Alais of Thera sat stoically in her seat on the carriage. She was a commanding presence and she knew it. Her pristine black military uniform, adorned with medals and insignias, impressed both giants and humans in the audience in the peace treaty ceremony. She proudly noticed how people stared in awe at her, as if she was some sort of goddess among mortals, and that feeling was not kept just to the humans.
But, she liked the humans. Her colleagues referred to her as "open minded", and that was because after a general had dared call her a "human lover" and insinuate her motives to stop the war were born of her feelings towards the human race he was challenged to a duel by Alais herself. As a result, she won another scar and the man that insulted her lost two fingers, several teeth, and his pride.
“Ah, but the human king was hardly impressed” she thought, lightly annoyed. “Although he seemed almost relieved at me taking his daughter away...”
Truly, Alais found herself thinking a lot of the Human Princess. While she had seen plenty of their kind before, this individual was the first time she had seen human royalty, and the Princess played her role well.
She was unflinching, yet gentle. She was also strangely humble. The dress she had chosen for the occasion was a simple, black dress; she wasn't covered in jewelry, wearing only a diadem indicating her status and a ring with her family's emblem. She kept her hair, as black as her dress, short. And while Alais couldn't quite see them due to their size difference, her eyes were plagued by big, black eye bags. “The poor thing has not been sleeping well of lately” she thought. Alais couldn't help but to catch a glance on her from time to time, she felt almost captivated by her.
On the other side of the luxurious carriage was a cold, professional maid, diligently holding a silver plate in one hand. On said plate, a miniature sofa with a tea table was placed for the Princess. Unbeknown to the red haired giant, Gwyndolin had spent most of the journey taking a mental note on Alais’ behaviour, mannerisms and personality.
“She keeps her hair long to hide the battle scars in her face. And to partially cover the eye patch hiding her empty eye socket, does she feel ashamed of her wounds?” Wondered the Princess. She sat with a boorish look on her eyes, glancing at the giant Tyrant briefly time after time, methodically discrete as to not draw her attention. She waited, looking at the window from here vantage point at the maid's silver plate, not even slightly impressed at the giant landscape. Then, she saw Alais moving from the corner of her eye, and took another glance at her, almost instinctively.
Both had not said a word to each other since introducing themselves at the ceremony. Gwyndolin didn't want to make the first move, didn't want to beg the giant for a conversation. Alais, on her part, didn't want to start with an awkward line about the weather, the landscape or something, the Princess was a hostage, Alais understood that she might not be in a rather talkative mood, and simply looked at the landscape for a while, waiting for an opportunity to at least get to know the human.
Gwyndolin caught the Regent staring through the window and took the chance to study her behaviour again. And in a split second, the regent turned her only working eye to her hostage. They were now effectively staring at each other.
“Shit!” thought the princess “Shit! Shit! SHIT! She baited me! Now that we're exchanging glances this way I am forced to say something!”
Alais smirked “Why, are you too distracted by my looks, little one?”
The tone, the confidence, the way she had skipped all formalities, not addressing her as “Princess” but as “Little One”, it demolished Gwyndolin. The Princess fell back into her mind, cornered. She could, most of the times, dismiss such a comment by use of clever sarcasm, but not with her. This one was no lowly knight or drunk noble, but the ruler of an Empire, a talented military woman, a warrior... and she was many, many times her size.
But Gwyndolin didn't give in to despair, she had to respond, if she did not, if she cowarded, Alais would certainly think “Ah, the human can't even take me being a little smug! She flinches at the slightest provocation! She will make a good pet!”. And the princess wouldn't have that.
“I was just wondering, how did you lose that eye?” Said the Princess, tasting the perfection of her attack. She had not only dodged the question, she had maneuvered through Alais' dumb insult and struck at a topic the Regent was probably uncomfortable with, why would she cover the eyepatch then?
The giant face, once overflowing in confidence, tensed just a little bit, reflecting confusion. “Yes!” thought Gwyndolin “My attack is almost complete, now, giant Tyrant, take the bait...”
Alais' mouth was about to pronounce a slightly confused “What?”, Gwyndolin noticed it, and took the chance to speak over her and to deliver her final charge.
“I was just wondering, it is not often you see a ruler maimed”
The Giant sighed, the human had an attitude. “By the gods! She is as cute as a mouse, as venomous as a snake...”
Alais resisted to say, even if it was just the inner voice in her head: she's my type.
Gwyndolin relaxed a bit, as long as she could keep the giant at bay verbally she could in a way overcome the overwhelming physical differences between the two, and that way ensure that she wouldn't be seen as a small pet.
“Well” said the giant. “If you're so curious, little one, let me tell you how it happened, it's actually a fun anecdote, though a little embarrassing...”
The princess smiled confidently. “Please do te-“ but was interrupted as a giant gloved hand snatched her from the comfort of the miniature sofa in the maid's plate.
She felt the world turning, spinning, she held tightly to the black leather that was holding her. Then dark, just the smell and the texture of leather and muffled sounds of the carriage, and then light. She scouted her surroundings, the altitude had changed and she could see the maid's cold, bored eyes, far, far from where she was sitting. Gwyndolin put two and two together and the result terrified her.
As of now her only interactions with giants were indirect. Alais' maid had set the plate with the sofa in the table where the treaty was signed and waited for her to sit down to actually move. She had accessed the table through a small elevator. But this, as she now realized, was the first time a giant had grabbed her.
She looked up; Alais was looking at her the same way a small girl looked at an injured small animal.
“Sorry if I scared you Little Princess, but this is way more comfortable and I like to tell my stories in a comfortable way” Said the giant.
Gwyndolin didn't really catch that, as she was still processing what just happened.
SHE GRABBED ME she thought SHE GRABBED ME SHE GRABBED ME
"As I was saying, it all started when I was putting down a rebellion in the Northern provinces, a noble by the name of..."
“SHE PICKED ME UP LIKE A MOUSE”
“...at least two infantry regiments of his private army when...”
“A LIVING DOLL, SHE THINKS OF ME NO MORE THAN A LITTLE LIVING DOLL”
“...now for some reason northern pikes are made significantly longer than...”
“A DOLL A DOLL A DOLL A DO-“
“Hey.” Came the voice from above.
Gwyndolin was brought back down on reality.
“Huh?” She said, in a meeker tone than intended.
“You were not paying attention.” said the giant, almost in a scolding tone.
“I...” tried to say Gwyndolin, but even now that she snapped back from her catastrophic panic words didn't come our easily.
Suddenly, the giant brought a hand to her mouth, suppressing a concerned intake. “By the Gods! I DID scare you!”
“You... yes... a bit” said Gwyndolin.
“Oh, little one, I am so sorry!” said Alais, Gwyndolin knew that she was genuinely concerned, and the thought lingered in her mind when the giant brought her to her chest, as if hugging her.
“I really didn't meant to Princess, I... am not used to humans that's all, it is hard to measure one's relative strength compared to you.”
Gwyndolin didn't answer. She thanked her face was partially blocked by the giant pair of hands for she was a red, sweaty mess. The care she was feeling from the giant, the warmth of her hands, even her smell... it was almost enthralling.
“You... you are forgiven..., it's nothing, don't worry about it”
Alais sighed of relief and relaxed her arms, however...
She enjoyed the feeling of having the Princess that close to her chest.
Gwyndolin didn't want to admit that it felt good too. But also didn't want to be awkward and ask Alais to return her to her seat. The giant, on her part, didn't want to move the human without her permission, as to not scare her again.
Both had gridlocked themselves into waiting for the other to say something.
And, unintentionally, they spent the entire afternoon that way, until they reached Alais' mansion.
And Gwyndolin couldn't shake the feeling, as she cursed between her teeth, that in this situation, she was the scared little animal. For now, she was the pet.