“I can’t believe you were going to keep me for my venom,” I said with a teasing smile.

“How was I supposed to know you weren’t a true spider?” Cellestra fired back.

“Well, you did figure that out pretty quickly,” I replied. “Thank the goddess for that.”

“Not hard to conclude when a spider is begging for more beetles, only to decapitate them and toss them aside. I mean, seriously, spiders just don’t do that.”

“I figured you’d come to that conclusion sooner or later. The fact that I changed size and color overnight must have been quite the shock for you.”

“You could say that again. At first, I thought it was something else that had eaten you. Your wild gesturing made me realize it was you soon enough, though.”

“Fun fact: I had no idea what you were saying until after that evolution. It was then I could select the elven language comprehension. After that, I could finally understand you.”

“But you were an elf?” Cellestra asked with a frown.

“Apparently, the elven language was different in my old world. I have no idea how this works. I still feel as if I’m speaking the same language that I’ve always known. I never would have known there were more worlds, or that this world also knows of Elysa.”

“What was she like?” Cellestra asked.

“Exactly the same as all our depictions of her; beautiful, long blonde hair, shining blue eyes, a wreath of golden vines and purple flowers. Sounds familiar?”

“So the stories are true…”

Talking with Cellestra seemed to be going better with each passing moment. The confusion and shock seemed to have mostly passed. Most of my worries about my own future were also washed away, and what few doubts I still had, I’d promptly forgotten upon seeing her beautiful smile. I realized that my feelings for her had not changed in the slightest after getting this body. In fact, they only were reinforced now that somewhere, in the back of my mind, the option for something more than just friendship seemed to have been rekindled.

I tried to ignore it. As had been made clear to me, Cellestra didn’t, and couldn’t truly know who I was. I had been actively trying to bury the past, and there was the problem that up until not too long ago, I was a spider. Imagine if the spider she’d fed, taken care of… even slept next to her revealed that she had been attracted to her for a while now… How wrong would that feel?

“By the way,” Cellestra spoke up. “How will you spend the nights now? Would you like me to provide you with a blanket or something?”

“Uhh,” I stumbled as I thought about it. “I hadn’t thought about it yet. Maybe I can sleep on my own body or something like that?”

I leaned back all the way, my elven back resting on my thorax. I used my hands to make the long hairs on my spider body cover my elven torso. I could get used to this softness. This position was undeniably comfortable and made me feel like taking a nap.

Of course, it didn’t impair my movements in the slightest. I was still walking alongside the elf, who shook her head at my antics.

“You look ridiculous like that.”

“Comfortable, though,” I retorted.

“I don’t doubt that.”

“I think I could fall asleep like this,” I said. “I’m not used to sleeping on my back, but I doubt I can make myself any more comfortable than this. A blanket might be nice, though. Especially when it gets colder.”

The hair on my body wasn’t quite enough to cover all of my skin. It barely left some in the middle exposed.

“Winter is quite a ways off. I don’t think there’s any need to worry about it getting cold anytime soon, like, truly cold. Besides, I doubt you’ll still be in your… nest beside my house at that time.”

“There’s that,” I said as I laid my hands under my head and closed my eyes. “You know, being able to travel like this is great. I can relax and walk at the same time.”

“Isn’t that body just extremely confusing?” Cellestra asked, curiosity sparkling in her eyes.

“Hmmm, how do I answer that?” I thought for a second. “You see, I was apparently born in this world as a spider. I had to break out of an egg and whatnot. Ever since I first had to deal with these new sensations, I hardly had any problems with them. It was as if the understanding of how to use this body was already here. I can only explain it that way. My best bet is that either the curse or the blessing made it so.”

I paused for a second or two. “Then, when I woke up like this, I still possessed the same body for the most part, so that didn’t change. However, this elven part… it just feels like an addition. I had a few problems registering what was going on early, but now, it’s completely my own. I apologize if that doesn’t fully answer your question. It’s the best I can do.”

“I think it does. It’s just hard to imagine how everything would work,” Cellestra admitted.

“Yeah, no kidding.”

I still had my eyes closed and was currently taking in the warmth of the sun while I continued moving forward. I was thinking about the upsides that this body brought with it. In theory, I had everything I needed. I could do anything an elf could do, but I could do so much more, thanks to this blessing. I could still build up strength over time to hopefully be able to protect that which I held dear much better than in my old life.

My family was still alive in this world, too.

It was as if a whole new world was literally laid open before me. One where I could pursue certain goals and happiness. I’d never experienced the odd form of joy that this brought. For once, there was hope.

I felt myself relax a bit too much when I saw Cellestra fall behind. I’d accidentally started walking faster. Cellestra, by nature, was significantly slower than me if I walked at my normal pace. I forced myself to slow down again.

After that, things went quiet for a good while as I tried to empty my head… both of them. I was enjoying the fuzzy softness that was my spider body beneath me and was left wondering if Cellestra would like it too. I wondered what she’d think of me in general.

As we started nearing the forest, I decided to ask.

“Hey, Cellestra?”

“Hm?”

“Do I scare you?”

“Scare? Why? Because of your body?”

I used my pedipalps to nod. I couldn’t be bothered to move my torso. I was so comfortable, it should be a crime. Cellestra suppressed a grin when she noticed.

“How could I be scared? You’re basically a gigantic house cat,” she said before extending an arm to run her hand over my spider head, right between my eyes. Her caress sent jolts of joy from my head to the rest of my body. Unfortunately, she withdrew it fairly quickly, and, in apparent embarrassment.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s fine,” I said. “I don’t mind. It feels kind of nice, actually.”

Cellestra fell quiet after that. Her sudden silence didn’t sit well with me, so I decided to fill it.

“Shame I can’t purr like a cat. I’m sure I would have by now.”

I clicked my fangs together and tried to produce sound with my spider mouth, but all I could do was form some sort of hissing. It was nothing like the cute purring of a cat.

Cellestra burst into loud laughter. “By the goddess. Kealyna, you’re an odd one, you know?”

“Hey, hey. At least I’m not the one keeping spiders around as pets.”

“This again? We’ve been through this,” She said, still smiling.

We reached the edge of the forest and entered it. The temperature dropped a few degrees almost immediately as the trees were dense and little sunshine reached us. We were still following the same path that had been ambushed by bandits the previous day.

“What happened to the bodies?” I asked. “I couldn’t see any when I passed by.”

“The soldiers dragged them over the hill and left them there.”

“Oh,” I let out as I realized she meant the hill opposite of where I woke up.

“They aren’t worth the hassle of burying. Serving as a deterrent for any other bandits that were thinking about committing the same crime is probably the most useful they could ever wish to be.”

“Good point,” I said. “But I don’t think there were that many left after I was done with them.”

“Yeah, that was quite brutal. I’m glad you were on our side.”

I chuckled. “Good riddance. Hopefully, travel will be much safer, at least for a while. As you said, there weren’t many left to tell the tale. Besides, they’d need a new leader and whatnot.”

“Let’s hope that won’t happen.”

I raised my torso again so that it was next to Cellestra’s as we walked. “Agreed.”