Chapter Text
“Presenting the Head Scholar, Mistress of the Archives-”
The Pale Servant found himself being shoved out of the way with an undignified yelp by one of Monomon’s tendrils as she stormed into the throne room. “Pale King!” She shouted, Quirrel scurrying behind her. Both scholars had armfuls of tablets, tubes, and scrolls, Quirrel more so; Clutched tight to his chest.
In his throne, the Pale King sat up a little straighter. By his side, his Pure Vessel calmly watched the two, tracking their movements carefully. “I wasn’t expecting a visit from you, Lady Monomon.” The king said slowly to mask his surprise. “You could have sent a messenger.”
“Hey, call me Madame . Only Quirrel can call me Lady Monomon.” She snapped, pointing to her assistant with a tendril. “And this is too urgent for a messenger!”
Pale King leaned forward slightly. “What is it? Is it about-” He spared a glance towards his Pure Vessel. “It’s not about the Dreamers, is it?”
“Partially, partially,” Monomon said dismissively, many arms rummaging through her and Quirrel’s tablets. “It’s related, however.” They both wore bags, and from inside she produced even more paper, stone, and written acid.
“Stop.” Pale King demanded before she got too far with her unpacking. “Not here. We have rooms to discuss these matters.” Stepping down from his throne, he started towards one of the hallways on the side. “Come, Pure Vessel. Monomon, if you were to be so kind as to follow me, and leave your assistant.”
Monomon shook her head. “Quirrel stays with me. He’s my top scholar and needed for my demonstration.”
With a quiet sigh, the king nodded. “As you wish.”
Servants scrambled to clean one of the private rooms for the King and Scholar. “Guard the door.” He barked at the Pure Vessel, who dutifully stood right next to the door like a statue.
Quirrel lingered by the vessel for a moment. “Should I wait outside with it? Er, them?”
Monomon shook her head. “No, you’re necessary as always, Quirrel.”
The King frowned and scoffed. “I know you have scholars of more appropriate blood,” The Archives were practically stuffed to the brim with nobility, after all, yet she still toted a commoner about. “I am quite aware you keep him around for aesthetic purposes, Monomon.” He said, a bitter edge to his words, “But you could afford to be a little more discreet.”
She said nothing, but Quirrel blushed brilliantly, shuffling the pile in his arms to hide his face. The little scholar scurried inside after them, gaze fixed firmly to the floor.
Pale King sat at the head of the table, gesturing for Monomon and Quirrel to join him. “Now, tell me your concerns. Will this have any effect on our plans to seal the infection?”
Monomon dumped the tablets on the table - They were sturdy enough to take the hit, the table itself was more likely to be damaged - And sorted through them. “When your Pure Vessel and the Dreamers are sealed away, you said that Hallownest will enter a stasis , correct?”
He nodded, subtly puffing his chest with pride. "Indeed. Hallownest shall last eternal."
Monomon's face darkened and her voice went dangerously quiet. "Do you have any idea how much of an impact your stasis will cause?"
Pale King frowned. "Elaborate." He commanded, leaning forwards.
She shuffled through the reports but kept her gaze locked with his. "I've been running tests in my labs. If you were to indeed place this kingdom in stasis, to stop time from passing normally, you will cause disastrous effects on Hallownest, the environment, and especially your subjects!" Her voice had raised from an angry mutter to a furious shout, almost shoving some tablets in his hands.
Pale King wasn't used to being yelled at in such a way, and he was absolutely stunned into silence. Snapping out of his shocked state, he silently looked at the tablets.
They were highly detailed notes about the tests Monomon had conducted in her lab using local wildlife. She had tested the passing of days, weeks, months, years, and even seasons in her controlled environments; and what would happen if everything stopped.
There were a lot of very unhappy faces doodled in the margins of those tablets.
From what he could glean from the reports, plants wouldn't be able to grow or create seeds. Nor would any existing seeds ever sprout. Crops would fail. The creatures that were previously not in stasis but then put into one were incredibly confused, with their 'internal clock' being thrown off. They weren't able to perform basic functions properly, a strong emphasis placed on a biological function called 'hibernation' .
The king had never heard of that before. None of his servants did it, his wife didn't, none of his knights, the vessels, and certainly not him . "Monomon?" He said, pausing to think of the best way to ask. "These results would be more… Impactful if you helped describe this word?"
Monomon said nothing, looking at the word, then back to him. He could feel the back of his neck bristle with anxiety. Rarely did he come across something he didn't know. "... Hibernation. You don't ... You don’t know what it is?" She asked, sounding incredulous.
"Well, no one here in the palace partakes in it. And I do not pay attention to the small details of my subject’s lives.”
Monomon pressed a tendril to her temple, muttering something incomprehensible. " Alright ,” She started with a sigh, “Well when winter comes, some insects can't handle the cold as well as others. So they eat a lot of food to store energy, then they find a nice place to rest. Their core temperature lowers, and their body slows. And then, for the rest of winter, the bug goes dormant. That is hibernation."
"I do it." Quirrel piped up, shifting the tablets in his arms to get a better look at the king, almost managing to look him in the eye. "It's really not that bad, all things considered. When winter comes, I get really tired and my metabolism goes through the roof."
Monomon lifted a tablet from his arms, showing a passage to Pale King. "As you can see, in my study with Balders, they were plagued with insomnia from not needing to hibernate. Many suffered, losing weight rapidly, and then died."
Pale King looked over the tablets on the table. Could his plans be...wrong? His brilliant plans to seal the Radiance away and keep his beloved Kingdom eternal, were they not so brilliant after all?
No, it was Monomon who must be wrong.
This ‘hibernation’ sounded unnecessary, no, it sounded lazy . How had he missed an entire portion of his subjects sleeping through the winter? How had he allowed it? They were to work! The glorious growth of Hallownest couldn’t be slowed by a little frost.
Being denied their foolish excuse to dodge work would probably do these bugs some good.
"I understand your concern, Monomon." He said, tone firm. "However, I am lead to believe your results in the lab aren't applicable in regards to how the citizens of Hallownest will react to the stasis." He pushed the stone slate away from him. “These experiments were only performed on animals, they are of no concern to the Kingdom.”
Monomon frowned. Clearly not the answer she expected, nor wanted. "Your highness, I apologize for being so blunt but...you are wrong. I've spent every waking moment in these past months dedicating myself to this research!" The hurt and anger in her voice was clear, with underlying exhaustion underneath it all. "And you're going to sit there, surrounded by months of work, and tell me I'm the one in the wrong?!"
Pale King felt anxiety well up in his throat. Monomon was understandably furious, towering above him. Quirrel merely stared at him, waiting for a response.
He gave the reports one last look and swallowed. He did not need a ‘good’ reason to reject them; His word was law. " As I said , you have used common beasts as your test group. Not intelligent bugs, Monomon. They are irrelevant, and your research has no merit. I'm sorry. My plan for Hallownest eternal will not and shall not fail. It has been foreseen.” He pushed the tablets away, done with this conversation.
Monomon was seething, and Pale King couldn’t recall ever seeing her this angry. But instead of lashing out, she began gathering her tablets. “Let’s go, Quirrel. It’s clear when we’re not wanted.” She hissed, words dripping with venom.
Quirrel scuttled out of the room, avoiding eye contact with the king and muttering something like “Thank you for your presence, your majesty.”
“Hallownest will last eternal.” Pale King said, trying to reassure them as they left.
Monomon could only glance back at his words, and shake her head.