Good morning. I send my thought to the spider. It could be that I have poor spider vision, but I can't discern any difference between this spider and the other five still asleep. Large, beady eyes, long legs, body segmented into two parts, wicked fangs, and dark hair, it's like the spiders are made from a mold.

I can see my message is received when the spider looks in my direction with her eight soul-piercing eyes. I don't grab all of her words with my first attempt, but I am able to get some. You speak Queen? The words are excited and hopeful.

Sorta. I am still learning. I can send my thoughts easily enough. It's the retrieving that's a problem. Mind slowing down your thoughts a little.

Is. This. Better. The words come out much slower than before, and I grab all three of them.

Perfect! I wanted to discuss our plan with you.

We find spiders; you raid the invaders. We meet back here after two moons.

The spider has my plan pegged. I like to think it's the simple nature of the plan that makes it so predictable. Yeah, that's the plan.

We like your plan. It is a good one. We will find our sisters and meet you here in two moons. Each thought from the spider is slow a deliberate.

Great. If, for any reason, we are not here, and you are on the run, make your way to the great lake on the other side of these mountains. I create a backup plan on the fly. There is a one hundred percent chance we won't need it. I'm just huge into making plans these days. Liam is a planner. That's what I like about him. Though the name is getting a bit old and has one too many syllables. Might be time for a change.

My stupid thoughts break my focus, and I forget to pull the thoughts from the spider. If she agrees to my second plan or not, I don't know. I should most definitely confirm we are on the same page or plan, but I am going to risk it. If my life has taught me anything, if you don't take stupid risks, then you probably won't get stupid rewards.

I freaking love rewards. I don't even care if they are stupid or not. I will hoard the treasure like I'm a destitute dragon trying to obtain his hoard to impress other dragons. I'm pretty sure that's a thing. Not even gonna bother Fury about it to verify; I'm so confident.

I shake myself out of my head and focus my thoughts on the spider's head. Our connection is renewed, and I try to create a more engaging conversation.

So, do you have a name?

What is a name?

Like Annette the Spider Queen.

Oh, a title?

Sure.

No, I do not have a title or a name.

So how did your Queen address you or your sisters?

The same way you are. So far, the level of engagement has been great. It's a natural back-and-forth conversation, and I feel like we are really connecting. Already covered the name part, so now I can tackle interests.

Anything you like to do for fun?

Hunting.

A real huntress. So, Tress, can I call you Tress? You can call me Li if you want. I know we didn't start out on the friendliest terms, and I'm sorry for the killing between us. It's a sincere apology. I killed a lot of her spiders. At the time, I felt I was doing it out of duty to the forest. That doesn't do much to change that my hands are covered in red.

The spider gives me no emotion or thoughts to pull on to gauge response. The conversation is good and dead like it never was. Still, I keep the bond between our minds a little moment longer. Just before I leave, I see the smallest imprint form in her mind. Tress.

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I take that as good of a sign as any to try a little more with my budding ally.

Tress, I meant to ask, what were you hunting when you and your spiders were cornered by goblins?

You.

Me?

We watch and protect the Queen's new pet.

New pet? She is my… I don't actually have the word to describe our relationship. Pet seems, well, it seems off. If anything, Nette is my pet, right? Not that I want her as a pet. Do the pets do the protecting, or do the owners? If we both swore to protect… this is nonsense.

You were trying to protect me? I jump back to our conversation.

You were captured and beaten by the goblins. We needed to uphold our oath to the Queen.

Thank you. I am sorry I failed to protect your sister.

The weak feed the strong.

Maybe one day, I can challenge that line of thought. For now, it is too early. I let the conversation die. Tress does some spider stretches while I practice thought-pulling with the rest of the spiders as they wake up to the sun's warmth.

Each conversation is similar to the one I had with Tress. The spiders wake up. I ambush them with a greeting, I exchange words for a word, they tell me an interest, and I give them a name. We make more spider talk, and then awkward silence follows. The small talk is doing leaps and bounds for my mind's charisma. One day I will be so adept I can trade jokes with the most recluse of the pack.

Just like Tress, each name given is accepted by the spiders. Fen, who likes defending her Queen, and now me. Noth is the spider that likes nothing. Cher loves watching things from the shadows. The spider is fond of catching things in her webs… Apper. Then, because my creative muscle is all worn out and I can't think of a good name for 'catching things and eating their insides,' I give the last spider to wake up — and surprisingly, the most social of the bunch — the name Kelly.

No magical change happens to the spiders when they accept their name despite my constant watching and hoping for a transformation. Not that I have any reason to believe a name will change the spiders; it would just be cool to see. The only difference is that when I connect with them mentally, the name they're given is reserved in their mind for me to read.

Though it might be the romantic in me, it seems with each name given and accepted, the spiders warmed up to my conversation attempts. Only time will tell if my name conjuring bears any other fruits.

Shortly after my conversation with Kelly ends, the spiders sling their webs into the trees and pull themselves into the higher foliage. A wake of rustled leaves and branches softly disturbs the otherwise quiet morning and quickly fades as the spiders move further south. Gene is in a deep sleep and undisturbed by the departure. I take a moment to meditate and reflect.

Nothing significant happens while meditating. I make notes of all my shortcomings, commit to do better, and focus on areas I can immediately improve. Charisma is a big one, but that is more of a long-time project. No matter how much I try to fake being a social bird, reality keeps me grounded. Alternatively, learning to use my mana to improve life is full of potential, and that is where I set most of my goals. Get the wins where I know I can.

Meditation ends shortly after the sun peaks over the mountains that hide us. The brightness of the sun is dulled within Gene's shadow realm though I can still feel the warmth. I want to allow Gene as much time as she needs to sleep, so I prepare breakfast as quietly as possible.

"I smell breakfast." The gruff feminine voice breaks me out of my cooking trance.

"Yeah, figured I would try my new pans over the flame." After adding some seasoning, I give the sizzling pork strips and diced potatoes a good mix. "How do you like your eggs? Runny, less runny, or cooked and mixed."

"It smells delicious. Scrambled, please. Do you, by chance, have any more bread for this morning's feast?"

"Two loaves are toasting over the fire as we speak. Five more minutes, and it'll all be ready." The smell of the salty pork wafts through the air carried on a breeze. The tantalizing scent gets mixed in my senses, and I end the cooking session a little earlier. To compensate for the early pull-out, I summon a minor flame and add a nice char to the pork and potatoes, keeping the heat away from the sensitive egg bits.

"I'd have rather shredded the potatoes, but that is too much work." I hand Gene her plate and pour her a cup of water. I hide that the water is coming from another skill because it seems weird to be pouring water out of my body and serving it with a meal. No proper camp chef would ever be caught committing such atrocities.

We finish breakfast, prepare for our raiding party, and spend a few hours training. I can make significant strides in perception skills now that I can read Gene's mind about it. After training, we strike out camp and then head out.

Gene is given a break from holding us in her shadow realm, allowing her to recuperate the strength she's been expending. We'll use my shadow realm when we're closer to danger. For now, we are treading cautiously through the forest, avoiding all unfriendly goblins that might be looking for their lost meals.

The silent hike together is a bit tough. I want to apologize again for pulling on Gene's emotions as I did. I resist the urge. Apologies can lose merit if they are piled on too thickly. At least, that could be the case. I trust that I can be better in the future and let my actions carry the weight of my words.