Although it had taken some time and effort, Maxine had been placed in a bed around a couple of miles away from where she had fallen. The group had been able to get to an inn and right now, the muscular giantess was lying in bed and had hardly moved since she had arrived.

Sweat was still rolling down her brow as the fever continued to ravage her body. Thankfully, Charles was doing what he could to try and treat her as well as make her comfortable. Every now and again, he would place a cold cloth on her forehead and also make sure that she didn't dehydrate. This was all very difficult for him, but thankfully he wasn't working alone.

Asla had decided to give him a helping hand with tending to Maxine. Taiyun and Jaxin were not helping with the treatment, but this wasn't because they didn't want to. Rather they were keeping their eye out for any signs of danger. They hadn't forgotten how there was still an assassin out there who wanted to kill Asla.

For Jaxin, recent events were still a little unbelievable for him to believe. A short while ago, he had been sent to Angleland to hunt down and kill Asla. Now he was one of her bodyguards and would receive a lordship if he were able to get her back to her kingdom safely. It was something he couldn't have imagined and yet it was happening. Neither did he imagine that he would be travelling with a woman who was so tall that her head would strike the ceiling in most rooms.

"How is she doing?" asked Asla. She looked over to Charles who was in the middle of changing the cloth that was on Maxine's forehead. He placed the now warm cloth to one side and placed the new one there.

"I don't think she's doing all that well to be honest," replied Charles. He wanted to say otherwise but he found himself unable to. "I'm doing what I can for her, but I'm not sure if it's doing any good."

"Maybe we should go and get a healer to try and help. But then again, they wouldn't have any idea how to treat the poison within her. It is unknown to these lands and as far as I know, Maxine is the only person who has been exposed to it and survived. Forgive me for my bluntness but I don't think that she will live for much longer."

"No, don't say that. Maxine is too strong to let something like a little poison stop her!" There was defiance in his voice as it was clear that he believed every word that he was saying. "In a few hours, she'll be up and about and telling us how ridiculous it was for us to worry about her."

Asla wanted to dispel this fantasy that Charles had in his head but found herself unable to. She could see the drive in his eyes, and she could see that her words would do nothing to dissuade him. It was clear that the only time when he would give up hope was when Maxine finally passed away.

Until then, she vowed to herself that she would help her in any way that she could. Now they could only hope that she would be able to pull through or that the poison might finally achieve its goal.

There was one thing that Asla did consider doing but she wasn't sure whether she should or not. She remembered the conversation that she and Maxine had only a short time earlier where the latter had admitted that she had fallen in love with Charles. She considered telling him about her confession but still thought that it was best to say nothing. While there was even the slightest hint of a chance that Maxine might pull through, then she would stay quiet on the subject.

Asla didn't know how Charles would react to this news. She didn't know whether he felt the way towards Maxine the same way that she felt towards him. If he did, then it would make her passing even more upsetting for him. All they could do for now was continue to tend to her and hope that she pulled through. Although it was most likely that this was one battle that even she couldn't win.

Unbeknownst to the others, Maxine's mind was still active, and she had still found herself at a tiny size and being held by her mother. She was actually sitting on her shoulder and watching as her mother prepared a pie for her. At that moment in time, she didn't really care about what was in it. Just as long as it had a crust, was edible and had no onions within. To her, that was the best kind of pie.

Jessica also seemed to be humming to herself as she made the pie and Maxine recognised it as a hum that she did quite often. In a way, it took her back to her childhood as she had seen her mother working around the house and farm while also caring for her children. It was a feat that she thought was impossible for her to do since she didn't think that she had the patience of maternal instincts to be a mother.

"Doesn't this smell lovely?" asked Jessica. She still didn't really ask why her normally nine-foot daughter was small enough to fit in a person's hand.

"Yes mother," replied Maxine. She looked down at the pie and although it wasn't cooked, she still wanted to just leap into it and then begin consuming it from the inside. "What did you put in there?"

"Now that's Mommy's little secret little Maxie."

"O-Ok." There was a hint of nervousness that went through her body as she knew that her mother wasn't the best cook. Although she put a lot of effort into what she did, she simply didn't have the skills that she needed. "Mother, may I ask something?"

"Sure, what do you have on your mind sweetie? You know that I always have time for you." She looked over to Maxine and smiled although the muscular woman knew that this wasn't entirely true. Thanks to having so many brothers and sisters, it could be difficult for her to get the attention of her parents as one of her siblings normally needed it more. Having Jessica's undivided attention was something that she appreciated and wanted to savour for a short while at least.

"I-I'm thinking about something that could change my future. I-I've met someone that I am thinking about being with for the rest of my life."

"Oh, you mean that my Little Maxie found love?" Her smile only grew as this figment realised what Maxine was talking about.

"I'm not sure. I've never felt this way for a man, and I doubt that I'll ever meet anyone like that again."

"Oh, you mean Charles don't you?"

"What? You knew?" There was some surprise in her voice as she looked at the giantess. She could see a warm glow from her, and it made her feel at ease.

"Of course, I'm just a figment of your imagination so everything you know, I know. So, you want me to answer how you think your actual mother would answer to you? Well, if you already know what the answer is, then there's no point in asking me. If Charles is the one that you love, then be with him."

"But what if he rejects me? He's the greatest friend that I've ever had, and I feel like if I tell him how I feel, that it'll make things awkward between us."

"Well, if he doesn't want to be with you, then that's his problem. But I can't imagine why he wouldn't. How many times as he saved your life?"

"P-Probably more times than I've saved his." In her head, she was trying to think how many times Charles had actually saved her life and she realised that it was more often than she had originally thought.

"Exactly, I'm sure that he has feelings for you as well, but if you feel uncomfortable about telling him. Maybe wait for a while and think things through, only when you think that you truly should, should you tell him."

"Thanks Mom." Thanks to her seemingly tiny size, Maxine stood up and hugged the neck of Jessica. It was still odd for her to be interacting with someone who was so much larger than her. But since it was her own mother, it was something that she wasn't all that surprised with experiencing.

However, Maxine soon found herself beginning to lose her footing on Jessica's shoulder. Although she tried to grab whatever she could in order to steady herself, she found herself unable to. Because of this, she began to fall off he shoulder, and she began to scream in terror. She had hoped that her mother would attempt to catch her, but instead Jessica simply continued what she was doing as if nothing were happening.

Maxine called out to Jessica, but her mother simply ignored her and she still found herself falling. However, as she looked down, she could see the pie that they had been making and within moments, she landed within it. The landing was soft, and she felt no pain once she landed into the pie.

This wasn't the end of her danger, however. As she had broken through the crust, she found herself within the contents of the pastry. To her, it seemed similar to water and she tried everything that she could to try and keep her head above it. No matter how much she struggled, she simply couldn't achieve the task and found herself continuing to sink. Her cries for Jessica went unanswered as her head was fully submerged and she found herself unable to breathe.

With every passing moment, Maxine found herself sinking further and further. Eventually, the contents of the pie disappeared around her and she simply found herself falling in the air. She didn't know exactly what was happening, but she did eventually feel the velocity that she was falling begin to lessen. Eventually, she was able to touch down on the ground without any fear of hurting herself.

But now that she had stopped falling, the muscular giantess began to look around in her environment. Rather than being inside a gigantic house or a completely featureless world. Instead, she found herself in what seemed to be outside of a house that did look to be quite large.

It was easily thirty feet in height but only looked to be a single storey. The look of it was quite odd to her as it seemed unlike any house that she had seen before. It was made out of bricks and also had glass windows. She was only used to seeing glass windows in fancy places, not on a simple house such as this. There was also something metallic attached to the roof that looked to be very odd. It looked to have several points on it, and she thought that it was some kind of defence mechanism. But it seemed strange to have it only in one place rather than around the entire house. Plus, the points were rounded at the tips rather than being spikey.

The appearance of the house was confusing for her, but she did notice something else that she didn't think was odd, but just a surprising for her. The front garden looked to be immaculate. There were flowers of almost every colour, and it was the clear that whoever tended to them, took great care and passion in what they did.

"What is this place?" asked Maxine quietly to herself as she continued to look around. Although the house did look big to her, when she looked at the flowers, she could see that in comparison to her, they looked to be normal size.

"This is my home," replied a feminine voice. It seemed to be coming from behind her and when she turned around, she was greatly surprised with what she could see. Standing there was a woman who was around fifteen feet tall, but Maxine didn't recognise her. Her eyes were brown and although she looked to be quite young, she had long white hair. Her outfit consisted of a light red flora dress as well as a pair of matching coloured slip-on sandals. It did look a little different to what Maxine was used to seeing but when she looked at the face of this giantess, there was some familiarity. At first, she couldn't help but sense her mother, but she knew that this woman wasn't her mother. "And right now, you're admiring my handiwork."

"Wait, who are you?" She took several steps back as she looked up to the white-haired giantess. There was still something about her that felt familiar, even though she had never met her before in her entire life.

"Oh, I'm just someone who was minding their own business until you showed up. Now, why don't we go inside, and we can chat. I'm sure that we have a lot to talk about."

Normally, Maxine would question this and even likely not do what was requested of her. But something inside of her was telling her that she could trust this giantess. Because of this, she followed her into the house, and she found herself looking around as she entered. Everything was scaled up so that it was comfortable for the white-haired giantess but there were many objects inside that Maxine didn't recognise.

Amongst these was something that was on a table that had some kind of chord attached to it. There was also something that looked metallic attached to the ceiling of the main room that she was entering. Attached to this metallic object, were spheres of glass. There were large, cushioned seats that were gigantic even to Maxine. It took some effort for her to climb onto one of the seats so that she could sufficiently sit down.

Not only were there seats in the room but also there was a large table as well as a couple of smaller ones. On the walls, there were a couple of objects that the muscular woman could only describe as decorations, but they were unlike anything that she had ever seen before. There was even something that she first thought was a painting but as she looked at it, she could see that it was though she was looking at a real person. The background in the picture looked real as well and even the most talented artist, couldn't make something that didn't look like they had used paint.

Now that she was inside this room, Maxine could see the white-haired Giantess sitting down on a seat that was just across from where she was sitting. There was still an air of familiarity around her, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She could definitely sense something from her that was similar to Jessica, but this woman was clearly not their mother. To her, she was practically a stranger.

"It is so nice to have company," said the Giantess as she had some kind of ceramic container in her hand. It was something that Maxine hadn't seen before and there seemed to be a hot liquid inside. "May I offer you a beverage? How about a cup of tea?

"Err..." She didn't know what tea was, but she preferred to drink something that she was familiar with. "Do you have an ale?"

"Ale?" For a moment, the giantess didn't answer and simply chuckled to herself. "I'm sorry but I don't have any ale at all?"

"Do you have any alcoholic drinks at all? After everything that I've just experienced, I really need one."

"Well, I do have some wine if you want some of that."

"Wine?" To her, such a beverage was reserved for those of a higher birth than herself. She didn't think that she would ever be offered it. But she couldn't help but think that it was something not made for her lips. It was reserved for those that she saw as being not worth bothering about and she thought that it was best not to associate with them. "Just water will be fine thanks."

"As you wish." In practically an instant a large cup of water appeared in front of Maxine, and she grabbed onto it. She saw a strange glass appear in the hand of the giantess that contained a yellowish pale liquid. Although Maxine didn't know exactly what it was, she guessed that it was win.

"I still don't know who you are. While I've been here, I've spoken to my mother, father and squire. But you, you're not someone that I've met. Believe me if I had, I would have remembered someone like you."

"Well, we have met, you probably just don't realise it."

This still confused Maxine for several moments, even if it wasn't for the giantess's size. She would have thought that the fact that she had white hair despite her youthful appearance. If she had to guess, she said that the woman sitting across from her was in her mid-twenties. Which made the colour of her hair even more unusual?

"Do you mind reminding me where?" asked Maxine. "Just so that I can try and recall our first meeting."

"Well, it's a bit difficult to say as it is fuzzy for me as well. Let's just say that I'm not a stranger to you and that there's a good chance that one day, we'll get to know each other better. Now I think it'll be nice if we have a chat, last I checked on you, you weren't in the best way."

"How would you know that?" There was some shock on Maxine's face as she looked at her gigantic host. She watched as she took a sip of the wine that she was holding and gave her a smile.

"Easy, I'm in your head so I know all about the conflict that you're feeling right now. About your squire, Charles, is it?" She smiled to herself again for a few moments. He seems to be a very nice man, our mother seemed to like him when she saw him."

"Wait, our mother? You mean Jessica Martel?" In a way, she couldn't be surprised upon hearing this since her mother was the only person in Angleland to be able to produce giants such as herself. "But how can she be your mother? I am the eldest daughter of Sir Tucker and Jessica Martel. I was there throughout all but the latest of my mother's pregnancies and I definitely don't remember you." She then paused for a moment as she thought that there was only one logical explanation for this. "Wait, did my mother have a child before me? A child that even my father doesn't know about?"

"No, you're still the eldest and Sir Tucker is my father as well. We're full-blooded sisters so you don't need to worry about either of your parents being unfaithful to one another. Now onto the topic at hand." The giantess seemed to be brushing off Maxine's concerns as if they weren't important.

"Wait, how are you my…"

"You like your squire, don't you?" She looked at Maxine and gave her a small smile as she took a quick sip from her drink. The naked woman looked at her with some embarrassment and she began to blush. "Well, just sitting there and blushing about it isn't going to make things any better."

"What do you mean?" There was some confusion from her and still some embarrassment behind the words that Maxine was saying. She continued to look at the giantess and she was unsure what she should say.

"Well, your squire. You've been through a lot with him since you first met him and now you might be leaving before you tell him how you truly feel."

"Leaving?" For several moments, she was confused as she tried to figure out what the giantess was trying to say but soon, she realised what she meant. It hadn't escaped her that she was likely dying and that this interaction that she was having could likely be her last actions on Earth. "O-Oh right." She gave a sigh as she looked at the giantess once more. She had said that she was Maxine's sister, and she could definitely see some resemblance but she was definitely not like any of the sisters that she knew. "But what am I supposed to, even if I somehow survive, what am I going to say to him?"

"Maybe it's best not to pour everything out straight away." The giantess's voice was still soft and calming. A lot like the voice of Jessica but with a slightly different tone to it. "Maybe break yourself into doing it."

"And what if he rejects me?" This was the same question that she had asked her mother recently and she thought that it was a possibility.

"I doubt that he will. You know that your squire is a good man, he does everything that he can to help and benefit you. Even in your early days with him, he still went out of his way to ensure that everything was fine with you."

"Y-Yeah, he did that." She could remember the times when Charles had really gone out of his way to make sure that she had what she wanted. Even sacrificing his own food budget so that she could have a couple of extra drinks of ale. "And I used to treat him so terribly. I-I feel a guilty about that."

"Then begin making it up to him. You can't change what has been done, but you can do things to try and make up for it. I doubt that he really thinks about that but still if you feel guilty. Well, a simple apology might suffice."

"D-Do you think that'll work?" There was still a lot of nervousness that went through her body, and this made her unable to for a few moments.

"Well, I can't say for certain, but if I was a betting woman. I'd certainly put money on it." She smiled down at Maxine, and this made her feel more at ease. She could feel a sense of familiarity with her, despite the fact that this was the first time that they had ever met. It was like there was some kind of maternal quality to her that made her easy to talk to. She still didn't know exactly who the white-haired giantess actually was, but she still thought that she felt a connection between them.

However, before Maxine could say another word, everything around her began to brighten up and at first, she thought that this was a good thing. But soon enough, it was beginning to become too bright for her to see. The giantess continued to sit where she was, but she was also beginning to fade away. The smile was still on her face as she seemed to disappear, her warm presence was still present. Even after her body had more or less completely disappeared, she could still feel as if the white-haired giantess were still there.

The next thing that Maxine knew, she was looking up at something, but she couldn't tell what it was. Her vision was too fuzzy, and she was in a state of confusion. Not only that, but she could also hear something, but she couldn't make out the words. As she went to speak, all she could do was let out a groan.

Almost instantly, she saw someone standing over her and looking down at her. However, due to her disturbed vision, she couldn't see who it was. Instead, all she could see was an outline and some frantic movements. She wanted to lift up her arms, but they felt as though they weighed several tons.

Maxine had no idea what was happening, but she began to become scared but slowly her senses were returning to her, and she was noticing everything around her. And what she saw came as some surprise.