After Lily, Annan could hear Little Spider speak too.
"Do you remember anything from before? Who taught you to talk? Lily? Was that dream yours...?"
The Spider Queen answered Annan's enthusiasm with silence.
Annan thought Little Spider might have only just learned to speak and couldn't express its feelings yet.
His gaze fell on Silly Cat on the windowsill. He walked toward it, but it leaped away as soon as he got close.
Annan gave up on the fantasy that Silly Cat could talk too. It was far too stupid.
It was late at night, and waking Eldest Sister and Olmedo would be a bad idea. Annan could only return to his meditation.
Quiet settled over the bedroom. At some point, Silly Cat returned and fixed a hostile stare on the Glass Bottle.
"You tricked him into going to the Underdark?"
"It will benefit him too..."
"What benefit? What good could come from a human going to the Endless Abyss?"
"My help... and my subjects," Little Spider said calmly. "I will make all my followers his servants, for him to choose from as he pleases."
"You're just as disgusting as he is!"
"Wake up..."
At dawn, Annan finished meditating and leaned close to Little Spider, calling softly, as if afraid last night had been a figment of his imagination.
Before long, Little Spider crawled out of its lair. "Across the sea..." it repeated.
"Do you remember me?"
"Across the sea..."
"Do you want something to eat?"
"Across the sea..."
Annan left for a moment and returned with a Southern Map. "Where?"
Clarity returned to Little Spider's four clouded eyes. It pressed itself against the wall of the Glass Bottle.
In case Little Spider couldn't read, Annan opened the Glass Bottle and tipped it onto the map so it could