My father’s words caused indescribable relief to wash over me. All the tension that had built up over the past two days vanished as he walked down the steps toward Elira, leaving my mother behind. He was still smiling, even as Elle let go of Elira and skittered towards my dad instead.

Without a care in the world, she hugged him, and without hesitation, my father petted the large spider who happily placed her pedipalps on his hand in return.

“Ok,” He said. “That’s adorable. And I’m not one to state that quickly.”

“You state it more than I remember you doing,” I said, teasing him slightly. “But hell if my memory is anything to go by.”

I saw my mother watching, still a hint of hesitation in her eyes, despite the small smile, but she eventually walked down the steps as well before immediately getting ambushed by Elle’s affection.

“I hope her tendency to cuddle is okay with you,” I said softly as I approached. “I promise she won’t bite.”

“If she doesn’t,” My mother started, before carefully moving a hand on the creature’s head. “Then that’s fine, right?”

I smiled and petted Elle together with my mother, a smile growing on my face as I saw Shadow had made a new friend. The cat was rubbing its head against Shayla’s abdomen, the softness of the white hairs being an excellent attraction.

Elira saw it, and ran over to the two, spooking the spider momentarily and causing her to take a few steps back, before realizing what happened. When she did, she was all too happy to have the little girl play with her and Shadow.

“It feels a bit weird to me,” My mother continued. “But you’re right, honey. They are adorable, friendly too.”

“Yeah,” I said. “And I’m trying to teach them all sorts of tricks, including tailoring. We practiced a bit of that yesterday.”

“And how did it go?” She asked curiously, smiling.

“Pretty bad, to be honest. They have a lot to learn, but that’s fine. They are smart. I’m sure they’ll get there.

“Speaking of learning,” She continued. “We’ll have to take Elira to school.”

“I’ll do that,” My dad offered.

“Thank you,” My mom replied before my dad gave her a quick kiss before stepping towards the elven girl that was way too busy to even think about the time.

She watched with delight as Elle let go of her and skittered towards my dad who took Elira by the hand and told her they should get to school. When they were about to walk off, Elle and Shayla did not intend on having them go. I had to call them to me so they would allow the girl and our dad to leave.

They immediately skittered over to me and stared at me. I swore I could read the question in their eyes — ‘why?’

“Because they have things they need to do,” I explained without having been asked a word. “They will be back later, but we also have a few things we need to do.”

“They are good listeners, aren’t they?”

“They are,” I replied to my mom’s question. “But as I said, a lot to learn.”

“You plan on taking them to the dungeon today?”

“Yeah. They more or less possess the same skill I do, so I wanted to go hunting with them. Just start easy, you know? Get them used to a few things and make them stronger. Again, don’t tell anyone, please. For all anyone else knows, they are just my servants when it comes to making clothes.” I paused for a second. “That will be an excellent cover story come to think of it.”

“Don’t worry, sweetie,” She said taking me in for a hug. “Your secrets are safe with us.”

“Thank you.”

I hugged her back and allowed her love to comfort me for a while before I spoke again.

“I was so worried about what you’d think. You have no idea.”

“Shh, it’s alright. They look like they provide excellent company, especially knowing how both of you don’t seem to talk to many people.”

“Thank you,” I said again, just as Elle decided to join. “Also, could we ask for some breakfast for Cellestra? She got a bit bored of eating stale bread.”

“Of course,” My mom said, running her hand down my hair one last time before breaking the hug and turning to Cellestra. “If you want, you can get some here any day.”

“Thank you,” She called from the table she was seated at. “That’s so kind of you.”

“I’m just happy to help you out any way I can. Let me bring something.” She was about to enter the building when she halted and turned to me. “Will you be joining us for dinner, too?”

Cellestra and I both nodded in response.

“Great, I’ll have a little surprise tonight.”

“Can’t wait,” I said with a large smile.

She left us behind and I heaved a deep sigh of relief, and also, of happiness.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

I nodded as I used my nails to rub Elle’s head. I knew she enjoyed it and that she would have closed her eyes if she could.

“I should stop worrying. My family is so kind. I wish I remembered all of the warmth they gave me when I was younger. Maybe I wouldn’t be so fearful now.”

“You’ve had it rough,” Cellestra spoke softly. “And it made you stronger in many ways, but now you have a hard time opening up to the people you love.”

“And you’ve been of great help with that,” I said warmly. “Time helps, I noticed. It really does.”

“Yeah,” She continued. “We’ve both come a long way.”

“How do you feel about your own parents?” I asked. “When do you want to try to find them… if you want to try to find them?”

“I don’t know,” She said, staring down at the gravel, looking a bit down. “I don’t know the answer to either of those questions. We have other things we need to do long before that, though.”

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

“No, I do want to do these things, with you, Kealyna. Here, I know what I have, and I love it, love you…” She muttered the last words softly while casting a glance at the open door. ”Whether the same goes for my parents remains to be seen, if they are still alive, if I can even find them.”

Her voice became more and more saddened towards the end, and feeling her pain, Elle made her way over to Cellestra to give her a loving hug in an attempt to cheer her up.

“Your mom is right,” She said. “These are the best companions.” She gently petted the spider before speaking her thoughts aloud. “I wonder what they think of us. I’ve always been curious what animals think of us, and how.”

“I don’t know,” I said. “And even though I can tell them what to do, I’m happy I can’t directly control them, or read their thoughts. That would just be scary. Still, they seem to love us unconditionally and I don’t intend to betray that trust.”

I looked into the inquisitive eyes of Shayla who’d skittered up to me and smiled at her.

“But at the same time, not everything is going to be as easy as we want it to be, and it’s probably a good idea to make it clear to them sometime soon. They need to know the world is a dangerous place, even if I’m here to protect them.”

I sighed and put one of my hands on Shayla’s head, showing her my affection.

“Do you understand what I’m talking about?” I asked her softly.

She raised her pedipalps and shook them from left to right,

“Of course you don’t,” I said, petting her. “You haven’t experienced or seen danger yet. It’s… dark and scary, but at the same time, it can be exhilarating, and sometimes you need to face danger in order to grow.”

She cocked her head in response and I could tell she had no idea what I was talking about.

“You’ll find out. Don’t know if it’s gonna be today, but I’ll try to teach you.”

Cellestra giggled, watching the confused spider who had no idea what I was talking about.

“At least she’s cute,” She said.

“Shame that cuteness won’t help her much in the dungeon.”

Cellestra nodded, just as my mother returned with some breakfast, which made me remember my own hunger.

Truth be told, I was craving some of that Firag meat, but going that far into the dungeon with my spiderlings would be dangerous, and while they’d have to get exposed to that one day, I felt right now was a bit early. I guessed I could settle for one of those Bisons.

And I imagined the spiders would love to have a bite as well. I wouldn’t keep something so delicious from them.

“Thank you,” Cellestra said politely as she accepted the plate with sandwiches.

“So, how is your home coming along?” My mother said as she sat down. “I’d love to have another look.”

“Soon, mom. We’re having carpenters over today to get a few things fixed, and as soon as they are done, I think our home is more or less finished.”

“And it’s all ready for winter?”

“No idea,” I said with a shrug. “And I think preparing for that is a bit pointless for now. We don’t even know if we will stay here for winter… as much as I’d like to.”

“I’d love to have you nearby,” She continued before falling silent and eventually nodding. “But I understand if you can’t.”

“Rest assured that I’m trying to do everything so we can, but as I just explained to Shayla: sometimes you need to face danger to grow, and there won’t be any of that if I’m just gonna sit around.”

“Spoken like a true adventurer,” She said with a smile. “I’m looking forward to hearing how things went today during dinner tonight.”

“And I look forward to having an interesting story to tell.”