The pale king was sitting in his carriage looking out the window of his private carriage drawn by a stag, he was returning to the palace, after having visited the board of representatives of the miners ... many had begun to be infected. ... but after Alice went and gave one of her great motivational speeches she managed to keep afloat those miners whose minds had begun to sink into the immensity of the traitorous light ...

*-*-two months ago*-*-

"Tell me what does the light promise you ... does it promise you riches? ... Does it promise you the strength to mine more? ... Does it promise you to dig more than before and thus obtain the best crystals?"

Alice said to them ... many fearfully and embarrassingly began to nod...

"Do not be afraid to answer, you are like others whose sweet words many insects have fallen victim to ... but I want you to know something and keep it in mind ... your gift ... is like crystal"

she said holding a piece of crystal...

"It is very beautiful ... but like all beautiful glass ... it can also be dangerous ..." said Alice and she stuck the tip of the crystal in the palm of her hand...

Everyone looked horrified ... "even the most beautiful flower has thorns" she said showing her hand "in the same way the most beautiful crystal can become the most piercing nail" said Alice

"Answer me this and be sincere, not with me, but with yourselves ... by obtaining the power that she promises you and surrendering to sleep in life ... how will all the riches serve you in your death?" she said and everyone looked at her surprised at such a question.

"Once they surrender to the dream in life their mind will focus on a single duty and only on that ... if it is digging ... they will dig, they will dig more than ever, they will dig without stopping ... until they exhale their last breath and Even so, your body will be fed by the dreams you had in life and you will dig for all eternity ... and what use will all your work be, if in the end, you can never enjoy it? They all looked at her in panic as they realized ... that her words were true...

"The promises that she makes to you ... to fulfill your wish ... it comes with a payment ... and that is your life eternally united to the great eternal dream ... and we all know what is the eternal dream of which one never come back, don't you? " many miners began to cry, others to tremble with fear and others with anger ... so many of their comrades had fallen because of the dream and its promises and it was not even real...

*-*-*-present time*-*-*-*

After that day, an exclusive contract was made with the miners ... their crystals were perfect to create the containers for the infection and the power of the mine bosses was perfect to crystallize the infection and be able to analyze it...

Alice had been a blessing not only to himself, but to all Hallownest ... right now he was coming home... home... he has never really tough like that about the palace... he always called it that, the palace, was never really home before... But now it was that home, where not only he lived, but his family was there...

You were there... his precious Alice... right now you were at the palace taking care of some task for the palace... he could picture right now... sitting in the throne talking to farmers about new ways of farming, talking to the engineers about fixing the waterways, scolding nobles about being greedy pompous annoying bugs.

Also fuzzing about the palace chatting in the kitchen with the cooks about new recipes, in the gardens about something you called a Zen garden, also pampering and cuddling the children who were at the moment in the palace...

This was a little of a sour topic for him... people keep telling him and commenting... about what splendid mother you could be... that it was a shame for you not to have hatchlings of your own... all because some noble in a reunion commented that you were such a maternal bug when they saw you with skitter in your lap... skitter was his youngest child... a newborn from the abyss who imprinted in you because he literally was born in your arms...

"I don't think that's a possibility... my kind is very rare, and hard to breed with bugs outside of our type... and since I'm here I have not seen none of my kin so that's a no..." said Alice.

-"how about when you return to your land?" said a noble eagerly...

-"oh so you are eager to get rid of me so soon?" says Alice with an evil mirth in her voice...

And so the noble was shamed by other for saying something so out of place...

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WYRM POV....

That day after retiring for the evening... Alice and me were sitting in the family room beside the chimney having tea together... the children where around us, some were drawing in some paper scattered in the floor, some playing with blocks, and other ones just cuddling in bug piles beside each one of us, and skitter was.... In time out on my head because he stabbed Dryya with a little dagger that he took from somewhere... I need to found out what happened there... I will bring it out in my next weekly tea with the white lady... it must not be very serious since Alice did not make too much of a fuzz when she told me what happened...

the atmosphere was serene ... and you could hear the murmurs of the children, the slight sound of paper moving and the crackling of the wood in the fireplace ... that was until a voice made me come back to myself ...

-"I don't plan on leaving" said Alice very suddenly

-"what?" I said a little surprise

-"I promised you, that I will remain by your side...no matter what... and I will" said Alice

I stared at her –"why so suddenly are you saying this?"

She smiled at me sweetly –"I could tell that what that annoying bug said about me having baby's or leaving got you uncomfortable, so I'm telling you right here and right now... that I don't plan on leaving..." she said calmly sipping some tea

-"why not?" I said carefully

-" for two main reasons, one because I promise you that I will remain by your side until you deem me unwelcome... and second... well leaving will also mean me leaving such a bunch of cute bugs alone, and that's a nonono" said Alice when some of the children were staring at her worriedly about her leaving...

I let out a sight that I did not know I was holding... but then I stared at her... -"what if I don't want you to ever leave?" I said very seriously

She stared at me a little surprised, but then smiled at me and looked at the flames dancing in the chimney –"what if you in the future don't want me here anymore" she said silently.

I stared at her... I can easily tell her to leave, but she cannot leave freely back home... she has much more to lose, than me... in her mind I am everything she has here... but she does not understand that I had literally nothing before she came in to my life... what I have now its al thank to her.

I stared at her... I stood up from my comfy armchair and came before her, took both of her hand and placed a soft kiss in each one, before placing them against my chest... such warmth such softness...

-"Alice... my dear Alice... please never leave my side... and I promise you that as long as you can stand my broken wreaked sinner self... you will always have a place to call home" I said looking directly at her eyes... such eyes that always are so expressive, and ever so beautiful... even now with some tear coming from them... they are just breath taking.

-"and so I promise you my sweet wyrm, that as long as you can stand my stubborn, loud and quirkily odd way of being... I will never leave your side... I already promise you silly wyrm that I will remain beside you no matter what... so pretty much you are stuck with me now buggy boi" she said bleeping her tongue at me...

Our foreheads touched and I let out a soft trill and she a sweet humming sound... it was such a sweet peaceful moment... until skitter hit my head with a stick....

-"OUCH SKITTER MY CHILD WHY?" I said trying to take the stick from them... and Alice... well Alice was in the floor in full belly laugh, rolling in the floor... my older ones who were present tried to help me take skitter out of my crown spikes on my head but skitter keep on not only hitting me but also the hands of his siblings that were coming near...

Alice ended in a bug pile in the floor when the younger ones saw her in the floor... it was thorns who finally took skitter... and proceeded to drop him to the floor when he hit his face with the stick...

-"SKITTER WHY? ALICE STOP LAUGHING" I said very annoyed... she pulled me in the bug pile and I cuddle beside her... -"I think they blame you for me crying, so they valiantly defended my honor by hitting said bully with his wooden nail" she finished snorting when she saw skitter swinging from the chandeliers...

It was a mess the toddlers joined by saving his sibling from the older ones... and the teens where just cuddling beside us looking very entertained by the chaos...

-"This is my life now" I said cuddling tighter against Alice... -"pretty much... so get used to it" said Alice getting comfortable in the bug pile...

And you know what I'm ok with it...-"ok" I said and close my eyes... this was a mess of a life a chaotic mess... but one that I will not trade for nothing in this world...

And... skitter crushed against my head and hell broke loose once again.... "NO MY CHILD WHY?" why me?

"WAHAHAHAHAHAHAH"

"ALICE NOOOOOO"

"ALICE YESSSSSS"

"SKITTER NOOOO"

"SSSSSKKKKKKKKKKKKIIIIIIRRRRRRRRR" shouted skitter

"HMMMMMWWRRRHMMMWWWW" where laughing the children

"ALICE THE CHILDREN ARE LAUGHING AT ME"

"WAHAHAHAHAHAHA SNNNNNNRRRRTT...ok ok ok in of kiddos give papa a rest... poor papa its getting upset... give papa a hug" every little face was staring at me

And that how I ended under a pile of children of all sizes... -"mutiny all of you" I said

"Anarchy buggy boi, pure anarchy...chu"" I could not say more because i was over heating myself after Alice kissed my forehead... this was the life...my life...

ÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑ

"WHY SKITTER STABBED DRYYA?"

ÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑ

Alice woke up earlier than usual, this day she would have a meeting with the representatives of greenpath of the moss knights tribe ... ghost and hollow would take the little ones to see the white lady, while the teenagers would have training with Isma ... 

the problem was skitter ... since skitter was born he made it very clear ... that Alice was his favorite person and that he didn't like being away from her ...

and that fed the ideology to the other hatchlings, that it was okay to stay with Alice all the time if they wanted ... skitter fervently refused to go see the white lady if it was not his father and older brothers who were taking him and they had to stay there all the time because skitter would remain seated on the lap of whoever was his caregiver at the time ..

But now there was not so much problem since Lady Amethyst gave the hatchlings stuffed animals of various individuals from the palace and insects of greenpath,

but the one which had become the favorite of skitter and which he fiercely protected ... It was a crochet doll of Alice herself ...

skitter adored that doll ... and most importantly alice washed that doll with her lavender and chamomile soap, so it smelled very similar to her ... which calmed skitter made it friendlier ...

there was just one little problem ... no one except alice could touch that doll without skitter's permission ... in short, never take that doll from skitter or touch it without his permission ... or there will be disastrous consequences ...

Something that dryya learned that particular day...

.

Skitter was sitting next to his brothers while the white lady explained the names of plants that were edible and which ones they should not touch while in the garden...

Everything was fine until ... dryya arrived on the scene...

Isma was parkour training the teen vessels ... while the white lady was with the little ones ... and looked at the little hatchlings with different stuffed animals ... she could clearly recognize that they were supposed to be ... except ... the one that skitter had with him ...

Dryya could see that of all of them it was the smallest who was not paying attention to the white lady ... it is more like he was completely ignoring her ... all in favor of playing with that strange doll...

Slowly dryya approached skitter ... - "come on little one, please, it's something very interesting, come on" said dryya placing one hand on skitters head while with the other she took the doll...

If she had been more attentive she would have felt the stares of horror from all the vessels around her...

- "What is this thing? It's very strange" she said raising the doll closer to her face to inspect it... Forgetting ... that she still had a hand on skitters head...

One thing you should never forget about skitter and it is a saying that is very engraved in the mind of every vessel, these are the wise words that mama Amethyst once said to them, when skitter tried to stab one of his older brothers with a fork, when he wanted to take a piece of sweet potato from the skitters plate...

- "Well you know what they say ... he is baby, and when baby, he can and will cut a bitch..."

And said and done from within their inventory within their void, they took out one of their father's little letter openers and nail it to dryyas hand that she foolishly left on the head of the little vessel. ...

The white lady was horrified ... but none of the children of the abyss seemed very surprised... hollow and ghost even face palmed

Isma approached and took the doll and cleaned up a little before handing it over to skitter ... who wrapped it in his small void tentacles and kept it inside him ... he was not going to risk someone else taking it away ... it's the special treat that mommy Alice gave him ...

All the little hatchlings followed skitters lead and absorbed her stuffed animals ... if she was able to do the foolish thing to try to take the special treasure from skitter, she might as well try to do it with them...

And so dryya became the number one enemy of the hatchlings called the mean knight who takes dolls away ... and Isma became the nice knight who returns dolls...

and skitter remained in a bad mood until they put him on Alice's lap once they got back to the castle in the afternoon... 

and so that afternoon when isma returned with the young vessels, and told what happened to Alice ... 

and Alice started laughing out loud and simply told her...

"He's baby and he will cut a bitch"

skitter is a vessel i fell in love when reading his stats... by https://booflies.tumblr.com/tagged/skitter

lol

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