Book 8: Chapter 39: Discernment
Sen and Grandmother Lu spoke for another two hours before she announced that she was weary from her journey. Sen called Pan Shiji in and told her to arrange a room for their most honored guest. The young woman’s eyes danced back and forth between Sen and his grandmother, trying to parse the relationship and getting nowhere with it. She eventually retreated to do as she was told. While that was being taken care of, Sen decided that there was one more person that Grandmother Lu should meet. It was a meeting he wanted to be there for, just in case. She followed him with curious eyes as he led her to a hallway that was not substantially different than all the other hallways and knocked on a particular door. There was a long pause before Glimmer of Night responded.
“Yes?”
“It’s Sen. There’s someone important that I want you to meet with me,” said Sen, casting a brief look at Grandmother Lu before he added one more thing. “There’s no need for the disguise.”
“Disguise?” asked Grandmother Lu.
“He’s a spider-kin. He was transformed into a generally human shape, but his appearance can be a little unsettling right at first.”
Sen was cut off by the door to the room swinging open. Glimmer of Night peered out of the room, his chitinous features and liquid black eyes as unreadable as ever. Grandmother Lu lifted an eyebrow at the sight of him but appeared otherwise unruffled. Sen stepped into the room, let Grandmother Lu step past him, and closed the door. That promptly cast the room into total blackness, so Sen conjured a few small fireballs to hover in the corners. He turned to the spider.
“Glimmer of Night, this is my grandmother, Lu Jia. Grandmother, this Glimmer of Night, one of the spiderkin.”
The woman and the spider stood in complete silence for three solid minutes, just looking at each other. Every once in a while, one of them would tilt their head a little to one side or the other but that was it. Sen wasn’t sure if this was good or bad or if they expected him to carry the conversation. When he was finally ready to interrupt the silence, Glimmer of Night finally did something. He gave Grandmother Lu a very respectful bow.
“Glimmer of Night greets the matriarch,” said the spider.