Oh!

The spider goes statue-still.

Is this better? I don't want to scare you. What scares you? Vashneesht are scary. Wasps are scary, too. Some people think lizards are scary, but I don't think so, I'm a really good hunter. My mom is scary! 

"Yeah, that helps." A talking spider statue is way less alarming than a pouncing giant spider.

The riverbank now being maybe free of surprises, climb on out. Wet sneakers make squishy sounds on the rocks of the shore.

"You ask a lot of questions. Can I call you Questions Spider?"

You can call me Questions Spider if you want to! People might even guess who you mean!  I don't know why more people don't ask more questions. I don't think it can be because they already know all the answers. If they did, they'd answer my questions more!

Can I call you Swimming Human?

"I don't swim very much. And I already have a name. I'm Jeffy."

Plop down by one of the fruit trees. Kind of facing towards Questions Spider's side.

"You can come sit with me if you want. Do spiders sit?"

With exaggerated slowness, the spider turns and stalks toward Jeffy.

I already have a name too! I'm Novelty. What does Jeffy mean? Is it short for something? My full name is Enthusiastic Seeker of Novelty.

"It's short for Jeffrey Olsen but I don't think it means anything except me."

Apparently spiders do not sit down. But they can sort of park in one place and watch you, and given this spider's sort of knee-high, that might be a reasonable conversational height.

"Lots of things here scare me. The caves scare me. They're so dark and cold and different from my home."

What's your home like?

"It's very bright and airy. Lots of big windows to see outside. Not dark and close like these caves.

It's also quiet and empty and I'm not supposed to touch anything by myself."

"... Wasn't supposed to."

Touch the tree a bit. Touch, touch. Isn't that fun? Nobody worrying you'll knock something over and break it.

That sounds cool! But pretty scary, too. If it's wide open, how do you stay safe from big birds and big toads? Can you even see them coming in all that bright?

"I don't think there are any big birds or big toads on the surface. They sound terrifying and I never want to see one.

Maybe there were some before and the Empire's eradication program is good for something."

Eradication? What do they eradicate?

"Dragons. Beastmen. All kinds of monsters. Criminals. Badly behaved animals.

Disabled kids."

Oh.

Do you have a disabled friend? Are you worried about her?

"It's me, okay? I'm disabled. That's why they put me in this stupid cave."

Throwing rocks at the ground.

Oh, they put the disabled humans down here! That makes so much sense. That's why most of the humans we see don't talk!

You talk, though. Are you sure you're disabled? Maybe the other humans got confused.

"I'm half. I have two arms and two legs and two eyes and one body. Humans are supposed to have four and four and four and two."

Oh, and that's why you only have four limbs on each body! Your eight are split across two bodies. I'm learning so much!

"I don't think that's quite right."

(Somewhat later)