“Look!” Karlo said to his friend Dillem. “There she is!”

Dillem had climb on top of a boulder to see over the surrounding long grass, but he was rewarded with his first ever sight of Princess Belena. She was standing with her back to them, clad in fine leather armour, her long red hair forming a cascade down her back. She was busy shooting arrows at a target painted on one of the giant trees, and Dillem could see several of those immense bolts planted in the ground, not far from him. They both agreed that a closer look was necessary.

Karlo’s family had come to Vandan from one of the kingdoms to the west of Elgon, several years ago. He’d had to leave a lot behind, including all his friends, which, for a young boy, hadn’t been easy. But he was a grown-up now, and his boyhood friend Dillem had arrived in Rismark just yesterday, along with his family. Ever greater numbers of people had come seeking Valerie’s protection, and the bounty of her lands, and several more settlements had sprung up around her castle. At the moment, however, Dillem was less concerned with starting a new life, and more interested in seeing one of the giantesses; it was apparently all he could talk about, so Karlo, who knew a bit about Belena’s habits, had taken him here, amongst the thousand-foot high trees that grew south of the castle.

The young men crept through the grass, invisible to the giant princess towering above them. Karlo kept thinking of what would happen if she did see them, while his friend could only gape up at the giantess’s gorgeous figure, all the while wishing he could climb it. They reached the spot where she’d stuck her arrows into the ground, where Dillem suddenly got a crazy idea.

“I’ll climb up one of those arrows!” he said excitedly. “Then, when she picks it up, I can climb onto her hand, and then unto her shoulder…”

“That’s foolish, Dillem! She’ll spot you, and then she’ll spot me, and we’ll both in trouble!”

“Oh, come on! We’re not little boys any more, you coward! If she does see me, I’ll simply tell her that I’m lost, and I need her help, and, oh, by the way, how I think that she’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen, and how it would mean a lot if she could give me a kiss…”

“Yeah, yeah, like that will turn out well! Well, go on, then! She’s almost done with her archery practice.”

Dillem crept over to the arrow furthest from Belena and jumped up to grab hold of it. The shaft was about sixteen inches in diameter, and he wasn’t the fittest of men, so climbing it proved arduous. He was just about to give up and climb back down again when he felt a sudden lurch, and nearly let go. The next moment, he was soaring through the air, holding on to the arrow shaft for dear life, as the unaware giantess made ready to take her final practice shot for the day.

Belena fitted the arrow into her bow and drew back the string. She had seen the tiny intruder, so she wasn’t really planning to let the arrow fly, but she wanted to see how the little man would react. And, to her amusement (though she didn’t show it), he began to scream and shout, loudly, to catch her attention. Letting loose a laugh, she plucked him from his precarious position on the arrow’s tip and dropped him onto her gloved hand. He was quite clearly a new arrival, because he lay down flat on his stomach, face buried in the leather, his legs stretching nearly to the base of her fingers. Only now did she feel a little guilty – then, a second later, not any more.

“Still want a kiss?” she asked sweetly. “Or has that moment passed?”

Dillem looked up at her, his heart nearly freezing and his face deep red.

“You…you heard me?” he whimpered. She laughed again as she stooped to pick up his equally flustered companion.

“My ears may look a long way off from down there,” she said, “but believe me, my hearing is quite good.”

Karlo swallowed hard; this was his first time in the princess’s hand too, and he had no idea what the proper etiquette for such a situation might be. He began to babble an apology, but Belena shushed him.

“It’s not a crime to approach me, you know,” she said, brushing a strand of hair from in front of her turquoise eyes. “I’ve been trying to become friendly with the people in Rismark, and the other towns as well, but even after six years, it seems I’m still just too frightening to even talk to. Pity – and they say I’m such a pretty girl, too!” She winked at Dillem, and he blushed again.

A fortnight shy of her eighteenth birthday, she was indeed very beautiful, even more so than her mother, some said. She was definitely taller than Valerie, standing 175 feet tall barefoot, and most men would have agreed that she was one of the most stunning girls they had ever seen – if she were of normal size, that is. Belena sometimes wondered at the strange position she and Valdan found themselves in: he only wanted to be a giant, so that his family and everyone else would look up to him, while she wished she were human-sized like him, so that she could get a boy to fall in love with her. The two young men in her hand, each no bigger than her thumb, were staring up at her with obvious lust, but she didn’t think either of them would want a long-term relationship with her.

“I’d best be heading home,” she said, gathering up her archery equipment. “I’ll drop you fellows off at the town gates, then…I think I’ll have a relaxing swim in the river, perhaps. I don’t really like archery, you know: it’s more Sylvie and Valdan’s thing. But, Mother’s orders, so what can I do?”

Dillem watched her luscious lips moving as she talked, hoping that she might remember that kiss she’d promised, but she didn’t seem interested anymore, and he didn’t dare ask. A peasant doesn’t ask such a thing of a princess, no matter how nice she might appear to be. Soon after, she put them down just inside Rismark’s main gate, and they watched her head towards the castle, wondering if she’ll ever talk to them again.

After a quick swim and a change of clothing, Belena ran into Sylvie, who had just finished her school lessons for the day. The girls and Valdan had a private tutor, an old man named Ilan, who had once been their father’s teacher as well. When he was done for the day, one of the girls would carry him back to his residence in Rismark, since he was too old to walk such a distance twice a day.

Sylvie was fourteen now, 160 feet tall, and didn’t consider herself a child anymore. But, as Belena knew well, she could still behave in a very childish manner every now and then, especially towards her brother. Valdan wasn’t at home right now, though. He was staying at the castle in Elgon, after he had begged his father not to force him to live here any longer. While King Alban had agreed, the Queen had been very upset, mostly at her youngest daughter for all the things she had done to Valdan.

Sylvie had been upset as well, but that was several years ago, and she had returned to her old self soon enough. In place of Valdan, she had found other children in the town who were willing to be her friends, though she had to promise her mother that she would treat them with much more decorum than she had treated her brother. She’d kept her promise, for the most part, and of course there were many young girls in Rismark who loved spending time with their princess, even if their different sizes did make things a bit awkward at times.

As it happened, Sylvie had just heard from her mother that Valdan would be returning in a few days’ time. The girls hadn’t seen him since last year, when they went to visit their father and him in Elgon, a week’s journey by foot from Vandan and deep in the lands of the humans. Whenever the sisters visited any of those parts, they never stayed long, simply because there were no places where they could stay, apart from sleeping on the ground.

“Do you think he’ll be glad to see us again?” Sylvie asked, smiling happily. “He was so sick last year that we never had a chance of talking properly.”

“He wasn’t feeling sick. He just didn’t want to spend any time with you, little sister. But then, who can blame him…”

“Oh, shut up! I think he’ll be delighted to be back, him and Dad both. And Mum too – she’s really missed them, I think. Anyway, I’d best be taking Master Ilan back home, or else Mummy will give me another ‘talk’.” She made distasteful expression with her face. “By the way, your little roommate wants to talk to you. She sounded rather anxious, maybe you ought to go right now.”

Belena’s best friend, Arily, was grown up now as well, and living with Belena at the castle (in a doll’s house in her room, in fact). She had almost forgotten her previous existence as an orphan on the streets of the town’s poor district, and was living a comfortable and happy life in the company of her giant friend. Lately, however, she and Belena had been spending much less time with each other. Arily seemed to prefer being amongst the common folk more than she did living in a giant palace, and she was usually seen only at mealtimes.

Belena entered her magnificent bedroom, large enough for dozens of human-sized houses to be built within its walls. In one corner stood her old dollhouse, a human-scale replica of a four-story villa. Only a few mansions in the kingdom could match its size and splendour, and it was as richly furnished as any of the rooms in the castle itself. She knelt down next to it and carefully removed the detachable roof. Arily, wearing a dress just as fine as Belena’s own, was lying on her bed, in one of the upstairs bedrooms, and she sat up as Belena picked her and the bed up and placed them on her bedside table.

“What’s up?” Belena asked, still kneeling so that she and Arily were at each other’s eye level. “I heard you wanted to talk to me. It’s not often that that happens anymore.”

“I’m sorry,” Arily said, rather despondently, Belena thought. “It’s just…well, there have been some changes in my life recently…I guess you know what I’m talking about.”

“It’s Rykar, isn’t it?” Belena’s gaze and voice made Arily a little uneasy. “Oh yes, I know about you two…”

“Then you know that I love him, Belena. And that I want to be with him…go and live with him, I mean. In Rismark.”

“So you want to leave?”

“Well, yes, but if you’re going to be all upset about it…”

“Who said I was upset?”

“Oh, come on! It’s so easy to see when you’re upset!” Arily raised her voice, but she still felt insignificant before the giant princess. “It almost never happens, but I can tell you’re very upset now!”

“Well, I’m not the one shouting, am I?” Belena said, raising her own voice. “So tell me, why can’t your boyfriend come and stay here, with us? Or do you no longer need someone like me around, someone who gave you everything, and only wished to be your friend?”

“When you fall in love, you’ll understand why! Not that that’s going to happen anytime soon!”

Before Arily knew what to say next, Belena’s giant hand lifted her up, still sitting on her bed, and brought her up to her face. She could easily crush the bed with one hand, Arily knew, and her along with it. But she didn’t. She simply put Arily down on the floor, and turned her head away. Arily got up, walked over to her friend, and climbed up the slope of her knees and into her lap. She sat down just below Belena’s hips, a miniscule figure beneath the towering cliff of the princess’s body.

“I’m sorry I said that,” she whispered. “I don’t know why…I was just so angry, I guess. You were right, though – I do owe you everything, everything that I have, and more. You’ve been the best friend I could ever have and you know that. But I really do love Rykar and…and I want to marry him, and share my life with him – even if he is just a farmer’s son! He wouldn’t be able to live here, Belena, it’s too grand for his taste! And while I would love to keep on living here, with you…well, I’m a grown woman now, and we all have to move on sometime.”

When Belena looked down at her, Arily was shocked to see tears flowing down her face. Giant fingers encircled her, and gently and delicately lifted her up. Then she was up there, right next to Belena’s face, and the waterfall of tears was pouring over her. Arily didn’t know what to say, so she simply pressed herself against Belena’s cheek.

“I’m so jealous of you!” Belena said, her voice barely overcoming her sobs. “The one thing I want, the one thing that would make me truly happy, and you’ve found it. But I’m acting like a selfish child! I ought to be happy for you – I am happy for you – but…I don’t want to lose you! You mean so much to me, Arily, and I don’t want you to leave!”

“You mean a lot to me too, my princess. And I wouldn’t want to lose you either. Will you promise that…that you’ll come and visit us? That you’ll still be there for me? I know Rykar and his folks are still so frightened of you, but he doesn’t know you like I do…”

“No-one knows me like you do,” Belena said, managing a smile. “Of course I’ll come and visit you, as often as I can. But first, promise me one thing.”

“Anything, Your Highness.”

“When you get married, I…I would like to be your maid of honour. And I would be honoured if you would marry here, in the palace, so that everyone could see how much your happiness means to me.”

Arily was stunned by what she heard, and there was no possible way she could refuse. Belena lay down on her bed, placing the tiny woman comfortably on her chest. They talked for hours, mostly about the preparations for Arily’s wedding, even though that was still a long way off. Belena also couldn’t help wondering if she herself would ever get married.

“Of course I will,” she told herself later, when she was alone. “Mum and Dad found each other, and they couldn’t have been more different at the beginning. I will find my prince too, someday – but not if I just lie here and feel sorry for myself all the time! I am a Princess of Vandan, and if there’s one thing I’m not going to do, it’s give up! No matter how long it takes, I will find my true love, and live happily ever after, just like the princesses in all the old tales…”

She didn’t know it yet, but her dreams were about to come true, though not at all in the way she'd expected them to.