Vessel

Way of the Nail

Mala led us back to Sheo's home, much to his bewilderment. "If we are planning to meet up with Sheo, we should take the path." Mato seemed to understand, and walked over to an ottoman. He lifted it, revealing a tunnel. "Thank you Mato." Mala said. They then jumped into the tunnel. Me and the knight followed quickly.

It was VERY dark. I couldn't even see Mala in front of me. Come to think of it, I turned, and couldn't see the knight either. All that I could do, was hope the tunnel didn't fork. I guess I got lucky, because we made it to Sheo's house.

I'm not gonna lie, I walked right into Mala. That would have been embarrassing enough, but then the knight walked into me. We were doing great! I still couldn't see them, but Mala likely cast a glare back at me. Then, they knocked three times on the roof.

An ottoman shaped hole opened in the ceiling, allowing light to flood the tunnel. "Mala? I thought you weren't coming back!" Mala leapt out of the tunnel, before the knight did the same. I looked down the tunnel, and saw a faint orange glow. No. Two orange lights. Eyes. And so, I did the bravest thing I could, and jumped out of the tunnel. Go me!

"How many of you are down there?" Sheo asked. Mala looked up to the big artist. "It's just us." Naturally, that caught Sheo off guard. Vessels aren't normally able to speak. He drew his paintbrush and pointed it at us.

Mala quickly calmed him down, and explained that it truly was them. Sheo seemed reluctant to believe it, but eventually he did. Out of the shadows, came yet another vessel. I was really starting to see a lot of them. Us?

Mala looked at the vessel, clearly surprised. I didn't understand why at first. Their features were simple, four horns, two tall, two short, a long face, sad eyes, and a long black cloak with a red bandanna. "It can't be... Margruth?" The vessel's eyes seemed to lose some of their sadness at the mention of their name.

The two embraced each other like long lost siblings, but, to be fair, they were long lost siblings. The pale king was terrible at making hollow vessels. The hug ended when another 3 knocks sounded from the tunnel. Sheo was confused. "I thought you said there were only the three of you?"

"I did..." Mala responded. Sheo cautiously removed the ottoman. A vessel leapt from the tunnel, nail drawn. Wait a minute. It was Mantle. They just didn't give up. Mantle glanced quickly around the room, finding a decent swordsman, two skilled swordsmen, a master swordsman, and a masterful soul wielder. Mantle picked up the ottoman and jumped back in the tunnel, covering it up in the process. Good choice.

Having solved the Mantle problem, we continued our business there. "Sheo, Mato sends his regards. He is still alive." Sheo seemed pleasantly surprised by the information. "Have you any news of my other brother, Oro?" Mala did not, but I wrote it down for them. "Oro is doing well. He taught us a nail art."

Sheo seemed determined to keep our nail art collection growing, and without a word, launched into training mode.

Margruth already knew Sheo's nail art, obviously, so they just watched. Mala was first up. The great slash was the easiest of the three to perform, and Mala did it on their first try. The knight, also did it on their first try. For the first time in the history of my time in Hallownest, I didn't suck at something, and did it on my first try. It was pretty easy to do.

Despite the simplicity of the great slash, Sheo seemed to be proud of us. Maybe we could return to dirtmouth. I thought Sly would be glad to know that we now knew all three nail arts. However nobody seemed to really care what I had to say. Or I guess what I had to write. Without any further delay, we left Sheo's home, and continued our journey to the queen's gardens.

Sorry that this one took so long, but I hit a severe writer's block about half way through, and even now, I don't know what else to say in this chapter. Hopefully I can bring back the excitement that I had originally, in the next chapter. So, I guess I'll see you then.