A stream of psychedelic images and alien emotions hit his mind like a sledge hammer, causing him to stumble back in shock. Kael immediately shifted into defensive posture but Zorian signaled him to stand down. He was pretty sure at this point that the aranea he was in contact with had no hostile intentions. Apparently the minds of humans and aranea were different enough that telepathic communication was difficult, and this particular one never learned how to do it correctly.
As suddenly as it came, the ‘communication’ stopped. The presence remained, however, and Zorian soon felt another aranea connect with him, using the first one as a sort of telepathic relay.
[Ah, so you’ve managed to find us in the end,] the distinctive mental voice of the matriarch spoke in his mind. [Good, I was beginning to fear I should have left instructions on how to find us. Stay where you are, please, I will be with you shortly.]
«She’s coming,» said Zorian to Kael, who nodded gravely.
They didn’t have to wait long. The matriarch soon skittered into view, flanked by two other aranea guards. The fact that he was able to pick out the matriarch among the three aranea, despite the fact that all three of them were fairly identical to his eyes, was probably just another proof that he really was empathic. Things like these made him wonder just why he had needed a talking spider to point it out to him before figuring it out.
[I originally intended this to be a private talk between just the two of us,] the matriarch spoke to his mind. [But since you saw fit to bring a guard, I decided to do likewise. Oh well, at least you didn’t shut me out of your mind like your friend did, so you’re still better than most humans I converse with.]
«Kael isn’t here just as a guard,» Zorian said, speaking out loud for Kael’s benefit. «He is involved in this thing as surely as you are, and I’d like him to participate fully in the discussion. Do you perhaps have a way to communicate vocally for his benefit?»
The matriarch seemed to consider it for a moment before she suddenly started waving four of her front legs in front of her, tracing some complex gesture in the air. Zorian tried for a moment to decipher what she was trying to communicate before he realized she wasn’t trying to talk to him.
She was casting a spell.
«There,» a feminine voice declared from the direction of the matriarch, though her mandibles didn’t move at all. «This is the aranea equivalent of the ‘magic mouth’ spell that you are no doubt familiar with. It’s just a sonic illusion, but it should be enough.»
Huh. So they did have more than just mind magic in their arsenal.
«I thank you for your consideration,» Kael said guardedly, obviously threatened by the spiders but trying to stay polite.
«Far from me to refuse such a simple request,» the matriarch said guardedly. She was obviously a little suspicious about Kael herself, probably because his mind was protected behind a mind shield spell. The spell made him immune to her abilities, but it also seemed to paint him as a threat to the aranea.
«Please, child,» the matriarch scoffed. Zorian heard the words with his flesh and blood ears, but he also felt them broadcasted to his mind — she might be vocalizing her words for Kael’s benefit, but she clearly wasn’t going to give up communicating with Zorian ‘the proper way’. «I could get past your silly human mind magic any time I wanted to. No, the reason I’m bothered by his mind ward is that it blocks me off from his mind completely. How am I supposed to trust him if he won’t even let me read his emotions and surface thoughts? It’s rude.»
Zorian’s mind boggled at the mindset that considered putting your surface thoughts up for scrutiny as being basic courtesy, but he supposed that’s species differences for you. Kael didn’t appear to be as understanding.
«Rude!?» he demanded, indignant at the accusation. «You think you have a right to just barge into people’s minds as you please, no permission given or asked, and you call me rude!? You spied on my personal memories, damn it, I have every reason to protect myself!»
The matriarch sent him a telepathic equivalent of a sigh, though no sound was vocalized for Kael’s benefit. «So did I,» she said calmly. «Your friend was a possible enemy that I needed to know more about, and you were one of the weak points I could target in order to get the needed information. Your mind was completely unprotected, after all.»
«So why didn’t you sift through Zorian’s memories, then? Wouldn’t that be quicker and more relevant to your quest?» Kael asked.
«Hey!» Zorian protested.
«I have limited myself to skimming his surface thoughts as a courtesy, because he is Open,» the matriarch said. «Among Aranea there is an unofficial custom to ask for permission before delving deeper into the minds of non-enemy psychics, regardless of species.»
Kael narrowed his eyes. «And if a person isn’t… ‘psychic’?»
«Flickerminds are fair game,» the aranea matriarch said dismissively.
«All right, let’s stop trying to piss each other off now and get back to business!» said Zorian with a clap of his hands, hoping to halt the argument before it got out of hand. «We were talking about the time loop and how you can help me with that. Before we get to that, though, I really have to ask — when you say I’m ‘open’, are you referring to my empathy?»
Kael gave him a surprised look at that, since Zorian never told him anything about being empathic.
«Being Open implies being empathic, but they are not the same thing. Empathy is just one of the powers available to you, and a bit of a low-hanging fruit at that — that’s why you can use it, despite being completely untrained in the psychic arts. Openness often manifests itself as a low, uncontrolled empathy in the beginning, coupled with a gift for divinations and an occasional prophetic dream.»
«I… what?» fumbled Zorian, trying to wrap his head around this new information. Just when he had thought he had things a little figured out, something like this happened. What the hell is being ‘open’ or ‘psychic’, then? Was she saying he was a full-blown telepath or something?
«You could be that with enough training, yes,» confirmed the matriarch. «I can teach you more about it… provided we come to some kind of mutually acceptable agreement about this time loop business.»
«And what exactly do you want from Zorian in that regard?» asked Kael suspiciously.
«Why, my dear Kael, the same thing you want from him as well,» the matriarch said with a hint of mockery. «I want in on this time loop.»
For a moment Zorian wondered what she was talking about, but then his eyes widened as he understood what she meant.
«You want to keep your memories with each restart? To loop around with me and Zach?» asked Zorian incredulously.
Kael shifted uncomfortably in his spot, refusing to look at him in the eye, while the aranea matriarch stared straight back at him without a hint of shame on her face.
«I… I guess I can see why you would want that,» said Zorian hesitantly. «I mean, I’m not too happy about my situation, but even I can see that I’m benefiting massively from it. But you seem to have gotten the wrong idea — both of you.» He glanced at Kael, but the morlock was still avoiding his eyes. He probably thought Zorian would be angry at him for wanting to ‘take advantage of him’, but Zorian wasn’t really angry. Just confused. «The thing is, I don’t know how to bring anyone into this loop. I don’t even know how the details of how I got sucked into it, much less how to replicate it. I can’t bring you into it.»
«We didn’t get the wrong idea, Zorian,» Kael sighed. «We’re not stupid. We know you can’t do it now. We know you won’t be able to do it by the time this time loop ends.» He gave the matriarch a weak glare. «Or at least I know. Maybe the great aranea matriarch knows something this poor flickermind doesn’t.»