Velariah hugged me for a while, while my feet were still tapping the floor. The sounds of it made me feel like an experienced tap dancer was giving a sold-out show. Unfortunately, I had no idea how to dance, nor had I ever experienced the need to.

Gray seemingly exhausted himself trying to keep up and went to sleep next to the pillow pile after a while.

“Poor thing,” I said, looking at the pup. “We should make him a bed to sleep on, this is cruel.”

“Any idea how you want to do that?” She asked.

“Well,” I started. “I was thinking I could wrap a large bowl with silk while practicing my ‘prey wrapping’ at the same time.”

“Neat idea. I’ll go find something.”

Velariah exited the room and left me thinking about questions about this world. We’d gotten most of our immediate issues out of the way. I had a place to stay, we had formed a decent party for dungeons and quests. I somehow managed to talk to a dungeon. This village’s economy was set to blossom; things for that had been set in motion. I had the local guild supporting me. I was under the protection of a powerful elven general. Things were looking good.

I had a decent idea of the nearby elven provinces and villages. I had started to get some notion of the value of certain items that would benefit me when trading. I had a good way to make money.

I smiled.

This was going better than I could have ever expected when waking up and finding myself in a monster body.

My feet seemed to have stopped wobbling and I made my way over to the soft pile where I lay down, face-first, into the pillows.

I’d found love…

I couldn’t believe it. Surely I was still dreaming?

I knew I wasn’t, who was I kidding?

Still, though…

It was time for me to explore… other areas. I imagined religion would be a good place to start. I got put here from another world. The only beings that could do such things were gods, right?

These elves were tolerant to other peoples and religions, even though they had their own, if I recalled correctly. Where there’s religion, there is a god or multiple of them. I wondered if I could somehow communicate with them.

I could hear the door opening, closing, and being locked once more. I could see Velariah approaching with an oversized, fairly flat, wooden bowl that I believed was used for fruit. Judging from the size, it would be no issue if it served as a puppy bed.

“Think you can do it without my help this time?” The elf asked.

“Let’s see,” I answered as I stood up again.

I looked behind me to see Velariah hold the bowl under my body. I took it between two legs and managed to find a surprisingly good grip on it.

Spider feet continued to amaze me.

I brought silk with my back leg to the object again. I decided to use the ‘shotgun thread’ as I had dubbed it. Anyone who’d disagree with me could bugger right off. My silk, my rules!

I found out that enveloping this bowl in silk turned out to be easier than expected. Thanks to its shape, it was fairly easy to divide the silk evenly. It was only a matter of carefully rotating and moving the object clockwise while doing so.

I was at it for a while. I wanted to make sure it was as soft as it could get.

When I thought it would be good enough I took it from under me and inspected my handiwork.

I’d created a miniature, silken trampoline. Thanks to the shape of the bowl the silken cover on top ‘floated’ in the center of the bowl. I didn’t think this would necessarily be a bad thing. It made me wonder about my own sleeping quarters. I could possibly ‘silk’ it up for more comfort too. An interesting thought…

Velariah walked up to me and observed the bowl and put her hand on the silk sheet. She pressed against it slightly and her hand bounced back.

“That’s actually pretty neat,” She commented. “You think he will like it?”

“Well, let’s find out.”

I placed the large bowl on the floor and lifted the sleeping pup and placed him on top of the silk. Gray woke up temporarily but soon fell back asleep. He didn’t seem to show any worries.

“Either he likes it, or he is too tired to care.” Velariah grinned.

I shrugged. “I hope he likes it.”

“Now that that’s out of the way,” I started. “Let’s talk some more.”

“Any topics in mind?” She asked.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do have some topics I’d like to know more about. Your religion is one of those things.”

“Elven religion in specific you mean?” Velariah answered with a new question.

“Let’s start with that. I’m curious what god or gods you worship. What’s the story?”

“I’m not sure if you’ve got the right person for that. I’m not that well versed in our own religion… I can only tell you the basics.”

“Better than nothing,” I replied.

“Our religion worships the goddess Velineri. She created the first elves on a continent far from here. She spoke to the first elves regularly and, even now, sometimes makes her presence known through blessings and, sometimes, whispers. She loved nature and trees in particular. It is said that the massive oak in the middle of the village was grown from a seed infused with her magic.”

“I’d believe that,” I said plainly. “There’s no way an oak grows to that size on its own.”

“Gods are very real,” Velariah noted with a straight face. “I just don’t feel much for the whole worshipping part. I doubt Velineri wanted us to do such a thing. I imagined she’d be much happier to see us maintain the balance of nature.”

She chuckled but hesitated for a second.

“Velineri is often shortened to Vel because people tend to botch their pronunciation. It’s the reason why I’d rather not have you call me Vel in public. People might… frown upon it.”

“I had no idea,” I said softly. “I’m so sorry.”

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“No need to apologize, you didn’t know. I’m partly at fault for never explaining it.”

“It does make a lot more sense now,” I added.

“Heh, that’s about all I know, though. I try to do my job in honoring her by keeping people safe from harm. Velineri is a kind goddess, I’m sure she appreciates things like that. I’m sure she will also appreciate us making sure that the nearby forest remains undesecrated. Those goblins and trolls are a stain on its beauty.”

“They surely don’t seem as kind as your goddess.”

Velariah shook her head. “No, they don’t.”

“What about the humans here?” I asked.

“I think you’d better ask Draco about their gods. I know they have multiple, one of them is called Alansis, and he supposedly loves music. I know of his name because my mother used to have bards from the human kingdom play for her. I am unclear on the others.”

“Doesn’t sound like a half-bad god to me,” I noted.

Velariah took my hands and led me to the pile of pillows. She sat down on them and forced me to plant my exoskeleton below my waist in them too. She then continued telling her story.

“Most of our gods aren’t so bad. The dwarves have a god that can be quite a hothead, however. From what Dworag told me, their most important god has eyes that glow red-hot like lava. He supposedly takes out one of his eyes to start his forge or to add more heat to it. He is the god of smithing, I forgot his name, though...”

“Sounds like a literal hothead to me.” I grinned.

“Yeah, well, the dwarves also have a god that is known for mischief. Supposedly, he stole the smithing god’s eye on more than a single occasion, causing him to literally force volcanoes to erupt out of anger...”

“I’d be quite pissed if that happened too. Also sounds like the kind of god for Coldanus.” I chuckled.

The ridiculousness of the myths of this world was interesting.

Then again, it was scary to know they could actually be true…

Don’t fuck with the dwarven god of smithing, noted.

“Heh, I’m sure Coldanus is a devout follower.” Velariah chuckled.

“What about Nira and Draco, do lizardfolk and harpies have elaborate religions?” I asked while enveloping the elf with my pedipalps and two front legs. It was a pleasure to observe her reactions while she was storytelling.

“As far as my knowledge about lizardfolk goes, I only know Draco and what he has told me about it. They do not have any gods of their own, but they have started adopting religions from other races. Apparently, Velineri is quite popular with them.” Velariah explained with a smile.

“Heh, Draco does strike me as someone that would follow a kind, nature-loving goddess.” I smiled back at the elf.

This experience had been truly enlightening. Gods that seemed to love nature and its people appealed to me in a way I’d never felt something appeal to me before. If I could somehow communicate with this elven goddess, maybe I’d be able to find out what happened?

I shook my head.

I have let go of the past, I didn’t want to be met with more sadness. Thinking about it already lowered my spirits.

“I can see what you’re thinking.” The elf said softly.

“I really am an open book, am I not?”

Velariah nodded. “If you want to gather information on your past, I won’t stop you, but please do not go chasing ghosts.”

“I won’t,” I promised.

Velariah ruffled my long hair and I smiled at the gesture.

“There’s that smile, I started to miss it.”

“Thanks, Vel.”

Velariah looked up to the ceiling for a second before continuing.

“About harpies. Once again, I don’t know too much about them. I know where they live and that they are a female-only race. I believe they worship a giant avian goddess, but you’d have to check with Nira for specifics.”

“Yeah, you told me that female-only part before, how does that work… reproduction wise?”

“It’s quite simple, they can mate with virtually any species. They then lay an egg that will always hatch into a female harpy, sometimes carrying over traits from their father, but that’s rare. If that happens, it generally means they have two inherities too.”

“So it’s a blessing?”

Velariah gritted her teeth.

“Yes and no. Sometimes, when the characteristics are of certain races, the offspring are shunned, sometimes exiled at a young age.”

“That’s harsh,” I let out. “So they are not all like Nira?”

The elf shook her head. “Afraid not. I believe Draco is a better representation of the lizardfolk race than Nira is of the harpy race.”

“So what races are we talking about then? The ones whose characteristics are unwelcome.”

“Trolls, goblins, centaurs, as rare as those may be.”

“I doubt anyone would get together with those races anyway,” I stated.

“Willingly? No.”

“Oh...” I said, as I realized what that meant.

I was glad we got to Nira before things went that far…

“I can see what you’re thinking again.” Velariah smiled. “And yes, I’m happy we managed to save Nira from that as well.”

“How do you read my mind like that? It’s creepy.” I feigned disgust.

“You’re too easy, El.”

“Am I? And here I thought I was pretty conservative.” I referred to another subject entirely.

“You tease!” Velariah grinned.

“Tee-hee.” I booped her nose.

I hugged Velariah again and pressed my cheeks against hers.

“Thanks, Vel. You’ve been of great help to me… adjusting...”

“Anytime, El.”

“You know, I’ve been thinking. I wonder if I could make our sleeping quarters more comfortable with my silk. Being unable to really stretch my legs is slowly getting to me...”

“What, you mean like a spider web hammock? That would be so cool!”

I chucked and I broke away. “I hadn’t even thought about that. No, I was thinking some low-hanging nets in which we could deposit these pillows.”

“So.... a hammock?” Velariah looked at me incredulously.

“I guess...”

“Sounds like a great idea! Let’s get to it!”

This elf… always so impatient.

“If I start using up my silk now, will you pay the bill at the guild for breakfast tomorrow?” I asked as a joke.

“Sure, sure,” She waved away the question. “Just go for it.”

“How late is it anyway?” I asked.

“Not late enough to go to sleep. Let’s see you work.”

I sighed. “Yes, mistress.” I stood up from the pile of pillows and started shoving them to the side.

Velariah giggled as I took a look at how I was going to tackle this issue.

What had I gotten myself into?

I couldn’t believe I was actually thinking about making a web. I mean, I imagined it would be quite a bit more comfortable, but still.

I scratched my head as I observed the room.

There should be plenty of space to suspend some kind of hammock. To the right of the door when I entered the room was a fairly large open space. The toilet would be the first obstacle and it was about two meters out from the entrance wall. More than enough room, I assumed.

Velariah moved the silken bowl in which Gray was sleeping soundly to the side and did the same with the pillows so I had a large open space to work with.

Creating a simple net shouldn’t be the hardest of tasks, I figured.

I would start with a few lines from wall to wall. I was just wondering about what height I should suspend them at.

Half a meter seemed a bit low. Even if I made the threads as nonelastic as I could, they would probably still stretch some and might hit the floor.

I decided to settle on a meter. It would be easy enough to step on for me, and I didn’t think Velariah would have any trouble either. She could always use me as a step if needed.

And so, I went to work. I created four lines of the thickest threads I could make and suspended them from wall to wall, about half a meter out from the door.

“Elly better watch out when she enters the room,” I commented while I worked.

“As long as you don’t make them sticky, it should hardly be an issue.” She replied.

“Hmmm, sticky webs. I could catch me some elves...” I joked.

“I’d probably get caught on purpose.” Velariah joked back.

I knew she’d say that. It was still fun to hear coming from her.

I kept working with a smile until I’d finished the four lines and made sure they all ran parallel to one another.

I wasn’t happy with how flimsy this looked and I created six more lines. After a few minutes, I had ten threads spanning about one and a half meters in width.

“Don’t you get exhausted from all that silk usage?” Velariah asked.

“Shh, I’m trying to concentrate,” I cut her off, as I was lost in thought on how I’d do the cross lines.

I imagined, for the best cover, I’d have to use my ‘shotgun’ thread. However, I was going to use pillows to cover the ‘hammock’ anyway.

I imagined sturdy smaller threads would do the trick. My only issue was: how was I going to get them where I wanted them to be?

I’d not thought this through…

I was truly an idiot.

“Fuck...” I said softly.

“What’s wrong?” Velariah asked as she walked up to me.

“I have no idea what I’m doing...” I sighed.

“What do you mean?”

It would appear she didn’t know the trouble that I’d forced myself into.

“How do I cross the lines?” I asked, not knowing how to fix this myself.

“How hard can it be? Just do spider things. Just climb the wall, get on top of the web and use your butt.”

“Wow, why did I not think about that?” I asked sarcastically. “There is no way that web will hold me.”

“Have some faith in yourself, El. I’m sure you’ll be fine. Just divide your weight over the separate lines with your… many legs.”

“If I fall down, I’m blaming you...” I said, not entirely joking.

I sighed as I looked at the wall. “There is no way this will work...” I said softly before I put my front legs against the wall, to the right of where the last thread connected.

“You can do this, El!” Velariah cheered me on.

I tried to grip into the wall with the small claws at the end of my feet and then tried to move my legs. It seemed they were quite stuck and I was unable to move them as long as I contracted the claws.

“There’s no way...” I said again softly as I planted my second set of legs on the wall and moved the first set upward.

I then added my third pair and moved my first two sets up, one leg at a time.

“No way...”

Ultimately, I had all my legs stuck to the wall. My spider abdomen was still on the floor and I prayed as I moved, one leg at a time, climbing the wall.

I tightened the small claws as hard as I could. I was scared to death I’d fall and break something otherwise. I carefully ascended and reached the ceiling.

I realized what came next and took a few moments to mentally prepare.

“Going fine, El. Keep it up.”

“Easy for you to say. I have a feeling I might need to take a bath to wipe away the sweat I’m producing right now.”

“I’ll help you with that!” Velariah seemed to get excited.

I sighed and looked over my shoulder. It was so weird to view the world from this angle. I needed more than a moment to actually orientate my position and where I wanted to move my limbs.

This was truly such a hassle.