She was more than a little curious about how She had returned to the stars so quickly after her fall. Grasping onto the strands attached to a distant galaxy, She pulled her home closer to the gathering hall so She could once again take possession of the appendage used to represent herself to the gathered She.

As She approached her designated Star, She could see many other homes orbiting the energy source. Almost all the She seemed to be in attendance from oldest to youngest. Evidently, the return of She had caused more than a little stir.

She sent a tendril of thought toward her representative appendage. The oldest and most simple of the She who tended the appendages of the gathering place when the other She's were absent welcomed the presence of its many generations removed granddaughter and relinquished control of the appendage. She reflected that being in the presence of the oldest She often felt like coming home, even if She was barely capable of cognisant thought. How many stars had the ancient She witnessed the birth and death of without comprehending what She saw? Still, as was their tradition and her honor, She provided her ancestor She with a tithe of food and appendages so that She may maintain the hall in their absence.

She was last to arrive. Of course She was. She had always had a flair for the dramatic, which was in large part responsible for the fall of She. But here She was, recovered and rejoining the gathering hall. She even had a new mind with her. It seemed like a She in many ways, yet it felt...muted. When She reached out to greet the new mind, She rebuffed the communication and placed herself mentally between the new She and the rest of the She. Was this new She the secret of the return of She?

Additionally, She seemed to be bringing in an odd biological form. Was this a tithe for the ancient She? And yet, when the ancient She came forward to claim the tithe, She gently rebuffed the oldest She, offering a more traditional soup of biological matter instead.

Once all She were present, the first She sent out a thought. It was far simpler than traditional She communication, leaving much to the interpretation as it was more a general feeling than a coherent thought, but it felt of welcome to her daughters and daughters of her daughters. That feeling was recognized as the official beginning of any gathering, and a murmur of thoughts and feelings followed, which slowly died down, allowing the returned She to finally address the gathering.

She walked out and stood before the gathered She. This appendage seemed odd, as it did not focus on defense or efficiency. While it had a couple bladed arms, it also had two smaller delicate arms that ended in smaller manipulative digits. It wasn't uncommon for a She's hand to possess limbs used in manipulating its environment, but it was unheard of for a more invested appendage, such as this, to focus a portion of its development on environmental manipulation.

However, such consideration was temporarily put on hold as the returned She projected her thoughts out into the gathering. "My fellow She, I come to you, having fallen and being reborn. I now stand before you evolved in a way few of us have ever considered, and fewer still have found any benefit. However, after such a monumental failure, I return to you through the grasping and manipulation of tools!"

Tools? Was this what She came to speak of? To waste their time with? The mere manipulation of sticks and stones? To what end? To build structures more limited in form and durability than a She could grow? To construct a bludgeoning implement less efficient than an appendage grown for such a purpose? All these She are gathered only to be asked to consider what has already been considered and rejected?

As thoughts and feelings in the chamber reverberated around, growing in number and volume, it drew the attention of the most ancient of the She. While She did not grasp most of the thoughts and emotions being projected, She recognized much of it was negative and directed to one of her daughter's daughters. It sent out a wordless emotion whose meaning was clear to those present. *Enough! All daughters are welcome to abide and share in my home!*

Having been sufficiently rebuked, the gathering fell quiet enough for She to address the returned one, this time in a more civil if still doubtful tone. "The construction and use of tools have been attempted before and deemed a wasted evolutionary branch, yet you claim it was central to your return to us. Please explain your methods and results."

The returned She sent a brief feeling of gratitude before answering. "As many of the gathered She knows, this one foolishly tried to consume and control the immense energies released by a collapsing star. The resulting shock rippled through my entire consciousness, severing connections to many of my appendages, even at the furthest stretches of my reach. Most, if not all, of you reasonably assumed such an attempt cost me my existence, and you weren't far from wrong. I was reduced to a tiny fraction of myself and fell to a single planet at the furthest edge of our territory. However, as I began the slow process of healing, recovering, and rebuilding, I discovered something no She has ever witnessed...advanced tool users."

Along with that final thought came images, memories, and feelings. They centered around the small biological form that now stood next to the returned She and another form that bore many similarities to the new She that arrived with her. They used a purified crystalline form of rocks to develop sharp tools rivaling that which a She could biologically replicate. They used tools to gather and grow food, much like a She would create aboard their homes even if it was less efficient. They created smaller structures whose form could be determined and adjusted similarly to a She structure. As more memories were released, there was a great shock in the gathering as it was revealed they had tools that could fling smaller tools at incomprehensible speeds that could overcome even the most advanced appendages' defenses! Then, as a climax to the revelations, She revealed these tool users even possessed space flight and could manipulate the gathered mineral clumps in the void, which She used in combination with more traditional growing methods to create a space-faring home built around one of these tool user's larger space-faring structures in an amazingly short time.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Many of the older She present could not fully comprehend what they were witnessing and experiencing, but many of the younger and more advanced She realized how significant the implications of such revelations were. There was another sentient species among the stars, a rival to the She, that might threaten their very existence! Another eruption of expressed ideas and emotions shook the gathered She as their thoughts went wild, trying to process what they'd witnessed.

-

Alice didn't understand what was happening as she followed Charlotte and Scott into a grand hall, only that it was of great importance.

Looking around, the girl could see many like Charlotte present and many more that were far stranger in appearance. There were plenty of different types of spiders, some with more legs and body segments, some with fewer, but there were other things as well. Some looked like beetles or beetles mixed with spiders or beetles and spiders mixed with grasshoppers. One "Charlotte" looked more like a colony of ants, all clinging to each other to form a larger body. One thing was for sure, though, they were all bugs, which meant they were all cool!

There was a moment when countless minds all reached for Alice. They were all looking at her, judging her, and prying into her mind. It started to get scary, but then Charlotte was there, wrapping her in a mental hug that muted all the other minds, making them feel more distant. Then, in another moment, all the minds started shouting, and things got scary again, but this time, someone else settled things down. This mind was quieter and simpler than the rest. It was an odd combination of feelings. In some ways, it felt like a baby, but in other ways, it was ancient beyond what Alice would understand.

Once the rest of the room was silenced and Charlotte began speaking to them again, Alice reached out to this other mind. It responded to her touch with feelings of greetings and...love. In her mind, it felt like Alice was being held by her momma when she was young enough not to understand much of anything. She just felt welcome, warm, and safe.

Alice stepped away from Charlotte toward the closest body of the mind. This one looked more like a spider than even Charlotte did and was as small as one of Charlotte's hands. It looked up at the approaching girl, not really understanding what was happening but happy to be in the presence of another of its daughter's daughters.

Once she was close enough, Alice did her best to curtsy, which was a little complicated with so many legs, but she knew from experience that older people tended to find it cute as she addressed the mind. "Hi! I'm Alice! Who are you?"

The mind seemed a little confused at the question like it had trouble understanding some of what had been said, but eventually, it responded; its thoughts were slow and simple, but it had a happy feeling, too, as if it just enjoyed being included. "Am She."

Alice giggled. "That's a silly name! Do you know Charlotte?"

It seemed to think momentarily as if trying to understand the question before answering. "She is She."

Alice giggled again. She remembered a time when she met a baby belonging to one of Mom's friends. It was small and didn't understand much, but it had made Alice happy to make it happy. She felt like talking to this smaller, more simple version of Charlotte was like that. It probably didn't understand much, so she'd have to pick a simple game. "Want to play tic tac toe?"

When the small mind seemed confused, Alice smiled. "Here. I'll show you how!"

It took a little explaining and a lot of showing, but eventually, the mind figured out the game. It was kind of bad at it, but Alice remembered playing games like this against her brother, and how he let her win sometimes, so she let the small Charlotte-like mind occasionally win as well.

Then the room got loud again. This time, many thoughts were directed toward Scott, which scared Alice. She quickly ran over to her brother, who just seemed confused, probably because he couldn't feel the thoughts the way Alice could. Soon, it appeared like the whole room would turn on them when the mind Alice had been playing with projected again. This time, it was more than just a feeling but also a thought. "Stop! Brood is She. She is brood. She is She! So She is She." In this case, the She's being referred to was Scott and Alice. It didn't understand much, but it picked up from Alice that Scott was Alice's family, and Alice was Charlotte's family. Therefore, it seemed to reason that Scott was part of its own family. The big room grew silent again as everyone stopped and listened to the mind's thoughts.

-

Charlotte looked over at Alice, and while her expression didn't change, she knew Alice could feel Charlotte express the emotion humans usually convey with a smile as she nodded to the girl. "Well done. I couldn't have planned that better if I'd wanted to."

Then, turning back to the gathered She, Charlotte spoke. "Our honored predecessor speaks true. Humans are intelligent, complex beings who could very well prove to be competition with us among the stars, but they do not have to. These two humans are more than just intelligent animals to me. To this She, they are family. To me, they are She!"

Charlotte sat back and allowed the gathered She to express curiosity, confusion, and disbelief. Alice had performed wonderfully, doing precisely what Charlotte had hoped she would: make friends. Now, it was up to Scott and herself to take advantage of the opening she'd created.