"Adelaide? Be a dear and fetch your brother for supper, will you? It's getting late! Best not let him play after sundown... I hear the tomkins have been encroaching further. Little pests."

"I'll get him, mother!" Adelaide replied, heading to the door, "And I don't see why you're scared of the tomkins! They're so small, they're almost cute!"

Adelaide ran outside with a burst of excited energy, forgoing her shoes in favor of the childish pleasure of running barefoot through the grass. She dashed from place to place, wondering where her little brother could have gone. Adelhard, though named in her likeness, was in most ways her polar opposite. Adelaide was diligent, dutiful, and responsible beyond her years, while her brother was inquisitive and sporadic in the most unpredictable of ways. Adelaide grew frustrated as she scoured the woods near their cottage, calling his name to no avail.

"Where could he have possibly run off to?" she pondered aloud, wondering if he ran off to town to buy sweets.

Adelaide grew a hunch as to where he was as she thought about his recent actions. As of late, Adelhard had been asking why he wasn't allowed to play in the clearing by the brook. Every time he asked, mother explained to him that it was dangerously close to the tomkins, but the explanation never seemed to stick. Adelaide wondered if she should ask her mother permission to look for him at the brook before ultimately deciding against it - what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her - and sprinted off towards the brook, anxiety growing as the sun sank lower in the horizon.

Surely enough, when Adelaide reached the leaf-cluttered brook, she saw her brother kneeling on the opposite bank of the brook.

What over there could possibly be so important that he'd get his shoes wet romping through the brook? she wondered, trying to take a look at what he was doing.

"Adelhard! Hello?" Adelaide called, scaring Adelhard, "Mum says it's time to eat, and we both know you aren't allowed over here! Come back with me if you don't want me telling on y-"

Adelaide froze mid-sentence. A tiny human silhouette stood warily watching her, cradled in Adelhard's hands. Adelaide, no longer caring whether she got her own feet wet, ran across the brook to Adelhard's side, scraping her bare feet on the gravelly bank.

"Is that a tomkin?" Adelaide asked, more incredulous than sincere in her question. There were few other things it could have been, but Adelaide was aghast at her brother's recklessness. Tomkins were known to be pestilent little creatures, notorious for slipping poison into wells, releasing vermin into grain stores, and coating their tiny weapons in venom to murder even the largest of soldiers in their sleep. 

"A-Adelaide! Wait! I can explain!" Adelhard sputtered, bringing the tomkin close to his chest. Adelaide now stood over him, and got a closer look at the tomkin. It was a girl, dark-haired and tan, appearing overall little older than Adelhard. Adelaide was surprised at how human she appeared, but was no less wary because of it. She didn't know much about tomkins, but she knew that they were dangerous, and she wasn't about to let her brother die.

"Put that thing down! What if it hurts you? Or poisons you? Or follows you home and poisons us all? Put it down and I'll stomp it for you, just be quick!"

"No! Don't stomp on her! Adelaide, sit down and listen to me, will you?" Adelhard shouted, unnerving Adelaide with his intensity. Adelaide, noting how emotive her brother was, decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and comply to his wishes, taking a seat next to him and staring ruefully at the tomkin in his hands. Even after she sat down, Adelhard continued to silently glare at her.

"Well? I'm listening!"

"Alright, fine! Just, um, don't tell anyone about any of this, okay? Promise?"

"Promise." Adelaide said, truthfully.

"Well, this all started a long time ago, long enough that it was back when mom let us play by the brook. I was out looking for frogs when I heard voices talking in a strange accent, sort of like that merchant from Allegaine that gives us candy sometimes. Well, I naturally wanted to go and see who it was, so I decided to take a look around."

"Adelhard, I hate to butt in, but we don't have a lot of time. If mom finds us here, we're both goners, so hurry it up, please!" Adelaide interrupted, growing impatient as the last of the sun's light faded.

"Alright, alright! Long story short, it was tomkins, Adelaide. Two of them, farmers from the looks of it. They were talking to each other, and I understood."

"So they were conversing in Pazsichian, or the commonspeak?" Adelaide asked, suddenly a bit more interested.

"No, Adelaide, that's the thing: see, the next day, I came out to the brook again, looking for more tomkins. I followed it for a bit before I found a tiny mudbrick house, with voices drifting out from inside of it. It was a different group of tomkins, a few foresters playing a gambling game of sorts from what I heard, but I understood them all the same. It's not them, Adelaide, it's me! I just understand their language!"

"So is that what you're doing out here? Catching them and listening to them? I won't tell, then, but I still think we should stomp that tomkin and go home for the night. You can always come out another day if you really want to listen to them, but I don't see why you would - it's not like they'll understand you back, and it's dangerous! Just because they look like tiny people, and if you're to be believed, talk like them, doesn't mean you can trust them!"

"I can talk back to them."

"You mean..." Adelaide trailed off, eyes wide.

"I don't know how to describe it. It's just like there's a little lever in my mind, and I pull it, and I start speaking their language. They've got a common one, just like us, and then a handful of regional dialects, also just like us! They aren't evil or anything, at least, not any of the ones I've talked to. Think about a world where we can live in peace! Together!" 

Adelaide was conflicted. On one hand, she'd like nothing more than to believe her brother, but on the other, what he was saying not only sounded entirely fabricated, but it went against everything she was taught.

"So you come out here to talk to tomkins?" Adelaide asked, hoping to see if his story would fall apart the further she pried into it.

"Well, not tomkins, exactly. Just her." he responded, looking down to the tomkin in his hands. She looked terrified, and was tightly clinging to Adelhard's thumb.

Adelaide didn't like hearing this. He was spending time with this tomkin, curious to the point of gullibility as usual. While normally it just made him the butt of most other kids' jokes, Adelaide feared that it could be tampering with his mind and endangering his life in this case.

"Adelhard, I'm sorry if you like talking with it, but it's a tomkin, and tomkins can't be trusted. If you won't take care of it, I will, alright? I can't take any risks here."

"She's not an it, Adelaide, and you aren't going to hurt her!" Adelhard said, standing up with the tomkin and backing away from Adelaide.

"And why is that?"

"Because I love her. Her name is Aelia, and I'm in love with her." Adelhard said, quietly.

Adelaide was silent.

"We first met by complete accident. I was coming to the brook to wash up, and she was gathering bundles of water-reed. She saw me first, and I wouldn't have even noticed her run away if she didn't curse under her breath, drawing my attentnion. When I saw her, I called out for her to wait, and surely enough, she stopped and looked back to me. It took a while of conversing to convince her that I meant no harm, but once she felt safe around me, we spent a while talking to each other about our people. We're not so different, the tomkins and ourselves. They think that we're giants, maneating and merciless, and, well, I'm not surprised that they have that impression. They're far more afraid of us than we are of them, and for good reason! But after a while, when it came time for Aelia to go, she told me that she comes to this brook often to get water-reed, and asked if I'd meet her again. I did so happily, and after a while, we were meeting every two days, with few exceptions. About a week ago... she told me that she loved me, and I said it right back. I don't know how, but I'm going to figure out a way to live with her in peace. Maybe we can prove that our peoples can live together."

Adelaide processed this information. It was a lot for her to hear at once.

"Is she your sister? She looks a lot like you."

"Yeah, she is. I'm trying to tell her that she shouldn't be afraid of you, but it's hard. She's been told lies her whole life about your people, and I don't think it's going to be easy to get her to trust you. Once I can get her to stop being so obtuse, I might be able to properly introduce you to her. She's really a nice person."

"Do you think she would hurt me if you weren't here? I'm still a bit scared, you know, so please keep me safe. She's been giving me looks of hatred for the past few minutes. Why would she hate me before she even knows me? I just don't understand."

"...I don't know why. I really wish I had an answer to that, but I just don't know. Don't worry, though, I'll make sure to protect you until I know she's safe for you to be around. I'd never let anyone hurt you, even her, alright?"

"Thanks, Ad. I love you so much."

"I love you too."

Adelaide felt like crying. Her brother was making gibberish noises to the tomkin. She was certain that he'd been poisoned, drugged in an attempt to win him over to their side. He would hate her for this, but she needed to save him. She wasn't going to lose her brother, not to the tomkins or anyone else. She had always been responsible for him, but this was the greatest test yet. He needed her now more than ever, and she wasn't going to let him down.

"You know, if anyone finds you with a tomkin, they'll kill both of you, right? It's dead for sure, of course, but you? You might get off with torture or imprisonment if you're lucky, but the soldiery have only been getting harsher with their punishments, especially to foresters like us who don't serve a nobleman's estate. I want to believe your story, I really do, but you know nobody else will. I'm really sorry. I wish I didn't have to do this."

"Wait, do wha-"

Adelhard was cut off as Adelaide cuffed him in the side of his head with a stinging blow, blurring his vision and sending him reeling just long enough for her to bat Aelia from his hands. Adelhard tried to tackle his sister having figured out what she intended to do, but dizzied as he was only tripped and fell on the rocky bank, gashing open his chin and scraping his hands. Adelhard could only watch with teary eyes as Adelaide raised her foot above the terrified Aelia. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as Adelaide's foot fell. Aelia lifted her hands up in a defensive cower, eyes shut tight in that instinctual paralysis in the face of death.

Adelhard retched as his sister's heel crushed Aelia into the gravel in a burst of blood, much of which ended up on his face. Adelhard's hands were shaking with adrenaline as he pushed himself to a hunched standing position, eyes unblinking, mouth hanging slightly open. She had just killed the love of his life. His sister had killed his soulmate for no other reason than the fact that she was small. Aelia was dead.

Aelia was killed.

"I'm sorry, Adelhard, but I had to do it. I needed to save you. She was poisoning your mind."

Our people are killed by yours in saddening numbers. I'm glad you're different.

"I wish I didn't have to hit you there, but I could tell you weren't in your right mind. Let's go get you bandaged up. I'll buy you all the candies you want the next time we go to town, alright? Let's just go home.

It's alright, Ad. I'd be happy to count you among my folk. We'll find a way.

"Adelhard? Are you okay? Can you hear me?"

Please keep me safe.

"What are you doing? Let me go! Adelhard! You're hurting me!"

Why would she hate me before she even knows me?

"B-brother... you're killing me... please, s-stop..."

I love you.

"I love you too. I'm glad I could protect you, but I guess this makes one thing clear for sure, huh? I guess we can't live in peace with the giants. It's sad, but if they have to die so we can be together, so be it. I will be the strength of our people."

Volkhard looked at the dead giantess. She was a child, an older one perhaps, but a child nonetheless. He was sad that he had to kill her, but knew that if he didn't, Aelia might have died. He knew that others would come looking for this one as the night went on, and decided to head off into the wilderness. He was determined to make it to Cassaphon, Aelia's town. He made sure to return to his normal size as he departed, as he certainly didn't want anyone to mistake him for a giant!

"I'll keep as many as I can safe from the giants. For us."