“I can’t tell you what to do,” Cellestra said. “But I think they are deserving of a name. You said it yourself. They are living, breathing creatures with a personality.”

She sat down at my side, her back resting against my lower head, causing the spider that had some kind of affinity for hugging to let go of me and hug her again instead. She giggled as she scratched the creature’s head gently.

“Especially this one,” She spoke. “I think Elira will like this one very much.”

“I hope the cats aren’t scared by it,” I said with a chuckle. “But I suppose they are used to an even larger spider, so I doubt it.”

“More friends for them to play with,” I said with a smile.

“To sleep on, you mean.”

I let out a small laugh at her answer after which I went back to thinking about what she’d just said. Naming the spiderlings would be fitting, but there was one issue.

“Uhm, Cel.”

“Hm?”

“I may need your help again. You know, when it comes to naming, we need to know if these are male or female spiders.”

“I’m gonna go ahead and say they are all female,” Cellestra said confidently.

“What makes you say that?” I asked, genuinely interested as to how she came to that conclusion.

“Two reasons, though I guess I can only be certain about one of them. One, there was never a male involved so it’s safe to assume these are, to some degree, copies of you.”

She was about to continue, but I stopped her from talking with my next exclamations.

“Wowowowowow, what? What do you mean?”

“I sorta knew you’d ask that,” She said with a small, warm smile. “You see, some animals are able to reproduce asexually, but when that happens, the offspring is all female. In other words, copies of the mother. I’ve read about some snakes and other reptiles that can do it. Not sure if it’s a thing with spiders, though.”

“Reading books does that to you, doesn’t it? I never would have known.”

I was amazed to see what some people could find out about things if they put in the time. Unfortunately, watching snakes just wasn’t for me, let alone watching their eggs and then comparing the baby snakes to their mothers.

She nodded with a proud smile.

“What would the other thing be?” I asked. “You said there was something else.”

“Just their body shape, and some features. I mean, I can double-check if you like, but the size of their abdomens is quite telling. I know these are called spiderlings, but if they were adults, I could also tell from the lack of palpal bulbs.”

“The whatnow?”

“Some kind of organ at the end of the pedipalps. I’m sure you noticed them on the spider that tried to court you way back.”

“I… I think I know what you’re talking about.” I sighed and petted the most affectionate of the bunch again. “And I don’t think the double-checking will be necessary. I trust your knowledge, and it does make sense to me. What will we call this little one here?”

“How do you like ‘Elle’?”

“That’s a nice name. How did you come up with it that fast?” I came to a pause as something struck me. “Wait. You didn't just use the middle part of your name, did you?”

“I totally did,” Cellestra said triumphantly.

“Okay then. Hey Elle, why don’t you go and hug Cellestra?”

I had but to ask and the colossal spider turned around in the blink of an eye, and jumped towards her, taking her in for an affectionate hug.

Cellestra almost fell over backward but managed to sit upright as she carefully petted the animal.

“Well, that’s one. What about the others? I was thinking Myria for the quiet one.”

As if in reaction to us mentioning her, the entirely white spider slowly skittered forward and cocked its head. I lowered a hand to pet it, but it withdrew its head just before I could. I then tried to do it again, but approached it slowly. This time, it allowed me to, and my gentle strokes seemed to put it more at ease.

“Myria,” I said. “Is that okay with you?”

It seemed she knew what I meant as the spider used her pedipalps to nod in the same manner I used to do.

“They are quite smart it seems,” Cellestra said. “Must have gotten that from you as well.”

“You know of any other spiders that say yes like that?”

My question made her laugh for a good few seconds before she went right back to thinking. I thought with her as I watched the active spiderling still skitter around, the curious one watching its every action.

“Faerith,” I said.

Immediately after I said the name, the energetic arachnid promptly stopped and turned to watch me.

“Yep,” I continued. “We’ll name you Faerith.”

She nodded as well, and went right back to wandering about, climbing the wall all the way to the ceiling before finally remaining still… for now.

The spiderling observing her noticed Cellestra’s backpack and was eager to inspect the contents for herself. Like the smart spider she was, she quickly found out how to open it and fished out the book that Cellestra had read earlier. She laid it in front of her and simply stared at it while moving her body around it in a circle.

“Shalya,” Cellestra spoke softly as she watched the spider being intrigued by her tome. “How does that sound?”

“I like it, but it seems she’s far too occupied to care.”

I smiled at the sight of Shalya managing to open the book, only to be puzzled by its contents. I could tell she had no idea what any of it meant as she started skittering around even faster.

“Think you can teach them to read?” Cellestra asked.

“Maybe?” I said, shrugging. “Who knows? In all honesty, I might actually try that, just so they appear more sophisticated. Imagine if they could communicate with people the same way I did. Surely nobody would see them as a threat.”

“Might not be a bad idea, but I know you’re going to struggle to find time for that, considering all the other things we plan on doing.”

“True,” I said with a sigh. “So what about miss ‘don’t disturb my mother’ over here? What do you think about Cyria?”

“I was thinking Amarys, but it’s your call.”

“Oh, I do like that one too. I think I’ll pick that one. Amarys,” I said, turning my attention to my vigilant guardian. “What do you think about it?”

There was no reaction, which made me feel at least slightly sad, seeing how all the others had reacted with such positivity.

“Oh well,” I said. “Elle, Myria, Faerith, Shalya, and Amarys. I never thought we’d come up with names that quickly.” My voice became softer as it trailed off together with my mind. “I hope we won’t have to do it again.”

“I feel you. These beings are precious, even to me. I can’t fathom how much more they are to you.”

“Quite a bit already,” I mumbled. “They are my children, after all, whether I want them to be or not. This also has me concerned about my parents. They’ll be grandparents to… spiders. I fear how they may react.”

“I don’t think there’s a need for that,” Cellestra whispered. “But you know… I do think calling them grandparents is maybe going a bit far.”

“Maybe you’re right. I won’t call them that, or tell them that they are. Let’s have them draw their own conclusions and have them decide for themselves.”

“That sounds very reasonable.” She said, scratching Elle’s chelicerae. “Now, is there anything you want to do for the rest of the day?”

“I’m not sure. To be quite honest, I feel a bit drained. I’ll probably have to find something to eat soon as well. I thought I could last longer with what I’d eaten before, but laying eggs does seem to burn quite some energy.”

“Maybe it’s time you take the proper rest you’ve been longing for,” Cellestra suggested.

“Yeah, but there’s no way I can sleep now.”

“That’s… understandable. I don’t mind sitting here and talking about things if that’s what you wanna do.”

“I don’t think we’ll have much choice in activities we can do in here,” I said with a grin.

“Can always try some more tailoring,” She suggested.

“Not a bad idea.” I thought about it for a few more seconds as I watched Cellestra bond with Elle. “Maybe I can teach them to create shirts as well. That would be quite the trick.”

“Well then. Why not get started?”

I nodded.

“Elle, Shalya, do you feel like helping me out with something?”