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“We don’t have to go so fast, you know.”
No reply.
“There’s no- huff -rush!”
Silent, but for the rain falling around them.
Quirrel had to jog to keep up with their stride.
“For my sake then? I can’t keep this up.”
Hollow slowed to a stop, but kept their gaze straight ahead.
Quirrel took a moment to catch his breath. He tired quickly nowadays, with his role in Hallownest’s perpetuation over.
He resumed walking, and Hollow took up a place at his side.
He couldn’t help but notice their silence. –Which was an odd thought, really. He was around their sibling all the time, and Ghost never spoke a word. They were sparse in using writing or gesture. Yet it was an easy silence, and he much enjoyed their company.
Hollow…Hollow he didn’t know well.
He tried filling the silence.
“It’s beautiful, is it not? The old capital city.” He gestured to the buildings around them. “An engineering marvel, to have stayed in such good shape after so long.”
His attempt got no response, as expected. He could only hope they enjoyed listening, like their sibling.
He continued as they walked, musing on the sights, supplemented by snatches of memory.
“And the glasswork! All intact as far as I’ve seen. And with such intricate designs in them.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his companion twitch. Turning to them, they kept looking straight forward, down the path ahead.
Something was bothering them, he was sure. He just had no idea what.
He continued, and they followed. He took a moment to appreciate the tapestries, even as they hadn’t held up as well.
It was subtle, but he caught a shiver from his traveling companion.
He felt so out of his depth.
In the months since the infection had left and Hollow was freed, they had mostly kept to themself, and what social time they did have was mostly with their siblings. He had been around them, sure. But they had never truly spent time together like this.
Neither of them anticipated it for today, either.
Ghost had wanted to show everyone something in the City. Places they’d found. They hadn’t elaborated much. Circumstances had it, between everyone’s schedules, that Hollow and Quirrel were left to travel together. It was supposed to be a short trip. But when they got to the station, the Old Stag had come down with a cold.
So walking it was.
He considered the tattered tapestry in front of him, emblazoned with the seal of Hallownest. Such things were everywhere along the main roads.
He really didn’t know enough about Hollow. Their history. Their purpose, beyond what he could remember from his own involvement. Hadn’t wanted to pry. But perhaps…
“My friend,” he reached out to gently tap their leg. “How about we take another way?”
They looked down to him. They did not give an explicit indication, but the slight tilt of their head…curious, perhaps?
“Come, I thought I saw something interesting down this alley. It won’t hurt to take a look along the way…”
He led, and they followed. In truth, he had no idea what was down this path. The alley went through a couple twists, and narrowed enough he was worried Hollow’s horns wouldn’t fit. The rain poured down, concentrated by gutters into a cascade at the far end of the alley. Stepping through, shaking off the excess water even as the rain kept them wet, they were met with a new street to go down, narrower and less decorated than the one they came from.
Orienting himself by the sight of the Spire peeking over the tallest buildings, he chose a direction, closely followed by Hollow.
The street was a window into the everyday lives of the City’s residents.
A furniture store. A child’s toy, set on a ledge out of the rain. Narrow steps to upper floors.
He mused on their findings. It was bittersweet, absent of the bugs who made it, but a homier view of the kingdom than their prior path.
Hollow inclined their head as he spoke. If he didn’t know any better, they were paying attention.
Most memorable was a little building dwarfed by those around it, containing within many bowls of what seemed to be hard candy. Or used to be, as it had all melted together in the long years.
He was content to leave it be, until Hollow reached out and smashed the hardened mass. They held up a piece to him. He couldn’t refuse that.
It tasted like dust. Underneath, notes of sweet honey still survived.
As they continued, the humble façades gave way to fancier offerings. Clothing boutiques. Offices. Glass windows that grew increasingly intricate.
Eventually, they found themselves back in familiar territory, the main road.
Ah.
Perhaps it was for the best. They’d really been meandering, hadn’t they? They must be quite late already.
They kept going. He couldn’t help but glance at his traveling companion. There were no more distractions for them. No longer interested in joining him in sightseeing, as before.
It wasn’t too much further though, to their meeting point.
He was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.
He looked up to see Hollow leaning over him.
Before he could question it, they stood back up, gestured “come”, and took off in a different direction, down a side road.
He took off after them. They weren’t running, but it was hardly a casual walk, and with their longer legs, he jogged to keep up.
He asked them where they were going. They only looked back to him and gestured again.
They paused at each intersection, looking around, before picking their path.
Quirrel was breathing hard. He couldn’t keep this up for long. But thankfully the end to the run came sooner rather than later.
Hollow came to a stop in front of opulent buildings, no different than any others, as far as he could tell. But rather than choose one, they went into a narrow space between two of them.
“Hollow? What is this, where are…”
The words were taken from him.
The space opened up. Not into anything in particular; it was entirely empty.
But something was happening in this space. Something about the construction of the windows, the positioning of lanterns, the angle at which Pale light shone down on the whole City, the ever-present rain… The space was made into something spectacular. Light danced all around, in cold hues, in pale hues, in rainbows. Refracted patterns through glass, waving as the water ran down, shining down from above onto the ground and walls.
He held out a hand as if he could take hold of them, watching the light dance on his palm. He let out a breathy laugh. Looking to Hollow, they were staring upwards, rain running down their face, faint glow of their pale shell further alight in dazzling color.
He joined them at their side, looking up at the display on the walls and the glass above that originated it.
“It’s quite the place you found here, my friend.”
They were still for a moment, then nodded.
“You’ve been here before?”
Again a nod. After a moment, they turned to him and signed a single word.
“Small.”
When they were young?
He nodded. He knew as much about their childhood as anything else about them, which wasn’t much. Only the impression there wasn’t much positive. He was glad they had at least one nice thing to remember, and they decided to share it with him.
The two of them stayed in silence, enjoying the dancing colors. This silence was comfortable.
He didn’t know how long they stood there, but all things had to end eventually. They had somewhere to be. As it turned out, the next street over it caught up with them.
A brief flash of metal was all the warning they got before Hornet swung down on silken line.
“There you are!” She ran up to them, looking them over. “You’re late!”
Though she took stern tone, her stance relaxed.
“What held you?”
Hornet took the lead, ushering them to their destination as Quirrel explained how they had to take the long way on foot.
Hornet in turn informed them that Ghost was still waiting at the meeting spot. They hadn’t been worried (something about “void senses”), but she warned the two of them to be wary of the mood all that waiting put Ghost in.
She would not elaborate.
They all got to the chosen meeting spot, and went up the building’s elevator. Quirrel didn’t notice the way Hornet hung back once they reached the top. He only saw his good friend, sitting alone in the far side of a hot spring. They waved.
The next moments were a blur. He was at the water’s edge, and then he was under it. Surfacing, sputtering, he found Hollow next to him similarly struggling, and the water beneath them dark with numerous void tendrils.
They all led to Ghost, who was silently snickering in their corner. Hornet’s laughter carried from the entrance to the room, before a particularly long tendril rose from the water, shooting in her direction.
“No! Not again, Ghost!”
And so it went on. Hornet was dragged in. Hollow got revenge, sneaking up behind their sibling. Quirrel chatted with Hornet and Ghost. The spring warmed them all from the chill of the rain.
It was nice, he thought.
He glanced at Hollow as things settled down. There was still so much he didn’t know about them. But he thought that perhaps, as quiet fell over the group…there was an ease to them now. A comfortable silence between them. He liked that. He liked that very much.