“You thought me seeing a bag of water would help my mood?” Said Kyla while peering at the tiny plastic bag held up by Sienna's thumb and forefinger.

“No, not just a bag of water, its what is in it that I want you to see.”

“I don't see anything.”

“Not yet, silly. Here...”

Sienna grabbed hold of the enhancer and held it in front of the bag. Looking though the glass plate of the machine, Kyla still squinted a bit, but could clearly see little...things... moving about in the water.

“What are they?”

Sienna dialed up the magnification and there, swimming along were...fish.

“Amazing,” Kyla whispered. “So very tiny...”

“But yet they survive,” Sienna explained, “mostly in out of the way places such as streams which, due to our size, appear to be little more than a trickle of water. What is more amazing is that within this little bag of water are species of fish which most Colossi have never seen, as they reduced in size long ago.”

Gently, Kyla took hold of the palm sized bag, desperately trying not to jostle its inhabitants too much. For a moment she held it away from the enhancer, unable to see anything before moving it back under the glass to see thousands upon thousands of fish.

“I've already stocked the speck's habitat with some.” Sienna announced proudly.

Kyla looked away from the enhancer and down at her wife. “You've added to their habitat then?”

“Yes, I would have waited until you had time to have a hand in it, but these fish are perishable, least that's what the shop owner said. He also said he has access to larger fish, something the fellow called sharks or whales,” Sienna waved a hand dismissively, “I can't remember which. Apparently they have been around since the time of the ancients. Good news is we might actually be able see them without using the enhancer.”

“Did you get some of these... bigger fish?”

“No, they are quite rare, he'd first have to order them.”

Kyla was surprised to find herself disappointed that Sienna wasn't able to purchase some of these exotic fish.

“Plus they are best suited to salt water,” Sienna continued. “We'd have to introduce an ocean to our habitat.” Kyla picked up on the tinge of hope showing in her wife's voice.

“Hmmm...” Kyla uttered noncommittally as the little packet filled with fish was gently pried from her fingers.

“But there's more.” Sienna held up what looked to be a just a little square bit of green resting in the palm of her hand.

Kyla squinted.

“The enhancer, love.” prodded Sienna.

Taking the machine Kyla looked though it and in the palm of Sienna's hand were...

“Red apple trees.”

Sure enough there in Sienna's palm was a grove of eight teeny apple trees, a variety of species Kyla had assumed long extinct. Her curiosity piqued, Kyla wished could taste one of the little red orbs, but they were far too tiny. Kyla smirked thinking that she probably wouldn't taste anything even if she popped the whole grove into her mouth.

She wouldn't taste anything and Sienna would be quite mad. So the grove was safe from being eaten whole.

“Now for the big reveal!” Sienna took the enhancer from Kyla's hand. “Close your eyes.” she commanded.

Kyla did as bid, allowing herself to be led, knowing Sienna was taking her to the den to show her the new and improved habitat.

“Take a look!”

Kyla opened her eyes and was stunned. Leaning over in, she saw a tiny river flowing gently down a nearly imperceptible slope to sparkling lakes. The distance from her perspective was small, but she figured it had to be several miles to the speck people.

“How long?” asked Kyla without turning her gaze from the terrarium.

“It took about three days to get the landscape contoured, quite a fiddly bit of work, it had to be done just right, or the water would flow too fast for the tiny people to handle. Then it was a matter of installing the river rock and a pump, which circulates filtered water from stream to lake and back to stream again. The shop owner said it works so gently that it will not damage the fish and we don't have to fear if curious specks manage to find the inlet.

“They won't get sucked into the system, that's good.” Kyla glanced over at Sienna, giving her wife a smirk.

“Hard to imagine it happening as the lake is several hundred feet deep at their scale, far too deep for them to explore.”
**
Kiltus looked up in terror!He wanted to run but, due to fear, his feet would not move. Behind him, Cypain dared not budge either.

One of the divine keepers was looking in on them. Her cold blue eyes flicking over their world. No doubt, doing just as the high priest had said, checking to see if they were being good stewards of the land.

Words failed to describe her immensity.

“She is beautiful beyond all imagining...” breathed Cypian.

Both men cried out in terror as a hand large enough to crush their whole world raised up, fingers, absently dragging though thick tresses of black hair.

Then suddenly, those terrifying blue eyes, located them...

The divine keeper graced them with a bit of a smile. Both men jumped up and down with joy. She was obviously giving them her blessing!
**
“Look at that,” she whispered with wonder. “I can just make out two of them by your new river, appears they are...” Kyla squinted trying to see them better. “Well, now they're just jumping about,” Her voice reflecting her puzzlement, “so odd these teeny things.”

“Oh don't scare them!” Sienna pulled, and Kyla allowed herself to be pulled away from the terrarium.

“I wasn't trying to scare them, I just curious to see what they were up to.” Kyla took a seat on the leather couch.

Sienna sat down and snugged up against her, Kyla happily placing one of her arm over her wife's shoulders.

“I've got one more thing to show you, and it is amazing!”

Sienna was so nervous, she nearly dropped the pad. “What I'm about to show you was quite pricey,” she prefaced, “but I feel it was well worth it.”

“I don't want to know what you've spent do I?”

“1.8 million credits.” Sienna responded.

“1.8 million.” Kyla articulated slowly, clearly irritated. Her frugal nature causing her to take great exception to the cost.

“We can more than afford it.” Sienna stated firm, while turning on the view screen, careful to select the right input.

“What... is... this?” Asked Kyla while leaning forward.

There on the screen were people, moving about, going about their business. They were dressed primitively, leather and fur clothing covering very little of their bodies. Around them crude huts, numerous cook fires burning.

“By the Gods!” Kyla sat stunned as understanding dawned.

“That's right, these are your people, Viceroy.” Sienna watched as Kyla's blue eyes flicked down to the terrarium on the table then back up to the view screen.

“How?” the question came out as barely a whisper from Kyla's dark lips.

“The newest of technology, minute camera's. They are stationary, we can only see bits of their lives, but now we can see them as they truly are.”

Kyla was so thunderstruck that her hands began to shake slightly, her mouth fell open. She watched as the specks... these... people took turns, slowly rotating a very crude wooden spit over a fire, on which were placed fish. She sat in wonder as the tiny people shared a laugh, clearly enjoying each other's company.

The veil caused by their incredible difference in size had just been lifted. What was once so diminutive as to be unworthy of her attentions suddenly became very real.

Looking at the screen, Kyla had to remind herself that...


The people she was observing were so small she had to squint just see them.

A whole group of them could stand on her finger nail.

Even the smallest breath from her would blow them and their little village into oblivion.

She had ended the lives of a dozen of them this morning simply by moving her foot.


“Honey?” Sienna's worried voice broke though her thoughts.

“Are you able to show the world outside their terrarium?”

“Oh, what we look like to them? Should the blue sky be removed?”

Kyla nodded mutely.

Sienna fiddled with the pad, and the world outside the box the specks inhabited came into view.

It was all so...

“I...” Kyla parsed her lips, thinking on how to give voice to the thoughts in her mind. “I always knew we were big, but seeing it from their perspective. Gods, we are...”

“Our scale compared to them is--” Sienna voice trailed off.

“Beyond huge.” Kyla finished.

“These larger fish, can we get them? Modify the habitat for them?” Kyla didn't look away from the view screen as she asked the question. What about increasing the size of the terrarium even further?

It took Sienna a moment, this was an abrupt turn in the conversation. Kyla had never shown much interest in the speck people.

“Well, yes, but it would cost-”

“As you say, we can afford it.”