The smile on my little sister’s face as Elle eagerly hugged her was one of the brightest, warmest things in my life. Of course, Shayla couldn’t stay behind at that. She too, made her way to the girl, who showered them with pats.

“We’re back,” I said with a chuckle as I approached. “As you can see.”

“Welcome back,” My father called from the table. His clothes were all dirty with mud, and I saw a drop of sweat on his forehead. It was clear he’d just finished work for the day, and was now enjoying a cup of tea while reading his so-called newspaper. “How did the dungeon go today?”

“Good. Much better than I expected to be fair.”

“That’s great to hear, sweetie,” My mom said from the other side of the table. She seemed to have slipped into clean, and more comfortable clothes already, which had me guessing it was her who picked up Elira from school. “Want something to drink?”

I glanced over at Cellestra who’d stepped off.

“It’s not possible to say no to a nice cup of tea now, is it?” She replied to the question.

My mother smiled and made her way indoors while I was left watching Elira. Shadow had noticed the spiderlings arrive and had come out of hiding as well, only to climb on top of Shayla who petted the cat as it made itself comfortable on her soft thorax.

“I can’t believe any of this,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m so happy they get along so well.”

My dad didn’t reply, but I could see in his eyes that he enjoyed watching Elira, especially when she was having fun like this. She was currently playing some sort of hide and seek, or at least, she was trying to hide behind Shayla’s abdomen, all while Elle chased her down to give her another hug.

Cellestra giggled as she took a seat, her eyes never leaving the girl.

A bit of a playful idea shot to mind, which I quickly put into action. I summoned threads from my hands and wrapped them into a ball. When it was of decent shape, I threw it toward Elira, and it landed right next to Shayla, who took an immediate interest in it.

She looked at it, and skittered around, never taking her eyes off the object.

“Let’s see if they like to play fetch,” I suggested.

“Oh, that would be fun!” Elira said, the little elf bending over to collect the ball of silk before throwing it as far away as she could.

But we didn't get the reaction we wanted. Both Elle and Shayla were simply left staring as the object landed, not bothering to move in the slightest. It was Shadow who jumped off the spider’s back and brought it back to Elira, which left Cellestra giggling, and my dad laughing at the sight.

“Either they don’t get it, or they’re too smart to jump after it,” I concluded. “I’m gonna go with smart. At least Shadow is having fun.”

I looked at the other spiderlings who seemed to be frozen in time.

“What are you waiting for? Go have some fun as well.”

That seemed to be the cue for Faerith to start racing around again, and for Myria to slowly approach Elira. Amarys didn’t seem to be interested in this concept called ‘fun’. She stood where she was and just observed everything going on around her without moving as much as an inch.

“This was part of your blessing, right?” My dad suddenly asked. “Summoning them or something?”

I nodded.

“Yeah. They are supposed to be minions that grow stronger in the same way I do.”

“Minions…” My father satd before taking a pause. “But you obviously don’t see them that way. It’s easy to tell.”

“I don’t,” I said with a sigh. “I wanted to, but I just can’t. Sure, I’ll have them listen to me, but I want to give them as much freedom as I can.” I paused for a few seconds, just watching Elira pet and play with the oversized spiders. “I don’t know if it’s the case, but I feel like Elysa had a hand in all this. Their personalities are so distinct, and their interests so genuine, there’s no way a standard summoned creature is like that.”

I shook my head once more.

“Then again, I have no experience with it whatsoever, so I can’t confirm anything.” A small smile grew on my face as I kept my eyes on my little sister who was having the time of her life. “Maybe I’ll ask her, maybe I won’t. It doesn’t really matter. All that matters is that I’ve grown really attached to them in the short time I’ve known them… and so has Elira it seems.”

My mother returned with two cups of scalding hot tea as my father continued.

“Well, they make you smile a lot, and I’m happy whenever you are.”

I nodded to my dad’s reply and accepted the tea my mother gave me, thanking her as I started blowing on it.

“I’ll get started on dinner,” She said after delivering Cellestra’s tea. “No peeking.” She smiled as she walked past me before disappearing inside.

I was left more confused than ever. Why the no peeking part?

“Isn’t it way too early to start dinner?” I asked no one in particular.

“You already forgot your mom said she’d have a special surprise today?” My father called.

“Ah,” I let out. “I see.”

I still didn’t understand the secrecy behind it all, but I wasn’t too worried about it.

I was more interested in watching Elira. She managed to get on Shayla’s back, and the spider was now skittering around, not concerned by the little elf at all. In fact, she seemed to enjoy it. Maybe she’d seen me and Cellestra and tried to mimic it, thinking it was ‘good’ to carry a person around. Whatever the reason, they were both having a great time.

I drank my tea and then decided to show my dad their capabilities as weavers. To keep things simple, I had Myria and Elle create a small, round doily.

Not too much later, they finished their work, which was undoubtedly much better than what they’d produced previously. Whether it was the simplicity of the project or the fact that they already had experience with something that was much harder, I couldn’t tell. Either way, my dad was delighted to see them work, as was Elira. After washing and drying the silk to remove the remaining stickiness, he was happy to accept it and give it a nice place on the table.

“Not bad,” He said. “I have a feeling this could be lucrative. I’m pretty sure that it usually takes way longer to have something like this made.”

“Yep. Wait until they have experience. I’m very eager to have them make more things when we’re not in dungeons.”

I thanked my spiderlings with words and affectionate petting, asking them if they would want to create a large rectangle cloth that would cover the entire table.

Without hesitation, they went to work.

About an hour later, they were done, and the result was breathtaking. There were no rough edges, the thickness was even, and the fabric was soft. It was finished just in time before dinner as more and more aromatic smells escaped the window next to the kitchen.

My dad excused himself to help my mom after I covered the table with the freshly-woven cloth.

“Speak of surprises,” I said while making sure Myria and Elle were made well aware that their hard work was very much appreciated.

“She’ll love it,” Cellestra confirmed. “It’s beautiful… and I suppose it is the easy solution to winter. I can see you selling sleeping bags made of silk. That makes me think, would the spiders get cold?”

“I don’t know if they know what that means, but I would imagine not with the amount of hair they have, but if they do, you know what I’ll have to do.”

I chuckled and nodded at my own half-joke, just as my father exited the house with plates and cutlery, followed by my mom who wore mittens while carrying a large, flat pan that housed a most colorful dish. Not only that, but it smelled delicious.

I somehow couldn’t take my eyes off of it.

The smile on my mother’s face as she saw me staring was warm, but there was something else there and I couldn’t tell what it was. I felt that she was expecting me to say something, to comment on the food, but in a different way than I was used to.

My questioning look made her smile disappear, and instead, I saw a certain sadness in her eyes. For some reason, and I had no idea why, it also filled me with sadness. So much that I felt a tear form in my eye.

Why?

“Oh, poor thing,” My mom whispered. “You don’t remember?”