A small girl ran around her bedroom, legs shaking, as the deafening roar of a Fire Dragon quaked through the house from outside.  Chills ran up her spine and fear had made its way through her legs and was slowly making working up into her stomach.    She’d never experienced a dragon attack before and was genuinely terrified.  Not wanting to be alone, she ran to her door and swung it open, screaming for her mother. 

“Momma?  Momma, where are you?!”  When no response came to her, she forced her legs into action and ran down the hallway, making her way to her mother’s bedroom.

As she ran through the hallway, she was knocked off her feet as something impacted the roof of their house.  She fell on her back and stared up, her eyes opening wider and wider as she saw the horror of what was happening.  Loud, cracking sounds could be heard as pieces of the roof were being ripped off.  She screamed and threw her arms over her head as debris began to fall down towards her.  She could feel pieces of the roof hitting the floor around her and she was shivering, waiting for it to end.

“Tara?  Honey, is that you?!”

The girl’s head sprung up upon hearing her mother’s voice.  All around her were shards of wood and steel from the roof pieces that had fallen into the house.  As she opened her eyes, she could see a figure at the other end of the hall, running towards her.  The figure was tall and had long, black hair.  The girl’s eyes lit up and she started pushing herself up, jumping into her mother’s arms.

“Momma!” she cried out as the two of them embraced, Tara being partially lifted off the ground and into her mother’s grasp.  She dug her face into her mother’s shoulder as she was pulled in.  Jackie, her mother, held her as tight as she could and lowered her head down, kissing her daughter on the head.  “Don’t worry, Tara.  Momma’s here and she knows her little angel will keep her safe.”

The words coming from Jackie’s mouth had comforted Tara a lot.  Being only a small child, she couldn’t help but be scared of a lot of things, let alone a dragon assaulting their home.  However, instead of being afraid herself, she pushed her fear outwards and used it, thinking she were protecting the others, rather than them protecting her.   Bringing her head up a little, she nodded up to her, confirming that she’d protect her.

No sooner had she nodded had there been an enormous cracking noise from above them.  They both looked up in awe as the entire roof was soon torn off by an enormous Fire Dragon.  The roof went flying as the beast forced it’s hind legs backwards, launching the roof it had ripped away into the distance.  It looked down at the two of them and snarled towards them.  It’s breath filled the room with a hot, sticky substance.  As it watched them scream and hold onto one another, it jumped off the roof frame and down into the house itself.  As it’s legs hit the hallway, the entire floor collapsed, sending the beast and the two people hurtling down to the floor below, the dining hall.

Tara’s body was aching all over as she opened her eyes, realizing she was alright from the fall she’d taken.  As she pushed herself up, she started looking around the room.  All over the place was debris from the collapsed floor, but she saw no sign of her mother.  To the side, taking up most of the room was the Fire Dragon, seemingly unconscious from the fall.  Paying no mind to the beast next to her, Tara started grabbing at the debris and calling out for her mother.

“Mother!  Where are you?!”

She spent many minutes searching the debris, hoping to find any trace of Jackie around before she finally heard a weak, whimpering voice coming from behind.  Immediately turning her head, she saw Jackie, half covered in a large wooden board.  She screamed her mother’s name and started to run towards her when she was immediately stopped.  The dragon’s claw had swept across the area, hitting Tara’s gut, knocking her to the ground.

As she hit the ground, she started coughing.  Her head peered up as she saw the dragon moving towards Jackie, slowly swiping at the boards above her body.  Immediately entering a fit of rage, Tara screamed at the best.  “NO!  LEAVE MY MOTHER ALONE!!!!”  She tried to get up and run over to her mother, but the dragon’s other claw struck into her arm, skewering it and pinning her to the ground.

Tara screamed in agony as the claw dug into her arm, drawing blood and pinning her to the floor.  Tears were running down her face as she was forced to watch as the dragon tossed away the wooden boards above Jackie’s body and rose it’s claw up, as if it were about to impale her.  Thousands upon thousands of emotions were swirling around in her body as she screamed at the dragon, begging it to stop. 

Hearing the girl’s pleading, the dragon spoke in an incredibly raspy and deep voice, “You cannot help her, human.  You are powerless, and helpless.  Nothing you can do can save her now.”  As it ended it’s statement, the claw flew down into the ground, directly into Jackie’s body.  Tara let out an ear-piercing scream as she yelled out “MOTHER!”

----------------------------------------------------

“MOTHER!”

A tall, slender woman with long, black hair bolted up from the laying position she’d been in as she slept in her bed.  She was breathing heavily and sweat dripped down her face as she sat in bed, images of the dream passing through her mind.  Her head shook as her eyes bolted open when she woke up.  It took a moment, but reality had finally set in.  The visions, Jackie, the dragon; it was all just a dream.

As she thought about everything the dream had shown her, she grabbed at her left arm for a moment.  Waving her wrist, a small orb of light hovered above her, illuminating her arm.  She stared down at it, looking at the scar she’d received when she was 12.  The bruises from the dragon’s claw had mostly healed the past 14 years, but her emotional state had not.  The death of her mother and her own state of helplessness from when she was a child still haunted her dreams. 

Taking her palm, she wiped the sweat from her forehead and turned her head.  Staring down into the comforter, she let out a deep sigh.  “Mother…I…I’m sorry.  If only I’d been stronger…if only I’d begun studying the Arte sooner…I may have been able to protect you.”

A tear running down her face, Tara dismissed the orb of light she’d conjured and laid her head back down on the pillow.  She stared out the window, into the deep sight of the moon, feeling scared.  The dream had brought back a bad memory, but it also had brought back her greatest fear:  The fear of being helpless and powerless.

As she lay there, she quickly fell back to sleep, wishing for a calmer, dreamless sleep…

Colored paper flew off in every direction, waving through the air and slowly falling to the ground.  The room in question was bare of much furniture, hosting only a couch in the middle.  On the couch sat two people.  One was a young woman with long, blonde hair and a slender finger.  Beside her was an older woman with a curvy figure and long, brown hair.  The two sat on the couch, each with their own activity.  The young woman was holding and tearing open a small, wrapped box, while the older woman was intently watching her.

As the paper flew from the box, it revealed more of a small, tin box that had an assortment of figures on it.  Minutes went by as the woman was careful in how she took the paper off before throwing it behind her.  As more and more paper came off, more of the box was revealed.  Once all the paper had been torn off, she looked down at the tin and her bright, green eyes lit up.  As she examined it, she read “Lily-Rose Doll Cleaning Kit”.

“I’m sorry we weren’t able to get you much more, what with the moving and everything, but Happy Birthday, Lucy,” said the older woman upon seeing the brightly lit eyes in the younger woman’s face.  She cracked a small smile, though something about the gift in question had bothered her.

Taking her arms from the box, Lucy wrapped her arms around the older woman and nearly screamed out “Thank you so much, Mom!”.  She buried her head in her mother’s shoulder and muffled her way through a few more statements, explaining how much she’d wanted the cleaning kit she’d just received. 

Holding her daughter tightly, the older woman gently pat on Lucy’s back, though still filled with a little concern and doubt about the fist she’d gotten for her.  “You’re welcome, Lucy, but I really don’t understand.  I could have gotten you virtually anything for your 18th Birthday, despite the circumstances.  Why, of all things, did you want this cleaning kit for dolls?”  The woman let out a short sigh, wishing she could have gotten her something a little better for her.

She had originally wanted something great for the girl, but the circumstances simply wouldn’t allow it this year.  She’d gotten transferred to a new location with her job and they both had to move two days before the Lucy’s birthday.  It was always rough on Lucy when they had to move, since they moved from town to town so often, and she wanted to get her something really special for her birthday.  Although the cleaning kit wasn’t a super gift in her eyes, it was in Lucy’s.

Raising her head up a little, Lucy laughed as she looked into her mother’s face.  She’d been teasing Lucy for years about her obsession with dolls.  Ever since she was a little girl, she’d collected dolls that she had set up in her room.  There were many shelves that housed them and she never played with any of them.  Instead, she would spend her time dusting them off and cleaning them, making sure they were in top form.  The closest she got to ‘playing’ was talking to them at night, as if they were someone that she could let her feelings out on.

“Oh, Mom, you know why I wanted this!  My old kit was starting to wear down and I needed some new tools and cleaner if I’m to keep my little collection in tip top shape!  I know you’ve always questioned that hobby of mine, and things have been hard on you this year, having to move again and all, but this really is the one thing I wanted for my birthday.”

Her mother just smiled and let out another sigh at Lucy’s encouraging statement.  Although the girl would never admit it, she was the one who suffered the most from the moving.  They moved a few times a year, no portion of the company she worked for keeping her for more than that long.  She wasn’t sure if they wanted to get rid of her or just didn’t know the right place to put her, but she’d always felt bad for putting Lucy through so much.  The poor girl never even had a chance to make new friends, other than her dolls.

Knowing how much Lucy must have been pushing to get that out, she held her tightly and whispered into her ear.  “Thank you, Lucy.  I’m glad you like it.  I may not understand all of this, but as long as you’re happy, I’m happy.”  Despite looking like she was just saying that last statement to be nice, Lucy really was all that she had in this world.  Her husband had left them when Lucy was very small, and because of constantly moving, it was really just the two of them. 

As they were holding onto one another, their cutesy moment abruptly came to an end.  Off in the distance, somewhere outside the house, came a deafening roar.  The two of them immediately sprung up from the couch, nearly knocking Lucy’s new cleaning kit to the ground.  They looked at each other and then towards the door.  They weren’t entirely sure as to what the sound was, but it definitely didn’t sound good. 

Both of them rushing towards the door, they nearly hit the wall as they came close.  Their front door had a large window in the top of it, rather than a peephole, making it very easy for them both to look outside to see what had made that loud sound from earlier.  They looked and looked for several minutes, but didn’t seem to see or hear anything.  Looking at each other, they locked gazes and questioned one another the same thing.

“You heard that, too, right?”

Their heads shook as the sound returned.  It definitely sounded like a screeching roar, but nothing either of them had ever heard before.  In school, they’d been taught about most of the magical creatures that inhabited the world, but one thing they had not been taught was what each of them sounded like.  The only creature that was thoroughly taught, to the point of describing the roar and screeching were dragons, the fiercest beasts in the world.  Dragon roars, however, were quake-like and deep.  This sound was almost screech-like.

Under the assumption that this creature, if it was even a creature, was not a dragon, the two of them hurried outside, curiosity overtaking them.  As they came outside the house, they turned their head every which way, trying to find whatever it was.  All of the other houses were closed up, no one else coming out to see the source of this sound.  Under normal circumstances, who could blame them?  You get curious about a sound and you could get your head bitten off, or worse.

As the two women came out into the street, they looked down one way, seeing absolutely nothing.  Confused, they looked at one another and began to question whether there really was a sound at all.  As soon as their questioning started, however, it ended.  From directly behind them, the same noise made itself apparent again.  They both turned around and immediately fell to the ground, screaming at what they saw…

Tara had set out on her daily walk through town, expecting a calm, smooth day, like most days were.  The nightmare from the night before had her flustered and got her in the mood to start studying some more of “The Arte”, expanding her knowledge of basic and advanced spells.  She didn’t have to use spells often, aside from small practical uses like lighting up a dark room, but she felt like she needed to constantly expand her knowledge of what she knew, in case she ever needed those other spells.

As she set out, she had a small book with her, which had a collection of spells for her to learn in it.  As she closed the door to her house, she tossed the book into the air and wove her hand at it.  The book descended towards the ground, but immediately stopped in front of her chest, opening itself up and hovering at an angle in front of her, as if waiting to be read.  “I haven’t lost my touch,” Tara said to herself as she began walking down the street, her book hovering along with her.

The streets were unusually quiet today.  They usually teemed with life, and whenever she strolled around, a lot of kids would normally come out to say hello to her.  Despite not using the Arte that much, she’d saved a few kids years back from an Ice Dragon that had attacked the town. For that, she gained immediate recognition and was revered by the town as a sort of ‘hero’ figure.  She normally didn’t mind the attention, enjoying the people coming out to say hello to her, especially the kids.  She’d felt like she was doing something right when she was able to protect the town.

Today, however, it was strangely quiet.  No one was out on the streets and not a single sound could be heard down the streets.  Despite the freakishly quiet nature of the day, Tara did not mind it a single bit.  She walked down the streets, waving her hands in front of her, causing the book’s pages to flip around.  She’d pulled down this book, in particular, for a reason.  She knew there were some unique spells within it that she’d never tried to learn before, afraid they were too advanced.  Today, she would learn and try one, to see how much harder she needed to work to be able to handle them.

She sighed as she flipped through the pages.  There were dozens upon dozens of spells that were at her disposal in the book, but none of them clicked with her as “the one”.  Whenever she would learn a new spell, she would flip through a book randomly until one stuck out to her.  Unfortunately, she had already flipped through half of this book and had yet to find the spell that stuck out to her this day.  She turned at an intersection and continued down the road as she flipped through the book.

Eventually, something caught her eye.  “Size Alteration?” she softly asked herself, stopping in the middle of the street, looking at her book.  The page she’d stopped on had a spell on it called ‘Size Alteration’.  She had never heard of this spell before, so she found a nearby bench to sit down at while she read the description the book had for it.  It read:

‘Size Alteration.  A High-Energy spell that can alter the size of any object, animal, or person at will.  The Energy within the air filters through the body or object and compresses or expands molecules to change the overall size of the target in question.  Limitations may vary, depending on caster.  High amounts of energy required for casting.’

Tara read further down the page, where it described the method for the casting of the spell.  This intrigued her very much.  As she read it over and over again she started smiling, almost teeming with excitement at what she’d found.  “This is the one.  This is what I’m going to learn today.”

Sitting on the bench with her hovering book, she spent hours upon hours of the day constantly reading and memorizing the spell.  To be able to cast something fluidly, it had to be engraved into your brain.  Any fidgeting or stuttering during a casting could result in a backfire and/or draining of the energy within the caster, either of which would be harmful to her.  In order to make sure she was safe, she had to spend hours memorizing spells before she even attempted to try it out.

Tara closed her eyes and yawned as she finished her final read over the words on the Size Alteration spell.  Leaning back in the bench she wove her hand, closing the book and sending it falling into her lap.  She brought both her hands behind her head and looked up to the sky.  She’d been out in town for most of the day, but she still hadn’t heard anything other than a moving truck that had passed by on a nearby street. 

“Sure is a quiet day” she said to herself, having noticed how deserted the town seemed to be that day.  As she finished her yawns, she leaned herself forward, back into a sitting position.  She looked down at her book and blinked.  She started thinking about the spell that she’d engraved into her own head and then at the book again.  Picking it up, she stuck it into a Large Compression pocket in the side of her long, red robe, the book disappearing into the pocket. 

She was getting ready to stand up and head back to the house when she heard a loud screeching sound coming from the distance.  Immediately jumping up from the bench, she stared off in one direction, squinting her eyes and thinking, studying the sound she’d just heard.  “That was…a roar.  I’m sure of it.  But…where is it?” 

As she stood still, trying to listen, she heard it again.  It was a high-pitched screeching roar and her mind immediately clicked.  She now knew where it was and what it was.  Much to her surprise, though, the screeching roar wasn’t alone.  She’d also her two female voices screaming.  Her eyes widened as thoughts of the Ice Dragon attack came rushing back into her head.  The screams she’d just heard sounded just like the screams of the little girl who’d almost been carried off by that beast, so many years ago. 

Tara knew exactly what she had to do.  Clicking her boots together, her feet began to hover into the air.  Leaning forward, she flew down the street, heading towards the source of the noise.  With a stern look on her face, she knew she didn’t have much time.  If it was what she thought it was, then she didn’t have much time.  Zipping around the streets, she finally came to an intersection, where she finally saw the scene.  Two women, one young and one older, were on the ground, screaming as a giant Antlion hovered its jaws over them, ready to strike.

She quickly flipped her wrist, ready for action…

Lucy had fallen to the ground and screamed as she’d turned around to see what the screeching roar had come from.  Much to her and her mother’s surprise, the being it came from was quite big, huge in fact.  Not only was it huge, but it had somehow been able to catch up to them.  It stood a meter or two behind them and stared down into their frightened eyes as they were on the ground, shaking at the sight of it.

The creature was an Antlion.  A giant ant-like creature with giant pincers in front of it’s mouth.  Normally tame and nowhere near civilization, these creatures could span up to 30 feet in length, with pincers up to 10 feet, enough to easily snatch up any human and instantly mangle them to death.  These creatures normally buried themselves under the sands of the desert, and rarely went far from that place, unless hunting for food. 

The beast’s red, scaly skin shone in the sunlight as it’s head nearly hovered over the two of them, sticky drool dripping from the pincers, hitting Lucy’s shirt, making her scream even further.  It looked down on them with it’s meaty, pearly-white eyes and clashed it’s pincers together, as if toying with it’s food.  The two of them tried to crawl away, but as soon as they did so, it let out an ear-piercing screech, stopping them in their tracks.

The two of them were filled with an icy-cold fear.  Neither of them had ever seen a creature such as this in their life and had no idea what to expect, other than the fact that it obviously had plans for them.  Plans that would, no doubt, lead to their own demise.  They fearfully watched as the creature inches forward, cracking sounds waving through the air as it’s six, boney legs rattled around as it walked.  Getting it’s head just above Lucy it looked down and let out another screech.

Seeing the creature begin to move it’s head down, Lucy’s mother knew she had to take action.  Her daughter was about to be taken and killed by this monster, and she could not let that happen.  She was still so young and had a lot to look forward to in life.  Seeing no alternative, she took all the energy she had and jumped into Lucy, shoving her to the sidewalk to the left.

Lucy had closed her eyes when she saw the monster above her, expecting excruciating pain as she was attacked by it but felt herself being shoved and tumbled to the side.  As she hit the sidewalk, she immediately pushed her face off the ground and opened her eyes.  Looking around for her mother, she looked back out into the streets and gasped at what she saw.

In the middle of the street was the enormous Antlion, raising it’s head into the air, Lucy’s mother pinned against it’s pincers.  She tried to call out to her mother, but she was too shocked and scared with fright as she saw her mother’s face.  She’d been looking over at Lucy the entire time and had a smile on her face, as if she were looking at her daughter for the last time.  She let out a loud yell, telling Lucy to run from this place.  This brought tears to Lucy’s face.  She didn’t want to lose her mother, and couldn’t move at all.

As she sat there in horror, she saw the pincers started to move, causing holes to be formed in the side of her mother’s body.  She started crying out to her mother, but was immediately silenced when something flew through the air nearby. 

A large, black ball of energy nearly 20 feet long soared through the air and struck the side of the Antlion.  As it hit, a large impact explosion happened at the scene, sending the Antlion to it’s side and freeing the woman from it’s grasp.  The Antlion was scrambling to get back up on it’s feet and was letting out a window-shattering shriek as it lost blood from a large injury in it’s side.

Lucy, seeing her mother released, forced herself up and ran up to her, grabbing at her body and dragging her to the sidewalk.  She sat her down and looked down into her eyes, tearing up at the sight of her.  There was no movement, so she started nudging her body.  “M-Mom!  Mom!  Are you alright?  Mom!  Answer me!  Please, Mom!”

Her mother eventually made a slight movement as she cracked her eyes open, looking up at her daughter.  She smiled for a split-second before her head fell back and her eyes shut once more, confirming Lucy’s worst fear.  The young woman screamed out, tears running down her face, as she held her deceased mother in her arms.  She buried her head in her mother’s shoulder and cried out.  “NO!  MOM!  NO!!!!”

On the other side of the street hovered Tara, her hand reached out, steam coming from it, due to the Energy Ball spell she’d just cast to attack the Antlion.  She didn’t like attacking magical creatures, especially ones that are normally docile, such as an Antlion, but had she not, both this woman and her mother would have been killed by it.  She had to fight, in order to save the woman’s life. 

As the steam finally disappeared, she saw the Antlion finally scramble to it’s feet and screech at her, it’s eyes now dark red.  It began charging at her, clashing it’s pincers as it ran.  Quickly hovering to the side, Tara narrowly dodged the enormous pincers as they lunged and tried to snatch her into their grasp.  Quickly turning towards the beast, Tara concentrated, mumbling en incantation to herself and held her arm out.

Light slowly gathered around her hand, forming a small orb.  As the moments passed, more and more light was brought in, expanding the orb’s size until it was the same size as the one she’d just hit the Antlion with.  By the time it had reached it’s peak, the Antlion was charging at Tara again.  Quickly realizing her position, she knew she couldn’t move around while this energy orb was in her grasp.  Pushing her hand forward, she launched the orb towards the Antlion.

As the orb quickly approached the Antlion, it stopped and it’s red eyes began to glow, enveloping it’s skin in some sort of hard shell.  The orb hit this shell and immediately dissipated into thin air.  It let out a roar at Tara and held it’s ground as the outer shell began to disappear and it’s red eyes’ glow disappearing. 

Tara then hit a realization she had completely forgotten about as she saw the Antlion’s eyes.  ‘Oh, no!’ she thought to herself.  ‘Antlion’s have an outer shell when their eyes turn red, repelling all energy-based spells!  I can’t subdue this beast as long as it’s eyes are red!  But…I can’t wait for it to cool down.  I have to do something now to save the girl.’  As she thought to herself, the Antlion turned towards Lucy and began to walk towards her.

Upon seeing the beast’s actions, Tara tried to think as much as she could.  Offensive magic could not work on this beast.  It was well-known that Antlion’s, although tame, were a force to be dealt with, even for sorcerers.  Quickly flipping through her memory, she remembered one key point from her reading.  She’d heard that Antlion’s could be hit with advanced spells that targets an entire object.  She quickly began to hover and chase after the Antlion as she realized and prepared the only advanced spell she knew, the same one she’d just finished learning.

‘I know I shouldn’t test it out like this’ she thought to herself, ‘but I don’t have any other choice.  The Size Alteration spell could be the only thing that can save this girl.  I have to do it now!  I won’t let her get killed because of my mistakes!’  She then stopped directly in front of the Antlion and quickly let loose an incantation.  As she prepared to finish the spell, her mind was filled with thoughts of the Antlion being smaller.

A bright orb of light appeared around the area and, as the Antlion started pushing into Tara, the entire area flashed from the orb rupturing and letting loose an enormous blast of light… 

As the enormous flash of light engulfed the area around both Tara and the Antlion, Lucy had been pushed back by some unknown force, landing on the porch of her house with a thud.  As she landed, she could feel a slight amount of pain running through her back and legs from the fall.  “O-Ouch…” she said, as she lied there, looking up towards the sky.  She wanted to get up and see what was going on, but she was also frightened and hurt.  She decided to lay there for awhile.

Tara had immediately felt something strange as her spell had initialized itself from her incantation.  She wasn’t sure what it was, but something about this spell had sent a wave of energy rushing into her body, causing all of her nerves to excite and sting at once.  She closed her eyes, grabbing at her arms from the feeling she’d experienced.  As she held onto herself, she could hear the screeching noise of the Antlion nearby and hoped that it wasn’t anywhere close to being able to hurt her or the girl she was trying to help.

As the sensation heightened, she felt a strange ‘downward’ feeling.  Although she knew her body was absolutely still and planted on the ground, she felt a rush in her legs, gut, and arms, as if she were falling through the air.  Shivers traveled throughout her entire body as she felt this odd sensation.  Never in her life had casting a spell had such a strong impact on her.  Could this be her test?  Could this adverse reaction be a clue that she wasn’t ready for all of these advanced spells?

The answers eluded Tara as she felt herself ‘falling’ more and more as several minutes passed by.  After the first couple minutes, the screeching of the Antlion ceased.  Tara had assumed that the spell attempt had done something to it.  Even if it didn’t work entirely, maybe it was causing as bad of a reaction in the Antlion as it was in Tara.  She could think of a dozen possible explanations, but she only hoped that the true explanation didn’t have anything to do with the spell possibly failing and the Antlion moving towards the young woman.

After a few more moments, the tingling and shivering finally ceased.  As all of these feelings rushed out of her body, Tara felt a little faint.  Before she could open her eyes, her legs gave out, sending her falling to the ground.  Her face and arms landed as she’d nearly lost complete control of her body, fatigue having caught up with her.  She was still conscious and breathing, but felt completely drained; not even having enough energy in her system to open her eyes and see what was going on.

Several minutes had passed by and Lucy had started to feel the pain leaving her body.  Almost feeling like she’d woken up after staring at the sky and the sun for so long, she pushed herself up and let out a nice, long yawn.  She blinked and shook her head, the previous events replaying in her head.  As she looked around, she realized that she was alone, somehow.  Both the woman and the monstrous creature that had attacked her mother were nowhere to be found.

Taking a moment to think, she’d thought about the strange woman who seemed to have come to her rescue.  Although Lucy had been terribly frightened at the time, she couldn’t help but notice something about this woman.  She’d been able to throw giant black balls of energy at the Antlion and even was able to hover into the air.  She’d never seen anything like it, but she had heard her mother speaking of it before.  She’d call them “Sorcerers” and the power they were able to command was known as “The Arte”, even though most people outside of studying this power just called it ‘magic’.

She kept her sitting position for quite awhile, both thinking about what had happened with the monster and the sorceress, but also what had happened to her mother.  She couldn’t believe what it had come to.  The two of them had just moved in, and they weren’t even done unpacking.  All they did was hear a noise.  They were curious, and that’s all there was to it.  Now, her mother was the ultimate example of that old cliché ‘How curiosity killed the cat’.
 
The girl wrapped her arms around her bent legs and rocked herself back and forth as she saw her mother’s body off in the distance.  She simply didn’t have it in her at this point to go to it and hold it again.  After the shock of what had happened with the sorceress’s appearance, she was frightened of even getting up to move.  She rocked herself as she nearly dug her entire face into her knee, only her eyes above it, staring off at the ground in front of her.

As she sat there, she eventually noticed something on the ground in front of her.  In fact, she’d noticed two things on the ground, both seemingly motionless.  She’s barely been able to catch them out of the corner of her eye, but she raised her head a little as she stared into the street, focusing her vision so she could try to see what the two objects were.

She leaned her head forward as her teared-up eyes were beginning to focus.  There were definitely two objects, but they were hard to make out.  From this distance, they each looked fairly small, maybe 6 or 12 inches a piece.  One also looked much larger than the other.  She blinked several times before she finally saw the smaller of the two, which was a little closer to her than the big one, although still a good 15 feet away.

“W-what is….Oh my Gosh!”

Lucy’s eyes grew incredibly wide as the form of the smaller object came into her line of vision.  She couldn’t believe at what she saw.  It also showed her that it was not a mere object, but a living creature.  Leaning in further, her eyes wide open, Lucy could see the bipedal form now.  It looked like a small doll at first, but it was slightly moving, as if breathing.  It looked like a woman, and the woman it was soon came to Lucy as she saw the red robe wrapped around her. 

She’d gasped when she saw the tiny doll-like person lying on the ground.  She didn’t know how, nor did she really want to, but the tiny person in front of her looked exactly like the sorceress who’d just been protecting her from the monster.  Their face was pointed towards her and, even though it was motionless from them likely being unconscious, there was no mistaking it.  On the street, no more than 6 inches tall, was the sorceress.

Tara had awoken with a piercing headache.  Yawning a little as she pushed herself up, she put her left palm over her eyes and forehead, trying to cope with the pain in her head.  Her body felt a little strained as she got up.  Her legs ached like she’d just run a marathon and her arms felt like she’d been handing from a pole for the fast few hours.  She rubbed on all four limbs as she took her hand away from her head, trying to ease the pain that was all over her body.

“Ouch…what happened?  I’m aching all over…”

Moving her palm back up to her forehead, she slowly slid her eyes open, staring down at the ground.  She took deep breaths as she adjusted to her conscious condition, along with all of the strain and pain she was experiencing.  She blinked a few times while staring down at the asphalt below her feet, adorned with golf ball-sized engravings.  Tara was a little dazed at the moment, not quite realizing that those engravings for so big.

Her eyes had started to slip closed again as fatigue was making it’s way through her body, the pain in her arms, legs, and head definitely not helping her wake up. She started holding her eyes shut for moments at a time, almost trying to go to sleep, rather than merely blinking.  The feeling swept through her for a good few minutes.  As she had held her eyes shut the longest, she was starting to nod off when he heard an incredibly loud sound coming from behind her.

She nearly screamed as her ears rang, almost hurting as she’d heard the sound.  Her head immediately jerked up, her eyes wide open, as she turned her head from side to side, trying to figure out what the noise was and where it had come from.  It had initially sounded, to her, like someone gasping or trying to scream, but it was much too loud.  There was a slight echo in the voice, so if it were someone gasping, they’d have to be speaking through a microphone or something of the sort.

As she looked around, her eyes began to focus.  To the back were what looked like mountains in the distance, but her vision was too blurred to be certain.  Before these mountains, however was some sort of wall that seems to come up from the end of the street.  It looked nearly as tall as she was and led to a huge, whitish plane, almost looked like concrete.  This was confusing Tara very much.  She tried to recall what she’d been doing as her vision focused further.

“I…remember…sitting on a bench, learning a new spell.  Then, I…I was fighting an Antlion?  Yes.  Yes, that’s what I was doing.  I was fighting an Antlion and then I…Oh, no!  T-That can’t be!”

Tara gasped and threw her hands over her mouth when she’d remembered the last thing she did before blacking out.  At the same time, her vision completed focusing, making the ‘mountains’ in front of her clear as day.  Her hands began to shake and she dropped to her knees, looking at those ‘mountains’ in disbelief.  Her pupils were quivering as she saw them.  However, they were not mountains at all.  They were houses.

Tara looked around, frantically, at everything that was around her.  The wall she’d seen had been the sidewalk, and the mountains were the houses next to the street.  She then began to think about the spell she’d tried to cast earlier.  The Size-Change spell had obviously worked, but not in the way she’d imagined.  She had tried to focus the energy on the Antlion, but she must have done something wrong.  Not seeing the Antlion nearby, her only guess was that she’d succeeded in casting the spell, but accidentally shrunk herself along with it.

“Oh, no…the spell must have backfired!   Everything…is huge!  I…I must be no bigger than a doll!”

 Tara was thoroughly amazed at the situation.  Seeing the world at a much larger scale was something that even she, a person knowledgeable in the Arte, could never have been prepared for.  She got chills down her spine at how gigantic everything was.  The sidewalk curb was almost as tall as she was.  Houses towered over like mountains, and who knows what everything else looked like from this perspective.

As she was caught in her amazement, her entire body stopped when she heard a crashing noise from behind her.  She slowly turned around as she heard the ever-so-familiar scream of an Antlion.  Fully turning around, she could see the Antlion getting itself to it’s feet, staring at her with it’s blood-red eyes.  As she looked at it, she felt chills and satisfaction at the same time.  She was a little afraid to see the beast with her being so weakened and vulnerable, but seeing that it had shrunk with her told her that the spell had worked and done what it was supposed to do.

Seeing the blood-red eyes of the Antlion had reminded Tara all too well of the beast’s magic-resistant ability.  Were she to try to keep fighting it, she would most certainly lose.  There was nothing around for her to use against it and she would almost certainly have to run.  The Antlion moved slow, so as she forced the chills out of her body, she tried to think of what she could do.  The beast had gotten itself to it’s feet by the time Tara thought of a plan.

“Oh, I know!  I’ll just use the spell to bring myself back to my original size!  Then I can just stomp this thing into the ground!”

Tara’s idea had seemed perfect.  In it’s diminished state, the Antlion was likely only about 12 inches long.  Were she to return to her original height, a quick stomp from her shoes would quickly break this thing apart, removing it’s threat from this situation.  Quickly taking a deep breath, she began to repeat the incantation, focusing on herself and thinking of her original height. 

Her body was straining as energy began to rip itself from her body.  She had even started to feel faint at one point of the incantation.  Her arms and legs were stinging with pain as a small orb of light appeared in front of her face.  Trying to finish the spell, the last ounce of strength had been ripped away.  As it did so, the orb quickly disappeared, and a massive wave of rebuttal was sent into Tara’s body.  This went straight to her head and caused a light-headed feeling, sending the sorceress to the ground, on her knees. 

She held her hand over her heart as it beat faster and faster.  Her energy was nearly spent and her head was quivering at what she’d realized.  In her studying of this spell, the book had specifically stated that it took a lot of energy to be able to cast this spell.  She was nearly worn out from the first casting of the spell, so she might have been able to cast it at all right then.  It was also possible that, at her size, it wouldn’t be possible to recast it, but she shrugged that thought off, not wanting to even think about it.

Her arms and legs shook as she heard the pounding of the Antlion’s steps.  As she looked up, it was nearly to her position, eyes focused on her.  She tried to push herself up and get away, but she just didn’t have the energy to do anything after the failed casting of the Size-Change spell.  She’d gotten to the point where she’d pushed herself partially off the ground, but she quickly fell back down, on her back.

The beast came closer and Tara feared for what was coming.  She knew that she didn’t have the strength to run or fight back.  She was a sitting duck, an open target for this beast.  Her head was quivering as she realized she was completely helpless.  Her pupils immediately quivered and she began to tear up.  Fear ran through her entire body as the beast approached.  ‘

Tara screamed as the Antlion nearly stood over her and let out it’s signature screech.  The sorceress looked up and saw the pincers about to come down and crush her when some unknown force had yanked her back, enveloping her entire sight in darkness…

Tara had no idea where she was.  As the Antlion had come above her, ready to strike, something had come up from behind her and forced the light out of her eyes.  She was shivering at this point, scared of the Antlion and, for the first time in years, being powerless.  Against the Antlion’s current form, all offensive magic was completely useless and she’d spent most of her strength on the failed attempt at re-casting the Size-Change spell.  She’d have been lucky if she had enough energy to try to run from the beast, let alone use The Arte to help defend herself.

In her fear, she pondered where she was, but her mind had been suppressing that thought due to the environment around her.  Everything was distracting.  She felt her legs dangling in the air , but her waist to her head was being wrapped up by…something.  She wasn’t exactly sure what it was.  It was like something was compressing on the top half of her body and blocking out the light.  What could this strange force be, and why was it helping her?

As she continued to ponder the thought of this strange force, she started to feel something from it.  Despite it being scary, she felt something coming off of the walls around her.  Going past her whimpering and the cold chills of her fear, she stopped and felt heat.  A powerful, warm aura surrounded the top half of her body, as if she had been around a conjured Fire Orb.  The heat seemed to be coming from every direction and was, somehow, comforting her, sending out all the cold.

Almost impulsively, Tara had started to try to move about in her new environment, feeling slightly helpless being held in one place.  As she did so, her face hit one of the walls and she immediately stopped.  This wall was very soft to her touch.  It pushed in at her face’s touch and seemed to be filled with warmth as her face was pressing against it.  The soft, warm aura it was giving off gave Tara a strange feeling.  It was a feeling of…safety.

She, for some strange reason, felt safe in this new place.  ‘This is place is so soft and warm.  Where…is this?  I’ve never felt such warmth before.  I was just on the verge of death and now this?  Could I be…dead?  No…No, that couldn’t be.  I would have felt the Antlion pierce into me.  This must be real.  It must be!’ she thought as she was in this place.  Although constricted, the grip this force had on her seemed to be more on the soft side.  She wasn’t struggling to breath, and nothing hurt aside from the fatigue she’d been experiencing the past several moments.  This place was, if nothing else, where the Antlion was not.

As the thought of the Antlion pulsed through her head, Tara could hear something.  An ear-shattering scream; an Antlion’s scream.  Her body chilled with fear as she heard it, although it sounded a little different than before.  It almost sounded like it was distant and far from her current location.  If she didn’t know any better, she would say that it came from below her.

Following the scream came an even higher-pitched one, with some sort of crashing sounded.  As soon as the crash was heard, everything went silent.  Tara had taken this opportunity to push her head further into the soft, warm wall next to her.  She didn’t care if it stopped or that she was distant from it.  Simply hearing the Antlion again made her quiver with fear.  Her fear of being helpless had surfaced again today, showing that no matter how strong she acted and seemed to be around the townspeople, she was still the same scared, little girl that she always had been.

A few moments went by and Tara could feel something pushing against her legs.  They were still dangling from whatever force had gripped her, and it almost felt like she was moving.  Her legs were being pushed back by something that felt like air or wind.  Pondering the thought as she whimpered, she was curious about something.  Could she have been dangling in midair at the moment?

After awhile, everything stopped again.  She no longer felt the pressure on her legs, presumably because whatever had gotten her had stopped moving.  She lifted her head from the wall for a moment, hoping she’d be able to see something to give her a clue as to what was going on, but she was still wrapped in darkness.  She did, however, feel the air return, this time, pushing up against her legs.  She almost felt like she was moving downward, a soft chill running up her legs.  Eventually, she stopped, and all her answers were about to be given.

The walls around the tiny sorceress quickly moved, revealing a vast array of sunlight that poured down onto her.  She immediately closed her eyes, covering it with her two palms.  She could feel heat coming from both directions now.  The walls behind and below her were producing a lot of heat, but the light hammered down on her eyes.  Even with her eyes covering them up, she could feel the heat from it piercing through them.  It caused an almost-burning sensation on her eyelids.  The sun’s rays were taking their toll on her diminished form.

As she dealt with the heat and the light, she rolled slightly and felt one of the walls being pushed against her, as if she was suddenly lying on it.  The entire feeling sent chills up her body, feeling her head, shoulders, back, and even her legs resting against the soft walls.  As comforting as this place was, she was still shivering a little from the ordeal she’d just gone through.  She impulsively screamed when she felt slight movement.

As if to answer her prayers and prove that there was nothing to worry about, Tara heard a voice coming from above her.  It was a soft, gentle voice that almost seemed to echo in her ears.  She heard the words it spoke, as if it were a constant echo from her own mind, telling her that everything was going to be okay.  If she didn’t know better, she would have thought that an angel was descending from the heavens to take her away.

“Hush, little one.  Everything is going to be okay.  Please, open your eyes.”

The voice that had come from above was ringing again and again in Tara’s ears.  It was loud and seemed to echo infinitely.  If it had sounded any differently, it would have driven Tara to tears in fear of what kind of being had spoken down to her.  She was, after all, quite small and weakened, temporarily unable to focus to use The Arte.  Anyone or anything could have just come by and picked her up, planning to do whatever they wished with her.

This voice, however, was different.  The tender, gentle sound of the voice almost sounded divine to her.  It was as if an angel had appeared before her to take her away from the reality of her situation and keep her safe.  It had spoken to her, telling her that everything was going to be alright.  It sounded so gently that when it had told her to open her eyes, she immediately felt like she could trust it.  She gently parted her eyelids and tried to open her eyes up, focusing her vision as the sun’s rays continued to beat down on her.

She kept a hand over part of her eyes as she looked up, trying to adjust to the new light that was being shone down on her.  After a few moments, she thought she’d adjusted enough and moved her hand, only to reveal an amazing sight before her.

Above Tara was a face.  Not only was it a face, but it was the face of an Angel, a Goddess.  Rays of light were shining down through her golden, blonde hair, making it look like she was radiant and glowing.  Tara’s jaw immediately dropped upon seeing her and her face quivered a little.  She peered up at this face as it smiled down towards her and parted it’s own lips, preparing to speak to her.

“Hello there, little one!  Are you okay?”

Her words still sounded gentle and warm to Tara.  She wasn’t sure how she could even begin to respond in the presence of someone who looked so divine, but she soon found out what had happened.  Her head had moved when she’d spoken down to her, showing the bright sun above and revealing the huge face of a young woman.  Tara took a good look at the woman’s face when she’d moved out of the sun and finally hit herself with the realization of who it was when she’d seen the dried tear-spots on her face.

Tara didn’t say it out loud, but she then realized that this woman was no Angel or Goddess, but was the young woman she’d been trying to protect from the Antlion.  The girl must have snatched her up sometime after she’d become smaller.  She was curious about everything, but she looked up at the girl’s face.  Although not divine, it looked beautiful and inviting.  Tara slowly nodded up towards her and nervously said “Y-Yes…I..I’m alright. ”

The face above her let out a huge grin upon hearing those words.  The woman’s head turned and she closed her eyes for a moment during the smile as Tara began to want to take a look at her surroundings.  She tried to move her head, but couldn’t take her eyes off the face that still loomed above her.  Thre were so many thing about this situation that were new and confusing to her.  A big thing was how all of this happened.  She’d guessed that she’d been picked up, but she wanted to know the truth.  Slowly speaking up, she tried to be as formal as she could, given the situation. “E-Excuse me…miss, but how did this h-happen?”

The woman that loomed over her slowly opened her eyes and looked down at her, slowly losing her smile and turning it into a frown.  She took a deep breath as she looked down at her.  Something serious had obviously happened.  Tara started to feel nervous at the change of expressions.  She realized all too well what sort of damage this woman could do to her at this size.  Were she to wish it, she could probably easily snap her in two.  Tara, however, felt safe around her and was calming as the woman spoke down to her.

“First of all, you can call me Lucy.  What’s your name?  We can’t very well talk like this and become friends if we don’t know each other’s names, now can we?”

Tara wasn’t entirely sure what this woman who called herself ‘Lucy’ meant by all this.  While it was true that they would need to learn each other’s names, especially so she could thank her for saving her, assuming that’s what she did.  She didn’t understand why she didn’t answer her question, though.  Still, though, she felt something about this woman.  She felt something very familiar, something that she had not felt in a long time.  The touch of her flesh against her body reminded her of the soft touch of her mother from all those years ago.  Trying to keep things going and hopefully reaching her answers, she let out a smile and responded to her. 

“H-Hello, Lucy.  It’s nice to meet you.  My name is…Tara.”

The face’s smile soon returned and it almost looked like she was starting to blush.  She looked down at Tara with her enormous, sparkling eyes and slowly nodded towards her. Tara’s eyes widened a little as she saw the nod, a little shocked at seeing something so big move fast.  Sure, she’d seen a lot of big creatures in her time, like dragons and such, but never had she seen a person of this size before.  Despite the safety she felt in Lucy’s hand, the movements were still very new to her.

“It’s a pleasure, Tara,” Lucy spoke down to Tara, still trying to maintain her smile.  “I’m not sure how to break all of this to you, but…you’re the size of a doll right now.  You were…you were about to be killed by that monster. I had to step in…I had to protect my protector.  That monster…it…it killed my…my…”  Lucy stopped speaking at this point, looking over towards her mother’s body.  She sniffled a little as she looked, and looked back down towards the tiny sorceress she had in her hand, a few tears forming in her eyes. 

“You did everything you could to protect me from that monster, Tara.  After it had killed Mom…I…I felt so alone…but then I saw you down there, about to meet the same fate.  I had to do something.  I had to keep you from suffering the same way Mom did…”

Tara didn’t know what to say to the poor girl.  She’d obviously been distraught over losing her mother, but at the same time, had brought up enough courage to protect and save Tara herself.  Her safety towards Lucy only grew stronger at this point, seeing how much she was in pain.  Tara couldn’t help but get a little emotional herself, impulsively rubbing her face against one of the girl’s fingers and calling up to her.  “L-Lucy…thank you.  I…I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to do this so soon after you were hit with a loss like that, but…you saved me.  Is there anything I can possibly do to repay you?  I…I owe you my life.”

Tara realized just how big of a suggestion she’d just thrown at Lucy, but she was alright with it.  She’d been helpless and there was always a possibility that she may never be able to return to her normal height.  Being saved by such an emotional, gentle woman may have been a blessing for her.  Otherwise, she’d have been lunch for that Antlion.  She was helpless and had been saved.  She owed Lucy her life.

Lucy could see the emotions building up in the tiny sorceress and tried to wipe her own tears away as she smiled down towards her.  The offer had been incredibly enticing and was sure the woman needed to get some rest from the fighting and the likely trauma of becoming so small.  She turned and looked at their house, and then back towards Tara with a question.

“Would you…like to come inside with me?  I could…help you get cleaned up.”

Tara’s smile widened as she’d heard these words.  She wanted to do a lot for Lucy to make up for her screw-up and for having been rescued by the very person she was trying to rescue.  She nodded and simply said “I’d like that.” Moments before Lucy had turned around and began walking towards the house…

Tara was tightly grasping Lucy’s fingers as she ‘rode’ into the house.  Having everything so large and her so weak was still a little scary to her.  Despite being in what she would describe as ‘safe hands’, the fact that everything was moving so quickly compared to her was a lot to take in at once.  Seeing things that are so gigantic moving so quickly was hard for her to accept, even knowing the extents of the Arte.  There was a breeze blowing against her during the movement and her nerves were tingling as Lucy walked closer and closer to the house.  Tara’s head was resting against a finger as one of the hands left her to open up a building-sized door.

Once the door was open, Lucy walked forward, into the living room where she had just received a gift from her mother.  The room was still completely empty, but for the single couch in the middle.  At this moment, a couch was all she needed.  Her little friend was, no doubt, still afraid of her new situation, and sitting on the couch might be exactly what she needed.  She slowed her pace as she walked into the room, holding her friend as gently and securely as she could.

Tara was, to put it quite simply, amazed at the size of the house.  As the two of then entered the living room, her eyes had widened at the scale of it.  The room, although empty, looked absolutely huge.  It could easily have been over a hundred feet to her, and the fact that it was empty made it look even bigger.  She couldn’t say a word as she looked in awe at the massive house that now surrounded the two of them.  Pretty soon, however, the movement and walking stopped, and she found her support moving backwards. 

Lucy sat down on the couch, slowly lowering her hands down into her lap.  She’d seen the shocking look on Tara’s face as they’d entered the room.  She couldn’t even begin to fathom what the tiny lady was going through at this very moment.  Was being so small scary?  Intimidating?  Or is it just amazing to see everything so much bigger?  Lucy had no idea, but she wanted to care for her and make her feel more comfortable.  As she rested her hands in her lap, she began to unfold and flatten them, giving Tara some space to get up and perhaps move off of them for now.

Smiling down towards Tara, Lucy began to softly speak to her.  “Go on.  It’s alright, Tara.  Walk onto my lap.  I won’t let you fall.”

Tara had felt wind coming from various directions as the hands which held her were set down into the girl’s lap.  Her body was still low on strength, but she slowly nodded, doing what Lucy had suggested of her.  Although she was scared of being around such a big person, she felt safe around Lucy.  Another factor coming into play was her debt.  Lucy had saved her life, and the least she could do was to agree to her suggestions.  She didn’t think the girl would hurt her, so she pushed herself up, slowly walking forward.

Tara began to step off Lucy’s hand and onto her lap when she lost her footing and suddenly tripped forward.  Completely leaving the hand at this point, her knees fell onto Lucy’s lap, while her face planted itself right into the shirt that covered the girl’s belly.  She felt like saying “Ouch…” from her failed attempt at walking, but she felt that it wouldn’t be right to do so.  This felt more like embarrassment than pain.  She slowly picked herself up, face completely red as she looked up towards Lucy, who was smiling and giggling a little.

Lucy had thought the sight of Tara’s tiny body moving around was absolutely adorable.  She looked like a tiny, living doll and that gave Lucy at least some familiarity with her.  She was about the size of the dolls she took care of on a daily basis, and that might just give her the experience she needed to help Tara cope with all of this.  As she saw her tripping and planting her face into her belly, she couldn’t help but get a smile to her face and giggle down at the poor sorceress.

Realizing that Tara was embarrassed by this mistake, Lucy moved her hand a little, picking her up and sitting her down in her lap, Tara’s front-side to her stomach.  As she looked down towards her, she began to take in the woman’s tiny form.  The more she saw it, the more and more adorable it seemed to look to her.  Not being able to control herself, she used one of her fingers and began to feel down Tara’s long hair.

Tara felt more and more helpless all the time.  Tripping on her way off Lucy’s hand definitely didn’t help matters, and neither did having to be moved into a better position by Lucy herself.  She almost felt like she was losing control and that she was turning back into the helpless girl she used to be.  Despite this, however, she felt a rush of chills and feelings as Lucy softly stroked her hair.  Having the girl touch her brought back the warm feeling she’d felt earlier.  The feeling that reminded her of the care her mother had given her.

With every good feeling she felt as she was stroked upon, the more Tara felt that this girl was somewhat of a protector for her.  Even though they hadn’t known each other long, Tara felt like she owed this girl anything and everything she could offer.  She had been scared for her life back in the street with the Antlion and this girl, despite grieving over the loss of her mother, went out of her way to save and care for her.  There had to be something she could do for her to repay her.  Even if it wasn’t something she could do right now, in her strained state, there had to be something she could do for Lucy.

As the thoughts built up, she got the courage to say something to the girl, who was still gently stroking on her hair.  She called up to her, causing Lucy to immediately stop what she was doing, giving her words her full attention. 

“Miss L-Lucy?  I enjoy everything you’re doing for me.  You’ve saved my life and now you’re caring for me, bringing back many fond memories from the past.  I love all these feelings, but there’s something I need to do for you.  You saved my life, and now I owe it to you.  I may be able to restore my own size when I get my strength back.  When I do so, is there anything I can do to possibly repay you for your kindness?  Anything at all?”

Lucy looked down at little Tara for a moment and began to think.  She had definitely gone through a lot these past few moments and, despite not wanting to ask the tiny sorceress for anything, one thing did come to mind.  It was a rather selfish thought on her part, but she pitched the idea down to Tara, anyways. 

“Well, little one…Tara…I don’t really need you to do anything for me for what I did.  It’s really what anyone in my place would have done.  If you insist on doing something to repay me, though…would you mind staying here, at least for tonight, and let me care for you?  I understand that if you return to your original height, you may not need me, but with mom gone, I…I’ll get lonely.”

Tara, finding the way through her fear for the first time in this adventure, smiled and nodded up towards her tall friend.  “Of course I can, Lucy.  It’s the least I can do for all you’ve done for me.”

Lucy smiled down towards her tiny friend, trying to fight away the tears that had formed in her eyes, due to the memories of her mother coming back during the previous conversation.  She whispered a brief ‘Thank You’ before continuing to stroke little Tara’s soft, silky hair…    

Tara and Lucy had been sitting together for many hours, just enjoying one another’s company.  Tara had been thinking about the promise she’d made to the girl, and felt quite happy about it.  Her life had been saved, thanks to Lucy, and she was willing to do anything in return.  Living with Lucy for awhile would be an incredibly easy thing for her to do, especially after she got back to her normal size.  Once she accomplishes that, she could start taking care of the girl instead of being taken care of. 

However, Tara did enjoy the situation of being the one who was cared for.  Despite her fear of being helpless, having her hair stroked by this tall young woman gave her an incredible feeling.  As she was in Lucy’s care, she felt like her mother was back home again, caring for her as she had so many years ago.  There were obvious differences between Lucy and her mother but, in her mind, they were both beautiful women who were trying to take care of her.  As much as she wanted to do things for Lucy to help repay her for saving her life, a part of her didn’t want to leave her care.  That part had an inner desire to stay small and in this girl’s care.

Despite the events of the day having very sad results with the loss of Lucy’s mother, Tara was glad they’d turned out the way they did.  It had been so long since she’d been cared for or had someone she could call a friend.  That’s what Tara thought she could call Lucy, anyways.  They’d just met, but she felt some sort of connection with her.  She wasn’t exactly sure what it was.  It could have been the desire to be there and dedicate her life to Lucy since she’d saved it, or it might have just been some charm Lucy had about her.  Tara didn’t know what it was, but her face grew red as she looked up at the girl, feeling as if this was a place she wanted to be.

From the opposite side of things, Lucy was enjoying every moment that she was spending as she took care of Tara on the couch.  The woman was like a tiny, living doll, something from a little girl’s fantasy-driven mind.  Just like any other girl, Lucy had always envisioned that her dolls were alive from the time she was a child.  She believed so strongly in this fantasy, that she’d always taken good care of her dolls.  Deep down, she’d always known that they weren’t ‘alive’, but that didn’t matter to her.  Now, however, there was a doll-sized person in her hands.  This doll, however, was very much alive and wasn’t a doll at all.  It was a person, someone who’d fought to protect her.

This situation caused a lot of thoughts to fill up Lucy’s mind.  Obviously, she would need to take care of poor Tara since she was so small.  It’s not like a 6-inch person would be able to just waltz around a huge house and be able to do everything a normal-sized person like Lucy would be able to, right?  She thought on this for a moment, hesitating before coming to any sort of conclusions.  Even though she was definitely tiny, could she use that magic she’d seen her use earlier in various ways to help her move around and get things done?  The idea intrigued Lucy, and she looked down at her friend, smiling and gently posing a statement towards her.

“Hey, Tara, may I ask you something?”

Tara was smiling up towards Lucy at the time and cocked her head a little at what the girl asked of her.  Surely she knew that she would do anything for her at this point.  Why would she need to ask her if it was alright to pose a question towards her?  She figured Lucy may have just been trying to be polite, so simply tilted her head a little and nodded.  “Of course, Lucy.  You may ask me anything.”

Lucy let out a smile and her own face was getting a little red.  Hearing Tara’s bright attitude was, for some reason, comforting to Lucy.  Her curiosity ran pretty deep at times, and she was worried that Tara didn’t want to reveal many secrets to her.  Happy at the fact that she could ask the tiny sorceress anything she so desired, she began to respond to her, asking about the miraculous skill she’d seen earlier.

“When you were, well…when you were fighting that monster, you did a lot of things that really looked amazing!  All those flashing orbs and flying and stuff!  It was really cool!  What was that?”

Tara had gone from being happy to being confused from that simple question.  She knew exactly what the answer to Lucy’s question was, but the thing she didn’t understand was how she didn’t already know about it.  Even though not many people around the town practiced “The Arte”, she was certain that everyone knew about it.  She knew about it when she was a little girl, before her mother died.  Was it conceivable that Lucy had never even heard of it before?  Tara wasn’t sure, but figured she might as well explain it to her, just in case.  If nothing else, she felt nice after hearing Lucy say it was ‘really cool’.

After turning herself around, she sat in the girl’s lap, now facing her and looking up towards her face.  It was a bit cramping for her neck to look so high, but she was alright with a little discomfort.  “Well, Lucy…it’s called ‘The Arte’.  I guess you could call it…magic?  Basically, I can focus the energy particles around me into forms of my desire as I cast spells.  I don’t know all that much, but it’s how I was hovering and launching those energy-filled orbs.  It’s also…how I ended up shrunk.”

Lucy was quite interested in everything Tara was saying, but cocked her head a little, confused at her last statement.  This ‘Arte’ thing seemed to be some sort of magic, so she must have been casting a spell, as she called it, that she got caught up in the middle of.  Realizing that she probably wasn’t terribly comfortable with the fact that she did this to herself, Lucy decided to try to lighten the blow by going on with the conversation instead of asking about the shrinking that had happened.

She smiled down towards Tara and gently wrapped her fingers around her, setting her in her hand.  Bringing the hands and Tara up to eye-level, she smiled and threw a request towards the tiny sorceress.  “Show me, Tara!  Show me all those amazing things you can do!” 

The girl was quite interested in Tara’s abilities, almost child-like at the idea of seeing all of the spells and tricks Tara could do while using ‘The Arte’.  She had a huge smile on her face and her eyes sparkled as she looked at Tara.  Tara had seen the look in her eyes and, after seeing such an innocent look, how could she possibly refuse?

The arms that had held tiny Tara had retracted themselves as she stood in front of Lucy’s face.  Both their gazes met one another and locked.  Lucy was curious about the power Tara wielded, the Arte, and had a child-like expression of curiosity and glee on her face.  Not wishing to do anything but fulfill her new friend’s wishes, her smile grew wider and she nodded towards her, agreeing to do exactly that.  The question was what would Lucy want to see and would Tara have the strength to do everything she wished to show her?

“Okay, Lucy!  I’d be happy to show you what I can do, but…there are a lot of different things I can do with this power.  What, exactly, did you want to see?”  Tara was looking into Lucy’s eyes, cocking her head slightly as she asked her that question.  There was a lot she could do.  She could make energy balls, hover, glide, and a host of other things.  She assumed Lucy wanted to see something she’d done in her fight against the Antlion, but wished to ask the girl herself, just to be sure she wasn’t assuming the wrong thing.

“Anything!  Everything!  You were so amazing back there!  Umm…Umm…Do the flying thing!  Yeah, do that!”  It was incredible that Lucy could maintain her child-like nature at her age.  Although she was young adult, she was still an adult.  Not many women would be acting giddy and child-ish, like she was.  She, however, was a special case, and she was very excited at the moment.  Her cheeks were growing red as she awaited Tara’s response and actions, hoping she’d do a lot of amazing things for her in the new few minutes. 

Tara couldn’t help but giggle a little at Lucy’s attitude.  The girl was like a child.  Still, it was nice to be around someone like this.  Tara, outside of people who talked to her on the street, had been alone for a long time.  She felt a special connection forming between her and this girl.  The girl had saved her life, something that she felt eternally grateful for.  Were it ever asked, she would do anything for the girl, anything in the world.  Of course, this request for the hovering technique would be cakewalk for her.

“Alright, Lucy!  Don’t move your hand, okay?  This is going to take some concentration and I’m going to hover above your hand if this works!”  Tara looked up, waiting for Lucy to show she understood what she meant before continuing onward.  Soon enough, Lucy gave her a quick nod.  Nodding back towards her, she closed her eyes and began to concentrate.  She stood straight up and moved her feet apart from one another.  Taking a moment to concentrate, still unsure if she had enough energy recovered to make the casting, she took a few deep breaths.  After taking a moment, she quickly clicked her heels together and attempted the spell.

As soon as the boots clicked together, Lucy’s eyes started to widen and her smile grew.  A soft, red glow came around the boots for a moment, and Tara’s feet began to slowly move upward, pushing away from the palm in which she stood.  Lucy could almost feel a slight amount of tingling air shoving against the middle of her palm as the tiny sorceress was moving up into the air.  It was a strange feeling, but she loved every second of it.  The tiny sorceress moved upwards about 2 inches and stopped, hovering in the air above Lucy’s palm.  Lucy wasn’t saying a word, only taking in the insane amount of coolness and cute that came with Tara’s tiny, hovering form.

“Oh, my gosh…that’s so cool!!!!!” exclaimed Lucy, nearly knocking Tara forward in the air as her hot breath flowed out towards the tiny girl.  Tara opened her eyes and started waving her hands around, maintaining her balance.  It was very hard to balance oneself when in the air and having, quite literally, no support.  She, however, maintained her position and calmed herself, smiling back at Lucy, starting to feel a little giddy at how much praise she was getting at this very moment.

“R-Really?  Am I…really that cool?” Tara asked, meekly.  She’d never really thought of herself as anything really special.  If she’d gotten anything from her mother, it was modesty.  Sure, she practiced the Arte, and even saved a few lives in the past, but she’d never thought of herself as special or extraordinary.  She was just another woman who happened to know how to channel the basics of the Arte.  Right now, however, she was feeling warm and fuzzy inside, every word from Lucy ringing in her ears and shaking her heart, making her feel as if she was liked for all of this.

“You really are, Tara!  You’re so adorable and cute and cool and amazing!  I could never do things like that!”  Lucy’s words were piercing Tara in the body, mind, and heart.  Such words had never been said to her, except by one person.  When she was a child, her mother used to praise her all the time.  She was the only one who ever did.  Lucy reminded her of her mother in this way, and that only helped her emotions and feelings towards the girl at this moment grow stronger and stronger.  She simply smiled up towards the girl, her face growing a crimson red. 

The two girls were staring at each other, taking in each other’s forms and looking at how wonderful their moment was when Tara noticed something very strange about her environment.  Her arms and legs started shivering as she hovered in the air.  Their gaze was broken as this happened and Tara starting looking at her limbs, confused as to what had happened.  Why was she cold?  Why was she shivering?  She grabbed onto her arms and tried to stop what was happening, but she couldn’t.  It was like her body was making itself cold on it’s own. 

Her mind was filled with possibilities, but one rang far above the rest:  the warmth was gone.  That was it.  It had to be.  Lucy’s body and hand was filled with a radiating heat and had been warming Tara up.  Being above her hand and not on it anymore made her feel the effects of room temperature and it was making her cold.  As she hovered in place, shivering, Lucy noticed it, too and blinked, asking her what was wrong.  “Tara?  Tara, dear, you’re shivering.  What’s wrong?”

Tara didn’t know what to say.  The only thing that was going through her mind was Lucy and her hand.  For some reason, it’s all she was thinking about, all that she wanted.  She started whispering to herself.  “I…I need your hand again…”  With that statement, the hovering spell immediately broke and Tara fell down into Lucy’s hand.  As she landed, her body hit the palm and the girl’s fingers.  As she came down, Lucy was trying to reach for her, worried about what had happened, but Tara was too quick.  The girl had clenched onto her fingers, burying the top half of her body into it, still shivering slightly.

Lucy was amazed when she saw Tara starting to hover over her hand. It was wonderful, absolutely wonderful. However, that wondrous event soon turned into shock and surprise when Tara was starting to shake in the air, and she eventually broke her spell and fell into Lucy's hand again. She hadn't fallen very far, but she'd literally fallen from the sky and was clenching onto her fingers, as if she were a small child, clenching onto it's mother for safety. Lucy blinked and listened as Tara was trying to speak with her, talking about the warmth of her hand. 

The very idea of what had happened was both frightening and joyous to Tara. She'd been in the air, away from Lucy, her new friend. She was in the air, hovering, just as she'd done a million times before in her life, but being away from Lucy's hand seemed different, somehow. She wasn't sure if it was solely the cause from her body being 1/12th of what it used to be or if she just wanted to be closer to the giant-sized woman she was spending time with. The fact, though, was that she missed the warmth that Lucy provided terribly, and despite showing off her abilities to her, she just wanted to be close to her again. As she hugged against a couple of Lucy's fingers, she looked up towards Lucy's shocked face and smiled, softly nuzzling her cheek into a fingertip. 

The smile and loving that was brushing along Lucy's fingertips were sending a quick, soft chill through the girl's hand and arm. The scene was absolutely adorable, but she couldn't help but wonder if Tara really was alright. Did she really miss her hand and her warmth that much? The girl did seem to be happy. The smile on her face looked true and full of affection, and her face was slightly reddened as she did look up. Her fingers were nearly squinting, as if she were about to fall asleep on Lucy's hand, like it were some kind of bed. She wasn't sure just how Tara felt, but the scene brought a smile to her face as well. 

Lucy decided that if what Tara needed was someone to clench onto and love on her at that moment, then that's exactly what she was going to give her. It brought a warm feeling in Lucy's heart, a part that was always envisioning her own dolls as real people when she took care of them and made sure they never got dirty or hurt or messed up. Starting this off, she slowly raised her free hand and brought it over towards Tara. She extended the digit and tip of her index finger and slowly lowered it towards Tara's tiny, robe-covered body. It briefly tapped on Tara's hair and began to slowly stroke it as she whispered down towards the girl, bringing out a clichéd statement she'd used with her dolls, but still felt all the same. “Don't worry. Lucy's here, and she'll take care of you. I'll keep you warm and safe, Tara.” 

Tara's body was filled with a deep, soothing chill as Lucy's voice pouring into her, like a stream of protective energy. Her voice held the tone of a gentle, caring person and she believed every word that was being said. As the over-sized fingertip ran across her hair, her her head started to shiver slightly and she closed her eyes. As the stroking was continuing, massaging her head like a good friend hanging onto her in her time of need, she started to softly purr in reaction. Her eyes were closing and she rested her head against Lucy's other fingertip, clenching a little gentler and more comfortably. 

The tiny sorceress took deep breaths as she took in the huge amount of affection she was receiving, almost unable to believe that all of this was possible. She was starting to feel a lot for this woman, and the fact that she felt so soothed and comforted from all of the stroking and speech that were being given to her made those feelings stronger and stronger. She felt as if she never wanted to leave this place as the chills continued to march throughout her veins. She looked back up, her cheeks blushing even further, and just stared into Lucy's eyes, her big, beautiful eyes. 

There was nothing but affection being thrown from Tara as Lucy saw the tiny one's gaze switching, looking up towards her own gaze. She locked gazes and started to feel something even stronger. She felt some sort of bond with her tiny friend. Tara's form was small and adorable, just like the dolls Lucy had loved and cared for her entire life, but there was something more about her. The look on Tara's face, the way she'd acted towards her this entire time, and more. Lucy was feeling more and more compelled to do more for the girl. She wanted to take care of her, more so than she was doing at that moment. 

Not taking a single eye away from Tara, Lucy pulled her hand towards her shirt as she slowly lifted herself from the couch. She had an idea for this tiny girl, of how she could help her further, help both of them further. They couldn't do it here on the couch, though. If she were going to take further care of little Tara, they'd need to go to one of the only moved-in rooms of the house. As she finally stood up to her full height, she stared down towards Tara, sure that she would be reacting to her movements. 

Tara did just as Lucy had expected her to do. The feelings of her world moving made her head jerk from side to side, unaware and unsure of what, exactly, was going on. She stared up at Lucy and lost her smile for a moment. Lucy's chest was getting closer and the entire world moved upwards. Starting up, with a concerned look on her face, she whimpered up towards her big friend. “L-Lucy? Where are...we going?” Tara was sure they were headed someplace, otherwise Lucy wouldn't have gotten up. She was trusting in the woman, but still had the curiosity it took to find out people's secrets. She wanted to know where they were headed. 

Lucy could see the worry in Tara's face, although there was no reason for her to be concerned. Lucy was starting to really feel for the tiny girl, although it was just from looking at her and caring for her. Trying to calm Tara down, she gentle pulled her into her chest, cushioning most of her body against the shirt in front of her right breast. As she did so, she slowly lowered her face right above Tara's and began to whisper again. “Shh. Don't worry, you cute little Tara. We're just heading to my bedroom, where I can take better care of you, better than I am right now. Please, hush and just continue what you were doing a moment ago.” She ended her statement with an impulsively-like kiss on top of Tara's head. 

Tara's entire being felt like it was blushing and being melted away as she was tugged directly into one of Lucy's breasts. The large breast almost felt overwhelming, but the gentleness of Lucy's hold on her made it feel safer, like it was a huge, soft cushion for her to lay on. After hearing the words from Lucy and receiving a larger-than-life kiss on the head, she smiled again and pushes herself against the breast she was held into, resting her head against it. “T-Thank you...I'd like that.” she whispered, as Lucy began to walk out of the living room.

Tara was melting away against the soft, warm breast she was being pushed against. Everything that was happening was totally unreal. How a battle for survival and a miscasting of a complex spell could have possibly led to this scenario was beyond her. She felt like she was back in her mother's arms again, wrapped and protected by her aura and that nothing could ever happen to her. The only difference was that this was Lucy, her new friend, someone she was becoming fond of very quickly. She was leaning in and nuzzling against Lucy's shirt and breast, loving every second of this.

Lucy could feel the loving and the nuzzles that were being given to her. They were, to say the very least, wonderful to her. Tara was doll-sized, but she was beginning to look less like a doll to her and more like...something else. Lucy couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something about Tara that shone out towards her. Something about her looks, her form, her actions towards her, that made her feel something for the girl. The feeling was warm. Was it friendship? No, it didn't feel like friendship. She felt like she wanted to take care of this woman forever. She felt like she couldn't let her go, even if she tried.

As Lucy was walking through the hallway, she eventually stopped at a doorway. Looking down, she stared into Tara's tiny form, smiling as wide as she could. That little woman was the most adorable thing she'd ever seen, and she had her all to herself, at least for now. Her smile was turning into a frown, however, as she began walking into her bedroom, thinking about all of the things that may have to happen later on. Eventually, Tara would be able to restore her size, and Lucy may have to say her goodbyes. She started pulling Tara in a little tighter as this through roamed her mind, slightly scaring her for some reason.

Tara immediately noticed the forcefulness that Lucy was now exerting towards her. She was pushed further into the breast, nearly getting smothered in the process. She squirmed around as the heat overtook her, turning her head so she could breathe. The softness was nice, but something felt strange about how she was being held. She quickly called up to Lucy, worried that there was something the matter. “L-Lucy? Lucy, you're holding me...too tight. W-What's...what's wrong?”

Lucy was blushing as she walked further into the room. The room, itself, was fairly small. Not much had been moved in thus far. In the middle of the room was a long, Queen-sized bed, adorned with bright pink sheets along with an Indigo Bedspread. On the right side of the bed was a relatively large window and next to the window was a built-in shelf, adorned with several dolls, not much bigger than the Sorceress she now carried. They lined the entire wall, in perfect form, synchronous with one another. Lucy had always paid very close attention to detail, even in how she was displaying the dolls on the shelf. The assortment was absolutely perfect.

As she walked in further, however, she could feel the movement on her breast, and could hear little Tara calling up to her, telling her that she was holding her too tight. Quickly shaking her head, she pulled her hand away from her breast, holding Tara in front of her face. She wasn't sure what to say to the tiny girl. She was embarrassed and hesitant, not wanting to tell her what, exactly, was on her mind. Despite this, she didn't want to lie to the girl. She started feeling like Tara was very important to her, and had to be straight with her. She laid herself down on the bed, on her side, and set little Tara next to her face. As she watched the little Sorceress sitting down, she began to talk with her.

“N-No, Tara. I...I'm okay. I just...was thinking. I know that you'll eventually get your energy back and be able to reverse what happened to you. As I think about it, I just...don't know. I feel like, having you restored will mean you won't have time to spend with me anymore. You'll go back to your old life. I know we haven't known each other long, but I feel like you're something really special to me. I really like you, and I...don't want to lose you.”

Tara had made herself a comfy little position, right in front of Lucy's beautiful face, ready to listen to what was bothering the girl. She felt really strongly about helping her, since Lucy had helped her a lot. She'd saved her life, and Tara owed her everything. She blinked and intently started listening to the echo-like voice of the giant-sized girl. After a moment, though, she started to get nervous chills up her spine and was starting to feel for the girl.

Lucy had told Tara that she didn't want to lose her, that she was really starting to like her. This made the emotions build up in Tara, both happy and sad. Tara could tell that it was hard for Lucy to talk about this, and she, honestly, didn't want to leave the girl. She did need to restore her height, but that didn't necessarily mean they couldn't still be around each other. Shaking her own head, she pushed herself up and started walking towards Lucy's face, her cheek in specific.

As she reached her cheek, she looked into Lucy's eyes for a moment. She then got on her knees and looked at the girl's lips. They were thick, soft, and Tara could feel the warmth coming from them. It made her feel even more attracted to this beautiful, kind girl. She placed her hands on either side, realizing what they were both wanting. They didn't want to leave one another. Finding no other way to express herself to the woman, she leaned her head in, slowly pushing her closed lips into the closed crease between Lucy's lips. She was having a bit of an emotional moment, but it was something she was feeling. Their lips met and Tara spent a good few minutes, giving her tall friend a long, soft kiss.

This moment was to be magical, not only for Tara, but also for Lucy.  Never had Lucy imagined what Tara was going to do when she lied down on the bed like that.  She could see her approaching her face, her tiny legs pressing down on the sheets of the bed.  She saw her kneeling down before her, but she never saw what was coming.  She figured she might push herself against her cheek again.  However, what Lucy was not expecting was to have Tara’s lips coming forth to meet hers.  Deep down, she desperately wanted that, but she didn’t think it was actually going to happen.

As she felt Tara's lips pushing against hers, her entire body went into some sort of emotional shock.  She couldn't move at all, or perhaps she could move.  Perhaps she could move, but just didn't want to.  Her eyes were gazing down towards Tara's form, but it felt as if time, itself, had stopped.  There were numbing chills all over her body and her pupils were quivering.  She slowly drifted away from the present, leaving all worries and doubts behind.  She felt as if she was being dragged away from reality, into a world where only she and Tara could exist, and everything else was gone.

The deep effects of the kiss weren't only affecting Lucy, however.  Tara's body was being sent through a wave of feelings and more as their lips were continuing to embrace with one another.  The feeling of those warm, thick, captivating lips against not only her own lips, but her face as well was magical, and that was only the beginning of this moment.  Before long, something was about to be tapped into  that would send both of them into a deeper, more magical moment.  Closing her eyes, a barrier went down inside of her and something crept out.

Lucy was fully enjoying this moment, closing her eyes as well, gently pushing her lips against Tara's face, trying to give as much as she was receiving.  Something was happening, though.  She felt a strange tingling feeling coming from her lips.  It wasn't like any nervous or chilling sensation she'd ever felt before.  It was different.  She slowly began to open her eyes, aiming to stay in this moment and see what this feeling was.  She thought, perhaps, that Tara may have been adding something more to the kiss, and her eyes bolted open at what she saw.

Tara was, most certainly, adding something extra to kiss, although she was not entirely aware of it at the time.  Her body had tensed up, and it began to let go of the restraints she'd taught herself to have.  She pushed harder into the kiss, letting both sets of lips embrace one another further.  She was getting lost in this wonderful moment, he trapped face turning red, her soul burning with a strong passion that she'd never felt before. 

Her body began to show clear signs that something else was at play here.  Slowly, but surely, Tara's robe began to ripple and shift, as if being blown into, by the wind.  As this happened, something was happening around her boots.  A small amount of red light was forming at the bottom of them.  It swirled around her legs in a spiral motion, moving up those boots, around her ankle.  At the same time, the light shot downward from Tara's boots and a larger spiral of light began to form around Lucy's feet. 

Lucy didn't know what to make of this.  What was happening?  She could feel a warm, protective aura around her toes, arches, heel, and even her ankles.  It was slowly moving it's way up both their bodies.  What in the world was this?  She had no idea, but the feeling it was giving her was warm and soothing, just as the kiss was.  She didn't dare close her eyes, but simply continued the kiss, completely incapable of desiring for it to end.

The light spirals were continuing to work their way up the two womens' bodies, having more effects than it may have originally intended.  As the top of the spirals met their knees, the bottoms began to work their way up, leaving a glow-like aura around their feet and ankles.  Whatever this was, was emitting a powerful aura and having some sort of visual effect on their bodies.  It slowly worked itself higher and higher, moving from the knees and up towards the waist.

Tara remained completely unaware of what was happening.  She could definitely feel something working it's way up her body, but she was too enveloped in the moment to care.  The only thing that on her mind was the kiss she was now sharing with Lucy, and the desire to give as much for her as possible.  She had never once felt this passionate towards someone before.  Was it love?  Perhaps it was.  No matter what it was, she wanted the moment to last for an eternity and show Lucy as much of what she was feeling as she could. 
 
Before long, the two spirals of bright red light had worked their way up to their stomachs and chests.  As it passed over them, leaving behind it's soothing, yet physical aura, there were ticklish tingles that swept through both ladies' stomachs and breasts.  It was as if joy and happiness were a tangible, energy-like element that could literally be passed through this wave of light.  Lucy wanted to start giggling and laughing from this feeling, but knew she couldn't.  That would break the kiss, and breaking the kiss is the last thing she wanted to do.

Tara soon became aware that something was amiss when this feeling creeping up her body was soon coming up through her lips and to the top of her head.  Her eyes slowly opened as she felt a strong feeling sweeping through her lips and into Lucy's.  It didn't feel like the passionate kiss.  It was something else.  It almost felt...magical.  Her eyes looked from side to side and then suddenly noticed it.  Both she and Lucy were, somehow, caught in an immense red aura.  At least, that's what most would call it.

Tara knew exactly what this was, but she could not believe that she was unknowingly conjuring it.  The feelings coming from her heart at that very moment were connecting with Lucy's.  Her powers were acting on their own, collecting those feelings and emotions, melding them together and making their presence aware to the naked eye.  The red light around them was no mere magic trick.  It was a physical personification of the bond they were creating.  It was an energy field.

As soon as she'd realized it, Lucy was starting to feel different.  She felt her body moving, Tara's along with her.  The two never broke the kiss as both their bodies, the energy field as their guide, began to lift up, hovering into the air.

The lightshow in Lucy’s bedroom was absolutely incredible.  Neither Lucy nor Tara completely understood what was going on, but they were so far gone into their moment that they didn’t care about understanding.  They didn’t need to understand, for they were simply enjoying the moment, that magical moment the two were sharing.  One can say that a kiss is magical, and they were living a literal example of that statement becoming true.  They didn’t have to believe in magic or call it forth.  They only had to believe in the bond they now shared.  It was enough.

The kiss had started with just Tara planting her lips onto Lucy’s letting the two share the moment.  However, the power within Tara had somehow become active.  They now glow a bright red color as they embraced and some new effects were now coming into play.  Not only were they glowing, but the power had put their bodies in motion.  By some twist of fate, something had been awakened inside Tara.  It was something they were both now experiencing as their bodies began to lift into the air.  What would happen at the end of this, however, neither of them knew or could guess.

They could both feel the bed leaving them behind, yet their kiss never broke.  They were hovering in sync with one another, re-enacting that same kiss from the bed in the air.  Lucy had her eyes open this entire time, watching the room around them moving as they were hovering in the air.  It was absolutely incredible!  The bond between the two of them grew stronger and stronger as they shared this wonderful spectacle.  They were flying.  Not only Tara, but Lucy was flying as well.  How can a simple kiss be doing all this?

The answer to that question will come later.  As they stopped moving upwards, they were at the very central point of the room.  Lucy’s arms came around, worried about Tara possibly falling.  They wrapped around most of the woman’s body and pulled it into her face.  No words could possibly describe the feelings going through their minds at this moment.  One could say it was magical, but others would call it something else.  To Lucy and Tara, they were seeing each other in bigger and deeper ways than before.  Their hearts were started to bond and connect further.  If you asked them, this feeling was love.

The two of them hovered in the air, finally breaking the kiss.  As they did so, nothing changed.  Lucy was holding Tara in front of her and she softly licked her lips, taking in that warm, sweet taste Tara had left behind.  She just stared at Tara, not saying a word, though she was thinking the same thing Tara was thinking.  She was simply holding her, looking at that tiny, aura-covered body.  Tara seemed more and more beautiful all the time.  Lucy couldn’t help but just stare into her beauty.  It was magical, for lack of a better term.

Tara was going through a lot in this scenario, too.  She could feel energy being used from her body, a lot of energy, but where was it coming from?  This power…she’d never seen it before.  It could have sparked from the kiss, unlocking a cage of emotions she had inside of her the whole time.  It was a very interesting thought, and she could ponder it all she wanted later.  At that moment, however, she didn’t care.  All she cared about was that tall, cute woman that was holding her tiny form, keeping her safe. 

She stared into Lucy’s face, which stared right back at her.  She couldn’t stay silent, though.  The feelings were rushing through her body and she had to say it.  She couldn’t hold it in any longer.  It was something she’d been contemplating since this episode began and she’d been brought into the house.  She stared at the glowing Lucy and leaned forward.  As she did so, she hovered forward, pulling herself into Lucy’s cheek.  Pushing against it like a cushion, she looked up with a warm smile on her face.  She called up to Lucy, planning to tell her what she was thinking.

“L-Lucy!  I…I love you…”

These four words shocked Lucy.  She’d been thinking it, too, but hearing the words from Tara sent a huge wave of chilling energy through her body.  Her heart warmed and began to increase its pace.  Before long, it felt like the heart was about to burst from her chest.  Tara’s words were incredibly strong.  They carried with them the emotions and feelings of a tiny sorceress, a tiny sorceress who was falling in love with her.  She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do at first.  She was getting incredibly nervous, but also incredibly happy at all of this.

Lucy eventually felt as if she needed to respond to Tara.  The little sorceress had done so many wonderful things for this moment, and she’d just told her she loved her.  Caught in the moment, Lucy ran her fingers along Tara’s back as she slid her across her cheek, towards her lips.  She pulled Tara in for a quick kiss before holding her in front of her face again, whispering to her, allowing her words to flow into Tara, pushing her hair back.  “I love you, too, Tara.”

As the words left Lucy’s mouth, the event around them had finally been finished.  The emotions of the two skyrocketed and with them came the next phase of the spell that had activated itself upon their kiss.  Streams of red energy started pouring out from each of their chests, dashing around their backs.  They filled the room with an even brighter light, but it wasn’t painful to the eyes.  It was warming and comfortable.  As they swirled around their backs, they began to connect with one another, making a single spiral that was encircling them both, rather than them separately. 

As the spiral was put in place, a bright flash of light began to appear between them, completely engulfing their bodies…

The two women were getting so entranced by one another, and by everything that was going on around them.  It was only a simple kiss, but it had become so much more than that.  That one kiss was activating something that was deep inside Tara’s body.  It was enveloping them both in a bright light of magical energy, helping to tie them both together, as if sealing a contract with one another.  The light had become an immense spiral that enveloped them both, hiding them in its aura.  What would happen with this light, neither of them could know.

As the light got stronger and stronger, it eventually reached the climax of its effect.  The two girls nearly screamed as the spiral became one immense ball of light.  It appeared between them and expanded out until it covered the entire room, like a fiery supernova expands and envelops the system of planets the star once protected with its light.  Lucy and Tara were both blinded by the light and started to feel energy draining from their bodies.  The spell that had been activated was collecting energy from both of them and firing it at one another’s bodies. 

Surges of energy could be felt on either side of the spell and it only made the two happier than before.  They couldn’t open their eyes, but they could feel each other’s energy coursing through their veins.  This was a true union, of sorts.  Not like getting married and kissing one another, but something else entirely.  This was a level of feeling neither had felt in their entire lives.  They were, quite literally, sharing each other’s energy, and as that energy came in, they were opened up to the feelings they’d both acquired for one another.  One might say this was a magical moment, in more ways than one.

As the two of them were sharing more and more of each other’s energy, Lucy felt the strongest effect of this.  While she had acquired feelings for Tara, she was feeling everything Tara felt towards her as well, and it was almost overwhelming.  In her mind, she could see Tara’s perspective of what had happened outside earlier, and it was all playing with Tara’s feelings surging through Lucy’s veins.  She could see the Antlion attacking Tara, and then a giant-sized her scooping her away from the danger. 

It was truly an interesting scenario for Lucy.  She could actually feel her body warming up as the memory of Tara being held by her was playing back and forth in her head.  She could feel the protection that she was giving Tara with her larger size and felt the feelings change as Tara’s feelings had changed overtime.  Tara truly thought the world of Lucy for what she did.  She was her savior, and she’d fallen in love with her because of that and the way she had been treating her.  Lucy’s face blushed in the light as more of Tara’s feelings poured into her head.

Just as Lucy had felt Tara’s, Tara felt Lucy’s feelings as well.  The bigger perspective of what happened outside was playing in her head.  She could see Lucy watch the Antlion attacking the minimized Tara.  Feelings of the need to protect the little one surged through Tara’s head as she watched the scene play out, from Lucy’s perspective.  Her face was blushing just as much as Lucy’s was as she started feeling all the affection and love Lucy had been acquiring towards Tara, viewing her as one of the dolls she loved with all of her heart, but as a real person to spend her life with.

The two of them were being overwhelmed by each others’ emotions for quite some time.  Events played in each of their minds that only made the bond they were creating stronger.  After all, that’s what this spell was for.  It interconnected their minds and hearts, allowing them to feel how they felt towards one another.  They weren’t aware of it at the time, but it was a Unification spell, a secret Arte that cannot be controlled by skill, but only by will and emotion, when the time comes when a wielder of magic submits herself, in her mind, to someone and falls in love.

Lucy’s body, Tara’s with it, slowly began to descend towards the bed as the light began to fade.  The immense aura around the room was weakening as their bodies slowly made their way down to the bed below.  Brief bits of wind could be heard below them as the force keeping them skywards was closing Lucy’s back, butt, and legs in on the sheets of the bed, letting them ripple and wave from side to side.  Within moments, Lucy’s form had softly set itself down on the bed, pushing down on the sheets, ever-so-slightly.

The feelings were starting to fade away as the aura did, and Lucy regained control of her body.  Pushing her head up, she opened her eyes with a huge smile on her face.  Her eyes sparkled with a fiery passion that she had never felt before as she looked down towards her stomach.  Lying on her side, smiling up towards the big Lucy, was Tara, the same sparkle in her own eyes.  Their gazes locked for a few moments as they stared at one another, taking in each others’ forms.  No words could possibly describe the feelings and happiness coursing through both of them at this point.

The spell had taken its toll on Tara, though.  She tried to push herself up, but she just didn’t have the strength.  It had taken almost everything she had to sustain that spell, although its activation was involuntary.  She slightly whimpered as her face fell down into the thick, soft material that made up Lucy’s blouse, her little body shivering.  She stared up at Lucy’s face, never losing that smile, despite not having the strength to move.  Even if she was weak, she was very close to someone she loved, and that made all the difference to her.  Fatigue didn’t matter anymore.  Getting bigger didn’t matter anymore.  All that mattered was the giant woman she was with.

Lucy could see Tara’s plight and shivering.  Although she never lost her own smile, she worried for the poor woman.  She’d felt so many things for her, and seeing her cold and shivering just didn’t sit right with her.  She thought for a moment, and thought of something.  Reaching below her neck, she slowly unbuttoned her blouse, pulling it apart to reveal a set of breasts, entrapped by a flowery-white bra.  Between the two breasts, her hand fished down and unsnapped the bra, letting her breasts move outwards a little bit. 

She reached down and carefully let her fingers wrap around Tara’s body as she let that smile beam down towards her.  Slowly picking her up and bringing her closer to her chest, she whispered to the girl.  “Don’t worry, my love.  I’ll keep you warm and safe.  You can rest all you want, so long as I have you closeby.”  As she finished her statement, she had brought Tara up to her chest.  She slowly lowered Tara’s body between her breasts, her knees just under where the strap had been buckled moments before.

“This might seem a little tight at first, but you’ll be safe here, and I’m sure you’ll like having those two soft ‘pillows’ as company.”  Lucy giggled as she watched Tara give her a nod of agreement, the blushing taking over her entire face and head.  She slowly brought the strap over Tara’s knees and snapped it back together, letting her breasts come in and softly push against Tara’s body from both sides.  Lucy then leaned her head forward, bringing her lips down to Tara’s head, giving her a kiss.

“Good night, sweetie.  I love you.”  Those words from Lucy had sparked some energy in Tara as she felt her hair being completely messed up from the kiss.  Everything felt so much stronger now, especially having the warmth of those two enormous breasts snuggling against her.  She didn’t have much strength, but as she slowly dozed off, she responded.  “I…love you…to-” 

As Tara fell asleep, Lucy took a few minutes, softly stroking the girl’s hair with her finger before leaning her head back and dozing off herself.  This moving day had been a wonderful day, and she imagined would only get better from here.

The house was absolutely silent that night.  Nothing made a single peep.  There were no small animals roaming around the inside of the house.  There was nothing swaying around the rooms from the wind that blew in through the windows.  There was only silence and love.  Love that had just been born, magical love that had bound two people together.  Love that had not only bound, but had done much more than the two people involved realized.  For this love was true love, and love that most people are never capable of finding, in the first place.

The night went by quick, but it didn't go by quick enough.  Those two women had very busy minds as they slept.  It was a deep sleep for both of them, but not nearly as calm as they would have hoped.  They both dreamed separate dreams, yet they dreamed the same dream.   The after-effects of the spell that had bound them had shown them the grim truth of every miracle.  There is always a catch, something negative that can come from something positive.  To one, or both of them, this negative could seem bad, but it could also seem good.

As Lucy slept, her fingers were almost constantly fidgeting and curling into a fist.  Her mind can gone into a dreaming state and the dream was both good and bad.  She was standing in the middle of her house, holding up her little Tara in her arms.  They were both smiling at each other, enjoying the time they were having together.  She pulled Tara into her chest, hugging on her countless times as they were there, only interested in each other, not caring about the outside world.  Just like before they slept, the world was completely meaningless to them.  They were in love, and that's the only thing that mattered.

However, as Lucy pulled Tara in for another hug, something strange happened, something unforeseen.  As quickly as Tara's tiny body had been pushed into her chest, she was gone.  The little woman in her hands had disappeared, with only a small stream of smoke coming from Lucy's hands.  There was no explanation as to how or why it happened.  The only thing that was there was the fact that she was gone, nowhere to be found. 

Lucy had gone into a panic from not seeing Tara in her arms.  An overwhelming feeling of grief and despair had overcome her as she hunted around the house for her.  She looked in every corner, box, shelf, and crevice, but the girl wasn't around anywhere.  This dream had caused Lucy to sweat during the night and her breathing was slowly getting heavier and heavier as the feelings from the dream were filtering out into her body in reality.  It was as if Tara had disappeared, not only in the dream, but for real as well.

Tara, like Lucy, was also having the same dream.  Her mind was creating images of her being held by Lucy and hugged against.  The warm, protective feelings of the soft flesh of Lucy's chest being gently pushed into her made her feel wonderful.  It was warm, and big enough to be a bed, but she could also be locked in there, protected from the outside world.  She could almost live between those huge, soft breasts, and call it home.  A home that was on the woman she was in love with.  Lucy could not only be  her friend and someone she loved, but also be where she stayed and lived.  She could be her everything. 

Just like in Lucy's dream, though, everything turned sour.  One moment, Tara felt herself being pushed into and snuggled against that giant-sized, caring woman, and the next, something had pulled them apart.  What that something was, Tara didn't know, but she felt an incredible force clenching onto her, yanking her away from Lucy's chest, arms, hands, and everything else.  She could see a bubble-like barrier forming around her body as she was tugged away.  The feeling of being separated from Lucy was overwhelming to her.  It was something that she didn't want, from the very core of her being.

The two of them felt the same thing in both their dreams.  Lucy was looking for Tara throughout the house, and Tara was being held in a bubbly prison in the middle of the living room.  They were both desperately wanting one another.  Tara screamed and bashed on the barrier, calling out to Lucy for help, but Lucy didn't seem to be able to hear her as she ran from room to room, trying her best to find that little woman.  It was like some other force was at work, dead set on making sure the two of them were not around one another, and could not be around one another. 

Eventually, in both dreams, Lucy finally came back to the living room and saw Tara.  Both their eyes lit up as they saw one another, but a force repelled Lucy as her hands came for the barrier.    Something was forcing her back.  Their feelings went from hope to despair as this happened.  They both desperately tried to break that barrier, but with every attempt, they were pushed further apart from one another.  

In reality, the two bodies, laying with one another were shivering and sweating, tossing and turning, desperate to break the dream.  By the time morning arrived, the dream was broken by a loud alarm clock.  The two of them both shot their eyes open and, at the same time, screamed each other's names.  As their lungs ran dry of energy, they both realized it was just a dream.  Their breathing was heavy as Lucy unbuckled her bra and Tara stood up on the woman's laying body.  Tara had to sway back and forth to stay balanced with Lucy's heavy breathing, but she stayed up and stared up towards her.  

Lucy was starting to shake and, upon seeing Tara, her hands rushed down, sweeping the girl right off her feet and pulled her right into her cheek, tears running down her face.  “Tara!  Tara, you're okay!  You're okay!!!!!” 

Tara wanted to break down and cry, too, and there were tears running down her face as well, but she could hear Lucy weeping and whimpering.  The woman was obviously at a loss for words and she had a feeling she had the same dream she did.  Letting tears run down her own face, she simply pushed herself further into Lucy's face and softly spoke up to her as she laid a few kisses on the girl's cheek, trying to fight the urge to break down and cry.  

“I'm here, Lucy.  I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere.  I promise...”  

Tara stood on a huge white plane, looking down into an immense bowl, as she waited for Lucy to return.  Her face was still wet from sweating the night before, but she was starting to get over it.  Her breathing was heavy and she could only think of how life was going to be from now on.  Being the size of a doll was still new to her, and the world was a very big place.  Her daily walks through town might very well turn into walks to the bathroom and back.  Everything was so much bigger.  The sink she stood on, tables, and Lucy.

Lucy was that wonderful, beautiful woman who had saved her life and captured her heart.   The very thought of her gave Tara a tingling sensation in her chest and reddened her cheeks.  A smile came to her face as Lucy’s face mentally formed in her head.  Her entire experience with her had been absolutely wonderful.  Even the nightmares about being separated her only made her feel closer when she awoke and was able to comfort Lucy, for once.  The fact that she was capable of comforting and loving someone over ten times her size was warming to Tara, and gave some meaning to her diminished size.

At this point, Tara could probably re-cast her spell and return herself to normal height.  She’d regained almost all of her energy from the previous evening, but something was holding her back.  As thoughts of Lucy and the night before flashed through her head, she didn’t want to return to her normal height.  She remembered, all too well, the feeling she got when Lucy’s hands enwrapped her and took her out of harm’s way and the feeling of having her breasts as big, cushiony pillows on either side of her, only there to give her a comfy night’s rest. 

Most of all, though, was the kiss.  All other effects of it aside, the feeling Tara got as she’d leaned down and let those big, luscious lips overtake her was like nothing she’d ever felt before.  Her entire body had been tingling and when they kissed back towards her, it took her to another world, one where it was only her and her tall friend.  She had only known her for a day, but Tara could not imagine a day without having those big, soft lips coming forth and gracing her with a big, affectionate kiss. 

Even as Tara stood there, looking over the sink, eyes-closed, and thinking about it, her eyelids let a tear escape.  Tara had been affected by this in much bigger ways than she’d bargained for.  Lucy had become everything to her, and she hoped that she would only become more and more important as time went on and they spent time together.  The feelings they were both feeling were truly magical, and much stronger and warming then she had thought love would be like.  It was like she had a big, tall Mommy to protect her.  No…it was more like a dozen Moms all in one person.

As her thoughts were swirling around about Lucy, she thought about what had happened since last night.  They’d both awoken and were hanging onto one another, each traumatized by the dream from the night before.  Lucy was hit the hardest, though, and Tara had been verbally calming her.  She spent over an hour, leaning against Lucy’s chest and speaking up to her, assuring her that she was right there, by her side, and that she would never leave her, no matter what happened.  Tara spoke everything she felt, saying that they were a team, and nothing could or would ever change that.

It was all true, too.  Tara felt that she belonged with Lucy, and could never imagine her being without her.  They had created a bond and felt like they were part of one another’s lives.  Nothing could or would tear them apart.  Their bond was too strong for that.  After some time of this supporting, the two decided that they needed to get up and embrace the new day.  Tara was kept against Lucy’s cheek as they got up and went into a small bathroom that was connected to the bedroom, where they slept.

 They both knew what this day would have to offer.  Tara was pretty small, but she still had to do everything a normal person would have to do during the day.  She would still need to take a bath, brush her teeth, eat food, and everything else one needs to do during the day.  The two had discussed all of these things on the way in.  Although Tara had the idea of casting a few spells to get herself cleaned off, Lucy had other ideas.  She told Tara that she wanted to figure out her own ways of helping her, and that she might not always have The Arte to depend on.

Tara had reluctance to not using the Arte with her own cleanliness, but her feelings for Lucy told her to let her do what she wanted.  She knew that all the tall woman wanted was to help her out.  She had agreed to let Lucy do what she wanted and figure out her own ways of helping her.  She knew, all too well, how it felt to be helpless, and she didn’t want Lucy to ever feel like she couldn’t do anything for her.  She’d agreed to be set down in the bathroom while Lucy was off, getting whatever ready she needed to.

What she didn’t count on was seeing Lucy leave.  She’d been standing on the bathroom sink for about 5 minutes, and was already starting to miss her.  She turned and looked towards the opening, hoping that she would hear those loud pats on the floor the signified that her lovely friend was coming back to see her again.  She held her hand out and, as if to answer her prayers, she felt and heard it.  Those soft, yet powerful tremors from the ground that spawned from Lucy’s feet walking across the house.

Within moments, Tara brightened even further as she saw Lucy walking into the bathroom, a smile on her face as she came back and immediately lowered herself, bringing her face in front of both the sink and Tara.  “Hey there, cutie.  You miss me?” 

Tara couldn’t help but immediately get red in the face when Lucy had come back in and said what she said.  Being called ‘cutie’ pushed a button deep inside her.  Her face immediately reddened and she started giggling for a moment.  It felt incredibly cute and warm to have a little nickname like that.  Although she knew that she was older than Lucy was, she loved the name she’d just been called.  Her reaching hand ran across Lucy’s face and she nodded, a smile coming across her own face, symbolizing that she had, indeed, missed her tall friend.

Deep down, she had missed her.  After the dream they’d both had the night before, the idea of being separated from her big friend was all over Tara’s mind.  She had wanted to break down just as much as Lucy had from the nightmares, but after she’d seen the deep sorrow in Lucy’s eyes, she knew she couldn’t.  She was the older one of the two.  Although she was a lot smaller than Lucy, she knew that she had to be the one to comfort her that time.  She had to show that she could be there for her and make sure Lucy felt comforted.

Since she had taken it upon herself to comfort Lucy, she hadn’t let all of her feelings out about the dream, so, naturally, she missed Lucy from the moment she’d walked out of the room minutes before.  Her arms were stretched out just before the woman had walked back into the room, mentally calling out to her and she was overjoyed when she’d come back into the room moments later, calling her a ‘cutie’ no less.  She continued to rub her hand over Lucy’s cheek, so long as that big face stayed close by.

 Lucy could see the comfort she’d instilled in Tara and it made her happy as well.  She almost didn’t want to move her face at that moment.  For a moment, she wanted to just keep herself in that position and let little Tara rub on her cheek for the rest of the day.  However, they’d come into the bathroom for a reason.  They needed to find out alternate ways for Tara to get everything done that needed to be done, like brushing her teeth and taking a bath.  If they were to settle in with one another with their size differences, Tara would need ways to get all of this done, and Lucy was excited to help her with this.

“I missed you too, Tara” said Lucy, winking at the tiny girl.  After she’d shut her mouth, she backed her face away from the girl and got on her knees, still looking at her at eye-level.  She fumbled with a few things she’d brought into the room with her, as Tara curiously watched her digging into both the pockets of her clothes and a cabinet that was below the sink.  After a moment, she pulled out a few things and softly set them down next to Tara, the most noticeable one being a toothbrush.

After putting the cabinet stuff away, she looked back up at the sink, at Tara and started to softly speak to her.  “Now then, my little Tara…if we’re to get you doing the things you need to be doing, we’re going to have to experiment a little bit.  We need to still have you brushing your teeth and eating and bathing and all of that normal stuff.  But!  I don’t want you to rely on your magic for this.  I’m sure you can do amazing things and clean yourself with that magic, but, well…I asked you not to, because, well…”

Tara tilted her head as Lucy stopped mid-sentence.  She knew that Lucy wanted to be able to provide Tara with ways of doing these things on her own, without using the Arte, but was a little confused at Lucy’s reaction just now.  Her face was growing red and she was looking to the side.  Reaching forward, Tara’s arm barely reached Lucy’s cheek.  Softly rubbing it again, she smiled and inquired about what Lucy was talking about.  “Because what, Lucy?  What’s the matter?”

Lucy felt a chill through her face as her eyes went back to Tara as she saw the affectionate, little sorceress trying to help her get through the conversation.  Having those little fingers on her and that little voice, trying to calm her and help her through this made her warm inside.  Raising her left hand into the air, she started to softly stroke Tara’s hair again as she continued her statement, whispering right in front of Tara’s body.  “Because…I’d like to help you.  I want to…”

Tara was even more confused now.  She already knew that Lucy wanted to help her, but she seemed so nervous about this.  What was this thing that she wanted to do that was making her fidget so much?  Tara had closed her eyes and leaned her head into the finger that was stroking her, but she’d re-opened her eyes when Lucy was sounding so nervous.  Was there something wrong with what she was going to ask?  Tara had no idea, but she aimed to find out. Lucy obviously wanted to say something, and Tara wanted to help her get through the statement.

Putting her other arm forward, she touched Lucy’s other cheek.  Rubbing them both, she smiled up into Lucy’s eyes and locked gazes with her.  She started blushing again and called up to her, wanting her to know what she thought.  “Lucy, please don’t be nervous around me.  Whatever it is that you want, just say it.  It’s not good to see you nervous like this!  You don’t have to be afraid!  Just…tell me.  Tell your little Tara all about it”  As she finished her statement, she turned and planted a soft kiss on the finger that had been stroking her.

Feeling that kiss and those words, Lucy was feeling a wave of emotions.  Her smile grew wider and her face blushed even worse.  Taking a deep breath, she nodded towards her, trying to make sure the girl didn’t lose her grip on her cheeks as she continued.  “I want to take a bath…with you.  Can we…can we do that, Tara?  Do you want to take a bath with Lucy?”  Lucy’s face maxed out on blushing and she looked down for a second, embarrassed at the question she’d just thrown at Tara.

Lucy was looking at the ground, while her hand was against the sink, incredibly embarrassed at what she’d just asked Tara.  They’d shared a special moment the night before, and she felt they had gotten close, but she wasn’t 100% confident with the question that she’d posed.  Some things are hard to ask, no matter how much you love someone.  It’s not easy to come up to them and ask them to take a bath with you, for the first time.  It took a lot out of Lucy to say those words, and a lot of what helped her say it was Tara’s support and reassurances that she wanted to know what Lucy was trying to ask.

She was also worried about Tara’s response to the question and about the bath itself.  So many ‘what if’ scenarios were playing in her head after she’d asked.  What if Tara didn’t want to take a bath right now?  What if she slipped and hurt Tara in the bath?  What if Tara slipped and got hurt?  What if she drowned?  What if she accidentally got pulled into the drain?  Lucy’s mind was bothered with so much, and it all was rooted in the affection she’d acquired for the girl.  She loved her, and never wanted to see her hurt, especially by her own hand.

Lucy was over-worrying, however.  Tara had felt a lot from the question and, for a moment, her cheeks were the same color as her robe.  The idea of being in the bathtub with big, giant Lucy was an idea that gave her chills, but also gave her a lot of excitement.  Her lips immediately creased and she got a huge smile on her face.  As she thought about it, however, she decided that she didn’t want to verbally respond to Lucy’s question.  The poor girl was nervous about asking her that question.  She wanted to do a bit more, so she could show Lucy exactly how interested she was in this idea.

Bringing her hands together, she started slowly twisting her leg around and shooting a bit, blushing face towards Lucy as she softly tapped her finger with her boot, getting her attention.  She was a little embarrassed at her idea, but she was still eager to do it.  Slowly turning around, she put her feet in front of the edge of the sink-bowl, pushing her heel against the crevice, dropping her boots off, revealing her soft, bare soles.  Bringing them back up to the sink, she quickly undid a few ropes and a ribbon, trying to hurry and get the next action over with to give her friend as good of a scene as possible.

Throwing her arms to the side, her robe fell to the sink, revealing her slender body, beautiful skin, absolutely flawless, as if covered in sweet, slick lotion.  She kept her gaze away from Lucy, however, looking towards the back of the sink, not wanting Lucy to see her face quite yet.  She was already in the middle of this motion, and she did not want seeing Lucy to embarrass her more and get her to stop.  She didn’t know how Lucy was reacting, but she could only hope that it was in a good way.

Lucy, in fact, was reacting in a way that Tara may have wanted.  From the moment the tiny sorceress’s robe had come off and her bare skin was shown off, Lucy’s entire body had felt a warm chill and her entire face went crimson.  Her mouth had even opened up a little, shocked at the actions Tara was now taking.  It was exciting to see her little lover-girl doing this for her, but she didn’t expect it.  She simply expected her to say yes or no to her question.  This was a turn of events that was both unexpected and exciting, for the both of them.

Tara reached behind her back and quickly unsnapped the red bra she’d been wearing under her robe.  With a simple click, it freed itself and fell into the sink’s bowl, freeing her rounded, aroused breasts.  She looked down at them for a moment and started blushing as she got to her next action.  She slowly began to turn towards Lucy.  As she did so, she slowly brought Lucy’s blushing, embarrassed form into view.  Her breasts bounced to the side as she whipped herself around at the end, giving her giant friend a playful, lustful smile.

Lucy’s nerves were on fire from these actions from Tara.  She had never even begun to imagine how the girl had thought up this sort of action.  She had never encountered any sort of action like this from anyone around her before.  She loved it, but she also didn’t know what to think of it.  That little lady was so tiny, yet so captivating to her.  Everything about her form looked absolutely perfect.  Those rounded breasts, the flawless skin, that adorable face.  There even looked as if there was a crimson aura surrounding every bit of the Sorceress’s body, as if there was magic at work here to enhance and amplify the girl’s beauty.  Everything looked perfect, to Lucy.  She almost wanted to snatch up that little cutie and start smooching on her right then and there.

Tara could see the embarrassment in Lucy’s eyes and, deep down, she wanted her to keep her eyes on her.  Reaching down, she slowly slid her hands down, tickling her fingertips on her own stomach, on the sides.  As her hands slid down, her own embarrassment skyrocketed.  She looked down as she began to slide off her red panties, matching her bra and robe.  As she slide them down her legs and slowly stepped out of them, the embarrassment hit full force.  She realized it now.  She was naked, completely naked in front of Lucy.  All Lucy had asked was if she wanted to take a bath.  This was definitely a big answer.

Tara impulsively started to cover herself up with her arms as she looked up and nodded towards Lucy.  “I, uh…”  She was starting to get a little nervous at how extravagant her actions were just now.  “…I would love to t-take a bath with you!  Let’s draw the water so we can wash each other and, uh…have fun!”  Tara had an innocent-like smile on her face as Lucy’s face was getting redder by the second.  She was happy, though, when Lucy accepted what she’d done.  The giant girl started reaching over towards the tub as she spoke to her.  “O-Of course, my little Tara.  I’ll get the water running right now and get myself ready!”

As Lucy turned the water on, the two of them looked at one another, Lucy with an embarrassed look on her face and Tara’s look becoming interested, awaiting to see Lucy do what she’d just done… 

Lucy was at a loss for what she should be doing.  Tara just gave her quite the show, and in the back of her mind, she felt like she needed to do the same for her.  She just didn’t know just how to do it.  She’d never done anything like that for anyone before.  As the water ran and ran, she started blushing as she looked down at the naked, embarrassed Tara.  The girl was obviously at least a little embarrassed from what she’d just done.  Lucy owed it to her to do the same for her little lover-girl.

Tara looked at Lucy and had her head tilted a little bit, curious and slightly amused at the giant girl’s obvious nervousness.  What was she doing?  Was she just standing around, trying not to blush at the fact that Tara was naked in front of her, or was it something else?  Was she thinking about things that made her nervous?  She had no idea what was wrong with her friend, but she planned on finding out.  She sat herself on the edge of the sink and let her legs dangle over the side.  “Hey, big girl, is something the matter?”

Being called ‘Big Girl’ definitely did not help Lucy’s nervousness in the slightest bit.  She got goosebumps all over her arms and legs and she shook her head as a cold chill traveled up her spine.  What was she waiting for?  She wanted to do something for the girl, but she just couldn’t move.  She fidgeted and started to answer, knowing that she needed to hurry up and force herself into doing what was on her mind.  This was for Tara, and she had to do it, no matter how much she might fumble through it.  “N-No!  Of course not!” she quickly said as she threw her hands down and looked at her top, beginning to pull it up.

Tara let out a smile and covered her face with her hand, trying to hide the giggles that she got from Lucy’s nervous, but oh-so-adorable reaction.  That big girl was embarrassed and nervous about taking her clothes off in front of her.  It was so cute.  As she looked, she saw that Lucy was staring down at the floor and her face was completely red.  Wanting to help encourage her friend, she spoke up to her, in the hopes that her words would give Lucy the courage she needed to do what she was trying to do.  “Don’t worry, Lucy.  It’s just me.  I slept in your cleavage last night, because you wanted me to.  I love you, and you don’t have to be nervous around me.  No blemish or imperfection could sway the way I feel.”

Lucy’s head was still pointed at the ground, sluggishly pulling up her top, revealing a smooth, soft belly, perfect and untouched, as Tara’s words traveled through the air and entered her ears.  The tiny sorceress was good with words, and every last one struck her like an arrow from Cupid himself.  She let out a smile and started to get tears in her eyes as Tara told her that she loved her.  She was right, too.  They loved one another and she had no reason to be nervous around her.  She quickly nodded her head and yanked her top off, throwing it to the ground behind her. 

She sniffled as she moved her arms and pulled the rest of her clothes off, almost frantically, as the nervousness was climbing up in her, her hands driven by the words Tara had given her.  Although she did feel much more comfortable, the nervous feelings weren’t completely gone.  She had never been naked around anyone, other than her mother before, and she never really accepted her body as being pretty or anything.  IN fact, she often shunned the way she looked.  As she got the rest of her clothes off, her naked form was standing directly in front of Tara, and Lucy had a blushing look on her face.  Her hair blew as a breeze came in and she softly spoke to her tiny friend.  “I..h-hope…you’re not disappointed.  I…know I don’t have that perfect of a body…”

As Lucy stood before her, Tara was both astounded and shocked.  She saw Lucy’s towering form, and her body looked absolutely perfect to her.  She got chills throughout her entire body as she saw that smooth, soft belly, those rounded shoulders and her pair of cushiony breasts.  She started to tear up, amazed at the sight, and she got up, looking into Lucy’s saddened gaze.  “Lucy, stop saying that.  You don’t think that highly of yourself, do you?  Well, pick me up for a second and bring me up to your face.  I have something I want to tell you.”

Lucy blinked for a moment, almost confused at what Tara was about to say.  Looking over, she saw that the water had gotten high enough for her.  For a quick moment, she reached over and shut the water off.  Coming back to Tara, she nervously let out a nod.  Pulling the girl into her palms, she pulled her up in front of her face.  She didn’t know what Tara wanted to tell her,  but she was willing to listen.  “What is it, Tara?  What is this something you want to tell me?”

Tara smiled as she was lifted through the air.  Wind pushed down against her, but she knew that she was safe, so long as she was in Lucy’s hands.  She had never been one for heights, but with Lucy around, everything seemed a lot safe.  As she finally got up to that beautiful face of Lucy’s, she walked forwards, in preparations of what she was about to say.  Approaching the girl’s lips, she bent her little, naked form over, and gave those huge lips a quick kiss and looked at the blushing girl’s face.

“Lucy, believe me when I say this.  You are, without a doubt, the most beautiful person I have ever seen in my entire life.  Your body is nothing short of perfect.  Stop looking down on yourself.  No matter what you may think or people may have told you in the past, you are absolutely gorgeous.  Now, let’s get in that tub so I can help wash this wonderful body of yours.”

It was like some sort of dream, having the two of them together.  They hadn’t known each other for very long, but had passion towards one another.  Passion to bring them up higher and give them the courage to do everything they could to support one another.  As quickly as Lucy had gained her insecurity about her figure and getting naked in front of Tara, that tiny sorceress had come forward, bringing words straight from the hear to help comfort her big friend.  Despite only being the size of a doll, she had the heart of a Giant.

Lucy didn’t lose all of her nervous feelings, but her face got very, very red after receiving both the kiss and the support from Tara.  To think that she’d found someone so wonderful, so pure, was a magical thought.  She imagined that it wouldn’t matter what she looked like.  Tara would probably still call her beautiful.  Her lips curled into a smile and wanted to immediately devour that little sorceress in a kiss as thanks.  Fighting off the urge to do so, though, she thought about doing what she wanted to do in the first place.  She looked over towards the bath tub, which was pretty full, and started moving towards it.

Tara was held close to Lucy’s cheek as the move was made towards the tub.  She looked at Lucy’s smiling face and then at the tub.  As much as she wanted this, the tub, itself, did look a little intimidating.  To her, it was like a small pond or lake.  She could easily drown in that water, but she knew that she had Lucy with her, and that she would keep her safe.  It didn’t matter that it was intimidating.  As long as her love was nearby, she knew she was safe.

As Lucy reached the tub, she took a deep breath.  She still wasn’t entirely sure about taking this bath, though she knew that she wanted to.  Being naked with Tara was weird enough for her.  She stared down at the water for a few moments before she was nudged along by Tara herself.  In the corner of her ear, she started hearing the voice of her little lovely.  “Are you going to get in the tub, or am I going to have to get you in there myself?  There’s nothing to fear.  I’ve told you before, it’s only me.  Besides, all this stalling is like a huge tease.  It’s driving me crazy!”

Lucy’s jaw opened up a little at all of this talk that Tara was giving her.  The girl wasn’t only just trying to support her, but she was getting excited at everything that was going on.  She must have really wanted to get into the bath with her, just as much as Lucy wanted to, deep down.  She knew that she couldn’t keep her little lover-girl waiting, so she gently raised one leg into the air.  Her sooth, curved skin slightly shook as her foot passed over the side of the tub.  She slowly brought it down and tapped the water with one of her toes before jerking it back up.

Bumps started flying up her leg as her toe had touched the water.  Feeling the difference in temperature of the water had given her the chills.  She held her foot above the water for a moment as she heard Tara giggling into her ear.  She was obviously amused at this action.  Lucy was this big, protective person, and she couldn’t even stick her foot down in a little water for a bath.  She let out a sigh and smiled herself.  Hanging Tara as tightly to her as she could, she lowered her foot down, letting it down into the water.

Lucy had closed her eyes for a moment, getting used to the temperature of the water before bringing her other foot over, pulling it down as well.  Before long, the girl was sitting down in the water that came up right above her bellybutton.  She’d gotten comfortable in it and then pulled her hand, and Tara, away from her cheek.  The girl was still nervous and offered a small smile.  “So…what do you think?”

Tara looked around, especially at the parts of Lucy’s body that were submerged in the water.  She kept scanning the area until she looked back up and started blushing.  She had an idea of what she could do to make this situation a little more fun and comfortable for Lucy, but it wouldn’t be terribly easy.  “You’re marvelous, honey.  Seeing you, sitting in this water, is true eye candy.  I couldn’t have asked for a better person to fall in love with.  But…I think I want to do something to help with this bath.  If it’s okay with you, put your hand, and me under the water for a few moments.”

Lucy blinked for a moment at what Tara had said.  She wanted her to put her underwater?  What purpose could that serve?  What if she drowned?  What if she got lost?  A million things were flying through her head as she got a worried look on her face.  Tara didn’t allow that to stay long.  She called up to Lucy and rubbed on one of her fingers.  “Don’t worry, Lucy.  I’ll be fine.  Please, I want to do this, for you.”

Lucy was still a little worried, but Tara did have more experience with things than she did.  She did, after all, have the mysterious Arte on her side of things.  Reluctantly, she agreed and began to lower Tara down into the water, allowing her to do what she wanted to do.  As her hand descended, she whispered down to her, just before submerging the tiny woman.  “Be careful down there.  I don’t want anything to happen to you, Tara…”

Tara smiled for a moment before the water overcame her entire body.  Wetness was everywhere around her at this point.  She simply closed her eyes, knowing what she had to do.  Keeping herself still, she held her hands out in front of her, concentrating.  Within moments, a white glow began to appear around her hands.  High above her, the surface of the water began to bubble.  Lucy carefully watched as it began to bubble and then foam as Tara was doing her thing to enhance their bath experience.  As more and more bubbly foam appeared, Lucy’s worried look started to look like a smile, knowing exactly what Tara was trying to do for her.

Lucy's feelings on putting Tara under the water had started out being those of worry. There were so many things that could happen to someone that small. She could accidentally gasp for air and drown, Lucy could accidentally drop her, her body could twitch and hurt the poor girl. So many things could go wrong with this situation. However, as she held Tara down under the water and saw what she was doing, her frown and worried expression turned to one of happiness and joy. She started greatly enjoying the idea Tara had as she emitted a glow and started making the water of the tub bubble and foam up.

As the seconds flew by, more and more foam began to appear all over the surface of the water. It popping up in random places at first, but then it started to appear and connect to the other pieces of foam. As they connected, they began to cover up the entire surface of water until only one small circle remained untouched. That area was right above where Tara's body was. All of the foam seemed to be pushed back from that area, enabling Lucy to keep looking down at her as she worked her magic. As that last section was the only bare area left, the sorceress' hands came down and the glow stopped.

Lucy watched as the glow stopped and what Tara was doing came to a halt. As soon as the spell had ended, the foam started to slowly cover up the area above the sorceress. As it did so, Lucy saw it as the perfect time to re-introduce the Tara to the world of air and oxygen. She pulled her up and out of the water, still standing in her hand as she came to the surface. As she was pulled above the surface of the water, her ankles still touching water, Lucy's eyes bulged and her head shook, letting out a huge smile.

Within moments of seeing Tara, Lucy saw something that tickled every bone and muscle in her body. Her head flew back and she started bursting out, laughing her lungs dry. Tara looked up at her big friend, absolutely confused as what she was laughing at. She got a worried look on her face for a moment, wondering why she would be laughing at her in the first place. She, embarrassingly, called up to her, crossing her arms. “W-What's so funny?!”

Lucy tried to control her laughing as she moved her hand a little, causing poor Tara to fall on her butt in her wet hand. She looked down at her, tears running down both her cheeks, face a dark, crimson color and shook her head. Using her free hand, she reached to the side and pulled a small, handheld mirror from a nearby shelf and held it in front of Tara, forcing out a small whisper between her giggles and laughs. “S-See for yourself!” She held the mirror in place, which was almost as tall as Tara was, eagerly watching for her reaction to seeing what she meant.

Tara raised her eyebrow at Lucy's incredibly hysterical behavior, completely confused as to what she was talking about. Did she look funny? Was it because she was wet from being down in the water? She had no idea, but she was soon brought face-to-face with a mirror that was nearly big enough to be a body-sized mirror for her. As she looked in the mirror, her eyes widened as she saw her own reflection. The name Lucy had given her was very proper. She was covered, head to toe, in a huge layer of bubbles from the foam she'd created.

Lucy had an enormous smile on her face as she saw Tara's reaction to all of this. Her eyes had gotten huge as she saw herself covered in bubbles, and Lucy was trying really hard not to continue laughing at her. Tara kept looking at the mirror and fell back down on her butt, laughing herself. Trying to control her own laughing, she muttered up at Lucy. “T-That's...that's not funny!” All she got from Lucy was a huge giggle and a statement of disagreement. “It is, too! You look adorable covered in all that bubbly foam!”

Lucy couldn't help herself. Tara was obviously a little embarrassed at the situation, especially at the fact that Lucy was losing herself in her laughter. She continued to try holding back the laughing and giggles as she brought the girl up towards her face. “Come here, you little cutie. I'll help you get all those bubbles off.” Before Tara had time to respond to her again, between her own laughing and embarrassment, she was gently pressed into Lucy's cheek. As she was being held there, she could feel her friend using her fingertips to softly rub on her back, taking all of those suds and foam off her.

Tara was halfway laughing when all of this began and she slowly stopped, soothed by the feel of her big lover's fingers rubbing all over her back. She started to feel chills from her tough and began to get more comfy with the situation. She leaned herself in further and started nuzzling herself against Lucy's cheek, not saying a word. She didn't have to, though. Lucy could feel her nuzzling against her, showing her all of that affection. It was all helping both of them to get more comfortable around one another in the tub.

Lucy slowly got more comfy and snuck a finger between them and wiped the foam off Tara's front side as well. As her finger passed over the tiny girl's breasts and stomach, she heard little giggles coming from her. She held her out in front of her and spoke to her. “Aw...does someone have a ticklist belly? Oh, oops...I think I missed a spot. Here, let me help you with that!” As soon as Lucy had spoken, Tara was brought forward and Lucy lips covered up her stomach as she closed her eyes, blushed and starting kissing on her.

The situation was becoming absolutely marvelous, just as all the other situations Tara and Lucy had been in together had become.  This bath had gone from embarrassing to fun to hilarious and now to loving.  Tara had let out so many giggles when Lucy had run her finger along her front side, especially her stomach.  It tickled her to death to have that soft finger stroking across her bare skin.  She could feel how much power Lucy had over her.  She could do whatever she wanted to her, but she didn’t.

Lucy could, literally, do whatever she wanted with Tara.  Although Tara did wield The Arte, she was still only the size of a doll.  Lucy could do anything to her.  She could hurt her, push her around, trap her someplace, make her live in her shoe, force her to be her slave, among other things.  However, Lucy didn’t do any of those things.  Out of all the things she ‘could’ do, she only loved on Tara and showed her true affection.  She loved that little lady, and was so comfortable now in the bath tub that she was teasingly talking to her and smothering her with kisses.

The kissing started as one short, innocent kiss on Tara’s stomach, but Lucy didn’t stop there.  As soon as that had ended, she could hear Tara giggling.  As she re-opened her eyes and saw Tara’s blushing face, she held her in front of her face for a moment before coming close again and letting her lips graze across Tara’s breasts, kissing on her again.  She could feel Tara’s body reacting to all of this, and she only tried to make this as comfortable as possible by finishing the kiss and speaking three words to her.  “I love you.”

As those words came out, Tara reached forward, trying to give her giant lover a return kiss, which Lucy gladly let her do.  As soon as she had, though, Lucy started kissing her again, and again, trekking all over her body.  She kissed on her stomach, her breasts, into her lips and face, down her legs.  She was getting so into the situation, her blushing got worse.  As she kissed along Tara’s ankles and feet, she smiled and let out words between kisses.  “I just…mwah…want to…mwah…kiss every…mwah…part of Tara I can!” 

Tara was beginning to feel overwhelmed by this situation.  Lucy was getting very affectionate and was smothering her with more kisses than she could even count.  Every time she wanted to do something or say something, she was assaulted by more and more loving kisses.  She was giggling and laughing as those lips tickled over her entire body, before getting to the point where she had to stop with the kissing and take a break.  “Ahah…wait…hahaha….Lucy…ahaha…stop!”  Within a moment, the giant girl did exactly as she asked.  She stopped the kissing and held her in front of her face.  She looked at her and asked her, “What is it, Tara?”

Tara was showing Lucy nothing but smiles as she realized just how loved she was.  Lucy had just met her the day before, yet she had just assaulted her with words of love that could only come from the heart, and kiss after kiss after kiss.  It was truly incredible.  However, she wanted to be able to show Lucy her own affection, and to do that, she actually needed a chance to do something.  She decided to do this right at that very moment, feeling a little selfish for accepting all of that love.  She clicked her bare heels together and began to work her magic.

Within a matter of seconds, a white aura started appearing around Tara’s body.  The aura resonated for a moment before putting out a show of force.  It started expanding from her body and slowly began to push Lucy’s fingers and hands away from her.  As Lucy lost her grip on the girl, she put her free hand under her body, afraid she was about to fall.  As she did so, however, she didn’t catch Tara.  Tara didn’t need catching at all.  She was still right where she was before, hovering in midair, with a smile on her face.

Without a word, Tara moved her hands and reached down, towards Lucy’s chest.  A wave of light the same color as the aura she was emitting shot down towards Lucy’s right breast.  Lucy blinked as she saw all of this happening, but wasn’t sure what Tara was doing.  All of her abilities were incredible, but every single time Tara used them, she learned something new.  Still watching intently, she saw Tara slowly hovering through the air, heading downwards, towards her chest, following that beam of light.  Tara’s gaze had shifted from Lucy to her breast as she traveled.

Lucy was smiling down towards her lovely sorceress as Tara finished her journey through the air and came down on her breast.  Her arms stretched out and she grabbed onto it when her aura began to slowly fade away.  Lucy was watching this the entire time and moved her hands, in case Tara would fall from her, but she soon realized that she wouldn’t be moving her arms much at all.  Tara nodded her head and a barrier-like wall appeared between her hands and her breast.  Tara simply looked up and shook her head towards her friend, showing that’s not what she wanted. 

“No, Lucy.  Don’t worry about me.  Don’t try to catch me or hold me.  What you just did for me made me feel absolutely wonderful…”  Tara began to blush and her eyes were watering as she spoke.  “We love each other so much, even though we haven’t known each other very long.  You just gave me a world of loving through those kisses.  You showed your affection.  Now, let me show you mine.  Let me kiss and love on my beautiful girlfriend.”  As she finished her statement, she began burying her face into Lucy’s breast, nuzzling against it and rubbing her entire body against it as she kissed her lovely Lucy, just as she had just done for her.  

 Lucy wasn’t sure what she thought about being blocked away from Tara by some sort of barrier or force field or whatever it was.  At least, not at first.  She didn’t like not being able to touch her, but her mindset and thought patterns changed a little as Tara called up to her, saying that everything would be alright.  The little sorceress wanted to love on her, all by herself, and not have Lucy’s constant support.  She wanted the independence of being able to love on her giant friend and not have to rely on her to help her out.  She wanted to be able to do it, alone.

Lucy’s hand came down as she softly nodded and smiled down towards Tara, giving her approval of the situation.  She wanted to hold her, but she understood the needs that Tara wanted to prove with this.  Poor Tara was the size of a doll, and it would obviously roam in her mind, as to whether or not she would be able to make a person so much bigger than herself happy.  It was, too.  Tara wanted to work hard to be able to make Lucy feel just as happy as she felt.  She just couldn’t sweep Lucy off her feet and wrap her arms around her in a giant hug. 

After getting Lucy’s approval, Tara nodded back and was happy.  She needed to be able to do this, and so she would.  She shook her body against Lucy’s breast harder and harder, bringing every ounce of her being against her big girlfriend’s chest.  Her face started to blush as she got further and further into this.  She wanted to go all out and do everything she absolutely could, but this didn’t seem the right time for everything that was popping into her head, at the moment.

Instead, she kept rocking and nuzzling her face into Lucy’s breasts.  She wanted this to be somewhat of an intimate situation, but not overly sexual.  She kept on rubbing against her, all while a red aura was coming around her and filtering into Lucy’s body.  She let out a big smile as all of this was happening.  She was very glad to know that her powers were growing.  Just like the kiss from the night before, she wasn’t casting this spell, herself.  Her emotions and affection were tapping into her powers and letting them flow outward to help her with this situation.

She reached and grabbed for Lucy’s nipple, bringing herself over to it.  She loved how big everything was to her, now that she was in this mindset and had a giant friend that was around to love and protect her.  She brought her face up to the nipple and started rubbing her cheek against it, like it had become her new pillow.  Her face got more and more red as she blushed further, letting her own affection out more and more.  As the breast-snuggling continued, she started kissing on it, closing her eyes and letting everything out.

Lucy, at this time, was feeling a host of feelings.  She absolutely adored the love that Tara wanted to give her, but the aura that was filtering all over her body was even more amazing than that.  As it went into her system, her entire body chilled.  She felt like she should be freezing cold from the chilling, but she was actually very warm.  The more Tara loved on her, the stronger the aura became, and the warmer she felt.  She was receiving a lot, and she realized that having a girlfriend with a magical power, deep down inside her, had a lot of perks, both for her and for Tara, herself.
As Tara’s kisses started to slow down, the barrier around Lucy’s breast slowly started to disappear.  A soft humming noise could be heard as it went down and Lucy closed her eyes, bringing her hand back to the breasts, her own face blushing and feeling her own pleasurable feelings.  She let her fingers softly and gently rub down Tara’s back, over and over again, as she regained the ability to touch her.  She never stopped Tara from kissing her, but still sent some love towards her as well.

As she rubbed her fingers along Tara, she let out a big smile as she lie back in the tub and spoke to her.  “Tara…you know you didn’t have to do this, any of this, for me.  I know you’re small, but…you know I love you.  You don’t have to go out of your way to do all of this to prove that you can.  It wouldn’t matter, to me, what size you were.  It wouldn’t matter if you were my size, your current size, or if you were as small as a speck of dust, in the middle of my palm.  I love you, and always will.”

She was in the middle of speaking to her when she saw Tara letting out little whimpering moans.  She could see that the girl’s kissing had sped up again.  Tears were rolling down her cheeks as she took in Lucy’s words and she was trying harder and harder to show how much she appreciated her.  Lucy loved this loving, but didn’t want Tara to keep trying harder for her.  Yet, she kept up her rubbing and let her.  After a few minutes, Tara had enough and she stopped. 

Letting herself fall down into Lucy’s palm, she stared up at her giant friend.  Her eyes were drenched with tears, yet there was a smile on her face.  She had used up a lot of her energy with the loving and she just curled up, clenching onto Lucy’s palm, like it were a pillow or her personal, little stuffed animal.  Lucy looked down at her tired-out sorceress and gave her a big, loving smile.  She listened as she spoke to her before closing her eyes, not able to keep them open anymore. 

“Lucy…thank you so much.  I…I love you, too.  I’m sorry, but I’m running out o….” 

Lucy slowly got herself up as her tiny sorceress lover fell asleep, snuggling her cheek up against her thumb, sleeping like a baby.  Lucy whispered down to her sleeping Tara, giving her words to go with as she dreamed.  “Don’t ever be sorry, Tara.  I love you, and that means I will always love you, no matter what happens.  You sleep now, while I get things ready for the rest of our first day together.”  Lucy then carefully stepped out of the tub, keeping her hand steady as she got herself ready to dry off and head off into another room of the house…

Lucy had stepped out of the shower with a sleeping Tara in the palm of her hand. She smiled down at the little lady as she watched her sleep. She truly was a gem. She just wanted to return the affection she'd been given, and in the process, she'd taken every ounce of energy in her entire body to do so, in physical and magical forms. She was a very loving woman, and Lucy could tell, right away, that their life would be full of care and love, from both sides. She was very happy about that.

She was starting to think about what they wanted to do that day. So far, they'd been able to wake up, have lots of embarrassing moments, and even had a little bath together. They hadn't gotten entirely washed, with soap and water, but the experience had been a great one, for the both of them. Lucy had help getting through her fears, they were both a little embarrassed at seeing each other naked, and they'd gotten over the embarrassment by assaulting each other with kisses. They truly were in love, caring and supporting each other like this. It was magical, to say the least, both in a literal and emotional sense.

She held the hand with Tara against her stomach as she one-handed a towel and dried herself off. They'd gotten very wet in the bath and they needed to dry off. However, with Tara sleeping, Lucy didn't want to put her down, in case she woke the little woman up. She'd sent all of her energy for Lucy, and Lucy wanted to make sure that she did not interrupt her lovely's well-deserved nap. Things had gone so well today for something negative or bad to happen. Although you can't control all negative actions, you can control some.

As she finished up her own drying, she looked down at Tara after one-handing a pair of jean shorts and a pair of white socks. They would both have to get dressed, eventually, and Lucy would need two hands to put on a bra and a blouse. She frowned for a moment, trying to figure out what she was going to do. Afterwards, however, she just decided that she'd go shirtless. At least, until Tara woke up from her nap. She didn't have it in her to move Tara and wake her up. Not after what Tara had just done for her.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to think of what she should do next. She couldn't just walk around the house with a dripping-wet woman in her hand. She had to be able to take care of Tara. Taking a look around the bathroom, she thought about what she should do for Tara. The rest of the house would likely be cold for her, especially if she was wet. She'd need something that she could lie under or wrap up in, to keep her warm. After scanning the bathroom again, she opened up the cabinet and found exactly what she needed.

Trying to be as quiet as she could, she pulled a small, pink cloth from the cabinet. The cloth was actually supposed to be used as part of a glasses-cleaning kit. It was Lucy's spare cloth and had never been used. She took it out and felt the soft, fuzzy material. Smiling, she whispered to herself as she used her fingers to start extending and unfolding it in her hands. “Soft, fuzzy, pink, warm. This will be absolutely perfect for my little lovely.”

Lucy slowly lowered the extended cloth down onto her other hand, and over top of Tara's body. It covered her little naked self up, from her feet up to her neck. As the cloth came down on the girl's body, Lucy smiled as she saw the girl reacting to it. She wasn't waking up, but she slightly curled down, into the 'blanket' that had just been presented to her. A smile came to her face and she started nuzzling her face into the top of the cloth. Lucy thought this was incredibly adorable as she spoke down to her, whispering. “Stay nice and warm, my little Tara. Sleep in my big, soft hand, and I'll start getting everything else ready for today.”

Lucy had a warming feeling in her heart, all from that one action of Tara's. One tiny smile and snuggle into a cloth had brought wonders to her heart. She felt warm feelings all over her gut and chest and, instead of making her nervous, it made her smile and blush. It was incredibly warming to see that, even in her sleep, Tara was loving and accepting of the things that Lucy was doing for her. Even though she was unconscious, she still managed to show Lucy that she loved her.

Lucy started slowly walking out of the bathroom, her socked feet patting down on the floor with each step that she took. In one hand were all of Tara's little tiny boots and robes, and in the other, laying flat, was Tara herself, sleeping like a baby. Lucy had a few things in mind that she wanted to do for Tara, before they thought about everything that Tara would have to get used to. Lucy could only imagine how hard it would be to be viewing the world from the eyes of a little doll-sized person, and she knew Tara would probably have some trouble.

 She thought about it and sighed as she walked through the house. One of her fingers crept up to Tara's body and started to slowly stroke her hair. “This is going to be hard for you, my dear, sweet Tara. The world is so big for you, and things might change a lot, but I promise you that I will be here every step of the way. My little lovely will make it through all of these changes and will do it well. You're amazing, Tara, and you will be marvelous.” As the two of them walked into the kitchen, Lucy reached down and gently kissed the top of Tara's head, hoping her words were reaching her tiny friend...

Tara was still fast asleep as Lucy was talking down to her, trying to encourage her little friend that the transition for living at her new size would be just fine. As she finished talking, the girl acknowledged her, despite not being conscious at the time. When Lucy had finished, Tara's little arms had wrapped tighter around a couple of Lucy's fingers, pulling herself into then and nuzzling her face against them, like a pillow. As small as they were, Lucy could feel that the sorceress's cheeks still had tears, running down them. The poor girl was still crying over how much she cared. Lucy couldn't have asked for anyone better to live with.

She made her way, further across the house, until she made it to the living room. She wanted to go to the kitchen and start making breakfast, but having little Tara in her hand made her want to spend a little more time with her. Tara had given everything she had to show Lucy that she cared. The least she could do was to take her and lie down with her for awhile, making sure that she didn't disturb the girl's nap with the sizzling sounds of the microwave or the stove.

The living room was still pretty bare, only sporting one couch. It wasn't much, and there was much unpacking to do, but one couch is all Lucy needed. She just needed a place to lie down and keep her little girl warm. Slowly sitting down on the bed, she looked down at her palm as she moved. She knew that all this movement had to be having some sort of effect on Tara, but thankfully, it wasn't waking her up at all. She was relieved by this. If walking around didn't wake her up, maybe doing other things with her also wouldn't wake her up.

Lucy took a deep breath as she steadied herself on the couch. She looked out towards the wall on the opposite side of the room and stayed still for a few minutes. Slowly catching up with her own train of thought, she slowly moved herself, bringing her clothed legs and feet onto an arm on one side of the couch and laying her topless back against the other side of it. She crossed her ankles and then looked down at little Tara. She needed a nice place for her. Someplace that was warm and soft, that wasn't just her hand.

Putting her other hand over her, she gently pulled Tara towards her shoulder. Lucy's head went back, laying against the arm of the couch. She brought Tara's body up to her shoulder, bringing her to a position similar to a sitting position. As she held Tara against her, the girl's legs were dangling off the front of her shoulder. She saw those little legs and feet out of the corner of her eye and let out a small. She held Tara's top side against her neck as she whispered to her. “So cute.”

The connection these two had was marvelous, indeed. No sooner had Tara been put into position, had her arms reached over and started hugging against Lucy's neck. Tara's little body snuggled up against it, as if she were fully conscious and awake. It was quite amazing to Lucy, if it didn't make her a tiny bit skeptical about Tara's condition, at the moment. She loved all of it, though, so she just let out a smile and let that little sorceress hug on her. She loved the attention and the feeling of her little friend, wanting to hug and cuddle with her.

As she held Tara there, her fingers started to rub on her back again, slowly working down the stretch of it. Lucy could feel all of the soft skin and the bone under them, despite Tara being so little. She trekked her fingers down her entire form, wanting to feel every inch of her lover-girl. That's right, all 6 of those inches. She was falling more and more in love with Tara after every moment that had passed. It was all just a warm, fuzzy feeling, right after another, and Lucy loved every bit of it. She just hoped she could do the same for Tara, just as much as Tara did it for her.

As she was rubbing and caressing her little friend, Lucy began to shut her eyes, starting to feel relaxed with this situation. She was lying down on a couch, cuddling and caressing her little girlfriend, and was half-naked. It was a situation she never thought would come to her so soon, let alone like this, but it was a situation that she enjoyed. Ever since she had met Tara, it was one amazing event after another. From the saving-of-lives to the Magical Kiss to the Bath Time...it was like nothing she'd ever experienced before.

She spent a good while cuddling with Tara. She made many different actions, and Tara, surprisingly, was able to react in a wonderful after every single one. If Lucy would slowly nudge her neck to the side, Tara would follow it and re-establish her hugging connection. If Lucy let her fingers rub down her body, she would pur and wiggle her body around to the rubbing. Everything was absolutely perfect as she spent time with her unconscious friend. A little too perfect, even.

Lucy started smiling as she completely stopped what she was doing. She held Tara against her neck, as she had been doing before, but she waited to see what would happen if she completely stopped. She just lied there for awhile, breathing deeply, as if she were falling asleep. She waited and waited until she felt Tara moving against her. She felt something touching her neck, and it felt like something an unconscious person normally wouldn't do. As she felt Tara kissing on her neck, she suddenly whispered.

“Good morning, Tara. How long have you been awake?”, to which Tara immediately stopped and started blushing, eyes wide awake, clenching back onto her neck.

Embarrassment and nervous feelings were surging through Tara's body as Lucy caught her, kissing on her neck. She didn't think Lucy would be able to notice something that she was trying to make as subtle as she could. As soon as Lucy whispered and asked her how long she'd been awake, she just clenched back onto her neck, falsely hoping that she could still pass for being asleep. She closed her eyes and started taking deep breaths through her nose, trying to hide as much of her smile as she could from Lucy. She'd enjoyed the snuggling far too much to want to do anything else.

Tara's position was soon compromised as she was slowly pulled away from Lucy's neck and into her hand. The little sorceress tried to make her case look as believable as possible, pulling her head back and pushing it against two of Lucy's fingers, holding onto them with her arms. In her mind, she didn't really think she'd be able to pull off her little act, but no one can blame a girl for trying, right? As she felt the hand stop, her eyes were twitching a little as she struggled to keep herself in her 'sleeping' state.

Lucy took a look at her friend and just smiled. The deep breathing, the twitching eyes, the snuggling, it was all pretty obvious. She knew that Tara wasn't asleep, but she couldn't just tell her she knew. No, that would be far too easy and much less fun. Now that she had Tara in her hand, she had to do something a little more creative to make her realize that she could see right through her little act. She thought about it for a few minutes, before finally getting the perfect plan in her head. She knew exactly what she could do that the little sorceress could not possibly resist.

“Hmm...I could have sworn that my little Tara was awake, giving me a loving kiss on the neck. I guess she wasn't. Since she's still asleep, and it's about time for me to go make breakfast, I guess I'll have to wake her up in some, unique way. I sure hope my little girl isn't ticklish...” Lucy's other hand quickly approached Tara's body as she finished that last statement. She could see the girl's mouth moving into a smile, as if she were anticipating what Lucy was about to do. Lucy got a smile on her face as well. She knew, all too well, that Tara was completely awake, but that wasn't going to stop her from having a little fun.

Bringing her finger over to Tara's side, she started gentle poking her and rubbing her finger, back and forth, along her stomach. Lucy's smile widened, just as Tara's did, when she started doing all of this. Tara's body began to move and twitch, her lips and eyelids tightening. She was having a hard time fighting off what Lucy was trying to do to her. The soft touch of her finger almost immediately tickled the poor, little sorceress, but she didn't want to give in. She wanted to stay acting like she was sleeping and let this little game continue.

Just as she wanted, it did continue. Lucy let the finger go from Tara's side and used it to slowly turn Tara onto her back. “Well, it seems like that wasn't quite good enough. I guess I'm going to have to go for that adorable, little stomach of yours, Tara. I know that tickled you in the bath. I'm sure that I could get it with my finger right now.” Just as from last time, Lucy's fingers traveled, along with her voice, until two of them started rubbing against Tara's stomach. The little sorceress's head started shaking. It was obviously getting to her, far worse than before.

Lucy could hear a few little giggles coming from Tara's mouth and she started to giggle as well. “I think I hear a little giggle from my favorite little person in the world. I should continue.” She kept up her tickling and her lips came down to Tara, brushing along her breasts, furthering the torment Tara was going through. Before long, it felt like Tara was about to burst. Her eyes were watering and it was getting incredibly hard to hold everything in. She held it in as long as possible, though.

Lucy's lips then trekked up towards Tara's face. They brushed against Tara's lips and that was the move that broke her. Tara, not able to hold herself back, reached her arms away from the finger and clenched onto Lucy's cheeks. She pulled her face into Lucy's lips, giving her a big, long kiss. Her face began to blush, as had Lucy's face, from this sudden action. As the kiss ended, Lucy looked down at her little Tara, smiling and giggling, looking right up at her.

Tara was more embarrassed now, but she just couldn't hold it in any longer. When her big girlfriend's lips had come so close to her own, she couldn't resist a chance to give her a kiss. Her entire face was red as she looked up at Lucy, saying “G-Good morning!” and faking a yawn. To this action, Lucy could do nothing but start laughing. She shook her head as Tara tried to make it look like she'd just woken up. It was incredibly amusing and adorable of her. She started wondering if every day would be as fun as this day was becoming.

She leaned down and gave Tara a return kiss, before getting up from the couch and walking out of the living room. “You little cutie. Today's been absolutely wonderful so far. Now that we've had a lot of fun together already, let's head to the kitchen. I need to make my little girl something to eat, and we need to figure out what all you need to do to adjust to your life at this little size.” Tara just smiled and nodded as she held onto Lucy's hand, walking through the house...

Lucy held Tara close as they walked through the house, thinking all about what they'd just gone through. Deep down, she was happy that Tara had been faking sleep. Not that she wasn't wanting to get through this day, and get everything finished for Tara to adjust to her new size, but even she had felt needy, at times. She had Tara this close to her, and she felt the need to have her close and snuggling up, against her. It was a sensation that was wonderful and could only be described as love. She loved Tara, and wanted her as close as possible.

Tara felt the same sort of feeling towards Lucy as well. Although she was the one being handled and would probably be the one taken care of the most, she felt the need to be close to Lucy. The big woman had a warm radiance about her that calmed Tara down and soothed her. Being her diminished height was scary, no doubt, but having such a gentle, caring big person around her and taking care of her made all of that fear go away. Tara felt very safe around Lucy, and for that reason, wanted to be as close to her as she possibly could. If she could, Tara would find some place to snuggle up with Lucy, and stay there all day long.

Lucy was getting close to the kitchen when she realized that she still didn't have any clothes covering her top side. She looked down at herself and then at Tara, with a conflicted look on her face. Looking back and forth for a few minutes, she decided to turn around. “I should...probably get dressed the rest of the way before breakfast, and you should, too!” Tara simply nodded and she felt Lucy's warm radiance coming from the hand that held her. As Lucy made her way back towards the bedroom, she just snuggled her little, naked self against the woman's fingers. It almost looked like she could fall back asleep at any time, every part of her big girlfriend's body the perfect bed.

As they came back and reached the bedroom and bathroom, Lucy used her free hand to lay out all of Tara's little dresses on her bed. As she did so, she set the little sorceress down, next to her robe and her boots. She had a little bit of trouble getting her to go down, though. Tara seemed like she was latched onto Lucy's fingers, as if she just didn't want to let go. This made Lucy smile, and she simply nodded her head as she leaned in and softly nuzzled her nose on her little Tara. “Listen, I know it's nice to just snuggle up. If I had my way, that's what we'd be doing all day today. The two of us would just lay in bed and enjoy each others' company all day long. But, this is an important day, and both of us need to get dressed! Can you do that, for me?”

Tara looked at the fingers and then up at Lucy. She just wanted to snuggle up with her all day, but she ended up nodding and letting go of the fingers. As much as she just wanted to snuggle up all day, Lucy was right. There were a lot of things that needed to be done today, and none of that would get done if she just snuggled up against her girl's fingers. After all, she was the older of the two. Tara needed some sense of responsibility, despite the fact that Lucy could pick her up and carry her around, like a little dolly. Sliding off Lucy's hand, she landed on the comforter and started reaching down for her robe.

As Tara was slipping her robe back on, Lucy had reached over, towards her dresser, and pulled out a red blouse, the same color as Tara's robe. She could see Tara looking the other way as she got dressed, so she wanted to surprise her. Quickly slipping on a bra and the top, she turned and started straightening it up, making it look as good as possible. The blouse also had a few layers of flowery material near the chest area, which she thought was perfect for carrying Tara around. It would likely make the perfect spot to hold her and snuggle her against her as she walked.

As Tara turned around, slipping her boots over her feet, her jaw dropped when she saw that big, red blouse. Lucy looked absolutely stunning in it. Her jaw soon formed a smile as she heard Lucy speaking down to her. “Well, what do you think? Now, I can match the colors of my little darling!” Tara almost couldn't take the situation. It was so cute and adorable that her eyes started to water. As Lucy held her hands out for her, Tara clicked the boots together and flew straight into that flowery part of the blouse, hugging against her girlfriend. “It's wonderful, my love. We truly were made for each other.”

Lucy brought her hands back up, holding Tara against her blouse, so as to not make her use too much energy by using the Arte this morning. She'd already used a lot of magic and it had worn herself out. She couldn't have an overly tired girl when she was making breakfast. She let her fingers caress Tara, feeling down the softness of that robe as she fit her in that flowery material. “That we were, Tara. In fact, I can't imagine having a day in my life from now on, without you. I don't think I'd be able to take it.”

Tara made a purr-like sound as she pushed against Lucy, kissing her on the neck, just above the blouse, as Lucy started walking off. “I love you, too, Lucy.” The two of them set off for the kitchen, once again, a collection of thoughts strolling through both Lucy and Tara's minds about what to do for breakfast. As much as Lucy was thinking she'd be cooking for Tara, Tara had some plans of her own for this meal...

It didn't take Lucy long to carry Tara into the kitchen. As the two of them entered the kitchen, they were both almost feeling regret from already reaching it. Tara fit so snugly into the fabric of Lucy's blouse, and both of them really wanted to spend more time with one another this day. Deep down, Lucy just wanted to have gotten out of the bath and held Tara's little naked body against her big naked body and spent the day, talking and snuggling with her. However, they had more pressing matters to attend to. Tara needed to adjust to her new size, and they needed this first day to do so.

Lucy took a moment to sit down at the round, wooden table in the middle of the kitchen, and lowered Tara down to it. She set her little sorceress directly in front of her, in the middle of the table. As Tara came down, she put her hand over the top of a salt shaker, a little over half her own height, and looked up at her big friend. They both stared at once another and then back at the rest of the kitchen for a few moments, before Tara got the ball rolling with this idea for breakfast. “So...” said the little Tara, brushing along her robe with her hands. “What do you like to eat for breakfast, Big Girl?”

They couldn't even have breakfast without ending up blushing at one another. This, truly, was a true-love relationship. Lucy's cheeks reddened as she was called “Big Girl”. Quickly shaking off the desires to grab Tara and run back to the bedroom for the rest of the day, she cleared her throat and patted a fingertip on Tara's shoulder, letting her eyes scan the kitchen. “Well, I was going to ask you the same thing! Well, alright...I think my favorite food to have for breakfast is either eggs or French Toast sticks. What sounds good?”

Tara's eyes had sparkled upon hearing that Lucy liked to eat French Toast Sticks. She jumped up and down, like a little kid, happily yelling out “OH! French Toast Sticks! That sounds wonderful! Let's make that! I'll go get the eggs!” In her own excitement, Tara had clicked her boots together and darted off, through the air, before Lucy even had a chance to answer Tara's response. She had definitely sparked something interesting in Tara at that moment. It was like she told her she would take her to her favorite amusement park or something.

Tara obviously wanted to help make the meal, and she obviously was unaware of the lack of strength she had at her size. She flew right at the Lucy-sized refrigerator and wrapped her little arms around the handle. As if she could open it on her own, she tightly grabbed it and tried to fly outwards. She grunted and almost whimpered as she struggled to open up the door to the fridge. Lucy got up and was half-giggling as she came over to help the poor girl with the door. She stopped right next to her and folder her arms, looking at Tara, whom was hovering at shoulder-height, still pulling at the door.

She smiled and offered some assistance to Tara. “Would you like some help, Tara?” Tara ignored the suggestion, at first, simply replying that she could do it on her own. She pushed more energy out with the spell to fly, trying to use all the force she could muster to get that door open. A bright aura fillup up Tara's body as she pulled harder and harder, using her magic to amplify the force she was putting out. Lucy, seeing the door actually start to move, moved to stand behind Tara. She imagined that, when this door flew open, so would Tara. Placing her open hands right behind Tara's body, she prepared and cheered Tara on. “That's it! Just a little more and you've got it, Tara!”

With 'just a little more', as Lucy had told her, the door finally gave way and swung open. As it did so, something else happened. Just as Lucy had predicted, when the force had pulled the door open, Tara's body was flung straight backwards, leaving the door behind. The force was just too much for someone so small to have and be able to not have repercussions once the object was moved. Lucy caught her in her hands, but the force was so strong that her hands were forced into her chest and caused Lucy to fall on her back, hanging onto Tara as tight as she could.

After sliding across the room, Lucy and Tara both stopped, and looked at one another. Lucy's hands opened up to reveal a very embarrassed Tara, who just looked up at Lucy and scratched behind her head. “Um, oops! I guess I don't know my own strength. Thanks for catching me!” Lucy shook her head at the tiny lady and smiled towards her, only one thing on her mind, at the moment. “It's okay, Tara. I'm just glad you're okay. You've got a lot of strength for such a little person!”

“Hehe, thanks!” said Tara, her cheeks blushing a little from Lucy's compliment. She really didn't know her own strength. She knew she could channel force into spells like that, but she'd never actually tried or needed it until now. Looking forward, she could see an open carton of eggs on the middle shelf of the fridge. Opening her mouth in a smile, she picked herself up and spoke again, as she dashed through the air, once again. “Now I can go get the eggs. Be right back, babe!”

Without a moment's notice, once again, Tara flew off, straight into the refrigerator, aiming to help Lucy as much as possible. In all honesty, Lucy was starting to wonder if she'd be making Tara breakfast, or if Tara would be making her breakfast...

Lucy had originally planned to just have Tara sitting still and waiting on the table, as she made her breakfast. With how things were progressing, however, it almost looked like she'd be the one sitting around, while her doll-sized girlfriend was making breakfast for her. The things Tara could do, despite her size, were truly amazing, and Lucy was sure it was all thanks to those abilities she wielded. If there was anyone in the world who could adjust well to a normal life at 6 inches tall, it was this sorceress. Not only did she not seem afraid of all the big stuff around her, but she was actively trying to help as much as she could.

Lucy admired the willpower and conviction Tara had for her. She thought about this as Tara raided the fridge and came out, an egg cradled in each arm as she hovered over towards the counter and rolled them onto it, carefully putting them on a small tower that was lying there. So many times had Tara been so willing to help Lucy and prove herself, that she'd completely run out of energy, in the process. First was trying to save her from the Antlion, which resulted in her current size. Then was the kiss and the playing in the bath. Time and time again, Tara was using every ounce of strength she had, all for Lucy.

Lucy almost felt like she was doing both too much and not enough for Tara. Although she tried to do a lot for Tara, she felt like Tara was doing much, much more for her than she was for Tara. On the other hand, she pondered the possibility of why Tara was trying so desperately hard. Could she be trying to compensate for her size, or for how much she makes her feel? Perhaps Tara is trying too hard, trying to make Lucy feel just as wonderful as she makes her feel. Lucy could understand the desire to output just as much love and care as her partner. This could be causing Tara to overexert her own power and energy.

She slowly picked herself up and started walking over, towards the counter, only to find that she might not even get a chance to help make all of that food. Tara was zipping through the air so fast, she almost couldn't see her moving and, by the time she reached the counter, almost everything was already set out. On the table were the eggs, a bag of brown sugar, a whisk, a spatula, and a loaf of bread. How she managed to get all of that, by herself, Lucy would never know. Of course, she had managed to open the door to the refrigerator, all by herself, so there might have been other uses for the Arte to help her move all of those objects as well.

As she approached, she heard some small whimpering and grunting from Tara, under the counter. Kneeling down, Lucy looked into an open door and saw Tara slowly dragging a large, metal skillet across the inside of the shelf. Even with her body glowing, she was having trouble with it. Without a second thought, Lucy reached into the shelf and pulled something out. At first, she thought about pulling the skillet out, but instead, she wrapped her fingers around Tara, herself, and pulled her away from the skillet, and then used her other hand to pull it out.

Bringing Tara up to her face, she held onto her with a fairly tight, yet gentle grip, just tight enough so Tara would be able to stay still for a few moments. She could feel Tara trying to move back towards the shelf, but she shook her said. “Tara, stop!” She sighed as the girl looked at her, realizing that Lucy might have been upset with her. She stopped struggling and let her fingers hang over her fingers. “But, I...I want to help!” She tried her best to make a sympathetic puppy-eyed expression as she told her big girlfriend about how she wanted to help her out.

Lucy let her grip off a little, realizing she'd gotten the girl's attention. Using her index finger, she patted her on the head and began to speak down to her, telling her what was on her mind about this situation. “I know, honey. You are helping, a lot! But, you can't do all of this yourself. Even if you were as big as I was, you wouldn't be doing it alone. Everyone needs help with cooking, sometimes. As much as you want to help cook, I want to as well. Don't try to tackle all of this by yourself, my little Tara. You can't do this all by yourself. Not while I'm here to offer my own assistance.”

“I...I can do it, though! I want to make you breakfast! You're my...girlfriend. You're very important to me, and you've been doing so much to care for me! I just...want to be able to do the same for you. I want to show you that I can return all of the care and protection that you've given me. I-” Tara was in the middle of speaking when that index finger moved from her hair and softly tapped again her lips. She calmly quieted down as Lucy said “Shhhh.” Lucy had something to say about this as well, and she needed Tara to hear it, right then and there.

After removing her fingertip from Tara's face, she started to smile and brought Tara up to her shoulder, setting her down on it. As Tara impulsively put an arm towards Lucy's hair and neck, she stood up and spoke to her. “Listen...I know you can do it. I know you are very capable of doing all of this on your own. What I'm trying to say is...you don't have you. You don't have to think you're not doing enough, because you are. I may be taking care of you, but you're doing the same for me. Ever since you came into my life, I've had nothing but pure joy and happiness. Sure, you're a little big shorter than me, but your presence is a hundred times more soothing than someone of my own height. Your conviction and willpower is admirable.”

“Tara...I love you, and that won't ever change. You don't have to prove anything to me. Just be here, with me, and that is already more than enough.” Tara was smiling immensely from the kind, gentle words her big girlfriend was sending out towards her. In reaction, she pulled herself closer, hugging against her neck. “I love you, too. Okay...you win. Let's make breakfast...together!”

The pair of ladies, big and small, were hard at work, both happy that they were working on this meal, together. They had shared many a moment of love and affection with one another in the past 24 hours, but now things were progressing nicely. They weren't constantly trying to one-up each other's affection, and were calmly and happily going throughout their day and having fun, as a pair. There was much that needed to be done and figured out, for Tara's sake. She had to figure out how she would do all kinds of things around the house and adjust to them, now that she was a little bit shorter. With Lucy there, though, she wasn't worried about any of that too much.

The breakfast-making was made easy by Lucy's direction. Before starting, Tara had explained to Lucy what she wanted to do to help with the meal, things that she would be able to do to make Lucy's job easier. Since she had the Arte to use, in pieces, she could help her with all of the things that didn't require a mass amount of strength. She could easily move things like silverware, the eggs, and whatnot without much strain on her body. Lucy had accepted this, and agreed that she would do all the heavier work and work around the stove, while Tara would handle the smaller, lighter work.

Making French Toast Sticks was no huge, complicated mess, but the two of them were definitely having fun with it. Tara rode on Lucy's shoulder, hanging onto her neck with one arm as she walked over to the stove, slowly turning it on and setting the skillet on top of it. She reached her left hand up towards Tara and held it in front of her chest. “I know we're doing this together, but please hang onto me, nice and tight, when we're over here. The last thing I want is for you to slip and fall towards the stove.”

Tara understood, right away. She could actually feel small streams of heat creeping up from the stove and flowing over her body. It actually made her chill for a moment. Stoves were something that she'd dealt with before, but not stoves they were easily longer than her entire body. Were she to fall down and hit that pan, it would not be good, at all. She impulsively gripped onto Lucy a little tighter, bringing both her arms around her girlfriend's neck, hugging on her. “I wouldn't let go of you if my life depended on it, Lucy!”

Lucy smiled and blushed as she felt those warm, little arms hugging on her neck. This was turning out to be quite the interesting morning. She nodded towards Tara, ever-so-slightly, so as to not hit her little sorceress with her head and walked away from the stove, and moved towards the bowl Tara had set out. Setting her hands down by the counter, she began reaching for the eggs when one of them was starting to hover into the air, all on it's own. Lucy blinked and then moved her eyes to look over at Tara. She was already starting to help out, and she was even able to do so from the comfort of Lucy's shoulder and neck.

Tara's hand was raised in the air and she was chanting under her breath. The egg followed her hand as she guided it over to the bowl. Her hand was still for a moment, but then quickly yanked down and back up. The egg fell into the edge of the bowl and immediately cracked. When Tara's hand had come back up, there was a huge crack in it. With another quick hand motion, the egg's shell split in half, spilling the white and yellow goodness into the bowl. The shell then flew over, landing in a sink, that was near the stove. “W-Wow...you never cease to amaze me.” said Lucy, in amazement at everything Tara had just accomplished.

Tara giggled for a moment, leaning against Lucy's neck as she prepared to fix the next egg. “Aw, it was nothin'! I could do this all day long!” Her blushing cheeks were hidden from Lucy's view, since she was leaning into her neck, but Lucy didn't mind. She still thought everything Tara could do with these abilities of hers was amazing. She stood in front of the counter and slowly watched that girl easily moving the other egg, cracking it over the bowl perfectly, and sending it off to the sink. Cooking was definitely going to be something the two of them would enjoy very much, from now on.

The two of them worked together on mixing the food together. Lucy took up the whisk and started mixing up the eggs, while Tara used her little tricks to open up the rest of the ingredients and guide them over to the bowl. It wasn't more than five minutes that the mixture had been completed and Lucy was pulling a drawer open, procuring a fork to use for the bread-dipping. She pulled out 3 slices of bread, crumbs slowly falling all over the counter-top as she did so. After everything had been set out, she began to pick up the piece of bread when it began to hover on it's own, just like the eggs.

Lucy giggled for a moment, and then reached her hand up, patting Tara on the head, something she wanted to tell her. “Alright, Tara. You put the bread in the bowl and dip it, but I'm going to be putting it onto the skillet, alright? I don't want you to do anything that would make you, or your abilities come near that hot stove.” Tara quickly dropped the first slice of bread in the bowl as she nodded towards her, rubbing her cheek against Lucy's neck. “Of course, honey! Anything you want, so long as I can still do my part in this!”

Lucy was glad Tara was alright with not doing certain things. While the sorceress probably could do all of this on her own, Lucy had a bad feeling in her gut whenever she looked at that stove. The idea of Tara falling onto it and getting hurt was unbearable for Lucy to think about. She needed to keep her little girlfriend as far away from hazards like that as possible. As the morning went on, Tara dipped the bread, and Lucy cooked it. Before long, their breakfast was ready to be cut into sticks and eaten.

It wasn't long before breakfast was prepared and ready to be eaten. Having the two of them working together to make this meal made it go all the faster. When Lucy had the bread cooking in the stove, Tara had flown off to get everything else out. It only took minutes to be able to cook that bread, but in those minutes, Tara had been able to do a lot of work, all on her own. By the time Lucy had finished cooking the bread, there was already a large, ceramic plate right next to her on the counter, waiting to receive the food. A knife had also been placed next to the plate. “Thanks, Tara.” said Lucy, as she put the bread on the plate and began to cut it up, into rectangular sticks.

Tara had been a busy little sorceress as Lucy was preparing dinner. Not only had she used her magic to hover a plate and knife near the stove, for Lucy to use, but she'd been flying all over the cabinets, finding out where everything was. She'd needed to find two plates, napkins, and some silverware for the two of them to use. While she wasn't sure if she'd be able to use any silverware, she figured there was no harm in getting some out, anyways. By the time she heard Lucy walking over to the table, she was completely done setting everything up. She'd set herself up in a place that made Lucy laugh when she'd arrived.

As Lucy walked over to the table, with a bottle of syrup and the plate of French Toast, she looked and laughed under her breath, as she saw Tara. The girl was sitting right in front of her plate, her legs crossed, indian-style, and she had her napkin covering up her lap, as if it were a blanket. It was cute, to say the least. She shook her head for a moment as she set down the food and started twisting the 'squirt bottle' lid of the syrup, pulling it off. “I'll be right back. I'm gonna warm this syrup up and then we can eat, so don't go anywhere.” She saw her little girlfriend nod as she turned around and walked back towards the counter, where a large, black microwave was sitting.

Tara carefully eyed Lucy as she walked over to the microwave. She had her own plans in mind for this meal, and she needed to wait for just the right moment. She heard the clicking of the microwave door as it opened and closed, concealing the syrup bottle within. The loud beeping from the microwave's buttons rang in her ears as her ears perked up. She slowly pushed herself away from the plate as Lucy finished putting in the time and a loud humming sound began to fill the room, the syrup being warmed up. This humming sound was Tara's cue. She got up and ran over to the plate of French Toast, not wanting to wait for the syrup to start eating.

Her footwork made the jog to the plate as easy as moving from one side of a room to the other. She made it over to the plate, but a cold drop of syrup was on the ground, directly in front of it, from when Lucy had taken the lid off the syrup bottle. Her boot squished down into this drop and she started slipping. Tara yelped as she lost her boot and fell, face-first, into the plate, grinding her head into one of the large sticks of French Toast. She held herself there for a few moment, trying to breath in the smell and hold onto the plate long enough to regain her sense of balance.

Lucy had heard Tara yelping over the microwave's humming. She looked over at the table and immediately started smiling. Bringing her left palm over her mouth, she started walking back over to the table, trying to keep her laughing down to a minimum. Her shoulders and chest were bouncing up and down, furiously, as she tried to keep herself from completely losing it as she came back over and saw her girlfriend's face, buried in the food. She thought about reaching down and helping her up, but she figured that she'd just let Tara help herself up. Instead, she just spoke to her.

Her voice was partially cracked, her body straining to keep from laughing at the poor girl. “Are you...having problems down there, Tara? Do you need some help to keep you from, quite literally, stuffing your face into our food?” Her palm immediately returned as her laughing was getting harder and harder to resist using. The situation was just too funny for her to ignore. She soon saw Tara clenching the plate and pulling herself up, only to give Lucy something even more hilarious to start laughing at. Her eyes began to water as she looked at Tara.

Tara wasn't sure what was so funny about this. She'd just lost her boot and fell, face-first, into a bunch of food. She sighed as she saw Lucy laughing and called up to her. “H-Hey! It's not that funny!” Lucy lost it even further as she dug out a small pocket mirror from a drawer near the counter. “Yes, it is! See for yourself.” Tara looked into the mirror as it was held in front of her and her eyes started twitching. In the mirror, she saw herself, only her face was covered in crumbs of brown sugar and bread. She looked absolutely ridiculous and her lips started quivering.

“It's...n-not....ba...aha....ahaha!” Not even Tara could resist laughing at herself. The more she saw her face, the funnier it looked, even if it was her. She fell over, giggling for a few minutes before getting all of it out of her system. Trying to catch her breath, she saw Lucy's hand being held out towards her. “Come on, Tara. Let's get your face cleaned up before we eat.” Tara immediately nodded in agreement, grabbing onto Lucy's thumb and pulling herself into the palm, not wanting to look ridiculous all day long...

Tara had made a mess of herself with this first meal together, and the meal hadn't even started yet. The loud beeping noise of the microwave timer went off as Tara sat down in Lucy's palm and was lifted by her big friend and carried over towards the counter. In her haste, she'd managed to trip, lose one of her boots, and get large crumbs of brown sugar all over her face. It was embarrassing, to say the least. At least, for her sake, she wasn't doing this out in public. For right now, it was only her and Lucy. It was still embarrassing to be in front of Lucy like this, but it was better than in front of everyone.

Lucy ignored the microwave for the time being, wanting to get Tara cleaned up first. She thought that food might be messy for the sorceress, but she didn't imagine she'd get this messy before she even took a bite of the food. Tara was something else, that's for certain. She had a charm about her, and Lucy was enjoying her company more and more all the time. She could only imagine all of the fun moments, touching moments, and laughs they would share in the future. She had a smile on her face as she reached the counter and looked down at Tara as she reached the sink.

“I'm gonna set you down on the counter while I prepare a little washcloth. Don't you go anywhere this time, okay? As funny as you are to look at right now, I'd prefer that your face not be covered in food, at least until we actually start eating.” Lucy shook her head as she set her hand down on the counter and Tara hopped out, landing and nearly falling over. She had one socked foot and one 'booted' foot, and it was almost hard for her to stand still. As Lucy started running the sink water, she made a suggestion to her. “You know, Tara, if you're having trouble, you might as well take that other boot off. I don't imagine it's easy to walk like that.”

Tara was looking down at her feet and then back up towards Lucy, who was busy running water under a small washcloth, about as tall as she was. As she waited, she figured there'd be no harm in doing as she asked. Plopping her butt down on the counter, she stretched her legs out and began to undo the ties on her boots. Before long, she had the other boot popped off and both her feet were socked. She smiled as she sat there, looking at the boot she'd just pulled off. Looking back up, she saw a her-sized damp cloth being held out in front of her.

Lucy had already wrung out the cloth by the time Tara got her other boot off and had her finger poked against a corner of it, bringing it over towards the little woman's face, holding her other hand under the cloth, ensuring that she didn't dampen the lovely robe Tara was wearing. “Hold still and close your mouth and eyes, Tara. This will only take a second!” Tara quickly nodded and did as Lucy asked, waiting for her to clean her face off. She had thoughts about doing it herself, but Lucy seemed to want to do this. After all, Lucy was the one who told her she shouldn't do everything on their own. They were a team, and teammates share responsibility.

Tara felt a soft, warm surface brushing along her chin, cheeks and lips as Lucy was cleaning her off. She impulsively started to grin as she felt it coming over her. She started to giggle, her chest and shoulders jumping up and down as she felt the finger-driven cloth running across her lips. She pulled back a little, the tickling almost too much for her to handle. She pushed her face forward again, though, knowing that the cleaning wouldn't stop, just because it tickled her. Waiting a good few moments, the feeling shifted from her cheeks up to her nose, and eventually up to her forehead.

“There we go! All done! Your face is as clean as it ever could be!” Upon hearing the words of success from Lucy, Tara opened her eyes and found a mirror right in front of her. She jumped back for a moment, not expecting to see her own reflection right in front of her. Her heart began to race as her hand came up to her chest, her breathing deep and heavy. She looked up at Lucy between breaths, who had a huge grin on her face and was holding her chest, trying not to let out the obvious laughter that she had building up inside her.

Tara shook her head and looked into the mirror again, checking Lucy's job. Just as Lucy said, her face was spotlessly clean. No remnants of the brown sugar was around anywhere. Her hands ran across her soft skin, double-checking until she looked back up towards Lucy and jumped to her feet. “Nice job! Thanks for that!” Lucy was smiling and took a finger to pat Tara on the head in response. “Aw, it was nothing! So, we should go eat. I've still got to fetch the syrup. How would you like to get back to the table? Would you like me to give you a ride, or go over yourself?”

Tara thought about this for a moment and she decided what she wanted to do. Clicking her socked heels together, she began to hover in the air. Lucy, for a moment, thought this meant that she was going back to the table, herself. She turned and began to walk towards the microwave when Tara darted into her neck, sitting herself down on her shoulder. “Where are you going?! I wanna ride with you!” Lucy was surprised and almost wanted to giggle at her again, but held herself back and just nodded. “Alright! We'll just grab the syrup and I'll prepare us for a wonderful breakfast!”

The two walked together as Lucy fetched a warm bottle of syrup from the microwave and began to walk back to the table, getting ready for breakfast, again...

Lucy was walking back to the table. In her hand was a steaming bottle of syrup, her hand carefully holding onto the hand, with a napkin between her fingers and the material of the bottle. On her house, opposite the hand that held the syrup was Tara, hanging her socked feet over the shoulder. She was smiling and relaxing, taking in the ride she was having, instead of constantly using the Arte to move around the room. As much fun as it is to fly around at this size, there was also a big charm to sitting on Lucy's shoulder as she walked around the house. 

Until this ride, she'd never actually taken a good look at this area of the house. They'd been spending so much time on making breakfast, she hadn't looked at the room to be looking at it. She stopped concentrating on breakfast and scanned the room, the sweet aroma of syrup filling up her senses. Her cheeks reddened as the scent entered her system and she spied the wooden cabinets all around the room. There wasn't a whole lot of furniture in the room, since Lucy hadn't unpacked everything yet, but it still looked nice. The walls were pearly white and the floor was hard wood, light brown and matched the cabinets and the table.

Tara was watching the room so much that she never noticed Lucy stopping her movements. She'd seen her little sorceress looking at the room and thought to let her take in the environment for a few moments. She didn't think it was an extraordinarily nice room, especially with the lack of furniture, but there was a sort of twinkling in Tara's eyes. She was obviously really into this place. Reaching over, Lucy set the syrup down on the table and decided to let Tara take in the moment. She grinned as she saw Tara's eyes moving from side to side, taking in every inch of the room, from the gold-trimmed cabinet handles to the wooden table and French Toast that was waiting for them.

She kept her body still as Tara looked around. It wasn't long, however, before she started to think about what was going on. Tara almost seemed like she could look at the room forever. They needed to eat breakfast and get on with their day. Lucy had quite a few ideas of what they needed to do during the day and they couldn't stall one another all day long. Lifting her hand up, she covered up Tara's eyes and face with a couple of her fingers, giggling a little as she started walking towards the table. She made sure her steps were slow, so as to not put too much air pressure on poor Tara.

Tara's arms had almost immediately come up and pushed against the fingers, wanting them to move so she could see. “H-Hey! Lucy! I can't see!” She was using her little arms and it took a good amount of effort from Lucy to hold back those arms. She pushed harder and harder, but she just heard giggling from above her and very little chance of having the fingers moving anytime soon. Tara could feel some wind blowing against her body, so they were probably moving, but she wanted to see. “Come on, Lucy! I can't see! I can't--”

Tara was interrupted by Lucy's voice coming down to her. “Well, if you wanted to see, all you had to do was ask!” Within a few moments, a few more fingers started moving around Tara's body, moving her somewhere. The two other fingers stayed over her eyes as she moved, however. Tara pushed harder, trying to see, but it didn't work at all. She then felt her feet come down on something and the darkness disappeared, her eyes able to see again. Her eyes bolted open and her arms went to the side “Finally, I can see! I can...”

Tara was almost ready to become frustrated at the fact that she had been blinded, but what she had before her made up for the previous scene. She was standing on the table, Lucy's fingers slowly unwrapping. She looked behind her and all around. Behind her was Lucy, sitting on a chair at the table, smiling down at her. In front of her was a large plate, nearly the size of a bed to her, full of doughy French toast. As she was looking, an oozing stream of steaming syrup was being poured, flowing all over it.

As soon as the syrup was finished oozing, nearly dripping off the plate, Lucy picked up a knife and started to slice up the toast, making them into rectangular “sticks”. The syrup had been put on the food, so as a small portion of one end of the sticks was free of that stick substance, enabling a sort of 'handle' to be on the food. Their breakfast was almost ready to be eaten. It would only take a little bit further before they could be eating their first meal together.

Tara wasn't sure what to do. Part of her wanted to leap into that plate of French toast, and part of her wanted to stay there and wait to see what Lucy wanted to do. She watched as Lucy's hand extended, reaching for one of the 'handles' of the food and pulled a piece out. It slowly drifted away from the rest of the foot, leaving a long, gooey trail of syrup between them. Steam piled out from it and soared into the sky. Tara's mouth had opened up and started to water at the sight of all that food. Her arms reached out, as if to grab for it.

Lucy held the food high above Tara, shaking her head to her yet. “Just a second, honey. It's a little hot for such a little mouth.” Bringing the food up to her mouth, she slowly and softly blew her breath onto it, wanting to get it cooled off. As soon as it had gotten ready, she lowered it down, holding the syrup-covered toast in front of Tara's face. “Help yourself, Tara”.

Breakfast was finally underway. They had gone through a lot to get to this point. Even after getting up, having a bath, cuddling for awhile on the couch, and getting dressed, much had happened in the preparation of breakfast. They had arrived at the kitchen, Tara darted off to get some things out, they'd decided to work together on it, they made the batter, Lucy cooked the toast, Tara tripped and got herself messy, Lucy cleaned her up, Tara took some time to look around the room, they sat down, and they finally had everything ready for consumption.

Despite Tara having the Arte on her side to aide her with her life, it was still a struggle to do all of the things at her current height that she should be able to do, without a single problem, at her original height. Using the Arte all the time wore her body out, and many of the things she tried to do both strained her body and strained on Lucy. Tara wanted to help Lucy out with a lot, but Lucy didn't want Tara to do everything. They were a team, and teams have to work together. They have to divide the work, not give it all to the cute, tiny flying sorceress.

For now, though, it was time to eat and enjoy themselves. Tara had a nice, big, flaky piece of French toast right in front of her face, waiting for her little lips and teeth to claim a piece of it. She smiled as she opened wide and put her teeth around a corner of the toast. She bit down, realizing just how different food would be from now on. The toast felt a lot harder than it normally would have. Although French Toast is dipped in batter and damp, she almost had a hard time biting through it to get her share. It wasn't that it was too hard for her, but it was very thick.

Biting through that one corner felt made Tara feel like she was biting through a giant wheel of cheese. It took some effort to break through, all the way, and claim that bite as her own. She impulsively reached up to grab onto the rest of the food to hold onto it, but the dripping syrup that was all over it reminded her of what happened the last time she was around syrup. Not wanting to get completely messy again, she forced her arms down and yanked the bite away from the rest. As she pulled away, she fell backwards, her butt hitting the table.

She held the food in her mouth for a moment as she chewed and looked around the room, blinking. She had not expected to fall, so suddenly, just from getting a little piece of food for breakfast. Before she began to chew up the food, Lucy's face appeared next to hers, with a curious look on her face. Her eyebrow went up and she asked Tara if she was alright. The sorceress blinked at her, looked down at her legs, then back up, nodding her head. “Mmmhm!” she mumbled, her mouth still full of food.

She chewed up her share, letting the taste of the syrup and of the bread, itself, fill up her system. The taste of food was also different. The syrup had an incredibly strong flavor to it. As it drizzled around in her mouth, she thought she was eating fudge. Being so small, the tastes of all of this food were enhanced, dramatically. Syrup tasted extremely rich, like blocks of fudge do. The bite she had in her mouth nearly overwhelmed her at first, but she soon got used to the taste, and started chewing up her bite. It took her a minute or so to finish it, but she finally chewed to the point where she could swallow.

As she swallowed it, she looked up at Lucy and smiled, running her hands across her lips, feeling a small stream of syrup that was running down her face. Lucy was in the process of eating a bite of her own, and she used a free hand to drop a free napkin, down by Tara. The sorceress quickly picked the napkin and began to wipe her face off, holding it like you would a large body-sized beach towel. Once she had cleaned her face up, all of the taste had traveled down, into her stomach and she heard a loud gulp from behind her. Looking back up, she saw Lucy's throat moving, pushing the food down into her own stomach.

“So, how did we do?” asked Lucy, curious as to whether or not Tara was enjoying the food. The girl seemed like she loved french toast, but Lucy wondered if they'd made it well enough for her, or if the taste was any different for Tara, since she was so much smaller than her. Tara, without a moment's hesitation, picked herself up and raised her arms into the air. “It's wonderful, Lucy! It has a really strong taste! I think we did good today!” The girl's arms were waving around, enthusiastically, which made both of them start laughing.

“Well, good! Let's eat up, then. We have lots of plans for the rest of the day,” said Lucy, offering Tara another piece of the french toast she'd been biting off of. Tara tilted her head a little at what Lucy had said as she willingly bit off another piece of the food. She had a lot of plans for the rest of the day? What all did Lucy have in mind? As the two of them ate the rest of their breakfast, sitting near one another, Tara pondered just what Lucy may have had in mind for her. She didn't think that whatever it is would be anything bad, since it was coming from Lucy, but her curiosity was active and she pondered what fun activities she'd be doing with her girlfriend later on that day...

It hadn't taken the two of them long to finish up breakfast. Tara, of course, couldn't eat that much, given that some of the french toast sticks were longer than she was tall, but she definitely ate her fill, while Lucy munched on the rest. They had shared the same sticks when eating. Tara would take a bite out of hers, and then Lucy would take a giant-sized bite out of it. The two had a very fun breakfast, though Tara had a hard time not getting messy again. With every bite, she got syrup all over her cheeks, causing her to go through the entire napkin she'd been given, easily.

As breakfast finally came to a close, both of them got very full. Tara sat down, on the edge of the table, looking up at Lucy. They both had their hands over their stomachs, completely full. Lucy pulled her shirt up a little, rubbing across it. “I don't think I could eat another bite, Tara. My tummy is so full right now. There's still one stick of food left, though...” Lucy had a look of discontent on her face as she looked down at her exposed stomach, then at Tara, and then towards the plate of food. Tara wished she could say they could eat it all up, right then, but she was quite full, herself.

Tara laid herself on her back as she looked up at Lucy and giggled. “Your tummy does look a little full. We don't have to eat it right now, though! Why don't we go get a little bag and put it in the fridge. We can have it for breakfast tomorrow or a snack later on today, or something! You don't have to eat every last drop of food you make right away, Lucy! If you force that stuff down, you might be spending a bit of the day in the bathroom. You said you had plans for me, right?” Lucy was looking down at the relaxing Tara and she nodded down to her, acknowledging that she did have plans.

“Well, yeah! Of course I have plans for you. We have stuff we have to get together and figure out with you, still. We've got eating and bathing down so far, but we have a bit more that we need to figure out! I just...Mom and I never kept leftovers. What if it's not-so-good when we heart it back up?” Lucy had a sad look on her face as she thought about how she'd never kept leftovers before, and about her mother. It was still no secret that Lucy had lost her mother only the day before, and no one can get over losing a loved one so easily.

Trying to get through this as quickly as she could, Tara jumped up and stretched her arms out, calling out to Lucy as she walked over to the plate. “Well, I'm not your Mom! I'm your girlfriend! Of course it will be good! We made it, didn't we? It was delicious just now, and it will be delicious later! Better to have delicious french toast for later than forcing it down now and getting all sick! I'll go get a baggy to put it in! You go and decide what we'll do next! You've got lots of plans for me, so we might as well maximize our efforts!” Tara was trying to move her way through this scenario as fast as she could, not wanting Lucy to get down about her mother. She had sympathy for her about it, a lot of sympathy, but she also knew they couldn't just dwell on that all day. She didn't want to see Lucy depressed.

Tara had darted off, into an open cabinet door near the stove. Lucy was looking and watching her as she flew into it. She heard a lot of ruffling and moving sounds as the girl was searching through the place, and tried to take in Tara's words, thinking that it would be good. They'd made the food together and, really, there was no reason they couldn't keep it for later. She was right...Tara wasn't her mother. Tara was becoming a lover, to Lucy, and she had to realize that things wouldn't always be exactly as they were when Mom was around. After a few moments, Tara flew out, carrying a small sandwich bag, wrapped around her neck and waving behind her, like some sort of cape.

Lucy smiled and laughed as she saw Tara with the bag. She nodded towards her as she came down and landed back on the table, in front of her. “You're right, Tara. We should definitely keep this for later. You can wait here and I'll throw this into the fridge. Tara returned the nodding gesture and patiently waited at the table as she saw Lucy get up, her blouse folding back down to cover her stomach, and start to put the food away. She walked off, the toast-filled bag in one hand and the plate and silverware in another. She kept her eyes on Lucy the whole time as she saw her piling the dishes in the sink and tossing the bag in the refrigerator.

As she came back, Lucy had a big smile on her face, which made Tara very happy. She considered herself victorious in her efforts to keep Lucy from getting sad and depressed about her mother. Lucy knelt down at the table and brought her shoulders and face right in front of Tara as she returned. “Come on, little lady. Hop on my shoulder and we'll head to out next objective.” Without a moment's hesitation, Tara hopped onto Lucy's shoulder, completely forgetting about the boots she'd left on the table, and got comfy, pushing against her neck.

“So what are we gonna do now, Lucy?” asked Tara, a bit of curiosity in her mind. Lucy smiled as she slowly stood up and walked towards the hallway. “Well, my little Tara, we've already got your bed accommodations, bathing, and eating figured out. I want to go back to the bedroom and just sit down for a nice, little chat with you. There are a few things I'd like to ask of you, pertaining to your abilities.” Tara blinked at her as they walked back, towards the bedroom, not understanding what kind of questions Lucy might have.

Lucy looked forward, trying to hide her face of concern from Tara. She had many questions, one important one being whether or not she could restore her own height...

Tara hugged against Lucy's neck, pushing against it as support, while hanging onto a few strands of the woman's hair as she walked through the house, making her way back towards her bedroom. As they walked, she couldn't help but be curious about what they were about to do. Lucy had told her she had some questions she wished to discuss with her, and that made her curious. What kinds of questions did Lucy have in mind? Were they pertaining to her abilities? Maybe they were about how they were going to live together, in this house, given the difference in height between them?

These questions were shuffling through Tara's head as Lucy walked through the hallway, finally reaching the doorway of her bedroom. The bed was still a little wrinkled up, not having been properly made since they'd gotten up that morning. Walking over, towards the bed, Lucy turned to Tara and told her to hold on while she fixed the comforter. Nodding towards her girlfriend, she leaned tighter into her neck, smiling as she snuggled up against it, waiting for Lucy to finish up with what she was doing with the bed. It didn't take long for Lucy to finish and stand straight again.

Taking a moment to look at the bed, Lucy smiled as she felt Tara snuggling up against her neck. It gave her goose bumps at the thought of how loving the girl was. Even if she was just resting against her, it made her feel very happy for the previous days' events. What started as a complete catastrophe had quickly turned into one of, if not the best day of her life. She stood for a moment, letting Tara snug against her neck before making her was onto the bed, sitting down and crossing her legs against the pillows at the back of it.

Pulling her arm up, she extended her palm and fingers, creating a flat surface right in front of Tara. “Tara, please step onto my hand. I would like to put you on the bed, so we can talk.” Tara, at a deep level, didn't want to abandon her snuggled position, but agreed to do as Lucy told her. Hopping off her shoulder, she landed on, and sat down in her big girlfriend's palm. Nodding to her, notifying that she was ready, Tara rode the palm down to the comforter. As she came down, however, Lucy shifted her legs, extending them out instead of crossing them and placed Tara on the comforter, between her knees.

Tara hopped out of Lucy's hand and looked up towards her girlfriend, whom had a soft grin on her face as she peered down at her doll-sized girlfriend. Her chest swelled for a moment, as she took a breath, looking down at Tara, thinking about everything that she wished to talk about. There were a lot of things on her mind, but there was one thing that was very important to her. Something she'd been wanting to ask Tara since they'd begun this little 'adventure' together. She tried to get in as much of a concentrated mood as she could before she spoke to her on this matter.

“Tara, I believe I am the only one who witnessed you, well...becoming little. You've showed me so many wonders with this “Arte” that you have at your disposal. You've kept up with things I've done, expended your energy to give me the most magical kiss I've ever had in my life, and so much more. I've seen so much out of you, my little girl, but there is one question that I want to ask you. Something that's been...bothering me, in the back of my mind.” Lucy's face seemed to wander as the question she wanted to ask was going through her head.

Tara could tell that there was something she really wanted to know, and was curious as to what was holding the girl back from saying it. She leaned into one of the legs, next to her and started to rub against it, calling up to her at the same time. “What's wrong, Lucy? Ask me anything you want! If I can answer it, I will!” Her hands were rubbing, back and forth, across Lucy's leg, right above her kneecap. Lucy smiled at Tara's willingness to show her that she cared and that she'd be willing to answer any question had. Her leg shivered and twitched for a moment, when Tara had spoken, accidentally knocking into Tara and pushing her down on her butt.

Lucy's cheek blushed as she realized she'd shoved into Tara. She reached down and helped the girl up, embarrassed at what she'd done. “I...I'm sorry, Tara! I didn't mean to do that, honest! Are you okay?” Tara brushed herself off and giggled up towards Lucy, showing her that she was just fine. Lucy took a deep breath, retracting her arm again and getting her mind back onto the question that she had wanted to ask her. “Right. Anyways, Tara...please don't take this the wrong way. I love you at this height. It's wonderful to have you like this. You're like a little tiny dolly girl that I can love on and take care of. But...”

Tara blinked and tilted her head as she looked up at Lucy. What could she have possibly been worried about, pertaining to her being so small? Was there something that Tara hadn't...been able to make Lucy happy with yet? She thought about calling up to her and asking her about it, but she knew she didn't have to. Lucy wanted to say this and she was building up the courage to throw it out towards her. “But, I was wondering...If we ever, you know...umm, no. What I'm trying to say is...would it be possible for you to reverse the spell that made you small? You know...so you could be normal-sized again, like I am? I love you at this height, but maybe, someday, I'd like to be able to wrap my arms around you, rather than my fingers?”

Tara thought long and hard about this. She could reverse the Size-Alteration spell, she was sure. All she would have to do was concentrate and cast the spell on herself, hoping that nothing went wrong, like the last time. Then again, did anything go 'wrong' with it the last time? Looking back up to Lucy, she forced a smile and nodded. “Of course I can!” She then began to walk down the length of the bed, making distance from Lucy. Turning around, she smiled and spread her legs apart. “I'll do a demonstration right now, if that's what you want!”

Lucy just smiled and nodded towards Tara. “As long as you can make yourself small again, Tara. I love having you little.” The two of them smiled at one another as Lucy retracted her legs and Tara closed her eyes, aiming to chant the spell...

Lucy was surprised Tara was willing to perform the spell right there on the bed. As she retracted her legs, crossing them into a sitting position, she carefully watched her little girlfriend as she began to concentrate on what she was doing. The woman almost had a smile on her face as she watched the sorceress, thinking about what it would be like to have a girlfriend who could go back and forth between being normal-sized like her, and doll-sized, like she was right now. The idea of going from taking care of “Dolly Tara” and being wrapped in a normal-sized Tara's arms was quite nice to her.

Tara was taking as much time as she needed to concentrate on this spell. She was confident in her abilities, but the truth was that the last time this spell was cast, something went wrong and it didn't perform itself correctly. She had been trying to shrink only the Antlion was yesterday down to a miniscule size and she'd gotten herself caught in the spell as well. Sure, the Antlion had been moving, which was probably the reason this happened, but there was still a worry in Tara's mind, a worry that something might go wrong again.

There had actually been a decent-sized pause where Tara wasn't chanting at all. She'd spent a good amount of time just cycling through her memory, thinking about the spell, itself, making sure she was going to do it correctly. This didn't take forever, but it did take a fair amount of time. After she'd done this thinking, she opened her eyes and looked to Lucy, who had that same curious look on her face that she'd had before, and when she'd first asked Tara to do a display of her abilities the day before. She nodded towards her, and showed her that it was time. “Okay, Lucy. I'm ready.”

“Do your stuff, Tara!” said Lucy, trying to sound like she was cheering one the little sorceress. She kept her body as still as she could, not wanting to shake the bed, in case it broke Tara's concentration and did something to make the spell work incorrectly. She watched her very carefully, wanting to see every last detail of what she was doing. Seeing Tara using the Arte was one incredible event after another. She was always amazed that so much power and ability could be packed up in a single person's body, let alone a person so little, at the moment.

As before, Tara's eyes shut, her mind beginning to concentrate on what she was doing. This spell would take a lot of energy, just as it did the last time. Everything had to be very precise, if she wanted to do this correctly. Her mind was emptied of the thoughts of the events of the past days and only concentrated on her own body. She envisioned herself fully restored, back to her full, normal stature. While she would love to stay little like this forever, she also wanted a chance to be normal-sized again. As Lucy wanted, she wanted to be able to wrap her arms around Lucy and hug her, being more than just a doll-sized protector.

The room began to become dark as she focused on the thought of her normal-sized form and the air around her was changing. A catalyst began to appear on the bed below her, spanning nearly half the length of the bed, her tiny form at the very center of it. Her lips were moving, chanting words as everything in the room was changing and glowing. The spell was beginning to be cast. Within moments, Tara's body would become engulfed in a bright light as it was restored to it's full height. The catalyst below her began to glow a bright red color that traveled inward, towards her.

Lucy's eyes were completely amazed at the light-show going on right now. The bright catalyst and the lights that were moving towards Tara's body, slowly engulfing her, looked absolutely incredible to her. She had seen a lot of light, when it came to Tara's abilities, but it had mostly been wrapped around her as well in events past. Never had she seen such a wondrous array of lights only around Tara. It made her look like an angel. Her tiny, beautiful little angel, whom was restoring herself for Lucy. She saw a shadow of something above Tara, an outline of her normal-sized form and she began to imagine what her angel will be like, at full height.

The lights completely engulfed Tara and then shone out, filling the room with their bright aura. The light was nearly blinding as Lucy shielded herself with her arm. The brightness lasted several moments before it finally stopped. As it dimmed out, she heard Tara's voice. “When the lights clear, it should be done, Lucy!” Filled with anticipation of this moment, Lucy tried to fight off the bright lights, despite the fact that they were already fading away. She wanted to see her Tara at normal height and jump into her arms the moment she came out of this spell.

The light began to dim, Tara's body feeling nearly strained as it happened. Her eyes were still shut, wanting to wait until the spell was completely finished before she moved and looked at her surroundings. If it had worked, she should be standing on top of Lucy's bed and ready to welcome her now-normal-sized girlfriend into her arms, being able to comfort her without using the Arte, for the first time in this venture. Like Lucy, she was also excited about this venture. Fighting off the strain, she let out a statement, seeing through her eyelids that the light had currently faded. “How do I look, Lucy?”

There was a gasp that rang through the air. Lucy looked at what was before her as the light dimmed, and she wasn't sure what to say to Tara. She bit her lip for a moment, not sure whether she wanted to tell Tara what she saw or not. As the catalyst slowly disappeared, she looked and saw Tara, fine and healthy, but something wasn't right. She reached forward, crawling over towards that section of the bed, wanting to show Tara what had happened. Placing her hand down on Tara's head, she spoke to the still-tiny woman. “Um...Tara? You're still short!”

Tara felt Lucy's warm, strong hand press down on her head as soon as the spell ended. She was partially blinded by the light of the spell, and the effects her body was taking on. It had sapped nearly every ounce of strength from her body to cast that spell. While she couldn't see Lucy, at the moment, she could hear and feel her. She'd heard her say she was still short and her weakened body just stood still. Her mouth opened, trying to say something, but she couldn't say a word. Nothing came out, but silence. She was too weak to say anything, though she did realize and assume that the spell had failed.

Feeling Lucy's hand against her head, she reached up and clenched onto her finger, as if she were needy for her. Lucy blinked as she saw her doing this. Why was she suddenly grabbing onto her? Did something go wrong? Was she hurting, in some way that Lucy was completely oblivious to? She had no idea, and so she put her other hand by Tara's body, asking her. “Tara, honey...Are you okay?” No sooner had the words come out of Lucy's lips had Tara fallen back, straight into her palm. Her face was completely red and it looked like she had fallen asleep. With the last ounce of strength in her body, she whimpered out “Not...enough...”

Lucy picked up Tara's now-unconscious body closer to her. She thought about what Tara had said and looked down, brushing the woman's bands from her forehead with one of her fingertips. She looked at her for a moment, worried about her. Had it taken...too much energy out of her? Her eyes scanned Tara for a good few minutes and her fingernail dug into the robe, slowly taking it off before she realized that the sorceress's chest was rising and falling at a normal pace. Her breasts and stomach were moving, just as they should have been, and this brought a feeling of relief to Lucy.

The robe soon fell off as Tara's arms fell to the side, and Lucy sat picked her up, walking out of the bedroom, looking down at her. It seemed that Tara had spent almost, if not all strength in her entire body to cast that spell. While Lucy was concerned as to why it failed, she also worried about Tara's well-being. For now, the answers could wait. She walked through the hallway, making her way back to the living room, finding a better place to sit down with her tiny girlfriend and wait for her to wake up from her nap. “My poor, little Tara. I'll have to sit with you for a little while, until you're ready to wake up and tell me what happened.”

Finding the couch in the living room, Lucy laid herself down. As she got on her back, she slowly removed the robe from Tara's wrists and laid it on her shoulder. She then brought Tara's body up to the neck of her blouse, slipping the woman's legs through the opening. She slid Tara down inside, until her legs, waist, and stomach were snug under it. A smile came to the unconscious girl's face as she was put into that position, looking as if she were using Lucy's body as a bed, her blouse the sheets that kept her warm at night. As Lucy looked down at her, she couldn't help but smile, feeling her little girlfriend under her blouse.

There had been so many things she wanted to know and do with Tara at normal height, but for the moment, it looked like she would have to be happy with having Tara as her little, short girlfriend. Not that there was anything wrong with that. Lucy had loved every second of having Tara at this height. She was so easy to take care of, and the smaller size made her look absolutely adorable. Even now, Lucy looked down at everything. Her little head, little shoulders, her little tummy and chest. Everything was just like a normal-sized woman, but in such a little package. Whether Tara was big or small, Lucy felt lucky to have her.

After laying with Tara for about an hour, the girl finally started to wake up. With a face that wasn't completely red anymore, Tara awoke to find herself in some sort of bed. She looked up and could see an immense red sheet on her. Blinking, she wasn't sure where she was at first. “Ouch...headache...where am I...? Did it work...am I in a bed again? I don't--” Tara's guesses were thwarted as she saw an enormous finger approach her and softly pat her on the head. “Hi there, cutie. Did you have a nice nap?”

Tara nearly jumped as she realized that the 'bed' she was laying on was actually Lucy. She now could feel the movement from beneath her and the warm aura her body was letting out. Squirming her way out of Lucy's cleavage, she stood herself up, and looked at herself, realizing she was wearing nothing but her boots. She had a confused look on her face until a red robe landed on her head, knocking her on her butt, sending a yelp from her lungs. “W-What?!” Blinking under the robe, she slowly pulled it off as she heard Lucy giggling above her.

“Sorry, Tara! I had to take that off earlier to make sure you were okay. You sort of...passed out earlier.” Tara, almost shocked from having clothes falling from the sky, blinked again before working to put her robe back on. Standing up and walking down Lucy's chest a little, she looked up at her girlfriend, who was smiling down at her, yet had a concerned look through her eyes. She thought long and hard about what had happened, crossing her arms. She had remembered everything now. Every last bit of detail was clear to her. Clicking her heels, she hovered into the air, making her way to Lucy's face to talk.

The two stared at each other for a moment before Tara spoke up. “I'm sorry, Lucy...I'm afraid I can't do it...I don't have enough power in me to reverse the effect.” She had an incredibly apologetic look on her face as she looked down, towards Lucy's neck. She could tell that Lucy had wanted her to be big again for a reason, and she almost felt like she let her down. Before she knew it, however, two huge, soft lips came to her face and enveloped it, Lucy giving her a big, loving kiss. As the lips pulled away, Tara blushed and looked as Lucy spoke to her.

“You're okay, Tara, and that's what's important. You don't have to push yourself so hard again. I'm sorry I asked you to do that.” Tara was apologetic and grateful to Lucy. That spell had not been fun to do, at all. From the beginning, she had felt pain as the energy sapped away at her body. She flew into Lucy's cheek and hugged it. “Thank you, Lucy.” Patting Tara on the back, Lucy laid down and let the two of them sleep. “Tara...I think we're going to have a wonderful life together. You and me, together.” They both smiled as they feel under, thinking about what the future would hold...

Those last words the two of them shared on that first day together. They wished and hoped they would have a happy and wonderful life together, and so they did. The next few weeks went by surprisingly fast as the two of them got situated in their new lives. It wasn't incredibly easy, nor was all of it as fun as either of them had hoped it would be. The world was a hazardous place for a woman as small as Tara was, and without Lucy there to aide her, things might not have been as happy for her as they currently were. It was obvious that their situation wasn't common, nor was it completely preferred.

Tara had to deal with the fact that she was a tiny, 6-inch woman now, and there was nothing in her power, that she could think of, to help restore her to her full height. The Size-Alteration spell was very tricky and they'd learned fast that it took more power to completely cast than Tara had to spare in her diminished form. They couldn't have her going back and forth between sizes, which meant that Lucy might not ever be able to melt herself in her girlfriend's arms, but she could let Tara melt in her own arms. She wasn't going to receive all of those loving, cuddling feelings, but she could give them to Tara.

Nearly a month had passed since the fateful day that had brought the two of them together. It was an early morning, and the sun crept in through the window of their bedroom, shining a light on the bed. Lucy was laying in bed, her lips closed, hair ruffled out and wearing a crimson bath robe. Tara was laying on her shoulder, snuggled against the woman's neck, wearing a similar-looking bath robe, nuzzling against her girlfriend's skin like it were a big pillow or bed, all in itself. The two looked very calm, yet very happy.

As the sun crept itself in, the light shone down over Lucy's shoulder, and onto Tara. Her fingers twitched as she felt the warm radiance of light, pushing down on her body. The sunlight warmed up her skin and sent a message into her little body, signaling that it was time for her to wake up. They always got up early in the morning, Tara being woken up by the sunlight, and Lucy soon after, by Tara herself. They'd begun their nights together with an alarm Lucy had in the house, but stopped using that after an unfortunate incident with Tara's ears. The alarm pained Tara, so Lucy got rid of the alarm and let Tara be an alarm clock for her.

The sorceress' eyes slowly opened up, her arms pushing against Lucy's neck and mouth opening wind was her body uncurled and stretched. Her hands came away from the skin as her back arched, nearly a dozen cracks audible to her. She slowly got to her feet and stood on top of the soft, rug-like surface that Lucy's robe provided. Rubbing her hands over her eyes, she waited a few moments to properly wake up. After a dozen or two blinks, her body had woken itself up and she was ready to wake up her girlfriend, a challenge all in itself.

Tara clicked her bare heels together and began to hover into the air. She slowly made her way over to Lucy's rosy cheeks and watched the girl sleep, calmly. She always thought she was cute when she was sleeping. Like big, cute, dolly. Getting closer, she reached her arms out and started pushing against her cheek. “Lucy! Honey, it's time to get up! Lucy, it's morning!” Her calls caused a reaction in the woman's ears, but Lucy didn't seem to want to get up. Her lips moved, slightly, and Tara heard her calling out, in a tired whisper as she rolled to her side, pushing her face away from where Tara hovered. “F-Five more minutes...”

Sighing, Tara flew to the other side and landed herself down on the pillow. Lucy's face was against it, and she wanted to keep sleeping. Crossing her arms, she looked at her face...the soft, pale color of her skin, the rosy-red color of her cheeks, those big, pink, lovable lips. This was her girlfriend, the love of her life, not wanting to get out of bed, again. As much as Tara was having to adjust, Lucy was having to adjust as well, and getting up early wasn't happening very smoothly thus far. Tara pushed against her cheek again, without any success.

Tara bit her lip for a moment, before thinking about the 'real' alarm clock she had for Lucy. She smiled and realized that there was only one real way to wake up this woman. She loved to be able to do this, but she had to be mostly awake to do it. Thankfully, she'd fully awakened from flying around and using her powers for a moment. She walked forward and knelt down, right in front of the girl's lips. “Well, my big, wonderful princess, there's only one way to wake you up. You'd just better get up when I do this!”

Tara looked at the lips for a moment, feeling a soft breeze of air coming out of their crease. Although they were shut, someone small, like Tara, could tell there was still some air coming from them. She shut her eyes and let it blow into her face, letting the atmosphere set it. She loved it when she was able to wake Lucy up like this, though she sometimes felt like the girl wouldn't wake up if she didn't do something like this. Putting one hand on either side of the lips, Tara pushed herself forward and gave Lucy her favorite kind of alarm. Their lips met and Tara closed her own eyes, giving her big girlfriend a nice, long, wake-up kiss.

Lucy's lips reacted almost immediately to receiving this kiss. Her hand came up behind Tara and pulled her into it. Tara's body, not ready for this, reacted and her legs flailed around as Lucy turned onto her back, carrying Tara up with her, as she continued the kiss, her rosy cheeks getting even rosier as the seconds passed. After it had ended, she pulled Tara away from her face and kept her in her palm. Smiling, the two of them blushed at one another. “Good.....morning, Tara.” Lucy yawned as she slowly woke up, her other hand coming up and feeling around her ruffled-up hair.

Tara let out a sigh, smiling and shaking her head at her sleepy girl. “Oh, Lucy...” She didn't want to say anything else as the girl got herself out of her bed and the two walked towards the bathroom, to start their daily routine.

The hard part of the day was over, for Tara. Once Lucy was awake, everything would be going smoothly. Tara could do a lot of things, using the Arte, though she knew not to do too much on her own. Over the past month, she had learned that she can easily overtax her body. Doing so much as opening up the refrigerator or freezer, she could get tired out, simply from the strain her abilities have on her minuscule body. She let Lucy do a lot of the heavy work around the house, during their schedule, and did what she could in smaller things that didn't require the lifting of heavy objects.

To show the easiness of what was going on, there was a mass wave of giggling coming out of the bathroom that morning, as there was every morning. First getting up and taking their daily bath was a non-stop mess of fun for the two lovers. There was a red bath robe laying on a mat in front of the bath tub and a tiny one hanging off the side of the sink. Throughout the entire room was a field of floating bubbles, coming from the tub itself. Tara could be seen, flying up Lucy's stomach, a wash cloth on the edge of her hands, wiping the suds off Lucy's body, as Lucy giggled and laughed from the ticklish nature of Tara's washing.

Tara, herself, had a head full of soap, and as she finished up washing Lucy off, she let her powers rest and let Lucy take care of her. Tired out, she landed in Lucy's palm and rested her head against one of Lucy's fingers, looking up at her. “Now it's my turn to clean off my little Tara!” Taking the wash cloth in her hand, she rubbed the soft material all over Tara's little form, getting every last inch of her clean of all suds, soap, and everything else. This was their daily routine, every morning. Tara wakes up, Tara wakes Lucy up, and the two of them have the time of their life in the bath, together.

The plug was soon pulled and the bath tub was drain of all it's water. While the water was moving outwards, Lucy pulled a towel from the sink and began to dry herself off, Tara still laying in her palm. This was the perfect way to wake up, in the morning. Despite her nature of not wanting to get up in the morning, she was always eager to jump into the bath and help her little girl wash herself and let Tara wash off her own body. Their affection had only grown for one another since meeting, and she always loved feeling Tara's little, naked body against her own.

After getting dried off, she picked up her and Tara's matching robes and tossed them across the room, into a small, trashcan-sized laundry basket. They'd be needing to wash those robes soon. They'd worn them a few nights in a row, and it was time they got clean, just like they were. She set Tara up on her naked shoulder as she walked back towards the bedroom. The little sorceress found a comfy position against Lucy's neck as she rode on her, wondering what Lucy might be planning to wear today. That big girl always wanted the two of them to match, and had even sewn her a lot of clothes, herself, to ensure that the two of them could match.

Lucy got back to the bed and pulled the covers straight before sitting her butt down on it. Putting her hand behind Tara's body, she let her head and back fall backwards, hitting the comforter. Her hair was flowing out, onto the bed as Tara braced herself, impacting against her girlfriend's hands. They looked at each other as they lay together on the bed. They could feel the sun coming in, shining down on both their naked forms, letting them heat up a little after having that bath. They hadn't said a word to one another. They were just taking a moment to rest. Rest and look at each other, to be happy that they had one another.

This didn't last forever, of course. Tara was the first to jump up and get an idea about what kind of clothes they wanted to wear that day. Jumping to her feet, her little body bouncing as she hit the comforter, put her hands on Lucy's cheeks and let out an idea. “Hey, Lucy! You know...why don't I pick out what we're going to wear today? I'll just run into your closet and I'll come out with something that will look absolutely stunning on you, okay? Be back in just a second!” The sorceress had zipped off, towards the closet, but Lucy had suddenly remembered something. Whipping her head up, she screamed out at Tara. “No! WAIT!”

Responding to the yell, Tara immediately stopped in the middle of the air. Or, at least...that was the plan. In trying to stop, her momentum got the best of her and she fell forward, mashing her body into a towel that was hanging from the doorknob of the large, wooden brown door that held the closet. Grunting, she slid down the towel and landed on her butt, on the floor. She felt a little dizzy as she looked around, trying to cope with that impact. She felt the ground moving as she saw Lucy's feet and legs leaving the bed and approaching her.

“Wh....What's wrong, Lucy? Do you not wanting me to go in there or...something?” As Lucy knelt down, she wrapped her fingers around Tara, pulling her into the air. She had an apologetic look on her face. She didn't mean for Tara to slam herself into the towel and fall to the ground. Trying to smile, she walked back and set her down on the bed. Then Tara's question lingered into her head and she started feeling a little nervous. There was a reason she didn't want Tara near that closet, but it wasn't something she wanted to tell her. Not yet, anyways.

Trying to think of a way to distract the girl, she got on her knees in front of the bed, exposing Tara to her breasts. She pulled Tara into her right breast, gently pushing the girl against her nipple as she spoke down. “Oh, it's....nothing, Tara! I just really like picking out outfits is all! I wouldn't want my little darling to get h-hurt trying to go through all my big clothes! Haha....” Lucy did a terrible job at faking a laugh as Tara had hugged against her breast, but still looking up, confused. Within moments, a hand came behind her and Lucy laid down on the bed, holding Tara against her breast, stroking her body, sending shivers through her and making her forget all about the closet.

Minutes later, the comfort of Lucy's breast had made Tara fall asleep, hugging and nuzzling against her girlfriend's giant breast. Lucy let out a sigh as she held her there, slowly getting up and going to the dresser, rather than the closet, to get some clothes out. “That was close...” she whispered to herself. “I can't let her big surprise get ruined so soon...”

The two of them had sat down for breakfast. By the time Tara had awakened from what happened earlier, Lucy had already gotten two matching sets of clothes out and dressed both of them. Tara had awakened, sitting on a pile of towels they had placed on one of the chairs, so she could sit in a chair and be at the table for dinner, as if there weren't anything wrong with her size and she could sit on her own. The towels were soft and comfy, so she almost didn't realize where she was at first. She was dressed in her normal set of red robes, and she saw Lucy at the table, wearing similar robes that she'd made for herself.

Tara was confused, at first. She tried to think about what had happened before. She remembered her having to get Lucy up, as she always did, they took a bath, then they were getting ready to get dressed. It took her a few minutes to remember. She couldn't quite remember what happened after that, so she started doing their regular routine in her head as she tried to think of what had happened. Lost in a day dream, she was taken by surprise as a plate made a metallic clanging noise right in front of her. She nearly jumped out of her chair as she saw Lucy at the end of the table, smiling.

Lucy started giggling and laughing at seeing her little Tara jumping around. The fact that she'd jumped was incredibly funny. It wasn't the first time she'd managed to scare her like that, but seeing that tiny little girl jump was absolutely hilarious. It was like having a miniaturized, little kitten around the house and accidentally scaring it to death, making it's skin crawl. Setting a chopped-off end of a chopstick next to Tara, she pat her on the head with her finger and apologized. “Sorry about that, Tara! I didn't mean to scare you like that!”

Catching her breath, Tara shook her head around, seeing her hair moving in front of her. She blinked as she saw her hair, but for a small glimpse. Her hand immediately went up to it and her fingers ran through it. As she felt it, she realized that it was soft and it was straight. She looked up at Lucy, whom was still smiling and shrugged her shoulders. “Yeah, sorry. That was me!” said the big girlfriend. “I kinda...took the liberty of brushing your hair while you were asleep. I hope you don't mind. Anyways, breakfast is ready. I made you some scrambled eggs and a pancake. I hope you like!”

Tara just blinked, again, and looked down at her breakfast. On a saucer-sized plate were dozens of tiny cut-ups of egg and pancake, arranged in lines and beside it, the small end of a chopstick, about an inch long. It was the utensil that Tara had been using for a good while now. It was relatively light, to her, and could easily be used to skewer and pick up soft foods for her to eat. They had incorporated the towel pile and the chopstick from Tara expressing that she'd like to eat like a normal person, rather than just having Lucy feed her all the time. She loved being fed the food, but you just can't be babied all the time. Tara was the older of the two, and wanted to still be able to live as 'normal' a life as she could.

She was thinking about what happened before as she slowly picked up her utensil and thanked Lucy for making her breakfast. They normally made breakfast together, but this time, it was all on Lucy. That's the way Lucy wanted it today, though. As she sat down at the other end of the table, she started eating her own breakfast and watched Tara. She wondered what was on her mind, hoping that it wasn't about earlier, when she'd told her not to go into the closet. Unfortunately for her, their minds were so alike that Tara immediately starting bringing up that very topic.

“So...Lucy, can I ask you a question?” Lucy, swallowing a bite of egg, responded to her, nodding her head. “Sure, Tara. What's on your mind?” Tara was in the middle of downing a large piece of egg. The thing about food for her was that a mouthful to her would barely be a scrap of food to Lucy. She'd taken a small scrap and it nearly filled her entire mouth. Forcing the egg down to her belly, she continued her conversation, inquiring about earlier. “Why don't you want me going into the closet? Is there something in there that you, um...want to hide from me?”

Lucy's gut immediately got a nervous stinging in it. The way Tara had worded it had nailed her right on the head. There was, indeed, something in the closet that she intended to hide from Tara. At least, for awhile. It was something that Tara absolutely could not see for right now, that Lucy didn't want her to find out about. Setting her fork down by her plate, she stared over at Tara, whom was staring back at her, her own utensil also down on the table. Lucy took a few deep breaths, trying to think of way to put this so she could keep her little secret, for now.

“Well, Tara...I...yes. I'm sorry, but yes, there is something in there that I want to hide from you.” She looked down at the table as soon as she'd said it, but quickly continued, not wanting Tara to get the wrong idea about things. “But don't misunderstand! It's something that's not going to be hidden forever! You'll find out about it very soon, I promise! I just...want to keep it a secret, for now. Is that...okay with you?” Tara blinked and looked at her. Lucy was getting all worked up over this. What, exactly,was she trying to hide?

She didn't know, but part of her didn't want to find out now. If keeping it a secret was so important to Lucy, then she would respect that. She nodded to her and smiled. “Alright, Lucy. That's okay with me, as long as this is nothing bad. It isn't, is it?” Lucy was very quick in her response, shaking her head. “No, no, no! It's nothing bad at all! Thanks, Tara” The two finished their conversation and continued to eat their breakfast. Lucy's stomach was calming down and she sighed, glad that she'd gotten through that. She didn't want Tara to find out that she'd been hiding decorations and a gift in the closet for the surprise birthday party she was planning for her later that week...

Lucy felt a little bad about keeping secrets from Tara. She loved that little woman, and would be comfortable telling her anything and everything about her life, her past, anything that goes through her mind. When it came to these decorations, however, she desperately wanted to keep them a secret. Keeping that secret would mean that she could not, for any reason, let Tara into the closet where she was hiding that stuff, or any other place in the house she might be hiding other supplies for this party she was planning. As she downed more of her breakfast, she thought about that secret.

The idea of this party had spawned in Lucy's mind about a week earlier. Still getting settled in and setting a few things up for Tara to use, the two of them had sat down in the living room, after Lucy had unpacked a lot of the other furniture. In the now-full living room, the two of them sat in a recliner, and they were discussing various things about each other. They spoke about their families, where they grew up, how old they were, and other random facts about each other, so as to be able to learn a little more about one another. During this conversation, the topic of birth dates had come up.

It was the middle of June and when they'd exchanged birthdays, Lucy thought about her own. Her birthday wasn't until October, quite a few months away. Tara had been the one to ask about birthdays, which Lucy happily provided her with. Lucy had been born on October 2nd. She was a Fall girl. When Tara had told Lucy her own birthday, however, she had surprised Lucy. Her birthday was a little bit closer than Lucy had imagined. Tara's birthday was coming up very, very soon. In fact, it was a little more than a week from when she'd told her.

That's when Lucy got to thinking. Tara's birthday was right around the corner, only about a month after the two of them had first met and they'd gotten into the situation they were currently in. Their conversation had continued that day, but Lucy's mind was fairly busy after that point. She'd always wanted to do something special for Tara, ever since they might. Sure, she let the girl snuggle with her, sleep against her neck, play with her in the bath, etc, but all of that was normal girlfriend stuff. She wanted to do something a little more...tangible for her.

With her birthday coming up, it gave Lucy the perfect opportunity to do something special for her. Tara had spoken about always living alone since her mother had died, years and years ago. Although the thought of losing one's mother at such a young age was a tragedy in itself, it was giving Lucy a wonderful idea. She would be able to go out and get some decorations, in secret, and she was going to throw Tara a birthday party. She'd keep everything hidden until that morning and she'd be able to surprise her little darling with the best party she ever had.

That night, she was thinking about what all she would need to do to prepare for this party. She'd obviously need to buy a lot of decorations and other supplies needed for a birthday party. It would only be the two of them, so she wouldn't have to be sending out invitations to everyone that she and Tara knew or anything. That would save Lucy a lot of grief in the planning of this party. They would still need some decorations, she would need to bake something, like a cake or cupcakes, and she would need to get her some sort of gift.

She wasn't getting very much sleep the following few nights, planning and sorting ideas for this party in her mind. Things would have to be absolutely perfect for Tara, and there were a lot of things she would need to be careful with and make sure she did correctly. They would need decorations that wouldn't get Tara hurt, she'd need to be able to open up her gift, herself, and Lucy would have to be doing a lot of things without Tara knowing it. That, in itself, would be a pretty big feat for Lucy. Doing the decorating, baking, and whatnot without Tara knowing.

For as long as they'd been together, they were always with one another. When Lucy had to go to the bathroom, Tara came in and chatted with her to keep her busy. They took their baths together, they cooked together, they slept together, they even went into town together to buy food, with Tara riding along in a pocket in Lucy's purse. No matter how everything seemed to go, they went everywhere together. Being able to plan and put together a surprise birthday party would be no easy feat for Lucy. She would have to be very careful.

She had been lucky to get the decorations home without Tara knowing. She'd taken Tara with her to the store, but had carefully covered up streamers, hats, and a cake mix under various items in the shopping cart as they went to the grocery store one week. When they'd gotten home, she had even run off to throw the decorations in the closet, claiming that she had to go to the bathroom very badly. She'd barely gotten the closet shut by the time Tara flew into the room, worried about her. That afternoon was very interesting one.

Now, still days before the party was to happen, Tara had nearly gone into the closet, where all of those supplies were held. Lucy felt bad about it now. Not only was she keeping it a secret from Tara, but now Tara knew she was keeping secrets from her. She only hoped that Tara's curiosity would not get the best of her, until the morning came for the party and she had a chance to set everything up for the tiny lady...

It had not taken the two of them terribly long to finish their breakfast. Tara was the first one finished, surprisingly. She, unlike Lucy, didn't have a whole lot of stuff on her mind about hiding and about birthday parties and everything else. She did feel very curious and strange about the fact that Lucy was hiding something from her, but she believed her when she said that whatever it was wasn't bad. She trusted Lucy and, although she didn't like the fact that she was keeping secrets, she didn't want to burden her further. By the looks in her eyes when she was eating, she could tell that whatever this was, was something that she didn't want to keep from her.

She leaned back against the chair, patting on her stomach, completely full from the amount of food she'd eaten. Lucy always made great food, and she always ate more than she really should have. It was a wonder she wasn't blowing up like a balloon for how much she was spoiled from their cooking. Whether it was breakfast, lunch, or dinner, every meal was wonderfully and special, seeing as how they both always worked hard to make it. Looking back at Lucy, whom was cleaning up her own plate, Tara smiled. “Thanks for breakfast, Lucy. It was wonderful.”

Lucy smiled as she picked up the two plates and headed back towards the counter, where the sink was located. She reached the counter and set the dishes in the sink, to be washed later, when they normally washed the dishes together. By the time she'd turned around to go back for Tara, Tara was already there and on her shoulder, dangling and swinging her boot-clad legs in the air, smiling up at Lucy. “So, Lucy, what are our plans for today?” The sorceress let out a cute smile as she asked Lucy what they had planned for the day. Lucy smiled back as she thought about it.

She did have a few plans made for the day. Not everything was ready for the little party Lucy had planned, so they needed to head into town to get some more supplies. Of course, Lucy would need to find an excuse to go to the store, so she could keep all of this a secret. There was also the problem of Tara being with her at the store, seeing her buying all of this stuff. They didn't need any more groceries, so it would be hard for Lucy to hide the contents of the supplies in the cart, were Tara to go along with her. She thought about the situation for a few minutes, but suddenly thought of something that might eliminate the possibility of Tara being there to see everything.

She was curious as to what, exactly, she could do to say this. Her plans were to have Tara staying home for awhile, while she would go and get the supplies from the store. She just needed something for Tara to do at home, while she was away. She would normally be a little sketchy on leaving the sorceress by herself, given her size, but Tara had more than proved that she could handle most things on her own. She'd be fine for an hour or so, while Lucy was off, getting the last of her decorations and supplies for the party. She just had to convince Tara to stay home and do something.

Lucy walked back over to the table and looked at Tara, smiling, softly patting on her head, brushing her hair to the side as they looked at one another in the mirror, trying to stall and think of something she could tell the girl. “So cute.” In the process, Tara was blushing and pushing up against that finger. Lucy hadn't said a word. She just started brushing on her hair. “S-Stop! Luuuucy! You're embarrassing me! What are your plans for today?” Lucy's smile faded and she pulled her finger away from her embarrassed girlfriend as she figured out what she could say.

“Sorry, Tara!” she said, her face getting a little red, smiling at the recent memory of brushing along the girl's hair. Although she'd used it to stall for time, she did enjoy it a lot. Tara was nothing short of adorable, and she loved looking at her. Getting to the point, she started talking to her. “Well, Tara...I have a few things that I need to run up and get from the store today. So, I was thinking that I could head up there this morning, and you could stay here and do something for me.” Lucy was hoping Tara would accept this, but wasn't expecting her to.

Tara blinked and looked at Lucy, confused. “You want me to...stay here, Lucy?” She wasn't sure why Lucy wouldn't want to take her with her to the store. She always went to the store with her and helped her pick the best food and items to bring home with them. Of course, they'd just been to the store a few days ago, so what did Lucy need to get? Could it have something to do with the secret she was keeping from her. “What would you like me to do here, by myself?” She tried not to sound like she was guilt-tripping Lucy for leaving her there, but it came out in that sort of manner.

Lucy used her finger to pat Tara on the head. “I'm sorry, Tara. It's not like I want you to be alone or anything. I just need to grab a few things. I won't be long. Besides, you've wanted to be able to do a log of stuff on your own, right? While I'm gone, I'd like you to show me all you can do on your own! You can do a couple things that I didn't finish doing earlier. You know, finish making the bed and, since I made breakfast by myself, I thought that you might making lunch yourself, and anything else you've wanted to do, on your own, since all of this began. Would that be okay?”

Tara wasn't sure what to make of Lucy's idea. While she did feel a need for independence, at times, and wanted to prove herself to Lucy, it almost felt like she was giving her chores, so she wouldn't ask and go with her to get whatever all of this was. Letting out a soft sigh, she smiled and nodded towards her. “Alright, Lucy, it's a deal. You can go off to the store by yourself, but only if you promise to snuggle with me in your robe tonight before bed, okay?”

Lucy smiled and nodded towards her, slowly picking her up and setting her down on the table. “You bet, Tara. We'll snuggle a lot tonight, promise.” She then leaned over and let her lips graze into Tara's face, giving her a kiss. “Take care while I'm away, sweetie. I'll be back before you know it!” Tara smiled and nodded as she saw Lucy grabbing her purse and heading out the door. She waved to her, though she really didn't want her to go...

Lucy had walked out the door and headed down the street, towards the store. It wasn't a long walk. It would take her, maybe, 20 minutes to get to the store, 20 minutes to get back, and awhile in the store, itself. She didn't plan to be gone for more than an hour or two, assuming she could find everything she needed for this party. She still had a few things she needed to grab, that she'd completely forgotten about when they'd gone grocery shopping earlier that week. She walked relatively slowly down the street, though, giving Tara as much time as possible to do whatever she was planning on doing while she was gone.

Foraging through her purse as she walked, she pulled out a small piece of paper with a list on it. She'd made this list the night before, as Tara was falling asleep. She didn't need a whole lot of stuff, but she did need a little bit. Hidden in the closet already was Tara's gift, various decorations for the house, and a cake mix. It wasn't a whole lot, but her mind was a little busy when they were at the store before, and she'd forgotten about a lot of the other supplies she needed. She took a look at the list and tried to think if there was anything she still needed. It read:

- Cake Icing
- Candles
- Wrapping Paper
- Bows
- Cupcake Papers
- Table Cloth
- Napkins and Plates

The more she thought about it, the better she felt about the list she'd made. The only thing that was missing from this list was the main dish they'd be having on the girl's birthday, to go along with the cake. Most people, for birthdays, would have something like pizza or some sort of take-out food. Not on Tara's birthday, though. Lucy had planned to have a collection of foods for her little birthday girl. She'd be making a little of everything Tara loved. French Toast sticks, Cinnamon Rolls, and Birthday Cake. Sure, it's not the best meal in the world, but it's everything that Tara loves, and that's all that matters.

They already had the materials for French Toast at home, so she would just need to pick up some Cinnamon Rolls from the store. Pulling out a pen, Luy stopped by a building and pushed her paper against the wall, quickly scribbling down “Cinn. Rolls” below “Napkins and Plates” on the list, to make sure she didn't forget about it, this time. Throwing the list back into the purse, she continued onwards, reassuring herself. “Just this one, little trip to the store and everything will be all set for her perfect birthday party! She's going to be so happy that day. I just know it!”

Lucy was happy, at this point. The excitement of getting everything ready for the party was pushing back some of the guilty feelings that had plagued her mind since she told Tara she had to stay at home, instead of going to the store with her. This day was the first time the two of them had ever been apart, other than in other rooms of the house, since they'd met. It wasn't a very easy thing for Lucy to handle, and she was sure that Tara wasn't exactly in happy-joy land, either, because of this. She just hoped she wouldn't be too upset with her and that a special snuggling that night, as Tara had asked, would be enough to make up for it.

She thought a lot about what was going on, and it didn't take her long to get to the store, with her mind busy on all of the stuff that was going on in their lives right now. Lucy was preparing for a birthday party, they'd just gotten all of the furniture unpacked, Tara was curious about this 'secret'. It was hard to imagine that the two of them had already been together for a whole month. It seemed like just yesterday that Lucy had been rescued by Tara and had been introduced to her doll-sized girlfriend. She smiled as the electric doors of the grocery store opened up and she walked in, a large harpy cawing overhead, on it's way to the ravine on the edge of the city. She watched the bipedal bird from inside the door, heading to it's home and it made her think about how she'd soon be heading home as well.

Grabbing a cart, she started walking through the store, which was surprisingly vacant this day. It was in the middle of the week, a Wednesday morning, so most of the customers were probably at home, or at work. This worked well for Lucy. It meant that she'd be able to get in, grab her supplies, and get out with a good deal of time to spare, and that she'd be getting back to Tara very soon. She started walking down the aisles, calmly, taking a look at her list, thinking of where she wished to start. At the top of the list was icing and candles. Taking a quick look at the aisle signs, she spotted the Baking aisle and headed that way.

Making her way into the baking aisle, she ran by the cake mixes and found small tubs of icing, that went with each mix. She let her fingers run along the boxes until she found the Strawberry cake mix they'd bought earlier that week and picked up two small bottles of icing, one white and one crimson, the same color as their robes. She wanted to draw something special on the cake, and that shade of red seemed to be Tara's favorite color, so it seemed fitting. Also in here were some birthday-themed plates and napkins, which also got tossed into the cart.

Lucy trekked across the store, further, almost the only person there, collecting some of the other items on the list. Soon, her cart had cupcake papers, bows, and wrapping paper in it. At the halfway point, she looked up towards the ceiling, smiling. “I wonder how Tara doing, back home?”

While Lucy was off at the store, Tara was at home, mostly wondering when her girlfriend would be returning. She hadn't liked the idea of Lucy going to the store without her. She felt a strange twist in her gut when she'd suggested that she go to the store, by herself, and for Tara to stay at home while she was gone. It wasn't anything like how Lucy had acted towards her before. She was starting to get a little worried that there was something wrong with Lucy. She was starting to feel like this thing that she was hiding from her was bad, after all.

The two of them had never been apart before. Ever since they met, the two of them had been everywhere together, and did everything together. They even went to the bathroom together. If Lucy had to use the toilet, Tara was in there with her, and vice-versa. The idea of doing something without her made her feel a little odd, to be sure. She trusted Lucy, though, and trusted that she wasn't doing anything dishonest with her. Although she was worrying about her, she knew that she needed to trust her. If Lucy said it wasn't bad, then she needed to believe that it wasn't.

It took a good 20 minutes of thinking before Tara finally started to move away from the door. She hovered through the house, thinking about what Lucy had told her that she could do while she was away. She talked about doing this around the house, on her own, like making the bed and making lunch. She had highlighted the fact that she liked doing things, on her own. She hadn't done much on her own this past month, though. Lucy had always expressed that she wanted to help her with things and that she didn't want Tara doing everything on her own, if she didn't have to.

The idea that Lucy wanted her to do a lot on her own made little sense to Tara. Although she didn't mind the idea of doing a lot on her own, she was just curious as to why Lucy would want her doing that, especially on her own. Perhaps she just wanted something for her to do while she was gone at the store, getting whatever she was planning to get? She bit her lip as she thought and slowly hovered through the house, making her way back towards the bedroom. She wasn't sure what all she wanted to do, but she just decided to start with what Lucy had mentioned to her: making the bed.

Coming into the room, she softly set herself down on the nightstand, looking at the bed. She crossed her arms and took a look at what all she would have to do with all of this. There really didn't look like there was a lot of work involved in this. The bedspread was covering most of the bed, and it only had a few wrinkles in it. The two pillows were hanging off the side of the bed, and there was a small article of clothing, a pair of Lucy's socks on the bed. It looks like she'd gotten one too many pairs of them out that morning. Shrugging her arms, she spoke to herself and started. “Well, I guess I should get started before Lucy gets home.”

She clicked her boots together and flew over to the socks. Each one was about as long as she was tall. She hovered above the two white, cotton socks and put her hands over them, slowly chanting a spell. Before long, the two socks had a slightly red aura and was hovering on either side of her. Looking to both of them and nodding, she grinned and began to hover towards the tall, Lucy-sized dresser, which had it's top drawer still open up. She slowly made her way over until she came to the dresser, where all of Lucy's clothes were at. Still above the drawer, Tara moved her hands around, which made the socks fold onto one another until they fell down into the drawer.

Flying further, she came in front of the drawer handle and shoved her body into it slowly pushing the drawer shut. It took a lot of effort to shut it, only using the flying ability and her own strength to get the drawer shut. Thankfully, Lucy didn't have an enormous collection of socks, so the drawer wasn't much heavier than it had to be. Hovering over to the bed, she held back the little bit of fatigue that she felt at that moment and moved over, towards the sheets and comforter on the bed. She was starting to do a bit of work to clean up the room, as Lucy had suggested. Looking back, the dresser did look a little nicer, being shut and everything.

With a little more effort, she made it over to the corner of the comforter and pulled her hands down to it. Taking a close look at the location of the wrinkles, she pushed herself away from the bed, using her abilities to fly backwards. She was still using a lot of effort and could see the wrinkles slowly disappearing. Before long, the fatigue was running a little higher and she flew to the other corner, doing the same thing. She was trying to grin as she saw her work coming to fruition. Turning her attention to the pillows, she used her abilities, completely, and moved her hands, moving the two pillows into place.

Finally stopping her abilities, she came down to the ground, setting down on the pillow. She sat down on the big, white, fluffy goodness and took a look at the bed. It looked straight and without a single wrinkle in it. Smiling at her work, she leaned over and rested herself on the pillow. “Well...at least that's all done now. Lucy will be happy with this.” Letting out a yawn, she nuzzled her face against the pillow. “Just a little rest, and I'll make some lunch. Yeah...just a teensy....little....res-”

The fatigue had finally caught up with Tara and the feeling of that soft pillow had knocked her out, her eyes slowly shutting into a nap...

Lucy was scratching at a bump at the back of her neck as she was strolling further through the store. She had been looking at ceiling, curious as to how Tara was doing. She had definitely been gone for a good while. “I wonder what she'll have done by the time I get home?” The cart rolled through some of the aisles as she thought about what had happened at home. She had a fair amount of her list already obtained already. She slowly passed the cooler section of the store, a cool wind blowing past her, blowing her hair back and sending a chill up her spine.

The timing was awkward. Her mind went to Tara as soon as the chill flew up her spine. The guilt came rushing back into her. As much as she hated to think about it, leaving Tara alone at home bothered her a little, as did keeping this secret from her. She had that knot in her stomach from earlier still present, pressing against her, every so often. The feelings and those little voices in the back of her head were still nagging and scratching at her, telling her that what she was doing was wrong, though also telling her it was right.

The idea of keeping secrets from Tara wasn't exactly a positive thought in Lucy's mind. She loved Tara with all her heart. This party had been planned for a good week or two by now, yet her mind was never stressed about it until now, today. She stopped in the middle of the refrigerated foods aisle that she'd just walked in and started thinking about it. What had changed so much in the situation? Actually, that question was futile. She knew what had changed in the situation. The difference was that now Tara knew that she was keeping something from her. The radio was playing in the background, displaying a tune that got Lucy thinking even harder.

“I'm back in the U.S.S.R. You don't know how lucky you are, boy.
Back in the U.S.S.R.!
Been away so long, I hardly knew the place. Gee, it's good to be back home.”

A can of cinnamon rolls flew into the card at an almost unprecedented speed as Lucy walked through the aisle, speeding up her pace. She didn't have much to collect, and those lyrics had come into her head. She thought about that last set of lyrics, and started to think about how long she'd really been gone from home. How long had it seemed to Tara? They hadn't been apart since they'd met. It could have seemed like a long time to her. She got in her mind that she wanted to get out of the store and back to her little Tara as soon as she could.

It wasn't the song lyrics alone that had changed Lucy's mind. It was the entire situation she'd put Tara through today. Tara may very well have been just fine at home, by herself, but Lucy felt bad. She was keeping secrets from her, and she was lying to her about wanting her to do those things on her own. In truth, it was something she could tell her. She knew that Tara wanted to do stuff on her own, but it had just been a way to keep the girl at home, so she wouldn't be with Lucy as she collected supplies for this party that she was trying to keep a surprise.

Good intentions or not, she felt bad about things and wanted to get home as soon as she could. Tara's cute, little face was shining in her head. The mental image made Lucy both happy and sad. She knew she needed to get home to make things up to her for doing this to her. Fortunately, the party would be happening soon, so she could hurry up and get back today, try to get an apology out today as she snugged with Tara, just like she'd promised to, and they could get the party over with. Although the party needed to be precise, it was also causing a little stress in Lucy, now that Tara was aware that she was hiding something from her.

Coming up to the registers, Lucy found a 'do it yourself' line and finally got her cart up to where everything was. The electronic voice came through, welcoming her to the line and she started scanning all of the stuff in her cart. Before long, everything was through and Lucy slid a few paper bills into the machine, paying for all of the supplies. Taking a few minutes to finalize things, she put everything in plastic bags and tied them shut, so she could get everything put away when she got home, not worrying about Tara seeing any of these party supplies while she comes into the house later on.

Carrying the two bags in one hand, Lucy walked out the door. Tara was still on her mind, and she realized that feeling guilty wasn't the only thing pushing her home so quickly. As she thought about Tara, she felt a warm knot in her stomach, different from the one of guilt. She started walking more quickly as she walked home, passing the blocks with ease. Her pace had heightened and she saw some more bipedal harpies flying through the air, their beautiful, black wings painting the skyline.

“I...miss her.” she spoke to herself, as she got about halfway home. There was a lot pushing her home so quickly. The guilt of what she'd done, the song lyrics from the store's radio, but most of all, was something completely different. In separating from Tara, even for just a little while, she had started to miss her. Among all of the things that could have happened, the big thing that was making her rush home, as fast as she could was the desire to see that cute, little woman again. To see her and she was going to give her the best snuggling she could muster as soon as they were reunited.   

The world of darkness disappeared from Tara's mind as she began to wake up from the nap she'd impulsively fallen asleep for. Her eyes slowly crept open to find herself in the bedroom. Her arms stretched themselves out as she closed her eyes and let out a loud yawn. Her limbs let off small cracking noises, her body needing all of this extra stretching. She let out a small moan and started to speak as her eyes opened, vision a little blurred. Her mind was also a little blurry, given what she start to say. “Mmm...L-Lucy?”

She fell back down against the pillow as she realized and remembered the events of that morning. “Oh...right.” Her arms and legs moved around on the pillow, as if she were in a pile of snow, making a snow angel. She remembered, all too well, what had happened that day. The closet, the suggestion, and Lucy leaving to go get something from the store. She let out a sigh as she looked at a clock on the other side of the room. It seemed that she hadn't been asleep for that long. It had only been about 40 minutes since Lucy had left earlier.

“Looks like I've got a little more time before my Lucy is going to be home. A shame...I really miss her.” Tara was trying to keep herself optimistic as she picked herself up, waking up further upon the thoughts of missing Lucy. She'd remembered the things Lucy had suggested that she do while she was gone. Although she just wanted to wait for her to get home, she also realized that she should get those things done. After all, what would be better than letting Lucy come home to a nice lunch, made by her little sorceress girl?

Clicking her heels together, she started hovering and headed towards the kitchen. 40 minutes had already passed, so there was no telling how long it would be before Lucy arrived back home. The last thing she wanted to do was to do disappoint her big girlfriend. She would have a wonderful, little lunch ready for her girlfriend when she arrived at home. It was the least she could do, and she knew it would help her deal with missing Lucy. As she came into the kitchen, she vocally continued her thoughts. “Besides, she promised me snuggling. This morning hasn't been the greatest, but tonight will be!”

It had taken all the time it took to get from one side of the kitchen to the shelves that held the food for Tara to figure out what she was going to make for Lucy. Hovering down to the lowest shelf, she put her hands against the top and pulled away, slowly getting the drawer open. After it was open, she jumped up and down inside, messing around with some plastic down there. There was a lot of rustling noises until she came back out, hovering up with four slices of bread hovering as well, slowly following behind her. Within a moment, she and the four slices of bread had gone to the table, setting themselves down.

The start of her lunch was ready.. She was going to cook something, but she figured that she might not have had a lot of time to make something. Lucy said she wouldn't be gone that terribly long and she wanted to make sure she had the lunch ready before Lucy had arrived. Darting off, she went to her main task, opening up the refrigerator. Positioning herself well, she put her hands and arms around the handle on the fridge. With all of the strength in her body, she launched herself back, closing her eyes, realizing that she would have to tap into the Arte to get it open, just as it had that first day they were together.

She pulled back as hard as she could. “Come on, just a little more. Just a little more!” She remembered Lucy's original encouragement from a month before and it helped Tara concentrate on what she had to do. The door began to budge as Lucy was in her mind. She gave her love, but she also encouraged her to continue on and be able to do all of this. Within moments, the door budged and, just like every time, the force had launched Tara's body backwards. She yelped as she launched herself back, too fast to stop herself.

Ever since that first incident had occurred, though, they had prepared some safety measures for her. When it had happened the second time, Lucy suggested that she open the fridge from then on, but Tara had another idea. As she flew back, her body hit a pillow that was propped up on the wall. She grunted as she felt the soft material against her body. Grabbing onto the pillow, she clicked her heels together again, reinstating the flight spell. Shaking her head, she got a goofy smile on her face and giggled. “That never gets old.”

Speeding back over to the fridge, she went in and fiddled with a couple drawers inside. She knew exactly what she was looking for. It wouldn't be making an incredibly wonderful lunch, but it would definitely be better than nothing. A few moments later, she came back out, shivering and followed by a few slices of food. As she came back to the table, she waved her hands around, setting down some deli ham onto the bread, followed by a slice of cheese, and more ham, followed by the top slice of bread. The sandwiches were being made, and that would need to be good enough for Lucy as some sort of lunch.

Tara went back over to the refrigerator to shut the door as she heard a loud, beeping noise, the 'alarm' on the fridge sounding. As she got over there and got the door shut, she heard another door opening up. Her head whipped around and got a huge smile on her face as she heard big footsteps. “Tara? Tara, I'm home!” Lucy was standing in the doorway, no bags in her hands at all. Tara saw her and immediately lunched herself at her at a frightening speed. “LUCY!!!!” she yelled, flinging her body into her girlfriend's cheek. She was smiling widely as she hugged against Lucy's cheek, closing her eyes and latching onto her. “Welcome home, honey.”

Lucy had arrived at the house with a little time to spare, it seemed. As her fast=paced walking came to a slow and she approached the house, she had to take a short break. She was sure that she'd be overly excited to see Tara after having been gone at the store, but rushing home had taken a good bit of energy and breath away from her. He chest was rising and falling in a deep fashion, as if she were just exercising and had gotten a workout. She decided that the best course of action, for the moment, was to just stay outside and recover from that.

She softly set down the bags of supplies she'd gotten from the store and stood to the side of the door for a moment. Putting her palm over her forehead, she steadied her body and planned to regain as much strength as she could, though you can't really 'rush' this sort of thing. Energy comes back in time, and there's not really much you can do to force that energy back any quicker. After pulling her hand down, she walked over towards window near the door and took a look inside, seeing something moving around in the kitchen. Her fatigued, frowning face started to change into a smile as she'd seen who it was.

Tara had been flying around the kitchen, making them lunch. Lucy made sure she stayed close to the corner of the window, so she wouldn't spot her early on as she watched her. On the table were sandwiched being prepared, which made Lucy smile a little. The girl had done what she suggested of her, and hadn't done anything extravagant or, most importantly, nothing that required the stove or anything that could have ended up badly. She carefully watched her as she pieced together the sandwiches. They weren't much, but Lucy was sure they would be wonderful, given who was making them.

It wasn't long before Tara had pieced together the sandwiches and Lucy had decided that it was about time to head inside. She looked down at the bags that were against the wall, by the door, and decided that it would be best to just leave them out here. “I might as well leave that out here. I'll be too excited to see her to want to sneak past her and get all of that stuff put away. I can do that later.” A smile was on her face, her breathing back to a normal pace, and she slowly put her hand on the doorknob, turning it and opening it up, revealing the kitchen, where Tara was finishing up the work from making their lunches.

Lucy looked around, as if she didn't already know exactly where Tara was at, calling for her. “Tara? Tara, I'm home!” As much as she'd enjoyed watching her little darling making lunch, from outside, she didn't want her to know that she'd waited before coming in. She'd really missed Tara on her way home, and she imagined that Tara may have missed her as well. No reason to say that she kept herself outside and away from her longer than necessary. That proved to be a smart decision, as well. As soon as she'd spoken, a loud screaming came from the right.

Before long, a tiny Tara had launched itself into Lucy's cheek. Her hands immediately flew up to be able to catch the girl and not have either of them lose their balance and fall. She had come with so much force that Lucy actually stumbled backwards a few steps. The little Tara had looked up at her, welcoming her home. Running her fingers along Tara's back, Lucy smiled to her and slowly moved her away from her cheek and in front of her lips. Her cheeks reddened upon seeing that cute, little lover of hers in that little red robe.

She brought Tara closer, enveloping her entire face in her lips as she gave her a quick kiss. “Thanks a bunch, Tara. I missed you!” Leaning back in to return the kiss, Tara blushed and smiled back to her. “I missed you, too! I...” Tara thought for a moment, about what she wanted to say. She had missed Lucy terribly, but she wasn't sure she wanted Lucy to know that. It might make her feel bad or guilty that she'd gone to the store and left her there, by herself. Quickly shuffling through thoughts and ideas, she continued the statement in another way. “...did all the things you asked me to! The bed's perfect and our lunch is right over there, ready to go!”

Lucy was really glad to see Tara. She could have cared less about lunch and the bed being made, at this point. All that mattered to her, deep down, was that she was home, and that she wasn't planning on leaving Tara again. The feelings she'd felt on the way home weren't desired. Although the reunion was absolutely wonderful, the time before that weren't so much. Kissing Tara again, she smiled and walked the two of them over to the table. Sitting down in her chair, she sat Tara down on her shoulder and reached for the sandwiches. Looking back, she made a suggestion to Tara. “Hey, why don't you let my shoulder be your chair for this meal? I want the cook who made this amazing lunch close by, okay?”

Tara was more than willing to stay close to her. Giving her a little hug on the neck, Tara scooted closer to her and agreed. “Of course, Lucy! You know that you're my favorite place to sit or lay or whatever!” The two smiled towards one another again as they both got their meals. Although they both, deep down, wanted to just skip straight to that snuggling of their, they knew that they couldn't just rush into that right now. For now, they would just get their food and eat. Lucy got hers with her hands and Tara's with the Arte, after Lucy had made a few small tears, to make it easier for her to eat. Then, the couple sat down for a nice lunch, happy to be together, once again...

The duo had finished their lunch with ease, though Tara only ate a small portion of her sandwich, being as small as she was. The sandwiches actually turned out better than she had expected them to. They were just deli sandwiches, but there was something else about them. There was an unexplainable joy in both their bodies as they ate together. They had never lost their smiles as they munched on their food. Of course, that may have been for reason other then the food being good. As they both touched each other, sitting together, they were pretty sure they knew what that reason was.

Lucy carefully picked herself up, taking care of the left over food, expressing to Tara what she thought of it as she was putting it away. “Thanks for the wonderful lunch, Tara. You did a very good job on it.” This got an hidden smile from Tara as she hugged herself into Lucy's neck. “It was nothin'! Just doing what you asked me to do while you were...away.” Tara had not meant to make a brief pause in the middle of her statement, before talking about her leaving, but it had just come out that way. She blinked as she thought about and shook her head.

She thought about it and felt a little sorry that she'd spoken that way. She did feel bad, deep down, that Lucy had left her at home, all by herself, but she didn't want to express that to Lucy. She was happy that she was home now, and was just hoping she wasn't going anywhere. As she let out a sigh, Lucy turned towards her and picked her up from her shoulder. Holding Tara's little body in front of her face, she had a relatively serious look on her face. Nodding her head, she said “Let's go sit down and talk for awhile, Tara.”

Tara was very surprised when Lucy's hands had come up to her and completely lifted her from her shoulder. She'd never really done that before. Lucy had actually grabbed onto her body, rather than simply letting her come into her palm. Her arms were free and held onto a couple of the fingers that were holding onto the rest of her as she looked at Lucy, that serious look on her face as she walked out of the kitchen. She could hear the loud thumping of her girlfriend's footsteps on the floor as her feet, now out of her shoes, were walking through the house, making their way back towards the bedroom.

Tara watched that look on her face. It was very serious, yet she still had a good bit of red in her cheeks as Tara was held against the upper part of her chest. She was in a very snug face, yet she put her hands up on her skin and still tried to look up at her. She wasn't sure what had just happened, but she had a strange feeling that it had something to do with what she'd done, with her speaking. She figured that her momentary pause had been the trigger for this sudden action out of Lucy and that what they were about to discuss had also sparked from that. She gripped onto Lucy's skin and leaned in, hearing and feeling the soft and steady beats of her girlfriend's over-sized heart as they made their way into the bedroom.

Lucy had, indeed, sparked a behavior based on Tara's statement. When she'd heard Tara make that pause, and then talk about being left alone, it hit her relatively hard, reminding her of everything she'd been feeling while she was gone and on her rushed trip back home. Tara had clearly missed Lucy and didn't want to have been left all by herself. Not only had Lucy felt bad, missing Tara, but the reverse was also true. She eventually got to the bed, where she pulled herself up to a sitting position, against one of the pillows and then slowly let go of Tara, letting her cling onto her chest, while her fingers were slowly and softly running down her body.

Tara could feel those warm, soothing chills that always came from Lucy's soft fingers when they caressed her body like this. She let out a soft purr as she took in the affection that her girlfriend was giving her, but she still remembered that Lucy had come in here to talk to her about something, and the look on her face seemed quite serious when they were first coming in here. She started climbing up Lucy's body, until she got to her cheek, which she nuzzled with her tiny face, rubbing her nose and face all over it. Being the first to start this, she softly said “What did you want to talk about, Lucy?”

Lucy was almost ashamed that the conversation she wished to start wasn't even started by her. She had brought Tara to the bedroom, so she could sit down and talk to her about the things that were obviously on both their minds, but she had been so caught up in just wanting to show Tara some love, that she was almost afraid to start the conversation herself. Now, Tara was asking her about it, and she was forced to begin this conversation. Patting on Tara's back, she sighed. “Tara, I just want to say...I'm sorry.”

Lucy had a lot on her mind, and she felt that a lot of things that she'd done, just that day, weren't the right thing to do. They were all done do keep this party a secret from Tara, but it just didn't feel right, keeping it from her and making up excuses to make her stay home so she could go shopping for more supplies from this party. She wasn't sure what she wanted to say to Tara, but she was getting something out. “I'm sorry I've been keeping secrets from you, and I'm sorry that I made you stay home today, while I was gone.”

She started to hold Tara a little bit tighter as she could feel her own guilt being raised up, her face starting to get more and more red-tinted. “You're the most wonderful person I've ever met, Tara. I don't like keeping secrets from you. I thought...that it was alright because this is going to be a good thing for you. It's going to make you happy. I know it will. Today, though, when you asked about it, I felt bad about it. You've been nothing but good to me, and I shouldn't be keeping anything from you. When I left today, it was to get stuff for this secret. I'm sorry I told you that you had to stay here. I now know that was a mistake.”

Tara was looking up at her, curious as to how this could have been a mistake. Lucy then continued, her face getting more and more emotional. “When I was gone, I...missed you, so much. I nearly sprinted home after I'd thought about you and got everything I needed. I'm very sorry if I made you feel in any similar way. I promise I won't do that again. I won't put either of us throu-..” Lucy was stopped when she felt something on her lips. Tara had hovered over to her and thrown her own lips into Lucy's grabbing onto her and giving her a deep, loving kiss. Lucy's eyes suddenly dropped down, twitching and then closing, her cheeks crimson and pushing back up on the kiss.

Tara pulled away and smiled towards her big girlfriend. “Don't be sad, Lucy. I love you, too, and I know that if you have to keep something from me, there's a good reason for it. I'm not sad, so you shouldn't be, either. I'm very happy right now! I'm right here, with my best big girl in the whole world, and we just shared a kiss! How could I be anything but happy?” Lucy just paused and weakly said “Tara...” Tara then continued, rubbing her hands against one of Lucy's cheeks. “Don't you worry about telling me this secret. You let it out when the time is right. I love you, and will always love you. Stop worrying so much, you big lady, you!”

Tara giggled as she patted on Lucy's cheek, bringing a smile to Lucy's face. “Tara...thanks.” replied Lucy, falling backwards, one hand throwing the pillow supporting her from the bed. Tara yelped as she fell into Lucy's free hand, her body moving. As she landed, a huge smile came to Lucy's face. “Now, come here, you! It's time for that snuggling I promised you. She reached down and started poking and tickling at Tara's body as she unbuttoned her blouse. Before long, her peachy cleavage was shown and she pulled Tara into it, hugging her as close as she could.

“No more sad face for either of us, Tara. Only you, me, and some nice snuggles, as a thanks for being okay with all of this.” Tara was having a hard time, keeping herself from laughing, but she let out a happy smile as she was pulled into her girlfriend's chest, leaning down into it, and giving her a kiss. “You bet!”

The two then spent the rest of the day in bed, together, snuggling with one another, not worrying about the party that was to come, later that week...

That day had been long, and they had spent a lot of time, snuggling with one another, compassionately, before the night was over. To be as thankful as possible to Tara for keeping things from her, and from making her stay home, alone, Lucy went all-out with their snuggling. That night, the two of them were laying together, both completely naked, Tara passed out on Lucy's chest, snugly sleeping between her big girlfriend's breasts. Lucy as well, had a huge smile on her face, her hand resting on top of Tara, softly resting over the tiny sorceress's breasts, and the other hand on her own hip. The two were very content with what had happened now, off in dreamland.

Tara slowly awoke in the middle of the night, Lucy still fast asleep. She moved herself around, getting snug between Lucy's breasts, and took a deep breath, looking up at the ceiling. The previous day had been a very stressful one, for the both of them. She could tell that just as much was pushing on Lucy's mind as was pushing on her own, if not more. When they'd snuggled and talked, Tara could feel a certain amount of guilt and uncertainty in Lucy's voice. Her wording of things wasn't bad, but the sound of her voice sounded very shaky. There was obviously a lot on her mind.

She was wondering, very much, about the secret that was being kept from her. Lucy was so insistent that she would really like this secret once she had revealed it to her. What could that be? Was Lucy making her something, and trying to hide it as she worked on it? Was she planning some special, romantic meal for the two of them? There were dozens upon dozens of possibilities roaming Tara's mind. She was tempted to just hover over to that closet and see it for herself. She thought about it, then looked back up at Lucy's smiling face and hand, radiating warmth into her. “No...I can't do that to her. I'll be good, and wait.”

Returning to a comfortable position, she hugged against Lucy's breast, pulling herself into it, like a big, warm pillow. Actually, to Tara, it was a big, warm pillow. Lucy had always expressed she could sleep wherever on her body that she would like. If she wanted to use her neck as a pillow, her stomach, her legs, or her breasts, she could do so. She knew that Tara had a unique situation with being so small and having her lover's body so much bigger. She might as well let her enjoy it, as much as she could. Bringing herself closer, Tara let off a small kiss, by Lucy's nipple, wishing her a good night. She looked up and could see Lucy's sleeping face starting to blush, reacting to her kiss. Hugging against her, Tara fell asleep, once again.

Once morning came, they began to wake up. Lucy was awake first, for once, knowing that this was a day where she'd have to do a fair amount of work for this 'secret' she was keeping. She woke up, only to see Tara snuggling up against one of her breasts and she smiled, blushing down at her. “Aw...she's such a cute, little girl. She loves me so much. I just wish I didn't have to keep secrets from her.” She knew she only had to keep this a secret for a couple more days, but that didn't make it any easier, especially because of how loving Tara was towards her.

Reaching down, she softly wrapped her hand around Tara's body, lifting her away from her breast. Managing to keep her asleep, she laid her head back and brought Tara closer to her. She blinked, her eyes still a little tired from having just woken up, but she was so happy to see Tara. Bringing her down, towards her face, she whispered to her. “Good morning, my love.” Creasing her lips, she brought Tara's face into them, pushing back, gently, trying to wake Tara up in the same way Tara always woke her up.

Her eyes closed, her back slightly arching as she felt the emotions building up, giving Tara a kiss. No sooner had their lips met had Tara's arms moved and grabbed onto her cheeks. This was the perfect kind of alarm clock, indeed. Who needs clocks when you have wonderful, emotion-filled kisses from the person you love the most? What could be better to wake up to than that? They continued their kiss for a good minute or so before they ended up stopping to get up and start the events that had been set forth for today.

They both bathed, got dressed, and ate breakfast together before they were ready to tackle the day's events. They sat together in the living room, Tara on Lucy's shoulder, as always, as they rested after getting a nice, filling meal. Lucy was holding onto her stomach and Tara was turned, leaning back against her neck. They both had their eyes shut, grins on their faces as they took deep breaths. Tara was wearing a small red robe that Lucy had made for her. It was similar to the robes she had before, but weren't as professionally made. Lucy was wearing a red blouse that matched it, along with a small, jean skirt. Neither or them were wearing any shoes, not planning on leaving that day.

As they lounged there, Tara put out the question. “Hey, Lucy? What are we...going to do today?” She had paused for a moment, remembering what had happened around this time the day before. Lucy diminished Tara's fears, almost immediately, as she'd heard her pause. “Don't worry, Tara. I'm not going to leave you here by yourself. After what happened yesterday, I promise you that I will never leave you alone again. You'll always be stuck here with this big, goofy girl of yours.” Lucy's hand had come up and hugged Tara against her neck as she said this.

Letting out some huge redness in her cheeks, Tara giggled at her. “Good, because I really like being around this big goofy girl of mine! It's part of what I love about you.” They were both giggling at this point, laughing at each other's statements. Pulling Tara into a sitting position on her shoulder, she got up and softly turned towards her. “I'm glad you really like being around me, too. We're going to be doing a little cooking today, my little Tara. You and I are going to learn how to bake a cake.”

Tara looked up at her, a little intrigued at this idea. They were going to spend today, making a cake? A cake for what? No matter what it was, she held onto Lucy's neck as they headed out of the living room, ready for their day's events to begin.

“A cake?” asked Tara, confused as the walked around the house, straightening a few things up before Lucy decided to head to do their main task for the day. Tara was slightly confused as to why Lucy would want their daily task, the day after they'd finally gotten back together from being apart at the store and at home, to be baking a cake together. Tara did love cake. There were no doubts there, at all. She was just confused at the fact that Lucy would want to make a cake, all of a sudden. They'd never baked any sort of dessert food together, unless you considered some breakfast food as desserts.

“Yeah! A cake! I think that would be fun!” replied Lucy, smiling towards Tara as she grabbed a hand-held duster, twice as long as Tara was tall and began to wipe off a wall in the hallway. She had her eyes constantly switching between her lovely little sorceress and the walls, not really having a whole lot of dust on them. She thought about a reason she could give Tara that didn't involve 'It's for your birthday party that you totally aren't supposed to know about!' She dusted along the hallway until she got to the doorway of the bedroom. With Tara watching her every move, she got on her tip-toes to reach the ceiling, getting a big pile of dust out of the way form there.

As the dusting continued, there was an unforeseen side-effect of it on the poor little sorceress that was riding on Lucy's shoulder. As soon as the duster started to work on the ceiling, clouds of that dust began to pour down into the room. To most people, little clouds of dust wouldn't do much, but infiltrate their system and cause a tiny, little sneeze. However, most people aren't the size of a doll, like Tara was. This made her particularly vulnerable to the elements, and to a lot of things that Lucy might not think about right away. As the clouds of dust fell to the ground, Tara started to breath heavier.

Putting her hand to her chest, she started to let out small cough. As they got worse, she covered up her face and leaned into her girlfriend's neck. “L-Lucy! Stop!” As soon as Lucy had felt and heard Tara, she put the duster down and looked at her, picking her up and holding her in front of her face. “Tara? Tara, what's wrong?” Her eyes scanned the girl, still holding her face, coughing into her hands. She let out a few louder coughs and, as another cough came through, her body began to glow. The black light around her dissipated as soon as she stopped coughing, but reappeared when the next cough came. She was, not only susceptible to dust, but her abilities were as well.

She coughed again, and again, but with each cough came a different sort of effect. The duster began to hover in the air and dust the wall on it's own. Then, both Tara's and Lucy's hair flew to the sides, making them look like porcupines. Lucy's eyes widened as all of this was happening, quickly rushing Tara to the bathroom to get rid of these coughs before some sort of bad effect happened. As she got into the bathroom, however, Tara coughed again, her face getting red. The toilet bowl flew open and started overflowing in response to this last one. Lucy's feet slid across the floor, hitting water.

She fell on her back, gripping Tara tightly. Pulling her into her chest with one hand, she grabbed onto the sink as water got all over her arms, head, and hair. Pulling herself up, she held Tara's coughing body in front of the faucet and turned it on it's lowest setting. Water began to run down, right in front of the girl as Lucy said “There, honey. Drink some water and get rid of that cough. Quickly!” Tara's chest was in pain as she opened her eyes and saw the water. Quickly taking in as much water as she could, she swallowed, taking all of the remaining dust down into her stomach.

As soon as she had stopped coughing, everything stopped. Lucy heard a thump from the bedroom behind her as the duster fell to the ground. The toilet's water immediately calmed down and retracted to where it had been before, at normal levels, still leaving a huge puddle of water all around in the bathroom. Finally, the redness in Tara's cheeks and the glowing of her body dimmed out, her breathing very deep as she looked back towards Lucy. Lucy looked bad, too. Her entire head of hair was drenched, almost sticking to her face. Tara looked up at her and blushed, a little embarrassed at what had happened.

“Sorry, Lucy. I kinda forgot to tell you about that...” she started, before Lucy shook her head for a moment. “No, no. It's alright. Dust is just bad for you, that's all. You're more susceptible to things since you're so much smaller than me. I just won't have you under the dust anymore! Then, we won't have to worry about all this...whatever just happened again!” Lucy was taking deep breaths as well, not quite believing everything that had just happened from some simple coughs. She was curious, though, so she inquired Tara about it. “By the way...what DID just happen?”

Catching her breath, Tara used the Arte to hover a nearby towel over to Lucy, setting it down on your head. “Here, Lucy. Dry yourself off and I'll explain it.” She waited for Lucy to set her down and start to dry off her hair before she began. “You see...these abilities I have...they're kind of tied in with my feelings, my physical state, and everything. They're part of who I am. So, when my physical condition deteriorates, the abilities are affected, too. When I started coughing, my lungs were in a state of, well...chaos, so my abilities reflected that, causing everything that just happened.”

“It's just like when we first met...that first night we had together. You remember our...kiss, don't you?” Lucy smiled and nodded. How could she possibly forget that wonderful, magical kiss? “Well, that night, you were making me feel love and compassion, more than I'd ever experienced before. So, my abilities reflected those feelings and created the magic-induced kiss that we shared. My abilities showed you what I was feeling, and how I was falling in love with you.” Lucy stopped drying her hair off, wrapping her hair up in the towel as her cheeks started to redden at hearing all of this from her. “Tara...”

“Well, it's the same thing in everything. Were I to get sick, there would likely be some effect in the air to clue you in to the fact that I'm sick. If I get sick, my abilities get sick. If I love someone, my abilities appear loving. Do you understan..hic!” Finishing up her statement, Tara had a quick hiccup. Lucy's eyes bulged for a moment, seeing a red bubble floating from her mouth as she had the hiccup and looked back at her. They both watched it and each other for a moment, until they both started laughing.

Lucy lifted Tara up again and walked back to the bedroom. “I think I understand. Well, Ms. Bubble-Hiccups, I need to get some new clothes. So, let's go get me something nice to wear and then we'll get to work on that cake. No more house-work for today.” Tara quickly agreed and rode in Lucy's palms as they headed back to the bedroom, having enough strange, magical experiences for one day...

Tara would normally ride on Lucy's shoulder as they went places, but seeing as how Lucy's shoulder was drenching wet from the water she'd slipped into, she imagined that her palm was a much better idea. With a wet set comes a greater chance for her to slip and fall while being carried from room to room. The palm wasn't so bad, either. As she sat herself down and rubbed her hands on the warm, soft, comforting skin of Lucy's hand. She still remembered the first time she had been held there. That warm, safe environment that had rescued her from the Antlion. The palms held a special place in Tara's heart, as did the rest of Lucy.

She held on tight as she saw the bed approach. She was sure she'd be taking her leave of Lucy's body as soon as they'd gotten over there, though she didn't really want to. During some moments, Tara just wanted to stay by Lucy's side and never leave her body, even if just to sit or stand on the bed while she got dressed. As they approached the bed, they did just that. The palm lowered itself to the top of the bed, and Lucy motioned to her to get off. “Just rest on the bed for a moment, Tara, or fly around, or do whatever you need to. It won't take me long to find another bra and top to wear.”

Tara clicked her heels together and took the second option available to her, flying. She really was overusing the Hover spell since she'd met Lucy. Getting around was so much easier for her, at her current height, if she rode on Lucy or flew through the air. She had tried to walk once, but she felt a little nervous, feeling little shakes in the ground with every step Lucy took. Whether she liked it or not, Lucy's size also brought many dangers. Tara had to make sure she was out of the way, to make sure her girlfriend didn't accidentally step on her, sit on her, or other things that would lead to a very bad situation.

Tara flew over to the dresser and grabbed onto the 2nd drawer down, slowly pulling on it, trying to get it ready for Lucy. As she pulled, her head want over her shoulders and turned backwards and she saw Lucy slowly pulling her top off, revealing that tall, curved, soft belly, the chest that held her two 'pillows', and the shoulders that were her favorite riding platform. Lucy was so much to Tara. She wasn't just her girlfriend, but she was a vehicle, a bed, a lover, and so much more. The miniaturization, although accidental, had opened a whole new world up to Tara. She soon saw Lucy, topless, walking towards her and reaching for the other handle.

Together, the two of them managed to get the drawer open and Lucy began to pull out a new bra. Tara began to hover, but immediately flew backwards as the strap of the bra nearly hit her in the face. Zigzagging through the air, she went right in front of Lucy's face and put her hands on her hips. “Hey! You've gotta be more careful, Lucy! You almost thwapped me with that!” Lucy smiled, finishing the snapping of her bra and then softly patted Tara's flustered head with her finger. “Aw, don't worry. I'll try to refrain from any 'thwapping' gestures in the future.” She laughed as she spoke to her, as if this was all a joke. “You'd better!” said Tara, jokingly, as Lucy opened another drawer, pulling out another red shirt, matching colors with Tara's robes.

She quickly slipped the shirt on halfway, getting it over her head, and began to tunnel her head through the hole at the top. Getting a funny idea, Tara quickly hovered downward and came forward, putting her body underneath the opening at the bottom of the shirt. She giggled as she brought her hovering pace to a very slow one, wiggling up past the girl's chest. Trying to touch her as little as possible, Tara sneaked her way up, past Lucy's breasts, settling at the very top of her cleavage. She would have a very nice surprise for Lucy, once she got to the point of getting her shirt on the rest of the way.

Lucy finally opened her eyes as she pushed her head through the hole in the shirt. If there was one thing she didn't like about these kind of shirts, it was having to close her eyes while she pulled it over her head. Still, at least this shirt wasn't filled with water, like the last one was. The shirt she'd just taken off stuck to her skin, and just felt uncomfortable. As she pulled this shirt down, however, she was going to find out that, while it wasn't filled with water, the shirt might have acquired something new to be filled with in the past few seconds.

Pulling the shirt down, she realized that it wasn't reaching all the way down to her waist. Looking forward, initially, she got confused. “I don't remember this shirt being so small on me befo—wha?!” Her head had started to turn itself downward, trying to see why she was having such a hard time in putting her shirt on. As she did so, however, she figured out why the shirt wasn't going on all the way. Out of the neck of her shirt, there were two hands that hung over, hanging on, and a little face that looked up towards her. “Hi!” said Tara, giggling at seeing Lucy discovering her new location.

The two smiled at each other as Tara continued the situation, not wanting Lucy to initially respond to the situation. “I'm all set to go and bake a cake! I hope it's nice and fluffy when we're done, just like these two pillows I'm between!” She giggled a little more, bringing a smile to Lucy's face as well. She didn't say a single thing. All she could do was take in the situation and start laughing. She brought her hand up to her chest, holding against where Tara was staying. As she laughed, her breasts started jiggling up and down, making Tara's body shake with it.

Lucy held Tara for a good few minutes before her body began to calm itself down. She had a tear running down her face, she was laughing so hard. As she recovered from that, she looked down at Tara and leaned her face down, bringing her lips on top of the sorceress's head. Giving her a little kiss, she began to walk off, smiling. “Okay, sweetie. Let's go bake a cake. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun, for the both of us. Just no complaining if I decide I want to eat some of the leftovers when we're done!” Tara nodded towards her as she rode, the two of them heading towards the kitchen...

Tara's new position was comfortable and funny. She had her two, comfy 'pillows' on either side of her, she was able to hold onto the neck of Lucy's shirt, which was thick enough for her to grip tightly to, and best of all, she could feel her girlfriend all around her as they began to make their way towards the kitchen. Warmth and heat was coming from Lucy's body and it quickly heated Tara up. She could also feel the soft, yet firm thumps of her heart, pushing against her, telling her that she was right there, her heart open to her. To feel her girlfriend, able to warm her up, just by holding her close made Tara feel wonderful. Lucy was her own, personal heater, just like she was many other things for her.

Slightly tired from everything they'd just gone through, and her hiccup incident, she leaned her head back and the two side, watching the walls of the hallway and living room pass her by, as if she were a little kid, tired and leaning against the window of a car, her parents driving her home from the day's events. She saw them pass her by, again and again, the kitchen slowly getting closer to her. She's actually closed one eye, starting to get a little too comfy on Lucy. She could sleep on her, like this. She could just shut down and fall asleep, nothing but her and Lucy's body to keep her warm and snug.

She did not get a chance for this, however. By the time her eyes were getting ready to shut the rest of the way, her body ready to head off into dreamland, they made it into the kitchen. “We're here!” called out Lucy, waving her arms out as she walked up to the counter. Her voice and action had immediately woken Tara from her partial sleep, like a student about to fall asleep in class and having a ruler slapped on the desk, in front of them. She gasped and her heart raced as she dealt with the shock of what had just happened. Her head turned every which way until she realized that they were in the kitchen. “Oh...you scared me!”

The chest behind Tara rapidly moved up and down as Lucy started to laugh. Tara quickly slapped her heels together and hovered out of Lucy's shirt to avoid being shaken out of control. She knew Lucy, and knew that she laughed quite hard, when something was really getting to her funny bone. Tara came down on the counter in front of her, finding a mixing bowl right next to her. It's rim was just as high in the air as she was, and she put her hands over it, looking down into the bowl. She looked back at Lucy as she looked around. “W-Where's everything we need?”

Tara was right in the fact that they were missing a lot of ingredients. They needed to get out the equipment, eggs, vegetable oil, and most importantly, the cake mix. All that was really out was the mixing bowl, and her little helper. The equipment, eggs, and oil would be simple, but as Lucy thought about it, she realized that she had completely forgotten about the cake mix. It was in the house, but not in the kitchen. She had it in the closet, with all of the decorations and gifts that she didn't want Tara to see. It was with everything that she'd compiled for the party.

“Umm...” said Lucy, starting to get slightly nervous. She needed a plan, and she needed one fast. She couldn't blow the secret now. The party was only a day away, and she needed to be sure to keep that secret until the next morning. Looking around, both eyebrows raised and she walked over to a cabinet. “Oh! Right! Here, I'll get the beater down from this shelf. She knew Tara was watching her as she walked over to the cabinets and pulled down a small electric mixer. As she brought it down, she set it down by Tara and plugged it into the wall. The beaters were already hooked onto it, so all they had to do was get the ingredients into the bowl and start mixing.

Trying to put on a more confident face, Lucy got out a whisk, putting it next to the bowl, and Tara, and then looked at her, an idea forming in her head as to how she could retrieve the cake mix without her knowing. “Okay, Tara! We still need Milk, Vegetable Oil, 3 Eggs, and the Cake Mix. Can you get the eggs and the oil out while I go get the mix from the other room?” This was a rather nervous statement from her, but the only thing she thought of to say. If Tara was busy, getting the other ingredients, she might not find out that the cake mix was in with all of the other stuff in the closet, that she wanted to keep a secret from her.

“S-sure, Lucy. I can get all that, no problem. But, why isn't the cake mix here in the kitchen? Where is it?” Lucy had already partially turned to get the cake mix, but froze when Tara inquired about the location of the cake mix. “Oh, um...I forgot it in the other room, when we were putting the groceries away this week! It won't take but a second. I'll be right back, okay?” Tara could sense the nervousness coming from Lucy. The Arte gave her many abilities, and she felt she had a sort of sixth sense about Lucy, at this point. Looking up to her, she nodded. “Alright. Just don't be too long or I'll have the whole thing made without you!”

Lucy got a small grin on her face as she walked away as Tara darted off towards the cabinets, aiming to get some of the ingredients. She let out a sigh as soon as she reached the hallway. “Well, that was close. I almost couldn't think of anything to tell her. Poor girl. I'm hiding stuff from her, and have to make excuses to go to the store, to go to the other room to find a stupid cake mix. I can't wait until all of this is over and we can get this thing going. I want to stop keeping secrets from her. Even if this is supposed to be hidden, I love her and don't like hiding things.”

Lucy came to the bedroom and slowly slid the closet door opening. She knelt down and opened up a plastic bag, procuring the cake mix. She stayed down there for a second and stared at it. It read “Funfetti”. It was a colorful kind of cake, with all sorts of bright colors in the actual cake mix. She thought it was perfect to represent all of the brightness that has come into her life since Tara had. She stared at it for a few moments, not realizing that she was not alone in there. At the very edge of the hallway, on the border of the doorway, Tara's head was peeking out, watching Lucy and her cake mix...

Love conquers all. At least, that's how the cliché goes. Love will conquer any and all obstacles that will come in the way of two people, and many people believe it, despite having problems between each other. Lovers will always have little places where they will butt heads, argue, not agree, or any other way you want to explain it. We are, after all, still human. As humans, we have our own likes and interests that are ours and ours alone. Not everyone will agree with each of the interests and not everyone will, surely, agree with all of those interests.

In this case, love has not completely conquered curiosity. When Lucy had told her the cake mix was in another room, she felt a knot growing within her stomach. It was that same feeling she felt when she had been told not to go into the bedroom closet and when Lucy told her to stay home while she went to the store. All of it was about this secret of Lucy's. What was the big secret, and why couldn't she tell her? She respected Lucy's desire for privacy, but that didn't eliminate her curiosity on the matter. She wanted to know. Quickly getting the eggs out of the refrigerator, she darted off into the hallway, pursuing Lucy as she went to get the cake mix.

She didn't want to spy on Lucy or anything, but she was just too curious for her own good. She has a suspicion that the cake mix had something to do with this big secret of hers, and she wanted to know if it was or not. “I'll only there for a second. I just wanna know where she is keeping the cake mix. Then, I'll zip right back, get the rest of the ingredients, and she won't even know I was there!” Her mind was set on this venture, aiming to go, undetected. She saw Lucy heading into the bedroom and slowed her approach, moving the the right, gently grazing against the right wall of the hallway, finding a place to hand at the wooden doorway.

Her hands had gripped around the corner of the wooden doorway, as if one were gripping the top of a table. She was in place and could hear a door open in the distance. What sort of door opened? Maybe it was the closet, and this cake had something to do with the surprise Lucy had in mind for her? Her chest swelled and came back as she felt a little nervous about what she was doing. She hadn't looked into the room yet, but she was nervous about spying on Lucy. Her mind was fighting with her curiosity. Part of her told her that everything was fine, and that it didn't have anything to do with the secret. It said that she should just go back to the kitchen and get the ingredients, as Lucy had asked her to do.

Her curiosity was getting the best of her, and she slowly peeked her head past the side of the doorway. Her head was pointed to the side, trying to show as little of her body as possible, in case Lucy were turning where she could see the doorway. Her hair flowed out, hanging downward with a breeze that flew through the house and she saw Lucy in the bedroom, her suspicions confirmed. The closet door was open and she was on her knees, sorting through something on the floor in the closet. Tara tried to look harder and see just what the girl was sorting through, but she couldn't see it. Some of her vision was blurred out from the darkness of the closet, and Lucy's body was directly in front of whatever she was sorting through.

Soon, Lucy talked, saying “Here it is. Now, back to the kitchen!” Tara saw the joints in her leg move and immediately realized that Lucy would soon be heading back to the kitchen. Knowing that she had to move, and quickly, her entire body reacted. Her head went forward and bumped right into wooden part of the doorway. There was a loud thump as she yelped, bruising herself up. She hovered in place, her concentration broken, and her hand moved to her forehead, There was a little bit of pain in her head, and embarrassment. She hadn't realized that she was going to bash her head into the doorway, the tension of spying on Lucy high in her mind.

Lucy had heard a tap a moment ago and immediately whipped her head around when she heard it. The cake mix was held tightly against her chest and her other hand quickly reached for and closed the closet door. Her guilt was high in her system and her fingers were quivering, looking around for what had caused the noise. It sounded like something had hit the wall in the hallway. Looking from side to side, she started feeling nervous, worried that Tara was nearby and had seen the bad in the closet. She didn't want to seem incredibly nervous, in case she really was around.

“Tara? Is that you?” she asked, calling out into the house. There was no initial response, so she took a few steps towards the doorway, to see if it was her, if it was something else, or if Lucy had completely imagined the entire noise. She still felt pretty nervous, and it was made apparent as she called out again. “Sweetie, if you're around, it's okay. You can come out. I heard a noise.” Reacting to Lucy's honest question and statement, Tara, holding onto her head, began to hover away from the doorway and into the air in the middle of it. She didn't want to, but she knew that she needed to let Lucy know she was there.

Tara was holding onto her forehead with one hand, rubbing against it, as she made her presence aware to Lucy. “H-Hi, Lucy. Umm...” She was trying to think of something to say, that didn't involve “Hey, honey. I was just in the hallway, spying on you. What's up?” There had to be something she could say. Maybe there was something she could say, in relation to what she had been doing before? Sure, she could use the ingredients. “...I forgot where you k-keep the vegetable oil. Could you s-show me wher--”

She didn't get a chance to finish her statement, because Lucy had immediately rushed herself towards Tara, seeing her holding onto her forehead. “Tara, are you alright? You're holding your head. What happened?” She walked towards Tara, finally seeing the red all over her forehead as Tara nodded to her, removing her hand from her head. Lucy immediately reached for Tara and grabbed her, giving her head a rub with the finger of the hand that wasn't holding the cake mix. “Did you bump your head?! Poor dear...Come here and let me take care of you.”

Tara only managed to get a little nod out before Lucy had put the cake mix in her arm and was cradling Tara in her arms as she walked towards the kitchen. Her thumb was gentle rubbing over the girl's forehead, a look of sadness and affection in her eyes. Though, in both of their minds, they realized they'd gotten out of explaining to one another, why they were where they were...

The situation had turned itself around, for both Lucy and Tara. They went from being incredibly nervous and a mix of feelings of curiosity and embarrassment to being completely void of those feelings. Well, most of the feelings were gone, anyways. After Tara had bumped her head against the doorway, both of them were more focused on each other and Lucy taking care of Tara than the reasons either of them had actually been in that room, to retrieve the cake mix and to check up on Lucy, looking to see where she was getting the cake mix from. Things had definitely changed around.

Tara's forehead was completely red, as Lucy could see as she wiped her thumb against it. She'd created quite the bump from the reaction her body had to the situation. She felt bad that she'd been spying on Lucy, but this situation wasn't terribly bad. She was now being carried around the house, back to the kitchen, a warm, comfy finger stroking across her head, sending chills through her system, Lucy's love and worry for her unmatched by anything. Her head still hurt and she could feel a headache coming on, but as of right now, it seemed like it was worth it.

The main problem of this situation wouldn't arise until they got back to the kitchen. As much as they both had completely avoided and moved away from their real intentions for that room, they both had curiosity and questions towards one another. Tara still wanted to know why Lucy had gone into the closet to get the cake mix, and Lucy still wanted to know whether she'd seen anything or not. Past the protectiveness she was showing for the girl, she was a little worried about what she'd seen. Was Tara spying on her in that room, or had she just accidentally hit the doorway on her way to ask about the ingredient locations?

She had no idea which idea was true, but what she did know was that Tara was a little hurt right now and the best choice was to just walk back to the kitchen and take care of her as best she could until they could start baking this cake. She still had the cake mix, pushed against her arm and had every intention of making that cake with Tara, as soon as they were finished up with getting back and making sure she was okay. Fortunately for her and the situation, they were soon walking back inside the kitchen and had reached the table, where the mixing bowl and some of the ingredients were waiting for them.

Stopping at the table, she let the box of mix fall down into the mixing bowl and then proceeded over to the counter, where the sink was. Next to the sink was a soft, white towel, which she set Tara down on. “Rest here for a moment, my darling. How is your head feeling?” As she waited for an answer from Tara, she started to cut up a wash cloth into one, long strand, and run cold water under it. She had a little plan on how to help Tara keep her head safe and let it cool down from the bumpy situation it had with the wall. After running water across it, she opened a drawer to the side and pulled out a thin, small rubber band.

“It's not too bad, Lucy. I'm alright.” said Tara, sitting up from her position on the towel. She could see Lucy making something, presumably for her, but she wasn't about to just tell her not to. She knew Lucy all too well. Like her, if there was something that she felt needed to be done for their significant other, they were going to do it. Besides, what could Tara possibly do to stop her? Try to hold back one of her ten fingers to keep her from partially making it? She couldn't exactly use the Arte on her or anything. She wouldn't feel right in using her abilities to keep Lucy from helping her.

Before long, Lucy had turned back, the rubber band in one hand and the piece of wash cloth in the other. It looked damp, but wasn't dripping wet. Lucy brought it forward and began to wrap it around Tara's head as she spoke to the girl. “This should help with that bump, as well as soften any future bumps you might have. Your aim with your flying was a little off today, my dear. You must be careful, from now on!” Lucy had a smile on her face and Tara giggled, both from what she had said and from the cold, goose bump-friendly feeling she got when she felt the cold, wet piece of cloth on her head.

Before long, Lucy had wrapped the cloth around her head and secured it on with the rubber band. Tara then got up and allowed Lucy to carry her back over to the table, to honor her wishes of being more careful, for the time being. “Thanks, Lucy. Sorry about this little side-trip you've had to make for me. We should be making our cake, not taking care of me!” Lucy smiled and nodded. “Well, maybe, but I like taking care of you, sweetie. You're my girlfriend, and I need to be able to take care of you. Besides, it won't take that long for us to make a cake. We've got plenty of time to spare, today!”

Tara soon felt a finger come and pat her on the head as Lucy finished her statement. She didn't mind that Lucy wanted to take care of her. In fact, at times, it was really nice to just be taken care of by her big girl. The protective aura that Lucy sent off when she was doing this, or when she was sleeping on Lucy's body was really nice. It felt like nothing could happen to her while Lucy was around. It was like Lucy was her great protector, a giant girlfriend that wouldn't let anything bad happen to her. She always took in that love and affection, though didn't lose sight of other things going on.

As she was set down on the table, she picked an egg up in her hands and smiled up to Lucy. “Yes, we do! Thanks a lot for taking such good care of me. Now, let's get cooking. The sooner we do this, the sooner we have some delicious cake left-overs to eat, right?!” Lucy couldn't do anything but smile. She picked up the box of mix in her hand and started to look at the directions. “That's right! Just don't go overboard, Tara. This is a team effort! I will not have you making it all. No ma'am! We'll both work hard. Deal?”

“Deal!” replied Tara, waddling around, trying to hold the egg in her arms, without the aid of her abilities...

They were finally getting somewhere. Much had happened since they had decided they'd be baking a cake together. Lucy wanted to clean the house a little, which resulted in a very strange reaction in Tara's contact with dust, then they came out to get the ingredients, and Tara had bumped her head on the doorway, trying to check up on Lucy. They'd come back out into the kitchen to put a little 'bandage' around Tara's head, where she bumped it, and now, they were finally to the point where they could start making this cake. Tara was still tilting from side to side and she held onto the egg. Lucy had walked off to get the remaining ingredients.

As she waited, Tara found the mixing bowl. It was a relatively thick mixing bowl, and much taller than she was, so she carefully lowered herself down to the ground, maintaining a tight grip on the egg. As she came down, her butt plopped itself on the floor and she held the egg horizontally, resting it on her lap. As her back and head touched the bowl, she held the egg against her. It was still pretty big to her, the entire thing reaching from her lap all the way up to her shoulders. It was more manageable now, at least, rather than having it vertical and blocking Tara's view. She let out a few deep breaths as she felt a drop of water running from the towel that was wrapped around her head and making it's way down to her nose.

Her face went down as soon as the drop touched her nose. It felt like a small stream of water, rather than a single drop, and she started giggling, the water tickling against her nose and her face. Lucy, hearing the obvious giggling of her little sorceress girlfriend, turned herself around to see just what was so funny that she was already starting to laugh, before they even starting making this cake. As she turned around, though, she expected to see Tara looking at her, with some kind of funny smile on her face. Instead, she saw her sitting against the bowl, rubbing her face against the egg she was carrying. She laughed under her breath for a moment and shook her head. She definitely had an interesting girlfriend. She continued to pick up ingredients before heading back to the table.

As Lucy was coming back to the table, she started to set down various ingredients. As the small boxes and bottles impacted the table, Tara's head whipping itself up from the egg, and saw Lucy dispatching the various ingredients and reaching over for the box of cake mix. She watched her grab it and lifted herself into a standing position. She waddled herself over to Lucy, egg-in-hand, and called up to her. “Hey! Are we gonna make it now? Are all the ingredients here?!” She had a smile on her face, excited about cooking with Lucy, let alone making a cake with her. She'd never done that before. It sounded pretty exciting. Not that she'd never made cakes before, but she'd never made them with Lucy, which made all the difference.

“Hmm...” replied Lucy, her eyes scanning the back of the box. She was checking to make sure they had everything they needed to make this cake. Not one ingredient could be missing. It was a delicate mixture, and Lucy wanted everything to be absolutely perfect for her girl's cake, not that Tara knew it was being made for her birthday. It took a moment for her to scan everything, but she finally looked back down and nodded to Tara. “Yup! Everything is here. All we need to do is get the oven turned on, get the pan out, and start mixing stuff up, and we'll be well on our way for making our special cake! Speaking of which, I'll be right back. Gotta heat up the oven.”

Lucy walked a few feet away from the table, where there was a big wall-oven in place. It was a double-oven, but the two of them never used the bottom half of it. It was always used to store pans, cookie sheets, and other kitchen equipment. Reaching into the bottom portion, Lucy pulled out a medium-sized cake pan and then reached up towards the top of the two ovens. A few beeps occurred before the oven's lights turned on and it began to preheat itself. Lucy turned and came back to the table, where Tara was patiently waiting for her, maintaining her balance while she held onto the egg.

“Put that egg down, sweetie. I'll just have you pouring in the liquids. We don't need to strain your little arms on trying to crack an egg. You just let me handle that.” said Lucy, reaching down to take the egg from Tara's grip. She realized that Tara wasn't using her abilities, and it was likely a miracle she was able to hold up an entire egg by herself, in general. Cracking it would be a completely different story. As she reached down, however, Tara pulled the egg away from Lucy's approaching hand. “I can do it, Lucy! Let me crack the egg! Please?” The woman was insistent and probably wasn't going to be giving up until Lucy at least let her attempt it.

Knowing this, Lucy pulled both of her hands down towards Tara, as she spoke and agreed to let Tara attempt it. “Alright. If you think you can do it, then we'll let you do it. At least let me hold you up to the bowl, so you can crack it and drop the contents straight into where we want it to go.” Tara allowed Lucy's fingers to come around her sides and slowly lift her into the air. Having Lucy carrying her, rather than using the Arte was different, but she still felt slightly weak with her abilities since they had gone chaotic when she was coughing earlier. Holding the egg out in front of the bowl, she prepared for when she'd be in position.

As she came over the bowl, Lucy held her so that her arms and the egg were just above the edge of the bowl. She held her arms as still as she could as she let her try it. “Alright, Tara. Go for it. Crack the egg and get it in the bowl.” She looked up to Lucy for a moment, taking a look at the smile she had on her face. Looking back down, she raised the egg up in the air a little bit and then pushed it down as hard as she could, against the edge of the bowl. Her entire top-half pushed down from the impact and she then picked the egg back up. She didn't see anything leaking out the bottom. She started to hold it higher in the air, to see under it. As she did so, she noticed that the egg had not been damaged in the slightest.

Moving back to the position from before, Tara started increasing her movements, banging the egg against the bowl again and again and again, not having any luck. “Come on!” she yelled, getting frustrated at the egg. She tossed the egg into the bowl and yelled out “Break already!” As she yelled, a red beam-like light shot from her body and enveloped the egg. Tara and Lucy both stared as this happened. Tara hadn't been chanting a spell. What was going on? Was it her emotions taking hold of her abilities, like had happened before?

As the egg was enveloped by this light, the shell cracked into a hundred pieces and they all moved outwards, together, revealing a dripping and dropping egg. The egg's white and yellow quickly collapsed into the bowl without the shell there. The spell was still going, though. As quickly as the egg had broken apart, the shell pieced itself back together, not showing a scratch on it, and then returned to Tara's hands, as if she'd never dropped it, in the first place. They looked into the bowl, seeing the egg down in there, and then at the egg shell in Tara's hands. After a quick glance at once another, they both spoke in unison. “Cool!”

“How'd you do that?!” Lucy's question was moving through the air, her mind extremely curious on what had just happened. Tara obviously used the Arte, but she'd never seen anything like that before. The egg completely shattered in the air, the contents fell into the bowl, and then the egg shell completely reformed, not a single scratch on it. It looked as it nothing had been done to it at all, yet the contents were still in the bowl, and Tara was still holding the perfectly-sealed egg shell in her arms. It had been, for lack of a better word, amazing.

Tara looked down at the egg shell, and then back towards Lucy, her body still being held in the air. She wasn't sure just how to explain this to Lucy. It was hard to explain, since not even she knew just what happened there. “I...I'm not sure, Lucy!” she said, wanting to be honest with her. She looked up at Lucy, and Lucy down at her, both glancing at the egg and then back at each other. “I just really wanted to get the egg cracked, and something just took over! I guess...my abilities were reacting and expanding to my wishes, or something like that!”

They didn't know what happened, but what they did know was that the egg was now safely in the mixing bowl, ready to have other ingredients mixed in with it. Slowly setting Tara down on the table, Lucy smiled and ruffled her hair a little bit with her finger. “Well, whatever it is was really cool, and you got the egg cracked just fine! I'm proud of you, Tara.” This compliment made Tara's face blush a little bit, watching Lucy move around, grabbing the bottle of vegetable oil and pouring some into the bowl, with the egg. “Aw...it did look kinda cool, didn't it?”

Lucy giggled at the little amount of ego that was trying to get thrown out from Tara's mouth. She'd deserved to have that moment, though. She immediately nodded to her as she put the oil away. “You bet it was! You think we can get some more of that Cool over here, to put this small cup of milk in the bowl?” Tara looked over, seeing a small measuring cup that was half-filled with milk. She was still opening up the bag of cake mix, and was asking for Tara to come over there and help put more ingredients into the cake. “Oh, sure!” she replied, setting the eggshell down and coming over to the cup.

Tara came over to the cup of milk and took a look at it. The cup was nearly as tall as she was, so she wouldn't be able to just grab onto the handle and pick it up. It was more likely that that cup would be picking her up. So, thinking about how to do this, she clicked her heels together, and began to hover in the air, still next to the cup. She looked and saw that Lucy was still busy, so she waved her hands at the cup, bringing a soft glow around it and bringing it up in the air, right next to her. It was amazing that the Arte could give her so much more strength than she'd normally have. She smiled as she slowly hovered towards the bowl, the cup next to her the entire time.

Finally getting over the top of the bowl, Tara's hands reached in the direction of the cup. Her hand was completely vertical, for a moment and she slowly began to turn it counter-clockwise, moving towards a horizontal stance. As her hand was moving, the cup moved in synch with it. As they both slowly turned, a stream of milk poured out of the cup and, by the time Tara's hand was completely horizontal, all of the milk had been poured into the bowl, mixing up with the egg and vegetable oil. Moving her hand again, Tara returned the cup to where it once was and turned to find Lucy still struggling with the bag.

Lucy's face wasn't even on Tara and her task. She had her hands against the bag, trying to rip it open. It had nearly completely come out of the box by the time that Tara noticed how much trouble she was having. Her hands and arms were swinging around as she was getting more and more frustrated with it. “Come on. Come on, open! COME ON!” As she took one last swing, Tara hovered to the side as the box flew past her, hitting the floor and sliding to the other side of the room. They both saw this and Lucy stopped. Tara looked at her, and she had blinked, once.

Coming closer, Tara came right in front of the bag and looked up at her big girlfriend. “Would you like some help, Lucy?” Lucy was still looking at her, and then looked off at the box, then back to her again. She was thinking it. The bag was being so frustrating for her, that she could probably use a little help, opening it up. Sighing for a moment, she looked at Tara again, agreeing that she did need it. “Y-Yeah...I'm just having some trouble with this stupid bag, Tara. If you could help me get it open, that would be great.”

Bringing a toothed smile to her face, Tara moved around to one of the flaps on the bag and gripped onto them, with her hand hands. She looked at Lucy, loving the fact that she needed her. She loved to depend on Lucy for stuff, but the fact that Lucy needed her, and could not do this without her made her feel a little warm inside. It was nice to be loved, and for your loved one to show you that they need you. “Okay...one 3, okay?” said Tara, to Lucy, whom was grabbing the other side of the bag. She acknowledged and then began the countdown. “Okay...one.......two.....THREE!”

The two yanked as hard as they could, until a ripping did take place. As soon as the box opened, a huge cloud of white smoke filtered into the air, causing Tara to lose her grip and fall to the table. As she landed, Lucy was coming around to see if she was okay. Getting up, though, she called up to her. “Don't worry. I'm okay. I'm...Lucy?” She had a confused look on her face, hearing Lucy not asking her if she was alright, but laughing at her. “Lucy!” she said. “What's so funny?!” Lucy pulled out a little pocket mirror and held it in front of Tara's face, revealing that the white dust had colored her entire face pale white. She looked to Lucy, whom was still laughing, and then to the mirror, getting a smile on her face.

Every day had it's share of laughter...

Tara was off, in the sink, finding little, tiny puddles of water, so she could get herself cleaned up. The mental image of her in the mirror was still in her head. She must have looked like a clown to Lucy, white powder all over her face. She couldn't believe that had happened to her. They just try to open up a simple bag of cake mix, and she gets it all over her face. Given the size of the cloud it had come from, it was a miracle her face was the only thing that had gotten wet. As she came into the sink, she took her robe off, setting it up on the counter, not wanting it to get wet.

As she got down into the sink, her boots touched the soft metal of the area. She wasn't completely naked, at this point. She still had on a small bra and a pair of panties under her robe, but she didn't care if any of that got wet. The robe was much more sensitive to getting damp. She started walking around, finding a few little puddles of water from when Lucy had cleaned her off before. “Food and I must be destined to be clingy to one another. It seems like every time I help Lucy with some kind of food-making, it gets all over me.”

She knelt down and dipped her hands in a small puddle of water, bringing it up towards her face. As she cleaned herself, she knew she was right. She could remember that twice now, when she was trying to help Lucy make food, she'd ended up getting something all over her. The first memory she had was their first morning together, when Lucy had set down a plate of French Toast Sticks in front of her. In her excitement, she had lunged towards the plate, not looking where she was stepping. She'd lost a boot and fallen, face-first, into one of the huge pieces of French Toast. Now, here they were, trying to get a bag of cake mix open, and she'd managed to get powder all over her face.

The powder was coming off extremely easily, the water taking it away upon the touch. She'd gotten a chance to clean herself, for once. It wasn't a hard thing to do, but Lucy insisted on cleaning her almost every single time she got messy. She knew that her girlfriend loved to clean her, though sometimes, she liked doing it, herself. She could tell Lucy wanted to do her best to take care of her, and she loved that. However, she realized that if she didn't have some sort of independence, Lucy would probably seem more like a mom than a lover. With as much as Lucy wanted to do, Tara probably wouldn't do anything for herself if she had no independent nature.

“It's nice to have such a caring, loving partner...” she whispers to herself, wiping her wet hands around her ears and down to her neck, getting more of this stuff off her. “...but I need to do things, too. I wonder what it would be like if I never were forward about wanting to do things on my own.” She pondered the thought, starting to hover out of the sink, towards her robe and a small tower that hung below the sink. She landed on top of a drawer-handle, which the towel was resting on and pulled the end up towards her face, drying herself off. “She'd surely wear herself out, if things were like that. It's good that I do some things for her.”

Tara dropped the town and started climbing back up onto the counter. As her booted feet came up, she started reaching down for her robe, seeing Lucy off in the distance. She had stayed at the table, to start mixing everything up. Tara saw that towering, beautiful form, hard at work, running a whisk around in the bowl, all of the ingredients finally together. She looked like she was really enjoying it, a warm smile aimed towards the bowl, itself. Lucy was truly someone who loved to cook. Or, maybe, she just liked doing things for others. Tara hadn't thought much about it, but Lucy was making the cake for her, not for fun.

Lucy hummed, softly, as her hand gripped the metal whisk turning and beating, getting the cake mix from dry and soft to smooth, soft, and creamy. She had initially wanted to clean Tara up again, but something else was in play here that made her want to have Tara washing herself, on her own. It wasn't that she didn't want to help her girlfriend, but there was something about the cake that she wanted to do. Tara was helping her make the cake she'd be using for her surprise birthday party. This was also the first big occasion that she had ever planned for Tara. She wanted it to be special.

Not only special, though, Lucy wanted most of the party to consist of things she had made and done for Tara. Since the only thing she could really 'make' for the party, in terms of food, was the cake, she had sent Tara off to wash on her own so she could do as much of this cake as she could. She wanted to put her heart into this cake, and have it as something that she made for Tara, not something that Tara had made for her. The accident with the mix gave Lucy the perfect opportunity to do a lot of it, herself. She continued to hum as the batter was starting to look better and better.

Tara had gotten her robe back on and hovered over Lucy's shoulder by the time the batter was starting to look like it was just about ready to go into the oven to bake. She was hovering over, Lucy's eyes looking towards her, as she saw the batter. Most of it was white, but there were colorful 'dots' all over the inside of it. Those were the small pieces of coloring that made it a “Funfetti” cake, as if the entire thing was lined with confetti, used for parties. It looked quite pretty, and Tara was about to speak up when Lucy did. “Hey, Tara, could you get me a cake pan from under the sink? I think this is about ready for the oven.”

As asked, Tara hovered over towards the sink, floating into an open door from below, far below the towel she'd dried herself off with. Inside, she found a few cake pans, all much bigger than she was. Using the Arte, she brought the middle-sized one out with her, hovering below her as she went. Before long, she had made it back to the table, where she set herself down, to the left of the pan. “Is this one good, Lucy?” she asked. She expected Lucy to look over the pan to make sure it was fine before throwing batter inside, but she didn't. Within seconds, batter was being poured into the pan, along with Lucy's response. “Perfect, Tara. Just what I wanted.”

Lucy seemed to be rushing through things, though Tara didn't quite understand why. Within a minute before she could ask to help, Lucy had the batter in the pan and picked it up, taking it to the oven. Tara just stood on the table, watching it slide into the oven and heard Lucy beeping, setting the oven timer. She saw her come back a few minutes later, smiling towards Tara and reaching forward, patting her on the head. “There we go! Now we just wait for it to bake. What do you wanna do while we wait, Tara?”

Tara's thoughts were just going “Huh?” at the current situation and what had just transpired. All she had done was go to wash her face off while Lucy was to do a little mixing. She expected to get back to her big girlfriend, help her put some more ingredients in, mix a little bit, help put the batter in the pan, and many other things to help out with this cake. Washing her face wouldn't take long and Lucy had never really been rushed with anything she'd made before. She thought she would have plenty of time to wash up and get back to help her with a lot of stuff.

However, by the time she had gotten back, Lucy was very much rushed. She already had all the ingredients in the mixing bow and had the batter made. Before Tara knew much about what was going on, the batter was in the pan, and the pan in the oven. Lucy had just returned to her a posed a question to her. She was still confused at how quickly Lucy got all of that done, but Lucy was waiting to hear Tara's answer. She wanted to know what she wanted to do while the cake was baking in the oven. This cake thing had taken awhile to get started, but now it seemed to be going extremely fast.

It wasn't Tara's fault that it was going fast, either. Lucy had purposely sped up her pace so she could get as much done on the cake while Tara was washing up as possible. She needed it to be a little part of what she was able to do for her for her birthday. Since they spent so much time together, Lucy couldn't really do a terrible amount for this birthday without Tara around. The cake was something they could do together that she didn't necessarily have to say was for her birthday, since they cooked frequently, anyways. So, since she wanted to do a lot, she hurried along the mixing while Tara had been washing up.

She had her own ideas of what she wanted to do while they waited on the cake to mix up and get ready, but she wanted Tara to decide. It hadn't been that wonderful of a day for Tara. She had already bumped her head against the wall frame, sneezed herself some pretty extravagant sneezes from dust, and she'd gotten cake powder all over her face. She hovered next to her, that little piece of cloth still wrapped around her head, pushing her hair back. Calmly, Lucy waited for her to respond, adding a little extra to what she was saying, seeing the obvious confusion on her face. “It will be a little while before the cake gets done, you know. Is there anything you'd like to do, or talk about?”

That statement was opening Lucy up to a lot. Had she wanted, Tara could ask her about this 'secret' of hers, but that didn't matter to her. She didn't want to alter the way she spoke to her girlfriend, of all people, just because she had a party planned for her that she didn't want her to know about yet. What kind of lover would she be if she altered all of the stuff she said, just so Tara wouldn't pry into things she didn't wish to speak of. Being in love was about being honest and true to your partner, at all times. You two love each other, and because of that love, you can be honest and tell each other anything.

Tara wasn't sure what to say, at first. There were a few things in mind that they could do together or talk about, but the question was thrown to her so suddenly after the confusion hit about the cake getting thrown into the oven. As she thought about it, she considered her options. They could do whatever she wanted. They could go and snuggle together in the living room until they heard the timer go off. Then again, what if they fell asleep and didn't hear the timer? She also thought about asking Lucy about her secret, the curiosity getting stronger in her. Again, she didn't feel it was right to do this. Lucy had to have a reason to keep this from her, and she promised her that it wouldn't be a secret forever.

They would have less than an hour of waiting time, according to the dark-red timer on top of the oven. They needed something to do that wouldn't take that long. Something that they could do here, in the kitchen. Tara thought long and hard about it, and that last thing Lucy said stood out to her. She had asked if there was anything she wanted to talk about. As that statement was spoken in her mind, she started to think about things that she pondered about, that she was curious about. There were many things about Lucy that she didn't know, and probably many things about her that Lucy didn't know.

It's very true that you can never know everything there is to know about someone, but a big part of being together with someone, whether you're friends or lovers, as Lucy and Tara are, is getting to know one another. People like to get to know one another, and talk about themselves. Tara didn't have a whole lot of history behind her name, but she did have a few things she remembered from when she was younger. She figured that Lucy did as well. One thing, in particular, made Tara curious enough to devise an answer to her question around all of these things.

Checking the timer again, Tara made sure she hadn't spent too much time with her thinking. Fortunately, she hadn't. There was still a good 40 minutes on the cake's timer, so they had plenty of time to do what she was thinking. Seeing that Lucy was still waiting on an answer, she brought herself down on her shoulder and sat down. Her legs swayed as they dangled down from Lucy's shoulder, as if it were some chair, high in the sky. Looking to her ear, she softly spoke to her, with her suggestions. “Well, if you don't mind, Lucy, I'd like to talk to you, about you.”

Lucy's head turned to the side, only slightly, knowing that she could hit Tara if she turned all the way. She felt Tara's soft, tiny touch on her body and she began to question her about all this. “Me? What do you mean?” Her question was innocent and soft, just as Tara's suggestion had been. Now, Lucy was the one that was confused. Taking her hand and softly patting on the back of Lucy's neck, Tara tried to make her suggestion a little more clear. “I mean you, silly. We've been together for almost a month, and I still don't know all that much about you, about your past. Tell me more about yourself, Lucy. I want to know more about you.”

“Oh! The cake!” called Lucy, hearing the beeping that had completely cut Tara's statement off. She took this time to push back all of the feelings that had been building up inside her, from talking about her mother. It was now that she started listening to Tara's advice. She was right. The last thing they needed was for Lucy to just start up and crying. Tara didn't start crying when she talked about her mother being gone. If she was only the size of a doll, and had enough courage to hold that back, then so did Lucy. She wasn't going to let her emotions get the best of her. Not in front of Tara, anyways.

“Let's go get it out of the oven and see how we did!” Lucy was excited as she got up from the table and Tara started hovering above her hand. She walked over to the oven, pulling a small drawer out of the counter that was next to the wall the oven was stuck inside. Pulling the drawer open, she pulled out two mitten-like heat pads. Putting them around her hands, she pulled the oven door open, putting her body in front of Tara. “H-Hey!” said the little sorceress. “What are you doing? You're in my way.” Lucy giggled as she looked back at her, in the process of pulling the pan out of the oven. “The heat's a lot to handle, even for me. Just like you can't have a big, crying girlfriend, I can't have a little, overheated girlfriend.”

Tara's jaw dropped and her hands went over her hips as Lucy turned around, smiling towards her. She couldn't believe it. Lucy had completely turned around what she'd told her a moment ago and threw it back at her. This girl was smart and cunning. Yet another reason it might have been good that she had come together with her to be her girlfriend. “That is so not fair! I want to help with this cake, too, you know!” She tried to make her voice into a whine, to try to get Lucy to give her a break about all of this. She watched as Lucy was setting the cake pan on the counter, a swelled golden-brown cake within it.

“Oh, don't you worry, Tara.” said Lucy, pulling a butter knife out a drawer and starting to dig into the outer edges of the cake. “I will let you do plenty with this cake, in time. You'll do plenty, I promise you. Just let me handle all of the hot stuff, for now. Once we can start cutting the extra off the top, I promise I'll let you do as much as you want!” Lucy had a grin on her face, knowing full-well that Tara couldn't do much with the cake, at this point. Depriving her girlfriend of something she wanted to do wasn't entirely fun, but it did allow her to do most of this cake, just as she had hoped for.

Tara did not like this at all. She wanted to help with this cake. It was always exciting to help Lucy with cooking, but at this rate, she wasn't going to get much done on it. She had helped her by putting an egg into the batter and getting some of the supplies out, but almost all of it was done by Lucy. She landed on Lucy's shoulder as she was picking up and turning over the pan. The pan came down to the counter, on top of a glass cutting board and Tara yelped from the dinging sound that she heard when the metal met the glass. It had surprised her, quite a bit. Before long, though, the pan was moved and the cake was on it's own, laying on the board.

Lucy now took the time to turn the cake over and set it upright. As she did so, they could both see the form of it moving around a little bit, jiggling from the impact and movement from being so fresh from the oven. Lucy got out a large saw-blade knife, and set it down next to the cake. “Alright, well that's all that can be done right now! We need to wait a few minutes, for it to cool off. Would you care to...Tara?” Lucy called for Tara, watching her fly over to the counter and land next to the knife that Lucy had just placed. It was longer than she was tall and she sat herself down, right next to it. “Tara...what are you doing?”

Tara had a stubborn side to her. She wanted to do something to help prepare this cake for whatever they were preparing it for, and that was all there was to it. She wasn't going to miss working on it from any more cleaning, washing up, gathering ingredients, or anything else. She was going to sit down, right there, and not go anywhere. She crossed her arms and looked up at Tara. “I'm gonna sit right here. Whenever this thing is cool enough to be worked on, I'm gonna make sure I work on it! I don't care how long it takes. I'm going to be right here, and when it's ready, it's getting cut up and tasted, by me!”

Lucy started laughing under her breath. Tara had an insane amount of determination in her system. It was quite admirable, actually. She wanted to do something so badly that she was willing to sit by that hot cake until which time that it could be worked on. She had to have a lot of patience to be able to do that. Assuming, of course, she stayed there the whole time. Pulling a chair towards the counter, Lucy sat herself down by her and patted her head with her right index finger. “Okay, sweetie. You just stay here and you'll be the first to work on the cake in a little while.”

Giving a stern nod, Tara looked and stared at the cake for almost half an hour. It was almost as if she hadn't even blinked that entire time. Neither of them said a word, Lucy wanting to see how long Tara could keep this up, and Tara intent on staying near the cake until she could work on it. Unlike Lucy's theory, Tara made it all the way until it was cool enough. Lucy got up from the chair and began to speak. “Well, I think we've waited long enough. We can start cutting it...” She stopped talking when she saw Tara's body immediately jump into the air and hover the huge knife next to her, slicing right into the top layer of the cake. “...now.”

Tara was going into overdrive with the cake, at this point. Within a matter of seconds, all of the extra layers of the cake had been removed and deposited in piles around the cutting board. As Tara got finished, the knife flew across the room, landing in the sink. Lucy watched all of this in amazement. She'd never seen Tara work so fast. “Wow, Tara. Nice job. I didn't know you could work so fast. You can go go ahead and try some now if you....want.” She was stopped,once again, this time to laugh. Tara looked up at her, stuffing a giant piece of cake, nearly half her height into her mouth...

Lucy seemed to laugh at Tara a lot. Ever since they'd met, it was like some sort of comedy act with her. Half the things Tara did, or got into, made her start laughing her butt off. A lot of those scenarios had to do with food as well. French Toast sticks, cake mix, and now the cake, itself. Even without the constant love and affection, Tara could keep Lucy smiling all day long, just from the little, funny messes she gets into. Their life together was absolutely wonderful. It was always filled with smiling and joy, so long as the two of them were together.

On Tara's half, she was blushing from Lucy's reaction, tied with the colorful taste that was filling her system from the cake. She pulled the piece away and looked at her big girlfriend, chewing up a mouthful of cake. “Weryughluffinath?” she asks, trying to say “What are you laughing at?” She has learned the obvious lesson of why we don't talk with our mouth full of food. Even simple statements come out as complete gibberish and it just made Lucy laugh harder. She was creating an enormous comedic scenario, and she didn't even realize it. She put her hands on her hips as she started to swallow some of the food.

As soon as she got the cake swallowed, she was about to call up to Lucy about the laughing, but she took too much in and her body reacted, keeping her from doing what she originally intended to. A slow, prolonged burning sensation began to show itself in her throat as heartburn reared it's ugly head. She held her hand to her chest and looked down at the ground, taking deep breaths for a moment. Shaking her head, she waited for it to pass. By the time she looked back up, Lucy was looking down, asking her if she was alright.

Lucy cared so much about her, going from laughing to immediate worry and concern. She nodded, confirming that she was just fine. She had a few other things on her mind, though. She was thinking about the laughing situation, but there was more to do with this cake situation, wasn't there? What were they going to do with the cake? Were they going to eat it for dinner that night? She had no idea what the purpose of it was, assuming there even was a deeper purpose. Tara's birthday was in a couple days. Was it a birthday cake? Tara shook her head, mentally, pushing that idea out. Lucy would have told her if it was for her birthday. But then, what was it for?

“So, Lucy...” she started, thinking about the cake, and what Lucy had in mind for it. “The cake tastes delicious! What are we gonna do with it now? Decorate it? Eat it? Oh! Can we eat it tonight, with dinner?” Tara was acting excited, and this had the complete opposite effect on Lucy. Tara wanted to eat the cake that night, and that was the last thing Lucy wanted to do with it. She gave Tara a nervous smile and saw the girl about to launch herself into it. “W-wait!” she called out, setting her palm in front of Tara, ensuring that she wouldn't be jumping into a cake anytime soon.

Tara had almost run into Lucy's hand, but stopped at the last second. “What?” asked Tara, curious. She was about to jump into the cake, but she stopped her. “The cake isn't for tonight! I want to have it later on this week.” Lucy was trying to think of some way of getting Tara to refrain from eating the cake, but without lying to her about it's true purpose. This would take some skillful wording, to be sure. “Huh? Later on this week? Why? What's the special occasion later on?” Tara's curiosity was throwing words out in the worst possible way. Worst for Lucy, anyways. She didn't want to have to tell Tara that it was for her birthday, but she was making it harder and harder, as the minutes pass by.

“Well, the occasion is, um...” Lucy was having a hard time thinking about this situation. Tara knew that her birthday was in a few days. She had to know about it. She couldn't throw out some big special occasion and then expect Tara to not think it was for her birthday. Although Tara was tiny, she didn't get any less smart than she was when she was at normal height. She's know something was up. She had to think of something, and she had to think of it now. “W-Well, Tara. I have a meal planned later this week that the cake will be perfect for. I wanted to make it today, though, because I was excited about doing this with you. It just won't go as well with tonight's meal.”

“Well, why don't you just make that tonight?” Tara asked, pushing the topic further and further. It was like she was backing Lucy into a corner, trying to make her serve the cake that night. She knew she couldn't, though. She was starting to heat up. She felt sweat producing on her forehead, and her cheeks started to redden. She didn't know what to do. How could she justify postponing this cake thing without spilling the beans about the party? She was thinking harder and harder, and then it hit her. The perfect idea to both postpone it and get Tara away from her so she could decorate the place on her birthday.

“I...want to set up a special dinner for you, to kinda...take you out on a date!” She blurted out her answer, blushing as much as she could as she looked down at Tara, whom was in a state of shock. Her jaw had dropped and her arms fell down to her sides. “Y-You...want to...what?” she asked, nervous. Lucy looked down at her again and smiled. “We've been together for almost a month, so I want to have a little date with you, Tara, to celebrate us being together for a month. Besides...I've always wanted to cook a special dinner for someone, like this. I want you to be that someone.”

Tara didn't know what to say. She was still in shock, but her cheeks were blushing a little bit, too. She hovered up a little bit and flew into Lucy's lips, giving her a kiss. “I would love to go on a date with you, Lucy. I would love to. When do you want this dinner?” Lucy kissed back at her little girlfriend as she heard her asking about the dinner. “Oh, a few days from now would be good. That's when I was planning it, anyways.” The two then had a happy moment together, despite the fact that Lucy had changed Tara's party into a date, in a way. They discussed this date, without Lucy spilling too much information, before putting the cake away and heading off for other tasks for the day...

Lucy was lying in bed at night a couple days later, staring up at the ceiling. Tara was comfortably snuggled up into the crook of her neck, sound asleep. She finally had some time where she could think and discuss things, mentally, about what she was going to do about this party. Things had been so hectic and emotional lately, she didn't hardly have the time to fully plan this out. She sighed as she flexed her right elbow, bringing her hand up near her face. Her fingers began to softly stroke her girlfriend's hair as she started to think about the next day, and what it would bring.

“Tomorrow's the big day” she whispered to herself. Her eyes moved down, looking in the direction of where Tara was sleeping. A grin came across her face, listening to the near-silent breathing that Tara was producing. “My little angel, I'm going to give you the best day I possibly can. I hope you like what I'm going to be doing.” Lucy's affection for Tara had never wavered. If anything, it was getting stronger as every day passed by. Spending more time around Tara made her more emotional about everything, and this party was a very emotional event for her. She'd been so worried that the secret would get out, and it almost did. Thankfully, though, it didn't. Now, she would still be able to surprise Tara with this birthday party.

Lucy's eyes then darted towards the closet. The room was dark, but the moon was shining in all it's brilliance in the sky that night, bringing in enough light to fill in a portion of the room, right around the closet and part of the bed. Although the rest of the room was dark and almost void of all light, she could see the closet clearly, and a clock that hung on the wall, next to it. “Almost midnight” she said, calmly. She took a deep breath, going through her schedule in her head, and realized that she would have to get up soon. She had to get things ready for this party when Tara wasn't awake. Moving her hand a bit, she gently and slowly pulled her girlfriend into her palm, away from her neck.

She hardly moved Tara at all. Her body was pulled upward, slightly, and it was set down on Lucy's pillow. Lucy watched her, making sure she wasn't going to wake up. Once she saw that she wasn't, she picked herself up and got out of bed. Walking towards the other side of the bed, she leaned over and provided the very top of Tara's head with a small kiss. “Sleep well, Tara. I'll be back before you know it.” She stood back up, looking at the adorable scene. Her doll-sized girlfriend was curled up on the pillow, still sleeping like a baby. Lucy turned herself around, the closet her next destination.

She had been a bit nervous about Tara being awake as she set up for the birthday party. With how much time the two of them spent together, night was really the only time she could really spend on these decorations. Tara had helped her make the cake, but this was a little different. Setting up streamers and banners that spelled out “Happy Birthday, Tara” wouldn't exactly be any way to hide the secret. Lucy had to do all of these decorations, herself. She didn't mind it, though. She wanted to do as much, herself, for this party. This was going to allow her to do a lot. Not even being midnight yet also gave her plenty of time. Tara normally didn't wake up until around 8 in the morning. That left her more than enough time to decorate for a birthday party.

The closet door opened, quietly, and Lucy pulled three plastic bags out of it. Her arms were pulled downward, not everything in the bags being incredibly light. She moved her feet, her socks touching the floor as she walked. She went abnormally slow, trying to avoid hitting anything, or causing anything that would make enough noise to wake her girlfriend. She, eventually, made it to the kitchen, where she could set everything down. Two of the bags hit the floor, while one of them was pulled up and set down on the table. She started pulling out decorations and laying them out on the table, grinning at the sight of them.

Tossing one plastic bag in the trash, she pulled up the other two, setting them on chairs as she started to unpack them. She had everything you'd expect from a party as the table began to get filled up with decorations. She had gifts, streamers, banners, hats, and more. After getting everything set out, she tossed the other two bags into the trash and began to think of what else she was going to need to start setting these things up. “Hmm...okay, I've got all this out now. Oh! The cake. Right, I forgot.” She turned towards the counter, where she had the cake in a plastic container. She walked over towards it and revealed it.

“Okay, so I need to set this stuff up and decorate the cake. Let's see...I'll need my stepping stool, icing, candles, a lighter, some tape and clips, and...I think that's it.” She was making a mental list of materials as she was thinking about the situation and what she would now have to do. It wasn't enough just to have the cake and streamers and such. She also needed what she needed to put it on the ceiling and the walls. She walked to a closet in the middle of the kitchen and pulled out a small, folding stepping stool from between it and the counter. She set it by the chairs and went back to the counter, opening a small drawer.

She came back to the table, again, setting down more supplies. The table was starting to get filled up with all of the decorations, the cake materials she'd bought at the store, and now a box of clips and tape. She took a look at everything, and she thought she was almost ready. All she needed now was some paper material, a nozzle, and the icing. Leaving the table again, she left to fetch what she needed. It all came out of a separate drawer from the one she had been digging through earlier. After getting it out, and rolling the paper into a small, metal nozzle, she returned and picked up the icing, grinning and looking back towards the cake.

She came to the cake, itself, and set all of her supplies down. From a tray in front of her, she pulled out a spoon and set it down by the two canisters of icing. One was red, just like Tara's robes. After removing the lid from the icing, she started digging into it. She scooped part of the other canister into the nozzle and set it to the side. Opening up a drawer and pulling out a large, flat knife, she began digging into the red icing and spread it across the cake. “Alright. Now we can get down to business. One fabulously-decorated birthday cake, coming up!”

She was having fun, hoping that Tara was still sound asleep...

The small sounds of crickets slowly flowed through the house, making apparent the utter silence that was taking over the place. In the bedroom, Tara was still sound asleep, gripping on the pillow she'd been placed on. She was off, in dream land, completely unaware that Lucy was up and elsewhere, setting things up for a party made specifically for her. She was just enjoying her daily amount of sleep, as she always did, expecting to wake up on Lucy's neck, like every morning. Little did she know what was going to await her during the following day. She thought the day would be special, but she had no idea just how special.

Off in the kitchen, Lucy was carefully spreading icing across the surface of the cake they'd made. She moved the long, icing knife from side to side, ensuring that any and all wrinkles and blemishes in the layer of icing were smoothed out. She hummed to herself, enjoying every moment of it. Her hand moved smoothly, spreading the icing evenly, and working out those blemishes. “Gotta make a perfect cake for my little sweetie” she spoke to herself, moving the knife down to the edges, making sure the icing wasn't sticking out anywhere.

The cake was the most important part of this party, to Lucy, as far as decorations go. All of the streamers and whatnot would already be perfect, since they were already made. This cake, however, was her own design. It was something that she was making, herself, using her own heart and commitment to Tara. She had made it, for the most part, and wanted it to be perfect for Tara. It wasn't all she'd be giving to her at this party. She had a gift for her, which was equally from her heart, but she wanted the cake to be perfect, especially since Tara loved cooking with her so much.

Lucy soon placed the long knife into a water-filled sink, so it could soak and she could clean it later. The cake was halfway finished, a near-perfect layer of icing spread across it. Picking up the nozzled paper with the crimson icing within, she smiled and re-approached the cake. “Alright. Now, for the rest of the decorations. I've got to write down the normal stuff, and then maybe I'll draw something on it for her. Okay...careful now, Lucy. Here we go...” She pulled the nozzle down towards the top-left corner of the cake and began to carefully make curved, cursive lines, starting to spell out words

Her hand was steady and slow, ensuring that she didn't screw up anything. Lucy's writing wasn't the best in the world, but she was trying her best to make it look nice for the cake. Outside of schooling, she had never really had to use her handwriting for anything. Her mother did all of the working, and now she'd had enough money in her mother's retirement that she wouldn't have to go and get a job. The job her mother had gotten recently had been that good. Still, she worked hard, trying to make this writing perfect.

Her left hand was tightly pressed down on the table as her other hand went to work. After a few minutes, she had managed to get through three words. “Happy Birthday, Tara” Somehow, she'd managed to get out a semi-nice wording. There were a few incorrect tails on some of the letters, but overall, she thought it looked pretty decent. Lucy smiled as she looked towards it, and held her hands together. “There! The words are perfect! They're...oh, no!” She hadn't realized that she was still holding the nozzled icing when she put her hands together. Her other hand had squeezed into the paper and a huge stream of icing fell out of it, heading downward.

This was a bad situation, a really bad situation. She could see that giant glob of icing, as it fell. It almost looked like the world was in slow motion, except for Lucy. She wasn't sure what she was going to do, but the whole situation felt odd. She stopped and looked. The icing was, literally, falling at an immensely slow speed. It was only moving downward about an inch every 5-10 seconds. Taking this opportunity, and now worrying about what was going on with the icing, she quickly pushed the cake out of the icing's path and gathered it up in her hand. After she had gotten finished, she felt the icing in her hand, almost as if it were still moving and pushing down on her palm.

“W-what happened? Was that...was that real?” She still wasn't sure she had really seen what she thought she saw. It was like time slowed now, as if she were a part of the Matrix or something of the sort. Now that the crisis had been averted, the cake saved, she had some time to start to think about all of this. The situation had happened so fast that she didn't know what happened. One moment, she thought she was about to accidentally ruin her girlfriend's cake, and the next, fate had intervened, magically giving her a chance to save it.

“Almost like...magic...” she said to herself, looking to the ceiling. The situation was magical, almost too perfect to be a coincidence. She started to think on it, but shook her head. “No. I don't have time to think about this. I have to keep going and get things ready for this big “date” with Tara.” She giggled as she called this party a 'date', as she had told Tara it would be. Tossing the icing far away from the cake, she pulled the cake back and took a look at it . It wasn't the fanciest in the world, but it still looked nice. Most importantly, though, she'd made it, herself.

Lucy was at work, once again, moving towards the other decorations that were lined on the table. Out in the hall, hovered a robe-covered little sorceress, taking a glowing hand back out into the hallway. She smiled widely, as she hovered about the hall, keeping out of sight. “My darling is working so hard for me. I wish I could help her, but I should stay hidden...I should let her do this, herself.” With the end of the statement, she began to hover back towards the bedroom, one crisis having been averted without completely cluing Lucy in to her presence.

Lucy had not seen Tara present in the hallway, casting a little bit of magic to help her not ruin the cake, though there was a thought in the back of her mind about it. The whole incident with the icing was so odd that Lucy just didn't know how to explain it. Time had slowed down, right? Either that, or she had felt as if it slowed down when she was saving the cake from getting ruined. As more time passed by, the more confusing that event had seemed. Her thoughts were being clouded, partially from the fact that it was late and she was getting tired. As she picked up a few streamers, she let out a yawn, moving away from the table.

After having gotten the step-stool from near the table, she set it up on the left side of the doorway that bridged the bedroom hallway and the kitchen. This was going to be one of the main places for this party, so she needed some nice decorations above the 'entrance' of the place. Getting on top of the ladder, she began to tape the end of the red and white streamers on one side of the doorway. She was standing in the air, right in the middle of the doorway. As soon as one side went up, she reached over to the other side, fastening the decorations in place. The red was in front, while the white was slightly under and behind it. Lucy got down from the stool and walked into the hallway to see how she'd done. “Hmm...not bad!” she said, hands on her hips.

Lucy didn't notice Tara's little head peeking around from the doorframe of the bedroom. She knew she shouldn't be watching her big girlfriend work, but she figured she'd just take one more, small peek to watch her doing all of this. She was smiling, softly speaking to herself as she watched Lucy go off and then went back to the bed, herself. “She does so much for me. I wish I could just stay up and help her with all of this. Unfortunately, I can't let her know I've seen her. She probably wants to do this all on her own. I should let her.” She put herself back down on the pillow and lay on her side, thinking about Lucy and what she was doing for her.

Lucy was hard at work, still, getting from place to place, setting up streamers around all of the walls. She wanted to make sure she could get all of this done for Tara, and before too long of a wait. She yawned as she finished up the final border of the kitchen, fatigue starting to crawl up her body. “Oh, good! Streamers are done. Now, just have to do the banner and a few more things before I can be finished and take a nice, little nap with my Tara.” she patted her chest with her palm, going back to the table for the large banner. This was the biggest decoration of the entire thing. This had to be across the very center of the room, just above where she'd have Tara sitting during this party.

The only way she would be able to get this up there without it falling was to let it dangle off one side and then string it up after she moved the stepping stool. Following her idea, she grabbed the left end of the banner and set up her stool. Walking up, holding the hefty banner in her hands, she attached the one end with several layers of tape and tacs. As she got down from the stool, she let the other part of the banner fall, to see if the whole thing was just going to come off. The material came down and hit the floor, making a squeak-like noise from the end that was attached. She waited to see if it would fall and, thankfully, it didn't.

After moving the stool and setting up the other end of the banner, Lucy felt safe enough to start putting away her decorations. She yawned, again, as she put the stool away and set the cake up, next to the table seat, where Tara always sat. She was still getting tired, and decided that with all of the decorations up, it was time to return to her little sweetie and get as much sleep as she could before the big day would begin. She turned and her feet hit the floor as she walked away from the brightly-decorated kitchen.

Lucy was working her way back to the bedroom, hoping that not too much time had passed between leaving at midnight and setting up all of the decorations. She knew that a night without sleep would be pretty bad for her, especially on her little sweetie's special birthday. She couldn't imagine what it would be like if Tara woke up to find all of the birthday decorations, but no Lucy to congratulate or spend her birthday with. As she walked into the room, she looked at the clock and let out a sigh of relief. With the moon's light shining on it, she realized that it was only 1:54 a.m. She'd spent a good amount of time with all of this decorating, but not too long.

She sat down on the bed and began to pull the covers up to get back in bed, sighing as she did so. “Well, at least I have plenty of time to sleep now” she whispered to herself. Her speaking outloud almost seemed to be too loud, though. Her head immediately turned and a feeling of nervousness came over her, a tiny yawn coming from the other side of the bed. On top of that pillow was a stirring Tara, rubbing her eyes and looking towards Lucy, letting out another tiny yawn. She sat up, her robes loose on her, looking at Lucy with a confused look on her face.

“Mmm...Lucy...what are you doing up? Is something the matter?” Tara tried to make her words sound as sleepy as she could. Truth be told, she hadn't slept at all. Ever since she came back to the bedroom, she'd just be lying there, thinking about her. She wanted to help her, so she thought that the least she could do was stay awake, in case Lucy screamed or got hurt while she was setting up everything she was doing. She couldn't let Lucy know that, though. Not until after the party, at least. She just looked up, concerned about her.

Lucy immediately started to feel guilty, thinking that she'd woken Tara up from her sleeping. She gently wrapped her fingers around her and lifted her into the air. She brought her close to her face, her larger-than-life lips grazing over Lucy's body, pressing into her, like big cushions. She felt every last detail of Tara's face as she pushed in and gave her a long, emotional kiss. Bringing Tara back, she smiled and started to lay back. “I'm sorry, sweetie. It's nothing. Just go back to sleep, okay?” Bringing Tara down and setting her against her neck again, she patted her back. “I just had to get up for a minute. Sorry for waking you.”

Tara leaned into Lucy, smiling and getting comfortable again. She knew what Lucy was doing, but that kiss had been a wonderful thing to happen from her curiosity. She kissed against Lucy's neck and hugged her. “I love you, Lucy. Good night.” Lucy returned the gesture as they both got situated and fell fast asleep, awaiting the next day and what it held for them...

The late-night, or early-morning, depending on what you would like to call it, was calm and peaceful. The night was dark, as it always was. The shining light of the moon shone into the bedroom, where Tara and Lucy were sleeping, showcasing a small amount of illumination. The illumination was just enough to radiate both their bodies. In their robes, they were glowing, it seemed. The moon had moved since Lucy had last seen it, now shining light on the entire bed. Were anyone else around, it would seem like there were two angels on the bed, with how the light was being cast on their bodies. Two angels. One big, one small.

The day's events were set up, only to celebrate the birth of one of those angels, though. Lucy wouldn't ever view herself as an angel. Not like she viewed Tara as one. Tara was her everything, and this day was for her and her alone. She had worked very hard to set up the day that was to come. She sneaked decorations into shopping carts, beat herself up over lying to Tara, trying not to talk about the party. She'd even taken the cake-making to herself, despite knowing how much she knew Tara loved to cook with her. It was all for this day, for this party.

Lucy's head was filled with a dream, a wonderful dream. She was dreaming about the party. Little flashes were coming to her in her dream. At the beginning, she was seeing Tara opening a present, practically ripping it open, like a small child. There was a look of extreme happiness on her face as she did this. Pulling out new robes, Tara hugged Lucy in the dream, telling her how much she appreciated what she'd done for her. Then, the scene of her dream began to fade out, into a pale, white color, as if it were a scene from a television show, moving from one scene to the next by fading into a color background.

The next scene came up, which was much more provocative than the last. Lucy could see herself, taking the perspective of some third party. It was the bedroom, and the two of them were celebrating further. Both naked in bed, they were playing together. Their lips moved as they kissed one another, Tara kissing across Lucy's neck and lips, and Lucy kissing wherever her lips would fit. It was a very sexy scene. Tara could be seen moving around her body, casting some sort of spell to make red lights everywhere, showing tiny lip marks wherever she kissed her girlfriend. The scene began to fade out again, her dream going further and further.

Lucy's face was smiling as she was dreaming, something deep inside her awakening. Her sexy dream was making her sleeping-cheeks start to redden. They had such an adorable relationship, though sometimes, at night, Lucy would have dreams of a more sexual act between the two of them. She had dreams where they would be very erotic together. She, obviously, never asked Tara to do any of these things outside of the dreams, though. She knew, all too well, that Tara was very small and she could easily hurt her, on accident, by doing any form of sexual act that involved both of them. She was alright with that, though. They had a wonderful relationship, sexual or not.

As far as the other was concerned, Tara's mind was active, sleeping as well. She was dreaming, just as much as Lucy was, but not about the same thing. In Lucy's mind, the event of the coming day was a birthday party. Tara, however, didn't know that it was a birthday party. She just thought it was some sort of date thing. Since that's what she thought it was, her dream guesses at what the day would be like would be a little bit different. As her dream began to form itself, she started smiling, though, just as much as Lucy was. She was having a good, happy dream, too.

Tara's dream was a lot darker, as far as lighting was concerned. She depicted the kitchen table, covered in a crimson tablecloth. The lights were all out, the windows shut tight, and only the light from a single candle in the middle of the table lighting up the area around it. Around the area was Tara on one end, wearing her robes, and Lucy on the other, wearing her own robes that matched Tara's. The two of them were feeding each other cake, giggling and laughing as they spent time together. Tara saw herself holding up a her-sized piece of cake and feeding it to Lucy, proclaiming cute, baby talk as she fed her. The dream was getting wonderful for her, her own cheeks, out of the dream, blushing.

They were both blushing quite a bit as they were in bed, together, both dreaming about one another. They were two lovers that were together, and getting ready for a big day. Four cheeks were in the room, and all four of them were red. Even in sleep, they were emotional and loving towards one another. Tara turned a little, smiling and kissing against Lucy's neck. She was still asleep, but her dream was making her feel attached and emotional, throwing affection out towards Lucy. The neck flesh pushed against her as she pushed in harder.

Hours upon hours had passed by before all of this kissing came to a stop. Tara's body was slowly pushing out energy, her body starting to glow in the process. In the middle of sleeping, she was using the Arte to store slight amounts of energy, ensuring she wasn't wearing herself out. By this time, the light of day was starting to show itself to them both. Lucy let out a soft yawn as her eyes opened, feeling something against her neck. Looking over, she saw her little sorceress girlfriend kissing her. Not only that, but she looked like she was asleep.

“Wow...I wake up for a day special to you, and find that you're pushing out your affection to make me feel special.” she whispered, voicing her thoughts, but not wanting to wake Tara up. It was still early, about 7:30 in the morning. She would wait a little while before getting Tara up and ready for her big day. For now, though, she just laid back and enjoyed the affectionate, tiny kisses she was receiving...

A few hours went by before Tara actually woke up. With her actively sleeping, she had allowed herself to sleep in a fair amount. Lucy wanted to wake her up at 8:30 to get ready for the party, but this was Tara's special day. If she didn't want to wake up until the later hours, then that was fine with her. Her own excitement about the party wasn't as important as Tara's comfort that day. She'd wait and be excited for as long as she needed to. Besides, she was receiving a lot of love and affection as Tara slept. It was definitely a win-win situation. She got kisses and Tara got more rest. What more could a lover ask for?

It was well past 10:30 by the time Tara actually woke from her sleep. She opened her eyes in the middle of giving Lucy's neck a kiss. Her eyes actually opened with a look of surprise in them. She pulled away from her neck and sat up, blinking. Looking forward, she saw a lot of red marks all over Lucy's neck. They were all little kiss marks, though she didn't know how they got there. She was looking around, trying to remember what happened. Unfortunately, though, her entire dream from the night before was a blur. She sat, in confusion, and then embarrassment, when she heard a voice around her. “Good morning, my overly-affectionate Tara. I enjoyed all your kisses last night.”

Tara's face immediately went red as she realized what happened. Those kiss marks weren't just her imagination. They were all real. She, somehow, managed to make all of them the night before, but how? Was she 'walking' in her sleep, in a way? She felt the fatigue in her lips and mouth. She had definitely done that. Why? What had she dreamed about that made her that emotional? She had a bit of shaky breathing as she was trying to process all of it. As she saw Lucy's face turning, though, she flew up in the air, trying to think of what she could say to her. All that came out was 'Umm...y-you're welcome?! I don't...remember...”

Lucy could see, now, that the kisses were from Tara's sleep and dreaming, as she thought they were. She didn't quite understand how that much affection came out of her from a dream, but she didn't mind it. She reached up and pulled Tara out of her flight. Her fingers came around her and enveloped her in their warm, pleasant aura. She saw the spell canceling and Tara starting to blush a little more from being held by her girlfriend. She opened up her robe, slightly, and stuck Tara down into her chest, cushioning her between her breasts. Gently holding her, she whispered to her. “It's okay, honey. You don't have to remember. All that you need to know is that you showed me so much affection last night, and that really makes me happy. I have the world's greatest girlfriend. You love me so much that you want to show it to me, even while asleep. That means a lot to me.”

Tara wasn't sure what to say. She smiled, naturally, and loved every bit of praise that was coming to her. The only thing that bugged her was why she'd spent such a long time, kissing on Lucy's neck. What had she been dreaming of? What pushed her to throw out such a strong amount of emotion towards her? She wasn't sure, but for now, she had to just accept the praise and move onward. She also wanted to argue with Lucy on her 'greatest girlfriend' comment, but she knew she would just be doing that for the fun of it, and to show her affection. She'd shown her enough affection for now, and that would be that.

As the time passed by, she kept her smile and Lucy finally started to mention something to her. She had been thinking about it for awhile, and realized that they needed to get ready. It was almost towards the afternoon, and she wanted to get this party underway. All of the planning had been for this day. Everything had to be perfect, and she didn't want to wait any longer. Looking down at Tara, she teasingly squeezed her breasts together, pushing them against Tara and thought about what they'd be doing next. “Well! Now that you're nice and comfy down there in my robe, let's get it off and head for our bath. What do ya say?”

Tara shook from the mounds of flesh around her being pushed into her. Had Lucy been a stranger, she would have been scared that she was trying to mash her and hurt her. This was Lucy, though. Tara knew that any amount of pressure she would put on her was simply to tease her and let her enjoy her body. With goose bumps on her arms, she looked up at Lucy and giggled, crossing her arms. “I don't know, Lucy! I might just wanna stay down here all day. You're quite comfy, you know!” She was trying to tease her back. Lucy's chest was definitely comfortable, and she wouldn't mind staying there for a good while.

Lucy got up and began to walk towards the bathroom as she processed what little teasing that Tara was trying to give her. “Oh, I'm sure it it, but...” Lucy remembered her dream from the night before, and bath time was the perfect way to help her get out some of those feelings and desires, especially the sexual ones. Her feet went further and further until they passed into the bathroom. She stood in front of the sink and looked down again. “...if you stay there all day, I can't get naked for you, in the tub. We always have a fun time in the bath, and I want you to help me clean myself up this morning, I also want to clean you up. Wouldn't you enjoy that?”

Tara was only blushing further as she realized just how much Lucy was teasing her. She wasn't just teasing her for fun, anymore. Her face was red with her own blushing and her gaze said something to her. It was piercing and it just screamed out to Tara. She wanted this. She wanted to get naked and have this moment with Tara, as they did all the time. Tara saw the determination and emotion in her face, though, and she understood. She nodded to her as she nuzzled into one of her girlfriend's breasts. “I'd love to do that, Lucy! You're a very convincing girlfriend!”

That last line sounded a little corny, even to Tara, but it's what she felt, so what was the harm in saying it? Lucy was teasing her through her words, and it made her blush. Lucy wanted to get naked for her and do their daily little cleanup that they always did in the mornings. More than that, it sounded like it was something Lucy really wanted to do that morning. How could she possibly say no to something that her girlfriend wanted to do? It sparked feelings in Tara and she pushed back, finding more comfort and trying to show a little affection towards Lucy.

She, obviously, didn't have all of the same reasons for it, though. She loved being around Lucy, especially when they had fun in the bath, but she didn't have as strong of a sexual feeling for this as Lucy did. It's not that she didn't have any sexual feelings towards her girlfriend. It was just that she didn't feel them, as strongly, since she was the smaller one. They came into the bathroom and Lucy's hand was coming towards her. She reached for it, ready to be helped out of her robe and onto the sink, preparing for their big bath.

Lucy scooped her little girlfriend out of her robe and set her on the sink as she prepared to do something for her. Lucy had a lot of feelings, inside, towards Tara, and she wanted to make this bath as special as she could. On that note, she got on her knees after setting Tara on the sink. As soon as she came down, she scooted herself forward, as close to the edge of the sink as she could. “Tara, turn around.” she began, something in mind for her. “I have something that I want to show you, before we get into the bath together. It's something you've seen before, but I want to make today special for you, from start to finish.”

Tara quickly turned around, her hands on the rope of her robe. She was half-undressed already, when she saw Lucy in front of her. Or, rather, Lucy's shoulders in front of her. As her girlfriend began to stand up, she was letting her robe slowly come off her body. She moved extremely slow, showing her a long, teasing disrobing. She first saw her bare shoulders coming around her, and then some soft, cushion-like breasts. As it went further, she finally saw that stomach of Lucy's, in all it's soft and warm wonder around her. Lucy slowly stood up until she was completely naked, showing off her complete body to her tiny girlfriend, with a smile on her face. “This is all yours, my darling. For now, and forever.”

Tara didn't know what to say. She wasn't expecting any sort of physical tease from Lucy. When she would strip for her, it was never this slow, or this close. Her body was like a towering building, filled with nothing but the beauty and kindness that she had fallen in love with. It was affectionate and powerful. Tara was overwhelmed by it. “I..I...I...” She was also incredibly nervous, no words being able to escape her mouth. All that happened was her hands losing their grip on her robe. As they lost it, the robe immediately fell off, hitting the sink, around her feet. She yelped as soon as she realized it was off and looked down at it, blushing from embarrassment.

Lucy started to laugh when she saw that happen. Right then, Tara was the complete opposite of her. She was trying to be slow, teasing, and sexy for her little girl. Tara, on the other hand, made it incredibly fast and was obviously embarrassed for dropping her robe off like that. She was, no doubt, overwhelmed or surprised at what she had done. Tara even covered up her private areas, something she hadn't done for awhile. Lucy noticed that things weren't going exactly as Tara planned, but that was okay. They were going great for what she had planned. Now, she just had to pick her darling up and give her a nice, long bath.


Tara was incredibly embarrassed at what had just happened. It wasn't expected, at all. She wanted to immediately apologize to Lucy, feeling really weird about it. Lucy had just given her a wonderful tease, and all she did was get embarrassed and dropped her robe. She looked up to say something, but before she could, she saw two big hands reaching for her. “H-Huh?!” she yelped, the gentle fingers wrapping around her body and pulling her up, towards her girlfriend's body. She wasn't sure what was going on, but she saw her chest getting closer and closer.

Before long, she was right where she was before, between Lucy's big, soft breasts. Only now the only thing holding her there were Lucy's hands. She squirmed around, all while hearing an echoed giggling from above her. She poked her head up and saw Lucy smiling down at her. She was blushing, and this made Tara blush with her. “W-What's so funny?!” she asked, wanting to know why Lucy thought this was so amusing. Deep inside, she adored being taken care of like this, but everything that was going on felt more embarrassing than exciting.

Lucy did think this was amusing, and she only squeezed tighter onto Tara as she began to draw water and step into the bathtub. “What's so funny? The same thing that's always funny. You, sweetie. The way you dropped your robe, the way you were shocked at seeing me giving myself to you. As always, you're an adorable, little lady. You give me so many smiles and laughs from the things that you do. I'm just laughing because you're so darn adorable.” Lucy had always had a way with words, able to push Tara's buttons and show her how much she really loved her.

“Now, come on. Don't be so embarrassed. You always know you have me, body and all. There's no reason to be embarrassed. It's not like you could ever do anything to upset me. For now, though, I've got a little girl to clean up, before our big date. So, you just stay where you are, and I will work my magic on you. Before long, I'll have that entire, tiny body of yours clean, and you can do whatever you want on mine. So, hold still, or I might have to start tickling you to make you feel better!” She smiled down at Tara, who was still full of blushes, not able to do much about how Lucy was acting. She was embarrassed, but she knew better than to deny herself this kind of care. She just stayed where she was, awaiting the bath Lucy had prepared for her..

The loud roar of the bathtub's water, pouring into the tub, quickly came to a stop after a few moments. Those moments seemed to pass like seconds to Tara, given her situation and what she was going through. Lucy was teasing her and talking about cleaning her up before their big 'date', making her still think that it was some sort of date, rather than what it really was. She was melting in Lucy's chest, her entire face red from the beauty of their moment. She would admit that she liked being on Lucy's neck the best, but she couldn't resist those big, cushion-like breasts that were like pillows to her.

As the water stopped, Lucy looked down at her squirming girlfriend and just sent her another smile, softly poking at her back with her fingers. They stared at one another as Lucy slowly lowered herself down, getting on her knees in the tub. The water, at the moment, was around Lucy's waist, plenty of room below where Tara's feet were dangling as she was being held in Lucy's chest. She then began to move herself back, further, trying to work herself into a laying position, all while keeping Tara above the water level. As she moved back, she could feel Tara pushing closer and clenching onto her.

Tara was pushed into a sitting position as Lucy came down a little further. The water level was slowly rising, getting closer to where she was, so to stay above the water, she would have to sit or stand up. She wasn't moving her body, though. Lucy's hands had shifted around, moving Tara into a sitting position. She was sitting on top of one of Lucy's breasts, sitting and straddling it like a big beanbag chair. It was soft and squishy like a beanbag chair as well. The top of it wasn't wet, so she wasn't slipping off, as she got up there. She giggled as she bounced on it, clearly having a fun time.

Lucy cracked a smile as she saw Tara's child-like fun. Her body was like objects to Tara, in comparison. Even her breasts could be compared to a bed, pillow, and now a beanbag chair. One hand left her and grabbed a small piece of soap. She dunked it into the water and started to lather both of her hands up, getting soap all over them. “Hold still, sweetie” she said, getting ready to start the actual bath part of their bath. “I'm gonna lather you up with soap now, so I need you to stay as still as you can. I'll be using both of my hands, so don't fall off me or I'll have to fetch you back and start over!”

Tara tried to comply with this. Lucy had never washed her like this before. Normally, she just lathered up a piece of a washcloth, and Tara put most of the soap on her, but with a little help from Lucy, in certain areas of her body. This time, though, Lucy was doing everything. As she felt the fingers around her, both massaging her body and washing her as they gently pressed into every little crevice: the space around her ribs, under and over her breasts, along her hips. As Tara felt all of this, she melted again. She softly moaned a happy moan, every little bit of discomfort leaving her body.

As Lucy was bathing her girlfriend, she started talking to her about what would happen later that day. “So, are you excited about our date, Tara?” She was curious about what Tara thought of what they'd be doing later. She moved her fingers along Tara's shoulders as she was asking this, getting the last of the soap around her. She turned her around and gave her a smile, both looking her body over for places she may have missed, as well as waiting for a response to the question she'd posed to her.

Not very much time passed by before Tara was able to give Lucy an answer. She nodded her head, quickly, and spoke to her, saying that she was very excited about it. Her speech messed up the washing, though. All of the soap that had been over her mouth immediately flew off when she nodded and spoke, tiny drops getting on Lucy's face. Lucy just smiled and dipped her left hand into the water, keeping her other on Tara. Bringing her hand back up, she had it cupped, filled with water. “Close your eyes. I'm gonna rinse you off now.”

As Tara closed her eyes, she felt what she always thought was the equivalent of a huge bucket of water, raining down on her, as Lucy's collected water washed over her and cleared her body of soap. After a few dumps, she was clear of it. Tara opened her eyes back up, to see Lucy reaching to the side, for a bottle of shampoo. It was a rarity for Lucy to wash Tara's hair for her. Once Lucy's hands were lathered up, Tara closed her eyes again, as Lucy's hands came around her and began to wash her hair, making gentle taps and sweeps, ensuring that she was careful and didn't accidentally hurt Tara or pull out any hair.

Lucy's fingers were a little hard on her hair, but she was being as gentle as possible. As she was doing this, Tara tapped into her powers. Her hair rose from her head and pointed outward, a few strands at a time. This allowed Lucy's big fingers to gently rub shampoo on each section of hairs. After each section was lathered, Tara lowered them and raised the next section. After about 5 minutes, her entire head of hair looked white, completely covered in shampoo. As the hair came back down, completely, she looked as if she had, foaming, white hair.

Lucy carefully took the time to dump some cupped hands of water over Tara's head, making sure she was keeping her eyes shut, so the shampoo didn't get in her eyes. After Tara was completely clean, Lucy smiled and looked at her. “Wonderful, darling. You look wonderful, and clean! Now, let's just get me clean and we can be well on our way for today's events!” Tara smiled back as they both worked on Lucy's body and Tara wondered what Lucy meant by “events”. If this was just a date, wasn't it just one event? That got her wondering...

Dozens of giggles were sent out from the bathroom as the two girlfriends' bath was coming to a close. If one could peek in on them, it would look like some scene from a cartoon or an anime. They both had tears running down their faces. The water was gone and they were constantly at each other's stomachs, poking at them. Crying and laughing as hard as their lungs could possibly muster, they were both having the time of their lives. It was a sight that was private, for them, and would always be private for them. No one could guess just how much would have become of that fateful day, where Tara and Lucy met. It brought together two people who would become lovers, for life. As Lucy stopped the tickle session, she grabbed onto Tara's tiny, naked body, wrapping her fingers around her. She held her in front of her face and Tara gave her a look of disappointment. “Aw...come one, Lucy! Just one more! I just wanna tickle you one more time! I know we have to get stuff done, but...” She knew that Lucy had grabbed her to get on with their day. At least, she thought that's why she had done so. Lucy held Tara before her. As she had her girlfriend in the grasp of her fingers, she looked at her. Those deep feelings from the night before made themselves apparent in her mind. She wanted, on some level, a sexual relationship with Tara. At least, she wanted something on that level. As she looked at her, though, the grim reality came forward, again. She knew that she could never subject Tara to sex with her. It would be far too dangerous. Were Tara to slip inside her, she could get literally beaten by her insides, merely from her sex drive, taking over. Even oral sex could be dangerous. Were she to get too far into the moment, she could lick and suck too hard on Tara, and hurt her. She took a deep breath and used all of the willpower she had to kiss Tara instead of the dozens of other things she deeply wanted to do with her. She covered the girl's tiny face with her lips and started to stand from the bathtub. Her pupils shook from the conflict in her mind, but she didn't care. She had set it in her mind that she could not, ever, have sex with her girlfriend. The risk of permanently harming her was too great of a risk. There was the possibility that Tara could use the Arte to make it safer, but she didn't want Tara to have to do that, just for a need that Lucy felt, herself. That would be selfish of her. Tara blushed, hard, as she always did when Lucy gave her a kiss. The girl's gigantic body was moving. Tara looked down and could see her breasts moving from the movements, and her legs slowly unbending, Lucy raising up to her full height. At Lucy's face level, it looked like a long way down. To Tara, she was at least 70 or 80 feet in the air. Had she not had the Arte to use as a flying method, and a very careful girlfriend, she'd be scared to death to be up this high. However, she had a great amount of trust in Lucy. She'd always been careful with her, and she trusted that she would never drop her. Not on purpose, anyways. The two got out of the bathtub and dried themselves off. Or, rather, Lucy dried them off. Once she had a towel wrapped around her chest and stomach, she slid Tara down into it and began to gently dry herself off. Tara could feel the heat coming from Lucy's body, which aided in the drying of her own body. She was sliding against her girlfriend's breasts as she was being dried off. This was yet another situation where, had she not been with Lucy, she would be incredibly scared. But, she giggled. She knew it was a tight fit, and things would heat up quite quickly, but Lucy would never let her fall. After a few minutes of drying, Lucy opened up the towel, only to see Tara, hugging onto her breasts. She blushed and tried to pretend as if she hadn't done all of that on purpose. “Oh! Look! I have a cute, little sorceress stuck in my cleavage! What are you doing down there? Exploring your big girl's body? Don't worry, you can say yes. I don't mind it if you like my body. In fact, I'd love it if you did. So, you could be in love with all of me, body and mind, just like I love you. Even though your body is teeny and tiny, it looks beautiful and perfect, just like you. I know if our roles were reversed, I'd be in heaven.” Tara's face got crimson as Lucy spoke of this. Role...reversed? She thought about that, for a split second. Lucy was talking about, if things had turned out in the opposite way, and Tara was the bigger on in the relationship. If she was holding a doll-sized Lucy in her arms. She looked down at her body and shook her head. She never thought she was that attractive. She never thought anything like that. Looking back up, she couldn't hide her embarrassment. She just buried her face in Lucy's chest, pretending that her girlfriend hadn't said a word. “Hehe, that's okay. You don't have to say it. You can just be embarrassed, if that's what you want. But, you really can't stay glued to my chest all day long. I know it might be soft and warm, but when I put my clothes on, you'll disappear underneath them. This is a special day for you. You have to be out in the light, so you can see. Now, come on, Tara. Get out of my cleavage and let's get dressed. I can't have a girlfriend who wants to hide on her special day.” Lucy, Tara still in her fingers, pulled her away from her breasts. Tara let her hands grab for them again, brushing against Lucy's nipples. As this happened, they hardened, and Lucy froze, for a moment. Her eyes stared down at Tara and her face went red. She felt her nipples getting hard and could feel her sexual drive being awakened. Her fingers shook for a moment, but then shook her head. 'No. I can't do that to her. She's taunting me, not even aware of it. I can't do that to her. It would hurt her. Her safety is more important than my pleasure.' She walked over to the counter and slowly let Tara down. Her fingers still quivered as she shook her head again. “O-Okay! Time to get dressed!”

The previous moment hadn't been terribly easy for Lucy to do. Tara's instinctive reactions of hugging against her breasts had only strengthened Lucy's inner-desires for a sexual relationship, those that any partner would think and want. The events that were planned for later that day pushed her and encouraged her to ignore those desires, though. She blocked out those sexual thoughts with the party she had planned, and getting Tara ready for it. She knew, all too well, that she couldn't fulfill those desires. Not with Tara, as she is now.

After having come back into the bedroom, both their naked bodies dried off, Lucy sliped on a pair of panties and a white bra. She wanted to get dressed, as soon as she could. Despite wanting what they were doing earlier to last longer, Lucy wanted the day's events to start soon. She had a few things planned for Tara, and Tara had no idea what this day really was. At best, Tara thought they were going to have a romantic dinner and have a 'date'. Little did she know that their date was actually going to be a birthday party that Lucy had been planning for some time.

Tara was just sitting on the bed, where Lucy had taken her and sat her down, watching her big girlfriend, getting dressed. It was still amazing, at some level, to her at what had happened with her. The world was so much bigger, and so was Lucy. Never in her dreams had Tara thought that she would be with a partner that was so big to her. She never imagined being able to snuggle against a stomach that was like an immense bed, or sit on a shoulder, feeling as if she were dozens of feet in the air. She had begun to feel that she had a normal life with Lucy, since she could use the Arte to do normal things, still. But, every so often, she still got the feelings and gravity of the fact that she was no bigger than a doll.

As she started to pull her own clothes on, she thought about this a good bit. Life was different, yet it wasn't so different. She could still get around easily, do household chores, and many other things a normal-sized person could do. The situation wasn't as foreign as many would think. She thought it was likely because of how careful and free Lucy always was with her. Lucy's kind nature, and how much stuff she allowed Tara to do, on her own.

It's not exaggeration that Lucy could have taken complete advantage over Tara. With Tara at 6 measly inches in height, she could easily just scoop her up, take her into her house, and have forced her into a lot of things. She could have kept her in a doll box, or forced her to sleep with the rest of her dolls, acting as if Tara was a doll, herself, not even human anymore. A lot of things could have happened, but none of them did. Tara's arms went through the sleeves of her robe as she thought of this 'what if' scenarios.

None of those things happened, and it was because Lucy didn't take advantage of Tara. To her, Tara being the size of a doll only made her more attractive. All her life, Lucy had cared for dolls, never really getting to the point where she had to accept that dolls weren't real people. With Tara, she would never have to get to that realization. Tara was the size of a doll, and she was, indeed, a real person. Lucy had a little dolly to take care of that was a human being, and her girlfriend.

It did take some time, but Tara finally got herself dressed. As soon as she was done, she pulled the back of her hair out of the robe and shook her head around. As she stopped moving her head, she looked up at the immense form that was her girlfriend. Her big, giant-sized girlfriend. Lucy wasn't completely dressed, yet Tara was, spare socks and boots. Lucy only had on the bra and some jeans over the panties she'd put on, a moment before. She had a shirt over her shoulder and sat down on the bed, right next to Tara.

Tara used the Arte to hover in the air, the shaking of the bed from Lucy sitting down nearly knocking her over. As she hovered, she came to Lucy's hand, which was reached out, waiting for her. She was then set down in Lucy's lap, as her girlfriend began to put her shirt on. Lucy's eyes never left Tara, though, as she began to speak to her. “So, today's our big day. I know that bath went on a little longer than expected, but I promise that we're going to have plenty of time for our “date” later on.” She giggled at the emphasis of the word 'date'.

With Lucy giggling above her, Tara giggled in response. She wasn't sure what was so funny, but the sound of Lucy's giggling, along with the vibrations in Lucy's body, that Tara felt through her lap, made her want to laugh, too. “W-What's so funny? I like the fact that you wanted to go on a date with me. You are, after all, my girlfriend. My big, giant girlfriend, but my girlfriend, all the same!” Tara was speaking the obvious, and it just made Lucy giggle again.

Her hand came down and pat on Tara's head as she nodded, agreeing with what she was saying. “Of course I am! And you're my little, tiny girlfriend. I'm glad you like my request. We've been together for a good while now, though we've never had any special events together, like dates or anything.” As she finished this statement, the last button of her shirt fit into place. She put her hand down to Tara and nodded again. “Well, dressed and ready! Climb on up here and your big girlfriend will take you to your special day!” Lucy was ready for the events to begin, hoping that Tara would enjoy them...