this much of a mess; even though she knew Ghost was more than capable of being there for them, and they most definitely were better at comforting than she was. She felt like a bad sister sometimes for not being able to do more.
She had attempted to clean up the place, despite her housekeeping skills being nonexistent. Being a princess, she never had to lift a finger around the palace, for there was always a retainer ready to swoop in and tidy up. When the kingdom had fallen, she spent years wandering, never staying in one place for more than a couple of nights.
Growing weary of watching her struggle with the mop and making more of a mess, Hollow rolled out of their nest, taking the mop from her and nudging her towards the nest instead. Hornet normally wouldn't have obeyed, but it was good for Hollow to be focusing on something else in the meantime; it provided a perfect distraction; though she did admit that she was growing frustrated with her attempts to clean and was close to giving up on it.
Crawling into the blanket nest, Hornet plopped next to Ghost, who had been napping. They startled at the movement, jerking awake. Giving a little stretch, they rolled onto their belly, looking up at Hornet.
"Sleep well, Ghost?" She got a thumbs up in return. She crossed her legs, leaning back against one of the soft pillows. She took a look around; there wasn't much to it. Hollow had done their best to make it as cozy as possible, but there wasn't anything to do.
"It must get boring, being the egg." She tried to be lighthearted about it. Ghost gave a single nod, resting the bottom of their mask in their little nub hands. She gave them an awkward pat on the head. Ghost swatted at the gesture, not liking being treated like a hatchling.
"If it helps you any, Himself had said that the brooding instincts take a week to die down. You'll only have to endure this for several days more." Ghost did not look pleased, if their little huff was anything to go by.
A bit of movement beyond the doorway caught her eye; it was only Hollow returning, wiping their hand clean on the rag tied to their cooking apron. They signed that dinner was ready, before they turned to Ghost. The way these two communicated was fascinating in it's own right-a silent language that no other bug alive knows, or will ever know.
Sometimes the both of them forget that Hornet was unable to understand Voidspeech. “What are you two talking about? Not all of us can use Voidspeech, you know?” It bothered her not knowing. The gestures Ghost returned was more than enough for Hornet to piece together that they were discussing a matter between them. It wasn't a mystery as to what given everything that had been going on the past few days.
Dinner came and went with no issue, and they cleaned the dishes, which didn't take long, before they went to wash up. After saying goodnight, Hollow scooped up Ghost, ferrying them back to the nest. Hornet watched in mild amusement as Ghost stared back at her helplessly, reaching out a stubby arm to her. She didn't particularly feel like covering tonight's shift as the substitute egg. Still, Ghost must have been bored out of their shell being stuck in that nest all the time.
She could help out in another way.
By the time she woke up, it was still early enough for it to be dark. She tried to go back to sleep, but it evaded her. A few minutes of tossing and turning later, she gave up, flinging the blanket off. Well, if she wasn't able to rest, might as well do something productive.
Grabbing her cloak and needle, Hornet quietly crept past Hollow's room. She peeked in to see that both siblings were fast asleep. Ghost had been swaddled in one of the smaller blankets, and Hollow had their arm protectively around them as if they were their own hatchling, with Ghost cuddling comfortably against their chest.
She stopped by the kitchen to grab a handful of dried fruit for breakfast, then moving on to the front room, Hornet took the lumenfly lantern and set off.
The 4AM air was cool and crisp, and she pulled her cloak tighter around herself. The town, already quiet during the day, was deathly silent. Most of the other homes' lights were out, save for Cornifer and Ismelda's place. She raised a hand in greeting to Elderbug before she walked down to the well.
She hopped inside, landing with grace. If Hollow wanted a baby that badly, she knew where to get the next best thing. She headed off down the darkened path to the right of the sign.
A little white spiky bug was skittering along a ledge, its tiny claws going tap-tap-tap. Tiktiks were extremely easy to catch- and in one fell swoop, snatched up the tiktik before it knew what was going on. The Tiktik didn't fight back; due to their spikes acting as protection, they were extremely docile creatures; it'd make the perfect baby for Hollow. She held the tiktik up, examining it for any injuries or signs of sickness; it looked perfectly healthy, and its body was shockingly pristine; it must have just newly molted.
"Yes, you shall do." Hornet stated. The Tiktik blinked its beady eyes. Tucking it under her arm, Hornet used her needle to fly back through to the well. Since there was nothing to attach her needle to up above, Hornet struggled a little to climb out, doing her best to keep a solid grip on the Tiktik, which had started to squirm out of her grasp.
Finally she was high enough that she could toss the tiktik up over the well's edge before pulling herself out. It started to skitter away, and Hornet pounced upon it before it could get too far. She didn't fancy having to chase the damn thing all over Dirtmouth.
"A bit early breakfast, isn't it?" An unfortunately familiar voice made her tense. She rose to her feet, tiktik clutched in her arms. Out of all the bugs she had to meet now-why him? Resisting the urge to tell the Pale King he was too old to be up this early, Hornet strode past him without so much as a glance. He didn't bother following after-good.
When she got inside the house, she tucked the Tiktik in her cloak just in case Hollow was up. She went to her room and sat the Tiktik on her bed.
"You will have a very important job." She told it. She immediately felt stupid for doing so. It didn't understand what she was saying. She dug around in her sewing supplies, before finding the spool of bright red ribbon she was looking for. She only had enough for what she needed-she'd have to buy more from Blicket. The tiktik once more attempted escape, before Hornet grabbed it, holding it between her knees as she tied the ribbon around it's neck, making a small bow.
When lunchtime rolled around, Ghost was awake, perking up when they seen their sister, before giving a look to the bug in her arms, then back to her, gesturing at it, asking why she had that. Hollow was half asleep yet. She took the tiktik, who had now gotten quite used to its new surroundings, and walked to the nest. Her prescence caused Hollow to stir, and she promptly dumped the Tiktik onto the blankets.
It was a few moments before Hollow registered it; tilting their head quizzically.
“Hornet, why is there a tiktik in my nest?” They signed. The tiktik started to dig at the blankets, making itself comfortable.
“I thought that it could be a pet for you, It’s fine if you don’t want it though. We can just cook it for lunch in that case.” It wasn't like she went through a lot of effort to get the tiktik, if Hollow didn't want a pet, it'd be fine by her.
“No, don’t hurt it! You said that it’s a pet, so a pet it shall be.” Hollow pulled the creature into their lap, holding onto it as protectively as they did Ghost the night before. The tiktik quickly settled into their lap, tucking its little legs underneath itself.
Hornet smiled. "I’m glad you like it. What are you going to name it then? Pets need names, you know.” Tucking her hands in her pockets, she watched the tiktik clean it's little face as Ghost and Hollow communicated silently on names. From their body language, she could parse together that they were having a disagreement about at least one of the names.
The tiktik was crawling around on Hollow's lap, and the vessel pats it for a minute, and it closed its eyes, enjoying the affection.
“I’m going to name it Not-Food. Because it’s not for eating.” Hollow signed. Hornet nods, though the name was quite odd.
“Alright, Not-Food it is then.” She wondered what sort of names Ghost had suggested if Hollow decided to go with that one. Not-Food rested on their new owner's lap, and Hollow petted it, looking down at it lovingly.
Hornet knelt against the nest, watching as Not-Food started to climb up on Hollow's stomach. Hollow's body shook, this time with laughter instead of tears.