Tara was tightly grasping Lucy’s fingers as she ‘rode’ into the house.  Having everything so large and her so weak was still a little scary to her.  Despite being in what she would describe as ‘safe hands’, the fact that everything was moving so quickly compared to her was a lot to take in at once.  Seeing things that are so gigantic moving so quickly was hard for her to accept, even knowing the extents of the Arte.  There was a breeze blowing against her during the movement and her nerves were tingling as Lucy walked closer and closer to the house.  Tara’s head was resting against a finger as one of the hands left her to open up a building-sized door.

Once the door was open, Lucy walked forward, into the living room where she had just received a gift from her mother.  The room was still completely empty, but for the single couch in the middle.  At this moment, a couch was all she needed.  Her little friend was, no doubt, still afraid of her new situation, and sitting on the couch might be exactly what she needed.  She slowed her pace as she walked into the room, holding her friend as gently and securely as she could.

Tara was, to put it quite simply, amazed at the size of the house.  As the two of then entered the living room, her eyes had widened at the scale of it.  The room, although empty, looked absolutely huge.  It could easily have been over a hundred feet to her, and the fact that it was empty made it look even bigger.  She couldn’t say a word as she looked in awe at the massive house that now surrounded the two of them.  Pretty soon, however, the movement and walking stopped, and she found her support moving backwards. 

Lucy sat down on the couch, slowly lowering her hands down into her lap.  She’d seen the shocking look on Tara’s face as they’d entered the room.  She couldn’t even begin to fathom what the tiny lady was going through at this very moment.  Was being so small scary?  Intimidating?  Or is it just amazing to see everything so much bigger?  Lucy had no idea, but she wanted to care for her and make her feel more comfortable.  As she rested her hands in her lap, she began to unfold and flatten them, giving Tara some space to get up and perhaps move off of them for now.

Smiling down towards Tara, Lucy began to softly speak to her.  “Go on.  It’s alright, Tara.  Walk onto my lap.  I won’t let you fall.”

Tara had felt wind coming from various directions as the hands which held her were set down into the girl’s lap.  Her body was still low on strength, but she slowly nodded, doing what Lucy had suggested of her.  Although she was scared of being around such a big person, she felt safe around Lucy.  Another factor coming into play was her debt.  Lucy had saved her life, and the least she could do was to agree to her suggestions.  She didn’t think the girl would hurt her, so she pushed herself up, slowly walking forward.

Tara began to step off Lucy’s hand and onto her lap when she lost her footing and suddenly tripped forward.  Completely leaving the hand at this point, her knees fell onto Lucy’s lap, while her face planted itself right into the shirt that covered the girl’s belly.  She felt like saying “Ouch…” from her failed attempt at walking, but she felt that it wouldn’t be right to do so.  This felt more like embarrassment than pain.  She slowly picked herself up, face completely red as she looked up towards Lucy, who was smiling and giggling a little.

Lucy had thought the sight of Tara’s tiny body moving around was absolutely adorable.  She looked like a tiny, living doll and that gave Lucy at least some familiarity with her.  She was about the size of the dolls she took care of on a daily basis, and that might just give her the experience she needed to help Tara cope with all of this.  As she saw her tripping and planting her face into her belly, she couldn’t help but get a smile to her face and giggle down at the poor sorceress.

Realizing that Tara was embarrassed by this mistake, Lucy moved her hand a little, picking her up and sitting her down in her lap, Tara’s front-side to her stomach.  As she looked down towards her, she began to take in the woman’s tiny form.  The more she saw it, the more and more adorable it seemed to look to her.  Not being able to control herself, she used one of her fingers and began to feel down Tara’s long hair.

Tara felt more and more helpless all the time.  Tripping on her way off Lucy’s hand definitely didn’t help matters, and neither did having to be moved into a better position by Lucy herself.  She almost felt like she was losing control and that she was turning back into the helpless girl she used to be.  Despite this, however, she felt a rush of chills and feelings as Lucy softly stroked her hair.  Having the girl touch her brought back the warm feeling she’d felt earlier.  The feeling that reminded her of the care her mother had given her.

With every good feeling she felt as she was stroked upon, the more Tara felt that this girl was somewhat of a protector for her.  Even though they hadn’t known each other long, Tara felt like she owed this girl anything and everything she could offer.  She had been scared for her life back in the street with the Antlion and this girl, despite grieving over the loss of her mother, went out of her way to save and care for her.  There had to be something she could do for her to repay her.  Even if it wasn’t something she could do right now, in her strained state, there had to be something she could do for Lucy.

As the thoughts built up, she got the courage to say something to the girl, who was still gently stroking on her hair.  She called up to her, causing Lucy to immediately stop what she was doing, giving her words her full attention. 

“Miss L-Lucy?  I enjoy everything you’re doing for me.  You’ve saved my life and now you’re caring for me, bringing back many fond memories from the past.  I love all these feelings, but there’s something I need to do for you.  You saved my life, and now I owe it to you.  I may be able to restore my own size when I get my strength back.  When I do so, is there anything I can do to possibly repay you for your kindness?  Anything at all?”

Lucy looked down at little Tara for a moment and began to think.  She had definitely gone through a lot these past few moments and, despite not wanting to ask the tiny sorceress for anything, one thing did come to mind.  It was a rather selfish thought on her part, but she pitched the idea down to Tara, anyways. 

“Well, little one…Tara…I don’t really need you to do anything for me for what I did.  It’s really what anyone in my place would have done.  If you insist on doing something to repay me, though…would you mind staying here, at least for tonight, and let me care for you?  I understand that if you return to your original height, you may not need me, but with mom gone, I…I’ll get lonely.”

Tara, finding the way through her fear for the first time in this adventure, smiled and nodded up towards her tall friend.  “Of course I can, Lucy.  It’s the least I can do for all you’ve done for me.”

Lucy smiled down towards her tiny friend, trying to fight away the tears that had formed in her eyes, due to the memories of her mother coming back during the previous conversation.  She whispered a brief ‘Thank You’ before continuing to stroke little Tara’s soft, silky hair…