It's been a week since Claire had been to our town. Madison was still against the idea of a meeting between the North and South, but wasn't ready to argue against the emissary of the North. She had talked to our town's commity to dissuade them from the event, but even they had their interests piqued. A quick petition revealed that the majority of people in town were interested in mingling with the giantesses. Whatever reservations Madison had, the town did not share.

And so, with the consent of either side, the meeting was okay'd. As our town's liaison, Madison was instructed to go to the North to represent us, and to work out the details with the giantesses. She had been on edge since she got her job, and her usual gentle pacing was replaced by heavy, careless footfalls, her attention flickering between thought and her surroundings. More than once she almost tripped somebody along the sidewalks, and Madison had to take the more restrictive giantess crossing paths to avoid any further incidents.

“You never really told me why you don't like your home country,” I said when Madison and I were back at her place, sitting together on Madison's bed. She was leaning against her pillow with her legs tucked to her chest, while I sat on the fabric near her feet. I was having my summer holidays, so I made sure to come cheer Madison up everyday.

“I...” Madison began, but bit back her words with a curled lip, “It was a long time ago. I shouldn't remind myself too much about it when I'm headed there tomorrow.” The toes before me gripped the bedsheet tighter, inadvertently pulling me closer to Madison's feet. I chanced a rub of her instep, and looked up to the giant face half hidden behind the knees.

“I know it's been on your mind, babe,” I said, trying to ease Madison, “Anybody could tell it's hard on you, so I won't push you if you don't want to talk about it.” I shifted myself into the gap between Madison's feet and lay down, her face perfectly perpendicular above me. “That's why I'm coming with you to the North.”

Madison smiled with a tender look in her eye as she listened to me, until she heard my last line. “What?”

“I've got a whole month without school, and my dad already gave me permission,” I said, “I just need to pack up and-”

“No!” Madison shouted. Her voice was a loud shrill that rang painfully in my ears, completely different from the gentle whisper she usually speaks in. She caught herself, though, and returned to her normal volume, “I...I mean, you can't, Eliot!”

I let go of my ears and sat up again. “Why not?” I said.

“Just...no means no, okay?” Madison said with a sort of desperation in her voice. Why was she so insistent on not letting me go with her?

“Maddie,” I said, “You've not been yourself lately. All this jazz about the North's got you riled up, and you keep tripping up even the simplest things.” I rose to my feet and put my hand on her lower calf. “That's why you need somebody to keep you in check. You know, keep you focused on things.”

Madison bit her lip. Her eyes were darting about, trying to think of what to do. Eventually, she looked me straight in the eye, with a steely gaze that was contrary to her usual gentle face. “You want to come with me to the North, Eliot?”

“Yeah,” I said, not sure what Madison intended on doing.

Madison brought her foot in front of me and shoved her toes right into me. With an 'oof', I fell back onto the bed, tried to get up, but was met with the massive sole of Madison's right foot landing right on my chest. Her toes curled in on me, raking her toes across the thin layer of cotton between me and her tray sized nails. She was stepping down on me pretty hard; whatever breath I had was knocked out by her kick, and the weight sitting on top of me prevented me from taking in any more. I was in a dreadful pain, and I pushed fruitlessly against the sole imprisoning me.

After a brief struggle, Madison lifted the pressure from me and I started inhaling air like I've just ran a marathon. The pain subsided, but Madison's foot still had me pinned down. “The Northern giantesses aren't trained to handle tinies,” Madison said in a low, hushed tone, “They don't know that they're causing you pain or torment when they handle you. I only put my real weight on you just now, Eliot; the North doesn't know how to hold back.”

I know, I thought to myself. Claire gave me a demonstration a while back. I tried to wriggle out from under Madison's sole, but she clung onto me with her toes when she felt me slipping out.

“They'll hurt you, Eliot,” Madison continued, her voice more strained and it felt like she was choking back tears, “If you go, you'll be hurt by the Northern-”

“But I'm not going to be handled by other giantesses,” I reassured Madison. I tried pulling myself from her foot again and felt no resistance this time. I slid out and stood up to face Madison, “I'll be with you, and I know you'll take care of me.”

Madison gave me a long look, and reached down to cup me in her hands. She brought me up to her face and gave a little sniffle. Her face had softened from the stern mask she had put on a moment ago to a droopy sad-but-anxious look to her. The usual Madison always tried to keep her emotions in check, but the girl I know leaks her true feelings into her movements and actions; that was why it was so easy to tell how she felt just from the way she walked. Today, though, I was seeing Madison's emotions laid bare; no masks, no hiding, just a girl who was worried for her boyfriend.

“I don't know how to convince you not to go,” Madison said.

“Yeah, and I'm not letting you go off in such a poor state,” I said curtly, folding my arms, “I'm worried about you too, alright?”

Madison didn't say anything at first, but she shifted me into her left hand and brought me against her cheek the other, rubbing me tenderly against it. “Then we'll go together,” Madison finally said.

“Then we'll go together,” I repeated.

Put another two days onto the calender, and I was sitting in Madison's breast pocket, huddled close to her skin for warmth. The North was cold, really cold. I had a coat and scarf on, but the chill had a way of seeping in anyway. I opted to stay against the rounded incline of Madison's breast instead of suffering through the refrigeration.

Madison didn't seem to be affected by the cold. She wore relatively light cold weather wear for such temperatures; she had a thicker white jacket that reached down past her waist, but was left unbuttoned. She had a blue sweater underneath and wore a long platinum dress with stocking, and wore simple flats at the end. She had a silken-looking scarf around her neck, and her head was topped with her usual sunday hat, but she didn't even have to wear gloves or mufflers. Madison went on about the square/cube law or some such, and that giantesses were born to keep warm even in the cold. Her cheeks were a flush red even as she said that though, so she must be feeling at least some cold.

We were walking beside a highway. I noticed the cars were rather enthusiastic when we first left our town, some people slowing down to get a better look of Madison and others parking beside us every time we stopped to have a break. But as we continued further, the cars started speeding up instead of slowing down, and whenever we had to cross an exit, the cars would brake suddenly, as if fearing that Madison would accidentally step on them. The general reception of giantesses from the other cities were not as warm as back at home.

Eventually, there were no more cars on the highway. An occasional truck would pass us by, but I didn't spot any personal vehicles since. And that was a sure sign that we were in the North.

I felt something large poke me from outside Madison's pocket. I peeked outside from the opening, and found Madison's hand clasped around the pocket. “We're almost there,” Madison said.

I looked out into the distance, and saw...a city? There was no mistaking the high rise of apartments and offices, but what was a city doing in giantess territory?

My wonder was cut short when I saw the city for what it really was; old dilapidated ruins of a city, worn and torn by years of a lack of maintenance. The roads were uneven from the footsteps of giantesses passing through, and the sidewalks were covered in a layer of dirt and dust from the accumulation of decades of disrepair. It was close to sunset, yet no lights could be seen. We didn't see anyone at first, and I thought we had walked into a ghost town, but I glanced into one of the crumbling apartment windows, and saw a face staring back at me.

There were people living here; tinies like me. It wasn't immediately apparent, but they were hiding in their buildings from Madison. We caught a couple sharing a blanket walking by a few blocks away, but they immediately ran for a corner the moment they spotted Madison. It was distressingly oppressive atmosphere here, where tinies would run at the sight of a giantess, completely different from how welcome they are back home.

As we made our way through the city, I realized we haven't actually seen any giantesses yet. I was about to ask Madison about it, but as luck would have it, we found one crouched down in an open lot facing away from us.

This giantess was a brunette, wearing a red themed set of winter clothes; a red hat with a loose but short brim, a jacket and scarf of various shades of red and a dress of deep crimson which carpeted the ground around her as she knelt. I couldn't see her face or what she was doing, but I could hear the distinct clunking of wood knocking into each other.

Madison approached this other giantess in red, and when she was noticed, the giantess turned around and revealed bespectacled emerald eyes looking back at us. “Ah, visitors at this hour?” the red giantess remarked. She turned back to what she was doing for a moment, and whispered something. As she got up, I noticed that a pair of tinies were by her feet, holding onto a bunch of logs. As soon as the giantess stood up, they scurried away, stopping by an old burnt out barrel where they threw the logs in.

The giantess approached us and gave Madison a friendly wave. This broad had short wavy hair which trailed down to just above her shoulders. A straight fringe peeked from under her red hat, and a pair of frameless thing rectangular spectacles adorned the front of her face, where a sharp but cheerful emerald gaze hid behind each lens. From my vantage point, I could tell this giantess was slightly shorter than Madison, and she didn't bother with makeup as much as Madison did. Even so, the glow exuding from her cheeriness gave her an instantly approachable aura about her, so she really didn't really didn't need any makeup at all.

“It's almost curfew time for us, so we can't stay around here too long,” the red giantess said, “Why don't I bring you back to the city?”

I felt myself perk up. The real giantess city? We were finally going to see it!

“I'm Stephanie,” the other giantess said with a hand motioning to herself. She looked back at the pair of tinies she was talking to earlier, and continued, “There wasn't supposed to be anybody else scheduled to come here, so the little guys may act a little timid when they see you.”

I felt like I was beginning to like this giantess, but Madison's words were cold and stern, “Just bring me to the Garden.”

Stephanie didn't seem bothered by Madison's harshness, but I felt a pang of indignation. I climbed out of the breast pocket and climbed up to Madison's shoulder. “Is that how you treat your own people?” I said in an unintentionally heated tone.

Madison's lips parted to protest, but she held them back and considered my words, before looking back at me with a sigh, “You're right, Eliot. I really aren't myself without you around to tell me otherwise.” Madison brought her hand up to my hand and gave me a good stroke, “Thank you, Eliot. I'll try to keep my cool from now on.”

I let Madison pet me for a bit longer, glad that she's able to sort some of her feelings out with me around. I turned the topic around and asked Madison, “So what was that Garden you mentioned just now?”

Stephanie must have heard me, because she turned around and looked me right in the eye. The both of us blinked at each other in surprise. Stephanie leaned forward for a closer look, “Oh, a tiny,” Stephanie remarked, then looked up to Madison, “Is he yours?”

Madison put a protective hand over me, looking down at Stephanie with renewed contempt. “Eliot is his own man,” Madison said hotly, “And he should be treated as such.”

Stephanie looked blankly at Madison for a blink, but pulled away and gave a small chuckle. “Oh, of course,” she said, “You must be from the South. My apologies.” Stephanie gave a small bow together with her apology, and as she rose her eyes were laid upon me.

“Mister Eliot, was it?” Stephanie said to me, “Pardon my ignorance, I hope I didn't offend.”

I slipped my head through Madison's fingers and looked back up to Stephanie. “Er, not at all, I guess?”

Stephanie gave me one last smile before standing straight again. “If I were to guess,” Stephanie said, looking Madison up and down, “You're the South's liaison officer? We heard that you'd be coming, just not so soon.”

Madison lowered her hand from me, her expression calming back down to her usual demeanor. “Yes, I've come to formally accept the North's proposal,” Madison said with her usual gentle voice, “So take me to the Garden, would you kindly?”

Stephanie nodded and made her way back out into the street. Madison followed closely behind, and the two giantesses paraded through the buildings as they made their way across the city. I looked around some more, and found more eyes watching the procession of titanesses pass by their residence. They were hiding, afraid of what they saw, and they held each other tight knowing nothing they did could stay them from their course. To them, the two masses casually walking through their roads was a reminder of how feeble they were to resist their large mistresses.

The atmosphere in this city really was different.

“So,” I said to Madison, “What's a Garden, again?”

“We giantesses don't have cities, per se,” Madison said, “Our housing was only necessary when we moved in to the South. The Northern cities were more like gathering spots for giantesses, places of more permanence. With so few of us compared to tinies, there wasn't any real need to separate ourselves with walls.”

“Huh,” I said. I had always thought the cities would be an upscaled version of our own, but I suppose differences were bound to exist.

“Then what is this city we're in” I said, continuing my questions.

“That...” Madison began, but looked uncomfortable for a moment.

She reached up to hold me, and wrapped her fingers around me. I felt a soft weight on my shoulders, and saw two of her fingers hang down on either side of me. I clung to either of them, and the small gesture seemed to give Madison the strength to continue on.

“Giantesses and tinies,” Madison said, “It was only fifty years ago that we began living together peacefully. Even now, some resentment on either side is inevitable.”

Madison used her other hand to point to a nearby building. It was an abandoned mall, with the entire left side shorn off by some great force. Holes littered the remaining length of its front, the mangled concrete and rebar scattered about near the base.

“The scars of war,” Madison continued, “Not so long ago, this place was a battlefield, and giantesses and tinies fought one another. We won, and the result is the tinies abandoning their Northern territories. The ruling body and most other people fled Southward, leaving your old cities in disarray.”

“That's not to say we didn't take care of those who stayed,” Stephanie piped in, still walking ahead of us, “We help out the remaining population with whatever we can; food, shelter, heat, enough to live. We just can't fix the city; tiny architecture is way too small for us to do anything.”

Still, the city was avoiding us like a wild bear was on the loose. I decided to ask about that, too.

“Ah,” Stephanie said, “They're mostly wary of Miss Madison, nobody comes out this late before the curfew. They may have mistaken you for trespassers.”

I felt it strange. Why would they think Madison was a trespasser if Stephanie was there guiding her? Something didn't add up, but I didn't dare to voice my doubts.

The rest of the trip across the city was mostly the same, scared tinies hiding in dilapidated buildings. Stephanie had led us further into the city, and the buildings around us changed from residential units to commercial structures; offices and shops lined the streets here. This must be the shopping arcade.

“Just a little further ahead,” Stephanie said with a grin. From the vantage point of Madison's pocket, I could see a structure rising above the buildings around us. It was a large column of some sort, with gray covers draping down from the top. It looked like a tent, only twenty storeys high.

Stephanie stopped as the street came to a junction, and turned to us, with a smile, “Here we are.”

I climbed out of Madison's pocket for a better look. I gave a gasp at the sight before me. It was a large, spacious foyer with carpets and tapestry of red, gold and purple draped all about, strewn about the floor and hung from the tent covers like banners. It looked to be the size of a small ballroom...from a giantess's perspective. On the patches of ground the carpets didn't cover, I saw the outline of walls where buildings once stood, concrete tracings reminding any who looked that it was once part of this city. Some buildings remained, now nothing more than ornaments used to hang the giant tapestry and to provide sufficient height for bell-like lights to brighten up the place. A whiff of the air caught me with the faint scent of perfumed incense, inviting all who came deeper into the premises.

And the giantesses. I've never seen so many of them at once, before. All of them were dressed rather lightly for cold weather, some wearing barely just some scraps of cloth tied against them for modesty. A trio were lounging about near the entrance, legs tucked behind them and sharing a pair of inflated pillows which they lied down on. They were talking energetically about something, their thunderous laughs echoing through this room. A pair were walking down from the other end of the room, one holding a glass bowl of oil and the other lighting up any bell-shaped lights which were still unlit. Several giantesses were just loitering about, and some were even lying down on the carpet for no reason.

Aside from the differences in architecture, the scene looked normal enough, until I spotted the tinies.

They were hard to spot because they were all practically clinging onto the giantesses. The trio having a conversation had a host of tinies in various places, tangled in their hair, in the grip of their hand, or dangling from some pocket or strap on their clothes. A group of tinies were huddled about the front of one of the giantesses lying on the carpet. They were precariously close to her mouth, but the occasional chuckle from the giantess didn't seem to phase them. For every other giantess, I found a group of at least three tinies accompanying her, all being handled or carried in their own way. But contrary to my belief, not a single tiny was on the floor or near a giantess's feet; even those near the ground were in some way still held onto by the giantesses. Was this a rule in the North?

I noticed the crowd staring at us; Madison in particular. They were glazing her with curious stares at the new arrival, wondering why and where she came from. The vast majority of them weren't interested enough to bother Madison, but the trio earlier got up and flanked her.

“Who's this now?” One giantess with curly amber hair said. She wore rather primitive clothing, an olive green slit dress going all the way down to her ankles and a matching tank top. No shoes. Two tinies were clinging to her hair, perched on one shoulder each. Another tiny was in the firm grasp of her fist, legs swinging about loosely with ever movement her mistress made. She was close by to where I was, and I tried to give a friendly wave. I only got back a cold stare. I guess people here weren't friendly.

“I don't recognize her,” another giantess said. This time she had long dark brown hair reaching past her shoulders, with a bow tied on the end of one fringe. She wore a short grey poncho which had its top seams split open, held together by ribbons along the split, revealing the top skin of her arms and shoulders underneath. I couldn't see a shirt underneath, and her lower half were a pair of black bell-bottoms, and her feet were adorned with black strapped heels. Interestingly enough, I saw some tinies tucked underneath the strap of her pants, around her waist. Small pouch-like gaps gave the strap a frilly look, and allowed her to store any tinies she had in possession.

The last giantess gave Madison a good look up and down, hands palmed together in front of her where a tiny girl sat. The giantess had a blonde bobcut and wore a white cardigan with a pink shirt inside, with a simple sky blue dress with white seams to cover her lower half. She seemed content to wear nothing but poofy white socks, and her entire getup made her look a good deal younger than the other two giantesses. “Maybe she's moving in?” The young giantess said, directing the question to the tiny in her hands.

“Girls,” Stephanie stepped in to interject, “This here is Madison from the South. She's the liaison for the people there, and she's here strictly for business, so she'll only be here for a while.” The young giantess looked a little downcast at the last bit, but Stephanie smiled and continued, “But let's all give her a warm reception.”

The three giantesses walked closer to Madison and took her hands, the dark brown giantess taking Madison's left hand and the other two sharing her right. They clutched her hands close to their chest, each giving Madison a large smile.

“It's been so long since we've had a new face,” the amber haired giantess said, “I'm Cara,” Cara gestured to herself, and then thumbed at the young giantess.

“That's Sofie.” Sofie gave a little wave with the free hand she had. I noted that the tiny girl earlier was still being held by her thumb as she waved. Not a position I'd like to be in.

“And this is Myra,” Cara said, this time she simply looked in Myra's direction. Myra was distinctly taller than the rest with her heels on, and I suspected she still would have been even without them. Next to Madison, she was almost a head taller. She bent forward, one hand still holding onto Madison's, the other swung out to wrap around Madison's back as she closed in for an embrace.

I was still in Madison's chest pocket as this all happened, and didn't have a lot time to react to the massive cleavage suddenly hurtling toward me.

I ducked back as deeply down into the pocket as I could, but felt the collision of mammaries happen through the fabric. I expected to feel my body be crushed under the tremendous power of Myra's breast, but the pressure just stopped short of me. I was lucky Myra was taller; her boob was resting on Madison's shoulder instead of against Madison's own.

“So good to see you, Madison,” Myra said through her embrace. Madison was taken by surprise by the large gesture, but as soon as she realized I was still where she left me, she quickly pushed Myra and the others away and scrambled her hand into her chest pocket.

“Eliot!” Madison exclaimed.

I unfurled myself from the huddled ball I curled myself into at the bottom of Madison's pocket, and reached up to grab onto Madison's fingers. With a tug, Madison pulled me from my confines and put me down on her other hand. A mix of worry and fear were on her face, punctuated by the trembling I felt from the palm I sat on.

“I...er, I'm fine, Madison,” I said. Madison breathed a sigh of relief, bringing her free hand in to feel me just in case. She gripped my chest, arms and legs with her fingers, as if trying to find fault with my body. When she was satisfied, she turned back to the giantesses with a scornful look.

“Wait!” I shouted back up to Madison, desperately getting her attention. Madison looked back to me with the same hateful expression, and I shrank back slightly when I felt her annoyance beam at me through her eyes.

“It was just an accident!” I exclaimed, wildly racking my brains for an excuse, “I'm not hurt, and it's literally our first hour here, so we shouldn't make a scene, and um...I'm sure we can work this out, er....live and let die?”

Madison watched me fumble through whatever poor excuses I could come up with, and finally gave a sigh of resignation. “Alright, Eliot,” Madison said in a defeated tone, “I won't start anything again.”

Madison curled her fingers around me, plucking me from her hand. She moved me up to her left and put me down (with a little more force in a final gesture of defiance) on her shoulder. She looked back to the nervous trio, gave one last sigh, and began to speak, but was interrupted again by Stephanie.

“Well!” Stephanie said spiritedly, stepping between Madison and the trio, “That was quite the welcome, wasn't it? I'm sure you'll see Miss Madison around soon enough, but she's come a long way from here, so let's give her the night to rest, and we'll all see each other in the morning.”

Taking the que, the three giantesses took their leave. Stephanie beamed all the way through as they left, and she turned back to face me. “Quite the pickle, those three were. I trust you are well, Mr Eltiot?” Stephanie said with a cheery voice.

“Er, yeah,” I said sheepishly.

Madison just shook her head. Today really wasn't going well for her. “Just take me to the North's liaison officer,” she said tiredly.

“Well, simple enough,” Stephanie said with a wide grin, “You're looking right at her.”