Chapter Text
Something stood in the winding road 8efore Aranea's hive. She wasn't sure if it noticed her staring 8ack.
She was almost certain it was a person. She strained her still-developing leg muscles to look out of the grand window she designed for herself, up on the tips of her toes. They had a person's 8ody and a person's clothes, though the suit carried no sign or hue of any caste. If this was a troll, something had gone terri8ly wrong. They should have 8een culled.
People always told her that culling was deserved, 8ut they seldom actually gave her an explan8ion of what the culled had done. She also learned that it was wrong to defy expect8ions, 8ut o8served the opposite. She didn't 8elieve in the system, 8ut she wanted to so 8adly that her 8elief perpetu8ed itself into existence, save only for moments like these where her empathy drove her to interfere.
She finally worked up the courage to step outside, kicking up dust in her red 8oots that she had yet to grow into. Her lusus thought she must 8e going out to play.
He asked her for a favor. She o8liged. In return, he taught her how to use the 8lur in her vision.