Somewhere, West Virginia, USA.

The halflings were feasting... again, Clive thought as he watched the celebration as he nursed a drink, non-alcoholic. It really did seem like they would take any excuse to eat. A birth? Feast. A death? Feast. A nice day? That calls for a feast as well!

At least this time they had something genuine to actually celebrate. The hothouse was, finally, completed. It took longer than thought, mainly because most of the humans were working on housing and not the heated greenhouse. But once it became apparent just how much the halflings consumed it was decided that they would need to double if not triple the size of the hothouse.

Which obviously took time as extra parts needed to be ordered and more men were needed for labor. The halflings actually stepped up for this, which surprised Clive. Not that they were much help, given their stature and lack of knowledge when it came to the more mechanical parts of the hothouse.

But the more they hung around the human workers the better they started to get used to and even familiar with everything. In turn it meant that more and more halflings were starting to fill in the workforce vacancies that they desperately needed.

Which resulted in not one but TWO of the halfling homes being finished as well as the hothouse. It wasn't much given how many halflings there were, and how many were on the way. But it was better than nothing, Clive thought. The homes themselves looked like the stereotypical halfling home. For appearances it looked just like it was built into a hill. Except the "hill" was artificial. On top of the homes were a few inches of plain old dirt with some grass seed spread about.

While they might be a bit bare for some time given winter coming soon, that should change when spring hits and the hills start getting some color from the grass and whatever flowers or trees the halflings decide to plant atop their homes.

The only thing that hasn't been installed was plumbing. That required more work and resources that they simply didn't have at the moment. But the halflings were content so far to use the outhouses and the wash tent. Obviously once more homes were built, and the colony started to become an actual village, town, whatever, that it would go from a convenience to a necessity if they wanted to avoid getting some disease.

Speaking of diseases, Clive thought as he noticed one halfling that he wished he wasn't so close to giving him a whorish look that made him anything but aroused. At least his STI test came back negative, he thought with a modicum of relief. That was something to celebrate.

"Hey." A voice said from close by.

He turned and looked down to find Kilpa as she walked closer. He sneered as he returned to his drink and watching the halflings feast. With how often, and how much they ate, he was curious as to where it all was coming from. Surely they didn't pack ALL of this with them did they?

"Are you still mad?" Kilpa asked as she poked at his thigh.

He was trying very hard to focus on other things. He was still mad at her, of course he was! How could she even ask that, he thought angerly. She practically advocated genociding the kobolds!

His eye twitched as she continued to poke.

"Come on! You've been avoidin' me fer DAYS!"

"Gee, wonder why?" Clive muttered under his breath.

"They're just a bunch o' lizards! Don't know why yer so hung up 'bout 'em!?"

"Is this why you're bothering me? Because if it is, you can fuck off!" Clive snapped.

Kilpa made to retort, but she seemed to stop herself. She forced her mouth closed and flexed her fingers while breathing through her nose for a moment. After she had visibly calmed down, and bit back whatever it was she wanted to say, she turned towards where Carrie Longfellow chatted and gossiped with others at the celebration.

"So..." She said as she rocked back and forth on her feet.

"So, what?"

"I 'eard tha' you 'nd Mrs. Longfellow might've got a wee bit... familiar while I were out explorin'."

"I don't want to talk about it." Came Clive's simple, but firm, answer.

"Just askin' is all. Didnae think you'd get back at me by-"

"I said I didn't want to talk about it!" Clive hissed, enough for some of the nearby halflings to look in their direction in curiosity.

With that the two stood in thick, awkward silence as the festivities continued. Clive wished they would hurry up so he could get started on helping them get the heaters on the hothouse working. But they wanted to celebrate and feast first before they got to work.

He also couldn't go into work back at the railyard just yet either. The new owner was getting some paperwork squared away and Clive hadn't received a call from them yet. The only reason he knew he had a job back at the railyard again was because one of the former workers said that the place was sold to someone else and that they were getting calls and visits from company reps that said that they were interested in retaining their services.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Not like he would get the call anyway with where he was, he thought. Maybe when the National Guard show up they could install phone lines that covered the area so he could actually get calls from people instead of relying on this word-of-mouth crap.

"Clive?" Kilpa asked.

Clive snorted.

"What?"

Kilpa was hesitant to bring up what she discovered while she was out exploring, he didn't seem in the mood and the situation in the town seems to have gotten worse. While she was adamant about not going into town when it was dark, too many people, goblins and townsfolk included now. She was worried about running into Travis again, and whatever power he now possessed.

Would Clive listen or even believe her, she thought.

"Nothin'."

So the two went back to their silence. Standing around watching the rest of the colony feast and eat, and feast and eat. Clive knew it was a heat of the moment thing, but maybe it wasn't an entirely bad idea for the halflings to cut back on breeding. They really should learn to tighten their belts, he thought as he watched them gorge themselves.

"Are we still friends at least?" He heard Kilpa ask.

"What do you think? You threatened to exterminate an entire race, a race that is living with my oldest friend. The outcome of which would've resulted in either you, him, or the both of you dead." Clive snapped.

Clive poured the rest of his drink onto the ground before tossing aside the cup.

"I have to go check on a few things with the hothouse."

With that, he left Kilpa as he stormed off. Leaving her to stand alone to watch the celebration. Clive fumed to himself as he marched along. He couldn't believe her, he thought.

"Are we still friends? She asks, like it was a fight over a toy or a comic book!"

He was huffing and puffing so much that he almost didn't notice the woman in a lab coat standing in his way.

"Are you Cliven MacConner?"

"Yeah?" Clive said uncertain as to who she was.

As if to answer his unasked question, she pulled out a laminated badge that read Dr. Allie Zhu. She returned the badge to her pocket before he could get much more from it.

"I'm with the Federal Government. My team and I are here in response to the large, and sudden, influx of people to the area."

"Yeah, I noticed you have a tent of your own near the entrance of the place. What can I help you with?" Clive asked, unsure and a little worried as to what a government rep needed him for.

"There are some questions that you need to answer as well as some tests that need done." She stated before turning around and striding away, leaving no room to mistake this as anything other than an order. With a sigh, Clive followed after the woman.

They soon reached the tent that she and her team had set up at the edge of the colony. A black van was parked near his own car nearby. As he entered the tent after her, he was met with sounds of medical machines and the smell of disinfectant. On the floor of the tent was a firm foam mat while the tent was double layered. The outside was thick cloth that blocked the sun and gave them some privacy, but the inner layer was thick plastic that made it seem like he was entering a decontamination chamber.

Dr. Zhu gestured to a simple doctor's stool.

"Sit."

So he did, he hopped onto the medical stool as a team of men in hazmat suits hovered around him with devices that beeped and crackled before seemingly being satisfied and leaving to type in whatever readings they got into computers.

"Is something going on?"

Dr. Zhu entered his field of vision.

"It should be obvious."

Before Clive could ask to clarify she continued. A pen and clipboard at the ready.

"How long have you lived among them?"

"Them?"

"The short humanoid looking creatures with the body proportions of potatoes."

"Oh. Um, I don't know? Maybe a few weeks now?"

"Be more precise."

"Three, four weeks? Maybe five?" Clive said uncertainly. His time here has kinda blurred. Either he's been in a rush to help out, or he's been so bored that he hasn't kept track.

He wasn't sure if his answer satisfied her, if it did or didn't she wasn't showing it.

"How close are you to the inhabitants?"

"How close?"

"Have you had sexual intercourse with any of them?"

Clive went red at the question.

"Well..."

"I'll take that as confirmation." She stated as she wrote down something.

"What is this all for?"

"Government business." She stated in a firm, clipped voice.

"What kind of-OW!!" Clive went to ask before being jabbed with a needle. Where a vial was quickly filled with crimson liquid. The lab assistant withdrew the needle before carrying it outside. Another came over and quickly patched him up.

"Pretty sure you need my appro-"

"Have you noticed any changes to yourself? Either mental, emotional, or physical?" The doctor interrupted.

"I mean, I went from living in an apartment in town to living in a tent out here."

"Answer the question Mr. MacConner."

"I don't know. I've gotten a little more tanned."

"That's all?"

"I'm sorry, but which branch of the government are you from again?"

"What is your relationship with the giant in the woods?"

Clive went pale.

"What?"

"The giant? The 50ft tall humanoid creature that resides in the woods nearby? Is that clear enough for you or do I need to show you a picture?" She asked in her clipped tone.

"How do you know about Sloth?!" Clive asked with concern.

The doctor cocked a chestnut colored brow.

"Sloth?"

"Yeah! How do you know about him?!"

She didn't answer as she continued to write on her clipboard. If anything it infuriated him more.

"What the hell is going on?!"

"Thank you for your cooperation Mr. MacConner. You are free to go. We will retrieve you when needed." She said it with certainty.

It was clear he wasn't going to get anything from them. Not like he could do anything anyway. He stood up from the stool and left the tent in a huff. He didn't really have anywhere else to go or do except for the hothouse. So that's where he headed.

As he neared the 25ft wide, 98ft long and 12.5ft high galvanized steel hothouse he could hear the thrumming of the generators. He could see movement within through the thick glass but could only vaguely hear anything.

He was met with a rush of warm air as he opened the doors. They had to tweak the doors a little to accommodate the size of the halflings by essentially cutting them in half horizontally, creating a Dutch door. The bottom would open to allow the halflings ease of access while a human could push the whole door open.

The air was comfortably warm compared to the increasingly biting chill from outside. Clive walked over to the group of halflings as they were discussing what to plant and where.

"Some nice tomatoes 'nd fresh lettuce would be nice."

"Aye, as would some lovely cabbage."

Clive neared the group and Hamish turned and greeted him before gesturing to another halfling dressed in green and brown robes and carried a oaken staff with a gnarled top.

"Clive. This 'ere is our local Arbormancer, Henry."

Clive shook the halflings offered hand.

"Nice to meet you. What exactly is an Arbormancer?

"Plant-wizard, crop-mage. Take yer pick lad. It's all tha same." Henry said.

"Henry 'ere is gonna 'elp us get our buddin' green'ouse flourishin' ain't you Henry?"

"Tha's right! Everythin' you 'eard 'bout halflin' farmin' comes from me 'nd my order!" The Arbormancer claimed, with an eye roll from some of the others.

"Well if it's all the same, I should at least help you lot with getting set up." Clive stated.

"Nonsense! If it's anythin' we know, it's farmin'! You can run along 'nd take it easy while we do wha' comes natural!" Hamish stated with nods from the rest of the halflings.

That was something Clive was both welcome, and dreaded, to hear. On one hand he was grateful that the halflings were starting to get on their feet. On the other, that just meant he had nothing to do in the meantime. Though he could probably check on Sloth, he thought as he recalled the doctor mentioning him.

Maybe it was a bluff or a trick, but it couldn't hurt to check up on him. With that thought in mind, Clive left the halflings to do what halflings were apparently natural at. Hamish watched Clive go as he turned back to the group.

"Alright lads. Wha' 'nd where should we be gettin' started?"

"Bah! Leave it ta me Hamish! I'll turn this metal 'nd glass buildin' inta a wonder o' nature befer you can blink!" Henry claimed as he pushed past the rest of the group and walked over to one of the dirt troughs.

Hamish and the others looked at Henry with worry and concern.

"Erm, Henry? Are you sure yer wantin' ta commit so much already?"

"Nonsense! I know wha' I'm doin'! Besides, wha's tha worse that'll 'appen? I turn inta a pumpkin?!" Henry chuckled as he held his staff out and began his Arbormancy. To the growing concern of the others.