Back at the palace, Goldie and Samson were in the same room as always, engaged in the same intensive activity that had occupied almost their entire time since Adon’s departure.

Training with Mana.

Neither Goldie nor Samson seemed to be advancing as quickly as Adon had when Goldie first met him, though Goldie had avoided verbally comparing Adon’s Mana prowess to Samson’s, so as to avoid discouraging her son.

As they practiced together, though, the Mana moved through their bodies much more fluidly than it had the previous day. Goldie could strengthen her carapace and abdomen so much at this point that a part of her wanted to try letting a servant step on her, just to see if a human could harm her Mana-powered body without the use of magic.

But one look at the maid Celeste’s feet, which were somewhat larger than typical for a woman, was enough to cure Goldie of that idea.

How about you try and bite my enhanced armor with your enhanced fangs? Goldie transmitted to Samson. Rosslyn said we needed to get some practice with using Mana in situations that make focus more difficult.

Sure thing, he sent back.

Goldie and Samson spent the next few minutes taking turns biting each other while reinforcing their fangs and bodies respectively.

What they learned from that was that while Samson’s Mana-infused fangs could not even put a scratch on Goldie’s Mana-enhanced armor, Samson’s Mana-infused armor could only barely withstand Goldie’s Mana-enhanced fangs.

On Goldie’s first couple of experimental bites, she scratched Samson’s carapace despite him pouring Mana into the specific area she was biting. When she bit a little harder, his carapace developed a crack, and the two quickly stopped.

As Goldie stepped back, she saw that she had put a small hole in Samson’s exoskeleton, in the size and shape of the tip of one fang. If she had been trying to penetrate through to inject venom, Samson would lie dying in front of her.

Remind me not to get you mad, Samson transmitted.

I am glad that you can shed your skin, Goldie replied. You are amazingly tough, despite not having experienced Evolution yet. It is good that you had the chance to see the strength of my armor. You will have a shell like mine soon too.

She felt a mingled sense of pride and the desire to reassure Samson, along with a quiet sense of foreboding that she had penetrated his exoskeleton with her fangs without much difficulty. It reminded her of how Red had succumbed to the stings of the Red Spider Slayer Wasps, leaving her a single mother, just a few weeks past.

She couldn’t help but imagine Samson entering the same situation. Some of those wasps could still be out there.

Red hadn’t been a Mana user, but he had been a more experienced fighter, had passed through Evolution, and possessed much deadlier venom. Samson probably wasn’t strong enough to fare any better than he had yet.

At the same time, she felt certain that her baby would catch up to her before she knew it.

Yes, Goldie told herself. Soon, he will be strong enough to fend for himself, and until then, he will have me.

Thanks, mama, he sent. I’ll do my best to live up to expectations! His tone was bashful, as if he had been hoping for a compliment and suspected that she had read what he wanted.

Goldie felt a wave of affection for her cute son.

She was proud of her other children, too. Though they were not yet capable of anything Mana-related, she knew they would be great spiders too. As she and Samson practiced with Mana, they had been diligently trying to memorize the written Claustrian alphabet.

Goldie was happy that she had given all her children advantages that she had not been born with.

But her relationship with Samson felt special. He was both her firstborn and the only one she could have in-depth conversations with. The younger spiders were still mastering their basic language skills. Samson’s advantages over his siblings were both obvious and massive.

How could you possibly fail? Goldie asked. Let us keep practicing.

The two continued at their training for another hour in relative silence, only breaking the silence when they decided to practice on each other again—this time, only training Samson’s fangs against Goldie’s armor.

Adon and the Princess really make this look easy, Goldie thought to herself.

Then there was more Mana movement for another twenty minutes, before Samson seemed to become bored or discouraged and stopped.

Do you think Rosslyn will come back soon? he asked.

I think she might be at her training for a long time, Goldie replied. She seems to be a very determined person, and I suppose one-eyed vision is difficult to adapt to.

The Princess had spent some part of each day since Adon left in training with her friend the man-at-arms, though Goldie noticed that each time, she seemed to come back frustrated. From that, it was obvious that the training was not going as Rosslyn wanted.

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I believe it, Samson sent back immediately. You know, I think I only had one good eye left at the end of my last life. I’m trying to recall why… Well, I might have lost the other one to disease or something. It was difficult, from what I remember, but I wasn’t a warrior or anything like that. I can't imagine what the Princess might be going through.

That is right, I keep forgetting that you were an old human man in your last life, before you came to me, Goldie sent.

I don’t remember everything, and it feels weird to even think about it for too long, Samson shot back immediately. His tone was slightly defensive. After a moment, he sent another short message: You sure you don’t mind having an old man for a kid? A noise accompanied his words. It seemed that he had tried to send his mother the sound of him laughing, but there was an obvious nervous quality to it that Samson had been unable to suppress.

The question was one Samson had asked before, in different forms. He was always wondering if Goldie secretly had some problem with him being as connected to his previous life as he was. The insecurity reminded her a little of Adon, who was always nervous. It was a pity that the butterfly had never seen this side of his brother, in Goldie’s mind. They were not so different. Samson might have put on a front of being confident, but he had the same hunger for acceptance that drove Adon.

I think it is wonderful that you have a rich inner life all your own, Goldie replied, choosing her words carefully. Remember, my best friend is Adon. The butterfly who seems to remember everything about multiple past lives. I have all these blank slates over here, anyway. She pointed one long, slender limb at the other little ones. I am glad that their big brother is more of an adult, who can help with them.

Samson seemed mollified by that, and they resumed training for a while.

When they took a break, Goldie decided to broach the subject of Samson’s previous incarnation again. If he was feeling insecure or awkward about it, she figured the best approach was to tackle the issue as directly as possible.

You know, I know you had a life before you incarnated beside me, when you were Adon’s brother, but I feel like I am seeing a side of you that he never did, she sent thoughtfully.

Probably most of my sides are things he never saw, Samson replied instantly. There was an intense mixture of emotions in his tone, difficult to separate but clearly mostly or entirely negative.

You were brothers, though, Goldie transmitted quizzically.

Adon died when I was pretty young, Samson sent. At least I think he did. Sometimes I get the order of events mixed up. And I don’t remember that much from that life, like I said. I try not to dwell on it. Plus, like I said, I died as an old man. I don’t know if he knew me that well, if you look at my whole life.

Really? Goldie asked. I mean, I know you had many years apart, but it does not take so long to know someone. Know who they are, deep down. Goldie thought of her relationships with both Red and Adon. She considered them each to be as close to her as anyone she could have known from a previous life.

You think? Samson asked. I don’t know. I feel like the relationship isn’t that deep.

Goldie wondered if he still felt bad about being left behind.

I think that when you live, every big chunk of life is sort of a representation of the whole. Like a fruit. When you eat a slice of fruit, one piece is not so different from any other. I believe someone can change over a lifetime, but they do not usually make massive changes unless they try very hard. Adon and I spent a fair amount of time together, Sammy. This was a nickname she had been occasionally trying out since Samson hatched. He would talk about you, your parents, and your sister sometimes. And I think he knew you pretty well. I feel like I was more prepared to meet you after talking to him. More prepared to welcome the gift of having you.

Goldie sent those last words with a burst of positive emotions. Pure, concentrated warmth that she hoped he could feel.

But if she had thought Samson might feel better, Goldie was wrong.

Did he actually like me, though? Samson asked.

Goldie was taken aback. She took a fraction of a second to compose herself before she sent her response.

He loved you—loves you. She was aware, in her own mind, that this did not actually answer the question Samson had asked.

I just—we always thought, or I always thought, and I think our mother thought, after he died, that maybe there was something we could have done differently—that maybe things weren’t quite right between us and him. Something that we could have done might have changed his life or just prevented what happened. Maybe it doesn’t make any kind of logical sense, but the way he died, it almost felt like we set him up to fail. He was only even in an upper floor room because we asked for the ground floor bedrooms, and—

Son, Goldie sent, cutting him off. Adon does not blame you for his death. You should not blame yourself. He has told me the story, during our long weeks together, though he found it embarrassing. He wanted to cheer me up, at the time. That should tell you how he sees it. Adon is thankful that he got this life, this new chance. Just like I know you are.

Just like me… Samson seemed to become lost in a train of thought that he did not send on to his mother.

Goldie was determined to keep him from ruminating when Adon was not there for him to talk to, so she quickly sent another message.

If you feel like you need to do something for your relationship with Adon, I support you, she transmitted. Remember, he is not dead in this life. He is alive. There is no sense in regret, when you can reach out and touch the one you love, talk to the one you love—

The thought of Red struck her again, hard and fast, and she stopped talking suddenly, her body stiffening slightly. He was beyond her reach now, perhaps forever. Unlike Samson, Goldie was stuck with her regrets.

Thank you, Samson sent quietly. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this. I won’t waste this time. I’m going to act, not just sit and stew. I feel like I made Adon’s life harder instead of easier in our last incarnation. Maybe it wasn’t on purpose, but I’m almost certain it happened. Whether he agrees or not, when Adon gets back, I’ll do what I can to make it up to my brother.

Goldie ran her hand over Samson’s back soothingly, massaging him rhythmically. She knew that he would be sensitive to the vibrations, as she was. It was a web-building spider thing.

There there, she thought, not sending that to him. It will be all right.

Goldie wondered if there was some bonding experience the three of them could have together. She, Adon, and Samson. They were a strange family, but a family all the same.

Perhaps Rosslyn would know a place they could go, or something they could do, outside the palace.