“Damn, he got away from me again. But I landed an arrow right in his chest, he won’t get far.”

She put away her bow and prepared her dagger in pursuit of the wolf she’d been hunting. Beth turned her nose to the wind and caught the scent of blood heading deeper into the woods. She was a natural hunter, tall and in touch with the land, she could out-survive even the hardiest creatures and her muscular form gave her the advantage when it came time to land the killing blow. The village didn’t have many hunters left as most of them had moved to bigger and better things, but Beth was too proud to leave. She brushed her flowing red hair out of her face and set out for the woods.

The wood got thicker as she made her way through the forest. While she knew the layout very well, this was a part of the forest she rarely went to anymore. It was deep and isolated, without many clearings. If the wolf got the jump on her, there would be no easy way to create distance between them. Her senses were sharp however, and right now she sensed no danger. Another minute passed. It was almost odd, the lack of bloodlust she felt in the air. A wolf was its most dangerous when it felt cornered after all.

As Beth rounded a particularly large tree near the middle of the forest, she was shocked to see the wolf she’d been hunting dead on the forest ground. She hadn’t hit anything vital, and the wolf was able to get away quickly enough. She looked around and saw no other hunters or even other animals in the area. Cautiously, she approached the body. At first, she didn’t see any other visible wounds on the beast, but running her fingers over its neck revealed numerous tiny holes, as if someone had stabbed it with needles. It wasn’t like any wound an animal could have inflicted, and the only hunters who could have done this would be mages, but they had much more effective means at their disposal. Blood was still trickling slowly out of the tiny pricks, whatever had happened to the wolf happened recently.

She searched the surrounding area but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. As much as it pained her honor to take the spoils of another’s kill, if no one could claim the wolf she would. As she prepared to bag it, she caught a small movement out of the corner of her eye and swung around, dagger by her face to defend herself. The leaves of a nearby bush had rustled, but there was no wind. She took a closer look and gasped when she saw what looked like a tiny human, who ran as soon as he’d been spotted.

“Hold on! Who are you?” she asked. Realizing she might be intimidating to someone less than half an inch tall, she reassured him, “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Despite her words, the man continued to run further back into the woods. Unable to control her curiosity, she easily caught up to him and blocked his path forward with her foot.

“Please don’t run,” she said, crouching down to get a closer look, “I’ve just never seen someone so small. You are a human, right?”

The man’s eyes darted, and he saw a way through if he could just run between her legs. Before he had a chance to get going, Beth’s hand reached down and lay flat on the ground, inviting him up. Before Beth could explain, the man pulled out a pistol and shot her closest finger, her thumb. Recoiling back, Beth looked at her hand and saw the same tiny pricks that she’d found on the wolf’s body, bleeding.

“Ouch! Are you the one who killed the wolf back there? That’s a strange weapon you have, what is it?”

The man tried to run past her, but Beth was too quick. She reached down with her other hand and picked the man up. Holding him between her fingers, she carefully took the pistol away from him and threw it on the ground.

“That stung, and I’m in no mood to play games with you. I mean you no harm, but I can’t let you hurt me either.”

The man finally spoke, though it was more of a scream, “Please don’t kill me! I’m sorry!”

Flustered, Beth tried to reassure him, “I already told you, I don’t want to hurt you. I just have some questions.”

The man squirmed around more, but it was no use against Beth’s iron grip. When he had exhausted himself, he looked back up at his captor and relented.

“You’re the first human any of us has seen since we got here. So it’s not just the animals and the plants that are huge I guess.”

“Who are you? Where are you from? You said ‘any of us’, there are more of you?”

“I used to be a taxi driver in New York, but that was a long time ago, before this nightmare started. Now, I hunt, me and a few others do. We don’t have to do it often, since getting just one animal from these woods is enough to last us a while. I was out with my group when we saw the wolf approaching. Normally we wouldn’t bother, a wolf is too difficult to take down. But this one was already wounded, and it would get us enough meat to last a year so my captain decided to take the risk. We were just about to start carting it back when you got here and started poking around.”

Beth listened intently, but she didn’t understand most of what the man told her. “What’s a taxi? I’ve never heard of New York, is it far away?”

Noticing the bow on her back, the man asked Beth, “are you the one who wounded the wolf? Are you some kind of hunter?”

“Yes, I hunt for my village. It’s not far from here, just outside of these woods.”

“Hey, you seem nice so let’s make a deal. If you can help bring the wolf back to my home, I’ll show you where it is and answer more of your questions.”

Her village had plenty of meat already, and she had to concede that it would go a lot farther with people the size of this tiny hunter. She agreed to carry the wolf for them and set him down on the ground, “Lead the way then.”

The two walked slowly, with the tiny hunter taking the lead.

“Where did your companions go?”, Beth asked, “You said you hunt in a group but why did I only find you?”

“They took off as soon as they saw you. I guess they were scared.”

“I would be too if someone so much bigger than me was around. Why didn’t you run?”

“To tell you the truth, I tried to. I was so paralyzed though, my legs wouldn’t work. So I tried to hide instead, but when I saw you were about to take the wolf, I couldn’t let you get away with something so valuable.”

They walked a while longer, until the man spoke up again.

“It’s just through here, through these bushes.”

Beth moved the shrubs aside with her hand and saw what had to be the most shocking thing she’d seen that day. Obscured by moss and leaves on the outside, the tiny hunter had led her to an entire tiny city. It was unlike any city she’d seen before, the buildings were gray and they sprawled out in every direction, the tallest ones only coming up to Beth’s chin. Narrow roads went between the buildings in a grid, and even though the buildings were densely packed, the city didn’t seem that large, even for the size of the hunter’s people.

“How many of you are there?”, Beth asked.

“I would guess a few hundred are left. Hold on, I need to tell my leaders what’s going on.”

Reaching into his pocket, the tiny hunter pulled out a radio and began talking into it.

“Please listen to me, I have brought an outsider to the city. She is going to give us the wolf she’s carrying on her back. You have no reason to be afraid, she was only curious about us and she’s willing to help us.”

After a minute of silence, Beth noticed someone walking out of a central building, carrying a large weapon on his shoulder. He spoke into his radio, “Intruder, set the wolf down and leave before we are forced to fire. We have hundreds of guns trained on you right now and if you make any sudden moves we will open fire.”

Beth turned to the tiny hunter, confused.

“What’s a gun? They’ve asked me to leave, did you explain who I am to them?”

“A gun is the thing I used on you earlier, but these guys have guns that are a lot stronger than that. They just don’t know you yet, let me talk to them.”

Beth stood as still as she could, not wanting the people to fear her. The hunter had left to go talk to the leader directly. After what felt like a long time, the hunter and an old man emerged on a nearby rooftop.

“Were you the one who killed this wolf, miss?”, the old man asked.

“I only wounded it, it was your brave hunters who finished the job.” she replied.

“And you have brought it here just to feed us?”

“In exchange for information, yes, you can have all of it.”

The old man thought about it for a minute, then said “Alright, ask your questions. But you must promise not to tell anyone about what you saw here.”

“I promise”, Beth said, setting down the wolf on the outskirts of the city, careful not to damage any buildings. “You’re all wearing such strange clothes, and you carry such strange devices. Even if you weren’t so small, I would be curious. How did you get here?”

“Our city is called New York. Or at least, a small part of it”, the old man replied, “About five years ago, a great storm hit our city. Many lives were lost. The winds carried the ground out from underneath us, and a portion of the city was carried right into the air. We were trapped on that floating island in the sky, we could do nothing but look down as we drifted away from the rest of the city. The air got thinner as the powerful winds carried us away, and when we regained consciousness we found ourselves here, in this great forest. None of us knew what happened, but we knew we had to figure out where we were. The forest seemed to go on forever, but it wasn’t long before we made a horrifying discovery. Within the first week that we were here, a grasshopper had killed all but one member of an exploration team. We had somehow wound up in a forest, far away from our home, barely larger than ants. Since then, many of us have died. But we have found a way to make life go on. We didn’t know there were still humans of your size before today.”

Everyone knows these woods are dangerous, that’s why no one’s discovered you. Beth thought to herself. She felt so overwhelmed, these people were so vulnerable out here in the woods and yet they’d managed to get their own food and survive for five years. She admired that.

She carefully considered her words before she spoke again. Their story had touched her, and she wanted to help them any way she could.

“I brought you the wolf today, but these woods have many dangerous creatures. You may not be able to hunt all of them. I hunt around here often, and I would like to earn your trust. It would be much safer for your men if I could hunt. I wouldn’t even have to go very far out of my way to drop some food off here every once in a while.”

“You make a kind offer, but we are skilled hunters in our own right. We may come from different places, but all of us have learned how to survive here.”

The hunter turned to his leader.

“Is it really so bad if we don’t have to risk our lives out there gathering food? Beth can really help us out, think of how much more useful we can be if we aren’t constantly out hunting or getting patched up by the doctors.”

Beth was glad to have the hunter on her side, “Yes it really isn’t any trouble for me. And besides, I feel terrible about scaring your people, please let me help.”

The old man knew the hunters risked their lives every time they went out, and if a better solution was presenting itself he might come under fire if he didn’t take it. Reluctantly, he agreed to let Beth bring them food from her hunts.

--------

Hours passed as Beth sat among the leader, the hunter, and the few others brave enough to approach her. They sat laughing and sharing stories, Beth about her village and the tiny city about their previous life.

“You have such wonderful technology”, Beth admired, “in my village, the mages are the only ones who can hold such power, but you make it available to anyone.”

“It’d be even more effective if we were your size, these beasts wouldn’t stand a chance!”, replied the hunter.

“Well, it’s beginning to get dark, so I must get back to my village. I will see you all soon.”

Beth gathered her things and left the city. On her way home, the words of the leader stuck in her head. What kind of storm could lift a city out of the ground and transport it somewhere so alien to them?

The sun peeked over the horizon as another night passed with Beth deep in study. Ever since she’d seen the city in the woods, it’s origins and relocation consumed her thoughts. On her first night back, she contacted the village mage, Grace. The two women had grown up together, but it was clear very early on that Grace had a magical aptitude that Beth lacked. Though she spent years away in study, the two had reunited within the last year and Beth was just happy to have her friend back.

“It’s late, Beth, and it is kind of an odd request you have to admit”, Grace said, “teleportation is a highly specific form of magic.”

“I just want to borrow some books, I couldn’t even cast the spells if I wanted to. I’ve just become more interested in this stuff because you spent so long studying it, I want to know what that was like.”

“Well it’s no problem to borrow some of my intro books, I just wish you’d tell me what it was for”, she replied, a devilish grin forming, “nothing naughty I hope?”

Beth’s face turned a light shade of red, “N-no, nothing like that. I just promised him I wouldn’t tell anyone.”

“Him? C’mon, you gotta tell me now.”

She was beginning to get frustrated. As long as she’d lived no one could work her up like Grace. “Knock it off, can I just borrow the books?”

Grace paused for a moment as her hand unconsciously fiddled with her earrings. “Fine. You can borrow these ones. I trust you know what you’re doing with them.”

Beth thanked her and was about to leave, but Grace stopped her at the door.

“Before you go, I hope you don’t think anything’s different now. If things had just gone a little different that day, we’d both be mages.”

Beth’s veins turned to ice. That day. An anger rose inside her to hear Grace so casually bring it up. She betrayed her anger with a calm face, she’d gotten the books she came for and didn’t want to get into any long fights tonight.

“No, nothing’s different Grace” she said politely.

Grace moved to wrap her arms around Beth, “That’s right, nothing’s changed. I know you’ll tell me everything when you think the time is right.”

Beth slammed the door behind her as soon as she got home. Ever since Grace returned from her studies there was something… off about her. Grace had always been confident, even when they were kids. But it was like she lost some part of her, some restraint, when she learned magic.

She suddenly realized how tense her muscles were and went to start a fire.

Oh well, she thought, she didn’t actually force me to tell her anything. And besides, it was late. Was it rude for me to stop by unannounced like that?

Shaking her thoughts, she jumped right into her studies as the embers burned.

--------

Grace walked through the market wearing a deep red skirt. Her short black hair partially hid her face as she walked confidently in the sunlight. She was easily the tallest woman in the village and was a head taller than most men too. There were rumors that she was using magic to enhance her features, but her body was in fact completely natural, from the tip of her head 6’6” off the ground to her sandaled red-nail-polished toes. She smiled as she saw Beth gathering berries on the other side of the road.

“Hi Beth, how’s it going? How’s the research?”

Beth turned to greet her friend, “Grace! I was looking for you earlier actually. The research is going okay, I was wondering if you could answer some questions actually.”

“Anything for my darling Beth. What do you want to know?”

“The part about magical storms, am I right in thinking that the disruption of magical energies caused by a storm could randomly teleport something?”

“Storms are very complicated things, I wouldn’t know if there’s anything random about it without seeing the particular storm in action. A storm can have all sorts of variables to it.”

“I see…”

Grace continued, “If the storm were big enough, it could carry something to the other side of the world, or even out into space.” 

“What about another dimension? The book said that dimensions are just extensions to space, is it possible to teleport through them?”

“A rather pointed question, don’t you think? Beth, what have you got your nose in?”

Taken aback, Beth replied “Oh it’s nothing dangerous. I met this mage from another village, he heard how skilled you were and he wanted your opinion on these things.”

“I see. Tell him if he knows what’s good for him, he’ll stop pursuing such things. It’s a dangerous field of magic to get into if he’s still asking such basic questions.”

She saw right through my lie, Beth thought. There’s no way she didn’t.

Before Beth could get too lost in thought, Grace snapped her back to reality, “Oh! I almost forgot, I have a meeting with the village elder I need to get to. I hope my answers were useful to you. See you later!”

“Bye Grace! I’ll leave an offering in the shrine to wish you luck.”

Beth hurried back home, packing the berries and some rabbit meat into a pack as she prepared to set out for New York.

--------

As she walked, Beth was careful to make sure she wasn’t being followed. Why did I lie? And so badly at that? If Grace called me on it, I would have had no choice but to tell her everything.

She felt so embarrassed. But as long as she could make it to the city and be sure no one followed her, she knew the people of New York would be safe. They had to be.

Beth stood outside the path that led to the tiny city in the woods and quietly stamped her foot four times. After a minute or so, the hunter who was her contact to the city came out from behind a leaf to greet her.

The two had plenty of time to talk during these walks. The trip would have been much shorter, but though the hunter trusted Beth, he wasn’t quite ready for her to carry him. Today the topic turned to the ways their worlds were different, as it usually did.

“The days feel much shorter here than back home. Maybe it’s just the cover of the trees, but it’s so gloomy around here most of the time”, the hunter said, looking a little downtrodden.

“I never think about things like the lengths of days, I think I always let myself get obsessed with this or that task that I don’t let my mind wander.”

“A busybody huh? My wife was like that too. She always said I was hopeless, that I spent too much time looking at clouds.”

“I didn’t mean to sound critical,” Beth apologized, “I would like to spend a lot less time thinking about things sometimes. Tell me about your wife, I never knew you were married.”

“I was married, at least at one point I was. You would like her, she ran a soup kitchen back home. She was the kind of person who would stop someone in their tracks if they were about to step on an ant, kind of like you.”

“You aren’t an ant. If I’d found a colony of insects instead of your city I very much doubt I’d have given it a second thought.”

“Maybe. But given what people could do to us in the spot we’re in, I think we got damn lucky that you found us.”

Coming to the entrance of the city, Beth set down her pack and spoke to the hunter.

“I decided to throw in some berries from my village today. They’re very sweet, but I hope you’ll like them.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you! Will you be staying tonight? If you’re not busy that is.”

“I was hoping to talk to you about something actually, I think your leader should be present too.”

“I’ll get him, can I ask what it’s about?”

“I think I can help you get back home.”

--------

The wind blew calmly through the city streets as the day went on. Sometimes it felt like time moved glacially in the forest, but today a small circle of the city’s leaders hummed with excitement as Beth sat down with them to explain her idea.

“I’ve been reading up on teleportation magic. I still don’t know all the details, but the principles are there. It was definitely something that originated here that carried your city away. The storms have been getting worse every year, and it’s possible one of them tore across dimensions just long enough to rip apart your city.”

“So if a storm brought us here, and it originated here, if we get caught in another storm we might be sent back?”, asked the representative of the city guard.

“It’s only a theory at this point. Unfortunately, I am far from skilled in magic. I don’t know if I can help you with what I know. That’s why I have a more serious request to ask.”

“What are you proposing?”, asked their leader.

“I know a powerful mage, by the name of Grace. If I could bring her here, there might still be enough remnants of the storm around for her to determine how the storm jumped across dimensions. With a bit of study, I’m sure she could figure out a way to send you back.”

A hush fell over the group. To break their no contact policy once in an exceptional case was one thing, but to bring another stranger to the city was unthinkable for most.

The leader thought for a while before speaking, “We were reluctant to let you in to our city. But we had no choice then, when one of our own led you along the path. In the world we come from, such exceptional differences in size and strength could never work out for the small.”

Beth feared this would be their answer. She was so sure Grace would help them, if they’d give her a chance. She was about to protest when the leader spoke again.

“However, if you’re right, and this mage can help us get back to our homes, our families, then we have to try it. Do you trust this mage completely?”

“With my life” Beth answered without hesitation.

The group briefly discussed amongst themselves.

“Then you can bring her here, on one condition. We will send a representative with you, a scout named Sabrina. You will introduce Grace to her, and if she senses no ill will in your friend, we can proceed.”

Beth could almost jump, she was so happy for them, but elected not to in case she damaged the city. She waited by the entrance until the leader approached her from a rooftop, walking alongside a young blonde woman. She was tall for their size, just over half an inch by Beth’s estimate.

“This is Sabrina, she will go with you to introduce our people to Grace. Think of it as a diplomatic mission.”

“I understand sir”, she said curtly. Turning to Beth, she shouted up to her, “Ready to leave whenever you are.”

“Excellent, if we leave now we can probably catch Grace before dark”, she crouched down and got closer to the rooftop, “Climb on. When you need to talk to me, just whisper in my ear. I can hear you well enough, I assure you.”

Sabrina picked up her bag and jumped over to Beth’s shoulder. Using Beth’s long red strands of hair to pull herself up, she seated herself on the lip of her ear.

The leader wished them good luck, and the two set out for the village in search of Grace.

The trip back to the village went by mostly in silence, the moon rising in the sky shone a wide light through the trees that highlighted Beth’s fair skin. An hour passed before Sabrina nudged Beth’s ear to get her attention.

“Oh! Sabrina, was that you?”

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to surprise you.”

“No, my mind was just elsewhere. What is it?”

“Do you like hunting?”

“I like making sure the people in my village have plenty to eat.”

“But it doesn’t bother you, killing an animal?”

“It’s just what I have to do. I don’t think I like it or dislike it. Is there something on your mind?”

“I never ate meat before I got here. For a while, when everyone was still getting their bearings, I even tried to stick to it. We were in a forest so I thought it wouldn’t be hard to find something edible. But none of us even knew what was edible and what wasn’t, everything around us was so alien. I thought I would never eat meat, but I have been for years now.”

“It sounds like you just did what you had to do too.”

Beth traveled in silence for another few minutes before Sabrina continued, “I suppose. How much longer until we’re in the village?”

“From here, about another hour” replied Beth.

“Can you wake me up when we’re there? I want to be rested before I meet your friend.”

“Of course I will.”

--------

“Hi Beth, another late night visit? Do you remember when we used to stay up all night, just talking away about who we wanted to be?”

“Grace, I don’t think I could possibly stay up all night anymore.” Beth laughed, “I guess that means we’re getting old.”

“As if!”, Grace replied in mock offense, “Magic can hide one’s age very well, if that’s how one chooses to use it. I’ll be 28 for a long time still. Come in! Did you have any more questions about the books?”

“I’m here to return them, actually. And I have another favor to ask.”

“Of course, what can I do?”

“This might be shocking, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

“Just tell me” Grace said sternly.

“You can come out now, Sabrina.”

On cue, Sabrina jumped down and stood on Beth’s shoulder.

“Beth! What did you do to this poor girl? You should know better than to go around shrinking peo--”

“Grace, Grace, I wouldn’t even know how to and you know that.”

Grace took another closer look at Sabrina, “I don’t know, you’ve been hitting the books pretty hard. How do I know what you’re capable of anymore? Where are her clothes from? They don’t look like anything you can get here.”

Beth sat down and motioned Grace to follow as Sabrina explained her people’s situation.

“My my, quite an adventure you’ve had, little one. Beth’s done her homework well on this one, it definitely sounds like a magical storm. Maybe it was naturally occurring, or maybe a powerful mage conjured one and it got out of hand. Hard to tell without seeing your place.”

“So you’ll help her then?”, asked Beth.

“I am only interested in what kind of power could have brought them here at all, if someone could transport between worlds like that, just think of the possibilities. Inter-dimensional communication and trade, just to start. But, as a favor to Beth, I suppose I could try to send you back in the course of my research.”

“She’s just kidding Sabrina, I mean about the tone she’s using. She’s really happy to help, aren’t you Grace?”

Grace’s lips curled into a delighted smile, “Of course I’m glad to help! Just letting the bigger picture get in my way again. I’ll gladly take a look at your city. How about you both spend the night here, and we leave first thing in the morning?”

Sabrina spoke up, “Beth, what is this? We seriously need help and your friend can’t stop making jokes and talking down to me.”

“I know she doesn’t make a good first impression”, Beth said to Sabrina, trying to calm her down, “but I’ve known her my whole life. And she’s very powerful, if there’s anything that can be done for you, she’ll figure it out.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Sabrina looked back to Grace and then Beth, feeling betrayed. Before she could argue further, Grace interrupted her, “I’m sorry Sabrina, it’s just how I talk around Beth. I didn’t think it would upset you.”

Sabrina turned to face her, but before she could speak her mind, a strange sensation washed over her. It was like Grace was the only person in the room, maybe even the world. Sabrina looked around for Beth, but she was having trouble even remembering what she looked like. Grace crouched down and spoke directly to her.

“You will show me your city. It’s not like you even have a choice if you’re going to get home. And I know how badly you want to see them again. You must have a family back home right, a cute little thing like you? We’ll go back in a minute, and you’ll know what to do.”

“Sabrina, what’s wrong?”

The tiny girl snapped back to reality, kneeling but still secure on Beth’s shoulder. She saw Grace standing above her, and felt a warm feeling from within herself. It was a mix of nostalgia and trust, like she’d known Grace her entire life.

“I’m sorry, my head hurts a little. Maybe I had a longer day than I thought. What were we talking about?”

Beth informed her, “Grace was being her usual self, but she’s apologized for it and we were trying to reassure you.”

Sabrina looked back towards Grace, “yes, I feel like she can help us. I’m sorry I overreacted, it’s just so tense all the time back in the city I wasn’t used to hearing someone tell jokes.”

Beth breathed a sigh of relief before bowing to Grace, “Thank you so much. I’ll be sad to see these people go, but I want to help them however we can.”

“Well, no promises. But I’d love to take a look with you tomorrow. I’m beat, let’s rest up for the long day ahead.”

Grace got up and went to prepare a size-appropriate bed for Sabrina, while Beth got ready to sleep on the floor.

“What are you doing Beth? Take my bed, you’re my guest.”

“Oh I doubt you had to rough it much at your school. I’ve slept on the forest floor many times before, I’ll be fine here.”

“Please, I insist. I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I thought you were uncomfortable.”

It was hard to change her mind when she got onto something, so Beth sighed and gave up, throwing her change of clothes down next to the bed.

--------

Beth stamped her foot down to signal that she had arrived with Grace. As soon as the hunter came out from under the leaf, Sabrina hopped out from Beth’s ear and slid down her body to the ground.

“So she’s good? I guess you wouldn’t be bringing her back if she wasn’t.”

“Yes,” Sabrina replied, “she is going to try and help us.”

“She’s so tall,” the hunter whispered to Sabrina in admiration, “she almost makes Beth look like one of us.”

Grace crouched down and greeted the hunter, “Well hello! If Beth had told me how cute you were I would’ve been out here a lot sooner.”

The hunter blushed, “A-anyway, I’ll lead the way. I’m sure the others want to meet you as soon as possible.”

The four walked along the path, Sabrina and the hunter leading with Grace and Beth walking a good distance behind.

“We could get there a lot faster if we just gave them a ride, I’m really excited to see this place” Grace said softly to Beth.

Beth replied, “I know, I’ve talked to him about it before but he sees it as undignified. I guess that makes sense, they’ve made it on their own for so long now.”

“His loss,” she smiled, “I can just picture him between those lovely tits of yours; I know plenty of guys back home who wouldn’t mind either, if you gave them a chance.”

“Grace stop!”, Beth said, blushing, “...besides, I would hold him in my palm, or let him ride on my shoulder.”

The group arrived at the city before long, Grace looked out in awe.

“Wow, this is incredible! Tiny buildings! Where is everyone?”

“They’re probably just inside, even just bringing people here is a pretty big change from what we’re used to. I think they’re just shy” replied the hunter.

Grace looked out across the city. With her enhanced eyesight, she could indeed see tiny forms move around, some in far off streets and some moving past windows. All in all, she estimated about 250 people were living here. She looked from one end of the city to the other, and used the size of her foot to estimate the total area.

“It’s about at the limit of what I can do, but I think I can make it work” Grace mumbled to herself.

Grace focused on the center of the city and suddenly an energy field began to form in midair. The field spread across the city and cut just between Sabrina and the hunter, leaving Sabrina on the outside while the hunter looked at her worriedly from the inside. When the field was all the way around the city, Grace began humming. Beth was shocked, why was she doing that here?

“This isn’t what we discussed Grace, let them go.”

Grace’s concentration was too great to hear Beth protest. Another few seconds passed while the earth shook beneath the city. With great effort, the city rose off the ground and floated in front of the three women. The energy field slowly shrunk, and the city inside shrunk with it. A minute passed and Beth turned to stop Grace from going any further, when she felt a strong tugging on her toes.

“No Beth, you can’t stop her now. If you do, she might lose the city entirely.”

“What are you saying Sabrina, how do you know that?”

Sabrina herself seemed shocked to hear herself. She couldn’t explain, she just got a terrible feeling in her chest about what might happen if Beth stopped the spell.

After another few minutes, the city stopped shrinking. Its reduced form floated over towards Grace and fit securely in her outstretched palm, with room to spare.

“Holy crap, I actually did it,” Grace was panting, exhausted, “I really did it.”

“Grace, why did you do that? Why didn’t you tell me you were going to do something so drastic?”

“What? This is what you asked me to do. You asked me to study what happened to the city, I need my lab to do that. It would’ve been impossible to bring my lab out here, so my only choice is to bring the city to the lab. But geez, I didn’t think I’d actually pull it off.”

“Did you even think about what would happen if you failed? What would’ve happened to the city?”

“Beats me. It might’ve gone microscopic, or gone off to some other dimension, or some random place in space. But look, it ended up right in my palm and it worked out! Beth I don’t think you know how difficult that was, most mages could never dream of doing what I just did.”

“You still should have told me what you were going to do.”

“And why would I do that? So you could moralize to me, tell me I’m doing things wrong? This is the safest way to check this place out, you’re still so new to this. I can look around the forest too, now that the city’s cleared off the ground. Maybe it’s something about the forest that brought them here, and we’d never have known if we tried to just investigate while the city was still in the way.”

The people in the city were terrified as they heard the two titanesses argue. Their voices boomed in the air, it was impossible to make out what they were saying. They could only feel the direction of the sound, and the different tones of their voices. They felt Grace’s warm palm beneath them, heating up as she gained her energy back and got more worked up. The field seemed to protect them from damage, but air was still able to flow freely in and out of the city. They became aware of the scent of Grace’s body wash, a sweet coconut. Most of the people were scared, but more than a few were in sheer shock at the scale of the woman holding their entire lives for the past five years in the palm of her hand. Some cursed Beth, feeling she had betrayed them, but more and more felt a strangely intimate connection to their new captor.

Sabrina listened to the two argue, and she couldn’t take it anymore. She climbed up Beth until she was within earshot and shouted.

“Beth, stop this! I believe her when she says she’s trying to help us. I may not know much here, but I know Grace is sincere.”

Beth was shocked at how well Sabrina was taking this. She could see tears in Sabrina’s eyes as she continued.

“I want to go home, everyone in there wants to go home. We know this is a last ditch effort, but we have to try if there’s any chance of this working. You said before that you trusted Grace, and I believed you. Then I met her, and I knew even more that she could help us. If she told you what she was going to do, I know you would’ve tried to stop her, because you’re a good person and you wanted to help us. But we need to take some risks, or we’ll be stuck in this forest until the beasts finally eat the last of us.”

Beth looked down at Sabrina, then at Grace, and finally down at the city, filled with people she couldn’t see with her naked eye. Somehow she still knew that the majority of those people were looking back at her, scared but also excited about the possibility of getting home. With a heavy sigh she relented, and the three headed back towards the village to Grace’s lab.