I do not know how far we traveled before I stopped. My muscles had already burned from my flight from home hill. Exhaustion caught up with me and I was forced to surrender to rest. Stumbling upon a small clearing in the woods I set my new companion down upon the base of and old oak. As soon as she was set down she set about making a strange noise, heaving her small body and making her face glisten with moisture. After Using the last of my strength to eat most of the precious meat from the liberated leg I had carried with us, I dragged myself to lay next to the curled form of the four limb. She stiffened as soon as I approached, shuddered as I lay curled next to her. Our backs pressed against one another. Chitin to skin. And she faded away as the abyss of grief swallowed me. I couldn't run anymore.

     In my dreams I saw them. My family. I lived with them through their memories, in one moment I ran with the patrols, great platoons of the warrior cast covering the entire base of home hill. The next stalking prey with ambushers and then foraging and cultivating the great swaths of forest around my home. The forests we used to roam. The forests I was in now used to be full of my kind, the song of the queen pouring her golden will and motherly love into all of out movements and accomplishments. Now this place was empty of her song. The humming of the foragers or the confident thumping of warrior patrols. I am alone. Or maybe not.

     I rose feeling refreshed, the water and meat of the day prior doing wonders for the energy lost. Surprisingly enough I felt the gentle rise and fall from the breathing of the smaller human next to me. I rose, careful not to jostle the small curled bundle. And I looked closely. Her hair was the color of rich earth, deep and brown. Her pale exterior dotted with spots of the same hue as the top of her head. She seemed to be unharmed, at least as far as I could tell. My kind either usually avoided the four limbs or drove them away whenever they got too close. The words we had learned of their tongue were usually used to avoid violence, as scaring them and telling them to go away was easier and safer that killing. Very rarely I have faint memories of trading with them during times of plenty. But actual contact? Communication? No memories would pave the way for this unfortunately.

     I gathered plants before the sun rose. These four limbs rested a surprisingly long time. I knew what was safe for us to consume, and what wasn't but feeding four limbs? This was unheard of. Soft woods, golden mushroom clusters, dangling fruits from trees shaped like water drops. I gathered what I could. After I had filled more forelimbs and pinched an extra root delicately between my mandibles I returned to the clearing just as the sun was first rising. I approached the dozing frame. The patter of the food as I set it near her must have stirred her rest, she let loose a terrified cry that made me snap to attention. She huddled against the tree, her eyes wide and her mandible agape. 

     I froze, unsure of how to assure her that I meant no harm. I settled upon attempting to gesture towards the forage. She stared back blankly. It seems I would need to try harder at communication. Four limb words formed in my mind, and for the first time I could feel the muscles and chords in my thorax constrict and begin to vibrate. In a humming drone I tried to approximate the chortling noises of the four limbs. "vvvv-v-v-vaaaooooooooo-tcktcktck" The first attempt went poorly.