Sizeran chapter 6

Sizeran Dilemma Chapter 6

Alicila blinked her eyes as she tried to force herself awake in the early morning hours of the day. “Ugh, I feel like I have been sleeping on a rock.” She reached under her back and felt something small and fleshy. “Or at least I hope.”

“Get off of me!”

Alicila jumped to her feet and gasped. “Oh, my goodness, Ventor. Are you alright?” She bent over and patted him down. “How did you get under me? I don’t remember anything after the sun went down.”

He threw his arms out as he stretched. “You rolled over in your sleep.” He cracked his neck. “Also, you snore like crazy. Besides you sleeping on me, your constant sleep sounds kept me up all night.” He rolled his shoulders and walked forward. “Damn, vocal cords have to be amplified by being so big and all.”

Alicila threw up her arms. “Hey, I am sorry. I told you before I can’t really control my size.”

Ventor sighed. “Hey, I didn’t mean anything by it. I am sorry.” He smiled. “Hey, it’s morning now. We can head back to town. See how Nora is doing.”

Alicila smiled. “Right. She should no longer be a giant blueberry, right?”

“I would assume so. I don’t know exactly how long it takes them to juice actual people, only animals.”

Alicila knelt down by Ventor. “You have been through this process before, right?”

He laughed. “Yes, of course.” He ran his hand through his grey hair. “But whenever I have been a part of the juicing process, I have just helped those gigantic cows get the damn blueberry juice out of them.” He shrugged. “I have never helped or even seen people get the blueberry shit out of them. To be honest, I don’t know what happens to them after they turn into a blueberry.”

Alicila rolled her eyes. “Well, that is reassuring.” She sighed. “So should we head back to town then and see what happened to Nora so she can try and help me shrink back down to my normal height?”

He scratched at his chin. “Oh, umm ya. Of course.” He jumped to his feet. “Let’s get going.” Ventor looked up at Alicila with a raised eyebrow. “Why do you want to shrink back down anyways.”

“What are you talking about?” She twisted around and looked down at him. “Why wouldn’t I want to return to my normal height?”

“I mean. . .” He threw his arms out to the side. “I would kill to be unique like you. And I have in the past.” He shook his head as he began to walk down the trail. “Did you know I was one of the first volunteers to try that damn blueberry concoction?”

“I thought you said you didn’t know how it affected people.”

He kicked a stone into a nearby ditch. “That is true.” Ventor chuckled. “I blacked out the moment I saw my skin turn blue.” He held his hand in front of his face and examined it for a long time. “In fact, any time my skin tries to change color on me like that, I get queasy and such.” He shivered. “I have never really been good with keeping my stomach under control. Which is odd because Nora has told me I make a lot of juice because of it.”

Alicila shivered. “I did not need to know that.” She smiled as the border of Terrondale came into view. “Well, looks like we are here.”

Ventor rushed to keep up with her. “Speak for yourself.” He took a deep breath. “Not all of us have ultra-long legs.”

“I don’t have that long of legs.” She sighed. “But look, I can do this.” She used both of her arms and picked him up.

“Hey.” He squirmed in her arms. “This feels weird.”

Alicila sighed. “Do you want to run to keep up with me, or do you just want me to carry you?”

Ventor raised his eyes into his head. “Umm. . .” After a few moments, he finally opened his mouth. “Even though it is weird, you can carry me. I have business in town, and this way, I can get there much faster.”

She shrugged. “Fine by me. But you owe me after I shrink back down.” She turned around and continued down the dirt path. “So, can you tell me a little bit about these Sizerans?”

“What? You don’t know about yourself?”

She lowered her voice as she passed by the first building. “I don’t know why everyone is calling me that. I just want to know a bit more about them before we reach Nora and the others.”

“Well, they are people who can change in size at will. Not much more to say than that.”

She sighed. “And that is why you think I am a Sizeran? Because I grew to this height?”

“Umm, yes. Only their kind would be that size.”

She shook her head. “But it was an accident. I didn’t mean to grow. I just want to find a way for everything to return to normal and for people to stop calling me that.”

Nora’s voice filled the air. “Calling you what, dear?”

Alicila looked down to see Nora in the center of the street, her skin still a bright blue, but otherwise, she was back to normal. “Oh, it is good to see you.” She dropped Ventor onto the ground. “I had a bizarre night.”

“Helping our locals out, I see.” She narrowed her eyes at Ventor, who backed against a nearby wall.

“Umm ya. You were busy with the whole juicing thing, and I umm had to do something.”

Nora patted Alicila on her leg. “It is fine, darling. Ventor is just one of our more illustrious citizens. Now come along, and we can look into helping you out.”

She looked down at Ventor. “Hey, are you going to be alright?”

Nora pulled at her leg. “He will be fine. Now come along. We have things to discuss.”

Ventor waved them along. “You should get going. I will be fine.”

Alicila sighed before turning her head and walking with Nora into the town.

“So darling, how was your night?” She turned her blue head upward towards Alicila and smiled. “It is so nice to see a friendly new face.”

“Umm, I went and helped him with a cattle problem.”

Nora’s face darkened. “Oh, you did? Well, of course, you did. Why wouldn’t you have? Ventor is, of course, having our best interests at heart, of course.”

“What do you mean?”

“It isn’t anything important, darling. He is just an impulsive man who can at times do things that. . .” She raised her arms. “Harms the town.” Nora scratched at her head. “I don’t think he really means to, but the man just isn’t right in the head.”

“You mean just because he turned some cattle into blueberries.”

“It isn’t any of your concern, my dear.”

She put her foot in front of Nora. “Well, I am making it my concern.” Alicila narrowed her eyes.

Nora sighed. “Ugh, fine. Well, for one thing, those cattle shouldn’t have been all the way out there. Yes, we intentionally turn the cows into blueberries, but he had them grazing on the north fields, right?” Alicila nodded her head. “I thought so. The blueberry pollen out there is especially potent. He could have caused the cows to explode as a berry bomb or worse, cause himself to become some berry grenade.” She sighed. “We use the pollen from that part of the area for our conflict with the Lulvix Alliance as we know what it will do to them.”

Alicila blinked her eyes and shrugged her shoulders. “What do you mean by you know what it will do to them?”

“I mean, we use the pollen from that field to blow people up.” Alicila gasped. “I know grisly work, but it is war, and war is atrocious. You have to be willing to be put to your limits for your people.” She pointed her finger in front of her. “And that is why we can’t have Ventor almost blowing up our cattle on the explosive blueberry fields. That fool could destroy our food supply.”

“Oh.” Alicila pulled at her arm. “I didn’t know that. I was just trying to help.”

“I know. And you did the right thing again. I am so thankful. We will deal with Ventor later on.” She clasped her berry-smelling hands together. “Now about helping you.”

Alicila knelt down next to Nora. “Can you help me shrink down? Return to my normal size?”

“I umm. . .”

“Please. I would do anything for it.”

Nora scratched at her blue hair. “Anything?”

“Yes, anything.” She twisted around. “I can’t stand being like this. I can’t fit inside buildings. I am starving, but what in the world am I supposed to even eat? I need to find some damn clothing to switch into soon and. . .”

“Ok, ok. I get it.” Nora waved her hands about. “Being twenty-some feet tall must be much more of a nightmare than I imminently guessed. Look, we don’t have immediate answers, but I promise you we will figure something out. For everything you have done, we will help you.”

Alicila forced a small smile to form on her face. “Thank you. It sucks that I will be like this a little while longer but thank you for the help all the same.”

“No problem. Now in the meantime, there is something I would want you to help me with.”