The wagon was completely quiet from the shock of my apparent death: Kirinhalut had even stopped mocking me telepathically.  Between the silence, the soft cushion of Sondra’s palm, and heat bottled between her hands, it was what I imagined being dead felt like before passing to a deity’s realm.  Only the sensation of my body rebuilding itself, a strong, painful tingle that ran the whole length of my body, reminded me I was still alive.  My body had been thoroughly destroyed by Llelwyl’s boot, and it would take a while before I could walk again.

Fortunately, it was difficult to gauge the passage of time in the darkness cupped between Sondra’s hands.  Without any outside stimuli I could focus on helping my body put itself back together, and there was nothing that would disrupt the process.  By focusing my mind inward, it felt like I could accelerate the regeneration by making the tingling a little more intense.  I was not sure if it had any real effect, but it was something for me to do while deprived of anything else to focus on.  At the very least, it did not make my recovery slower.

After a while the tingling faded, and I felt ready to move again.  I kicked my leg in the air a few times, and without a twinge or jolt of pain in my muscles I figured it was time.  Pushing off Sondra’s soft skin, I rolled myself over onto my chest and got to my feet.  It was difficult to find steady ground in her palm, but the gentle slope of it cupped around me made it easy to stand.  Several moments passed with no reaction from her, and I realized I would have to do more to get noticed.

The easiest way would be jumping up and down, but in the pitch black there was no way to know how low the “ceiling” in this chamber was.  I started by brushing my foot back and forth, hoping to stimulate the sensitive skin of her palm, but it was not enough movement to get her attention.  After that I tried walking in small circles, trying to spread out my movement, then went to running.  If this did not work, I could have to try something more creative to get her attention.

Her hands jolted, tipping me back onto the base of her fingers, and I felt the familiar sensation of being rapidly lifted.  The ascent came to a sudden stop, and momentum tossed me into her other hand.  A sliver of light crept when she parted her hands, letting a humongous blue eye peek in.  I waved in a wide arc, and she gasped loudly.

“You’re alive!” she exclaimed, and her voice rose to remarkable intensity as it bounced between her hands.  “I can’t believe it!”  I understood that she was excited, but her enthusiasm made my ears ring.  “Everyone, come quick!  The shrunken human’s alive!”

Sondra finally thought to move her other hand from atop me, and after so long in the dark even the dim light of late evening stung my eyes.  She lowered the hand with me in a it a little so she could peer down at me better, and the light cast long shadows over her features.  Her face loomed above, the only thing I could see or even wanted to look at, and moisture filled her eyes.  Every second she looked at me her smile grew wider, and I worried it would get so enormous they would fall off her face.

“What?” Margret called from the driver seat.  “No way!”  The wagon lurched to a halt, and the resonating thud of boots on wood filled the air.  Her face peaked over Sondra’s fingertips, and her eyes widened in shock.  She covered her gaping mouth with a hand, and when it slowly dropped away her jaw was still dropped from surprise.  I waved at her to demonstrate I was still alive, and she continued staring at me silently.

Having two gigantic faces looking down at me was a little overwhelming, especially after so much time in the dark.  Each one of them was so large I could not take in all of their features at once, and with them on opposite sides I frequently had to switch which woman I looked at.  Being so close to them, with noses taller than me and lips I could easily slip between, was a strong reminder of how puny I was compared to them.  Although it made me uncomfortable, they seemed to enjoy just looking at me, and I did not want to drive them away.

“But… how?” Margret finally managed to ask.  “Your body was pulverized, beyond the ability of any priest I know to bring you back.  The only thing I could think of that did it would be an actual miracle.”

“I really don’t know,” I answered.  “The best explanation I can think of is that the orb had something to do with it.  Maybe being so close to it when I died helped it preserve my energy, and having it nearby helped my body rejuvenate.”

You won’t get any awards for creativity, but it’ll do.  It was the closest Kirinhalut had ever come to praising me.  You clueless primes have no idea how the artifact works or what it does, so you’ll believe anything about it.  Maybe they’ll get into the spirit of things and start smashing you too now that they know they have a safety net.

“I… guess that makes sense,” Sondra said, though it seemed like she was convincing herself.  “I’m not going to think about it too hard, I’m just glad to have you back.”

“I know,” I replied.  “Even though I was dead, I could still hear.”

“Oh.”  Sondra’s cheeks began to flush, and she continued, “So that means you heard…”

“Yeah.  Everything.”  She winced and fully blushed, and I thought about how ridiculous it was I had embarrassed somebody holding me in their palm.

Llelwyl chose the perfect time to interrupt and ruin the moment.  “See?  I told you I didn’t kill him!”  She did not even have the decency to come see me and had simply shouted from her seat.

“Butt out of this, Lell!” Sondra shot back.  “He was so dead I had to peel him off the floor because of you!  You’ve seen people get resurrected before, you know just because he’s alive now doesn’t me he was earlier.”

Llelwyl scoffed.  “Whatever.  I can’t wait to get away so I don’t have to hear you fawning over some little bug of a man anymore.”  Sondra glared at her, but was happy to let the elf bow out of the conversation.

“Margret, I’m sorry,” she began, “but could you get the wagon moving again?  I’d still like to find somewhere to stay before it gets too dark.”

“Yeah, sure,” Margret agreed, though she seemed hesitant.  “See you later, little guy!”  She gave me a quick wave and walked away, leaving me with just Sondra’s colossal face peering down at me.

The wizard set her thumb and forefinger down beside me so they rested against her palm.  “Do you mind if I pick you up?” she asked.  “It feels a little impersonal to have you down there resting in my palm.”

I felt plenty close with her face looming over me, but did not see the harm in getting closer.  “No, go ahead,” I answered.  “I know you’ll be careful.”

Sondra grinned.  “Thanks for trusting me.”  Her finger tips pinched around my body, and it was like having two warm cushions clamped around me.  She lowered her other hand, leaving me suspended over a drop, and began lifting me toward her mouth.  The closer it got the larger it seemed, until the only thing I could see was her pink lips pulled tight.  In the back of my mind, I thought about how easy it would be for her to shove me between them.  With no one else watching she could swallow me, and I would be subjected to the new and agonizing pain of digestion.

She stopped when I was nearly pressed against her lips, close enough I could reach out and touch them.  Her lips parted slightly, but instead of tossing me inside a cold, brisk wind rushed out of it.  “Sorry, I just don’t want anyone to hear,” she whispered so quietly that I could only hear it because I was dangerously close to her mouth.  “This is really awkward for me, just so you know.  It’s just… when you were dead, I realized there were things I needed to say, and I thought I’d never get to.  Now that I have a second chance, I…”

“You’re stalling,” I said.  The whole thing was really awkward for me, too.  Not just because I was practically inside her mouth, but I did not need to be psychic to know where she was going with this.

“Okay, fine, I am.”  Sondra inhaled sharply, and the only thing that kept the sudden gust of wind from sucking me between her lips was her firm grip on me.  “It’s just, well.  I like you!  And it’s weird, because I’ve never felt this way about someone so small before.  Hells, I’ve never met someone so small before.  I need to know if you like me, too.  Don’t answer yet, though!  I’ll raise you to my eye, and when you stop you can blink one for no, twice for yes.  Please don’t feel pressured to say yes because of your size, though, I promise I won’t hurt you no matter what.”

She began raising me toward her eye, moving so slow I barely felt anything.  Several blasts of warm air from her nostrils hit me before I was above them, and I noticed the tiny white hairs on her skin, normally invisible.  It was terrifically slow, and it felt like she was using my comfort as an excuse to stall some more. I found it ridiculous she was so scared, but it the possibility of being rejected by someone you were just holding in your palm would make anyone hesitant.

When she finally stopped I was close enough to touch her cornea, and her sky blue iris dominated my field of view.  She blinked, and her eyelashes were still fine enough to tickle me as they brushed against my skin.  When they opened again, I saw her dilated pupil quickly retract again as light rushed back into it.

I blinked once, exaggerating it and drawing it out so I could be sure she saw it.  After the first one I thought about holding off to mess with her, but she was already vulnerable enough.  Hoping she would not miss it, I blinked again in the same unnatural manner, making it clear that it was part of the signal.

Sondra was overjoyed, and in her excitement rushed me back to her mouth.  The sudden, quick movement made blood rush to my head, and it felt like my insides remained behind.  She held me in front of her lips long enough for everything to feel right again, and she was grinning just as wide as she had when she realized I was alive.       

“I knew you did,” she whispered, “I just wanted to be sure.”  She puckered her lips, keeping them close enough together there was no way I could have slipped between it.  The soft tissue pressed against me, dampening my chest with saliva while she gave me a big, long kiss.  Her fingers held me in place, and when it felt like her lips were about to overwhelm me she pulled them back, making a soft smack when they pulled away from me.

“I guess now you’re really dedicated to getting this curse lifted,” I said, not sure what to say.

“I was always committed to that,” Sondra replied with a harsh whisper, “but I don’t see how that follows.  It just means that if we can’t cure it, it won’t be the end of the world.  I like you when you’re shrunken, after all.  I might not even like you big.”  Her lips surged forward to give me a quick peck, and they retracted into a smile.

Her hand moved to the side, tracing me along her lips and onto her cheek.  She pressed me into the soft skin so it conformed to my outline, gently dragging me along until I was in the middle of her round cheek.  When she stopped, I instinctively gave her cheek a quick kiss, which seemed to make her happy.  I gave her a few more while she pulled me back, lining the trail with tiny kisses.

“I’ll tell you what it does mean, though,” she began, still speaking in a very low whisper.  “You’re staying with me again tonight.”  Once more her lips rushed forward and briefly pressed against me, then she pulled me away.  Sondra was radiant while she gazed down at me, as though enraptured just to be looking at me.  For my part, I could not have been happier.  I had never felt safer than when nestled between her digits, and from now on it would feel like I had a giantess looking out for me.