Felix had to push away from the hug because his head began to throb. Felix groaned from the annoying pain and placed his hand on his forehead. It was a sharp pain that kept coming to him that day that felt like someone was knocking on his brain in regular intervals. It was a headache that he had obtained that day, but couldn't get rid of over time. Instead, it seemed to increase in intensity throughout the day.

"What's wrong?" Beth asked.

Felix felt her hand on his shoulder. His eyes glanced at the worried hand on his shoulder and followed along the lean arm till his eyes eventually met Beth's eyes which were filled with deep concern. The touch of her hand seemed to match the concern and worry for his well being in her eyes as it rested on his shoulder. He knew that she now believed with all her heart that he was her son. Even though Felix still had his doubts, deep inside himself he believed she was his mother as well.

Felix turned his head to look up at Arachne. She had stopped her walking and she too was staring down at him with concern in those ruby red, watery eyes of hers. They had been through a lot together and he was her friend. It was no surprise that she'd worry about his well being. Despite her size and strength, she only had the ability to protect him from physical treats of other beings, not the invisible threats that might be within him.

"I just have a headache," Felix informed both of them while turning his gaze back to Beth, "It's been with me most of the day, but becoming more painful."

"When is the last time you've eaten?" Beth asked. She remembered that Arachne had told her she had caught lunch for them, but didn't tell her when they had eaten last. She suspected that the headache Felix was suffering from could be caused by his hunger. She knew from experience that hunger could cause many different symptoms.

"We haven't ate anything all day," Arachne informed Beth while Felix was still rubbing his head from the pain.

"Just what I thought," Beth confirmed in her mind.

Arachne's eyes never left from Felix and she asked, her tone drenched in worry, "Is Felix going to be alright?"

"Yes, he'll be fine once he eats something. Felix has a headache because he hasn't eaten anything yet today. Food and water will cure his head," Beth assured the giant concerned dridder.

"I... feel... weak," Felix said.

"Just lie down and rest, there's enough room for you on your friend's hands. Just keep saving your strength and you'll be fine. People can go days without food, though with side effects of course. We're almost to the fallen tree," Beth tried to assure Felix as she helped him lie down slowly on his back. Arachne's two hands gave Felix enough room for him to do this, but he still had to sleep diagonally on the hands. Arachne was big, but she was still five years old and she was not her adult height of about 120 feet tall.

Felix enjoyed the soft purplish skin of Arachne's hands and closed his eyes to rest. Arachne's smooth, soft, and comfortable skin as well as the warmth that radiated from her always made the perfect ingredients for sleep.

Beth examined Felix's body. He was very skinny for his age. Who knew what Lord William considered enough food for a slave. He probably only gave them enough food to survive and that was all. "Felix's situation could be more life threatening than I thought," Beth realized. However, she didn't want Felix and Arachne to be as worried as her. She didn't want the kids to panic, because it would be harder to achieve the task. While keeping a calm voice, Beth said, "Arachne, could you keep moving? We're almost to the fallen tree."

"Oh, right, which way?"

They eventually made it to the fallen log and Arachne had to set her human passengers on the ground so that she could deal with the dead wood. Arachne wrapped the entire log in webbing, like she had done with the other branches and twigs she and Felix obtained that were now stuck to the top of her spider body. Arachne attached a long and strong string of webbing at the end of the log and attached it to her spider body so that she could drag it along. Arachne was then able to carry Felix and Beth in her hands once again as she walked to the cave Arachne and Felix had dubbed home.

As Arachne walked to her new home, she studied Beth's actions. Beth tended to the resting Felix in a nurturing and loving way that only a mother could achieve. Since Arachne had been alone all her life, she still didn't fully understand motherly concern and care all that well. However, that didn't ever stop her from wanting it from others. It was unfortunate that she had to go through life all on her own until now.

There was also a terrible worry that was festering deep within her caused by Beth's actions towards Felix. "Beth really thinks that Felix is her lost child. What if she wants him to come live with her? What if she wants to take him away from me? I'd be all alone again. No, Felix wouldn't let that happen, he wouldn't abandon me. Unless... unless Felix really is her lost son and he wants to go with her and leave me." Worries and questions continued to pester Arachne's mind. So much so that she didn't even know how she felt about the whole situation. She had no idea what to say or do. Her entire body was just filled with worry and concern that Felix might be taken away from her and that she'd be all alone again.

A conflict was also raging in Beth's mind. Here she was with an escaped slave that she knew with unwavering belief was her son. However, he didn't remember her and possibly still didn't believe she was his mother. Beth wanted him to come back home where they could be a family once again, but she was worried that Felix, as he calls himself, won't accept her as his true mother. There was also the concern of what Arachne might do. Her lost son had escaped Lord William's castle with a giant dridder of all things, and surprisingly, the dridder saw humans as people! From what Arachne had told Beth, it was clear to Beth that Arachne was a very lonely child. Beth could understand that Arachne might be clingy to Felix and might not want to let him go. "What am I going to do? If I separate them, bad things could happen. Maybe, I could bring them both in, but could a giant dridder really accept a human as a mother? I could let them live together, but then I'd be separated from my lost son and... I just don't know what to do."