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."Thank you, Raven.Harumph!" Swift-wing squawked, fluffing out his feathers tomake himself look large and important as he began his lesson."There's fourimportant rules about flying, mistress.First, always know where the ground isat all times.Forgetting where the ground is usually leads to a sudden,painful stop.Second, always watch where you're going.Remember; trees andbuildings always have the right-of-way.Third, always land when you're tired.Getting a cramp in mid-air also usually leads to sudden, painful stops.Last,trees aren't as soft and cushioning as they look, they have sharp branchesthat can poke out your eyes.Always land slowly and gently in a tree, notquickly and suddenly.Mistress, cast your spell, please," Swift-wing called.When Arella had done so, he spoke again."Alright, now flex your knees andleap into the air!" he cried, flying off her shoulder.Arella did so, andsquealed with joy to discover she was flying.Chapter Twenty-Seven"Marriage - The public admission by a man that he needs a keeper."- Vilandian proverbLittle seemed to happen between Faith and Darian, though they did seem tospend much more time with each other in the afternoons and early evenings.Iwas beginning to wonder if their relationship needed a little push when twoweeks later, Darian and Faith came into my room to speak with Arella and I."We've decided to get married," Darian announced with a grin.I stood and exchanged a handshake of congratulations with Darian as Arella andFaith hugged each other."Now must make ready.Must have het-man come.Musthave wedding dress.Must have many things.Arella, Raven help? No giantessfriends, no giantess family to help.Must have Little-Women help, or no canmarry."Arella and I talked to Faith for awhile, and discovered that she needed adress made of either white cow-hide or sheepskin, and moccasins to match.Unfortunately, I didn't have any cattle or sheep, much less white ones (I'dPage 171 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlbeen conjuring food and drink for everyone every day to build my strength andendurance).She also needed a dowry, and didn't have one.Finally, Darianneeded to build a home that was acceptable to the het-man.Even when all thatwas done, the het-man may impose tests on either or both of them to prove thatthey really did want to marry, and weren't just in lust with each other.The word that Faith was living with us had gotten around through the giantsthat patrolled this area and came to visit with us, so the first problem Ihandled fairly easily - I simply asked the next giant that came by to check upon us if he could ask Felicity to visit.When she arrived the next day, Iexplained the situation to her.Felicity was very happy to help, giveneverything I'd done for her, and happily provided four tanned and softenedsheep-hides for us to use (she commented that it usually took over a hundredfor a young giantess).Arella was better at needlework than I was by far, soshe handled the task of sewing together the dress and moccasins for Faith,taking the place of her mother or sister.The second problem was a little more difficult - Faith had to have a dowry,and it could only come from her parents.Unfortunately, they were dead.Ithought about this one long and hard, when suddenly the answer struck me.Ipulled Faith aside and told her my answer, and she smiled.It might not work,but it had the best chance of working that I could see.We'd have to wait forthe het-man to arrive to find out.The third problem was insoluble, unfortunately.Darian had absolutely no ideawhat a 'proper' giant house should look like until I told him - a giganticdome made of thin tree-trunks, carefully carved so they fit together end toend and made a frame that was a series of arches about fifty cubits wide andthirty cubits high, then connected together to form a barrel-like structure ahundred cubits long.Once assembled, the frame is then covered with anenormous sheet of cowhide with a large flap on the front as a 'door' that'sstiffened with a wooden frame and held closed with a leather strap.Holes inthe top of the house let in light and let out the smoke from cooking fires.The giants of Ilbarsi mountain built enormous homes of stone that resemble thehomes humans build (though on a much larger scale), but we didn't have thetools to make one of their homes, anyway.Besides, everyone knew Faith wasn'tan Ilbarsi giant, and it wouldn't be appropriate for Darian to build a homelike that for her.Unlike the other giant-tribes, the Ilbarsi giants weresmiths.They dealt with dwarves for the various metals all giants needed,working these metals into tools, weapons and other useful items and tradingtheir products for the crops, hides and wood other giants produced.Some ofthe these trade-goods were then traded to the dwarves for more metal,repeating the cycle.These were the only two types of homes the giants everbuilt, and neither was within Darian's capabilities or our collectedresources.Darian finally decided to build a log cabin, as we had plenty oflogs in the barn the giants had built.He carefully selected a sight near mytower that was relatively flat, then got to work.I watched helplessly as Darian struggled to manhandle the first log intoposition so he could shape it with the axe.Normally, you used a horse to dragthe logs, but we didn't have a horse anymore.He started early in the morning,and by noon he had it where he wanted it and then sat down on it to rest.Iwanted to help him, as I could lift the logs with my ring of telekinesis(though the logs Darian wanted would have easily had me sweating in a fewminutes), but that wasn't allowed.Darian had to build the house himself.Page 172 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlFaith came out during the process to show the finished costume Arella had madeto me.It was an excellent job, and she looked quite the proper littlegiantess.She looked up and saw Darian sweating and panting as he struggled tomuscle the log around."What he do?" she asked."He's trying to build a log cabin for you two.Unfortunately, at this rateit's going to take him the better part of a year," I replied with a sigh."I not want wait that long," she said, then walked back into the tower.A fewminutes later, she came out dressed in her original clothing, walked over tothe wood-barn, picked up a log, balanced it on her shoulder and walked over toDarian."Where you want this?" she asked, easily holding the log up in onearm.Darian goggled as he replied."Over there, along that flat line I made for thebase," he replied, pointing.Faith placed the log where Darian had indicated,then went over to get another.Darian grinned and picked up his axe to beginshaping the ends of the logs.Arella and Swift-wing came out as they were working, and they gaped at Faith'sstrength."She's incredibly strong!" Arella remarked, and Swift-wing nodded onher shoulder."Well, she may be tiny, but she's still a giant.I'd say she's got about halfthe strength of a full-grown giantess.That makes her about as strong as anogre, and only three-quarters as tall.She's much more powerful than even Iwas in my old body - I had about the strength of three full-grown men, and mywill focused through my ring of telekinesis gives me about that level ofpower, but this simply doesn't compare to her," I replied."I'd love to be that strong, and never have to need help moving somethingheavy," Arella commented
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