Chapter Seven

Out in the cave, a gathering formed, passing messages from bee to spider to slime to fungus to moss, trying to figure out what to do.
“Invaders no more.” The Moss stated plainly. “Not destroying, brought hornet energy; Part of the cave.”
“Like the Goblins?” Asked a spider.
“Like stupid Goblins. Or very young Goblins.” A Toadstool patch contributed, still annoyed about being eaten, vomited on, and being crushed by a giant cave spider. “Don’t know how to gather.”
“The Hornets were there before the hive.” Said the Messenger Bee. “Slime and spider fought them before bees, then alongside bees. Now the hornets are gone.”
“Not invaders.” The Slimes declared. “Friends.”
“Friends.” The Messenger Bee agreed.
A tiny faint message drifted through the network, tinged with disruption and concern.
“Cold friends. Cold friends in danger.”
“Stupid Goblins had fire.” The Toadstools stated, still radiating annoyance. “Why cold? Why danger?”
“Rain. And dark.” The Cave Spider replied. “Cold friends are like Goblins; Need warmth, can’t hibernate.”
“Can Moss grow fire-moss for them?” Asked the Slimes. “Next to the bed-moss?”
There was a long pause while the Moss considered this, with vague hints of slow calculations seeping into the conversation.
“Not enough energy. Not safe.” The Moss eventually replied. “Bed-Moss is just big moss. Fire-Moss is … Difficult. Spreads. Consumes. Drives away water, then consumes more.”
The silence that followed was broken by a hesitant voice from the Messenger Bee.
“Goblins have Fire-Moss.”
The silent cacophony of inquiry rattling around the network of Moss and Slime and Toadstool and Spider eventually resolved to one simple question;”How?!”
The spiders were the only thing capable of reacting instantly to the flood of concepts from the Bees; Hives, and mud, and tiny cells of honey, and heat, ending in rock. A soft chittering sound radiated down the cave as they shifted uncomfortably, followed by a gentle wave of light and motion as the slimes and moss and toadstools tried to understand what the Bees were saying.
The goblins looked at each other wide-eyed as the wave passed their hiding-place.
Without need for for discussion, they quietly filed back the way they’d come.
Webfarmer glanced back to see the Cave Spider waiting at the entrance to a small crack in the cave wall, waving at her. She tapped Tunnelfinder on the shoulder and pointed, keeping her voice low.
“Where does that one lead? Back to our space?”
The child nodded, made a multi-fingered wriggling motion with both hands back-to-back, and pointed in the rough direction of the goblin’s section of the cave. The spider bobbed up and down, then vanished into the crack.
“Took me multiple attempts to get the newcomer to understand ‘Get Out Of The Rain’.” Webfarmer muttered down at Tunnelfinder. “Meanwhile you can talk to spiders; That hardly seems fair.”