D is for Duessa

There’s no need to be Stealing Myself From Shadows. I belong to the Spider, body and soul, even since she slipped into my dreams, saved me from my lord’s tower, my lord’s domination, and my lord’s love. Arachne and I offer a monstrous magnificence to women, to triumph over such domination and worse. We allow the boys in our Gardens to blossom in something far more beautiful than man. Why does Damian reject such a fate? Why does Christopher keep slipping from my web? Why has Dyvian become my adversary? What drives my daughter to accept A Godling for Your Thoughts? My Tool, My Treasure; I thought of every one of them thus, yet we are at odds. I should have passed my Web of Inspiration onto Melyssa, yet she has no desire to sit at the center.

I became Arachne’s, so her Gardens might grow, wrapping their thorns around the Tower, piercing its crown. I became the Garden’s Guardian, so women might be strong enough to be magnificent monsters, capable of stopping the Tower’s lord, saving our blossoms from its shadow. Tainted blooms may yet poison the flowers, allowing the Tower to trap them.

My own efforts are so unappreciated, even by the very arachnocrats who reap the fruit of our Gardens. Why do they plot against me? Why do the fairest flowers have so little enthusiasm for their destiny? Why do I myself have so many questions and so little faith?

I fear the answers. I truly do.