“Okay! So for today we’ll be focusing on giving you some practice tasks.”

Thus was how Alexandra had explained the plans for the day over their breakfast. Emil nodded in response, recalling previous Attendants he had seen and the many little odd jobs they found themselves doing. If that was all today was to be then it wouldn’t be nearly as trying as say…massaging a giant foot. His arms were still sore after that particular ordeal.

“Step back.” The giant ordered her Attendant with a quick gesture to the dimming campfire flames. Once he was safely out of harm’s way her boot came crashing into the wagon-sized embers, heel twisting to snuff them out underfoot. “So you can listen when you want to. That’s good.” She smirked. “Ready?”

Of course he was. It wasn’t as though he had much of a choice in the matter after all. “Yes…Lady Alexandra.”

Something in the young man’s words made her pause, a quizzical look on her lovely visage. “Huh? Lady? Why the formality?”

The callout brought a flush to Emil’s face. “Well…I’m your Attendant so…I have to be formal right? Isn’t that how this works?”

Silence. Then…

“Fool.” Alexandra shook her head with a derisive smile on her fair face. “You misunderstand our relationship.” Now it was Emil’s turn to stare blankly at Alexandra; a dopey expression the giant likely found rather fitting for him. “You may service me. You may even answer to me, but that doesn’t make me any sort of nobility or person worthy of formality. I’m a simple girl. Not some posh Lady in a castle. Alex is fine.”

“Okay um…Alex.” Emil nodded.

She smiled. “Much better Emil. Now onto business…” The giant reached into the pouch at her hip and pulled a large barrel from it, setting it down beside the Attendant. Her fingers tapped the top of it a couple times before she stepped back and casually sat on the grassy plains nearby. “I’m thirsty and could really use a drink.” Alexandra said as she got comfortable. “Be a good little Attendant and take care of that will you?”

Emil turned a skeptical eye onto the barrel. Then another to the giant a dozen yards away. Perhaps someone like Andrei could carry a barrel filled to the brim with ale, but him? He’d have better luck bringing Alex her boots in the morning. In spite of that realization, he gripped the barrel from the bottom. With all of his strength welling up within his body and everything he had in him…the barrel moved precisely one inch off the ground before having to be set back down a moment later.

“Too heavy?” Asked the smirking member of the peanut gallery as she tapped her fingers eagerly on her knees.

“Of course not. It’s only half my size and filled to the brim with over a dozen gallons of ale.” The Attendant retorted in a flippant attempt to salvage some pride. Again, he tried to lift it to much the same result. Emil began to feel a newborn respect for Andrei and the fact that he could do this so effortlessly. Oh what he would give to have the former Attendant helping him at this moment.

The giant groaned and flopped onto her back. “I’m dying of thirst!” She pouted and turned her head on its side to watch, blonde hair splaying across the dirt in an ankle-high jungle. “So it’s too heavy for my poor little Attendant. What now I wonder?” Her eyes watched on, curious.

Since brute force very clearly wasn’t working Emil decided to just try and roll the barrel over. Gripping the sides of it he pushed, watching happily as it quickly fell over and promptly shattered. “Ah…” His expression made it clear he did not expect that to happen. Kind of obvious in hindsight really.

“You broke it.” Alexandra sighed as her fingers dug into her pouch again. “Not a bad idea, but many of these barrels are several years old. Surprisingly fragile things; you’ve got to be more careful Emil. But, I suppose this is why we practice isn’t it?” Her fingers pulled another barrel from her side and set it down closer to her, tapping it to draw attention to it.

After hurrying along and slowly turning the barrel on its side Emil managed to finally bring it up to the giantess’s face. Alex nodded before opening her mouth as wide as it would go. Just to make sure it couldn’t possibly be misinterpreted she pointed to it for good measure.

Emil grimaced. The memories of Andrei and other Attendants of days of old who were eaten by Alexandra remained fresh in his memory. Were he to get too close the shimmering white teeth could easily behead him or worse. A grotesque vision of himself being chewed into paste and swallowed came to mind. The visceral image of his bloody self made him shudder. He pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind and rolled the barrel towards the awaiting chasm all the same, albeit he did so rather cautiously.

With every step he drew closer and felt the faint warmth of Alexandra’s breath wash over him. A couple strands of saliva stretched and broke apart as the great pink beast that was her tongue rolled out to accept the humble offering. Once the barrel was directly before the giant’s mouth her fingers plucked Emil by the shirt and set him aside, freeing the space so that she could wrap her lips around the barrel and sit back upright. Alexandra winked as she pushed the barrel in and chomped her mouth shut, swallowing whatever was inside. “Delicious.” She licked her lips. “A bit of room for improvement, but not bad at all.”

“I live to please.” He shrugged.

“Ready for your next task then?” Alexandra said whilst rubbing her wrist against her lips.

Of course there was more. Why did he think there wasn’t? “Of course.” It was something to get used to he supposed.

Then Alexandra stood up. Yet another thing he was going to have to get used to it seemed. Seeing this woman bigger than any of the buildings he had ever seen stand up never failed to take his breath away. As he craned his neck to look up the blonde shook her head and pointed down. “This one isn’t hard. Well, perhaps not in the traditional way.” Her finger directed his gaze to her boots. A simple brown leather pair, but if the stories were to be believed they were hundreds of years old themselves. “Just clean off my boots. That’s all.”

Clean would imply a rag and some water or perhaps a scrubbing brush, but they both knew that wasn’t what she was asking for. “Do I have to?” Emil was unable to hide the distaste in his tone.

“No complaining. You kissed my foot yesterday. This should be nothing.” Alex stubbornly crossed her arms and tapped her foot dangerously close to her Attendant. “I’m waiting.”

Well it was worth a shot. The giant did have a point though. He was already ankle deep in the hole; a few more inches wouldn’t hurt. He opted to make it quick and hurriedly ran his tongue along the leather. Emil didn’t know what to expect once he finally did it. Mocking laughter? A taste so foul it would never leave his mouth? Instead it was just…nothing, flavorless with the occasional bit of grime. A little leathery, but nothing too bad. Far from the worst thing the man had ever tasted.

While her Attendant serviced away at her boots Alexandra cleared her throat. “Good. It usually takes longer for an Attendant to be able to do this. There may be hope for you yet.” Her cheeks flushed as she watched Emil work. “That’s enough. I just wanted to prove a point.”

He sure didn’t need to be told twice. Emil stepped back the moment he could, running his tongue along his mouth to get rid of the odd taste. “Prove a point?”

The giant sighed. “Truth be told I couldn’t care less if you use your tongue or a rag or what have you. But for appearances sake once I make an order it must be carried out immediately. Your mouth is the most readily available cleaning tool you have, but you must be willing to use it.”

“Appearances? Why would that matter when you’re…”

“The size of a couple castles? It’s a long story.” Alex said dismissively. “Now get yourself some water. You have a five minute break before you’ll need to ready yourself for the next task. We still have much left to do.”

He gave the giant an odd look, but ultimately left as she commanded.

-----------

Hours later Emil was laid out on the ground, panting and completely covered in sweat. The sun had come and gone, leaving the duo to sit beside the giant crisping campfire once again.

“Okay, maybe that was a bit much for the first day.” His giant companion scratched her cheek sheepishly. “But you did good to bare yourself through it all.  Thank you.” Alexandra smiled down at him, and for a moment it almost seemed like all the day’s efforts were worth it just for that.

“I just want to wash myself off and rest.” He pouted. Well…almost worth it.

Alexandra giggled. “Fair enough. Get some rest Emil.”

Once more the human found himself turning a surprised eye to the woman. Their relation was essentially that of a master and slave. Yet these moments kept cropping up. Moments where she kept showing such consideration for him. If this was what his next year was going to be like. Then perhaps this whole Attendant thing wasn’t turning out precisely as horrific as the stories lead him to believe.

“Can I help you?”

Emil blinked. “Huh?”

“You’ve been staring at me for over a minute now.” The blonde smirked. “Were you so enraptured by my illustrious beauty in the campfire that you found yourself stunned?”

“No.”

“You’re no fun.” Alex puffed her cheeks. “So what’s on your mind?” The giant reached back into a pile of massive trees, each no bigger than a stick to her, and lazily tossed one into the fire. It landed with a fierce thud and kicked up a thick cloud dust before starting to burn.

He looked away awkwardly. “Nothing really.”

“But…?” She asked with a leading grin on her lips.

Emil let out a dejected sigh. “Well, you’re not what I expected.”

“Oh?” The human could feel Alexandra’s blue gaze upon him. Giving him that surprised look she oft did whenever he was foolish enough to speak honestly. “And what did you expect?”

He was treading on thin ice it felt like. A single bad word and Alexandra could easily inflict any number of torments on his person. “I dunno, but not this.” Even so the truth came out.

Alex smirked and leaned back on her palms. “Perhaps you’ve listened to those gossipers in the tavern? The ones that say that I make my Attendants live in my boots, forever licking the filth from my feet. Or maybe the lot that say I make you perform tricks to entertain me while I dangle you over my mouth. They weave so many stories. Quite creative really. Granted, there was one Attendant about a hundred years back. He adored it when I was rough with him, often begged me to degrade him at every chance. A real special lad that one.” Her legs stretched out as she laughed, each foot causing a tremor as they smashed into either side of the fire. “Sorry to disappoint you Emil.” She paused. “It never crossed your mind that maybe I acted like any other person. Did it?”

The giant’s knack for observation was spot on as always. Emil couldn’t deny that. “No, I suppose not.” He didn’t even know what he thought. When it was all laid out before him the notion that Alexandra was some sort of monster to her Attendants seemed almost silly. A tease sure, but definitely not a cruel woman. He almost felt bad for even considering it. “Saying that you act like everyone else is a bit of a stretch though.”

“Maybe.” She admitted. “Or maybe just not that many people get to know me.” The blonde stated matter of factly.  “Just that lucky one person I choose every year. Everyone else avoids me if they can.”

There was something a bit defeated in that tone she used. Clear enough that even someone as unremarkable as Emil picked up on it. “That’s not true at all. The children play with you all the time. I always see you hanging around them.”

“And when they get older?” The giant replied with a shrug.

“They…stop…” Okay, perhaps that wasn’t his best idea to comfort the giant. What else was there? “Well…” Why was he even doing this? Somewhere within the dopey Attendant was that nagging inability to let something go. It really irked him in times like these. No matter what his better judgement said his mouth ran its course. “Well even so, who needs ‘em? Just look at yourself!”

He was met with a blank stare.

“Beautiful. Strong. You know everyone considers you the prettiest in the village in spite of themselves.” The words simply would not stop. With a few short sentences Emil had begun rattling off praises to the blonde giant. “Despite being well…you know, you’re really well kept. You smell nice. You’ve got lots of things going on!”

“Oh do go on.” Alexandra began to grin. “Sweet talk like that will get you anywhere with me.” An azure eye winked. “I’ve never been serenaded by a human before.” She teased. “Is my little Emil trying to earn himself a little reward from his mistress?”

Emil could feel all the blood rushing to his face. “I’m tired.” He rolled on his side, facing away from the blonde. His pride as a man wouldn’t allow him to continue entertaining the giant or this conversation any further.

“Very well then. Goodnight my romantic little Attendant. We’ve got a special day tomorrow.” Alex’s giggles would haunt his dreams tonight. Of that there was no doubt.