Two weeks into her journey, Anu was lying back in a hammock, re-reading ‘The Mechanics of Mana’. A beginner’s textbook, it had been given to Duncan as a tongue-in-cheek gift, but the appendixes proved useful enough to earn it a place in the workshop.

“To my brother Duncan. Congratulations on your new forge”

“To my apprentice Anu: Treat this book well, so that one day, your apprentice can steal it too. Duncan Lucian. ”

She’d spent many evenings working over some of the exercises, or trying to find shortcuts in the existing solutions. Each page had slowly been filled with notes and calculations. Duncan’s note was written in the remaining free space on the page.

Anu still felt a little guilty about taking the book, but it was hers now: it said so right there on the first page.

Tonight, she wasn’t going over the exercises, she was looking for inspiration: the spider still didn’t have a name.

During the day, Anu would draw out letters, and words for nearby objects, hoping that one of the names would stick. None of the names “felt” right, apparently. The spider didn’t really listen to the words, but, the noise her brain was making.

Anu tried asking for suggestions, but one intense headache and a blackout later, she remembered why she’d stuck to yes or no questions earlier. At least it wasn’t as painful this time.

After two weeks, with no other company, the spider’s simple yes and no gestures had become more elaborate sort-of, and maybes, and it-depends. Anu had learned the gestures for hunger, danger, and boredom. The spider was very bored of travelling.

It had been a very quiet journey. The spider had seen to that. Sensitive to nearby mana, occasionally the spider would nudge her towards, or away from a specific direction. Anu didn’t question the advice.

Earlier today, she’d tried asking if the spider could draw the name of the hive, and watched as it traced out a large circle, slowly filling in the detail. Anu recognised it as an incomplete circuit.

That evening, while the spider disappeared to hunt, Anu was slouched in the hammock, flicking through the appendix, hoping that something would please the spider. Hearing a noise, she peered over the textbook to see it waiting for her outside the barrier.

Anu crawled out of the hammock, and pulled her sword out of the ground, deactivating the barrier ward. Waiting for the spider to come closer, Anu reactivated the circuit, and took a seat beside it, in the hammock.

“Hey. I know you didn’t want me to give you a name, and well, I can’t really say the name of your hive, I was thinking of a compromise.”

Anu held up the textbook, then flipped through the pages to find a handwritten note, marking the right page. Finding it, she laid the book out flat, between her and the spider.

“If your hive has a name that’s a circuit, maybe your name can be one of the parts”

Anu watched as the spider peered at the book, and gesturing ‘No’ as it scanned over the names it recognised. She had to read out one or two of the technical terms, but, the closest she got was a ‘well, it’s not awful’ waggle.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Anu took a moment to reflect. “Not one of the parts. You’re the mana? You’re the energy in the circuit, the circuit is the hive”

The spider was waving a yes, but Anu wasn’t watching.

“How about Kay? The measurement of mana, Kays”

The spider paused. Anu turned eagerly, pushing her face closer.

“Can I call you Kay?”

A yes. “Finally”

Anu performed a small victory dance, Waving her hands in the air, she leaned back, collapsing into the hammock, legs dangling over the edge.

“Oh, Wait”

Anu pulled herself up, and with a stick, wrote her name on the ground.

“Kay, this is my name, Anu, and this”, Anu drew ‘Kay’ on the ground, “is yours”

“Oh, and tomorrow”, Anu continued to draw, “we’ll hit the river”.

Anu sketched out a mountain range, a gap underneath, and a river stretching out

“Verse is further down river, but we can get a direct ferry there, I hope”

Anu was interrupted by the spider hissing.

“Hungry? Oh. Do you mind if I go and sleep? Will you be safe outside the barrier?”

Anu disabled the ward to let Kay outside to hunt.

“In the morning, we’ll walk to the river, and I’ll see you then.”

Anu turned the barrier back on, pulled out a few blankets, and wrapped herself up atop the hammock to sleep

Kay’s hunt did not go well. Anu spent the morning going over her textbook, waiting for it to recover from injuries. By the afternoon, and after lunch, Kay was ready to travel again.

“But *everyone* knows mana weavers are tame. I mean, it’s wearing a bow”

A small argument from the city guards was to be expected, but finding a ferry to take both of them seemed impossible.

The first captain was insistent that at least two people had to accompany any large animals. The second, Anu reckoned he was afraid of Kay. The third asked for four times as much as the other two. The fourth, fifth captains had left earlier. The sixth one she'd asked was going in the opposite direction.

She’d wasted the entire afternoon. Anu gave up, and tried to find a room in an inn. She couldn’t. Kay was just as popular with the inn-keepers. On the third attempt, she was pointed to an inn on the edge of town. The only one with stables.

The inns were for people transferring from boat to carriage, and vice versa. There was very little demand for somewhere to keep a large animal.

En route, Anu consoled herself. 'At least the inn is on the edge of town', she thought, 'I can just keep going if I need to camp outdoors, again'

Outside the inn, her last hope for a bed, Anu approached the front door.

“Um. You can come in, but your ..” “Familiar” “Familiar can’t”

Anu sighed. “Did I get it wrong, I was told this was the only Inn that accepted animals”

“If you can pick up your Familiar, and carry it inside, it’s a pet. Otherwise, the Stables”

“Can I go and look at the stables first?” “Sure thing.”

Anu lead Kay around the back of the inn.

“Will any of these do?” No.

Anu couldn’t blame it. The ‘stable’ was a wooden roof, some piles of grass, and covered in shit.

Checking underneath her, to see where she would land, Anu slumped onto the ground.

“Great.”

“No no I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t stay here.”

“I think we’ll have to go back, at least the hammocks you make are comfortable. ”

“Um, can I try picking you up? Maybe I can convince her you’re a pet, a really big pet.“

"I give up"

Anu sighed, with her arms already wrapped around her knees, rested her head atop to complete curling up into a ball.

Feeling a tap on her foot, she mumbled, “Kay, I was being silly. Even if I can pick you up, they won’t let you in”. Tap tap tap. “What?”

Anu felt like an idiot, again.

In front of her was Kay, but small enough to fit on her palm. She had many questions, like ‘why didn’t you tell me?’ or ‘why didn’t I think to ask a magic spider to do magic’, but first she wanted to know ‘will this work?’

Picking Kay up with one hand, and the ribbon it wore in the other, she rushed back to the innkeeper.

“Um, so.”

Anu scratched the back of her head, holding the ribbon.

The host gave Anu a strange look.

“I did say that. Yes, you are holding them. There’s an extra deposit for pets, but I’m going to ask for double the normal amount, I’m afraid”

It was good enough for Anu.