17 GLADE 101
“Will you focus, child.” Her Mother’s exasperation was overshadowed by the overly fond smile on her face as Nnerka giggled.
Her hands pulled at the dirt, gaze drifting away once more to the trees around them. This was a new place; their territory’s expansion had been easily won. The humans in this particular area had been advised by their elven counterparts that some battles were not worth fighting, as so the clan of spiders had more room to spread their many legs and hunt. Which was what they were supposed to be doing. But Nnerka had not managed to stay focused since they had started, energy abound as she’d trailed after her Mother.
The young spider dropped her attention back to the hole she was digging. The way the earth had felt cool beneath her fingers at first touch. She had hunted with her Mother before, and even her Mama, but never like this. This was a particular method that meant she would be on her own. A trap made for her to lay in wait of prey. Somewhere else in the trees, several of her sisters were doing much the same. Guided by aunts who had stepped in to allow for more of them to hunt in a single day.
“But, why are we doing it this way?” A simple enough question. She’d seen her aunts, and even her own mothers, hunt in various ways. They all seemed to have a manner of hunting for which they favored. A signature of sorts.
Her Mother paused, considered how best to answer. “Because this is easiest for you to learn and use on your own. It might not be what you rely on, but it’s the way I can teach you and go about my business. And if you run into trouble, you just hide right in here.” Her Mother nodded, mostly to herself, but there was another pause before she continued. “Dig deeper.”
Nnerka wasted no time, using all four hands to pull up the dirt as instructed. When her Mother seemed satisfied, she placed a hand on her shoulder and used another to brush the dirt off the young spider. It had taken her close to an hour to dig the hole. It seemed narrow, perhaps too narrow for her to wedge herself into. Her Mother corrected that with ease, a sigh on her tongue as she reiterated the importance of being aware of her size. She would need to be able to pull herself out unaided.
Once the correction had been made, her Mother hooked her hands under her shoulders and lowered the spider into the hole. Certainly a bit roomier than it had been initially.
“Now, pad it. Like you would before bed.” The older spider gestured for the girl to do so quickly.
Nnerka sighed. She was not one to often make her bed, let alone set it up herself. She’d often taken advantage of one of her more early to rest sisters setting up their sleeping area. Pouting, she set about her task. Her fingers came together before pulling apart, a trail of webbing left behind with the action. Sticky enough that she could press it into the walls of the hole and begin to pad it. She looped them around once, twice; until her arms grew tired and she was sure she wouldn’t be able to do more. The floor of the hole was given a similar treatment until the cottony white of her webs become clearer and less brown with the dirt of the hole. Her Mother’s voice encouraged her from above, several eyes scanning their surroundings. The young spider pushed herself out of her hole, head popping out to peer up at her Mother and await further instruction.
“You remember what I taught you last time?” A hand smoothed down stray hairs atop her head as the question was asked, cupping her face as she nodded.
“Yes, Mother!”
A brow rose. “What was it?”
“I have to be aware of my surroundings.” The lesson had been some time ago, her Mother’s attention driven toward territorial conflict. Nnerka and her sisters had anticipated the moment their hunting lessons would resume, though several of their aunts had offered to take point on that. But there was nothing quite like learning from her Mother. Nnerka had been clear of that, and received chuckles laced with understanding before being sent off to do chores. “Uhm, we leave our threads to catch the vibrations of the animals that pass. Loose ones, but not with too much slack since we want to know when something passes. If it snaps, then it’s something we might need to be careful of.”
She glanced up at her Mother, hoping she had done a good enough job at summarizing the lesson. Another pat on the head was her reward. “Good. Now get to it.”
If Nnerka groaned, shoulders slumping as she had to do more work before the actual hunt began, it was silenced quickly by her Mother’s gaze. She skittered away to spread her threads out before her Mother could reprimand her. The last thing she needed was sore ears while hunting. Perhaps her Mother would even stop the hunt altogether. The thought sped her through the motions, though she remained mostly careful of where she laid her threads and not to cross over and cut them off.
She trotted back once satisfied, her Mother pointing into the hole. “Back in. I’ll cover you up this time, but when you do this yourself, you want to make a bundle of sticks and dirt and mix it with your webs.”
“What will that do?”
“It’ll blend the threads in and you can cover yourself. I’ll show you how.”
Nnerka wondered, at times, if her Mother ever ran out of patience with her children. The little spider might not have been the brightest of the bunch, but she was sure she was among the more enthusiastic and curious. At least with anything that concerned food. Getting back into the hole — unaided this time — she pursed her lips. The threads still connected to her fingers were pushed into the ones padding the hole. Splayed out the keys one of those piano things she’d heard about in passing. Her sister had claimed to have seen one, but that was impossible. Humans were small and weak; they couldn’t go around lifting heavy things with them wherever they went. It would have taken a considerable amount of energy for them to do that, and even the thought of Nnerka doing that herself wasn’t exactly appealing.
It soon grew dark and she lifted her head to see her mother putting a cover over the hole. “This is what I meant.”
“Oh.” Tiny, small. The space itself was small and she wasn’t sure she liked being closed in like this. But there was nothing telling her that this was wrong. No violent rejection of being in such an enclosed space. Her Mama had been clear to trust her instincts in one of their previous lessons. She glanced up once more, studied the cover her Mother had made to the trap.
“When they walk over, you’re going to pull them in with the webs.” There was no specification on what ‘they’ were, but that didn’t matter. The thrum of excitement had returned to her as she peered up through the tiny opening her mother had made for her. “I’ll be back for you later.”
She could feel when her Mother left, and then she was left in silence. The waiting game had begun. Nnerka had heard aunts complain about this part of it all. The wait had never occurred to her as being as long and tedious as it was. Minutes ticked by, small vibrations echoing through the threads as insects crawled over them. Hours trudged on until a whimper carried down to her.
Nnerka jerked upright, tugging on the thread with the most movement and a sharp yelp was let loose. She’d caught something. Her grin was wide as she pushed herself up to the surface once more. She’d have something to take home and brag about, surely. And maybe snack on on the back home. But as she moved the cover of her trap back, her grin dropped.
The tiny creature was, at first, hard to identify. A clump of fur that whimpered and whined as it rolled about to free itself of her webbing. It was only as it gave up in its attempts to free itself that she could make out that what she had caught was a wolf pup.
As far as she knew, wolves didn’t often cross into their territory. It was a matter of respect for fellow hunters, maybe, and the fear that they too would end up on someone’s dinner plate. And the humans scaring them away. She pursed her lips as she glanced around. A splotch of red matted the fur of its hind leg, and as it turned large grey eyes to her, she felt a sense of dread drop into her.
Why was it here? And why was it alone? But any further thought was lost as her Mama’s voice broke the silence.
“The hell is that doing here?”
Her hands pulled at the dirt, gaze drifting away once more to the trees around them. This was a new place; their territory’s expansion had been easily won. The humans in this particular area had been advised by their elven counterparts that some battles were not worth fighting, as so the clan of spiders had more room to spread their many legs and hunt. Which was what they were supposed to be doing. But Nnerka had not managed to stay focused since they had started, energy abound as she’d trailed after her Mother.
The young spider dropped her attention back to the hole she was digging. The way the earth had felt cool beneath her fingers at first touch. She had hunted with her Mother before, and even her Mama, but never like this. This was a particular method that meant she would be on her own. A trap made for her to lay in wait of prey. Somewhere else in the trees, several of her sisters were doing much the same. Guided by aunts who had stepped in to allow for more of them to hunt in a single day.
“But, why are we doing it this way?” A simple enough question. She’d seen her aunts, and even her own mothers, hunt in various ways. They all seemed to have a manner of hunting for which they favored. A signature of sorts.
Her Mother paused, considered how best to answer. “Because this is easiest for you to learn and use on your own. It might not be what you rely on, but it’s the way I can teach you and go about my business. And if you run into trouble, you just hide right in here.” Her Mother nodded, mostly to herself, but there was another pause before she continued. “Dig deeper.”
Nnerka wasted no time, using all four hands to pull up the dirt as instructed. When her Mother seemed satisfied, she placed a hand on her shoulder and used another to brush the dirt off the young spider. It had taken her close to an hour to dig the hole. It seemed narrow, perhaps too narrow for her to wedge herself into. Her Mother corrected that with ease, a sigh on her tongue as she reiterated the importance of being aware of her size. She would need to be able to pull herself out unaided.
Once the correction had been made, her Mother hooked her hands under her shoulders and lowered the spider into the hole. Certainly a bit roomier than it had been initially.
“Now, pad it. Like you would before bed.” The older spider gestured for the girl to do so quickly.
Nnerka sighed. She was not one to often make her bed, let alone set it up herself. She’d often taken advantage of one of her more early to rest sisters setting up their sleeping area. Pouting, she set about her task. Her fingers came together before pulling apart, a trail of webbing left behind with the action. Sticky enough that she could press it into the walls of the hole and begin to pad it. She looped them around once, twice; until her arms grew tired and she was sure she wouldn’t be able to do more. The floor of the hole was given a similar treatment until the cottony white of her webs become clearer and less brown with the dirt of the hole. Her Mother’s voice encouraged her from above, several eyes scanning their surroundings. The young spider pushed herself out of her hole, head popping out to peer up at her Mother and await further instruction.
“You remember what I taught you last time?” A hand smoothed down stray hairs atop her head as the question was asked, cupping her face as she nodded.
“Yes, Mother!”
A brow rose. “What was it?”
“I have to be aware of my surroundings.” The lesson had been some time ago, her Mother’s attention driven toward territorial conflict. Nnerka and her sisters had anticipated the moment their hunting lessons would resume, though several of their aunts had offered to take point on that. But there was nothing quite like learning from her Mother. Nnerka had been clear of that, and received chuckles laced with understanding before being sent off to do chores. “Uhm, we leave our threads to catch the vibrations of the animals that pass. Loose ones, but not with too much slack since we want to know when something passes. If it snaps, then it’s something we might need to be careful of.”
She glanced up at her Mother, hoping she had done a good enough job at summarizing the lesson. Another pat on the head was her reward. “Good. Now get to it.”
If Nnerka groaned, shoulders slumping as she had to do more work before the actual hunt began, it was silenced quickly by her Mother’s gaze. She skittered away to spread her threads out before her Mother could reprimand her. The last thing she needed was sore ears while hunting. Perhaps her Mother would even stop the hunt altogether. The thought sped her through the motions, though she remained mostly careful of where she laid her threads and not to cross over and cut them off.
She trotted back once satisfied, her Mother pointing into the hole. “Back in. I’ll cover you up this time, but when you do this yourself, you want to make a bundle of sticks and dirt and mix it with your webs.”
“What will that do?”
“It’ll blend the threads in and you can cover yourself. I’ll show you how.”
Nnerka wondered, at times, if her Mother ever ran out of patience with her children. The little spider might not have been the brightest of the bunch, but she was sure she was among the more enthusiastic and curious. At least with anything that concerned food. Getting back into the hole — unaided this time — she pursed her lips. The threads still connected to her fingers were pushed into the ones padding the hole. Splayed out the keys one of those piano things she’d heard about in passing. Her sister had claimed to have seen one, but that was impossible. Humans were small and weak; they couldn’t go around lifting heavy things with them wherever they went. It would have taken a considerable amount of energy for them to do that, and even the thought of Nnerka doing that herself wasn’t exactly appealing.
It soon grew dark and she lifted her head to see her mother putting a cover over the hole. “This is what I meant.”
“Oh.” Tiny, small. The space itself was small and she wasn’t sure she liked being closed in like this. But there was nothing telling her that this was wrong. No violent rejection of being in such an enclosed space. Her Mama had been clear to trust her instincts in one of their previous lessons. She glanced up once more, studied the cover her Mother had made to the trap.
“When they walk over, you’re going to pull them in with the webs.” There was no specification on what ‘they’ were, but that didn’t matter. The thrum of excitement had returned to her as she peered up through the tiny opening her mother had made for her. “I’ll be back for you later.”
She could feel when her Mother left, and then she was left in silence. The waiting game had begun. Nnerka had heard aunts complain about this part of it all. The wait had never occurred to her as being as long and tedious as it was. Minutes ticked by, small vibrations echoing through the threads as insects crawled over them. Hours trudged on until a whimper carried down to her.
Nnerka jerked upright, tugging on the thread with the most movement and a sharp yelp was let loose. She’d caught something. Her grin was wide as she pushed herself up to the surface once more. She’d have something to take home and brag about, surely. And maybe snack on on the back home. But as she moved the cover of her trap back, her grin dropped.
The tiny creature was, at first, hard to identify. A clump of fur that whimpered and whined as it rolled about to free itself of her webbing. It was only as it gave up in its attempts to free itself that she could make out that what she had caught was a wolf pup.
As far as she knew, wolves didn’t often cross into their territory. It was a matter of respect for fellow hunters, maybe, and the fear that they too would end up on someone’s dinner plate. And the humans scaring them away. She pursed her lips as she glanced around. A splotch of red matted the fur of its hind leg, and as it turned large grey eyes to her, she felt a sense of dread drop into her.
Why was it here? And why was it alone? But any further thought was lost as her Mama’s voice broke the silence.
“The hell is that doing here?”
