“Vasha Zakrov, do you understand why you’re here?”

The young heiress narrowed her reddish eyes contemptuously. “No doubt because of some trumped up charges that my lawyers will rip apart in court, making you insufferable Imperators look foolish in the process.”

Vanser let out a chuckle. “Of course they will. No, what I mean is, do you understand why you’re in this position in the first place?”

Vanser sat down in the chair across from Vasha, and faced her. “You made an enemy, you see. An enemy of one of the most dangerous people I’ve ever known. And I bet you have no idea you even did it.”

“What are you babbling about?” Vasha sneered.

Vanser shook his head and turned his datapad towards her. “Do you recognize this woman?”

“I should think so. I roomed with Pryvani Tarsuss in college, you know. What, she’s mad about my testimony in the trial?”

Vanser laughed. “No, no. Not Lady Tarsuss. Though she’s not exactly a fan of yours either. I mean the woman beside her.”

Vasha peered at the braid-haired Jotunn woman in the photograph. For a second, she didn’t recognize her – but she’d been trying to remember ever socializing with a Jotunn. She tried to avoid it if at all possible.

“Oh, right. Pryvani’s bodyguard. Um…something Tam. The Hoplite.”

“Magister-Imperator Rixie Tam.” Vanser snapped. “She’s the head of security for the Tarsuss Corporation now. And yes, she protects Lady Tarsuss as part of those duties.”

“Right, sure.” Vasha yawned. “Now I can place her. Why am I supposed to care, again?”

“Because a few weeks ago you personally harmed someone very close to her, Ms. Zakrov. And that, that was your first mistake.”

Vasha blinked. Harmed someone close to Rixie Tam? She’d barely met her. She was just a wall of meat, the kind of security guard rich people favored. Vasha tried to remember when she’d last seen the Jotunn. It had been….

“The human?” She snapped. “She did this…over a human?”

“Yes.” Vanser’s stare was hard as steel. “Everything you’ve ever worked for, everything you own, everything you are, is about to be taken from you. You are about to spend a very, very long time imprisoned… and all because of a human.”

“This is insane.” Vasha hissed.

“I believe he tried to warn you.” Vanser interrupted. “He told you that she cared for him, didn’t he? That she’d come for him? And you threw him in the garbage. You told him he was worthless, didn’t you? But he survived, Zakrov. And Rixie Tam came for him, just like he said. Do you know how much that human was worth? Do you have any idea?”

Zakrov shook her head. “He’s a human. Maybe a few hundred credits….”

Vanser laughed. “You don’t get it, do you? He was worth everything. Every credit you have, every property you own, your home, your friends, your power, your freedom – every last bit of it. You think about that, Ms. Zakrov. You think about that for a long, long time.”

*.*.*.*

Zhan took a deep breath and reclined against Pryvani’s fingers, which at the moment were curled just a hair too tightly around him. He wasn’t terribly surprised by this, judging from the pulse he could feel pounding in his ear as he laid his head on her wrist, she was feeling a bit nervous.

For the most part, Zhan was too.

He shifted and watched through the gaps between her fingers as they traveled down the hall at the speed of Titan, nearing the central living area of Pryvani’s New Trantor apartment. He swallowed and took a deep breath as they neared their destination: a small table where a five-year-old-girl was coloring absentmindedly and quietly singing to herself.

“Thyllia?” Pryvani’s voice seemed to come from all around Zhan, as she raised the hand that held him to her chest.

Instantly, the young girl sat up straight and looked over her shoulder, an expression of guilt painted on her face.

“Y-yes?” Thyllia’s voice quivered slightly, as if expecting a rebuke. Zhan bit his lip and shook his head, saddened at the thought of the treatment she must have endured to create such an automatic response.

“I… I wanted to introduce you to someone.” Pryvani said, hesitantly.

Zhan watched as Thyllia looked around in confusion, obviously trying to spot the person Pryvani was referring to. He chuckled and caught Pryvani’s smirk out of the corner of her eye, amusement at her little sister cutting some of the tension at least.

Zhan felt himself being lowered to the table. The cocoon of Pryvani’s fingers retreated and he found himself standing under the curious gaze of the titanic young girl.

Thyllia blinked and regarded him curiously, and Zhan was prepared for almost any reaction.

“Thyllia, this is Zhan.” Pryvani said, causing Thyllia to look up at her suddenly. “He’s a very good friend of mine.”

“Hello Zhan.” Thyllia whispered, and smiled shyly.

Zhan felt a little of the tension leave his body. “Hello Thyllia.” He said, his face splitting into a grin. “I’m very glad to meet you.”

Behind him, he heard Pryvani let out the breath she’d been holding. There was a thunderous scraping noise as she pulled out the chair behind him and sat into it. A moment later, her arms appeared on either side of him.

“Have you ever met a human, Thyllia?” Pryvani asked gently.

The little girl shook her head. “Mama didn’t really like humans much.” She muttered quietly. “She said they were…” Her sentence trailed off, but neither of them really needed her to finish it. They were both well aware of Syon Fand’s opinions on humans.

“Well, my dear, I can tell you right now that whatever our mother said about humans was very very wrong.” Pryvani said, gently grasping Thyllia’s hand in her own. “And I hope that you and Zhan will be friends.”

“Really?” Thyllia’s eye grew large and she looked down at him in wonder.

“Definitely.” Zhan said with a grin. Then, he noticed the piece of paper at his feet, covered in multi-colored doodles. “What are you drawing?”

“Oh,” Thyllia muttered self-consciously. “Nothing…”

“No come on,” Zhan persisted. “I’d really like to know.”

Thyllia fidgeted with her hands in her lap. “I was drawing a picture of me and Pryvani…” Now that he was able to take a second look at it, he could recognize the figures of the two titan girls. The shorter figure had curly brown hair and the taller sporting a long, multicolored mane and a sparkly dress.

“My dear, I think it looks lovely.” Pryvani complimented, which made a slight blush appear on Thyllia’s cheeks. “It looks just like us.”

“Yes it does.” Zhan agreed, walking around the picture.

“Wait, it’s not done.” Thyllia said suddenly, snatching up her colored pens so enthusiastically that Zhan hastily backed away lest he be bowled over in her rush to finish. He glanced over at Pryvani and shook his head bemusedly, she smiled softly and winked.

Thyllia quickly went back to drawing. In a few moments she had drawn another figure, this one about knee high to the Thyllia drawing and whose head sported a mop of blonde hair.

“Oh…” Zhan cleared his throat. “And who is that?”

“It’s you, silly.” Thyllia giggled.

And Zhan, who suddenly found it very hard to speak, could only smile up at her in reply.

*.*.*.*

“Don’t look so nervous, my dear.” Pryvani smiled at the young woman who sat in the couch across from her. “You’re not in trouble. Indeed, the fact of the matter is I owe you quite a bit.”

“Oh well…” Renna folded her hands in her lap and shifted on the leather upholstery, causing it to squeak audibly. “I just wanted to help Sam. I wasn’t doing it to… put anybody in my debt or anything.”

Pryvani smiled and sipped from her cup of tea, while Renna’s sat untouched. “An admirable thing. Nevertheless, your actions helped me out a lot as well, and I’d like to return the favor.”

Renna shrugged and smiled.

“To start with, your debt with my mother’s company… which I suppose is now my sister’s company… has been completely wiped clean, and on top of that I’m authorizing the reimbursement of every credit you spent trying to pay it back.”

Renna’s eyes widened. “Oh well, that’s very generous.”

“It really isn’t.” Pryvani shook her head with a sigh. “The terms of that loan were certainly unethical, and barely legal- or so my advisors tell me. I only regret I can’t repay the time and anguish it must have cost you.”

“Th-thank you.” Renna sighed, suddenly feeling as if a massive weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

Pryvani smiled serenely. “Miss Tolemtra-”

“Oh please, call me Renna.”

“Renna then. Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?”

“I suppose that would depend on exactly how personal.” The young waitress replied with a blush.

Pryvani laughed. “Not quite that personal. No, I just wanted to ask what you would like to do with your life?”

Renna blinked. She suddenly had the distinct impression that she was at a crossroads moment in her life, and whatever she said in the next minute would change what happened to her from that point on.

“I don’t… I’m not sure.”

The heiress smiled sympathetically. “I’m sorry. It’s a big question. What do you enjoy doing, Renna? Now that you don’t have to worry about that ridiculous loan, what kind of career interests you?”

“I… I mean I do like working in the hotel. And some days I even like working in the restaurant. There are bad days, of course, but…”

“Do you perhaps see yourself as a manager someday?” Pryvani probed.

“I…” Renna paused to consider. She never really expected her life to amount to much, so the idea that she might actually be successful at something was rather new to her. “…yes… I do think I would enjoy that.”

Pryvani nodded. “Okay. Renna, I would like to arrange for you to attend a University. Any one you like, believe me I can see to it that you get accepted. And of course you may choose whatever area of study interests you, but might I suggest something in the Hospitality or Business Management fields?”

Renna’s eyes widened and her heart pounded. “You want to send me to school? Me?”

“I do.” The other woman smiled. “I see a lot of potential in you, my dear, and it’s a shame it’s gone to waste so far.”

“Oh… thank you.” Renna whispered.

“Of course, it’s not entirely altruistic on my part.” Pryvani chuckled. “My sister will one day inherit my mother’s entertainment business. I’d like for there to be competent people available to help her, when she’s ready.”

Renna blinked. “This is… wow… I mean…”

“There is one condition, however.” Pryvani’s expression became serious and she leaned forward.

“Anything.”

“In addition to helping you enter a school, I will also be paying for therapy for your gambling problem. The first is conditioned on successful completion of the second, do you understand?”

Renna nodded. “I do. Thank you, so much.”

“Not at all, my dear.” Pryvani smiled, taking another sip of her tea. “As I said before, I owe you quite the debt.”

*.*.*.*

“I’m very pleased to finally be meeting you, Mr. Rodriguez.”

Sam looked across the gulf that separated him from his host. He was seated on a very comfortable chair, which was situated on a platform that left him at eye level with the intriguing woman who’d brought him there.

“I could definitely say the same thing, uh, Miss Tarsuss.” Sam muttered

“Call me Pryvani, dear.” The young titan woman smiled and raised her glass to her lips for sip. “Miss Tarsuss makes me feel old.”

“Okay.” Sam said with a shrug. “But in that case, Mr. Rodriguez makes me feel like my father.”

“Fair enough, Sam. Now, as to why you are here, I wish to try and make amends for what my… mother…” She seemed to spit the word like an invective “…has put you through.”

“Syon Fand was your mother?” Sam sat up straighter and stared across the gulf at Pryvani, trying to find some hint of the cruel woman who’d tormented him for months.

“Genetically, yes, I’m afraid so. And because of that, I feel it is up to me to do something to help you.”

Sam’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do, of course. Not to mention the fact that I owe you an incredible debt after the great risk you took with Vasha Zakrov. You helped obtain the evidence I needed to put my mother in prison for many, many years.”

Sam blinked. He was still having trouble processing that this titan, who treated him as much like an equal as possible considering the circumstances, was the flesh and blood of… that monster.

“Well, uh, what did you have in mind?” Sam asked.

“Have you put into any thought of what you’d like to do with the rest of your life, now that you have one again?” Pryvani asked, idly tapping her nails on the surface in front of her.

“I suppose going back to Earth is out of the question?” Sam asked archly.

Pryvani shook her head sadly. “If it were within my power, I wouldn’t hesitate. Unfortunately some things are beyond even my reach.”

Sam nodded. “I figured as much. I’m not sure what good I would be out here then, near as I can tell most humans can’t get jobs. Of course, the only thing I was ever good at was making movies … well, that and punching people…”

Pryvani’s eyes lit up.

“Now there’s a thought. Sam, I do believe I have a proposition for you…”

*.*.*

Sam gripped the stock of his gun tightly in his hands. He looked around at the dune covered landscape, cautious but alert to any sign of movement. Around him, the other men had fanned out, each just as alert as he himself was. Sam kept his ears pricked for any sign of movement.

“Where is she?” The man on his left muttered tensely. “She’s supposed to be here!”

“Easy!” Sam barked. “Don’t go wettin’ yerself Wolfbait.”

Sam narrowed his eyes. “All right twerp…” He muttered to himself. “Jes’ where do you think you’re gonna go?”

“Maybe we should call it in?” Another of Sam’s men asked, whispering quietly.

“Not gonna happen.”

“But-“

“I said no!”

The ground underneath them all shook violently, and Sam and the rest of the men were thrown from their feet. Around them, the dunes exploded. Sand flew everywhere and the air was filled with cries of surprise and alarm.

Sam felt himself rising into the air, something soft yet unyielding underneath his feet.

“Ah hell.” He muttered.

“RAWR!”

Suddenly he found himself cascading down a hill of sand, as if a new dune had decided to spontaneously form underneath him. “Fucking hell!” He grumbled as he tried to keep his balance.

“Gorram it!” A voice suddenly yelled. “HALT SCENE!”

“Slag it all, Jantry.” A voice rumbled through Sam’s ears, seeming to come from all around him at once. “Just what exactly was wrong with that take?”

“What was wrong with it? Oh nothing, just the fact you completely JUMPED YOUR CUE!”

“I did not!” The Titan woman who had burst from the sand underneath Sam grumbled, even as she rose to her feet and dusted herself off. “And even if I did, how exactly am I supposed to know when the humans have gotten past me when I’m completely buried in sand!?”

Sam rolled his eyes and brushed the sand from his clothes, watching his towering costar and director warily in case they weren’t watching where they were walking. The other human actors hastily backed away, but Sam wasn’t overly concerned. He knew Pryvani would never allow someone careless with human life to work in her studio.

Still, watching beings the size of buildings yelling at each other always rattled him a little.

“Gee, I don’t know.” The director yelled back at Xventa Marr, his costar. “Why don’t you ask Eyrn how SHE managed to do it?”

“Oh! You’re impossible, Jantry Pell. IMPOSSIBLE! I’m taking a break. I need to get a drink of water and freshen up.”

“Fine. You do that.” Jantry sighed, as he watched the young woman storm away. “In fact, I think that’s a good idea. Everybody take a break, we’ll get back to it in a few minutes.”

Sam set his gun on a tray the prop master set on the ground and wandered away to find something to eat. One of the benefits of working for an Archavian studio… there was always plenty of food service.

He was lost in thought of a jamalt the size of a Buick when he suddenly tripped over something.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!” Sam heard a sharp feminine voice snap as he caught himself on the wall to stop from tumbling over.

Blinking in confusion, he looked down to see a pair of human legs sticking out of a hatch in one of the floor lights. A moment later the rest of the person’s body wiggled free and Sam found himself looking down on a young woman with curly dark hair who quickly pulled herself to her feet with a huff.

“What were you tryin’ to do?” She snapped. “Break my ankle?”

Sam blinked. “I… sorry… I guess I didn’t see you there.”

The woman looked him up and down and turned away with a derisive snort. “I should hope not, otherwise you’da had done it on purpose!”

“I… I guess?”

“Yeah well, I got another six of these things that need to be calibrated proper like before they get to the abduction scene, so I ain’t got the time to be yakking with you.”

And with that she turned and walked away, hoisting a bag of tools onto her shoulder.

“Oh don’t mind her.” A voice suddenly spoke up, causing Sam to jump in surprise. He quickly looked for the source of the voice, but didn’t find any.

“Up here, silly!” The cheerful voice informed him. Cautiously, Sam raised his chin up until he found himself looking into a pair of enormous golden eyes, which were situated into a giant smiling face, which was hanging upside down above him… about thirty feet in the air.

Sam’s eyes widened as he beheld the redheaded titan hanging suspended upside down from a wire attached to a harness around her waist.

“There you go!” The giant woman giggled. “Anyway, like I said… don’t mind Shaar… she can be a bit blunt sometimes, but she means well.”

“I… um… you…” Sam muttered, confused, as he watched the woman sway gently back and forth.

“Your line is ‘who are you, and why are you hanging from the ceiling?’” She informed him with a grin.

“Why… why are you up there anyway?” Sam quickly backed out from underneath shadow of the giant face.

“Close enough. I’m Myona, I was working on a few of the projectors up here. Some of them are a little tricky to get to from the roofwalks, so I got my harness out.” Myona explained, lightly tugging on the line until she began to sway back and forth slightly.

“I see.” Sam muttered. “And you’re hanging upside down because…?”

“Well, I didn’t want to accidentally frighten you if you happened to look up. I imagine seeing the soles of big titan boots coming down on you would be a little nerve wracking for a human.”

Sam nodded. “You’d probably be right.”

Myona’s grin widened. “Well, anyway, I suppose I’d better get back to work. They’ll probably resume shooting soon, nice to meet you Sam.” Myona reached up to her harness and clicked a button. With a soft whirr, her harness zipped her back up on the line.

Sam watched her ascension in bemusement. A moment after she disappeared back into the rafters, he heard the ringing sound that was meant to call them back to the set.

“Didn’t even get my humongous pastry.” He muttered with a sigh, even as he began to jog back to the set.

Sam looked about the enormous studio, still somewhat disbelieving that any of this was really happening to him. He kept waiting to wake up and find himself back in his L. A. Home… or worse, back in Syon Fand’s cage.

But, all in all, it wasn’t a bad life. Sure he’d had to do a few… less than glamorous roles playing a ‘human sidekick’ but he’d been able to see the big picture. Pryvani, and her studio, were priming the audience to accept a human in a starring role, and it had all been leading up to this film, this part, this story.

This was, perhaps, the most important role he’d ever been asked to play.

And, frankly, the titans he worked with were no worse than some of the costars or directors he’d been forced to deal with back on Earth… their egos certainly weren’t any bigger, at any rate.

Everybody knew that he had Pryvani’s ear, so if there was any funny business, she’d be the one handling the situation… personally. That helped to stem a majority of the attitude, which he was grateful for.

After a few minutes of walking, (during which no other titans descended on him from the sky,) a sensible looking brown leather loafer appeared in front of him.

“Oh good, there you are!”

Sam’s eyes traveled up the trouser clad leg and over the sensibly covered torso to the slightly panicked brown eyes and frazzled blonde hair of Neely Oden, his personal assistant.

Although, sometimes she felt more like a wrangler.

“I heard the bell, I’m coming, don’t worry Neely.” Sam smiled up at her. He couldn’t really blame her, she knew that if anything happened to Sam… Pryvani wouldn’t be happy about it. He supposed her being a tad over protective was better than negligent. And she was a nice enough girl, once she calmed down.

“Yes well.” Neely muttered, as she bent down to pick him up. “I can get you there a bit faster.”

“And I’m very grateful to you.” Sam told her with a grin.

Neely rolled her eyes, but he could tell she was placated nonetheless. “That reminds me, you got another letter from Renna.”

“Did I?” Sam asked brightly.

“Yes, and you can read it when shooting is done, not before!” Neely admonished.

“Yes master.” Sam grumbled, but bit his tongue when he saw the hurt look in her eyes. He knew she didn’t think of him that way.

“Sorry.” He amended. “Thanks for checking up on me.”

“Someone has to.” She responded wryly, bringing him back to the director and setting him down on the floor of the set.

“Ah, Sam… good. You’re here.” The director greeted him and Sam acknowledged him with a wave as he jogged back to his mark, picking up his prop gun again.  “Okay, everybody in place? Xventa’s all ready? Good. Good.  Right… cue scene…”

“Exile: The Eyrn Fitzgerald Story Scene 16…”

“Annnnd…. Start scene!”

Sam hefted his gun and walked along the dune, looking around himself warily. “Keep yer eyes sharp men, she’s bound t’be around here somewheres…”

The ground underneath him began to shake.

“XVENTA ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!”

Roll Credits.