Rick and Candice Chapter 17

Chapter 17
Different

        "Did you say F-Felarya?" There was a tremble in Candice's voice.
        "Yes." Candice's eyes widened and fear began to overtake her once again. Her body trembled as if it had just been thrown in a freezer. The trembling had to have been enough for Kage to not only see with his sharp enormous eyes but also to be able to feel the small vibrations her body caused on his palm, because he asked, "Candice, is something wrong?" Worry filled his entire expression and it appeared that he wanted to bring his face closer to Candice to try and find what could be making her act so differently all the sudden, but he held himself back.
        Rick had told Candice about an imaginary fantasy realm. It was a place of beauty: lush Amazonian-like jungles and beautiful mythical beings. But that beauty was deceiving, like a poisonous flower. In that realm humans were much closer to the bottom of the food chain than any other world. The world consisted of enormous mythical beings, and despite being sentient and having similarities to humans, they ate smaller creatures without regret, smaller creatures such as humans! That realm was called Felarya. Kage was from Felarya! But it didn't make sense. Felarya was supposed to a make believe world. "Felarya exists?"
        "Of course it exists. It's where I came from." Kage spoke so nonchalantly as if it was no big deal coming from such a dangerously wicked world of human eaters. But that concern came back as he asked, "Candice, what's wrong?"
        "You're, you're really from Felarya?"
        "That's what I said, but what does that have to do with anything?"
        Candice trembled uncontrollably in the giant's hands. The creature that she thought she was finally getting used to, became a horrible monster again, just with the mention of where he was from. She automatically associated that terrible world with the creature whose hands she now helplessly sat in. She feared Kage was like all the other man-eating creatures from Felarya. She believed that all the crying and shyness was all a ploy just for her to get close enough to trust him, so that he could eat her. She no longer wanted to be in the creature's mercy. She wanted to be back with Tim, back in his protective care.
        As for Kage, he couldn't understand what had come over Candice. One moment she was fine, but in a split second, she changed. She had trusted him, really trusted him. She was the first human to trust him, the first person, for that matter. She was even brave enough and trusting to walk onto his actual hands. Where would he ever find another human like that? He thought everything had been going fine. She seemed like she truly wanted to be his friend and he thought he was getting the hang of talking to another person. But now she suddenly acted like all the other humans he had come across in his time in this other world. What made her so afraid of him all the sudden?
        "Candice, please tell me what is wrong." He did want to see his first and only friend this upset. He wanted to help her. He to dispel her fear, but how could he do so when it was him she feared. It was happening again. He was watching yet another human become deathly frightened of him. He knew that she would run away like all the others. She would never want to see him again. To be so close to finally having a friend, to be so close to something different, yet to have it slip out of his grasp was devastating. It was worse than all of his other experiences with humans combined. No, I can't have gotten this close only for me to lose her. I can't.
        "I, I want down." Candice was too afraid to look into Kage's eyes. Instead, she looked down at the palm she sat on.
        "Candice, you can tell me what's wrong. Please, tell me what's wrong." Candice saw the giant hand beside her that she wasn't sitting on lift away. Her body tensed; she wondered what he planned to do to her with that free hand.
        Kage saw that Candice only sat on one of his hands, allowing him to part his hand and use he free hand to calm her somehow, or at least try to calm her. With his lifted free hand, Kage hesitated. How could he comfort her? How could he show her he wasn't a monster? He closed his free hand into a fist and stuck out his pointer finger. His hand shook as he drew his finger closer to Candice. He didn't know what made his hand shake more, his sadness at the thought of losing a friend, concern for his friend, or the fear that he might hurt her by his actions even if he didn't mean to. Kage touched her back with his pointer finger and moved it down her back in a stroking motion. He hoped this could help calm her down.
        It had the reverse effect on Candice. As soon as she felt the large digit touch her back, she feared the worst. She screamed, twisted around, and pushed the giant finger away.
        Of course, it wasn't Candice's strength that caused the finger to retreat; just one of his fingers was stronger than her. It was Kage's shock and his fear that he might have harmed Candice by simply touching her that made him quickly retract his finger. "I'm sorry, Candice. Did I hurt you? I didn't mean to hurt you. Please, tell me what's wrong."
        "Just put me down."
        "But Candice."
        "She wants you to put her down." Candice and Kage turned to see that Tim was standing in front of Kage. They didn't know when Tim had approached them or how much he heard, but Candice was glad he was there. Kage on the other hand was fearful, because Tim had brought the dagger with him, even if the dagger wasn't pointing at him or at his throat. "Or better yet, how about you hand her over to me instead." Tim held out his hand, palm facing up.
        "I didn't do anything wrong, please believe me. I swear I didn't hurt her. She just got scared when I told her I'm from Felarya."
        Candice had twisted around to look up at Tim. Tim was taller than Kage, a full chest and head taller. She saw a slight change in Tim's expression when Kage said Felarya. It was only Tim's eyes that changed. Fear entered and widened his eyes for a split second. After that small moment, his eyes become more serious and tense than before, as if preparing himself for battle. She knew that he was prepared to save her at any cost. She hoped that she wouldn't be in the middle of the two colossal boys' battle. The fright and the adrenaline alone would probably cause her heart to explode, let alone the possibilities of being crushed, dropped, tossed, or even eaten in the middle of the giants' brawl.
        "Is that why Candice is afraid of me, because I'm from Felarya?" Kage asked either deducing it from remembering what he said right before she became terrified of him or from Tim's split second change in his eyes, maybe even from both sets of evidence.
        "Kage." Tim didn't have to add anything else. Kage knew what Tim wanted him to do.
        Kage looked back down at the human in his hand. "Candice, you do understand that I won't ever hurt you, don't you? Candice, please don't be afraid of me. I'm not a monster, I swear." He couldn't plead anymore; his tears overwhelmed him, but through his watery vision he still saw Tim's grip tighten around the hilt of his dagger. Kage bowed his head and stretched out his hand in Tim's direction.
        The trembling platform Candice sat on slid through the air closer to Tim's hand. The closer she got to his hand, the safer she felt, but it never got close enough for her to step off the chilotaur's hand and walk onto Tim's. Instead, Tim's hand moved and brushed up beside Kage's. Candice didn't waste time; she lifted onto her hands and knees and crawled onto Tim's hand.
        At first, Kage didn't want to hold Candice. He was worried that he might make some terrible mistake and accidently harm her. Humans were so small and fragile, but they were people and Kage would never forgive himself if he harmed a person, even if it were an accident. But holding a human in his hand just felt so surreal. A real person sat in his hand. Not a toy or small object, but a real living, breathing, thinking person! A person small enough to fit in just one of his palms! It was mesmerizing. It was an eye-opener for Kage to realize how large he really was in this new world and how much power he really had.  It was a little scary to know he could do anything to this human in her hand and she'd be powerless to stop it (he didn't think anyone should have such power over another sentient being), but was it really bad to have all that power if didn't plan on hurting anyone? He had the power to help, to protect. When he held Candice, he felt like he needed to keep her safe. As he held her, he felt like he was responsible for protecting her. And to have her weight (though minuscule to him) in his hand was the greatest feeling he had ever had. It was his first physical contact with anyone. Here was a human who knew full well how large he was and the dangers of his size, yet she trusted him enough to willingly sit in his hand; it was even her suggestion! Feeling her in his hand meant he had a friend, but when he felt those tiny hands and knees crawling to the edge of his hand and leaving it completely, that feeling devastated Kage. He felt like he was alone again and that he lost that friendship. Kage didn't look up from the ground to see Candice leave his hand; he didn't want or have to. He felt her on his skin and then that feeling and her weight were suddenly absent.
        When Candice was safely on Tim's left hand, Tim lifted her and brought her closer to his chest. Once there, she turned around, leaned her back against his bare chest and stared at the Felaryan creature.
        "I'm not as monster," Kage muttered to the floor.
        "The odds are against you. You're from Felarya; I've never heard any stories about a nice Felaryan."
        "Your world knows about Felarya too?" Candice asked.
        "Sometimes Felaryan monsters find their way through portals into our world. Out of all the portals that randomly pop up in our world, portals from Felarya are the most common. The creatures that come through claim they're not the ones that open the portals from their world. Portals are random in nature, but there are far more Felaryan portals than any other world. There are different theories on why there are more Felaryan portals than any other, but the more popular theory among my people is that all the different worlds are different planes of reality and that Felarya is a plane that intersects multiple different plans of reality in many different spots, making it more unstable and more susceptible to portals."
        To Candice, it made about as much sense as everything else that happened so far. Though Tim's words did raise some suspicion, just not in the way she thought it would. She was now in a world in a medieval-like time period. And if it was anything like Earth's medieval period, normal people probably weren't well educated. The theory Tim stated sounded like a theory a more scholarly individual would have come up with. The theory probably wasn't common knowledge. Had Tim received an education? His more primitive outfit, with only wearing a loincloth didn't fit the description on what a scholarly individual would look like. And if so, what did that mean?
        "There are plenty of Felaryan living in giant country, but most live on the border so they can eat humans. Some even live in human country for the same reason. I've seen a Felaryan naga before. They're different from the nagas that are native to this world on account of Felaryan nagas having completely human-like upper halves. Felaryans are friendly enough to my people, but humans are nothing more than another meal to them. They believe size defines a person. If you can be swallowed whole, you're not a person to a Felaryan. It's just what Felaryans believe. We can't trust a Felaryan."
        "But I'm not like that. I don't think that way. I know Candice is a person. I wouldn't eat her." Kage's teary eyes were convincing, but could Rick and Candice really take that risk. "What about your race?"
        "What about them?"
        "They're not too kind to humans either. Wouldn't that make you dangerous to Candice too?"
        "I'm not like other giants."
        "Why can't I be different from other Felaryans? What makes you so special?"
        He did have a point, but Candice and Tim were still worried.
        Kage looked back down again and muttered, "Do, do I have to leave now?"
        Finding a voice again, Candice asked, "How long have you lived in this cave?"
        "Ever sense I ended up in this world. That was five years ago."
        Candice looked up at Tim and asked him, "How long have you been living here?"
        "About two years now," Tim answered.
        "Kage has lived here longer than you; it doesn't seem right to throw him out."
        "Candice, he could be dangerous."
        "I know, but… it's just that. I don't know." She looked down at the skin she sat on.
        Tim asked the chilotaur, "So, you've been living here this whole time, even when I arrived. Where were you this whole time? I always heard sounds at night, but-"
        "I usually sleep in the day. So, to avoid the bright sun, I go pretty deep in the back of the cave. You find this cave in the daylight, so I was sleeping deep in the cave. You found this cave in the daylight, so I was sleeping deep in the cave. You wouldn't have known I was there."
        "You didn't try to kick me out or anything. Why?"
        "I thought about it, but you never really explored the cave and I hunt for food when you're asleep. I felt that it would be alright for you to stay since our paths never crossed."
        "You didn't even come up to try and talk with me or-"
        "I was too afraid to. I heard from humans how evil giants were. I heard stories of what they did to humans. They sounded like monsters."
        "How did you hear it from humans?"
        "Before you came here, humans would sometimes explore the forest and use this cave as a shelter. I would never approach them, but I'd overheard their conversations. Because they were in a forest of giant creatures, they always talked about giants and the dangers they had to look out for. So, when you came back to the cave with a human, I was worried." Kage looked back up and asked, "Can I stay? I would bother either of you again. Please, I have I don't know where else to go."
        Tim looked down at Candice, but she wasn't looking up at him. "Candice."
        She looked up.
        "What do you think?"
        Candice faced Kage who was still watching the ground. She thought about everything that had happened since she met Kage. He had done nothing to her except be gentle and sweet. He didn't act like any Felaryan she had ever heard about from her brother. Candice looked up at Tim who waited for her answer. "I guess we can give him a second chance."
        Kage looked up with lit eyes. "You, you will? Thank you, thank you so much I prom-" Kage's stomach growled and the cave became silent. Kage looked down at his stomach and then looked back up at Candice and Tim. "I should start hunting now." He scurried out of the cave.
        When he was gone, Candice said, "Tim, I think I should sleep closer to you tonight."
        "I think that's best."