I watched the campfire in silence while Cellestra ate her ‘dinner’. It wasn't anything special, but it would do. In the meantime, I moved the wolf pelts from my back and carefully placed them on the dirt to my side. I didn’t think of anything in particular for the time being. I was just… lost in the fire. I allowed its dancing flames to enchant me.

“Hey, Kealyna?” Cellestra asked.

When I looked at her again, I saw that she’d already finished eating.

“Hm?”

“You’re not worrying again, are you?”

I shook my head. “No, I wasn’t. I just don’t know what to say at the moment.”

“That’s… unfortunate, I guess?” Cellestra said softly. “It’s ironic, don’t you think?”

“Ironic, how?” I asked.

“Well, you couldn’t speak before, but now that you can, you don’t speak as much as I would have expected you to.”

“I thought the same earlier. The problem is, I do want to talk, but I don’t know what to talk about.”

“Hmmm,” Cellestra hummed. “I think I see the problem. I would say tell me something from your life, but… You know…”

I nodded. “I’ve come to the conclusion my life is only now beginning. It’s a bit different from what I was promised… Well, a lot different, actually. Still, it’s a second chance that I’ll take, curse or not.”

“While that may be true,” Cellestra said. “There have to be certain things about you that are not new. Since you’re looking for stuff to talk about, how about hobbies?”

“Uhhh,” I stammered, thinking about what hobbies I had.

“Don’t tell me you have none,” Cellestra said, a small smile on her lips, which then turned into a frown when she realized that I couldn’t come up with an answer.

“I’m sorry. I’m afraid I didn’t… don’t have any,” I finally admitted.

“That’s… a shame,” Cellestra said softly. “I would say we should find something for you, but we’re going to be traveling most of the time, I think.”

I shrugged. “Guess it can’t be helped.” I paused for a moment before I started to wonder about what Cellestra did in her home all day.

“What about you?” I decided to ask.

“You’ve seen all those books, but you can’t guess that?” Cellestra said with a smile.

“I thought those were alchemy books?”

“Well, most of them, yes. I did spend a lot of time working through those for sure, but I do love reading about other things once in a while. Most of the time, I was too busy with more serious things though…” Cellestra looked down at the fire as the smile slowly disappeared from her face. “I didn’t mind it so much. It was something to keep me occupied, but I would love to have other things to do, you know?”

“Well, I don’t, but I can imagine. I hardly spent any time not training, patrolling, arresting bandits and whatnot.”

The elf chuckled. “Why am I not surprised?”

From the way she said it, I wasn’t sure if she was making a joke.

“Do you think I’m boring?” I’d asked the question before I could even think twice. Twice the brains and I still didn’t know how to use them in conversation.

“Huh? What made you think that? Would you be boring because you have no hobbies? I’m sure there are reasons behind all that. No.” She shook her head. “If anything, I admire your dedication. I guess that same dedication is what put you here. How can you be boring if you’re willing to go that far?”

I didn’t know how to reply to her words. Even when talking about solemn things like these, she still managed to make me feel warm inside.

“Hey, I know something,” Cellestra said, sounding a lot more optimistic all of a sudden. “I know this may sound weird and all, but it’s something I just came up with.”

I looked at her with great curiosity.

“How about you try to use your silk to create clothes? I guess that’s something you could do while on the road. I mean, you do have your two brains after all. If what you’re telling me about how they work is true, I reckon you should be okay, right?”

“Uhm. I guess I could try that? I’ve never done, or even thought about doing anything like that before.”

“Give it a shot,” Cellestra said warmly. “You might like it. At the very least, it gives you something to do, and perhaps it will have a use, or even trade value.”

“Thanks. I’ll give that a try I think.”

Cellestra’s companionship proved to be invaluable. Not only had I someone to talk to while I traversed this new world, but she was also kind enough to provide me with ideas so when we didn’t have anything to talk about. There was still no reason to get bored.

“Anyway,” Cellestra continued, “You should probably get some sleep. I’ll wake you when it’s your turn for guard duty.”

“Alright.” I nodded and then prepared the hair on my back with my legs, pulling more of it to increase the thickness of the layer of hair I would lay my elven torso down in. When I lay in the softness, I could feel sleep calling for me, but I forced myself to stay awake just a little longer to observe the stars in the night sky above the forest.

I wondered how many of those would have planets like this one floating nearby. Now that I knew there were at least two worlds, there were probably many more. I wondered on how many of those Elysa would be worshipped.

“Good night,” Cellestra said. I could hear, and see her giggle after speaking.

“Good night. Though, I guess it’s a bit early for me to say that as you’re not going to sleep yet.”

“You can wish me good night again when I go to sleep after waking you up.”

“I suppose that’s true. I’ll see you then.”

I closed my eyes and emptied my mind.

A light poke in my cheek managed to wake me up. When my senses sharpened, I could still see the night sky above. I opened my eyes to see Cellestra standing at my side.

“Time to get up,” She said with a smile. “I’ll go to sleep now.”

“I don’t feel like getting up…” I admitted.

I hated being woken up by anything else but my natural cycle. If this was going to happen every day, I might just snap at some point.

I placed my hands under my head and continued staring at the sky, while my spider eyes kept watch of the surrounding area. “I guess I don’t physically have to.”

“As long as you don’t fall back asleep that is.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ll just keep looking at the fire and the sky at the same time.”

“Alright,” Cellestra said as she took one of the pelts in her hands. “Say, do you mind if I sleep against you?”

How could she ask that so directly? I mean, it wasn’t that I minded that…

“Go for it,” I said.

“Thanks.”

She sat down and rested her head against my thorax with a pelt covering her body.

“Good night,” I said now that it was finally my turn to wish her goodnight.

I noticed the elf smile as she closed her eyes. “Thank you, Kealyna. I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

Her breathing slowed, and soon she was asleep. I turned my attention to watch her sleep. As beautiful as the stars in the sky were, she was more interesting to look at. I placed two of my legs around her when I noticed the pelt slip away. I used them to hold it back in place and, to a degree, hug her as well.

I should ask her for a proper hug soon…

I kept a close eye on her in case she had another nightmare. I paid attention to the slightest hint that may give away that her sleep was starting to get restless, so that I could cast holy light on her as soon as it did. I wanted to make sure that Cellestra would get all the rest she deserved.

It appeared that it didn’t happen.

Hours passed wherein I watched her, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Instead, she only seemed to get more and more comfortable as I saw that she took a hold of my soft spider hair with one of her hands while a smile grew on her face.

She then buried herself deeper in this ‘pillow of hers.’

I shook my elven head while I was still lying down on myself. This pillow sure was doing one hell of a job.

A smile grew on my face. It didn’t disappear throughout the night, even as morning arrived.

I didn’t have the heart to wake her up. This was her first good night in a while. I figured leaving her asleep for a while longer wouldn’t be an issue.