“Hey little guy…don’t be scared…I’m not going to hurt you.” Aisell said in a soft voice.

Luke didn’t move. He didn’t speak. He felt like a rabbit in headlights under her gaze. He’d been spotted by other giants before and he’d always reacted quickly and gotten out of there. He didn’t know if he wanted to give in to her kindness or if it was just her beauty that unnerved him but either way he found himself unable to move from the spot. Aisell reached her hand out, even though she was far away it still alarmed Luke. He spotted some things in her hand.

“I’ve some more berries here if you want them…” Aisell said gesturing to the red coloured fruit in her palm.

Luke eyed the delicious looking fruit tempted by her offer, his gaze drifted to the greasy meat and now rather sickly looking vegetable in his hand. He would much rather have the fruit but he couldn’t risk going too far from his hideaway. He got to his feet and grabbed the one piece of fruit he did have on top of the pile and rolled it towards the grate. He then started to gather up some of the healthier looking vegetables causing Aisell’s hopeful smile to fade away.

There was a gentle thud to Luke’s left and his head snapped round to attention. On the ground, a few feet away was a red mosaberry. There was a red blur and then a thud as another berry landed nearby. Luke looked over to Aisell who was smiling sweetly at him again.

“Here, you can have them.” Aisell said “Can you just sit down and listen to me for a few minutes? I promise I won’t keep you long, I do have my work to do.”

Luke mulled over what she said and decided she was far enough away that he could risk sitting. She had been very kind to him already and he at least owed her that. He slowly sat down on the floor, arching his legs out to the side. He looked up to Aisell, a broad smile drew across her face.

“So you can understand me?” she asked.

Luke a very brief nod that the distant Titaness could just about make out.

Thud, thud, thud, Luke heard as Aisell carefully threw the remaining three berries towards him. Luke found himself reminded of a time a few years back when he had found a little lost kitten hiding under his car, refusing to come out. He tried talking to, trying to gain its trust and coax it out. He too had tried offering little scraps of food but he was never able to gain the kitten’s trust. He remembered feeling quite sad and frustrated at the time. The poor thing was dirty and scrawny and looked like it needed someone to look after it. For some reason no matter what he did it remained very afraid of him. The irony of his current predicament was not lost on him.

“I don’t know if you heard but my name is Aisell…do you have a name little guy?” Aisell’s tone was quite chipper. She was pleased to be making some progress. The Human just sat and watched her like he was a tupp watching a shaar, she was going to have to work a bit harder.

“Ok well you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I hope you won’t mind if I just sit here and talk for a while? I’ve been here for about a month now and I don’t really know anyone. I’m just doing this job to pay for my ticket home. Most of the people here are older or soldier types, not overly interested with a girl like me who’s just passing through so I don’t really have anyone to talk to. I like Human’s though. You guys are friendly and great listeners…” Aisell started to ramble on about herself. She talked about her travels and what she wanted to do when she finally got home.

Luke listened as best he could. Usually a pretty girl would have no problem holding his attention but Aisell wasn’t the usual pretty girl you met in a bar. Unless it was inside an arena he doubted she could even get near a bar. Was she even over twenty one? He found his mind starting to wander as she talked about “The Empire” and “Colony Worlds”. It sounded like there was life out in the Universe after all, and lots of it too. He quickly came to the conclusion that since she referred to him as a Human that she must be some sort of Alien and not a giant Human. He’d seen other types around, giant nasty looking insects and lizard type people. They scared the bejesus out of him. That would explain the fascination with things from Earth that some people round here seemed to have.

Luke continued to sit and listen to Aisell talk for at least an hour. She had pulled her long, blonde hair together into a pony tail and was holding it over her left shoulder, stroking it. She rambled on about events from her travels and her life back home. Her voice changed in pitch frequently with excitement or sadness depending on the topic but always remained distinctly sweet sounding. She would often ask a question, leave it to hang for a second and then answer it herself. They seemed to have things in common. She was far from her home, alone and desperate to get home and back to her old life. Luke actually felt like chiming in a few times but each time he opened his mouth to speak Aisell continued to ramble on. Luke didn’t mind too much, he liked listening to her speak. He felt a bit more like a person again rather than a rodent scurrying around on the floor.

“Right little fella I’ve got to get back to work. If I don’t finish then I won’t get paid.” Aisell said standing up.

Luke shot to his feet wary of the towering woman. “Don’t look so nervous…still don’t trust me yet?”

Aisell waited for his reply but the tiny figure simply started to gather up the bits of fruit Aisell had tossed over to him.

“I could help you with that if you like…it’d only take a second for me to carry as much food as you like.” Aisell asked hopefully.

Luke looked up at her and looked into her light blue eyes. He shook his head from side to side a few times before carrying on.

“Well ok little fella. I’m only here for five more days so you really should take advantage of me while you can.” Aisell started to collect her own things.

Luke finished dropping his food into the grate and readied himself to drop down to his hideaway. He took one last look at the pretty blonde and bit his lip.

“Luke…” he called up to her. “My name is Luke. I hate ‘Little Fella’.”

Aisell laughed and watched the little man disappear into the floor. “Ok Luke! Bye!”

Luke examined his haul as he heard the distinct whine of Aisell’s cleaning device in the background. He had plenty of meat, some decent looking vegetables and plenty of berries. There was more than enough to do him until the market closed again. Probably too much, he would need to throw some out before it went rancid.

He leaned back against the metal bulkhead and sighed. “Five days…so about fifteen more sleeps.” He muttered to himself. Then he’d be back to square one, having to skulk about dodging a lumbering cleaner wielding a deadly device. Maybe he should ask Aisell for her help. She seemed nice enough. More than nice even, generous, caring and kind. It didn’t seem like an act she was putting on to trick him. She had talked and talked for over an hour, pretty much without taking a breath. If she had evil machinations planned for him then surely she would be less chatty. Unless her intention was to talk him to death.

“No…no help. I’m a self-sufficient man. I don’t need one of these people to survive. I can do this by myself. I can find a way home…” Luke whispered through gritted teeth.

Luke woke up and sprang out of bed without hesitation. He never usually had a reason to get up so quickly. He’d gotten used to being by himself and underground most of the time that normally it didn’t matter. But after spending an hour with Aisell the other night he’d found himself unable to keep his mind occupied. He kept finding himself running over the rather one sided conversation in his mind over and over again. He took apart every little detail in his mind. She sounded a lot like any of the gap year students he would meet back home. He found the similarities between the giant aliens and his own species quite fascinating.

Luke quickly splashed water on his face and pulled on his rag shirt and rushed out the door without listening for who was above. He pulled his now less wiry frame up to towards the grate and poked his head out to take a look around. There was no pile of food set up as there had been the last time he ventured out. Happy it was safe he pulled himself up and looked down the aisle. His attention was quickly drawn to two things, Aisell kneeling down about 200 metres away at half way down the aisle and half way in between, another pile of food.

“Oh joy…” Luke muttered at the dilemma Aisell had presented him with. Either he starved for the next three sleeps or he took his chances and approached her. He saw Aisell perk up as she spotted him.

“Hey Luke…I know what you’re thinking already…” she said.

Luke contemplated some sort of witty retort but realised he was probably too far away for her to hear him.

“I promise I want you to know you have no reason to be afraid of me, just call this an exercise in trust. You can either go to the pile and take what you want now or you sit there and listen to me talk for a bit and then I’ll bring the pile to you. So don’t worry about going hungry.” She continued.

“O…k. this is not good…” Luke thought. He mulled over the choice in his mind. He could stay here and trust that she would keep her promise and leave the food to him after she was finished talking or he could take a risk and trust that she would leave him to get his food in peace. Either way it was up to her if he ate for the next few sleep cycles. She was looking at him hopefully, she looked desperate for him to trust her. He thought back to the frightened kitten and decided he should take the chance.

“It’d be rude to jilt such a pretty lady…” he said taking a few steps forward.

Aisell stayed perfectly quiet and still as she watched the little figure approach slowly. He looked quite nervous, he’d obviously had bad experiences with Titans to still be this nervous. Most Humans were very trusting of Titans, they had no reason not to be. “I wonder why he’s like this?” she thought, not even considering he might actually be from Earth or that some Titans had actively sought to do him harm.

“Did you like your berries little….sorry…Luke?” Aisell said as he got closer. She could see he was creeping slowly forward all the while watching her.

Luke kept going without responding. He had no intention of getting drawn into a distracting conversation. “Get in…get the food…get out. Talk to her when you’re safe…” He told himself.

“Ok, you can stay quiet if you like. I would like to know a bit more about you though so I’m just going to take some guesses. You just tell me if I get it right…” Aisell said trying to stay soft and reassuring.

Luke arrived at the pile of food and started to assess what was there, one eye on the food and one eye on the giant blonde who was a bit too close for comfort. Yet more greasy meat, soft vegetables and berries. There was a nice soft cake though which he quickly grabbed a few handfuls of.

“Did you come here with your owner and get separated?” Aisell asked.

“Owner?! What the hell is she talking about?” Luke muttered quietly

Aisell paused and thought for a second. “Or maybe you had a mean owner and you ran away. That would explain why you’re so nervous with me…”

Luke just rolled his eyes at the word ‘owner’ being used again and grabbed some greasy meat. He was getting a bit sick of it but it seemed to keep a consistent flavour rather than going stale quickly.

“May you’ve always lived here? Are there more of you?” Aisell asked.

Luke looked up at her feeling just a bit sorry for her. She seemed beyond curious, more fascinated than anything. He could understand her curiosity about him. He felt the same way about her but he had more pressing concerns than playing twenty questions. “Nope, just me…”

Aisell smiled warmly happy to have a response. “So you can talk then?”

“Uh huh” was the only response she got.

“You just don’t want to talk to me?” Aisell cocked her head to the side, curiously watching the little man sniff each bit of food before deciding to keep it or discard it.

Luke stashed a fist sized lump of green vegetable in his sack keeping Aisell waiting, he was aware that she was holding most of the cards in their encounter and one of the few he held was she desperately seemed to want his friendship. “I’ve not really talked much recently. Besides, I’m busy…”

“Oh, sorry I can go if you like?” Aisell said looking down at the floor.

Luke looked up at her and sighed. This giant girl seemed to use the same tricks as the girls back home did. Slump down and play cute and vulnerable and bat her long eyelashes. It was surprisingly effective given her large stature. It must have been the eyes, they seemed to magnify the effect and Luke couldn’t help but be taken in by her.

“No, no, stay. I like listening. Keep going and I’ll tell you if you’re right.” Luke smiled up to Aisell causing her to smile back. It was the first time she had seen him smile at her and she was happy to make a bit more progress. Luke could have quite easily told her his story in one word but he was interested to learn more about the ideas she held around Humans. That and he liked hearing her talk.

“Maybe you’re a clever Human…like the one on Archavia? Did you travel here in a ship you built and got trapped?” Aisell continued, a quizzical tone in her voice.

Luke shook his head, though he was quite curious about a Human who was smart enough to build a space ship by himself. His sack was nearly full but he lingered at the pile of food, not wanting to part from Aisell’s company too quickly. She made him very nervous but at the same time he didn’t want to leave her and return to his lonely hole in the ground.

“Did you escape from the pet shop?!” Aisell spoke quickly as she nearly slapped herself for completely missing the obvious.

She saw a smile grow on Luke’s face. “Bingo.” He said simply.

“Bingo…?” Aisell asked curiously.

“It means you’re right. Well done.” Luke added throwing the sack of food over his shoulder.

Aisell’s own smile quickly faded to a frown. “Awww…you’re leaving…already?”

“I’ve got all my food and I don’t like being up here. It’s dangerous…” Luke spoke warily taking a few steps back. This was the moment of truth. Would she let him leave?

“Well what about the rest of your berries?” Aisell said pointing to a pile half his height.

Luke might have been able to carry one more but there were far too many for him to carry by himself. “There’s too many for me to carry. I’ve lots of food here though.”

Aisell tilted her head to the side once more and batted her long lashes coyly. “I could carry them for you if you like?”

“Oh no, it’s okay, I’ll just come back for those, no problem” Luke laughed nervously.

He jumped back alarmed as the blonde Titaness quickly rose to her full height, towering over the lofty tables around him. He started to quickly walk backwards as she walked towards him, covering the 100 metre distance in just a few paces. Her footfalls grew louder and the metal floor vibrated more and more until she stopped in front of him.

“Don’t be silly!” Aisell joked just as Luke was about to bolt. “There’s no need to come back, I can carry them for you.”

Luke stood in awe in front of the enormous white sneakers, not more than a few metres from him. They were as tall as he was and stopped at her ankles. Aisell absolutely towered over Luke. He was terrified. The last time he had been this close to a giant they had deliberately tried to end him under their massive feet. He wanted to run but it would be no use in the vast, empty expanse of the aisle. She would be on him in a second. He just stood fixed to the spot doing his best not to wet himself.

The massive woman bent over, blonde locks tumbling down from her shoulders. She extended an arm as long and as thick as any tree Luke had ever seen. He scrunched his eyes together, unable to look as he waited to be scooped up into her grasp and cursed himself for being foolish enough to trust her.

“Well go on, lead the way…” he heard her say after a few seconds. He unscrunched his face and turned to look upwards. Aisell was standing tall, looming over him with a broad smile across her face.

Aisell sighed. “You still don’t trust me?” She giggled and stuck her long tongue out at him. “A girl could get insulted being treated so unkindly…”

Luke felt himself pinned by her two glacial blue eyes, he felt far better when he could look into them from a distance. He breathed out long and slowly and forced his head to wrench itself away from her pretty face. He didn’t know how long he had been looking at her. It could have been one second or a thousand but she wasn’t pressuring him, she wanted to let him know he was still free to move as quickly or as slowly as he liked.

Luke took a few steps forward watching the grate in the distance, he was very much regretting coming so far from it. He was startled as a huge white blur moved in his periphery and then slammed down on to the steel floor to his right. “Just look straight ahead…she’s nice. She won’t step on you. And for the love of god man don’t piss yourself!” he whispered as he willed his legs to take each individual step forward. He felt a shiver run up his spine as some primordial instinct within him told him the next foot would land on top of him. There was another white blur in his vision and then another great, white foot landed on the steel floor.

The nervous man arched his head up, tracking the long, opaque black columns of leg reaching high above him. He could just about make out the pale hue of her skin beneath the thin material. He couldn’t see her face, it was obscured by her long, grey t-shirt hanging down past her waist. He was in utter awe of her scale, her graceful movements and of her apparently infinite kindness and patience. He quickly lowered his head back down as he saw her look down between her legs at him.

“Hey! Eyes front little guy!” She said playfully using a name she knew he disliked. “I’m more woman than you can handle.”

Luke swallowed nervously. His look didn’t have any ill-intentions, he’d just been curious about how high up she went. He focused back on to the grate as it grew closer. Aisell’s foot swung by him on the right and he did his best to keep his nerves under control.