“Hold still or I’m going to end up stitching us both together!”

 

Nick had one hand pressed firmly down on the stonemason’s leg and the other threading a needle through a rather nasty gash in the man’s calf. It was dangerous work, clearing away the debris that had been left over from Trell and Pryvani’s fight, but it had to be done.

 

The man winced as Nick pinched his wound and pushed the needle through. “I don’t understand why you need to do this? We jus’ wrap it up and it’s fine!”

 

“You could do that.” Nick paused for a second as he exchanged glances with his nurse opposite, silently telling her to apply more pressure to the leg as he prepared for the next pass of the needle. “But there’s a good chance the wound will get infected, turn gangrenous and then you’ll lose the leg. How are you with a pen? Can you write?”

 

“What’s that got to do with it?”

 

“Well I’ve never heard of a one legged stone mason. You could take up writing if you’ve got a flair for it.” Nick continued.

 

The stonemason grumbled something unintelligible which Nick took to mean “please carry on” though likely was a lot less polite with a considerable amount of swearing.

 

He’d taken over as the primary physician in Atlantis since Brinn’s departure. He never thought he’d ever end up being a doctor. Of course he wasn’t qualified medical doctor but around these parts he was as close to as they could get. Much to Nick’s disappointment this also meant when he entered a room with a flamboyant “Hiiiii everybody!” he was usually met with a wall of blank stares.

 

Despite his lack of formal qualifications he was getting a knack for the work. Stitching, infections, flu were all second nature to him now. He’d worked with the local healers to get an idea of the common ailments and work out cures other than passing the sick person under the hind legs of a donkey. They’d resisted at first but once he started getting results they quickly started to follow his ways. It had been a few weeks since Zara installed herself as defacto dictator of Atlantis. There had been a few grumblings from the upper echelons of society but mostly the city was quiet. People were either happy with a full belly and a silver coin for a day’s work clearing away rubble or were just too afraid to demand a woman, taller than the city walls, leave their city.

 

Nick finished up the stitching and sent the stonemason on his way with advice to rest up, monitor the leg and come back if it started to smell or fester. Nick doubted he’d do any of those things. He was just about to start helping Adara, his nurse, disinfect his makeshift, open air surgery, when the ground started to tremble.

 

“She’s late today.” Adara said cheerfully wiping down the plastic bed surface with disinfectant Nick had obtained from Zara.

 

“Probably been asleep.” Nick replied to Adara and turned up to face the rather weary looking Zara. “Good morning…or evening…or whatever time it is in your sleep cycle.”

 

Zara rolled her eyes. “Eugh…don’t get me started. I can’t sleep for more than fourteen hours at a time! I don’t know how you Humans do it. I can’t remember the last time when I got my full twenty six hours.”

 

“Go get a double sized pile of food, leave it in the square and go take a full length sleep.” Nick said in a mildly condescending tone remarkably similar to any Titan doctor who’d ever spoken to her. She thought they learned that in med school. Clearly not.

 

“No time…” Zara said before she was interrupted.

 

“Doctor’s orders.” Nick said firmly.

 

Zara contemplated arguing with him but she knew he was right. It was hard work trying to keep the city going. The Watch were nearly finished training their first batch of recruits, the jobless were busy clearing away rubble and setting up makeshift, wooden homes for the homeless. The Guilds were giving her no end of earache. “We’ve got no supplies to make goods” or “No one is buying our bread because of you” or even “You’re paying people too much”. They were the least of her concerns but they were still a concern. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too much longer until the Watch was fit again and could regain control of the surrounding land.

 

“Here you are Doctor…” Adara said passing Nick a leather wrapped case of scalpels, interrupting Zara’s train of thought.

 

She smiled as she watched the little nurse scurry about her business. She looked familiar, pale skin, red hear and green eyes. She had a rather round face with light freckling. And her scrubs looked like they were a bit tight around the chest. Then it hit her, the nurse was an almost perfect little Brinn.

 

“So, Adara is it? How did you get the job of nurse for Nick?” Zara sounded as innocent as she could.

 

Adara stopped what she was doing and shifted nervously. She’d spent her whole lift in Atlantis and was raised worshipping “The Goddess”. When Taron and Zara turned up she was quite taken with Taron and had joined his worshippers. It was all quite embarrassing really, given how tiny she was to him. But he was a very pretty man. And now here was his girlfriend, in a much better position to compete for his affections than her, asking her how she got a job scrubbing blood and cleaning vomit.

 

“I’m not sure really. It pays well and I know there were many other people to choose from. Why did you choose me Doctor?” Adara replied nervously.

 

Zara smirked a little. She still couldn’t get over the idea of Nick being referred to as “doctor”.

 

“I just thought you were the best candidate. Call it…a gut feeling.” Nick said.

 

“And it has nothing to do with her being a Human version of Brinn?” Zara pounced.

 

Nick’s face became a picture of horror. “What!? No! She looks nothing like Brinn!”

 

“Apart from the height difference they’re near identical!” Zara rolled her eyes. She didn’t know if he was playing stupid or if he really was that oblivious.

 

Adara was getting somewhat nervous. She didn’t like being talked about this way but she was unsure how to go about mentioning this to her boss and someone capable of killing her in a heartbeat. She looked back and forth between the pair as they continued to bicker.

 

“I’m sorry Adara.” Zara said noticing how quiet the nurse had gotten. “It’s just you look identical to my good friend Brinn, she’s sort of Nick’s girlfriend.”

 

“You didn’t say you had a girlfriend.” Adara seized the opportunity to turn the discussion away from her. They’d spent a lot of time talking and getting to know each other as they’d worked and not once had Nick mentioned a girlfriend.

 

“Well, she’s not my girlfriend as such…” Nick started.

 

“Don’t let her hear you say that!” Zara giggled.

 

“…she…bought me at one point and owned me and I let her…I didn’t fight. It was a low point in my life and…”

 

“Your girlfriend is a Titan!?” Adara gasped, apparently shocked. Truth was she’d seen how sad he looked and decided to move him on to another topic.

 

He smiled. “Yes. She is.”

 

“And she looks like me?”

 

Zara pulled out her pad and pulled up a picture of Brinn. Adara’s face lit up and she squealed excited.

 

“We could be sisters!” She said. “Wow, I wonder if we could swap places for a day? That’d be nice to see what it’s like to be giant.”

 

“I’m not sure if that’s possible yet.” Zara smiled as she swiped her pad, showing Adara more and more pictures of Brinn as Nick got redder and redder with embarrassment.

 

“Awwww. You must really miss her if you hired me without realising.” Adara said sweetly.

 

Nick nodded. “I do.”

 

Adara hugged him and gave him a peck on the cheek. “Well I won’t tell her if you don’t want me to.”

 

“Oh I’m going to tell her right now!” Zara grinned.

 

“No, you’re going to bed!” Nick ordered again.

 

“Damn…right. Well, off I go to bed. See you tomorrow…or later. I dunno.” Zara stood up.

 

“Bye Zara, nice to meet you!” Adara smiled.

 

“Viva El Presidenté!” Nick saluted as Zara walked away.

 

Nick picked up a pad and started to make notes on the stonemason’s treatment.

 

“Hey Brinn! You’ll never guess who I’ve just seen with Nick!” He heard Zara say off in the distance.

 

“Fuck…” he grumbled.

 

 

****

 

“So no armour then?” A Guard armed with a sword as tall as he was asked.

 

“No.” Lysis shook her head and turned to address the assembled men. She was stood in front of a large map of the surrounding countryside. “This isn’t a kill job, it’s a capture. You can’t chase a man down while clad head to toe in steel. We want to reason with them, see if we can’t get the roads open again.”

 

“Why can’t the bigjob do it?” Another man called from the back.

 

Lysis shook her head. “It’s an ambush. How in the name of the fourteen rings is she supposed to sneak up on any one!?”

 

There were some grumblings. These men were the older, more experienced Guards. They were used to fighting but the bandits fought dirty. They hid in the trees, used bows and laid down traps. Going in without their armour just seemed stupid.

 

“I could help out at least.” Zara said from her position at the back of the courtyard. “How far away is the ambush point?”

 

“About an hour’s ride.” Lysis responded.

 

“And I can out run a horse a few times over. I could hide back a bit, run up and cover the river. I’d be useless in the forest, probably just step on people. But I could snatch up any I saw from the river.” Zara said causing many a cheerful nod from the Guards.

 

Lysis examined her map for a seconds. “Ok then. You hang back here.” Lysis pointed to a small cops not far out of Atlantis. “I’ll signal you when the attack begins.”

 

“Ok. Sounds good.”  Zara said then started to feel distinctly nervous. She’d just volunteered to go into combat. She wasn’t a soldier. She didn’t know the first thing about fighting. She doubted they could hurt her but it’d be very easy for her to hurt them. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she killed someone.

 

“Zara, you listening?” Lysis called impatiently. Zara realised her mind must have wandered off.

 

“Yes, sorry.” She shook her head to clear the haze.

 

“I’d like you to go out to Akrotiri and offer an amnesty to all bandits. Tell them we’re back to our full strength and we’re going to start sending caravans out again. If they let them pass we’ll help support them. If they attack them, then we’ll come for them.” Lysis ordered.

 

Zara nodded. “Yup, I can do that.”

 

“Good. Hang around for a while, talk to any emissaries they send and report back.” Lysis added.

 

“Good idea. I’ll be back in a few hours.” Zara said getting up.

 

 

****

 

“Order!”

 

A banging of a gavel could be heard above the din.

 

“Order I say!” Mardell shouted and the noise started to quieten as the guild representatives settled down.

 

“Asher, you may continue.” Mardell said taking his seat.

 

An old man rose, white haired and red faced. He was covered head to toe in dust. He cleared his throat before speaking. “Ahem. As I was trying to say. The stonemason’s guild understands these are trying times for some of our brothers. But try to understand, people need to eat. This Titan has done her very best to help us. We should give her more time…”

 

“Time so you can line your pockets while the rest of us go bankrupt!” Someone shouted from the back.

 

“You have work! You’re happy! No one has bought anything from my shop in weeks!” Another said.

 

Mardell rose once more. “Gentlemen, gentlemen…please keep calm. We will not solve our problems by bickering. We must be as one.”

 

“That’s no use to my empty purse!” A heckler called.

 

Mardell nodded calmly. These men were worried. They had a right to be. Some of the businesses here went back as far as the founding. There was more than just livelihoods at stake, but history. And the future of course. “No, it’s not any use. I too find my shop is empty as of late. I am a baker, and the Titan brings free bread. I can’t compete with that.”

 

There was a chorus of agreement.

 

“And the Captain of the Watch supports her. She have men at arms and weapons. I have apprentices and ovens. I cannot fight her.”

 

Another cry went up.

 

“But we have been promised, this crisis will soon pass. The Watch readies its swords and prepares to take back the land around the city. Once this is done and the carts flow into Atlantis once more, we can get back to work. The free bread will stop, the Titan will leave and this council of guild leaders will take its rightful place as leaders of this city.”

 

“Hear, hear!” Rang out from the assembled men.

 

“We will make this city great once again.”

 

Another round of hear hears were shouted.

 

A man stood, a representative of the smiths. “And what if she doesn’t leave?”

 

Mardell looked steely eyed around the room. The men were tense, his speech had stirred them, but the nagging doubts still remained.

 

“Let me make this perfectly clear.” Mardell leaned forward and pointed a finger. “Either she leaves. Or we do.”

 

****

 

Zara stood tall in a field just outside the village of Akrotiri, well known as bandit country. She felt quite silly. There was not a person to be seen and yet here she was about to make a very important announcement. She didn’t feel like she had the authority or the mandate to making demands or giving orders but here she was, by the virtue of being the biggest person around, about to make a decree.

 

“I come on behalf of the city of Atlantis! They are healing, they are getting stronger and they are ready to start trading again. They will start sending carts back to the towns and villages to trade. These cart will NOT be attacked. If you do attack them then Atlantis will come for you and bring you to justice. If we can work together, trade in peace then Atlantis and the Titans on this world will help you. We’ll make sure you have food, warmth, medicine. Anything you could need. All we ask is peace…”

 

Zara paused, waited and watched. Nothing. No movement.

 

“If you would like to send an emissary to discuss anything with me, please do so. I promise I won’t hurt anyone.” She said.

 

And she waited.