Are you crazy?! Goldie thought. Mantises eat spiders! You went out looking to fight with one?

In retrospect, Adon probably should have realized what sort of reaction Goldie might have to the news that he’d fought something bigger than any bug he had ever seen before.

No, he sent in a defensive tone, I wanted to kill a little lizard, but the mantis beat me to it. But that let me sneak up on her while she had her guard down.

Goldie stared down at him with her inscrutable spider face, and Adon braced himself for some sort of rejection. Prepared emotionally to be told to leave. Or that he was more trouble than he was worth. It would be true enough, based on what Adon knew about himself.

And maybe Goldie couldn’t handle investing herself emotionally in someone who felt the need to take such risks. Perhaps she thought he would eventually bring an attack on her web that the two of them wouldn’t be able to handle. It would be far from unfair. Adon still felt bad about the time he had brought a squad of Vendetta Ants to her doorstep. They had never really discussed it in any depth, but if the rest of the colony knew what exactly had happened to their soldiers, Goldie probably wouldn’t have been there when Adon came back.

Stay right there, she thought finally.

She walked out of sight, in the opposite direction from the way she usually moved when she left.

He deactivated Telepathy for now, so he could think freely without having to be careful of what he transmitted.

Well, that wasn’t a rejection. Almost the opposite, he told himself. She explicitly told me to stay here. She doesn’t want me to leave.

But he thought he was on thin ice. He heard Goldie moving around at what he seemed to recall was the edge of the web.

Wait, isn’t that where the Kleptomaniac Dewdrop Spiders are? Adon reactivated Telepathy and rushed over toward the edge where he heard Goldie walking.

Goldie, are you okay?! he sent.

And then he saw her. She stood on the ground, just off the side of the web. Slightly wobbly on her eight legs, as if she didn’t use them much outside of the very specific, silken environment she had created for herself.

Still finding your land legs, huh? Adon transmitted. There was an undeniable relief in the tone of his thoughts. And admiration. You’re even more beautiful up close!

Before, he had only ever gotten a good look at her underside, which was pretty plain aside from her more colorful legs. But Goldie’s coloration on top complemented her legs much better. Her whole upper half was jet black, with the top of her abdomen broken up by patterns of spots, specks and streaks. It reminded Adon of constellations and the night sky.

Goldie walked towards him, her legs finally seeming to steady as she moved.

Crazy caterpillar, she thought as she got close to him. She seemed to be ignoring the compliment. Beginning to understand you. Desperate to prove something to someone. Everyone? Yourself?

The words cut as they entered Adon’s mind, and he searched for some defense, something he could say to deny her words.

But she went on. Afraid to rely on anyone. To take too much. Unwilling to rely… on me. Ready to get yourself killed first.

You’ve already helped me so much, Goldie, Adon sent.

Coexistence key to survival, she replied. Only natural to help friends. Especially only friend!

But I’ve done nothing for you, he objected. I wanted to—

Then stay here and help me, she thought, cutting him off. Do not wander off and get self killed. Soon I must lay my eggs. After… I will be vulnerable. Protect me. And my egg sac. My mate will try his best, but…

Adon nodded. Neither of them wanted to say it, but such a tiny spider wouldn’t do much good against any predator.

Of course, he sent. What are you worried about exactly? Maybe we can do something about it now.

Biggest threat is them. She gestured with one limb at a corner of her web. The thief spiders. Sometimes they kill the owner of the web when vulnerable. I have seen this before from their kind. The spider shuddered slightly as if at an unpleasant memory.

Can we try to fight them together? Adon sent. I would be happy to protect you, but the best way is probably to nip this in the bud. How did you get past them just now anyway?

Oh, barely awake right now, Goldie thought. Mainly nocturnal. Like thieves. Come out at night. There was a mixture of humor and fear in her tone. Only move if attacked right now. Or if they smell food close by. Got excited when you brought the mantis, then back to inactive.

I think I have some ideas for how we could beat them working together, he transmitted, his mind rushing quickly through options.

The spider took a few seconds to process, silently weighing the possibilities somewhere in the back of her mind where Adon couldn’t reach.

Yesterday, I would have hesitated, Goldie thought finally. She looked down at the silk-wrapped half mantis and ootheca. But somehow you killed that thing. What do you need for your plan?

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I need to be in the web with you when we do this, I think, Adon replied. It’s where you’re strongest, and having the home field advantage could be important.

Alright. Will you be able to move around on web, though?

Adon looked back at his own web, looking tattered and lonely as the very basic framework fluttered emptily in the breeze.

I haven’t practiced moving around in webs at all, he admitted. I think mine would have collapsed if an ant landed on it.

Goldie chuckled in her mind at that.

We have some time, she thought. I can teach you.

There was a little part of Adon’s mind that was aware that he was about to do something that was insane for any caterpillar to do. Not fighting the Kleptomaniac Dewdrop Spiders, but simply accompanying Goldie to her web.

This wasn’t about his own insecurities. No matter how strong he was, even once he was a butterfly, entering a spider’s web was not supposed to be in the plan. He would be at Goldie’s mercy. He’d have to really trust her to do something like this. Even with the faith he had in her, he had a moment of hesitation.

Let’s go, Adon sent before he could change his mind.

He stepped forward, closer to Goldie, and she suddenly wrapped him in two pairs of her legs and pulled him close up to her body. Adon had to fight his natural instincts, to bite and use his spines and struggle. He made his body go fully limp for a moment, before he was able to put a couple of his legs to either side of her as well.

And he returned the hug. There were a couple of seconds for him to appreciate the feel of the strange, cool spider body as she pressed herself against him. Goldie’s physique was light, stiff, and hard, just like his. The embrace gave off no heat—as one would expect from contact between a cold-blooded spider and caterpillar. But to Adon, there did seem to be a warmth, coming from somewhere inside himself. Maybe it wasn’t anything physical. Just a feeling.

Thank you for doing this, Goldie thought as she finally released him. You did not have to help. You could still leave.

Adon felt slightly uncomfortable with the attention, even as he also felt that warmth that he could not easily explain, but he knew he had to respond. If this was a movie or an online video, the person in his position would definitely say something.

So why didn’t he know what to say?

“You’re welcome” just wouldn’t feel right. So glib. Inadequate when he was just repaying a little of her kindness. And when he would happily have killed the Kleptomaniac Dewdrop Spiders even if she’d never done anything for him.

There was an uncomfortable, frustrated moment for Adon as he searched himself for words—and became increasingly sure that Goldie was about to regret trusting him to help her, realize the error of her ways in befriending such a loser, and quietly slink away.

You are a doer more than a talker, the spider thought.

And that finally broke the logjam inside him.

You’re right about that, Adon sent. I don’t know quite what to say when someone is so nice to me. He thought he finally understood what the warmth he’d felt growing inside himself was.

It just feels like you’re more than a friend, he added. Like I have a family.

Whether she was a mother, a big sister, a cousin, or what sort of relationship they had exactly, was unclear. But Adon felt that he had been in the embrace of a warm, nurturing family member. Someone who loved him unconditionally. He hadn’t expected to ever have that in this life where he’d never met his birth mother or any family.

A pure, sweet connection that he could never truly earn.

It is like that, Goldie replied. Most bugs cannot even talk to each other. You are only family I have—besides my mate. Someday my eggs.

They’ll be my family too, Adon transmitted back impulsively. He wasn’t sure if he would regret saying something like that, when the little ones were actually hatched. But it was hard to restrain himself from overcommitting a bit. He and Goldie hadn’t known each other very long. Despite that, the level of acceptance and understanding was incredible.

Goldie led the way as they maneuvered out from under the shadow of the web and took the first steps onto it. When Adon climbed up onto the edge where the web came closest to touching the ground, Goldie tapped threads for him to step onto. As he pulled himself up, he felt a flutter of excitement in his stomach.

Once he had his feet under him, and he looked around, the place seemed slightly surreal. Almost like entering an entirely new ecosystem. As he stood on the webbing for the first time, he was tempted to jump up and down to test it. There was a springiness and a strength in the strings. Nothing like Adon’s web, which was more of a flimsy frame of threads someone had strung together in a game of cat’s cradle. This was more like what he imagined walking around on a tennis racket would feel like.

The spider pulled his attention back to her. Probably no surprise, but key to getting around on web is remembering and distinguishing sticky from non-stick threads, Goldie thought.

I have a very good memory, Adon transmitted. He had a specific Skill for that, after all.

He and Goldie spent the next hour walking around the web, and he began to get his web legs. The nerves that Adon had felt when Goldie proposed that he come into the web were completely forgotten.

The pattern of sticky to non-stick threads was fairly simple, Adon recognized as he slowly memorized the layout.

He voiced the thought to Goldie, and she replied, Simple enough that thief spiders remember it too. This information necessary to put us on an even footing. Not enough for an advantage.

At that point, Adon changed the subject. He could tell Goldie was losing some of her confidence, and he didn’t want to let her talk herself out of fighting the other spiders. It would only mean more trouble later.

This is an awfully big web, he transmitted. I didn’t realize you have so much room here.

Probably more crowded after the young ones hatch, she replied. Until they go out and make webs of their own. Plenty of room for you, though. My kind is good at webs, I think. Oh, let me show you part of web I like to stay in!

Goldie led him up a slight incline until they stood in a high place that overlooked almost the whole web. The ground where Adon had been when they first met was just out of view, but Adon could see what seemed to him a great distance. There were dozens of blooming flowers planted in flower beds, thick shrubbery growing in three different colors, and Adon could see the garden path’s shape a bit better than he ever had before.

What a view! he sent.

That was why I picked this place, she thought. The beautiful sights. Anywhere in the garden would be almost equal for food. But this place… If you came here at end of Summer instead of Autumn, you could have seen the fireflies. So beautiful, their display.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen fireflies in person, Adon sent, thinking specifically of his last life. He was sure he’d seen them at some distant point in another incarnation. But no memories stood out. That would have been beautiful to watch together.

Yes, Goldie thought. So pretty that I do not eat them. Getting soft in my old age.

The two exchanged a telepathic laugh.