“I never thought I’d get to eat cookies in a tree with elves,” Kim said. “It sounds like a fantasy I would’ve wanted to have if I had thought of it.” She, Kendira, and Rachelle were outside of the tree now, sitting atop one of its many strong branches with their backs against the elephant-sized trunk. They were huddled together, their shoulders pressed and their legs either tucked in or dangling in the air, as they watched the sun dip slowly into the blossoming horizon over the forest.
Kendira shook her head. “I can’t believe how many cookies those guys ate. You’d think they’d never eaten before.”
“A lot of them haven’t,” said Rachelle. “I mean, our society leaves men to fend for themselves. If they can’t find food, they can’t survive. As sick and loathsome as they are, I don’t blame them for taking this chance to fill up.”
“…I swear,” Kim said, dreamlike, “this place is amazing. It’s nothing like it is back home.”
“What’s it like there?”
“Men…are actually above Women, in a lot of aspects,” she said, but she couldn’t hold a straight face. It was ridiculous now. After only two days, she was ready to dismiss the idea that Men could even be considered anywhere near the top of the social hierarchy, let alone the food chain.
Kendira and Rachelle laughed too.
“That sounds like something between a fairy-tale and a horror story,” Rachelle pointed out.
“Yeah…” Kim said, relaxing her head against the tree trunk and shifting her weight. “It was…”
“It was? You mean you were serious? You were actually below creatures that are the size of your finger?”
“In my land, Men and Women are closer to equals, with Men usually being the superior of the races. They’re not tiny like they are here. In fact, most men are taller than women. Stronger too. And they always seem to have better jobs, more money, and an easier life style. It’s the women who do all the work—the cooking and cleaning and the thinking and caring—and the men usually just sit around all day and eat and drink and make gross noises with their bodies. And…a lot of times, it’s the men who abuse the women. And since men pretty much dominate the government and police force, there’s nobody to stand up for the women…”
Like before, she said it in a surreal voice, both soft and distant, like what she was saying was an afterthought, but Kendira and Rachelle had their eyes and ears aimed directly at her.
“That’s impossible,” Kendira said. “Men have been too small to do any of that since the fall of Sorena, thousands of years ago… What else happens where you come from?”
“I’m sorry, I’ve said too much.” Kim hoped that would be the end of that. She didn’t want to have to explain about the ‘real world,’ but they only continued to stare at her.
“…Who are you?” Rachelle asked at last. “If what you say is true, you cannot be from this world…”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Well, you have to admit you—you’re kind of hard to believe yourself. I mean, the next thing you’re going to tell me is that Women actually need Men to have babies.”
“I was going to ask how that happens here…”
Rachelle’s eyes widened. “What? That’s… Were you sent to this…other…world that you speak of because of some crime you committed?”
“No, I was born there.”
“Then perhaps it’s because of something you did in a previous life… I don’t think any human deserves a punishment quite like that. We must pray to Dai Celesta to save your soul before you’re sent back there.”
“No, it’s okay…” Kim gently pushed Rachelle’s arm down. “I’m here now. I must’ve been spared.”
“Thank Dai Celesta!”
“Unbelievable,” Kendira said, still a little dazed. “The others—Siarra, Malkav, Frankie—are they from your world too?”
“Yes…”
“So those guys…the ones we carried on our shoulders today, the ones stuffing their face full of cookies that are the size of the crumbs on my slippers…were once as tall as us?”
Kim fidgeted with her fingers. Why had she mentioned the other world? “Yes… Isaac, the black one, was a lot taller than me. He used to protect me when we went anywhere. He’s very tough.”
“Yes, I noticed that by the way he only crunched a little bit when I accidentally stepped on him today,” Rachelle said sarcastically, but her mouth still agape in disbelief. “I will pray to Dai Celesta tonight to save your world. It must be terribly corrupt with war and starvation and loss of hope, like the land of the Forsaken. Men aren’t fit to rule. They’re on the level of vermin. The very thought of being ruled by a man is just…laughable.”
“Where I come from, entire coun…um, kingdoms are run by men. Usually it’s one man who has most of the power and then a bunch of smaller men underneath him who help to control that power.”
“Man power,” Rachelle laughed. “My favorite oxymoron!”
Kendira laughed too. It was a joke shared among the girls of Neverquest.
Even Kim laughed a little as she thought about it. It really was ridiculous. “Yeah, and it’s really hard for a woman to gain any sort of respect or authority in the government. For a long time, women didn’t have many rights at all.”
“Blasphemy! You could scare children with stories like this.”
“It’s all true,” Kim said. “What’s the government like here?”
Kendira shook out of her daze. “The rule of Ellewyn is divided between the Church and state. The state government is run by the Queen; however, she’s been missing for quite some time. Her daughter, Isabella, has taken over in her absence. From there, there is the Countess Olivia, the Duchess May, and Riva the Wise—each who possess their own separate council. Then the power is spread amongst the Paladins, led by Lady Lucilla, and so-on down the line.”
“Right,” Rachelle said. “And the Church government is led by our Goddess, Dai Celesta, of course. As a Priest, I am one of her most devote followers, although…there are ranks above my own. There are many Temples of Life and each is guarded by one of the Seven and a Half Apostles.”
“Seven…and a half?” Kim echoed.
“Yes. The ‘half’ is the most important of the Apostles. She is our ultimate connection between mortality and Dai Celesta.”
“Have you ever met her?”
Rachelle gasped. “No! No mortal may lay eyes on the Half Apostle! Even imagining her face and trying to comprehend all the knowledge of one glimpse in her eyes is enough to drive any sane person to madness.”
“I see… I’ll try not to think about it.”
“Master Luna is the link between the Church, the state, and the people,” Kendira said. “She holds political relations and power within the royal family, but her primary ties are with the Arcane Order, which I belong to, and the Seven and a Half Apostles. So, you see, finding Master Luna and gaining her support will help us on every level.”
“Are you sure we can trust her?”
“She is my Master. I trust no other.”
“She also thinks Men deserve some rights,” Rachelle said with an emotionless shrug. “Honestly, the Apostles are beginning to question her intentions and the Queen’s. There’s been a lot of controversy coming from all sides.”
Kim looked up. “Controversy? What kind of controversy?”
Rachelle looked at Kendira, as if expecting permission to continue, but Kendira’s eyes were lost in the rising moon. “…There has been talk about giving Men more rights than they have now. As you can tell, these are very troubled times and there’s been a lot of…rumor and gossip about how far these ‘rights’ are going to extend.”
“So why don’t they just hold a meeting and decide?”
“It’s not that easy. This has all been talk. No side wants to be the one to suggest that Men really do deserve more than what they have, for fear of isolation from the other power forces. That’s what happens when you divide power among people.” She glanced at Kendira a moment before continuing. “Master Luna is the only one in power who openly acknowledges the fact that Men deserve rights, but the Seven and a Half Apostles refuse to listen. Now, because the Apostles are the most respected force among the people, Master Luna’s reputation has suffered. The Arcane Order has orders to disavow her if she continues advocating her position.”
“What does that mean for Kendira?”
Rachelle opened her mouth to respond, but Kendira stopped her.
“It means,” Kendira said, locking her eyes with the moon, “I will have to side with either Master Luna or the Arcane Order. If I leave the Order, I’ll have nowhere to go, as Master Luna won’t be able to take on an apprentice if she’s been disavowed. If I stay with the Order, I will most likely be promoted in place of Master Luna.”
“Doesn’t seem like a hard decision…”
“You don’t know how I feel about Master Luna then.”
“Well, maybe it won’t happen,” Kim said.
“It will if that Necromancer gets hold of the pieces of the sacred beetle. It’s Master Luna’s sworn duty to protect them. If she fails…then there is no saving any of us from the choices we’re going to have to make.”
“But what about the Queen? She has to respect Master Luna.”
“She does,” Rachelle said. “And she respects some of Master Luna’s ideals towards Men as well. If it weren’t for the Queen, Master Luna would’ve lost her position a long time ago. The problem is that the other members of the royal family—Isabella, in particular—refuse to accept Men as anything more than slaves. I can’t say I blame them either.”
“I just don’t get it… You’re a Priest. Why don’t you believe Men have rights? You should care about them and what happens to them!”
“It’s not that I don’t like them,” Rachelle frowned. “But Dai Celesta refers to them as the bane of society. They’re the vermin who spread the Plague. I care for their souls, like I do all creatures, but not for them. I think they’d be better off dead than scurrying around in the streets, spreading their disease and worthlessness to an otherwise beautiful world. You agree, don’t you, Kendira?”
“I can’t agree, Sister Rachelle… You know that.”
Kim looked down at the forest floor, which had grown dark and cold as scattered leaves brushed against the tree in the wind. She thought of Isaac and closed her eyes. “…I just have one more question about this world.”
“What is it?” Rachelle asked.
“Is it possible to love?”
“Of course. I love many things.”
“I meant…to love, one thing, in particular.”
“What thing is that?”
Kim looked up. “Men.”
Rachelle fell off the tree laughing.
Giantess World
