“Goddess!” Ester rushed forward to the site, falling on her knees, hysterically sifting through the mounds of ash, hoping to find something. It didn’t take long for her energy to subside. “You… You killed her.” The words dripped with malice. But Ester was shrewd. She did not turn her anger towards them, instead the frown went to the boulder the miracle stone had struck, and she crawled there. Ester’s hands whisked through the brushes, searching for something lost.

Ester found the chip of the miracle stone, the tinier fragment from the break. She pinched the miniscule thing between index and thumb and pressed it onto her tongue, slipping it in and swallowing, then backing off.

“Milton, you alright?” Rennard helped his friend up, both of them covered in saliva. Rennard had a slumberous blanket over him yet, Helga’s sleeping spell beginning to weaken. Rennard hugged him. “Oh, God. I thought you were lost. I have never known anything worse.” He turned to Henry. “What in lord almighty’s name happened?”

Henry couldn’t take his eyes off Ada, her naked splendor back in its full form. “I went for the miracle stone, on her forehead. Knocked it off, it shattered, and a large piece flied into Ada’s throat.” Ada had not merely returned to her previous form. Her skin was vibrant and sprightly, the caramel tan from all her time under the sun gone, replaced by a pale and pure hue. And her green eyes were back, the scars around them no more.

Ada ogled her own hands, watched the distance, down at Henry, Rennard, and Milton, blinking rapidly. “I can see. I can see everything clearly again.” Her smile competed with her gape, bliss and awe holding her captivated. The tears collected on the bottom of her eyes, one of them trailing down her cheek. Ada wiped her eyes, sniveling, letting a short laugh come.

Henry too was happy. But on Rennard, the look he gave up to Ada was one of measured concern, a stark contrast to the air of celebration.

Milton teetered and fought to keep his legs straight, leaving Rennard’s side. “Is she dead? Is that nasty creature gone?”

“That’s what’s left of her,” Henry said, pointing to the indistinguishable gray, plain shape of a human body resting amidst the small dunes of ash. Some of it had gone into the pool, drifting along the water.

“I knew it,” Rennard said. “An ordinary girl who stumbled upon great power.”

“She was the heart of our world.” They all turned to Ester, who stood there with teeth clenched and teary eyes glaring. “You murdered the lifeblood of thousands of people!”

“She was a power-hungry, oppressive, brat,” Rennard returned. “Are you blind? You didn’t see what she was doing?”

“All of us thrived under her, there was not a person dissatisfied. She wasn’t killing you, she would have given birth to you anew, made you merry, diligent people who wouldn’t find a complaint in the world in this beautiful home.”

“Yeah, turn us into the brainless cattle like the rest of them,” Rennard said. “How is that any different from killing us? We have our own homes, and it’s not here.”

“You.” Ester’s hands balled into fists, fingertips red from pressure. “You have killed this nation!” She threw her hands up as if receiving a gift from above, then tossed them forward, releasing a stream of glitter. All three of the boys jumped away, the glitter exploding where they’d been in a spurt of dirt and pebble and ash. Rennard saw her advance on him, readied fire over his hand.

A massive foot stomped between them, the quake felt across the grotto. Rennard’s eyes tracked up along the naked leg, seeing Ada and her ample enormity stand between them. Ada was about twice as tall as Ester. “You have no power over us anymore,” Ada told Ester. “You mistress is gone, and you are nothing.”

Ester retreated with her palms aimed behind her, the walls of herbage trembling with life. Arms glowing green, Ester pointed them at Ada. Flexible pillars made of numerous vines, like the threads of a rope, shot out after Ada.

Ada opened her hand, able to feel the difference within her, as if she had new organs, new places to touch and feel. She reached for this newer place, greeted by a surge of energy. “I don’t think SO!” Ada shouted, clenching her fist, a flash of brightness. The vines and Ester were knocked back, the pool of water rippling, debris loosened from the roof. Ada stared at her hands again, bewildered. “I can feel it, overwhelming, empowering.”

Henry, Milton, and Rennard gathered behind Ada. Rennard whispered to his friends, “What do we do now?” Henry found the disconcerting attitude in Rennard’s approach, the assumption that the three were on their own, Ada excluded.

“You cannot stop us,” Ada said to Ester. “We are leaving.”

Henry leaned over to Rennard’s ear. “It’ll only be done with Ada.”

“But how…” Ester didn’t bother getting up, lying like a child, head buried in the bushes. “What are we supposed to do?”

“You will have to do without Goddess Helga,” Milton proclaimed, entering the conversation, standing between Ada’s feet. “You can lead these people. They respect you.”

Ester brought her face out. “Look at all the plenty around you. It will soon die without Goddess Helga.”

“You ate some of the miracle stone,” Henry said.

“It was no more than a fifth, if even that.” Ester pointed at Ada, accusatory. “You have to succeed her. Whatever Goddess Helga’s power came from, you took nearly all of it.”

“I’ve no interest in ducking around a network of tunnels, never to see the sky again.”

“Why not?” It was Rennard who spoke, and Ada turned and looked down to see him. “You’ll be viewed like a literal goddess for these peasants, and they can lick you and do whatever you fancy every day.”

Henry swatted his friend on the shoulder, hissing. “You don’t fucking know her.” They exchanged a moment of angry eye contact.

“I think my previous answer serves well,” Ada said. “I’m not living underground.”

“But the amount I inherited won’t be near enough,” Ester said. “We will see far less yield.”

Milton shrugged, though not without a sympathetic look. “To be heartless, I must simply say that you will have harder times ahead of you. Hardship hits everyone. Civilizations survive anyway. This is your opportunity to become a leader, not merely by whatever artificial power Helga had, but true leadership.”

Rennard smirked. “That’s my boy.”

“He is right,” Ada repeated. “Now you make sure to return my dress and backpack, what I wore when I came, when your pretend goddess shrunk me.”

“I know where it is.” Ester rubbed her forehead, finding it in her to get up. “I hid it so no one would see it. They don’t know about giants.”

Ada pointed to the part of the shrubbed walls Ester had entered through. “Then you make sure to get out there, clear everyone from the route out of here so no one sees us when we walk out, bring back my dress, and we will not see each other again. Us not being seen is to your benefit, not ours, so stall, do a poor job, or plan something else, and we’ll just waltz out of here ourselves.”

Ester didn’t say yes, didn’t say no. “How will I tell them all of the goddess’s disappearance? How will they come to terms?”

Rennard strut forward confidently. “As we said, tough times ahead.”

“You’ll handle it,” Milton said. “And it’ll make you stronger.”

Whether his words had an impact or not, one couldn’t tell. Ester wiped her eyes and left, nudging her way past the wall of foliage. That left Ada, Henry, Rennard, and Milton alone.

“How are you feeling?” Henry said to Ada. Ada took one, two steps forward, a newfound appreciation for her size, flattening the bushes under her soles, her curling toes pulverizing all the herbage caught in between. She got on her tiptoes and spread her arms wide, open to receive an embrace. The base of the blueberry bushes, the branches of the apple and cherry trees, they all extended, reaching for her.

“I can feel them,” Ada said airily. “It’s like owning a new sense, a new place I can tap into, commune with, and there are so many ways it is expressed.”

“And your eyes truly healed?”

“Yes!” She turned around with a smile of pure delight, the innocent happiness of a child.

“Ada.” Henry pointed at her throat. “Your offgiant’s mark, it’s gone.”

“What?” Ada couldn’t see the area under her jawline well, but she pressed her chin in, peering down, feeling with her fingers. “You’re right.”

“Leeman turned out correct,” Henry said with a laugh. “That strange old man in the arena, he was spot on. To heal your eyes was a trivial thing for the miracle stone.” When the silence settled, Henry noticed how alone he and Ada were in their reveling. On his other side, Milton and Rennard said nothing, timidly staying back. Rennard especially, the tension oozing off him was unmistakable.

“So…” Milton’s voice was unobtrusive, trying to get Henry’s attention. “What happens when we get outside?”

“You boys,” Ada said, sensing their reservations. “I’m assuming your first priority is returning home, back to your village in Humius?”

“Always has been,” Rennard said, petulantly.

“Three humans waltzing around alone in Gintessa, you won’t get by without notice, or trouble. I will take you there.”

Henry smiled to his friends, but they weren’t so eager to spill their joy.

“Everything you said about me was right.” Ada started walking, one lazy footstep at a time. “And you had all the power over me, just today, and you showed mercy when I didn’t deserve any of it. Behind that loud mouth, there is a large heart.” Ada got on one knee before getting too close, not towering over them. “You made me feel guilty with your kindness, so much that I wished worse on myself, I wished that you’d struck me with your flames, that maybe if I suffered, we would be even. But now that guilt has turned into a desire to be better. And I will begin here, by taking you across the border, back to your home. So let me help you.”