where pilgrims are sinners, saints go to hell

13

He couldn't have told how long he spent in his chambers this time, but he was sure she had slept at least twice since their excursion.

Now that the initial shock of seeing a vessel in such a... poor state had faded, he felt guilty about having ran off like that. His lady probably didn't appreciate being left behind again so soon after the last time.

He couldn't believe she was still there, in all honesty.

At least, his retreat had a cause this time, since he had spent all of it looking around in his workshop to find any and all research he had ever made on both Void and Soul. Although there was way more information about the latter than the former and he now knew that not everything he thought about Void was correct; the notes he had written about the Pure Vessel during their training (that hurt to read more than he would like to admit) along with what he remembered seeing in the Abyss before sealing it (which there were no written records of, but they weren't needed either) seemed to point to the same conclusion.

A rebirth was possible. Should be possible.

He walked down the stairs hastily, occasionally teleporting a few steps ahead so he could get to her as fast as possible. However, when he arrived at her garden, she wasn't there. He didn't see her in her room or in the library either.

Before he could panic and let his mind create the worst possible scenario, like he knew he would, he focused and accessed the minds of his Retainers, scattered around the palace. He quickly saw her in the kitchens, and after taking a moment to come back to his senses he took off towards the fly of stairs that would take him to it.

When he arrived, she had laid out every single spice in the (gigantic) kitchens on one of the tables and seemed to be taste testing one of them while taking notes in her journal. She must have noticed he came in, because she turned towards him and put her charcoal down.

"Hello, my King".

"My lady, uh... what are you doing?"

"Well, I'm not familiar with Hallownest's cuisine, so I guess I'm just experimenting. I got bored".

He cringed internally. Maybe it had been longer than he thought.

"That's understandable. I apologize for leaving you alone for so long, but I needed time to organize my thoughts, and... I have something to tell you".

She widened her eyes in surprise and then in worry.

"...okay".

"Perhaps this is not the appropriate place for it. Would you accompany me upstairs, please?"

"Of course, my King".

They walked back upstairs in silence, and he frantically thought about how to tell her such a thing. Would she be alarmed? There were a lot of vessels, he might harm himself in the process if he wasn't careful. Not to mention the possibility of the Void attacking him... perhaps he had been too hasty with this. Perhaps such a plan should be conceived in more than a couple of days...?

Too late to back out now. They were already in the garden, with her sitting down in the small desk (why did she favor it and not the bench?) and looking at him expectantly.

He took a shaky breath and hoped for the best.

"...I believe I can revive them".

"...what? Who?"

"I've- these past days I've been studying my old notes on the vessels, and- they can't die unless they- well, they can't stay dead unless they choose to, so..." this was harder to convey than he had anticipated. It probably didn't help how nervous he was, though.