p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;" align="center"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Chapter Three/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"As he started the long trek to the village square, Dave still couldn't seem to process the events that occurred two days ago. He had grown up listening to the tales about a world of little folk living below them, but actually seeing a human up close – and then almost getting stabbed in the face by one – had fully cemented the lore in his mind. Tiny people existed, and they truly did live in a whole world far below. It was nothing he'd thought much about since getting into adulthood, he didn't have time for scary bedtime stories. Apparently, one of the humans' ancestors killed one of their ancestors, and the bridge between their worlds remained forever closed. No one, human or Giant, wanted to find out what a war would look like between their two species./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"That made him wonder about the semantics of the whole thing, was their land just, emfloating/em parallel high above the human world? Did things just, drop off the edge sometimes like his bean seed had? He pursed his lips in thought. Or was each land actually its own world, and there was some sort of portal connecting them together. Like, both worlds were too close to each other in the threads of the universe and just, merged?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Thinking like this was starting to give him a headache. He rubbed at the bandage on his palm, the stab wound aching softly. For such a tiny creature with such a tiny weapon, it sure got him pretty deep. Dave winced, thinking back to their encounter with regret. He really hadn't meant to frighten her, she hadn't given him a chance to even think. And he didn't want to leave her stranded like when she was clearly exhausted, but he'd been afraid she would, A. either find a way to stab him again, or B. be too frightened to accept any help from him anyway. And his mind had still been reeling over what had just happened. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"She could handle herself though, clearly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"As the grass worn path he walked grew more trodden on and turned into stone, he approached the village, wanting to go into the square to find the person who could fix his eyeglasses. They currently still hung crookedly on his nose with one of the glass lenses cracked. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"'At least,' /span/emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Dave thought as he beelined toward the market of stalls, em'I'll never have to see her again.'/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Dave slowed to meander through the selections in each of the booths. He liked market day in the village, but he mostly liked keeping to himself on the outskirts of town and growing his vegetables. Microdoses of interaction were fine. Books and hot tea without the bustle of neighbors was better. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Just as he delighted in the idea of stopping by the bookseller's shop to purchase a new novel, something caught his eye in one of the seller's wagon that made him do a double take. This wagon held glass jars of different shapes and sizes, as well as beautiful pieces of stained glass for sale. All the jars were empty, save one. It was pushed toward the back, but the movement inside was what had caught Dave's eye. Inside the jar, a tiny human sat curled up. Not just any tiny human. His murderous tiny human./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"He sighed. This was definitely going to delay his book buying plan./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Say… sir – what do you have there?" Dave made a face at himself for his bad attempt to sound disinterested. "You're not doing any kind of, emhuman trafficking,/em are you?" He kept his voice low, lest he draw the attention of shoppers to her helpless situation./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"The stained-glass artists turned his way, a kindly older gentleman with a large white moustache below his round nose. His eyes lit up. "Nay, I just found her this morning, trying to get around the market, keeping to the shadows and such, y'know. But this isn't the place for such a small creature, so I scooped her up into the jar. Threw a mad fit, she did, but I figured she'd be safer there, out of the way of horse hooves and boots."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Oh, I bet she did," Dave said, glad he hadn't been the one to witness her anger again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"He glanced back at the jar and saw the conversation had drawn her out of herself. She peered up at them, and then, as if shocked at the recognition, gave a desperate wave his way. His stomach dropped a little. He really didn't want to have anything to do with her again. But… He couldn't just leave her there, could he?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Dave looked back at the seller. "How'd you like it if I took her off your hands? Take her about a good two miles or so to relocate her away."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"The man nodded, and Dave felt a rush of relief at his easy agreement. "I was planning on doing something like that at the end of the day. How do you think she got up here? Awful far up for one to climb."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Well, I'm sure she'll find her way back down eventually," Dave said with a tight smile, inching toward her jar before the man could change his mind./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"She looked so… Yes, he'd used this word a hundred times before, but he couldn't help it, emtiny/em in the jar. And helpless. As he reached for her, she shrank back a little, looking so fragile. The fingers on his other hand flexed in memory of how it felt to hold her small, impossible frame. How frantic but useless her struggles had fluttered against his grip. No wonder she was afraid. He had barely held much pressure around her but still she seemed battered. He would have to move very carefully around her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"He gently plucked up the jar and tucked it against his chest, giving the shop owner one last thank you as he left. He started walking down a separate, less populated alley, but didn't know where he was going to go./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""emWhat are you doing here?"/em he couldn't help but hiss down at the bottle in dismay. He schooled his features a little better when he noticed her scrunch away from him. "It's just – a busy market! Filled with Giants?! Why would you come here?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Her fear seemed to harden into a steely resolve as she glared up at him, reaching to pound a small fist against the glass of her imprisonment. There was no hope of her getting out on her own, he realized, she didn't come close to reaching the top. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Get me out of this jar!" she demanded through clenched teeth, ignoring his questions. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Dave's thick brows rose at her curtness. He was the one who had rescued her from the jar, not put her in it. That was entirely her own fault, really. But he detected a slight wobble to her hard voice at her predicament, and decided it was best not to argue./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Throwing a cursory glance both directions to make sure the alleyway remained abandoned, Dave unstuck the topper with a hollow emthunk/em and, with a slight grimace at the realization there was no other place to put her, slowly tipped the woman out onto his open palm./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"He tried to be careful about it, but she still ended up sliding out and falling rather ungracefully into a heap on his hand. "Er – sorry about that…" he muttered, placing the jar on the ground and straightening to give her a chance to get her footing without him moving. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"She re-tied her low ponytail back to tame the loose dark blonde hair that had fallen around her face. A face that, now that Dave had time to really get a look at, was covered in freckles. But her face morphed into yet another glare at his staring, so he cleared his throat in embarrassment and glanced away. But the task of not staring was certainly difficult when he had a emtiny person /emin his ementire hand./em Honestly, she was lucky he wasn't fully freaking out. Shock and adrenaline had mostly kicked in during their first meeting, now he knew this wasn't just a crazy hallucination. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""…Do you have a name?" he asked awkwardly as he felt her shuffle her feet over his skin. She probably thought this was just as weird as he did./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""No," she deadpanned with a cross of her arms. "Humans don't have names. We just… shriek out different notes for each person in greeting."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Funny." He glanced to check their empty surroundings again. "I'm Dave."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"She paused, uncertain. He guessed she was here to hunt down Giants, not exchange pleasantries. "Rory."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Well, emRory, /emwhat were you doing at the market?! I thought I'd relocated you close enough to the Beanstalk for you to get home."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"She scowled. "I'm not a mouse that needs relocated. And I told you, I'm here to find a kid. What are emyou/em doing here?!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Now it was Dave's turn to scoff. "I have to get my glasses fixed!" He tapped a finger of his free hand against the crooked frames. "I can't see very well to read or garden, thanks to you. I had to waste a very beautiful day traveling to go to the market and make small talk with vendors."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""What, are you afraid they'll taunt your love of vegetables?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Oh pooh. It's a perfectly ordinary hobby. You're just can't appreciate it because your type of hero hobby includes physical labor and murder."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""It's a noble profession!" Her mouth fell open at his insolence. "I happen to be a great Jack – and it's not murder if the thing you're defeating is a monster!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"He huffed, and the gust of air billowed her tunic around her frame. Rory stepped back a little as she seemed to remember she was standing on the hand of something she considered a monster. Which then made Dave feel a little monstrous by how ridiculously large and lumbering he must look to her. Holding her was starting to make him feel sick./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Well, fine," he sputtered, keeping his voice self-consciously low. "I don't have time for heroes anyway. I've been trying to mind my own business, but you keep popping up in places you shouldn't be."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"She straightened her clothes and went to adjust the leather sheath at her back before she remembered she didn't have her sword anymore. "I told you – ! You know what, I don't need to explain myself to you. Thank you," she bit out, "for your assistance with the bottle. I won't be needing it again. Put. Me. Down."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Fine."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Fine!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Dave bent down to the stony alley floor and tipped his hand, feeling her little boots kick off as she jumped down as gracefully as she could manage. She tried to keep an air of control with their interactions, but he could tell looking up at him from the ground really freaked her out. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"He straightened and backed away, pretending he wasn't weirded out either. "Good luck with your adventure," he said with a sarcastic salute. "I hope I never see you again."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""The feeling's mutual," her small voice still managed to hold enough menace to make it to his ears. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Before he could turn away, footsteps sounded to the right of the alleyway entrance. A group of shoppers were on their way through! /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Dave jerked his head back to where Rory stood frozen at the sight of so many Giants rumbling toward her. She was so small, and he had placed her right in the middle of the alley, with no place for her to hide or time for her to flee. Kicking himself, Dave acted fast, and crashed down to scoop her back up and drop her into his vest pocket right before the group got close enough to see what he'd grabbed. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Thought I'd – uh – lost a coin, but I found it…" he said with a nervous chuckle, gently giving his pocket a little pat of reassurance and waving them by with his other. An older grandmother gave him a sweet shake of her head as they passed. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"The moment they left his pocket exploded with thrashing. He realized he still held one hand protectively against it. "Let me out of here!" came her muffled voice. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"He grimaced, a little scared to open the lip of his pocket to meet the glare she was most likely wearing. "Ah, are you alright?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""I was just whipped off the ground and shoved into a giant pocket. How do you think I'm doing?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Better that than smooshed by a gaggle of grandmothers?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"The thrashing stopped. "I guess."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Taking that as a win, he cracked opened his pocket and peered down at her, finding her a little rumpled but not too worse for wear. Her hair had definitely come out of her ponytail again and she lay flopped on her side like she was on a wind-blown hammock. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Look, I want nothing to do with your journey, but I guess I'm willing to take you to wherever you need to go and drop you off there."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"She flailed about in an attempt to find her balance in the fabric and sit up. Pursing her lips, she finally seemed to come to a decision. "I guess I would appreciate your help again after all."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Alright, tell me where we're headed." With a small smile begrudgingly tugging at the corner of his lips, Dave let the pocket fall closed. "But first, we're getting my glasses fixed."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"As he started the long trek to the village square, Dave still couldn't seem to process the events that occurred two days ago. He had grown up listening to the tales about a world of little folk living below them, but actually seeing a human up close – and then almost getting stabbed in the face by one – had fully cemented the lore in his mind. Tiny people existed, and they truly did live in a whole world far below. It was nothing he'd thought much about since getting into adulthood, he didn't have time for scary bedtime stories. Apparently, one of the humans' ancestors killed one of their ancestors, and the bridge between their worlds remained forever closed. No one, human or Giant, wanted to find out what a war would look like between their two species./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"That made him wonder about the semantics of the whole thing, was their land just, emfloating/em parallel high above the human world? Did things just, drop off the edge sometimes like his bean seed had? He pursed his lips in thought. Or was each land actually its own world, and there was some sort of portal connecting them together. Like, both worlds were too close to each other in the threads of the universe and just, merged?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Thinking like this was starting to give him a headache. He rubbed at the bandage on his palm, the stab wound aching softly. For such a tiny creature with such a tiny weapon, it sure got him pretty deep. Dave winced, thinking back to their encounter with regret. He really hadn't meant to frighten her, she hadn't given him a chance to even think. And he didn't want to leave her stranded like when she was clearly exhausted, but he'd been afraid she would, A. either find a way to stab him again, or B. be too frightened to accept any help from him anyway. And his mind had still been reeling over what had just happened. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"She could handle herself though, clearly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"As the grass worn path he walked grew more trodden on and turned into stone, he approached the village, wanting to go into the square to find the person who could fix his eyeglasses. They currently still hung crookedly on his nose with one of the glass lenses cracked. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"'At least,' /span/emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Dave thought as he beelined toward the market of stalls, em'I'll never have to see her again.'/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Dave slowed to meander through the selections in each of the booths. He liked market day in the village, but he mostly liked keeping to himself on the outskirts of town and growing his vegetables. Microdoses of interaction were fine. Books and hot tea without the bustle of neighbors was better. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Just as he delighted in the idea of stopping by the bookseller's shop to purchase a new novel, something caught his eye in one of the seller's wagon that made him do a double take. This wagon held glass jars of different shapes and sizes, as well as beautiful pieces of stained glass for sale. All the jars were empty, save one. It was pushed toward the back, but the movement inside was what had caught Dave's eye. Inside the jar, a tiny human sat curled up. Not just any tiny human. His murderous tiny human./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"He sighed. This was definitely going to delay his book buying plan./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Say… sir – what do you have there?" Dave made a face at himself for his bad attempt to sound disinterested. "You're not doing any kind of, emhuman trafficking,/em are you?" He kept his voice low, lest he draw the attention of shoppers to her helpless situation./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"The stained-glass artists turned his way, a kindly older gentleman with a large white moustache below his round nose. His eyes lit up. "Nay, I just found her this morning, trying to get around the market, keeping to the shadows and such, y'know. But this isn't the place for such a small creature, so I scooped her up into the jar. Threw a mad fit, she did, but I figured she'd be safer there, out of the way of horse hooves and boots."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Oh, I bet she did," Dave said, glad he hadn't been the one to witness her anger again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"He glanced back at the jar and saw the conversation had drawn her out of herself. She peered up at them, and then, as if shocked at the recognition, gave a desperate wave his way. His stomach dropped a little. He really didn't want to have anything to do with her again. But… He couldn't just leave her there, could he?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Dave looked back at the seller. "How'd you like it if I took her off your hands? Take her about a good two miles or so to relocate her away."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"The man nodded, and Dave felt a rush of relief at his easy agreement. "I was planning on doing something like that at the end of the day. How do you think she got up here? Awful far up for one to climb."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Well, I'm sure she'll find her way back down eventually," Dave said with a tight smile, inching toward her jar before the man could change his mind./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"She looked so… Yes, he'd used this word a hundred times before, but he couldn't help it, emtiny/em in the jar. And helpless. As he reached for her, she shrank back a little, looking so fragile. The fingers on his other hand flexed in memory of how it felt to hold her small, impossible frame. How frantic but useless her struggles had fluttered against his grip. No wonder she was afraid. He had barely held much pressure around her but still she seemed battered. He would have to move very carefully around her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"He gently plucked up the jar and tucked it against his chest, giving the shop owner one last thank you as he left. He started walking down a separate, less populated alley, but didn't know where he was going to go./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""emWhat are you doing here?"/em he couldn't help but hiss down at the bottle in dismay. He schooled his features a little better when he noticed her scrunch away from him. "It's just – a busy market! Filled with Giants?! Why would you come here?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Her fear seemed to harden into a steely resolve as she glared up at him, reaching to pound a small fist against the glass of her imprisonment. There was no hope of her getting out on her own, he realized, she didn't come close to reaching the top. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Get me out of this jar!" she demanded through clenched teeth, ignoring his questions. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Dave's thick brows rose at her curtness. He was the one who had rescued her from the jar, not put her in it. That was entirely her own fault, really. But he detected a slight wobble to her hard voice at her predicament, and decided it was best not to argue./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Throwing a cursory glance both directions to make sure the alleyway remained abandoned, Dave unstuck the topper with a hollow emthunk/em and, with a slight grimace at the realization there was no other place to put her, slowly tipped the woman out onto his open palm./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"He tried to be careful about it, but she still ended up sliding out and falling rather ungracefully into a heap on his hand. "Er – sorry about that…" he muttered, placing the jar on the ground and straightening to give her a chance to get her footing without him moving. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"She re-tied her low ponytail back to tame the loose dark blonde hair that had fallen around her face. A face that, now that Dave had time to really get a look at, was covered in freckles. But her face morphed into yet another glare at his staring, so he cleared his throat in embarrassment and glanced away. But the task of not staring was certainly difficult when he had a emtiny person /emin his ementire hand./em Honestly, she was lucky he wasn't fully freaking out. Shock and adrenaline had mostly kicked in during their first meeting, now he knew this wasn't just a crazy hallucination. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""…Do you have a name?" he asked awkwardly as he felt her shuffle her feet over his skin. She probably thought this was just as weird as he did./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""No," she deadpanned with a cross of her arms. "Humans don't have names. We just… shriek out different notes for each person in greeting."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Funny." He glanced to check their empty surroundings again. "I'm Dave."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"She paused, uncertain. He guessed she was here to hunt down Giants, not exchange pleasantries. "Rory."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Well, emRory, /emwhat were you doing at the market?! I thought I'd relocated you close enough to the Beanstalk for you to get home."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"She scowled. "I'm not a mouse that needs relocated. And I told you, I'm here to find a kid. What are emyou/em doing here?!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Now it was Dave's turn to scoff. "I have to get my glasses fixed!" He tapped a finger of his free hand against the crooked frames. "I can't see very well to read or garden, thanks to you. I had to waste a very beautiful day traveling to go to the market and make small talk with vendors."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""What, are you afraid they'll taunt your love of vegetables?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Oh pooh. It's a perfectly ordinary hobby. You're just can't appreciate it because your type of hero hobby includes physical labor and murder."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""It's a noble profession!" Her mouth fell open at his insolence. "I happen to be a great Jack – and it's not murder if the thing you're defeating is a monster!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"He huffed, and the gust of air billowed her tunic around her frame. Rory stepped back a little as she seemed to remember she was standing on the hand of something she considered a monster. Which then made Dave feel a little monstrous by how ridiculously large and lumbering he must look to her. Holding her was starting to make him feel sick./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Well, fine," he sputtered, keeping his voice self-consciously low. "I don't have time for heroes anyway. I've been trying to mind my own business, but you keep popping up in places you shouldn't be."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"She straightened her clothes and went to adjust the leather sheath at her back before she remembered she didn't have her sword anymore. "I told you – ! You know what, I don't need to explain myself to you. Thank you," she bit out, "for your assistance with the bottle. I won't be needing it again. Put. Me. Down."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Fine."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Fine!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Dave bent down to the stony alley floor and tipped his hand, feeling her little boots kick off as she jumped down as gracefully as she could manage. She tried to keep an air of control with their interactions, but he could tell looking up at him from the ground really freaked her out. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"He straightened and backed away, pretending he wasn't weirded out either. "Good luck with your adventure," he said with a sarcastic salute. "I hope I never see you again."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""The feeling's mutual," her small voice still managed to hold enough menace to make it to his ears. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Before he could turn away, footsteps sounded to the right of the alleyway entrance. A group of shoppers were on their way through! /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Dave jerked his head back to where Rory stood frozen at the sight of so many Giants rumbling toward her. She was so small, and he had placed her right in the middle of the alley, with no place for her to hide or time for her to flee. Kicking himself, Dave acted fast, and crashed down to scoop her back up and drop her into his vest pocket right before the group got close enough to see what he'd grabbed. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Thought I'd – uh – lost a coin, but I found it…" he said with a nervous chuckle, gently giving his pocket a little pat of reassurance and waving them by with his other. An older grandmother gave him a sweet shake of her head as they passed. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"The moment they left his pocket exploded with thrashing. He realized he still held one hand protectively against it. "Let me out of here!" came her muffled voice. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"He grimaced, a little scared to open the lip of his pocket to meet the glare she was most likely wearing. "Ah, are you alright?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""I was just whipped off the ground and shoved into a giant pocket. How do you think I'm doing?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Better that than smooshed by a gaggle of grandmothers?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"The thrashing stopped. "I guess."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Taking that as a win, he cracked opened his pocket and peered down at her, finding her a little rumpled but not too worse for wear. Her hair had definitely come out of her ponytail again and she lay flopped on her side like she was on a wind-blown hammock. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Look, I want nothing to do with your journey, but I guess I'm willing to take you to wherever you need to go and drop you off there."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"She flailed about in an attempt to find her balance in the fabric and sit up. Pursing her lips, she finally seemed to come to a decision. "I guess I would appreciate your help again after all."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 150%;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Alright, tell me where we're headed." With a small smile begrudgingly tugging at the corner of his lips, Dave let the pocket fall closed. "But first, we're getting my glasses fixed."/span/p
