Melody sat up from her position next to her mother in their cave, her eyes tired. She never felt the need to sleep, but her emotional exhaustion was beginning to get to her.

“Identify.”

Giant: Name: Alui. Age:21. Level:10. Danger Level: High.

A giant (female). Giants age quickly and live an average of fifteen years or less. Violent and low intelligence. Loves her daughter Melody.

No change in mom’s status. Melody was glad to not see the Dying tag again, but it had been two days now, and Alui had not awakened.

Rul had not come to check on them but demanded that Melody report her status each day.

“I’ll be back, mom.” Melody went to stand, but a warm hand wrapped around her wrist.

Melody’s head snapped around to see a very tired-looking Alui smiling up at her.

“Mom!” Melody hugged her mother.

“Melody…” Alui sounded weak.

“Are you hungry? Are you in pain? Do you need anything?” Melody rattled her questions off.

Alui’s smile got wider, “Hungry. Thirsty.” The giant woman’s voice cracked.

“Okay! I promise I will bring you something! I’ll go talk to Elder!” Melody stood and ran out of the cave to find Elder.

Melody checked Elder’s cave only to see the woman was not within. She turned to leave and almost ran into an adult giant.

“Watch it!” He complained.

“Have seen Elder? Need Elder for Alui!” Melody asked the giant.

“Hmm? Yeah. Elder at girl cave. Dat way.” The giant pointed down the path toward the ‘fun pit.’

Melody’s first thought was that Elder was at the horrible place but realized the giant had mentioned a different name. Melody thanked the giant and ran down the tunnel.

Melody arrived at the fork. The path on the left led to the place she never wanted to go to again. The other had to lead to where Elder was. Melody took off, heading down the tunnel.

It took a few minutes, but Melody heard the familiar voice of Elder.

“Elder!” Melody cried as she entered the new cave.

The old woman tended to an injured female giant that looked to be a bit older than Melody. Looking around, she saw that one other female looked a little older than the one Elder was tending to.

“Meldy? What wrong?” Elder asked as she worked on finishing tending to the giantess.

Melody was unsure if she could trust the other females yet, so she stuck to broken speech. “Alui awake. Hungry and thirsty.”

“Ah, good. Go out. Get food for soup. Meet outside clan cave.” Elder gave her orders.

Melody nodded, looked over the unmoving females one last time, and ran back into the tunnels.

It took Melody a bit of time, but she arrived at the main cavern. The male giants were watching another contest of strength between a couple of younger giants. Melody saw Olg was still recovering from his injuries, so she was not worried about him causing trouble. Melody headed up to Rul, who was sitting on his stone seat.

“Rul,” Melody called out to him.

“What?” Rul demanded, annoyed at her distraction.

“Alui awake but weak. Need good food. Meldy request word to get food.” Melody asked.

A cruel smirk came to Rul’s face. “Good. Go.” Rul waved her off and went back to watching the fight.

Melody did not look at him directly as she walked toward the cavern exit but could feel Olg’s glare at her. She internally smirked, knowing his noose had gotten a lot tighter thanks to his dead crony. The adult giants would watch on with evil desire whenever the two were in one location, just wanting an excuse to kill. All Olg had to do, was just bother Melody in the most minor ways, and he would die. Melody was not into blood and gore, but she felt she would not mind bearing witness to Olg’s demise.

Melody arrived at the cave exit, where the guards stopped her.

“Why here, potion maker?” One of the giants asked.

“Need food for Alui. Elder coming soon. Rul’s orders. Rul gave word.” Melody replied.

The giants nodded and let her be on her way. Ever since that day with Rul’s announcement, Melody was nearly untouchable unless she angered Rul. But she refused to lower her guard around the male giants. Melody knew that they ran on desire and raw emotions. She was sure if she did something they didn’t like, she would suffer the consequences.

Melody headed out across the open field and into the forest. Her first stop was a tree that had some Burgan Moss. Alui needed as much nutrition as she could get now. After gathering enough, Melody continued her way.

Melody maintained her air blending while she moved about. With her gains in the skill, Melody now could walk at her usual pace without being detected. Thanks to this, she had been able to occasionally catch small animals for food, which Melody was hoping would happen for her mother.

After twenty minutes, she arrived at her next stop. It was a tall, thin tree with several low-hanging leaves several feet above where Melody stood.

Sweety Sprig: A tree that produces sweet-tasting leaves. The leaves are a welcome snack to any who can reach the leaves.

To giant beings like herself, getting the leaves would usually be impossible. Still, Melody had a method to get her favorite snack.

Melody grabbed a nearby long stick and tied it to a strap on her belt. She then proceeded to climb a tree next to the Sweety Sprig. After quickly ascending for the umpteenth time, Melody lifted her stick and began swatting the sweet leaves loose, letting them fall.

“Excellent haul today!” Melody smiled as she knocked several more down.

Once she was satisfied with the amount, she climbed toward the ground to collect her prize, only to find what looked like a grayish two-tailed fox nibbling at her hoard. Frowning, Melody hopped from the tree and landed on the fox, breaking its neck with an elbow drop. Melody had gotten used to catching or killing smaller animals due to being starved by the greedy giants when they left nothing for the females. Happy that she now had some protein to add to the soup, she tossed it into her pack, collected her leaves, and moved on to one last stop.

The last item she wanted was in a bit more dangerous location.

Dangala Leopard: Name: None. Age: 28. Danger Lever: High

A Dangala Leopard (male). Known for its aggressive behavior, it will pursue and rend its victims to death. Any prey it catches, the leopard will take up into a tree to eat, leaving the corpse to dangle from the branches before they return to the ground.

Melody quietly moved up and picked up a pebble. Mimicking what Elder had done with the Falda Lizard, Melody launched the stone far into the distance to have it thunk on a tree.

The leopard’s head snapped up, and it licked its lips. Standing, it stalked off in search of its prey.

Once it was away, Melody moved up to claim her prize.

Orry Mushroom: An edible mushroom. High in nutrients. Promotes very low-level regeneration of the body.

Melody had seen the mushrooms before from a distance but had not been good enough with blending to be able to approach undetected. After gathering several, she launched one more pebble opposite the way she needed to return and left the area.

After about an hour of walking, Melody arrived at the edge of the forest. She gazed across the field at the clan cave entrance. This moment was always difficult for her, to choose between risking the unknown world or returning to something she knew would either break or kill her.

“Mom…” Melody took a few deep breaths and headed back toward the clan cave.

Elder finished getting her blackened pot of water ready and already had it boiling.

“Meldy. Get good stuff?” Elder asked.

“I did, Elder.” Melody set her pack down and pulled out her prizes.

“Oooh. Fox gamy but good. What shroom?” Elder asked as she took the fox to prepare it.

“Orry Shroom. Helps body heal.” Melody replied as she used her tiny dagger to begin slicing a few mushrooms up.

Elder asked where to find it, and Melody more than happily explained where it was and about the leopard that lived there. Elder appreciated the information and continued her work on the fox.

Melody added the Burgan Moss to the pot to let it boil and set her sweet leaf and mushrooms aside until the meat was ready. She moved over to Elder and assisted her in cutting what the old woman handed her.

Elder finished butchering what was there and tossed the organs and head into the fire.

“Ah!” Melody wanted to stop her, but it was too late.

“What?” Elder asked.

“Um… Nothing…” Melody went back to finish prepping the meat with Elder. What a waste!

Melody stepped up to the pot and saw the water was now a greenish-yellow. Using a spoon, she skimmed the remains of the moss out and used her skill on it.

Burgan Moss Stock: Slightly bitter but highly nutritious.

Melody smiled at her success. She was no master cook, but thanks to her identify skill, she was able to manage.

Next, Melody added the fox meat and some sweet leaves to the pot and let the meat cook for thirty minutes.

“Mmm. Smells good. Me go find lid. No want males taking.” Elder said as she sniffed the air and went off to get the lid for the pot.

If the two of them tried to walk through the clan cave with the pot, every giant would want to take it for themselves. If they sealed and wrapped it, they could just say it was a potion for Alui, which should clear the path for them. A few nights ago, Rul made it very clear that if anyone got in their way of healing Alui, they would meet a brutal end.

Skewering a piece of meat, Melody found it was mostly done and tossed it into the pot to finish the soup, along with the sliced mushrooms.

Elder returned several minutes later with a lid and pack to carry the pot.

“How looking?” Elder asked.

Identify.

Medicinal Sweet Fox Stew: A nutritious stew with fox meat. Promote healing, regeneration, and good health. Chance to permanently increase stamina.

Melody was taken aback by her creation. She informed Elder of what the stew was capable of, and the old woman frowned.

“Hmm. Keep secret. Must no tell males. Finish, and let’s go. Alui need.” Elder said, taking the pot off the fire.

After letting the pot cool down a bit, they tied the lid on top, stuffed the pot into the pack, and headed back to the cave entrance.

“What that?” “Smells good?” The two guards at the entrance stopped them.

“Potion for Alui. Want ask Rul?” Elder said to the two, which got them out of their hair very quickly.

The pair only got stopped by giants who got close enough to smell the stew, but a few words from Elder kept them primarily unimpeded.

When they arrived at the main cavern, Melody saw that a new pair of males fought for dominance.

A few of the males smelled the stew, but under Rul’s glare, did not dare approach the two. From there, they made it to Alui’s cave with no further stops.

“Mom!” Melody set the stew down and helped her mother sit up.

Alui sniffed the air, “What that? Smells… Goooood.” Alui started to salivate over the scent of the stew.

Elder smiled as she untied and removed the lid, allowing the aroma to fill the cave. Alui’s eyes were locked onto the pot like a hungry predator. Melody thought her mother looked a lot like that leopard earlier that licked its chops.

“All for you, mom.” Melody handed Alui a ladle while Elder put the pot before the mother.

Swallowing hard, Alui ladled out some of the stew and tried it. Squirming happily, she began to hungrily consume the stew. Melody smiled over her mother, getting her energy back.

It only took a handful of minutes before Alui had finished the entire pot and was laying back down, a satisfied look on her face.

Alui sighed, contented, “So good. Alui thanks, Melody and Elder.”

“Thank Melody more. She got the ingredients.” Elder replied as she packed everything up.

Alui looked over at the smiling Melody, “Thank you, Melody. Alui lucky mother.” Alui pulled her daughter in for a loving hug.

“Stay with Alui. I clean up.” Elder told Melody and left the cave with the empty pot and pack.

Melody crawled into Alui’s furs and hugged onto her. “Rest now, mom. You need rest.”

“Yes. We rest together.” Alui returned the hug, and the pair fell to sleep in a loving embrace.

The medicinal stew did wonders for Alui. Two more days of eating it, and she was back to full strength. Melody wanted to lie to Rul to buy her mother a few more days of peace, but the giant came to Alui’s cave.

“Alui healed?” He demanded to know.

Alui stood and bowed her head to Rul, “Alui healed. Thanks to Melody.”

“Hmph. Good. I make good choice of potion maker. Come.” Rul ordered Alui

Melody wanted to scream, her mother had just recovered, and the bastard already wanted to retake her?! Alui hesitantly followed Rul out of the cave.

Once they were gone, Melody headed to Elder’s cave to collect some Rola Moss and prepare a Loca Grass drink. She still had a few Orry Mushrooms squirreled away, so she would bring them too. Melody would not let her mother die. She was so close to mastering air blending, then she and her mother could leave and maybe get help. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to convince humans to help them, but Melody felt that anything had to be better than living the way they were.

“Melody.” Elder stopped Melody before she could return to her cave. “You know what day coming soon?”

Melody shook her head in reply.

“Bloodening soon.” Melody recognized the term. Rul had said it before and hoped Elder was going to tell her what it was.

“What is the bloodening?” She asked.

“It is annual ritual. Rul take younger giants out to raid humans.” Elder replied.

“What!? I don’t want to-.” Elder covered Melody’s mouth and pulled her deeper into her cave.

“No choice. Be careful what say.” Elder whispered to her. “You no have choice. Elder tell trick, though. No need kill human.”

Melody nodded.

“Need only blood on club. Giants dumb, not know difference. Kill animal, no kill humans.” Elder instructed.

“But what about the humans? Can’t I help them?” Melody asked.

“Big risk. If caught, you die.” Elder shook her head.

Melody thanked Elder for her instruction, stuffed what she had gathered into her pouches, and headed back to her cave.

Hours passed before Alui returned to their cave. She was bruised and had a few bite marks on her, but she was nowhere near what she was before. Melody helped her mother to her furs. She did a quick identify check to Alui to make sure she was not dying again. Melody helped her mother take off her furs and proceeded to wipe her body down.

Alui’s expression was dark and devoid of emotion. Melody hated seeing her mother like this. Rul always returned her mother broken and injured. Every time, Melody would talk to her mother about things she learned from Elder or fun things she did while out in the forest. It would take several minutes before the light returned to Alui’s eyes. Melody was always happy to see her mother looking alive once more.

Melody finished wiping Alui down, applied the Rola Moss paste to Alui’s injuries, and gave her a Loca Grass drink and Orry Mushroom. Alui quietly consumed them while Melody finished treating her.

Alui didn’t bother putting her fur clothing back on and crawled into her fur bed, inviting Melody to join her. Alui hugged Melody to her chest, shivering and crying quietly to herself.

“Mama hope… Melody escape… Mama no want this fate for daughter….” Alui sobbed.

“Mom. I am close to mastering air blending. Once I do, I will teach you. Then once you master it, we will both leave this place. I will try to get help from the humans, then we will come back and free Elder and the other females. Rul will-.” Alui gently covered Melody’s mouth.

“Shh. Mama no want to hear name. Mama likes Melody plan. Hope works. Mama not sure how much more Mama can take….” Alui hugged Melody closer.

The boiling anger began to rise in Melody. She felt like her mother. She was not sure how much more cruelty she could see before losing control. They had to escape, and soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A short man in dark armor, with an epic beard with braids, stood arguing with a thin man in robes.

"Look, I understand ye want to save time, but tonight would be too dangerous!" The short man stated.

"Yes, yes, lunar eclipse and monsters. I am paying you good money to guard my caravan, dwarf." The thin man replied.

"Not just any monsters, giants! We don't 'ave enough arms to take them on." The dwarf argued.

"Fine. You all there, adventurers, I will pay each of you a small silver to help escort my caravan to Hallfen. What say you?" The thin man spoke to a group of armed and armored people nearby.

The people shrugged their shoulders and agreed to the amount.

"Can't ye just wait one night?! It would be safer tomorrow!" The dwarf tried to change the mind of the man.

"You are more than welcome not to come. I will not wait." The thin man walked away.

A beautiful woman with angular facial features, brown hair in a short ponytail, and pointed ears approached the dwarf.

"You tried, my friend." She smiled at him.

"Damn fool." The dwarf grumbled.

"I am sure you will not abandon them." The woman looked toward one of the carriages where a group of four children was climbing into one.

The dwarf huffed, "You know I cannot leave'em. You're more than welcome to wait till the 'morrow, Ellen."

"And leave you alone for an hour? You are mad, Gona." Ellen replied with a bemused smile.

The dwarf scratched his short black hair, "Alright, fine. Let's hope luck be on our side tonight. We will be needing it."