Caroline blinked aimlessly at her blurry vision, looking around the courtyard.  Something was changed.  But what was it?  The bushes and plants remained the same.  Her oddly constructed outfit remained the same.  The palace remained the same.  And then she saw.  The plants were not as blades of grass to her, but trees and bushes.  She was normal sized again.

                Her brain had no time to even think of processing this, though, when he eyes caught something.  Luke, standing before her, just ten feet away.  It was him, smiling, looking overjoyed and excited like normal, his arms extended for a hug.  He was just a few inches taller than her, like normal.  She dashed forth, hardly daring to believe it as she threw her arms around his lanky but still reasonably built form.  He rocked her side to side for several minutes as she ran her hands through the back of his hair, twirling it around her fingers to make sure it was real.  He lifted her up, and she kicked her legs into the air to give him some room as he spun around, continuing to hold her tightly.  It was what she had been wanting more than almost anything else for days now, and it felt so glorious to be standing here with him again.  “I’ve missed you…” said Luke, finally releasing her to a standing position.

                “Oh, Luke…” she said, grasping his shoulders tightly but still keeping her eyes locked.  “You will never know how much I have missed you as well.  How it’s been.  Oh, how could you have DONE that to me?  Gone out to the caves, risked your life… you could have died!” she croaked, her voice cracking uncontrollably from the mix of emotions.

                “I had to.  There was nothing else I could do.  I had to ensure your safety, my dearest one.  I could never allow something to threaten you.  I’m just sorry I was unable to protect you…” he said regretfully.  Caroline threw her arms back around him in a hug, squeezing him as tightly as she could.

                “Oh, you musn’t say these things, Luke, you MUSN’T.  You did all you could, I know.  It’s just… what would I have done without you?  If you had left me?”

                “I would never have left you, Caroline.  Never.”

                “But… you almost did.  You… were almost dead when I found you, I thought…” she said, her face scrunching up as the tears flowed anew.  “I thought I would never hear your voice again; I thought you would never look at me in the eyes again.”

                “Shhh… it’s all right, Caroline.  I’m so sorry, for everything, for what I’ve put you through,” he soothed, hugging her back.  “Everything is right again.  I’m here.  But you shouldn’t have done that.  You must promise me never to do what you did again.”

                “Oh, NO!” she sobbed, soaking his shoulder in her tears as she buried her face in the fabric of his simple tunic.  “No, no, no… that’s just what father said…”

                “Your father is a very wise man.  Perhaps you should listen…”

                “NO!” she almost screamed at the mere idea.  “I… couldn’t leave you.  I had to help you, no matter what it took.  You were in pain, all alone… I couldn’t stop thinking about you.  I had to do something.  I couldn’t leave you.  Not that.  Not that…” she mumbled as Luke continued shushing her soothingly.

                “It’ll be all right now, Caroline.  It doesn’t matter what’s in the past now.  What matters is that we’re here, together, at long last.”

                “Yes… yes…” she repeated.  “I’m just glad everything is back to normal now…”

                “Normal?”

                Before Caroline could answer, she felt a tingling sensation in her toes.  It moved up along her sole, and through her ankles, then zipped up her legs and into the rest of her body, ending with a soft crackling feeling inside her fingertips like pent-up static electricity.  “What’s… what’s happening?”

                “What do you mean, my dearest Caroline?  There’s nothing happening.”

                “No, no, there is, there is!  My fingers…” she said, and suddenly found herself short on air as she watched her eyes become level with Luke’s eyes.  Then the top of his head.  Then the tallest bush in the gardens.  She stumbled back, looking down, terrified, as she started growing again, becoming tall enough that Luke only reached her stomach in height.  “Luke!” she yelped, making him jump.  “I’m so sorry!  I don’t know what’s happening now… it’s… I’m…”

                “Dear Lord!” gawked Luke, taking a step back.  “What…”

                “Luke, please, try to understand… it’s a curse… a terrible, terrible CURSE!” screeched Caroline in emotional agony.  “I’m not doing this!”

                “What… what ARE you?”

                Caroline felt her heart snap cleanly in two inside her chest at these words.  She watched, absolutely crushed, as Luke reached for his sheath and drew his sword.  “You’re… you’re a MONSTER, Caroline!  A freakish, terrible BEAST!  And it’s my job to protect the people…”

                “No, please…” she sobbed.  “You don’t understand.  I mean no one, and certainly not you, any harm.  You don’t know… how I feel about you, Luke, I care so much for you, and…”

                “SILENCE, WRETCH!”

                Caroline watched her tears pool in a salty puddle at her feet.  Luke’s hand quivered as he took another step forward.  “Luke…” she moaned, wiping desperately at her eyes and taking a step away from him in fear and hurt.  “How can you do this… Please, oh please… It’s only me, it’s only me…”

                “There is NOTHING left of you left inside that… monstrous, disgusting body.  Nothing.  Leave my sight, you filthy creature.  Or I shall slice you from nose to knee, and let everyone see the darkness that truly lies inside you!”  Caroline turned and ran, her mind swimming, her heart so thoroughly crushed she didn’t even feel a particular urge to continue living. 

As she continued running, Caroline felt herself take in a deep breath of oxygen when she awoke from the nightmare, staring into the purple sky.  It would be sunrise soon.  She shifted her arms.  The outfit felt a bit more form fitting.  Not tight, but definitely not baggy like it was the previous night.  But that was not her concern, nor did it remain on her mind for more than a fleeting heartbeat.  She turned her head upwards, toward Luke’s window.

Luke groaned, lifting both his arms into the air and twisting his wrists to try and get the sensation back into them.  His vision was still blurred, and his head was still pounding, but overall he felt infinitely better than he had while lying on the bed the night before.  He knew he had made it back to the palace of Richard somehow, presumably by a scout sent out to find him.  This was already a point of guilt for him, as he would never have wanted a person or, heaven forbid, a group of people to risk their lives to bring him back, but he was infinitely grateful all the same to be safely returned. 

His back was still in a great deal of pain from where the beast had managed to strike him during the fight.  He had been lucky to have been left in the cave, as the beast must have thought he had been killed.  None of his comrades had been as lucky.  Each and every one had been ravaged in the initial confrontation, despite their incredible training and combat experience.  Luke had had no other option than to duck into the caves and try to find a better place to face the creature in close quarters.  Out in the open, in the canyons of the Black Mountains, the creature had the advantage, and he didn’t stand a chance out there alone.  He didn’t even stand a chance in tighter halls with the element of surprise for his use.  This was a fact he was keenly aware of as he ran for his life into the darkness of the caves from the opposite side.  To his surprise, he had managed to land a few blows on the beast, but nothing permanent, and in the end it had slashed him as he attempted to duck out of the way, leaving him for dead in the freezing cave.  He couldn’t possibly imagine how someone had managed to find him in that place, but he desperately wanted to find them and ensure they were aware of his thankfulness.

Lying semi-conscious in the cave, Luke had managed to drink the fresh water dripping down from the roof of the cave.  He had no food left in his pack, as most of his effects had been abandoned in the brutal battle with the beast outside the caves, but he had been lucky enough to have an extra cloak still on his person for use as a blanket.  Without it, he had a feeling he would have been killed by the infamously freezing temperatures of the Black Mountain Caves.  Eventually, he had blacked out, coming to a blurred and groggy consciousness only a few times before drifting off to sleep again.  Ironically, the painfully cold rock of the caves had actually served to stop the bleeding on his back and prevent his premature, painful demise in the caves.

Pulling himself up dizzily from the bed back in the palace, Luke blinked and tried to get his bearings, realizing Richard had placed him in the finest guest room.  He smirked.  Richard was a great king and a fair leader, but first and foremost, he was a good man, and always was putting Luke on a higher pedestal than he thought he deserved.  But perhaps he had just been trying to make a good impression of the royal family for the benefit of Caroline.  But Luke had no need of such frivolities.  He would have loved Caroline if her entire family was made of bloodthirsty cannibals.  Her heart and soul were purer than any he had ever encountered, her strong will and determination to stamp out the world’s wrongs undeniably admirable, her desire to help the less fortunate more vast than any he could ever hope to sum up in himself.  She was so fair in every way, and she thought only of others, never thinking twice about risks or detriments to herself, so long as everyone was content (and in most cases, blissfully delighted).  He had never felt the way he felt about Caroline about another woman ever in his life.

Their correspondence had started when they were a bit younger, when they each found out that they were being shepherded towards a courtship by their respective kingdoms.  Luke had begrudgingly agreed to contact her by letter in hopes of getting to know her before traveling to meet her.  What he hadn’t been expecting to encounter in her reply was her spunky wit and sharp intelligence.  He soon found himself matched for his wonder and curiosity of the world in Caroline, whom he soon found out enjoyed reading every book she could get her hands on to learn more about the world, a desire he shared with her.  Having been exchanging letters for a year, when they finally met, Luke was nearly knocked on his feet.  He had not been expecting Caroline’s pure, angelic beauty.  She practically glowed from her every fiber when he first met her out in the sunlit courtyard amidst the rose bushes.  They had giggled like little children at their first introduction, having learned so much about one another already and eager then to create a true friendship.  They leapt into their conversations then as if they had known each other for fifty years.  And from there, very early on, Luke could sense how rapidly (for him, at least) it wouldn’t just be a friendship.

Luke was shaken from his thoughts by a loud rapping at his window.  He was startled by this at first, wondering who could possibly have been able to reach the balcony.  He assumed it must have been a servant who had become trapped on the roof and managed to make his way to the balcony.  Knowing whoever it was probably needed a helping hand, Luke stood and stepped drunkenly forth, orienting himself better with each step.  His back still stung greatly, but the bandaging applied by the doctor helped keep him on an even keel.  Within a few more steps across the glistening marble, he caught hold of the thick velvet drapes keeping the sunlight out.  He decided it was just as well.  Some light would do him no harm.  Gripping the drapes tightly, he swung them out to the side.  As his eyes blinked away the fresh sunlight, he felt his throat drop into the pits of his stomach.  He fell to the ground, shaking his head disbelievingly as he saw a human hand about as long as himself just outside the window, a massive pointer finger tapping lightly at the window, the hand looking effeminately soft and petite despite its gargantuan proportion.

Evidently, he wasn’t as well as he had hoped.  He was hallucinating up a storm. 

Crawling backward, he pulled himself to his feet and gripped his throbbing temple.  It wasn’t helping.  The hand was still there.  And as his vision focused, he saw not just a hand.  He saw an arm attached to it, stretching back to a shoulder.  Right beyond this was the very top of a torso, and a head in full view of the balcony.  He guessed the top of the head was about level with his own head if he had been in a standing position on the balcony.  He blinked, shaking his head no at no one in particular.  This wasn’t happening.  Long ropes of shining yellow hair, flowing over itself like a river of gold.  The soft, peachy skin.  The massive cheeks a healthy shade of rose.  The eyes a gorgeous baby blue, like staring into a freshwater spring and watching the ripples dance.  It wasn’t a dream.  It was Caroline.

Scrambling to his feet, Luke yanked the doors open, hanging on to the handles.  Their eyes met.  Luke felt himself freeze in place, just looking over the gargantuan face before him.  She did the same, her mouth hanging open, in shock to see him as well, it seemed.  He couldn’t possibly imagine what reason she had better than his, though, to make such a face.  She drew her hand slowly back, gripping around the edge of the balcony with fingers just about the same size as each of his legs.

The silence was deafening.  An eagle shrieked somewhere high in the sky, breaking it for a moment.  The trickle of the water in the pond five stories down in the courtyard slowly came into Luke’s frame of consciousness, his eyes locked so firmly upon the face of the young woman he had been wanting to see ever since he had nearly perished in battle with the terrible beast.  Finally, it ended.

                “Hello, Luke,” she whispered nervously, running a hand through her hair before letting it fall back to her side.  “I… I’ve wanted to see you.”  Luke was unable to sum up a word.  “Catherine.  The witch.  At the ceremony.  The spell she cast.  I wasn’t ill.  I’ve never been sick.  I’ve been growing.  A little more each night, and there’s nothing I can do about it.  I’m very frightened and I don’t know what’s happening to me, but all I’ve wanted is to be with you,” she sighed, pleading for acceptance with her eyes.  Luke stared into the blue wells of those eyes, almost seeing a cloud swirling inside of each one with her angst.  His mind was frozen.

                “Please.  Oh, please, please… say something to me, Luke.  I can’t do this alone.  Please.”

                Caroline watched fearfully as Luke took several steps forward, staring at her face, clearly still very shocked.  She didn’t blame him in the slightest, but at the same time was terrified of his reaction.  Would her dream come to fruition?  Finally, he was here, right in front of her, and Caroline wanted to establish some kind of physical contact with him while he was aware of her presence, unlike in the cave.  It was all she wanted.

                “Please…” she murmured in the lowest voice she could.  She had nothing else to say, nor the emotional energy to say it.  Luke came to a stop in front of the balcony, in touching distance of her face if he were to reach out as far as he could.  He looked at her fingers, larger than life, gripping the stone balcony as if ready to tear it right from the palace.  He had no doubt that if she were so inclined, she could release her grip and grab him up as if he were a frog into her palm.  She could probably crush the life from him with little effort, too.  But Luke felt himself very calmly remain standing where he was.  He made no sudden movements.  He couldn’t even blink.  Then, reaching out his unshaking hand, he placed it on Caroline’s curled pointer finger.

                “Caroline,” he breathed, snapped back to reality at last.

                “Luke…” she sighed in response, smiling wide with so much joy, she was certain her heart would burst.  Her dream wasn’t living out.  This wasn’t a dream.  She wasn’t asleep.  It was real.

                “I’ve thought of you so much.  Nearly every waking hour, while you were ill.  I couldn’t bear it any longer, Caroline,” he said simply, looking confused into her face.

                “I know, Luke, and I’m sorry.  But why… why did you have to leave me?”

                “I didn’t leave you.  I never would.  I did only what was necessary to guarantee your safety.”

                “But… your life is…”

                “My LIFE… is worth nothing if you are not in it,” he said at last, placing his other hand on her finger.  In response to the gentle touch, her finger flexed, and he could feel the raw, muscular power inside this one soft digit.

                “Luke… how can you say…”

                “Because it’s true.  I did what was necessary.  So, in a way, you might say I was selfish…”

                “How?”

                “I had to ensure I had a reason to continue living, didn’t I?” he said with a sly smile.  Caroline could see his old self beginning to emerge.

                “Oh, you… you… you FOOL!” she said, her voice choking as a huge tear rolled down to her chin and plunged to the ground below.  “You dear, dear, DEAR fool…”

                “A fool, yes, I suppose that’s precisely what I am.  But I’m a fool wiser to the world than most of the learned men, Caroline.  And that’s something I would never trade for anything.”

                “I feared I should never see you again.  What would I have done if you hadn’t been able to be returned safely?”

                “Oh… yes.  Caroline, could you tell me, please, who it was that saved me?  That brought me back from the Caves?”

                Caroline kicked her foot sheepishly behind her other ankle, although he obviously couldn’t see this.  She rippled her fingers on the balcony, summing up the courage to say it.

                “It… it was me, Luke.”

                “Y-YOU?” he struggled in disbelief.

                “Is it so hard to accept?”

                “I… I suppose not, now, but…” he regarded her, shocked and remorseful beyond belief for the danger she had been placed in to save him.

                “You made your choice to protect me.  So I made mine to do the same for you.  For I am just as you are.  I could not have carried on alone.”

                “But Caroline, such danger… you have a family…”

                “I do.  But they’re not you.  None of them are.  And the hole you left would never have been filled.”

                “Oh… my dearest…” he said, and he too began to cry, hanging his head.  “I can never apologize enough… the pain you must have been put through, the unknowing, the danger of traveling alone through the forests and the caves…”

“Please don’t, Luke, you’re going to make me cry even more,” she said with an optimistic smile, sniffling and wiping the back of her hand at her damp cheeks.  She slowly brought her hand up, her pointer finger extended, and softly wiped his cheeks of their wetness before moving her finger under his chin, lifting it back up to look her in the eye; the ability to finally touch him of her own accord and not have him draw back in fear sent a wave of bliss and pleasure into Caroline like a lightning strike.  “There is nothing to be sorry for, Luke.  Nothing.”

                “But…”

                “None of that matters anymore, none of it.  Because we are here, together, now, in THIS moment, free from the dangers of the outside, the Black Mountains, the forests… all of it.  Please be here with me.  Don’t ponder the past, the decisions we’ve made.  Be HERE with ME.  Please…” she begged, moving her face even closer and leaning her head down.  Luke reached out and placed his small hand on the skin just below Caroline’s right eye, not a single shiver as he felt the warmth of her rosy cheeked face.

                “I am here, Caroline.”

                Another moment of silence passed between them much different than the first of awkwardness and confusion.  Now, it was one of understanding and hope.  Caroline felt a force radiating between the two of them like nothing they had ever experienced before.  And it had nothing to do with the vast difference in their sizes.  “I was so afraid, Luke.  I had no idea of what you might think of me.  I’m… what I’ve…”

                “Please don’t even think on such things.”

                “Why not?  It’s the truth…” she moaned lightly, not wanting to ruin the moment but feeling helpless all the same.

                “No it’s not.”

                “Why not, then?” she said almost defensively.

                “Because you are the single most beautiful creature to ever walk upon the earth.  And I can tell that no wicked curse has been able to change that.  You threw yourself into a dangerous place for the sake of one life.  One life, that you placed above your own, perhaps wrongfully, perhaps against the odds, but you did it anyway.  You are more of yourself than ever before.  And if no one has been able to see it, then they are blind.”

                “Luke…” she breathed, unable to come up with any word in response to this.

                “My lady…” he said, dropping to his knees.  Caroline’s jaw dropped as he took her pinky finger in his hands and kissed it gently, before rising up from the bow.  “I am at your service forever.”

                Caroline quickly retracted her hand and placed them over her face to wipe the new wave of tears away, unable to say anything, so great was her ultimate, unadulterated happiness.  She tried to mute her sobs for a few extra silent minutes, but it was impossible.  Luke waited patiently on the balcony.  “My lady?” he asked after a moment.

                “Y-Yes?” she swallowed, trying to clear her voice.

                “A request.”

                “A… a re…” she repeated, confused and still baffled by his words of moments ago.

                “I want to be nearer to you, my dearest.”

                “I’m… I’m right here for you, Luke, and I’m not leaving.”

                “No.  That’s not what I mean.”

                “What is it, then?”

                “I want you to hold me.”

                Caroline’s heart stopped beating in its tracks.  She had managed this with Phillip all right, but somehow, looking so far down to the ground and at the young man she cared for so much before her, somehow she couldn’t gather the courage to answer yes.  She realized she was terrified of him changing his mind about her if she allowed it.

                “N-No… No…” she said, shaking her head instantly.

                “Why not?”

                “It’s… it’s too dangerous…”

                “No it’s not.”

                “Please, Luke, try to understand this… I almost lost you once.  I do not think I could bear to do it again.  Please, don’t ask me to…”

                “It’s not a risk such as what you speak of.  I have seen your kindness, your gentleness.  You are a sacred lamb among the people of this kingdom.  And no matter your size, that hasn’t changed.”

                “But… I could never…”

                “Yes you could.  What are you afraid of?” he asked, his confidence with the situation growing, his puzzlement with her fears attempting at a solution.

                “For YOU!” she said, her voice cracking again.  “Only for you.  Please, it is… the risk, I just want you to be well again.”

                “It’s not about me, Caroline, it’s about you.  I can see how afraid you are.”

                “Yes, of course I’m afraid, suppose if I should…”

                “I don’t mean for me.  I mean for yourself.”

                “M-myself?”

                “Yes, it’s pouring out of you, and it makes me so sad.  I can’t look at you like this, while you are so terrified that you have become some world-destroying monster that you can’t bring yourself to hold me in your hands.”

                “Please… please…” she begged.  “Don’t ask me to…”

                “I won’t,” he said with a warm smile and a wink.  “But I would surely appreciate it if you thought it over…” he said, and with that, he grabbed onto the edge of the balcony and pulled himself over.  Caroline yelled out in fright, moving with such lightning quick speed, throwing her hands underneath him like a cushion, he had only just fallen past her chest when she caught him.  She felt goose bumps stand along her body as she finally had this beloved man of hers literally lying in her hands.  She breathed a sigh of relief that she had been able to catch him.

                “Many thanks, my dearest lady.  I quite think a landing in the grass rather than your hands might have proved unpleasant, at best.”

                “How… how could you…” she said almost accusingly, but she was so grateful that he was all right, and grateful in almost equal measure that he had managed to purge her of her fears, that she couldn’t sum up a single coherent or cross thought.  She cupped him in both hands, curling her fingers around him in a wall, allowing him to prop himself against them.  He gripped her soft fingertips, kissing one of them.  Caroline felt a great weight drop from her shoulders.  Luke had just single-handedly rid her of the very last of her apprehension.  She felt no dread for the future or for her current actions.  She felt peace.  And she felt an attraction far beyond the material world, as if her heart had found some intangible connection to the one belonging to the tiny, wonderful human being in her warm hands.

                Bringing him near to her face, Caroline nuzzled him against her tear-soaked cheek, letting her hair fall back over her shoulders, before bringing him back into view.

                “How could I, you ask?” he responded at length.  “Who else do you think would be willing to do that for you?”  Caroline smiled, her heart glowing, as she continued cradling the feather-weight form of Luke in her protective fingers and palms.