The apocalypse has come and gone, and against all odds, Pharloom remains standing. The time has come for Hornet to return to Hallownest, accompanied by friends and allies: Shakra hopes to explore the mythical land beyond the wastes, and properly lay to rest a member of her own tribe; Lace fears unraveling without the aid of a Weaver, while contending with the immensity of a future free of her mother’s threads; and the Green Prince lives only only to spite the Citadel, passively seeking a more honorable end than might be found in the rubble of his homeland.
Meanwhile, Hornet returns from Pharloom with magic and knowledge that might aid in the slow recovery of Hallownest and Deepnest–and perhaps offer the chance to call home the sibling she once thought lost to her forever.
Chapter 6: Finally Equipping that Compass You Bought
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Folks have been asking about whether Ghost and/or the Shade Lord will make an appearance! Well, it doesn't happen this chapter either! Instead we get a totally different miracle: some of the characters are actually talking and communicating with each other (with varying degrees of emotional honesty).
I ended up pushing through and finishing the last page a day earlier than predicted! I'm genuinely unsure how well received this chapter will be, because it is so, so, so text heavy--likely one of the most in the entire comic. However, these conversations are important because it explicitly establishes the core motives (or lack thereof) of most of the central cast, and points us in the general direction the plot will be taking.
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Transcript:
Page 1
Lace: You.
Hollow: !?
Lace: You have some explaining to do.
Hollow: ...
Hollow [signing]: Sorry to wake you.
Lace: That is not what I meant and you know it.
Lace: Really? You have nothing to say? I know you can talk.
Hollow: .... ...Ah.
Hollow: S...ssssorry... Ssspeak-ing isss difff-- diffffi-- difffff-- haaaard. I ammmm--
Lace: Stop!
Lace: Just... stop. If harm befalls you, the spider will unstitch me thread by thread.
Hollow [signing]: Sister likes you.
Lace: Do not start with that nonsense.
Page 2
The Green Prince: I am surprised at the Hunter's absence from this interrogation.
Shakra (quoting Hornet): "They are old enough to manage the disasters of their own making."
Shakra: So she spoke before departing for an audience with her pale mother.
The Green Prince: ...
Shakra: .... You are ill at ease with this state of affairs.
The Green Prince: I had long ago heard tales of Hallownest, Kingdom Eternal. Truthfully, I suspected it another silken lie.
The Green Prince: I knew the spider for what she was... and I have witnessed before how the ceaseless appetites of beings pale leave naught but bile and bone.
The Green Prince: To walk peaceably among gods... such a feat staggers the mind.
Shakra: Hornet-wielding-needle has invariably proven herself my ally and friend. But you share no such bond, noble bug. Why then did you heed her call?
The White Lady: What wish is held for Hallownest?
Page 3
Hornet: I suspect the answer unknown to even himself.
Hornet: His late addition to our party was... unexpected.
Hornet: I feared the grief sunk so deep that my words lacked power enough to reach him.
The White Lady: You diminish yourself, child.
The White Lady: The Beast needed not a god's light to marshal her savage lands, but a fervency of spirit reflected by the magnitude of your own.
The White Lady: And what of the others? The warrior bears striking resemblance to another visitor, long ago.
Hornet: Elder Hu. He lived among the mantises before the Infection drove him to madness. Despite his violent end, his memorial is maintained. Shakra seeks to perform his final rites.
The White Lady: A noble endeavor, but one much impeded by present circumstance. Travel through the Fungal Wastes has been restricted, as the situation between the Mantis Tribes has evolved in your absence. Skirmishes at Deepnest's borders intensify with every passing cycle.
Hornet: I am neither Deepnest's queen nor its minister.
The White Lady: I understand. Regardless, your counsel would be welcome. But for now, the matter will keep. Tell me instead of the Pale Child you have brought under my boughs.
Page 4
Hornet: Lace is of no threat to you, Lady.
The White Lady: No... she is far too frail, with that brittle shell of pale silk. Yet her fierce heart blazes, even to my wavering sight.
Hornet: Even knowing it would damn her, she cut herself free from her creator's malignant web. When I chose to pull her from the void, I shouldered a duty to see her maintained.
The White Lady: It is honorable of you.
Hornet: ... Or perhaps cruel, to bind her to myself, even figuratively.
The White Lady: Unlike the other souls bound within your shell?
Hornet: ....
The White Lady: I require neither explanation nor excuse, child. To exercise such power only speaks of the perils faced in the land of your foremothers.
Hornet: Power alone could not preserve me. Faith turned shield... Song turned care... Joy turned defiance of the end itself. I survived on strength borrowed of others. Including yours, Lady.
The White Lady: Mine and your sibling's. The flower you spun of memory and soul carried the blessing of two gods. I feared even that might not be enough to sustain you in the dark.
Hornet: ... it was not.
Page 5
Hornet: The bloom's light failed before we reached the surface. We lived by the mercy of the void itself. Or rather, its Lord.
Hornet: Did you know? That this was their fate?
The White Lady: Nothing more than idle speculation.
The White Lady: Even bound, I felt the world shudder when the Old Light Fell, and the void rushed in to claim its right. That ancient, primordial god reborn, the Lord of Shades.
The White Lady: And then... it vanished... Without enacting its overdue vengeance, leaving naught by withering plague and collapsing dream.
The White Lady: The Abyss was sealed... the void sea calmed. With no trace of that vessel--
Hornet: Ghost.
The White Lady: ...that Little Ghost.
The White Lady: ... what is it you intend to do?
Hornet: I aim to restore them to us.
Page 6
The White Lady: You propose to reopen the Abyss... too invite that dark god back into our lands... to try to pluck a single shade from its legion. A fool's errand... yet my censure does not deter.
Hornet: I fear not the impossible, Lady... else I would not stand before you now. My course is set.
The White Lady: You have your father's bearing.
Hornet: An unwelcome comparison... And one I cannot determine as praise or condemnation.
The White Lady: It matters little. To place in you my faith, as I once did him... what you ask is no small thing. Yet my hope stirs anew. So for you, my daughter... and for the children I so callously cast away...
The White Lady: I will set aside my fear... my grief... do not prove me again a fool.
Hornet: i will not, Majesty.
The White Lady: Then it is enough.
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