- Chapter 2 : Talent

  "Someone..." Mina grunted through gritted teeth, "...help me!" It was all the young acolyte could do to hold her mentor up and keep her from striking her head against the ground. The instant she had seen Mother Leeda start to fall backward, she had rushed to support her teacher. Now, she was barely holding on, unable to shift Leeda's weight onto the podium, and not daring to try and lay her down on the ground for fear of losing her grip.

  There was a long, shocked silence from the congregation that slowly turned into a loud murmur, then shouts of surprise as what had just happened finally registered. Four of the stronger young men worked their way out of the pews to help Mina, two took her arms and pulled her away from the podium so that the other two could take her legs. Mina let out a sigh of relief, as the weight of her teacher's body was removed from her, then beckoned for the others to follow her. "We'll put her in her bedroom. Hurry!" She then shouted out to the congregation, "and someone get Karn and Gehn!" before hurrying down the hall.

  As the priestess was carried to her room, a few ran off to get help, but most of the congregation simply stared in shocked awe. "What's happening?" "What's wrong with Mother Leeda?" "No warning..." And then there were some, mostly old biddies who sat in the back of the chapel every Solsday because they were 'devout' muttered darkly amongst themselves. "Just like I said..." "Wrath of the Guardians..." "You know what I heard she and that Bardock girl get up to..." "Serves her right, the hussy..." "Her and that foreign father of hers..." "No one wants that sort of thing in OUR town..."

  Meanwhile, Mina opened the door to the priestess's room. The room was small and simple, with few decorations adorning the otherwise blank stone walls. Furnishings were few as well, but befitting a cleric. A dresser for the priest's robes, and a desk and stool by the window for reading and writing that had been passed down through generations of priests. In fact, only the bed had been added since Leeda had come to become the chapel's priest. Eight feet long from foot to head, it had been a gift from Karn to accomodate her extrememely tall frame.

  Not content to make a bed that was simply functional, Karn had engraved a diorama into the headboard of the Guardian Rosalia laying to rest in a beautiful clearing with incredibly life-like forest creatures gathered around her. Leeda had laughed when she saw the way one of the elks was nuzzling Rosalia's hand like a pakkat asking to be petted. "Sister! She's having trouble breathing!"

  Mina hurriedly guided them through Leeda's door. "Put her on the bed!" As they did, she noticed that the Mother was indeed having difficulty drawing in air. Somehow, probably from the way she was being carried, Leeda's robes had constricted her chest, allowing her only shallow breaths. When Leeda was laid on the bed, Mina leaned over her mentor and tugged at the fabric of the robes to make them slack enough to allow Leeda room to breathe. To her surprise she found that the robes were already as slack as they could get!

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  While this was happening, a large black-feathered bird called a Caa flew toward Solace from out of the northern forest, crowing happily. It dipped and weaved through the air for no reason except that it could. As it approached the town, the Caa targetted Karn's workshop. It glided down the main street of the village, and with a dust-raising flap of wings, softly landed on the ground outside the workshop. It walked the rest of the way, head going nid-nod, nid-nod back and fort as it walked until it was in front of Karn's door.

  The bird listened, and hearing the sounds of work being done, pecked loudly against the door with its beak. Inside the building, the Caa could hear footsteps approaching. The door opened inward, and Karn stuck his head out, looking left and right for the one who had knocked. With an indignant tone, the bird clacked its beak in irritation and piped up, "Karn look down here now!"

  Karn looked down at the two-and-a-half foot tall bird and his face brightened up. "Oh, hey! Sorry 'bout that. Here, why don'tcha come in?"

  The Caa croaked happily and walked through the doorway into the workshop. "Reah thank Karn, she does." Reah bobbed her head this way and that until she spotted a semi-suitable perch in the form of a pile of fence pickets. Karn smiled at his visitor warmly. "So, what brings you down here, Reah? Rolen give you a day off?"

  Reah croaked. "Teacher Rolen say students do what we want today, he did. Reah fly to Karn, she did."

  "Well, it's always good to see you or your brothers," Karn said. "And Rolen, when he comes, himself." He then smacked himself on the forehead with the palm of his hand, having forgotten about the hammer still held in it. Fortunately, it was only the wooden handle that collided, much to Reah's crowing amusement. "Ow. Anyway, yer a guest, so can I get'cha anythin'? Food? Water?"

  When she stopped 'laughing', Reah admitted, "Reah is little thirsty, she is." Karn grinned and nodded. "Just wait a sec', I'll get'cha some water." Putting down his tools first, Karn stepped outside with a bowl and walked out to the pump out back. Just as he was about to start pumping, however, he heard the sound of someone running up.

  "Karn! Karn!" a young voice cried out. Karn looked around and saw one of the farmer boys come running toward him with a look of stricken panic across his face. "Karn!" the boy panted out as he came to a stop in front of the larger man. "Leeda... chapel... sermon..." Karn grasped the boy gently by the shoulders and said slowly and calmly. "What? Look kid, take a couple deep breaths, then say what happened."

  The boy did so, and eventually gasped out. "During the sermon... Mother Leeda fainted! Sister Mina... told me to get you!"

  Karn's eyes widened as the boy gave him this news. Patting the boy on the shoulder, he said, "thanks," before taking off in a dead run down the road.

  Meanwhile, inside the workshop, Reah was getting impatient. "Where is Karn now? Reah is thirsty, she is getting." She clacked her beak in irritation.

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  At first, Mina thought that perhaps the clothes had been caused to shrink -- maybe by a horny adolescent developing a Talent during Leeda's sermons -- but quickly noticed what had really happened. Despite some of the rumors spread by the gossipmongers, Mina was not a frequent visitor to Leeda's bedroom. Still, the Mother overslept sometimes, and it became necessary for her to wake Leeda up. Every time Mina could remember seeing her lying in bed, there were several inches at either end. Now, the soles of her feet were planted firmly against the foot of the bed at the same time that her head was resting against the carving of the elk.

  Mina quickly herded the men who had helped her out of Leeda's room, using their uncertainty of what to do and telling them to watch the door and keep out anyone but Karn or Gehn. She then went to her mentor's side and clinically undid the fastenings of Leeda's robes. Until then, Mina had not truly grasped how severely her mentor had been constricted, but with every loosened fastening, it seemed that her whole body swelled within her clothes, yearning for the open air.

  Leeda's magnificent breasts bulged, threatening to overflow the cleavage created where the folds of her robe parted, and seemed to swell more and more as they were released, allowing Leeda to breathe more easily. Mina noted the angry red marks left by the pressure of the too-small clothing and determined that Leeda would likely be bruised for a week.

  Eventually, Mina undid all the fastenings on the robe, but though her mentor's breathing was stable, she was still unconscious. Suddenly, a loud, gruff voice could be heard shouting on the other side of the door, "Spill it, shithead! What the fuck happened to my daughter?!" A quieter, nervous voice replied, "I...I don't know, sir...Mina's in there with her...she told us to watch the door..."

  Mina sighed and pulled the covers of the bed over Leeda. She then walked over to door and opened it. Gehn, the village's blacksmith stood just outside, looming over one of the men Mina had set to act as sentinel. He turned his head when he heard the door open and looked ready to yell again, but stopped himself when he saw Mina. Slowly turning to face her and forcing a calm tone, he rumbled, "Mina, what happened to my daughter?"

  Mina looked up to meet Gehn's gaze, and saw nervousness and concern in the big man's eyes. As the third tallest person in the village, and by all accounts the strongest with a temper known to flare up, Gehn's craggy visage was feared by many and respected by all. He had claimed to be a soldier before coming to Solace, and the scars on his face and arms, and his closely cropped grey hair, as well as his fierce vocabulary seemed to bear that out. Mina had always know him to be a man of great moral character and strength, though, despite the bluster, and knew that his anger of seconds before was solely derived out of fear for Leeda. She smiled reassuringly and bowed slightly. "It's alright, master Gehn. She is resting comfortably now. You can see her if you like, and I will do my best to explain what I believe happened."

  Gehn gave Mina a look of gratitude before stepping inside. After closing the door behind them, Gehn moved to stand beside his daughter's bed. Slowly, he ran his gaze from the foot of the bed to the head of it, mentally measuring the distance. As he did so, Mina stood across from him and asked, "Master Gehn, has Leeda demonstrated a size-changing Talent before?"

  Gehn nodded slowly. "When she was younger, but she didn't use it much. Then when she started growing up, she just stopped using it altogether. I think she didn't like it, so we never mentioned it." Those last four words were said pointedly in a way that was difficult for Mina to misinterpret. Gehn wasn't going to say any more on the matter.

  Still, there were things that needed to be addressed. "Why, though? She always celebrates all of Gaia's blessings, why should she turn away from her own Talent?"

  Gehn answered flatly, "I couldn't say. Look, she's starting to shrink back, anyway." It was true. Slowly, but noticably, now that they were watching, Leeda shrank down under the blankets to her usual 7'1" height, sighing contentedly in her sleep as she did so. Just as she finished, they heard a knock at the door, and Karn's breathless voice called out from the other side, "Mina, it's me. Can I come in?"

  Mina walked over to the door and opened it for Karn. The carpenter had a worried look on his face as he breathed deeply to get his wind back. "I heard 'bout Leeda. Is she alright?" Mina smiled and replied, "yes, she's fine now. She--"

  "She had some sort of fainting spell," Gehn interrupted, in a tone that brooked no argument. "She's just resting now, though." Karn sighed in relief and took a spot by the bed next to Mina.

  As Karn did, Leeda shifted in her bed and slowly opened her eyes. Seeing people hovering over her, she quickly sat up, causing another mild wave of dizziness, and also causing the blanket to slip off of her chest. Both Karn and Gehn looked away pointedly, the carpenter blushing furiously. "What?" Leeda asked, looking between the two men, until Mina reached forward and draped the edge of the blanket over Leeda's bosom. Mira looked down at her undressed state and blushed to outdo Karn. Mina blinked in surprise as Leeda clutched the edge of the blanket and held it against herself. Somehow, between the time of her regression and now, the marks caused by the constriction on Leeda which Mina had expected to turn into angry bruises were now little more than a faint reddish tinge to the priestess's skin. It was forgotten, however, when Leeda asked nervously, "Mina, can you please tell me what happened?"

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