The voice that had come from above was ringing again and again in Tara’s ears.  It was loud and seemed to echo infinitely.  If it had sounded any differently, it would have driven Tara to tears in fear of what kind of being had spoken down to her.  She was, after all, quite small and weakened, temporarily unable to focus to use The Arte.  Anyone or anything could have just come by and picked her up, planning to do whatever they wished with her.

This voice, however, was different.  The tender, gentle sound of the voice almost sounded divine to her.  It was as if an angel had appeared before her to take her away from the reality of her situation and keep her safe.  It had spoken to her, telling her that everything was going to be alright.  It sounded so gently that when it had told her to open her eyes, she immediately felt like she could trust it.  She gently parted her eyelids and tried to open her eyes up, focusing her vision as the sun’s rays continued to beat down on her.

She kept a hand over part of her eyes as she looked up, trying to adjust to the new light that was being shone down on her.  After a few moments, she thought she’d adjusted enough and moved her hand, only to reveal an amazing sight before her.

Above Tara was a face.  Not only was it a face, but it was the face of an Angel, a Goddess.  Rays of light were shining down through her golden, blonde hair, making it look like she was radiant and glowing.  Tara’s jaw immediately dropped upon seeing her and her face quivered a little.  She peered up at this face as it smiled down towards her and parted it’s own lips, preparing to speak to her.

“Hello there, little one!  Are you okay?”

Her words still sounded gentle and warm to Tara.  She wasn’t sure how she could even begin to respond in the presence of someone who looked so divine, but she soon found out what had happened.  Her head had moved when she’d spoken down to her, showing the bright sun above and revealing the huge face of a young woman.  Tara took a good look at the woman’s face when she’d moved out of the sun and finally hit herself with the realization of who it was when she’d seen the dried tear-spots on her face.

Tara didn’t say it out loud, but she then realized that this woman was no Angel or Goddess, but was the young woman she’d been trying to protect from the Antlion.  The girl must have snatched her up sometime after she’d become smaller.  She was curious about everything, but she looked up at the girl’s face.  Although not divine, it looked beautiful and inviting.  Tara slowly nodded up towards her and nervously said “Y-Yes…I..I’m alright. ”

The face above her let out a huge grin upon hearing those words.  The woman’s head turned and she closed her eyes for a moment during the smile as Tara began to want to take a look at her surroundings.  She tried to move her head, but couldn’t take her eyes off the face that still loomed above her.  Thre were so many thing about this situation that were new and confusing to her.  A big thing was how all of this happened.  She’d guessed that she’d been picked up, but she wanted to know the truth.  Slowly speaking up, she tried to be as formal as she could, given the situation. “E-Excuse me…miss, but how did this h-happen?”

The woman that loomed over her slowly opened her eyes and looked down at her, slowly losing her smile and turning it into a frown.  She took a deep breath as she looked down at her.  Something serious had obviously happened.  Tara started to feel nervous at the change of expressions.  She realized all too well what sort of damage this woman could do to her at this size.  Were she to wish it, she could probably easily snap her in two.  Tara, however, felt safe around her and was calming as the woman spoke down to her.

“First of all, you can call me Lucy.  What’s your name?  We can’t very well talk like this and become friends if we don’t know each other’s names, now can we?”

Tara wasn’t entirely sure what this woman who called herself ‘Lucy’ meant by all this.  While it was true that they would need to learn each other’s names, especially so she could thank her for saving her, assuming that’s what she did.  She didn’t understand why she didn’t answer her question, though.  Still, though, she felt something about this woman.  She felt something very familiar, something that she had not felt in a long time.  The touch of her flesh against her body reminded her of the soft touch of her mother from all those years ago.  Trying to keep things going and hopefully reaching her answers, she let out a smile and responded to her. 

“H-Hello, Lucy.  It’s nice to meet you.  My name is…Tara.”

The face’s smile soon returned and it almost looked like she was starting to blush.  She looked down at Tara with her enormous, sparkling eyes and slowly nodded towards her. Tara’s eyes widened a little as she saw the nod, a little shocked at seeing something so big move fast.  Sure, she’d seen a lot of big creatures in her time, like dragons and such, but never had she seen a person of this size before.  Despite the safety she felt in Lucy’s hand, the movements were still very new to her.

“It’s a pleasure, Tara,” Lucy spoke down to Tara, still trying to maintain her smile.  “I’m not sure how to break all of this to you, but…you’re the size of a doll right now.  You were…you were about to be killed by that monster. I had to step in…I had to protect my protector.  That monster…it…it killed my…my…”  Lucy stopped speaking at this point, looking over towards her mother’s body.  She sniffled a little as she looked, and looked back down towards the tiny sorceress she had in her hand, a few tears forming in her eyes. 

“You did everything you could to protect me from that monster, Tara.  After it had killed Mom…I…I felt so alone…but then I saw you down there, about to meet the same fate.  I had to do something.  I had to keep you from suffering the same way Mom did…”

Tara didn’t know what to say to the poor girl.  She’d obviously been distraught over losing her mother, but at the same time, had brought up enough courage to protect and save Tara herself.  Her safety towards Lucy only grew stronger at this point, seeing how much she was in pain.  Tara couldn’t help but get a little emotional herself, impulsively rubbing her face against one of the girl’s fingers and calling up to her.  “L-Lucy…thank you.  I…I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to do this so soon after you were hit with a loss like that, but…you saved me.  Is there anything I can possibly do to repay you?  I…I owe you my life.”

Tara realized just how big of a suggestion she’d just thrown at Lucy, but she was alright with it.  She’d been helpless and there was always a possibility that she may never be able to return to her normal height.  Being saved by such an emotional, gentle woman may have been a blessing for her.  Otherwise, she’d have been lunch for that Antlion.  She was helpless and had been saved.  She owed Lucy her life.

Lucy could see the emotions building up in the tiny sorceress and tried to wipe her own tears away as she smiled down towards her.  The offer had been incredibly enticing and was sure the woman needed to get some rest from the fighting and the likely trauma of becoming so small.  She turned and looked at their house, and then back towards Tara with a question.

“Would you…like to come inside with me?  I could…help you get cleaned up.”

Tara’s smile widened as she’d heard these words.  She wanted to do a lot for Lucy to make up for her screw-up and for having been rescued by the very person she was trying to rescue.  She nodded and simply said “I’d like that.” Moments before Lucy had turned around and began walking towards the house…