Beth wanted to believe the giant dridder's story, but she also didn't want to be made a fool. She had lived alone for so long and had been able to protect herself and her daughter without the terrible man that had once called himself her husband. She needed to be strong. It was important to her to be able to protect her family from all monsters. "I can't trust you, yet. You're going to have to explain things more to me before I can consider believing you. Now, I'm going to back up to allow you to come down from the trees so that I can get a better look at you, dridder, but you are not to come down till I tell you to. Understand?" Beth barked her orders.

"I understand," Arachne replied. Despite the size difference, Arachne was fearful of the woman. Arachne saw the human as an equal and knew she couldn't bring herself to fight back. She thought about running, but feared loosing an eye. Plus, if she pleaded her case to the woman, the woman might become friendlier if she discovers Arachne is not a monster.

Beth backed away slowly. She kept her aim on the dridder while hesitantly stepping backwards. She didn't want to step into a trap the dridder might have set for her. Once Beth felt she was far enough from the dridder's reach and still in the clearing, Beth called up, "Come down." The giant dridder came down, but it did it very slowly. Arachne did this, hoping that she wouldn't encourage the woman to attack and release that arrow. Eventually the giant dridder had all eight legs on the grassy ground and simply waited for more orders from Beth. Beth took this time to examine Arachne. It was indeed a child of about five years old, but it was so large. It had to have been about thirty-five feet tall and its spider body was enormous. The dridder's upper body was that of a human girl in structure. However, her skin was a shade of purple, she had pointed ears like an elf; she had pure white hair, and ruby red eyes. Besides those details, the upper body looked exactly like a cute child without the sexual organs of a female where the spider body and the human body met in that V shape and breasts that weren't developed yet. Beth looked at the large face of the creature. She didn't expect the dridder to look like this. She thought it would be more monstrous. Also, this one's face was full of fear. "Is she really afraid of me?" Beth wondered in her mind, "Or is she trying to put me in a false sense of security?" Beth held strong with her arrow as she ordered, "Now, put the boy down and let him come to me."

Arachne reacted quickly to this order by bringing her free hand up to Felix and covered the rest of his boy from the front that wasn't in her other fist like a wall. Arachne brought Felix closer to her body. At first, Beth took this as a sign of the dridder not wanting to give up a meal, but there was something else. The dridder clearly didn't want to give up the boy, but there was a sadness and desperation in the dridder's eyes, as if she needed the boy more than just a meal. "Listen, I might trust you more if you show me that you're willing to let this human go," Beth informed her.

"Arachne," Felix whispered up to her causing her to look down at him. Felix couldn't turn his body around in her fist and had to just look up at her. "It will be alright," Felix tried to assure her.

"But..." Arachne started.

"Arachne, she's not going to hurt me or take me away from you. She just wants to make sure you don't see me as your meal. If you're unwilling to let me go, she'll think you're keeping me captive, "Felix explained.

"Just promise me you'll come back, alright?" Arachne demanded with sad eyes.

"You know I'd never leave you. You're my first and only friend," Felix said.

"You are mine as well," Arachne replied.

Beth could not hear the conversation they were having and feared the dridder wasn't going to let the boy go. Suddenly, Arachne lowered her hands that were cupped together with their palms facing up and Felix sitting on top of them. Arachne only bent her upper body and outstretched her arms till the backs of her hands reached the ground. Before Felix left the palms he patted them and told her it would be alright. Beth was surprised by this action, but never loosened her grip. Felix approached Beth and Beth questioned, "Tell me. Is this dridder really your friend?"

"Yes, she is," Felix answered.

Beth examined the boy who seemed to be familiar, yet she had never seen him before. She saw the webbing on him, and believed that the dridder just didn't have enough time to cocoon him yet. "Tell me the truth. The dridder can't hear us," Beth whispered.

"I am telling you the truth. Arachne is my first and only friend. I'm not her captive and she would never think of eating me or any other human for that matter," Felix tried to explain.

"But the webbing," Beth pointed out.

"She made these clothes for me, because my original ones were torn off when I fell into the river," Felix informed her. There was silence, but it was broken when Felix asked, "Could I go back to Arachne? She's very scared and worried at the moment and her holding me seems to be the only thing that comforts her."

Beth studied the dridder. It truly looked scared and looked like it needed her friend. "The dridder really sees this boy as a friend," Beth thought, "What could have happened to this creature to make it so desperate to find human friendship? It's so attached to this boy." Beth nodded to Felix to let him join his dridder friend again. Felix ran back to Arachne and she quickly and happily scooped him up into a hug. "Tell me your story, dridder," Beth demanded, "Everything."