Inside a cardboard carrying crate, forty-four humans waited in tense silence. Outside the box, they heard the voice of the Titan woman who had brought them from the shelter.

“Zhay! Come help me a second.”

An uneasy murmur rippled through the crowd as muted light seeped in from the seams of the box.

“Peace!” The red-haired woman who had spoken to them at the shelter said to them sharply. “Everything is fine. You are among friends.”

Some were calmed by her words, but others were left with doubts. Had they made a mistake, leaving the relative safety of the shelter in favor of the unknown fate the woman and her older companion had offered?

“Only two?” Another Titan voice penetrated the box. “I’m a little disappointed.”

“Yeah.” The first voice returned. “There weren’t as many as I assumed, and about a third of them chose to remain behind.”

“Well, that’s their decision, after all.” The second voice sighed. “Okay, on three then? One, two-”

The world around them lurched as the box they were in was suddenly lifted into the air. None of them had ever ridden in an elevator, but if they had they would have agreed the experience was very similar.

The unease was threatening to spill over into outright panic as the box suddenly lurched sideways.

“Careful Aisell!” One of the voices snapped.

“Sorry. Sorry. I slipped.”

“Okay, let’s just go slow. No rush.”

“Right.”

Many of the people sighed in relief as their carrier stabilized. The ride became gentler and the movement less erratic. Their movement was smooth and less like a strange carnival ride, and more like a boat on a peaceful like.

Not that any of them had ever been in a boat before. Or a carnival ride.

After several minutes of silence, the movement from outside suddenly stopped and a moment later they felt themselves being lowered before coming to a gentle stop.

“Whew. Hope everyone is okay in there.” The Titan voice sighed. “Hang on, we’ll get you out.”

Bright light assaulted their eyes as the side of their carrier was pulled open. There had been air holes in the top of the box, of course, but those had only been able to let in small amounts of light.

“Come on out then.” The Titan woman’s voice said, cheerfully.

Unsurprisingly, the first one out was the strange woman who had brought them all here. Then, gradually, the rest of the group trickled out into the sunlight.

The first thing they all noticed was the duo of Titan women standing above them, looking down on them the way Titans do. Both had blonde hair and there was enough of a resemblance for anyone to assume they were related. Many of the group shrunk back from them, but both wore smiles that were patient and kind.

Then, after taking in the Titans above them, most of the people looked ahead where a group of about two dozen people were waiting to greet them.

“Okay Quendra, while you all start getting this group oriented, Aezhay and I will go and get the other carrier.”

“Of course.” Quendra nodded. And just like that, the two giants walked away, their long strides quickly taking them out of sight.

Quendra quickly took charge of the crowd; and began to direct the newcomers to the tribe members who would help them settle in and explain how their society worked. The carrier was left sitting in the grass, waiting for one of the Titans to come back and dispose of it.

Nobody noticed a little girl still in the shadow of the carrier. She clung to the relative safety of the box’s shadowy interior as the adults around her dispersed.

Her name was Flower, or at least that’s what the Titans at the shelter always called her. And when the golden haired Titan arrived at the shelter with her two humans, Flower didn’t really understand what was going on. But, a bunch of the adults were leaving, which Flower thought meant they were being adopted. She’d always been told that being adopted was a good thing, so she went right along with it.

The ride in the box was scary, but it wasn’t the first time Flower had been in a carrier, so she didn’t mind it so much. Plus, at the end of all the other trips, there’d been a treat, if she was good. Flower thought she’d been good… but she didn’t see any treats.

Flower’s heart hammered and she looked around fearfully. She’d never been outside before. There wasn’t a ceiling above her and there were strange noises that she didn’t understand. The air smelled funny and she didn’t like the crowd of adults and people who were yelling all around her.

It was too much, and before Flower realized what she was doing, she’d run off into the tall grass that surrounded the clearing where the box had been set down.

Eventually, fatigue forced her to stop running, and Flower found herself in the shadow of a fallen log. She fell to her knees and tried to catch her breath. She’d never run quite so far in her life.

After her breath returned, she began to sob as tears slid down her cheeks. She didn’t know why she’d run away, but now she didn’t know how to get back.

She felt a rumble in the ground beneath her as the two Titans returned. Frightened, Flower jumped back to her feet and ran further into the woods. She feared that if the Titans discovered her, they would be angry with her. And even though Flower had never seen a Titan’s anger before, she didn’t want to find out what it was like.

*.*.*.*

“Have we gotten the shelter humans settled in?” Drugar asked Quendra later that day.

The young woman sighed and nodded, glancing down at the scrap of paper in her hand. “I believe so, Leader. We’ve assigned them all temporary housing with tribe members until we can find more permanent residences for them in the village outside the tree.”

“Good.” Drugar smiled. “I was worried there would be problems, but everything appears to have gone-”

“Wait.” Quendra held up her hand. Her brow furrowed in confusion and her eyes quickly scanned the paper in front of her. “Didn’t Aisell say that eighty-seven people were brought home from the Titans’ shelter?”

“She did…” Drugar said slowly, stepping forward so he could peer at the paper over Quendra’s shoulder. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I only have eighty-six people accounted for.”

“One of them must have wandered off.” Drugar said grimly. “Have a runner send word to the House and see if any of the Marises are able to help us search.”

“Right away Leader.” Quendra nodded and dashed off to find one of her swiftest hunters to carry the message.

*.*.*

A snap of a breaking twig caught Flower’s attention. She huddled back against the large piece of wood she was hiding behind as something large moved in the grass on the other side of her hiding spot. Something pushed up against the wood and a large animal snout appeared just off to the side of where she was sitting. The animal’s jaws opened and a moment later a large swath of grass was pulled from the ground and disappeared from Flower’s view.

Immense crunching noises reverberated in the air around the terrified little girl, who had found herself too scared to even scream. She screwed her eyes shut and hoped the gargantuan beast would move away soon.

Instead, she felt a hot wind blow across her face.

Trembling violently, Flower opened her eyes to find herself looking right at the giant nose of a monstrous furry animal, who was contentedly chewing on the grass in front of where Flower sat.

The creature’s squashed jaws chewed noisily and Flower got a glimpse into its mouth every time it bent down to take another bit, revealing wide flat teeth and a disturbingly large throat. The animal itself was round, pudgy and squat, with short bristly grey fur and narrow yellow eyes.

Finally, Flower couldn’t take it anymore; she let out a terrified scream that made the animal back up. The beast shook his head in annoyance and decided to find somewhere quieter to eat. Much to Flower’s relief, it turned around and plodded away; the tremors the animal’s movements caused slowly growing smaller and smaller as it put more distance between itself and the small loud creature that had disturbed it.

*.*.*

“Any luck?”

The scout leaned over and placed his hands on his knees to catch his breath. After a moment to rest he stood up and turned to Drugar.

“Leader,” The scout shook his head. “We’ve scoured the surrounding forest, along with the Marises but so far we’ve had no luck. Of course, we’re also not really sure who we’re looking for either.”

“Don’t you know who you brought back from the shelter?” Luke asked incredulously.

Quendra frowned and turned towards her husband irritably. “We didn’t exactly have time to write a, what was it you called it? A demographic census of the people we were liberating, okay? We had only a few minutes to load up the humans and leave before the woman at the shelter had time to be suspicious about it.”

“Now is not the time to argue.” Drugar said, his voice projecting calm. “It will be dark in a few hours, we must find this lost person before that happens. The gatherers will soon be back from the orchard, go enlist their help as soon as they arrive.”

“Yes leader.” The scout said, before dashing off to carry out Drugar’s orders.

*.*.*

Flower was cold, hungry and scared. All around her the grass towered above her, casting frightening shadows. Every sound made her jump and she was really wishing she’d stayed with the group. Anything was better than being out alone in the wilderness.

She was crying freely but trying to stay as quiet as possible. She didn’t want to attract the attention of anymore of the giant animals.

In the distance, she could feel the dull thud of something large moving around, so she made herself as small as possible and hid deeper into the weeds. Whatever was out there, she was sure she didn’t want it to find her.

But the tremors were getting closer.

And closer.

Suddenly, just on the edge of her field of vision, Flower saw the weeds collapse as a giant shoe pressed down on them. Her heart hammered in her chest as the taller Titan pushed the rest of the way through the foliage and stopped just beyond where Flower was hiding.

The little girl swallowed her fear and decided that an angry Titan was better than another second outside by herself. She jumped from her hiding place and yelled, waving her hands to hopefully attract the Titan woman’s attention.

“I’m down here!” She shouted to the giant above her. “Help!”

Flower looked up and her eyes met the woman’s green ones. She was surprised to see that the Titan wasn’t angry, but she was smiling.

“I know you’re there.” She laughed softly. “You weren’t very well hidden from up here.”

Flower swallowed as her throat felt tight. “I’m… I’m sorry I ran away. Please don’t be angry.”

“I’m not angry, don’t worry.” The Titan whispered gently. “My name’s Aezhay. Do you mind if I kneel down?”

Flower felt confused. She’d never had a Titan ask her for anything and didn’t quite know how to respond.

“Okay…” Aezhay muttered. “I’ll take that as a yes. Hold still now.”

Flower watched apprehensively as the giant woman carefully lowered herself onto her knees. She still towered over the human girl, but she was somewhat less intimidating. Although not by much.

“What’s your name?” Aezhay asked gently.

“F-Flower.”

Aezhay snorted. “Shelter names.” She muttered, shaking her head. “Why did you run away from the rest of the humans?”

Despite herself, Flower began to calm down. She could sense no anger in the Titan’s words, rather a genuine concern. “I-I got scared. I didn’t know what was happening… Are you my owner?”

Aezhay was momentarily taken aback. She wouldn’t hesitate to tell an adult human that no, she wasn’t going to own them; but she wasn’t sure if a child would be upset by the idea of not getting an “owner.”

“I’d much rather be your friend, Flower.” She said after a moment to think about it. “Can I pick you up? It must be hard for you to look up at me like that.”

Flower stepped back as a giant hand was lowered in front of her. This, however, was much more familiar to the child. The shelter people had handled them this way too. She quickly climbed into the woman’s palm and sat in the center.

Aezhay dug her data pad out of her pocket and quickly sent an “all clear” message to her sisters, who would then spread the word to the rest of the tribe that the missing person had been found.

“What’s going to happen to me?” Flower asked in a tiny voice.

Aezhay did her best to keep her voice as comforting as possible. “I’m going to take you back to the village, and there the other humans will find you somewhere to stay. They’ll take care of you.”

“But…” Flower began but fell silent as Aezhay eased her way up onto her feet.

“There we go.” The farmgirl muttered to the human in her hand. “Let’s head back then, shall we?”

Aezhay took a few steps in the direction of the Tribe village but stopped short when she realized that Flower had begun shaking uncontrollably in her hand.

“Flower?” Aezhay peered at the tiny girl concernedly. “What’s wrong?”

“I d-don’t want to go to the village!” Flower whimpered.

“Why not?”

The young girl shook her head in frustration but couldn’t seem to find the words to articulate a response.

“Are you scared?” Aezhay asked gently.

Flower nodded.

“How come?” Aezhay asked. “Don’t you know any of the humans from the shelter?”

Flower shook her head.

Aezhay scratched the back of her head and let out a breath slowly. “Okay then. For now, why don’t I take you to my house, and we can figure out what to do from there? Does that sound okay?”

“Okay…” Flower sniffed.

“Are you hungry?” Aezhay asked, and chuckled when Flower nodded her head enthusiastically. “Okay then. We’ll get you something to eat and then…”

Aezhay sighed. “…And then I don’t really know.”

*.*.*

Aezhay sat at the kitchen table and watched as Flower took a bite out of a cracker piece that was the size of her own hand. Aezhay assumed by the pleased noises the little girl was making that she was enjoying it.

“What am I going to do with you, kiddo?” Aezhay muttered, resting her head on her folded arms and watching the tiny girl in front of her.

“I could stay here with you.” Flower said hopefully.

Aezhay sighed. “I don’t know if that would be a good idea, little one. You should really be with other humans.”

Flower’s expression dropped like a stone.

“Hey come on.” Aezhay chuckled sympathetically. “We can still be friends. So tell me, why are you scared of the village?”

“Because… there are no Titans there. Who is supposed to take care of us?”

“You take care of each other.” Aezhay explained. “As a group, you all look out for each other.”

Flower didn’t say anything, but she didn’t look convinced either.

“I have an idea.” Aezhay said soothingly. “How about I introduce you to a human friend of mine, that way you’ll know someone in the village and you won’t have to be all alone.”

Flower looked skeptical. “Just one person?”

“Yes.” Aezhay smiled. “Just one. For now.”

“Well… okay…”

“Great.” Aezhay dug her pad out of her pocket and called Lezah.

“Hey, can you do me a favor and ask if Molly will help me with something?”