Eva

No. Not their enemy, and their prisoner not through malice. I am Eva, a thing... difficult to describe, a child of Weavers, yet not quite their kin...

Hornet

How strange. That description could fit me as well as yourself.

Child of Weavers?... And not? I can detect your Weaver strain, yet you are different from them, and from me, a shifting, blended thing? What are you creature?

Step closer, lady, that my senses would better understand your nature.

Lady, still my senses resound. You seem so far beyond the bounds of a bug.

Permit me to gaze again upon your nature, that I may offer clarity.

Lady? So you live, still. This is good... I had felt the conflict commence, pale hearts ablaze, and the sudden well of darkness after.

Hornet

I am sorry, Eva. I had hoped to slay the monarch, and was near achieving that goal, but the situation has become... complicated. Now, all of Pharloom threatens to fall.

But I can sense it in you, lady. You have not yielded to despair, so some hope must still remain?

Hornet

...Slim hope, I suspect. But true, there may yet be a way through this disaster. I shall pursue that goal with whatever strength remains.

Then allow me to continue to aid you as I can... Mine might be a small contribution, but I shall provide it eagerly.

Incredible... Your nature is so unlike a mortal bug’s. Yours is malleable, transitory. It is a marvellous thing, worth my long life to behold.

With what power I possess, I may still be able to aid you further.

Hornet

Eva, I am seeking a tool, told to be somewhere in this structure. It is a snare device of Weaver make. Do you know of it?

I may, lady. Search over from here, on side where the moss meets the nest. There, my mothers built their tools, all traps and bindings. Small things, but tests for larger forms.

I still remember their thoughts as they worked, their desperation, and their hunger. Another hopeless attempt to wrest their freedom. All ended in failure, of course.

Lady, please. Permit me to look upon your nature, that I may offer clarity...

Incredible... Your nature is so unlike a mortal bug’s. Yours is malleable, transitory. It is a marvellous thing, worth my long life to behold.

If in your travels you are able to further evolve, return to me. With what power I possess, I may be able to aid you further.

Hornet

Thank you, Eva. If my nature expands as you say, I shall return.

Hornet

You see one’s nature, Eva? It is a skill far beyond bugs.

One not without cost. My sight perceives a bug only through the imprint upon their soul.

Hornet

You speak of their crest? That signifier of a bug’s essence and their invisible yoke born through a lifetime.

Crest? Yes, the old Weaver term. A simple word to attempt description of something so profound.

But wait. Your own nature... Is it?...

Lady, permit me to look deeper still, that I may offer clarity...

Allow Insight?

Lady, Pharloom’s time grows short. If you are able to further expand your nature, I urge you return to me.

Any power I possess, I shall grant it for your aid.

Hornet

My thanks, Eva. If my nature expands as you say, I shall return.

Bind Eva?

Stay back, twisted leech! Even lodged within another’s shell, your ravenous nature shines clear.

You shall not defoul this chamber, nor claim my soul. Begone!

Lady... Incredible... Your nature is so unlike a mortal bugs. Yours is malleable, transitory. It is a marvellous thing. Worth my long life to behold.

Unbound one, though we know each other little, permit me to ask a selfish request.

Hornet

Your talent has provided a great benefit, Eva. What is it you desire of me?

Only to have my own soul, my own memories, bound within your shell... As you have done with those others throughout these lands.

I would not define as a crest within you, but my small strength may still grant a final boon.

Hornet

You ask to be subsumed? Know your mind would cease to be, in any independent sense.

To be united with one unbound... This is the kind of escape I once prayed for, though the weight of ages had almost made me forget.

Lady, would you grant me this request?

Lady, you are a multitude within a single shell. A being truly unbound. To aid your growth has proved a grand task, even for one as limited as me.

As my last act, permit me to ask a final, selfish request.

Hornet

Your talents have provided great benefit, Eva. What is it you desire of me?

Only to have my own soul, my own memories, bound within your shell... As you have done with those others throughout these lands.

I would not define as a crest within you, but my small strength may still grant a final boon.

Hornet

You ask to be subsumed? Know your mind would cease to be, in any independent sense.

I know. And still I seek it, gladly. To be united with one unbound... This is the kind of escape I once prayed for, though the weight of ages had almost made me forget.

Dear Lady, would you grant me this request?

Who’s there? Has someone come to free me? Or are you here to bring my end?

Hornet

I am Hornet, prisoner, only a traveller and not here to slay you.

Hornet

What cause sees you caged in these ruins of Weavers past? Were you their enemy?

Lady, my senses resound. You have grown further beyond the bounds of a bug.

Permit me to gaze again upon your nature, that I may offer clarity.

Hornet

How did you come to be sealed here, Eva?

Lady, you mistake. What seems a cage is as much my shell as the form inside.

I was born within this space. To leave would be my death, an uninspired end, though one I’ve sometimes wished would come.

I am unique, you see. My mothers shared the curse of their tribe, to conceive a child is a painful, near impossible task.

Hornet

I know the curse well, Eva, for I am also its victim, and spawn of one who managed to overcome its limits.

Hornet

Are you too an attempt to defy that cruel constraint?

A flawed attempt. A life spun from rune and shell, sustained only by its cage. My thoughts may mimic a Weavers, but my senses are my own.

Over time, that difference brought only distance between us.

By your grace, I am at last broken from my fate.

Hornet

Gladly I accept your union, Eva. No longer shall you suffer eternity alone.

Come no closer! I sense the forbidden blood coursing through you, that which grows and reshapes the world in its own vulgar image.

Whether it was imbibed willingly or not, none shall be allowed into this chamber while so afflicted. Begone!

Lady, if in your travels you are able to further expand your nature, return to me. With what power I possess, I may be able to aid you further.

Hornet

If my nature expands as you say, Eva, I shall return.

Lady, would you think again upon my last request? To be bound amidst your shimmering soul?

I understand it is a selfish thing to ask, and I will hold no ill will if you reject.

Hornet

I am sorry, Eva. I cannot grant you this. At least, not yet.

Hornet

Yours is a mind strong and strange. That union could prove dangerous to my identity.

I understand, Lady. I will be here, if ever you reconsider.