"Ah! So that's what it is then, huh missy?" Parting the crowd with his words, Young Hubba came forward, not particularly shocked or frightened by Lucina's size, with Lucina's extended family in tow, cart and all. "Yup, I can see why you'd want that shrinking elixir from the story. As far as I'm aware, it's just a story, but if ya need some directions, I could always point you folks to the exact ruins from the tale." Lucina looked ecstatic at the elder's words.
"You could?!" she cried, lunging forward slightly and frightening some of the crowd. "Oh please, do tell us if you know!"
"Welp, I can certainly see you're excited!" chuckled the old man. He pulled out a folded map from his person, decorated with drawn pictures of temples, marked areas, and little facts, almost like a brochure, and held it up for Lucina's viewing. "Yup, around here, we got a lot of ruins from stories, it's kinda like a tourist attraction, so I drew up these little maps here with the rest of the town hall for the best viewing pleasure." He moved forward to hand Lucina the map, the girl squinted trying to read it, before handing it off to Gerome, deciding he could read it better. "What you folks are going to want are the 'Limestone Ruins', marked up a couple miles north from here. It's the big white-grey temple with the 8 pillars for an entrance, you can't miss it; it's a bit deep and has a couple booby traps in it, so be sure to be careful, I'm sure you can fit in it, Miss..."
"Lucina." answered back Lucina, finishing the sentence for the elder. She got up and bowed to him in return for his kindness. "Thank you for your help, elder. I'm sorry to ask further request of you, but our family members have fallen incapacitated and cannot journey with us as is, is there any way we may spend the night in your village?"
"Ask no more!" answered Hubba with glee, "The weather's cold outside, no way am I about to let you nice youngsters freeze out in the cold! I'll let you fellas stay at the hotel tonight for free, least I could do for your friend's magic show!" Ophelia held her rosy cheeks at the complement, feeling an ego boost.
"Oh, it was nothing!" she replied, head in the clouds. "Really, just some nifty little tricks!" Severa inched closer to slapping the humble into her daughter's head.
"As for you Miss Lucina," continued Hubba, "We could always let you use the town barnhouse to sleep in tonight, it's nice and warm so you don't have to lay in the cold, your wyvern could even stay with you too!" Minerva rubbed herself against Lucina's leg in response, happy to spend time with her mistress. "Just if you could, could you help us hang up a couple streamers in there before you tuck in for the night? We got the Festival Dance coming up soon."
"But Elder Hubba!" objected the lanky farmer-type, "We can't just be accepting in everyone so close to the Hunting Festival!"
"Oh pipe down you!" shouted back Hubba, waving his cane around. "First rule of our town: Never turn away a weary traveler, no matter who or what they are! And we could always use Miss Lucina's height to help us more than you could lying around that field of yours all day!" The farmer was defeated by the elder's response and folded his arms in a huff. Calmed a bit, Hubba returned back to talking with the giant princess. "Sorry about that, everyone's a bit tense so close to our local festival coming up. Let me see you folks to your staying quarters for the night, and then just ask us if you need anything else while you're staying."
"Thank you elder." replied Lucina, bowing once more. Carefully, she stepped around the crowd as she began to follow behind Young Hubba, with Gerome, Minerva, and the rest of the party in tow.
----------
"And done!" shouted Lucina as she hung the final streamer from the rafters of the barn. The whole place was set up to look like a fancy ballroom, but still had the farming village charm to it, the villagers clearly put work into their festivals. Night had just fallen, and Lucina finally got to seat herself on the floor of the barn; she sat down next to Gerome and Minerva, happy not to be seated in snow this time. "Elder Hubba was so kind to let us use the barnhouse to sleep for tonight, as well as give us a map to the ruins. I think we're reaching the end of our journey Gerome."
"Yeah..." grumbled Gerome in response. Lucina looked a little distressed at his reaction.
"What's wrong?" she inquired.
"It's those townspeople." he replied, fuming as he said it. "The elder was a nice enough man, but for those people to be treating you like a monster just got me angry is all." Lucina sighed, worried that Gerome would bust a vein just thinking about it.
"It's alright, Gerome. I don't mind their comments."
"I mind." he replied. His tone was harsh, but he decided to soften up as he continued. "I'm sorry, it's just that I think of you like I think of a treasure; precious and special. I can't help becoming furious if anyone were to hurt you, physical or not." Lucina sighed once more and grabbed Gerome swiftly, exciting some shock from the wyvern rider.
"Did you see that?" she asked her husband. "I'm a big girl now Gerome, I can fight my own battles." She gently let Gerome down before continuing. "It's not even just now, it was even during the war; I can't count how many times you put yourself in harm's way for me, I...no, we all could have lost you out there on the battlefield, I would never want to live with that."
"Mere flesh wounds couldn't end me."
"That's not the point Gerome." Lucina laid on her stomach, trying to get more down to earth with the rider. "My point is this: You've already done so much for everyone. Not just me, our family, our friends, everyone in the Shepherds, and you never took a break doing it." Lucina pulled off Gerome's mask and stared into his deep brown eyes. "The time of war is over Gerome, our nightmare from the future has ended. It's the dawn of a new era for us, an era of peace, there's no reason for you to be so tense anymore." Minerva came over to cuddle her master, licking his face as Lucina spoke to him. The princess smiled at the scene, thinking nothing else could be a more perfect illustration for her point. "We all love you Gerome, so just relax. We'll fix me eventually, I can just feel it now, and it's all thanks to you, as well as the rest of our family and friends." Gerome took all these words in, before sensibly chuckling to himself.
"It's funny, it was usually me telling you that you'll be normal again soon..." He placed his hand upon Lucina's cheek and rubbed it softly before locking lips with Lucina's massive pink lips in front of him. "I understand Lucina, I'll take it easy from here on out."
"Thank you, Gerome." Lucina tilted her head up a bit and looked through the shutters of the window; though night had fallen, it was still early, and the two were alone, save their trusted wyvern considered part of the family. "Say, Gerome?" began Lucina with a soft blush upon her face. "It's still a little early, and we're completely alone, so..." Gerome immediately picked up on the signals his wife was giving, and his face became red hot in response.
"Wait, you mean in here? Now?!" Gerome looked around, afraid at the idea of someone walking in on them. "Lucina, what if someone were to see us in here?!"
"I know, I know! I'm embarrassed too!" The full red blush on Lucina's face confirmed it, both she and Gerome looked like tomatoes; clearly the two were made for one another. "There's only one door leading into the barn, Elder Hubba told us, so if we just keep it locked, I'm sure we could..."
"Please don't say it!" Gerome took a moment to calm down before addressing his wife back. "Alright, I suppose if you want..." Gerome gave Minerva a hand signal and the wyvern blocked the only door to the barn, for extra measure, Lucina pushed a large wooden bar into a lock, completely sealing off the compound; the two were finally alone. "It's not that I don't want to..." started Gerome, "I just can't fathom the idea; How could we make this work at your size?"
"Well..." started Lucina in response, "Do you remember back in Ylisstol? What Severa told me?" Lucina bent down closer to Gerome and began whispering in his ear, the wyvern rider's face lit up like a firework at the words spoken.
"H-How does she even think something like that up?!" Gerome was clearly flustered at the suggestion, but was resolved to keep Lucina happy. "I suppose we could try, are you sure of this Lucina?"
"Not really..." she answered bluntly, face still reddening. "I just want to prepare in case this journey ends in failure." Gerome gave a light chuckle.
"Now you know exactly what I'm going to tell you." Lucina giggled back.
"Yes, yes, I know; 'Stay strong, I promise to get you back to normal again'.'" With that exchange, the two lovers began to disrobe themselves, moving in closer with each article of clothing they dropped. Lucina grasped Gerome after completely disrobing herself and moved her lips in for a deep kiss, meeting with Gerome's lips returning the action as she did, before moving Gerome lower down her body as she began to lay down. Minerva watched some of this, but fell out of interest quickly and nodded off to sleep, effortlessly blocking the door with her scaled frame and trying to block out the noise her masters were making, instead filling it with dreams of the old days of combat with Cherche and Gregor.
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