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It had been a productive tour of parts of the Ant Kingdom. While not the size of Hallownest in it's prime, it was nothing to sneer at.
It was certainly a lot for Hornet to keep track of. Even during the darkness of their nights when most bugs slept, it was obvious there were many moving parts to the Ant Kingdom.
It stung, how well off this Kingdom appeared to be. How peaceful. How perfect. Surely it must have some skeletons hidden away, but she hadn't a clue where to look. Underground, maybe, but Hornet wasn't about to start grabbing shovels. Not yet.
After being shown their marketplace - which was empty at this time, but its sheer size indicated how bustling this Kingdom truly was - Hornet was ready to tuck in for the night.
As she and her group entered the Guild Hall (graciously offered as a place for them to sleep), Tiso pulled her aside.
"I know what you're thinking." he said in a low hush, draping an arm around her. "That was far too clean of a showing."
Hornet shot a quick glance at the others in her party, seeing them settling for sleep. Satisfied they weren't paying attention, she turned back to him. "I doubt anyone would be willing to show the worst parts of themselves. Even Hallownest has secrets I dare not mention."
Tiso rolled his eyes. "Well, duh. Of course no Kingdom is perfect, and I doubt they're going to start showing us corpse pits or anything - don't give me that look, I know they have one somewhere - I was thinking more…" he snapped his fingers as he thought of how to best describe, "Boring. You honestly believe that the entire market is shutdown? That every single bug in this kingdom goes to bed exactly the same time?"
She thought this over. It was a bit silly to think there was nothing else going on in this Kingdom. "Where are you going with this?"
"Assuming bugs don't immediately pass out at the exact same time, then there must be something else going on in this Kingdom." He paused, allowing Hornet to connect the dots.
"…and our hosts didn't want us to see." Hornet nodded. "You are suggesting some form of black market." her eyes narrowed and she removed his arm from her shoulder. "Why are you suggesting this?"
"Think about it, Princess. The Guild is going to show us the squeaky-cleanest view of their Kingdom. They want to make a good impression. But if we want a real look at a Kingdom, we need to look underneath. And we need to ditch our grubsitters."
"It would reflect poorly on us as guests."
He scoffed. "Oh, what, like Team Snakemouth didn't poke their noses around Hallownest? Leif spouting nonsense about the infection like he owns the place? I think we can poke around too, fair's fair."
Still, she hesitated. She looked out at the leaf door, where she had last seen Team Snakemouth. "…I worry our standing within this land has been marred by the encounter in the desert," she whispered.
"And I told you those cretins deserved it." he spat. "I say this as your Knight; if they hold the act of self defense against you, then this is a Kingdom I won't support."
"I don't want to sully our reputation any further if we can manage, is what I'm saying," insisted Hornet. "I doubt appearing in a black market would help." she tilted her head, a hint of humor in her voice, "In addition, where exactly do you think we would find a black market? They're supposed to be hidden even from locals, you know."
"I think I have some ideas. I saw a small alley during our tour, and out of the corner of my eye, Vi gestured down it. But Kabbu and Leif pulled her away."
"That could mean anything."
He shrugged. "Couldn't have been a monster or a threat. Couldn't have been something benign to show us."
Tiso leaned closer. He smiled wide, a glint in his eyes that she knew all too well. "Horrrneettt. C'moooon, I know you want to get out there on your own. Surely you don't want to smile and nod and follow along like some sort of pet. C'moooonnnn…"
She shifted from one foot to another as he hissed to her. Their hosts had kept them on a fairly tight leash…especially after that moth severely overstepped Hornet's personal space. And really, she wanted to see this Kingdom on her own terms.
"I know your shell itches to really get out there, to shoot around on your silk and needle, Hornet," he continued to hiss, tempting her, "We'll just pop out and explore a bit. Maybe we don't even find a black market, maybe we will, maybe we find something better-"
"Enough of that." she sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Let's go. Quietly."
It was almost embarrassing how easy it was to leave their temporary residence. There was a single bug positioned outside the Guild, a mantis of some manner, having fallen asleep while organizing paperwork.
Hornet didn't admit it outloud - as she knew Tiso would hold it over her head - but she enjoyed the lack of tour guides this time around. The ability to really look into the nooks and crannies their hosts had skipped over, the option to go off the marked paths and trails, the relief of not having a bug breathing down her neck.
"Not too bad from this angle, huh?" Tiso asked as he joined her atop the roof of a smaller building. "Not so big."
"Nor as grand." She muttered under her breath.
With the streets empty and the darkness over the kingdom it was almost familiar. Almost.
"Alright." he said, nudging her with his elbow. "Let's go poke around where we shouldn't."
"Don't sound too excited, there."
The two meandered back to the empty marketplace, but this time around, they searched in every spot left unexplored from the first round.
In no time at all, a small back alley was found. And nestled behind some tall grass was some form of sewer cover. That's what Hornet thought it to be, at least. But a quick examination revealed it was a type of building material unique to Bugaria, "puhlastik" as the locals called it.
"This is it." Tiso said with a confident nod. "We gotta figure out how to get inside-"
As soon as he placed his hands onto the cover, a muffled voice spoke.
"What's the password?"
Hornet and Tiso looked at one another.
"Got any ideas, Princess?" He whispered.
"Half of one, mostly. Play along."
"Hey. Tell me the password or leave." The voice rumbled below.
"We are friends of Team Snakemouth." Replied Hornet, with the faintest hint of nervous stutter. "Vi sent us here ahead to meet them."
There was a pause. "You're going to have to try harder than that."
She hummed to herself as she tried to think of a rebuttal.
Tiso beat her to it. "I don't think they're going to let us in." He said, loud with mock disappointment. "I guess we'll have to wait outside for them to show up. I doubt they'll be happy."
There was silence from the sewer cover and whoever was behind it.
The two of them waited. And waited. And waited.
Hornet finally turned and began to whisper, "I don't think-"
"Alright let's break in." Said Tiso.
Hornet began to say how that was a terrible idea, but as he repositioned himself, the sewer cover turned where he pushed off it.
Tiso stared at it, looked at Hornet, then back to the cover. He pushed the cover once more, same direction, and it continued to turn.
"Open it, open it-" Hornet quickly hissed.
"'m going 'm going-"
The sewer cover turned and turned, rattling louder as it spun and loosened from its hold-
The guard below was caught completely unaware as Tiso crashed onto him shield first.
"Most definitely breaking and entering." muttered Hornet, gracefully scaling down after him.
He dragged the now-very-unconscious doorbug against the wall, rolling his eyes. "It's a black market. They don't exactly have the moral high ground here. You were telling me to open it, if I recall…"
"I…was merely caught up in the moment." she smoothed her cloak and pointedly did not make eyecontact with him.
"We'll just need to break into more things as practice."
"Settle, fool. Let's get through this one market, shall we?"
Tiso cracked his knuckles and shook his shoulders, strutting in front of the two. "Alright, Princess, stick close and we'll get through this just fine-"
The two rounded the corner into a decently large room, carved from the soft earth. Decor hung from the ceilings, worn rugs splayed across the floor, tables littered the space haphazardly. At the end was a bar and a small stage for entertainment - although the drunken musician was currently less than entertaining. Dim lighting cast the entire establishment with a moody glow, just barely enough to see.
"Bit small for a black market." Hornet commented.
Tiso deflated at the sight. "Oh. It's just a tavern."
"Don't sound so disappointed, this was your idea."
"Our idea - don't try and wiggle out of this now." he glanced around the tavern with a dismissive shrug. "I at least want a drink before we leave."
Hornet cast a more thoughtful look around the tavern as she followed: She saw bugs playing a kind of card game, betting various items and fruits of some kind. Others huddled around tables, some having quiet conversations with one another, others silently staring into their drinks. Near the back, larger individuals competed in tests of strength to impress one another.
And, of course, there were all the bugs staring right at the two of them. Outsiders in long established territory. Hornet didn't linger on these bugs for long.
The two sat at the bar - which was really just a long piece of wood with rocks for chairs - and Tiso flagged the bartender. He resembled a beetle with a red shell and black spots - not unlike Levi, one of the other Guildmembers - but had a very obvious fake horn atop his head. Neither Hornet nor Tiso commented on it.
"Gimme your strongest." said Tiso with a nonchalant handwave.
The bartender's eyes widened with mild surprise. "What size? We have cups, bowls, thimbles-"
"Eehh, medium sized. Whatever."
"Water." Hornet said sharply, not wanting to dull her senses with alcohol. Then, remembering herself, added, "Bowl, please. Thank you."
"Uhhh huh." the bartender nodded, giving the two odd looks before turning to gather their drinks.
Hornet nudged her companion and whispered, "I am beginning to think this entire plan was just an excuse for you to get drunk."
He gasped, offended, "How dare you. I also wanted to poke around where our hosts didn't want us to be; that is an important aspect, don't forget." Tiso crossed his arms over his chest and huffed, "There is a lot you can tell about a kingdom from its seedy underbelly, and especially from its local brew."
She could easily hide her smirk, but not the teasing tone in her voice, "Oh? Do tell. I'm ever curious."
Tiso stared at her, scowling, before eventually turning away with another huff. "Called my bluff. I don't actually know about the last part. I swear Quirrel mentioned it once in passing. But I didn't plan this entire thing to get drunk-"
The bartender set two bowls in front of them, one with clear water and the other with a not-clear liquid.
Tiso grinned as he picked up his bowl. "I'm certainly not complaining, though."
Hornet rolled her eyes as she picked up her bowl. She had very little doubt about being poisoned, but she still sniffed at her drink cautiously.
Tiso held no reservations, lifting his bowl and beginning to drink. Just after one ship he frowned, brows furrowed, and slowly lowered the drink away. He held out the bowl to Hornet. "Try this."
"What? Why?" she leaned away from him, suspicious not of the beverage, but of him. "If you're trying to trick me into joining you in a drunken stupor-"
"You seriously think I'd drug you like that? Give me some credit, I'd at least be more clever about it." he hissed. "No, serious. I don't even think this is alcohol."
Still unsure, she sniffed at the bowl in his hand. "Do you think it's been poisoned?"
"No, I think they gave me juice."
Odd. Hornet took the most careful of sips, finding Tiso was right. She could barely taste the bitter edge of alcohol, instead she tasted the sweetness of fruit and honey.
"It's not bad." she said, taking the bowl from him. Part of her was almost tempted to finish it for him, she doubted it would cause the mildest of effects.
"It's not what I ordered." he growled. "Oi, barkeep- I asked for the strongest you had? What do you take me for? This is barely beer!"
The bartender beetle looked almost frightened by Tiso's question. "That…that is our strongest?"
"Really?" Tiso wasn't angry anymore, now sounding genuinely baffled. He took the bowl back from Hornet, muttering into his drink, "I'm learning this place has a bunch of lightweights."
The two of them instinctively tensed upon sensing movement behind them. A few of the patrons who were staring before along with the few competing with one another drew closer.
"Don't recognize you twos." said a gruff voice said from behind. "Why don't yous turn around so we can see them faces?"
Neither two moved, staring ahead at nothing in particular, very intentional in not acknowledging them directly.
"Just travelers." said Tiso, his voice low, but firm.
"Just traveling." said Hornet, her tone dismissive, but serious.
"Ooh, 'traveling travelers', eh? Cut the shit. Do you think we're stupid? How'd you get in here." came another voice.
The bartender spoke up from polishing glasses. "Hey. Don't start nothing. Remember?"
Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Tiso smirk. "Yeah remember? Don't start nothing." he sarcastically mumbled to himself.
"Steadyyy." she hissed.
(Hypocrite she was, feeling her grip on the bar tighten, claws digging into the wood.)
"Aww, relax Doppel. We're not doing anything." Hornet could practically feel this one breathing down her neck. "They got in here somehow, surely that means they're one of us."
The lack of space made her shell bristle and itch. "Back off." she all but snarled, allowing herself the smallest of head turns in the direction of the bug.
"I'd listen to her." Tiso gave a half-hearted warning. "She's sharp."
"Oooh, sharp little lady-"
Hornet felt someone reaching for her needle currently strapped to her back. She acted before she thought; reaching into her cloak for one of her small daggers before whirling around to pierce it into the offending party.
Her dagger THUNK-ed into the bug's forearm and it stayed there, cracked and splintered through shell and muscle. The bug cursed and shouted in pain, stumbling back into the small crowd that had gathered.
He snarled, gesturing at Hornet with his uninjured arm, "You little shit, you'll pay for this!"
She stood her ground, needle at the ready and silk glinting in the low light. "Allow my companion and I to leave peacefully, or else."
Another bug surged from the crowd, ready to grab at her. This one didn't get a chance due to a silver shield ramming into their face. Tiso caught his shield as it rebounded, quickly finishing his drink as he did so.
"Had a feeling something like this would happen." he admitted to Hornet. "So, fight our way out? Orrr…?"
"Injure and incapacitate only, I'm not about to add more death onto our record just yet."
"You got it, Princess- on your right."
Hornet barely managed to duck under a bug throwing themselves at her. She darted off, the comforting familiarity of her needle's hilt in her hand. Some deep-rooted instinct reminded her of vital spots on common bugs. She ignored it.
Instead, she reached into herself for more silk.
Hornet was far more acrobatic and agile than the crowd, especially those who had been drinking. Weaving through bodies and tangling up limbs in her threads to limit their mobility further.
It was a flurry of bodies as more and more bugs were dragged into the fray, including those unaware of why the fight started, but were just fighting for fighting's sake.
Tiso, though, Tiso was in his element. Crowds of half-drunken bugs all trying to kill one another with no regard for their own states or any concept of "fairness" in a fight; a scene he knew very well.
His shield proved very effective in a fight like this. Whereas Hornet had to be wary for one slip of her blade could prove fatal, as long as Tiso kept all his little tweaks and upgrades away, he could be far less careful.
He also used every bit of furniture he could realistically pick up and throw. More than once Hornet had to jump out of the way of a thrown chair or table or odd decoration.
"Improve your aim!" she snapped.
"Stop going where I'm going to throw things."
Slowly, surely, the two were weeding out the crowd. Falling from exhaustion and mild injuries. Of course, alcohol dulled the pain for most, creating situations where bugs would slowly rise back up to fight once more.
Hornet wondered how much longer the fight would go on for-
There was a voice that rose above the chaos, somewhat familiar to Hornet and Tiso.
"Guys- GUYS- Seriously?!" Celia shouted as she entered the bar, Levi close behind. "Middle of the night barfight?!"
"I thought we were quite clear when we said to not cause any issues while we were away?" added Levi. "Why is Reed unconscious by the door?!"
Celia and Levi stood near the mouth of the tavern, soaking in the wreckage. Almost all fighting came to a complete stop now that figures of authority had entered.
Levi groaned, hand covering his face. "We cannot leave you lot alone for a second, can we? Do 'diplomatic duties' mean nothing?"
"There better be a good-" Celia's scolding was cut short when she finally noticed Hornet and Tiso.
She went ghost-pale and shrieked, "P-PRINCESS HORNET?!"
Levi, also now noticing the two, joined Celia in her panic. "H-?! HOW DID YOU GET IN??"
Hornet jumped up and out of the pile of bugs to remove herself from the fray. "I apologize." She started to say, voice surprisingly flat for the circumstances. "I grew restless shortly after our tour and began wandering the kingdom."
"We stumbled into here not long after. It's clear to see why it was excluded earlier." Added Tiso, quickly picking up her lie and running with it. He stepped in front of the crowd to join her, ignoring how he stepped onto another bug as he did so. "You must apologize to the doorbug for us, I don't believe he took our sudden drop-in very well."
The barkeeper, long forgotten by Hornet and Tiso, rose his head above some furniture. "Are…are those two your 'diplomatic duties'?" He asked the two explorers, voice edging on horrified.
"We will explain later, thank you for calling us, Doppel." Levi replied in a panicked rush.
Celia bowed low to the ground, hands clasped together above her head. "We are so, so, so sorry for whatever happened here. So, so, so sorry!"
"There is no need for apologies." Said Hornet, "I am not about to blame you for the actions of bar crawlers."
Out of the corner of her eye, Tiso gave her the subtlest of shit-eating grins.
Hornet cleared her throat, mostly to stop herself from reacting. "Shall we make our way back to our lodgings? I assume you will need to deal with this mess -"
"We will accompany you!" Levi was all too quick to answer. "We really should walk you back, it is the least we can do."
He nudged Celia and she sprang back up. "Don't you worry! We'll send someone down to clean this up!" She sounded playful, but it was obviously fake and poorly hiding her real feelings on the matter.
Such feelings were on full display as she once again faced the crowd. "You're all in BIG TROUBLE." she spat, "Just you WAIT until I tell Delilah and Stratos! And ESPECIALLY Team Snakemouth!"
The two explorers then very politely and very firmly herded Tiso and Hornet back outside the tavern and into the night air.
"Seems a popular tavern, if at least three exploration groups know about it." Tiso said, brushing off dirt from his shoulders.
"Y-Yeah! Yeah it's popular!" Celia nervously laughed.
"But it's uh, it's exclusive." Levi added.
"Right! Right! Exactly! Very very exclusive. Only the best know about it, really!"
Hornet and Tiso glanced at one another. "I can imagine so." Mused Hornet.
The two allowed themselves to continue being herded back to the Guild, if only to ease the anxious exploration team.
"And-and because its so exclusive, we p-probably shouldn't m-mention it!" Celia nervously laughed again.
"Especially around the Queen." Unlike his partner, Levi spoke with zero mirth - real or otherwise - as he said that.
Tiso couldn't help himself. "Oh? Does the Queen not know?" He asked, coy as anything. Hornet gave him a shove for that one.
Celia's smile almost looked pained by this point. "No no! The Q-Queen definitely knows! She-She's just…never said anything outloud! So let's continue n-not saying anything outloud!"
Just outside the Guild Hall, Hornet raised a hand to stop the conversation. "It is clear the tavern we were just in is a bit of a secret. To multiple parties."
The explorers shared a nervous look.
"My knight and I will not utter a word about it's existence to any of your fellows, or your Queen. I will be telling my party, and I will give them the same instructions to keep silent."
Celia and Levi sighed in relief. "Thank you, Princess-"
"Cease calling me that at once."
"S-Sorry…Miss Hornet?"
"Acceptable."
"If I may ask, I understand this might be seen as rude, which is why I'm asking you and not him-" Tiso interrupted. "The bartender had a fake horn. What happened?"
The air turned frigid. Levi stared intensely at the floor, subtly shuffling behind Celia.
"He broke it." she replied simply, and did not elaborate further.
Hornet turned to scold him, "That was rude, Tiso."
"It's why I didn't ask him directly."
Even though she scolded him, Hornet tucked the info away for later. There was more to this story, she could smell it, but perhaps now was not the time nor place. Explorer Levi was somehow involved, and only now did she note the similarities in appearance between the two.
Curious.
Once the building for the Explorers Association was in sight, Hornet spoke aloud. "Thank you for accompanying us back, we will take it from here. Good evening."
Hornet and Tiso bowed to their hosts before departing the short way to the door. The mantis from before was still sound asleep, still unaware of their absence.
Once back in the building, the two were met with Hollow and Ghost. Hollow slammed into Hornet and Ghost jumped onto Tiso, both vessels clinging onto the bugs.
"Hollow, settle, please-" Hornet struggled as her large sibling pressed against her. "We just stepped out for air, I thought you were asleep."
Tiso tried fruitlessly to pull Ghost off his head. "Nothing exciting happened, really! Get! off!"
"We will go into more details when we all wake for tomorrow. Does that sound reasonable? We are both fine and in one piece."
This was enough to pacify the two vessels. Ghost finally dropped onto the floor and skittered back into the pile of blankets and pillows. Hollow let out a weary sigh and stomped over to join their tiny sibling.
Now finally alone, Tiso grabbed onto Hornet's shoulders and gave her a shake. "Can you believe we got away with that?!"
"It was extraordinarily lucky that we did-"
"We need to sneak out more often. You are so good at lying. We didn't get into a lick of trouble, they apologized to us!"
She brushed off his hands and turned away.
"Oh, don't act like that. You had fun. Admit it."
Hornet gave an exaggerated sigh, still not facing him. "There were some enjoyable moments."
With that admission off her chest, she changed the subject. "More importantly, I found our little adventure very educational. What have we learned?"
"The Queen definitely doesn't know about that tavern. Either that place doesn't have whatever legal permits are needed to be there, or the monarchy isn't a fan of alcohol - even if it's the weakest shit I've ever had."
"Correct. It is good to know, but not a terrible concern yet." She frowned. "There is definitely something else going on with the bartender and Explorer Levi."
"Absolutely." Tiso crossed his arms in thought, tapping his foot. "You think they're related? As in, family? Friends? Partners? Levi knew his name."
"I don't think we have enough information to say. For either the Queen's opinion on the tavern or the bartender's missing horn. I can't even say for certain if the latter is even important to us. There is so much to this kingdom I just don't know-"
Tiso grabbed one of her horns and tugged. "You're going to give yourself a headache thinking that hard. Like you said, we don't have enough information on any of this. Who knows if it'll be important. Shit, maybe Levi and the barkeep are dating and the horn broke with crazy-"
"Don't finish that thought." she huffed. "But I agree with your general sentiment. What do you suggest, then?"
"We both get some sleep? And by sleep, I don't mean 'lie awake at night and think yourself in circles'."
With that, he let go of her horn and sauntered off to the corner he had claimed as his own. "We're going to be busy for a while when our hosts all wake up. If you want, I'll even keep watch for a bit, so you don't have any excuse."
Hornet looked around the room at her allies in various states of slumber, a sight that would have once brought panic upon her. Bugaria was near silent at this time, with only the creaking building offering any noise.
She looked to Tiso. Perched on a pile of beddings, he waved dismissively. "What, are you going to try and sleep standing up? What's wrong with you?"
Rolling her eyes, she finally relented and began carefully stepping into the pile her siblings had made. They were all too eager to pull her close.
She might've dug up one skeleton this kindom had, but she was certain there was more. And most importantly; she learned that she wouldn't be alone in digging.