It was our second day since coming to the North. Morning greeted us radiant warmth, rousing me as the first rays of sunlight crept over my face.

I got up with yawn, unfurling my sleeping bag and dragging it to a corner. I found Madison already up, having just finished changing into the day's clothes. She spotted me out of bed and moved over to where I was.

“Good morning, Eliot,” Madison greeted me as she knelt down on the floor beside me, “I didn't want to wake you, seeing how you were still fast asleep.”

“G'mern,” I said in my slurred morning voice. I raised both arms up toward Madison, and right on que, two gigantic hands came down to fetch me. I've been using hand gestures as a sort of shortcut for when I wanted something from Madison. It wasn't anything official, just a small list of moves we both understood. Now instead of straining my voice to call for Madison from the ground, I would reach up to her and Madison would instantly come down to pick me up.

I felt myself be lifted up ever so gently. Madison was always careful when it came to vertical ascensions, never bringing me up too fast to be sickened by the vertigo. I imagine it couldn't be too comfortable for her, having to lift something as small as me up so slowly when any other giantess would have taken the easy way out and just shoved me wherever they wanted me to be.

“Let's get you changed,” Madison said cheerily. If Madison was ever bothered by the extra effort she had to put in to accommodate for me, then she has never shown it. With one hand, she dug into the large box where she put our stuff in, rummaging through her own belongings until she procured an itty bitty bag that looked no bigger than a plum between her fingers. My bag.

She handed me the bag, a haversack containing whatever I brought with me for the week. Madison dropped it in my lap, coaxing an 'oof' from me as it landed hard on my legs. I rolled it off onto Madison's palm, and opened it up. It was just clothes, clothes and clothes; my other stuff was stuffed in the front zipper. I pulled out a fresh change of sweater and pants, and felt the jacket I wore yesterday fall on top of me as Madison brought it to me from the box.

I waved to Madison, signaling for her to let me down, but I waited for a while and realized she wasn't moving. “Uh, Maddie?” I asked skittishly.

Madison was leaning on the edge of the box, hand held out in front of her face, with her cheek resting in her other hand. She had a sly grin on her face, and she simply held her gaze on me expectantly. “Go on,” was all she said.

I gave a shrug, knowing that Madison wouldn't let me down until I've finished changing in her hand. She's been awfully bold since coming here, not that it bothered me much. I think I'm enjoying this new treatment as much as she is.

I got out of my sleep wear quickly, noting how cold the North was even in the mornings. There was some comfort in being on Madison's hand at least, her skin was like a naturally heated floor, and I took in as much of the warmth as I could as I changed by sitting down the whole way. I kept my socks on and put on some black trousers, then unfolded a yellow sweater in my bag and pulled it over me. I wore my jacket for more warmth, and put on my shoes, finishing up by putting away my old clothes in the bag.

I must have been the most boring stripper in the world, but Madison had a satisfied smile on her face. She reached for my head and stroked my hair with the back of her giant fingers, giving me one tender look before changing back to her more formal demeanor.

“We'll be meeting with this Garden's council, today,” Madison, her voice smoothing into a practiced, polite tone, “It'll mostly just be introductions, if I were to guess, but we'll be ironing out the details of the visit to the South over the week. It'll be good if you listened in, some details only you might have a perspective on.”

“Sure,” I said. I came here mostly to cheer on and cheer up Madison, but I guess helping out sounded fun too.

“Let's be off then,” Madison said, sliding me into her breast pocket once more.

Stephanie was waiting outside for us. She was wearing the same red colors as yesterday, but wore a buttoned long shirt and forgone her hat. As soon as she spotted us from her waiting spot some distance from our church, she spun around and came over to Madison.

“Good morning Miss Madison,” Stephanie said in her usual cheery voice, and turned to Madison's breast pocket, where I was, “And to you too, Mister Eliot. I trust your night's been pleasant?”

I wanted to reply, but Madison cut in first. “It was adequate, but we could do with more warmth,” Madison said firmly, “Eliot isn't quite used to such cold weather.”

“Ah, of course,” Stephanie said, “We were only expecting you at the time, so we've not made arrangements for proper accommodations for Mister Eliot. I'll remedy that once we're done with today.”

Stephanie gave a small bow and looked at me at eye level, her gigantic face barely touching my own, “My apologies to our guest.”

“Er...” I hesitated to same something. Having a face this big and this close was always jarring no matter how many times I've experienced it. I was saved the trouble, however, when Madison pulled Stephanie back up.

“That's enough of that,” Madison said briskly, “We have a meeting to attend, do we not?”

“Of course,” Stephanie said with a grin, “Right this way.”

As the two giantesses began moving, I looked up at Madison and raised an eyebrow at her. “I'm not that bothered by the cold.”

“You were freezing when I held you in my hand,” Madison chided, “You'll catch a cold if we don't warm you up at night.”

“Meh,” I said, letting my arms hang limply from Madison's pocket, “You worry too much.”

“Says the boy who who worried enough to follow me all the way North,” Madison said with a chuckle. I felt her finger come up to my head and brush against my hair, giving me my usual head rub. I've come to think of this as Madison's way of saying 'you're so cute when you do that'.

I was a little annoyed by the coddling, so I brushed Madison's finger with a slap of my arm, and turned back up to Madison to change the subject. “So where are we heading to?” I asked.

“The dining hall, I suspect,” Madison said, “It's about time for the day's first communal meal.”

Strange to be holding a meeting over a meal, I thought. But I suppose a lot of things have been strange here in the North, so far.

Stephanie led us on into an area overflowing with lavish tapestry and cloths. Various cushions were laid about the place, occupied by dozens of giantesses who lounged about, talking amongst each other or just laying there comfortably. One thing I noticed were large bowls which were being passed around. Each giantess would take a large scoop of greens that were in the bowl and pass it on to the giantess beside her, and emptied bowls would be given to the few giantesses moving about, who would refill the bowls with more greens from what I surmised to be a pantry adjacent to this place. We were undoubtedly in the dining hall of the giantesses.

There were tinies amongst them, too, saddled either in their mistress's lap or hanging from wherever she put them on her person. Most giantesses were too preoccupied to care about them, simply dropping scraps on top of their tinies and let them sort it out themselves. Some opted to feed their tiny themselves, grabbing them in one hand and spoon-feeding them with the other. More playful ones simply let their tinies be the one to feed them, opening their mouths and allowing their tinies to drop food into their large gaping maw.

It wasn't the place I'd expect for a meeting. You'd think things would be a bit more serious when it came to negotiations, but the giantesses were just lazing about, reclined over their mass of pillows and chomping down on food as it passed them. It was just another friendly gathering as far as anybody was concerned.

“Right over here,” Stephanie said, leading us to the end of the dining hall.

“Whoa,” I muttered.

In front of us was an altar made up of giantesses. A good dozen were lying about on top of a raised stone platform, leaning against each other and faced inwards to the center. But what surprised me was what they were all leaning towards. Right in the middle of it all was the largest giantess I had ever seen. Even with the two closest giantess's tucked against the sides of the center giantess, their heads barely made it up her massive chest. Each of her hands were placed on either of the adjacent giantess's shoulders, enveloping them completely in her grip.

She was at least half larger than a normal giantess. She wasn't more plump or muscular or anything, she was simply bigger. She still looked to be relatively tall, but her proportions were no different from the giantesses lying around her. She had brilliant platinum blonde hair tied into a ponytail behind her, and what wasn't pulled back fell lazily down as a pair of locks beside her head. Hazy blue eyes looked down at everything with a serious but thoughtful expression, and even as she was sitting upright on the cushions, she was still tall enough to be eye-level with Stephanie. She wore little and simply; a medieval-looking top which was nothing more than a cloth tied across her chest, paired together with an equally medieval cloth dress, slit on either side so that her crossed legs were unobstructed from view. Her feet extended out below the platform, pushed out by her long legs and resting toes skyward on the cold tiles below. She had an assortment of jewelry adorning her body, rings studded with glistening stones the size of my head on several fingers, golden bracelets and anklets wide enough to fit a car through, and a matching pair of silver toe rings on her second toes.

“Matron Marian,” Stephanie said to the large giantess, “May I present the representative of the South, Miss Madison.”

Matron Marian's eyes shifted from Stephanie to Madison. Her stern gaze held Madison in place, looking over the comparatively punitive giantess over. I felt Madison's chest tighten behind me, her breathing shifting to a nervous cadence. I guess even Maddie'd be afraid of someone bigger than her. After what felt like a long while, the Matron deigned to speak.

“Madison,” The Matron said simply. Accompanying her voice was her right hand, which was outstretched towards Madison. Madison walked forward to receive it, holding the Matron's hand with both of her own, and bent down to kiss the opal embedded in a golden ring around her middle finger. I was left hanging from Madison's pocket, and I felt Madison lean forward as she proceeded with this ritual of fidelity.

“You are welcome here,” Marian continued, drawing her arm back and putting it back around the giantess beside her, “We are all sisters in my Garden.”

“Thank you, Matron Marian,” Madison said as she got back up again. I found my own bearings too as I took another peek outside from her pocket. This time, I wasn't distracted by Marian's presence, and I found several familiar faces in the crowd of giantesses. The trio from yesterday, Cara, Sofie and Myra, were hanging around the edge of the group, still talking animatedly amongst themselves. Stephanie had just chosen to sit on the edge of the platform, right next to Marian's lap. The giantess behind her didn't look familiar, but she was eying the pocket I was in with great interest. And one of the giantesses leaning against Marian was the person who invited us here, Claire.

“So you made it,” Claire said with a brilliant smile.