The plum nearly crushed him. Tenn felt its fleshy weight compress painfully against his shoulder before it tumbled to the ground with a wet thud. He cursed once from the pain and again inwardly for breaking the jungle’s quiet. The falling plum would have drawn the attention of everything nearby and his shout might as well have been an invitation to hunt. Tenn sucked in a quiet breath and strained his ears against the stillness of the night. Pain welled from his dislocated shoulder as he scanned the dense undergrowth for any signs of movement. Hushed darkness stared back.

Satisfied that nothing was coming after him for the moment, Tenn put his back to the plum and slid to the ground. He landed unceremoniously in puddle of pulp. Instantly the ripe fruit’s smell drenched his clothes with syrupy sweetness. His stomach growled loudly, reminding him of what he’d been doing so far down from the canopy at this time of night. With his unwounded arm he scooped up a handful of plum and shoveled it greedily into his mouth. A few more handfuls left his face a sticky mess and took the edge off his hunger.

He didn’t see the serpent until it was on top of him.

It’s fangs plunged into the plum above his head with a hissing plop. Tenn scrambled, sending pulp splashing ineffectually. The serpent reared back to strike again and he hurled himself to the side. Suddenly he was sliding down into the depths of the jungle. A scaled head baring sword-like fangs lunged after him. He careened down the steep slope, ducking branches and stole a glance backward. The serpent raced after him, its razor fangs drawing closer and closer. The maw opened wide, filling his vision- then the ground was gone. He was falling.

A gap in the trees widened above him and, for a moment, time seemed to slow. A shaft of moonlight touched the canopy, illuminating a small fragment of the only place he’d ever known. Houses of leaves and roads of vine, a life that he had been so eager to leave suddenly seemed painfully far away. Just as quickly as it appeared, the light was gone.

Tenn plunged into darkness.

Leaves slapped wetly at his back. He rolled like a heavy drop of water from one leaf to another losing sight of the snake as he tumbled end over end. His fall stopped abruptly and Tenn grunted loudly as he slammed into the ground. In a moment of panic he searched for his pursuer but the darkness was all but absolute. A loud hiss drew his attention upward.

Slitted eyes gleamed at him from above. Tenn struggled to move but his body wouldn’t listen. Horror overwhelmed him as the serpent slithered effortlessly toward him. Flecks of moisture sprayed against his face as its forked tongue tasted the air. Then its jaws unhinged, its mouth gaped darker than the night. It’s diamond head reared back to strike and… no, it was being pulled. A giant hand wrapped around its torso and it was ripped from the vine as easily as skin from a plum. Tenn watched in awe as it was pulled into the sky. The creature that held it was unlike anything he had ever seen.

Darkness shrouded her save the few places where her hulking form towered above the undergrowth. Her dark hair was short and wet with sweat, her eyes were predatory, not unlike the serpent’s. Her lips were full and parted in a way that made his loins stir. Her torso… On closer inspection she was not so different from one of Tenn’s people. The glistening crescents of flesh that swelled from the top of her clothing were each thrice as wide as the plum that had nearly crushed him and the full extent of their mass was lost in the darkness. All of this was visible through the dense brush nearly a hundred feet above him. She was immense.

She opened her mouth and a string of saliva stretched briefly between her plush lips before it broke and sent moisture falling in a way that he found unsettling. The serpent itself rose into view lifted easily by the titanic force of her arms. It thrashed in her grip, attempting to coil itself around her arm. With a movement faster than he could follow her hand snapped out, lashing the snake like a whip. A thunderous crack exploded overhead. Tenn flinched against the ground.

When he looked up again the serpent was hanging limply from her hands, dead. With both hands she rolled it in her grip, bent to give it a quick sniff, then bit into it. Tenn’s stomach churned as he watched her hungrily gobble up the snake. Its entrails rained down around him with sickening thuds as she made quick work of the massive predator. Tenn wasn’t sure if he was impressed or disgusted to see her ball up the remains and swallow the last bits whole, bones and all.

Seeming unconcerned with the racket she created, the giantess licked her lips loudly and proceeded to suck her fingers clean in way he found both enticing and terrifying. Her impossibly huge lips wrapped slowly around the base of each digit and pulled slowly back until they slid off with an audible pop. Tenn watched in silent fascination, unable and - for the moment - unwilling to move. When she finished cleaning her fingers he fully expected her to leave. Instead she began curiously searching the ground.

Whatever she was searching for, Tenn was certain he didn’t want to be found. He tried to stand but his foot buckled painfully. The fall had done more damage than he had first realized. He pulled his foot closer to see it better in the darkness and saw it was swollen grotesquely. He felt carefully around the bone and moved it gently, letting the lancing pain wash over him in determined silence. It didn’t seem broken, but he wouldn’t be able to walk on it anytime soon. A deeper darkness fell over him and Tenn felt his stomach sink.

He looked up.

Predatory eyes met his gaze. Her azure irises were compressed into tight ovals that ran from nearly the top of her eyes to just above the bottom. They were surrounded by a yellow corona, and around that; the familiar milky white his own people bore. They were beautiful to behold, and terrifying to be beheld by. He longed to stare into them without being seen.

Before he could react he was plucked from the ground. The rush of air nearly made his ears pop as she rose to her full, dizzying height. Her fingers crushed the air from his lungs and prevented him from screaming as fear finally won out over fascination. His mouth opened in mute defiance, and her head cocked to the side as she regarded him quietly for a moment. Tenn had never felt so helpless. His arms and legs were pinned painfully and no matter how hard he struggled he couldn’t move at all. It was like fighting against stone.

She started to open her mouth and instantly the fight went out of him. Hot, bitter tears filled his eyes, at the realization he was soon to join the serpent in her stomach. A final, pathetic hope that she would kill him before casting him into the gnawing acid of her digestion shuddered through him. Today the village should have recognized him as a man. Today he should have taken his rightful place. Now, today would be his last.

“Stop wriggling. Speak.”

Tenn continued to cower, certain his terror-addled mind was playing tricks on him. A minute or more passed and he began to wonder if she had spoken after all, but no. That would be crazy.

“I’m very full after the snake, but if you will not talk… I can make room for dessert.”

Tenn’s eyes flew opened. He met her bewitching gaze again, and saw that she was smiling. All at once he realized that her grip had loosened as soon as he had stopped fighting her, and that in his terror he had simply failed to notice that she was cradling him in her palm rather than tightly gripping his body.

“Y-y-y-y… you can.. t-talk?” Tenn stuttered pathetically.

“Better than you it seems.” her voice was soft but it boomed like thunder in his ears. It reminded him of when one of the great trees would split, the crack that would sound from deep within their core was subdued and powerful. Strong enough to shake the ground yet quiet enough to sleep through.

“W-What are you?” Tenn blurted out.

Her slitted eyes narrowed somewhat, “Do you mean who?”

“I have never seen anything like you before.” He finally managed to speak without stammering.

“You have never heard of my kind?”

“If I knew of you I would have sought you out long ago.” Tenn said without thinking.

The giantess seemed taken aback. She paused for a moment before replying, “Why?”

“Because…” Tenn felt his cheeks flush. The closest he had been to a girl was an awkward half hour of groping that left him feeling more frustrated than satisfied. Now he was in the palm of one’s hand and yet for all her size, in that moment she was just a girl talking to him. He wasn’t sure which scared him more. “Because… uhh... you saved my life?”

Her laughter boomed out into the night causing something to starte and scurry into the brush below. Tenn felt his whole body shake as he absorbed the powerful vibration of her laughter and winced at the renewed pain in his shoulder and foot. Her smile widened and Tenn was relieved to see her teeth were free of fangs. “I believe you do not know of my kind.” She laughed again, seeing his confusion. “Because you are a terrible liar.”

“But you did save my life.”

“That is not why you would have sought me out. I will let one lie pass because only someone inexperienced could lie so poorly.” The smile left her face and her predatory eyes bore into him,  “But if you lie to me again it will the last thing you do, tiny one.”

Tenn swallowed hard, “Because… er.. ...iful.”

“Speak up, I cannot hear you.” She said and pulled him closer to her ear so that he was parallel to her cheek. He watched a long eyelash flutter over a wondrous azure eye eye at a speed that seemed impossible given her size. Her lips seemed to twist in amusement and he suddenly longed to touch them, to feel their texture and softness and warmth.

Tenn mustered his courage and spoke into her ear, “I said b-b-because you’re beautiful.”

The giantess pulled him back into view and studied him with an unreadable look. Tenn squirmed in her palm under the intense scrutiny, recalling that her eyes were double-edged swords.

“You are strange, little one.” She said at last.

“I am Tenn.” He offered a bow and added, “Thank you for saving my life.”

“I am Sepia.” She answered with a mischievous smile. “And it is too early to thank me.”