Elise strode through the teleporter’s rift and arrived at her newly purchased planet. It was a small thing, having only cost a few days’ wages, but it was officially her property per the Imperium’s laws. Young people would frequently buy frontier worlds like this one, young people were also frequently scolded by their parents for making bad investments and buying useless rocks.

Maybe she had made a poor financial decision, but she wasn’t unhappy with her choice. With that thought in her mind, she hefted the tray filled with humans in one hand and searched for a good spot to put it down, she had set her teleporter’s destination to the same place she and Trixie had visited a few months back. There was a former human hive along a pond, with some greenery between it and a few smaller hives also along the pond. She chose a green spot between the larger hive and one of its peripheral colonies, and crouched low to set the tray down.

With the tray firmly placed on the ground, she tinkered with the settings, it had enough power to last for the next three hundred years or so, the humans would be self-sufficient by then, right? This was their natural environment, now cleared of potential predators, a quick glance at her virtual assistant and a double check of the invoice from the pest control company confirmed that. She adjusted the dimensions of the tray with her assistant, one of the walls dissolved and allowed access to and from the inside, Elise stayed crouched for a moment, and watched the first tentative pale dots leaving the tray and wandering onto the greenery.

They should be fine, she thought as she stood up and headed for the rift to go home.

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

Three months later, Anthony was walking to the hall with Liliane in the early morning; her breath coming out in ragged puffs as plumes of steam streaked past her face. She walked on the mostly even ground with her now characteristic gait, with Anthony following close behind.

She had been walking for a month now, and their efforts to keep her good leg healthy and strong proved to be a good decision, but Anthony could still see her limp. She had reassured him that it didn’t hurt anymore, but it still pained him to see her like that.

As they rounded the corner of a dilapidated house, they both caught sight of the hall, filled with forms in various states. Some were nude and still lived in the hall. However, most others were fully clothed and either gathering food and clean water, warming up in the climate controlled tray, or simply coming and going for “work”. Anthony and Liliane belonged to the latter group, coated from head to toe in warm winter clothing. Almost everyone was struggling with the cold, they had all lived their entire lives in a hall packed with heat, humidity, and life. To them, the dry and cool air of what used to be Illinois must have felt like an icebox. Anthony had caught Liliane under mountains of blankets and clothing more than once to escape the “winter chill” that almost all the hall’s residents had only heard of in stories, but never experienced.

Anthony didn’t have the heart to tell her it was just mid-fall.

“Ah… that is so much better.” he heard Liliane nearly moan out as they started to feel the heat from the hall.

“Is it really that good?” Anthony asked quizzically.

“Yes.” She replied simply, smiling as her eyes fluttered, the warmth flooding into her very being. “It is the best feeling in the world.”

“Oh? I guess I need to step up my game, huh?”

“What do you… oh, I understand.” She said sheepishly before continuing. “No, you are… pleasant, Anthony.” She smiled up at him. “I only wish that you would be with me in the hall more frequently, it is uncomfortable to work in the cold away from everyone else.”

Anthony nodded in agreement, Liliane, like many in their new fledgling community, felt some degree of nervousness and anxiety when away from the hall, and especially when alone. He thought she was handling it better than most, but she also refused to leave his side when both inside and outside the hall. This had made requests for his time from other young women somewhat awkward when Liliane was still healing, as she would usually come along and just watch.

They entered the hall. Despite no longer being kept by the titans, the community’s remaining elders agreed that “working” should continue, to help grow the community and ensure their survival. The work was far less frenzied and intense compared to how life was within the halls, but Anthony would still usually be asked to be with at least some women every day.

He glanced toward Liliane, just a month ago her company on these trips was, not unwelcome, but a little weird to him as the girl he professed his love to upon arriving back on Earth watched him being intimate with other women right in front of her.

Anthony knew, though, that it only felt weird to him. Because as soon as Liliane’s leg was healed, she simply started joining when other girls asked for him to come work with them. He smiled, just yesterday he had her on the ground while another girl was…

“Are you happy about something?” Liliane interrupted him, noticing his likely goofy looking smile.

“Oh, nothing, nothing.” He replied as smoothly as he could.

“Mmmm.” Liliane merely hummed back. “Where are the girls who asked to be with you?”

“They should-” his words were cut short by a brief, bright light followed by a kind of burning smell. A portal, that the titans used, opened a few miles from them, and the smaller titan stepped through. This would have likely incited a panic, had this not been the smaller titan’s fourth visit since bringing them here.

“Oh, she has returned.” Liliane smiled.

“What do you think she wants? She keeps coming back and checking up on us.”

“She wants us to be well. She is kind.”

“Kind?” Anthony sputtered out. “Didn’t it shatter your leg?”

“That was… an accident, I think.” her voice trembled a bit as her hand unconsciously reached for her formerly broken leg, as if to reassure herself that it was still there. “She is so, so much larger. Even a tiny movement could have ripped my body apart, I think she did not mean to hurt me, or any of us. She saved us from the larger titan. Remember?”

Liliane’s statement was accented by pounding footfalls as the titan approached and then crouched before the hall and observed them. Liliane waved both her arms up at the titan, and nearly stumbled doing it. Anthony reached out to catch her, beginning to scold her before he noticed Liliane’s eyes going wider than the moon as she looked up at the titan. He followed her gaze to see the titan, flicking its own hand back and forth in a small loop. A wave, a tiny one, but at her scale it was like a sign from the gods.

“See?” Liliane whispered as she looked up at him.

“I do.” Anthony replied, astounded, as the titan ceased its movements and continued its observations.

“Good.” She said her single word with the simplicity he had come to expect from her. “It seems your friends have arrived.”

“My friends?” Anthony turned to where she was looking and saw two young women approaching, one waved.

“Well… I wouldn’t call them my friends, work buddies maybe, one of them sat on my face, actually.”

“That seems rather pointless, children cannot be made like that.”

“No, no I suppose they can’t, it's pretty fun though, we should try it.”

“Mmmm, maybe if you want to. I would prefer being with you normally, however.” She stated.

Anthony shrugged, he was happy either way.

“Anthony?”

“Yes?” he replied.

She clung to his side, even through all the clothes, he could feel her warmth. She stayed silent for a moment before speaking.

“I am glad the titans put you in my hall.”

Anthony smiled.

“Me too.”