Finding an inn in this small village wasn´t all that difficult, since there were only few buildings in the entire area. Typically, some average houses, a small church, a townhall and several stores. It even seemed ridiculous compared to Paris. But it was still a lovely and peaceful small town, and the surroundings were providing them with the possibility for a calm night. And that´s what they all needed. Jean, Nadia, Grandis, Hanson and Sanson were having a hard time recently, Jean because of his shrinkage and because he had been swallowed by TWO women recently (it wasn´t that bad, though), Nadia because her life had changed entirely in such a short amount of time, Grandis for the same reason and because of a drastic change of her attitude - or at least a small change, and Hanson and Sanson...well, it is obvious why they needed rest so badly. Having Grandis as their boss sure was an exhausting situation, so it was quite understandable.
As the group went into the inn, Jean´s size provided them with another huge advantage. Since the woman at the reception could not see tiny Jean inside Nadia´s ear, they only had to pay for four persons. Considering the fact that they hadn´t exactly much money with them, this was a vast advantage indeed. Nadia herself as an acrobat had never earned much money for herself, the money Jean had brought with him in his pocket was useless due to his size, so only our three thievish troublemakers had at least some money with them, but despite having "earned" a lot of bucks (the currency depended on the country they were doing their "jobs" in), Grandis´ extravagance caused them a lot of problems in terms of money, to say the least. However, at least they could pay for 2 rooms. And it´s needless to say who had to share those 2 rooms. Hanson and Sanson got one, and Grandis´ and Nadia the other room. Hanson and Sanson might not have been lecherous or even perverse guys, thanks to Grandis´ various painful attempts at scolding them having paid off, but still, the women wanted to avoid sleeping with men in one room together. Except for Jean, of course. If they had ever met a male person without any dirty thoughts, then it was Jean for sure.
Grandis´ and Nadia´s room was quite cozy and warm, an ideal place to spend the night. As both Nadia and Grandis´ were sitting on their beds (with Jean still being inside Nadia´s ear), they decided to talk a little before they were finally going to have their well earned sleep. It was just some girly talk, though, and Jean wasn´t much involved in their conversation, just a bit bored. Due to his position inside Nadia´s ear, he was practically forced to listen to everything, and he could hear their words quite well in their. The only interesting part of Nadia´s and Grandis´ talk was the fact that it showed him once again how different both were, and how much they liked each other by now, despite their earlier confrontations and their different personalities. Twas quite funny as well to see how mixed up their behavior was, realizing that Nadia, despite being some years younger than Grandis, was actually much more mature and serious, while Grandis, the older one of them, was quite often behaving very impulsive and even childish to some extent. Jean had experienced himself that Nadia was indeed a strong woman who could easily and quickly judge by different circumstances and situations and act on them properly and effectively. That was most impressive, especially when Jean was considering Nadia´s young age. And Grandis on the other hand could easily destroy her own plans with a sudden and powerful emotional outburst by herself. But Grandis was a good person after all, despite her obvious...let´s call them "flaws". A sometimes annoying, yet kind and even vulnerable woman deep down inside her. And she had decided to help him and Nadia, after all, so he accepted her the way she was.
After some time, Jean fell asleep in his unusual surroundings. This dark, threatening and yet fascinating tunnel of Nadia´s auditory canal. Truly, one of the strangest places to spend a night, but quite comfortable and warm due to Nadia´s body heat. And again, he was having a dream of him and Nadia, with him being normal sized, having Nadia in his gentle embrace. She was sobbing in his arms, and he was telling her some comforting words, but he didn´t know exactly what it was. Twas a dream, after all, so nothing to worry about, despite it being something worth remembering.
Nadia, on the other hand, was still awake when she realized that Jean had fallen asleep inside her ear. It still was a new and strange feeling to have him in there, so near to her brain, but it somehow felt good at the same time.
"So, our small inventor fell asleep, huh?"
"Yeas. He deserves to rest as much as he can, after all he did for us, after all he went through for us. Even if his rest is but a short one."
"Uh-huh. I guess you´re right. It must be really exhausting, being that tiny."
"Yes."
Then Nadia suddenly grinned.
"Especially if he has to stay inside your stomach!"
"Haha...very funny, miss acrobat." Grandis replied, annoyed by that stupid comment.
"And being inside YOUR stomach was a cakewalk?"
"That´s at least what Jean told me." Nadia answered playfully.
"Oh boy...whatever. I think we should go to sleep now as well. It´s kinda late already."
"Ok. Good night, Grandis."
"Good night, Nadia. See you tomorrow."
It didn´t take long for both women to fall asleep, as both were deadly tired after all their recent adventures. While it is not clear what Grandis was dreaming of - and I guess we should leave it at that, exploring her dreams any further would be quite disturbing, I´d say - Nadia´s dream was quite interesting. She was dreaming again of that man who appeared in her dream the day before. That older looking man in a uniform...Nadia was standing directly behind him, while the man was talking to a masked person. She couldn´t remember much, but there was a single dialogue she could not possibly forget.
"It is pointless to resist, Nemo. You fought galantly, but now it is finished. Give me the girl, and your life will be spared." the scary masked man said.
"It is not over yet. Not until I stopped you."
"Hm. You rotten old fool. You´re still trying to play the hero? Don´t make me laugh! You´re merely a former shell of yourself, an old man clinging to his glorious past."
"Say what you want, you monster. I will protect her at all costs. Even if it kills me. Maybe I am an old fool, but I will not betray...my daughter."
As Nadia woke up hours later, she was quite confused about these words. "My daughter"...she was wondering whether her father really looked like this strong and compassionate man. Or was it just some ordinary dream with no true meaning whatsoever. She sighed deeply, trying to forget about it, when she suddenly heard a voice.
"Good morning, princess!"
"WAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
Nadia was shocked and shrieked as she heard Jean´s voice out of nothing. She startled, causing Jean to fall down inside her ear.
"Oops. Sorry bout that. I forgot that..."
"Shut up! And never do that again! Especially not when I´m only half-awake!"
"O-of course! I´m so sorry..."
"Oh dear...never mind that. But you must understand that it´s quite scary to hear a voice out of nothing when you just awoke."
"Uhm...yes, you´re right."
Jean stood up again and leaned against the soft wall of her ear canal, still being sorry about him frightening her.
Meanwhile, Grandis also awoke, obviously because of Nadia´s sudden outburst.
"Uh...what´s the matter? What´s that screaming and shrieking all about?"
"Uh, nothing at all, Grandis! Just a misunderstanding!"
"Oh well...did you have to wake me up that way?"
"Come on, it´s time to get up already!"
"All right, all right."
Nadia and Grandis prepared everything for the continuation of their journey quickly, but there wasn´t much to do, anyway. They only had to wake up Hanson and Sanson now, but that was a piece of cake for Grandis. After Nadia and Grandis left their room, our beloved red haired maniac kicked Hanson´s and Sanson´s door open and rushed into their room.
"Hey, you lazy fools! Time to get up!"
Surprisingly - or not so surprisingly - Hanson and Sanson startled and quickly jumped out of their beds, having realized that it was their boss who woke them up with her powerful voice.
"Ready, boss!"
"Yeah, ready, boss!"
"Good. We´ll continue our journey now. You have something else to do before we start?"
"No, boss!"
"Absolutely nothing, boss. We´re ready to do whatever you want, boss!"
"Excellent. Now, let´s get a move on!"
It didn´t take long for our party to leave the hotel and to get back on their way towards the meeting point. It was still early in the morning, so they didn´t meet many people on the fields they were walking over. A vast grassy field, with the wind blowing through it. In the meantime, Jean had come out of Nadia´s ear again and took his former place on her right palm again, as he didn´t have to be afraid of being seen by anyone at that moment.
Seeing everyone walking down the fields, talking happily to each other, one might not have thought that they were actually on the verge of meeting an uncertain destiny. They were most likely trying to overcome their fear of all the possible events, their fear of the uncertainty of fate. Especially Grandis was worried sick deep down inside her. She already met that Gargoyle guy, and she knew that he was someone who would do anything in order to achieve his goals. Even if meant to kill those who were standing in his way. Grandis experienced that herself, being threatened by him.
And then. Then it finally happened. As the group was walking over this nearly endless seeming field on a path, they were able to see another town in the distance. It was as small as the one they took shelter in earlier, but something didn´t feel right. Not only didn´t it feel right, it was also visible. As at the town´s entrance, they could see a man standing there, obviously waiting for someone. Nadia immediately realized that this must have been Gargoyle...or at least one of his henchmen. And she was also aware of the possible dangers.
"Jean..." Nadia whispered as she looked down on Jean on her palm.
"Yes?"
"I think you should better hide in my stomach now?"
"Huh? But..."
"No "but"! Jean, something´s wrong, I know it!"
"so you want me to go into your stomach for my own safety?"
"...yes. Please, you must understand..."
"I do. I´d much rather like to stay outside, together with you and facing everything together with you. But I don´t want to make you worry that much. So it´s all right for me to go into your stomach. I just hate sitting down and doing nothing."
"Jean, you already did so much for me. Now it´s up to me to fulfill my promise."
"All right."
Nadia picked him up from her palm with the pointer finger and the thumb of her left hand. Holding him in front of her face, she smiled at him, trying to make him feel better.
"Everything will be all right, Jean. I promise."
"I trust you, Nadia."
With these words, Nadia slowly opened her mouth, providing Jean with yet another view into a woman´s mouth. He smiled. The same old mix of fear and fascination, just like he experienced it back then. Nadia carefully maneuvered him past her teeth and placed him on her soft tongue, glistening with saliva. Again, Jean immediately recognized this feeling. Everything was so familiar by now. The large, perfect white teeth, her breathing noises coming from her lungs, and her uvula dangling over her throat menacingly. Nothing had changed at all (why should have anything changed anyway?). He felt Nadia´s tongue softly rising and pushing him towards the edge of her mouth and the abyss of her throat. He didn´t resist, as it was voluntary this time. nd it was such an amazing feeling as well, as if he was about to ride down a water slide. And then everything came back to him as he descended into the impossibly lone tunnel of Nadia´s esophagus. The same thrill was rising in him, mixed with a certain feeling of joy. Falling down her throat (once again, her throat muscles could not take care of him as he was too small, leaving enough space for him between the glistening pink walls round him), he felt like he was returning home or at least to some familiar place, which wasn´t even far from the truth. And as the valve beneath him opened and allowed to him land inside Nadia´s large stomach, he was home in some way. He landed on the fleshy, soft pink ground of her stomach, like he already did recently. Everything was just like he remembered. The sound of her beating heart, her stomach pulsating around him...the same wonderful environment. He would enjoy staying in there, but Nadia being possibly in danger frightened him a bit. All he could do was wait and hope.
Outside, Nadia realized that Jean had reached his destination and reached her stomach. She held her hand on her stomach for a few seconds and closed her eyes.
"Be safe...Jean."
looking at Grandis, Nadia nodded and the group walked toward the man at the entrance of that town. The nearer they got, the more they could notice about him, although he was standing with his back to them. He had short blond hair and was wearing clothes with darker colors (imagine...Dimitri Yuriev in Also sprach Zarathustra...), and there was a menacing aura surrounding him.
"Grandis...is that...Gargoyle?"
"No, I don´t think so. But it must be one of his subordinates. Why else would a person like that stand here at our meeting point?"
"Hm..."
They stopped only a few meters away from him, directly in front of the town entrance (btw, the town looked exactly like the one they visited earlier). He was still standing with his back to them, but surprisingly, it seemed that he had noticed them.
"Grandis, I assume? I take it you served your purpose well."
Grandis didn´t answer, as she had already turned against her diabolic employer.
The man then turned to the the group, and he smiled slightly as he saw Nadia, with the Blue Water around her neck.
"Good. Very good. Master Gargoyle will be pleased." he said with his frightening voice. It was not his voice itself, but the lack of emotion in it that scared Nadia.
Grandis still din´t say anything, and she stared at him with a serious expression, unlike her usual behavior.
"I think it´s time for your reward then."
He then suddenly drew a gun, seeming to come out of nowhere, and he pointed it at Grandis. The gun was unlike anything Grandis had ever seen, its shape was so smooth and artful, and she thought it also had more firepower than usual weapons of that kind.
"You have served your purpose. You may die now."
Grandis gasped. She knew that she could not trust Gargoyle, but that went too far. That man´s action made her glad that she chose to follow Nadia and Jean instead of following her job.
"I just want the girl and the stone. You and your two...helpers...are useless to us now. Farewell."
This was a grave situation indeed. Everyone was shocked at this sudden turn of events, and they didn´t know what to do, but they had to be quick!