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As Maxine stepped into the farmhouse, she heard nothing but silence. Normally she could hear the sound of one of her siblings but this time there was nothing. Charles entered closely behind her but, in this situation, he didn't really know what to do. But one thing he was sure of was that something would likely go down.

"Maxine," said the voice of Sir Tucker. His voice was loud enough for her to hear and it caused her to stop dead in her tracks. "In here please."

"Charles this is a family matter," stated Maxine to her squire.

"I understand ma'am," replied Charles. "I'll be in your room when you need me." He began to move away from her as she gave a sigh.

In front of Maxine was another closed door. Her father's voice had come from behind this door and she didn't particularly want to face him at that moment in time. Despite her reluctance she knew that it was something that needed to be done. All she could do was sigh again and enter the room.

Inside she could see a large table and she could see both her father and mother sitting at it. They were sitting together and sitting on a chair at the opposite end of the table was Carrie who was back down to her regular but still very tall height. Maxine was none too pleased to see her and worse still was that there was an empty chair next to her. She knew that this chair was meant for herself and she didn't particular want to sit next to Carrie.

All eyes were on her for the time being and she pulled out the chair but rather than sitting down immediately she moved it further away from Carrie before sitting down on it. Like a lot of the furniture in this house it was scaled up to be more comfortable for her. But with her now seated her parents felt that they could begin.

"Ok this has gone on long enough," said Sir Tucker in a stern voice. He couldn't help but be annoyed about the situation. "I had expected you to both behave like adults and yet you act like children. We're putting an end to it here and now."

"I am acting like an adult," replied Maxine. She pointed towards Carrie who sat there with confidence. "She's the one who has been causing all the trouble! It should be her who you get mad with, not me."

"We'll be the judge of that!" Despite his age and the fact that he was a lot smaller than the other women in the room he still commanded respect. "I thought that your time away Maxine would cool things down but that was obviously not the case."

"I don't know why you have to be like this towards each other," stated Jessica who seemed to be more upset than anything to see her eldest two daughters not getting along. "Can't you just get along."

"Not while she's here," said Carrie. She pointed at Maxine just like her sister had done to her a few moments before. "She's always walks around as if she owns the place and she's a bitch as well!"

"I'm a bitch?" asked Maxine in an angry tone. She was beginning to see red and if not for her parents being there, she would have struck Carrie. "You're the one whose been a bitch to me every since I came back! Being around you reminds me of why I was so eager to get away from this place. Besides, you're the one who's trying to be a slut!"

"Better a slut than an ugly beast like you."

Maxine was on the verge of grabbing her chair and striking Carrie with it. Her patience and tolerance of her was at its peak.

"ENOUGH!" shouted Sir Tucker which quickly caught the attention of both of the warring sisters. It even startled Jessica who didn't expect him to shout in this manner. She wouldn't be surprised if everyone in the house could hear.

One thing that they didn't know was that most of the children were in the next room and listening in. They were staying as quiet as they could so that their parents couldn't hear them. The silence was broken however when the sound of a baby crying could be heard. Sir Tucker's shout had woken up baby Rina.

This had not gone unnoticed by Jessica who with a small amount of disappointment got up from her seat and left the room. She didn't say anything to her eldest daughters as she felt some shame towards how they were acting. And there was also the fact that she had to deal with their youngest sister.

This just left Sir Tucker in the room with the two sisters, even though he was much smaller than them he was the most intimidating person in the room right now. He had enough of this bickering and he was beginning to think that this discussion was going nowhere. An idea did pop into his mind, at first, he thought that it wasn't the most intelligent of plans. However, he began to consider that it might just work.

"There's only one way that we can settle this," said Sir Tucker as he looked at them both. His voice was quieter than it had been before, it still had the same anger behind it like it had just a few moments ago. "Tomorrow you'll be chained together until I'm convinced that you've put your differences behind you."

"Father, that's absurd!" replied Maxine in shock as she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "I need to go and continue with my work."

"And I can't be chained to her," added Carrie who chipped in with her own protests. Although all this did was make Sir Tucker shake his head.

"You will be until you learn to get along," stated their father. "I don't care how long it takes and don't try to break your way out of them. The consequences for such actions will make it undesirable."

"B-But."

"No buts, now leave this room and enjoy your last night of separation. Until both your mother and I are convinced that you've put this petty rivalry behind you, you'll be spending a lot more time together. Now go."

The two sisters couldn't say anything and all they could do was get up and walk out of the room. Neither said a word to the other and they couldn't believe what was happening. If they were any other man they would have protested much more. Flat out refusing would have been an obvious option, but he wasn't any simple man. Sir Tucker was their father and they needed to obey his every word no matter how much they might disagree with it.

Maxine imagined the humiliation she was going to experience with being chained to Carrie. It was going to be something that she was unlikely to live down if anyone saw her. It also meant that her quest to become a knight would-be put-on hold as she knew that she wouldn't be able to get her armour on with the chain.

Rather than speaking to each other Maxine and Carrie just moved to their own rooms. Charles was waiting for Maxine when she entered her room. He was just going over a few things in his book and like the others he had heard Sir Tucker's shout a few minutes earlier. He guessed that things had not gone well and he didn't bother asking. The last thing he wanted was to be the focus of her frustration. Instead he gave her a moment to herself as she sat down on her bed and just sighed.

"Ms Maxine," said Charles after a few minutes. His voice was cautious as he was ready suspend the conversation if need be.

"What is it Charles," replied Maxine. Her voice was more disappointed than anything else.

"I was just thinking, after your armour is repaired and returned that we could make our way back out east. There are still more opportunities out there, plus I hear that there is a tournament taking place soon. Maybe it can be a way to show off your skills and maybe even earn your knighthood."

"That unfortunately something that we'll have to put on hold." She gave a sigh of disappointment as she continued to speak. "My father has demanded that Carrie and I be chained to each other until we can put our differences aside." This caused Charles to chuckle which in turn made her glare at him. "Did I say something funny?"

"Yeah, you're joking aren't you ma'am?" He could see the stern look on her face and it was beginning to dawn on him that she was being serious.

"Let me ask you one question, in all the time that you've known me have you ever heard me tell a joke?"

"N-No ma'am." He began to feel a little foolish for chuckling when he did and he fully realised that she was telling the truth. "But why would your father demand such a thing? It doesn't sound all that reasonable to me."

"It is my father's wishes and even if I don't agree with it, I have to respect them." There was disappointment in her voice as she didn't want to go through with what Sir Tucker had commanded of her. Only her respect for him prevented her from simply ignoring them all together.

"And how long will you be chained together?"

"He says until Carrie and I learn to get along. If the past decade and a half has shown me anything we're going to be chained up for a long time."

"What about your desire to be knighted?"

"On hold until I've gotten through this. After that I'm free to go and do whatever I want within reason."

"But what about me? Will you still require my services if you're chained to your sister?" If he was released, he didn't know what he would do. Maxine was the only true protection he had while travelling and he also didn't know where to go.

"For now, you will remain by my side, but if Carrie and I are chained up together for too long I might have to release you from your services. If that were to happen then your necklace and locket will be returned to you."

Charles was completely speechless about what he was being told. The idea of Maxine being chained to Carrie was absurd to say the least. But the fact that it was going to happen seemed even more absurd to him. There was even a small part of him that thought that it was a little funny as well.

The size difference between Maxine and her father Sir Tucker was huge. Not only was she at least three feet taller than him but she was also much more muscular than he was. If she wanted to, she could more than easily snap him in half. Despite this she obeyed his every word and didn't consider raising a hand against him. This showed the respect that Maxine had for her father.

The next morning was a misty one with a slight breeze and chill in the air. The entire Martel family were outside of the house along with Charles. All eyes were on Sir Tucker as he stepped towards his eldest two daughters. He only had to command them once to lower their arms to him.

Without a single word being muttered Sir Tucker placed a large cuff around Carrie's left wrist. He soon locked it into place and soon after he placed the corresponding metal cuff onto Maxine's right wrist. Connecting the two cuffs was a seven-foot-long chain which would seem long for a normal person but to these two giant women was quite short. One annoying thing for Maxine was the fact that the cuff had been attached to her sword hand, this prevented her from trying to cut the chain off at some point in the future.

The cuffs and chain had been made by Sir Tucker's brothers at the family forge. Because of this they were specially made for the size of the giant women and they were also extra strong as well. This was simply so that they couldn't break their way out. It also prevented Carrie from simply growing her way out of her cuff as her wrist was far too tightened before she was large enough to break free.

Alison did chuckle a little about what was happening but a quick glare from Maxine ensured her silence. Charles in turn could only look on as she could see her chained to her sister, he didn't think that he would be able wrap his head around it. The situation sounded like something from a fairy tale rather than real life.

"It's done," said Sir Tucker as he took a step back from them both. He placed the key to the cuffs in his pocket. "You two will be spending a lot more time together. Hopefully this will make you learn to get along."

"This is still ridiculous," replied Carrie. She was about to cross her arms but felt some resistance as Maxine slightly pulled on the chain. "You can't keep us like this forever." Although she was annoyed, she made sure not to speak too harshly towards her father, like Maxine she had some respect for him.

"And I don't intend to, now after you've put your differences aside, you'll both be as free as a bird. Until then, well we'll have to see what happens."

"What do we do now?" asked Maxine who looked at the cuff on her wrist. To her it was an eyesore.

"Whatever you want, I'm going to clean around the house a little now. Maybe you should decide amongst yourselves."

With that Sir Tucker walked away from the two tall women. Despite what was happening he didn't back down from the decision that he had made. Even Jessica had tried to talk him out of it but he had put his foot down on the matter and she respected his decision. She also couldn't help but find his decisiveness to be somewhat sexy. It probably would have led to other things if baby Rina wasn't taking up all of her time.

Each one of the family members also walked away as most had something else that they needed to do. This included working around the farm or for some of the younger members, even playing. Only Charles remained where he was as he saw the sisters looking at the chain for a moment before they looked at each other. There was a lot of tension between them and he took a few steps towards them.

"You know this is all your fault," said Carrie as she glared at Maxine. In her mind she was the reason that this had happened and that there was no one else to blame.

"Of course, I am, because I'm the one who humiliated myself at every possible moment," replied Maxine with a sarcastic tone. "And I'm also the one who pushed myself into the mud. Grow up Carrie."

"I can grow more than you! In fact, we all can grow more than you can, even Rina can." This caused tensions to increase between the two as their glares continued. Maxine knew that not everything that Carrie said was true but was just another opportunity to try and wound her pride.

"Ma'ams please," said Charles as he stepped in-between them. Due to the height of the two women it almost looked like a child trying to get in-between a fight amongst adults. Even he knew that both of them could throw him to one side without much effort. "Attitudes like that won't get you free anytime soon."

"Keep your squire on a leash Maxine."

"You do not tell me what to do with my squire!" added Maxine with rage in her voice. The situation was beginning to boil over.

Charles could only take a step back as he could do nothing more than watch the two sisters arguing amongst themselves for an hour. He thought that it was best for them to get it all out of their systems.

The fact that neither had struck the other was nothing short of a miracle at that moment in time. But the heated argument carried on for another half an hour as neither of the sisters backed down. In their mind it would be a sign of weakness to the other if they were to do such a thing.

Their faces were only a few inches away from each other but at Carrie's current height she was at a half a foot disadvantage to her sister. If looks could kill both of them would have been massacred several times over. However, it wasn't just Charles who was watching them both.

Through one of the windows Jessica was also watching her two eldest daughters. In her arms she was cradling baby Rina and simply watching what was happening. It saddened her to see that Maxine and Carrie were at each other's throats like this. She had always taught her children to get along with one another. To a certain degree it had worked but with her eldest two it had fallen on deaf ears.

Eventually Sir Tucker approached his wife and he could see what was happening outside. It wasn't the most encouraging thing that he had ever seen but like Jessica he watched them in silence for a good minute or two. He too was disappointed to see both Maxine and Carrie still arguing in this manner. If it kept up then neither of them would be free for a very, very long time.

"Have they been like this since I put the chain on?" asked Sir Tucker. He didn't look up to his wife as he was just staring at his daughters.

"Yes," replied Jessica with disappointment in her voice. "I still don't get how they can be like this."

"I can, no offense to you but you were an only child. Me I had my brothers and sister. There were times when we were at each other's throats like this. This lasted for some years but eventually we grew passed it. Unfortunately, this is something that Maxine and Carrie haven't seemed to have done yet."

"But do you think this chain business was a good idea? There had to be something better than simply chaining them up together."

"If there was, I would have done it. But you have to admit that you want this arguing amongst themselves to stop. This was the best idea I could come up with, both of them are practically adults but they act like children to each other. So, we're going to have to deal with them like they are."

"What if this just makes things worse?"

"I doubt it could get any worse than it already is." Their conversation was interrupted by the moans of baby Rina who seemed to be wanting something. From the smell that both parents could smell they had a good idea what was wrong.

Because of this both of them moved away from the window and went to do what needed to be done. For Jessica seeing her eldest daughters like this was too upsetting for her, at least caring for Rina would take her mind off of things somewhat.

Outside the argument still continued and there seemed to be no end in sight. Charles just remained standing there and although he tried to interject several times, he didn't see an opportunity to do so. Having one angry tall woman focusing on him would be scary enough but two was more than he could handle.

He thought that they would have run out of energy by now but he was clearly wrong as they both still kept arguing. He wasn't sure what was the best thing to do but he simply watched and waited to see how things would turn out. From what he could see he didn't think that it would turn out well.

"Charles," said Maxine which caught her squire by surprise. He looked over to her and he could still see the annoyed expression on her face.

"Y-Yes ma'am," replied Charles who was still surprised by his name had been called out. It was the first that she had spoken to him for the past half an hour.

"Fetch me my sword so I can cut her hand off!"

"You dare do that and I'll crush you like an ant!" answered Carrie as she easily heard her sister's command.

"Please can you just stop," replied Charles. He was beginning to get at his wits end with all of this. He was beginning to see why Sir Tucker had gone with the decision that he had. This got the decision of both Maxine and Carrie. "All this bickering between you two isn't getting you anywhere. You're not going to be free any time soon if you carry on like this."

"It's her fault," answered both of the sisters as they pointed towards one another. This resulted to a glare between them and the shaking of Charles's head.

"As far as I can see it is both of your faults. You only have yourselves to blame for this situation. But if you're willing, I do have an idea for something that might help. Are you willing to give my idea a chance?" Neither of them answered but slowly nodded their head at him. "Great, now just give me a few minutes."

Quickly Charles went back to the house and a few moments later he struggled to get one of the large chairs out. He wasn't alone however as Jane was with him, she too was also carrying another chair and they left it on the ground not too far away from the warring sisters. He thanked Jane for her help and as soon as the chair was placed down, he went over to a nearby tree and picked up what seemed to be a plain stick.

Jane wasn't done though as she went inside of the house again and brought out a normal size chair which to the women of the Martel family was quite small. She placed it not too far away from where the other chairs were but this time it was facing towards the others. In Charles's mind everything was set up for what he needed. He did consider keeping Jane around since things went downhill but he wasn't sure if she could help. Unlike Carrie and few of her other sisters Jane could only make herself taller and not larger. Because of this she was sent back inside so she could help her mother wherever she could.

"Now that we're ready why don't you ladies take a seat," said Charles. He gestured his free hand towards the chairs. There was a small amount of grumbling from the two sisters as they walked towards the chairs and sat down. They were still not talking to one another properly but with them now sitting down Charles sat down on the regular size chair. He was still holding the stick in his hand and he looked up at the two sisters. Despite the fact that they were both sitting down they still looked absolutely enormous in his mind. "Ok, here's something I want to try." He then lifted up the stick slightly so that they could see it better. "This is what I call a talking stick, out of you two whoever holds the stick can talk while the other has to remain silent. That way one can say whatever they need to say without the other butting in."

"What is the point of this?" asked Maxine.

"Now Maxine you don't have the stick so you can't talk." Maxine bit her tongue as she was annoyed that she had basically been told to shut up by her squire. However, in the context of what he was trying to do she would let it slide. "This technique has proven to work quite well and I think it's just what we need here. I'll be acting as a neutral party in all of this so that way it can be fair. Are you both willing to give this a chance?" Both were annoyed by this but nodded as they weren't allowed to speak without the stick. "Now Carrie, why don't you start things off?" With that he leaned forward and handed the stick over to Carrie. She looked at it for a moment and then looked at Charles.

"What am I supposed to do now?" asked Carrie with a small amount of confusion. To her it seemed odd that a man who was seemingly as small as Charles was telling her what to do. Only her father had been able to do that.

"Just say whatever is on your mind."

"I'm angry that I'm chained up like a dog to the one person that I can't stand the most. It makes me want to stab my eyes out with a fork."

"I can arrange that," replied Maxine.

"Maxine please," stated Charles as she was speaking without holding the stick. "You will get your opportunity soon."

"As I was saying, this whole situation is just so frustrated," said Carrie as she continued on. "Now I have to take this big dumb bitch with me everywhere I go, I won't even be able to take a shit alone!"

"Yes, that is frustrating, now can you pass the stick to Maxine so that she can say what is on her mind."

Before Carrie could even move, she felt the stick get snatched out of her hand. Maxine was now holding it and she glared at her sister for a moment before looking at her squire. It seemed odd to her that he was basically controlling the situation where normally it was herself.

"Where to begin?" asked Maxine. "None of this would be happening if she didn't act all high and mighty around me." She was looking at Carrie as she continued to speak. "You prance around as if you're some kind of lady or princess but you're not. You live on a farm and are barely able to read! That's not lady qualities and no lord will ever want you!"

"Now Maxine let's not go with that for the time being," replied Charles. "Just state how you feel about this situation."

"You want to know how I feel?" Her glance turned towards Charles and it was easy to see her mood. "I feel unbridled rage, I feel like I could place my hands on someone's head and then crush their skull. I feel like I'm going to explode at any moment, all because I'm having to deal someone who is stuck her own ass and humiliates me at every opportunity that she gets."

Charles for the moment stayed silent as he listened to what was being said. He could see that there were a lot of problems that needed to be ironed out. These said problems might take a while and he wasn't sure if this little idea of therapy would actually help them out or just make things worse.

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