The Princess's Servant

The air was filled with the fluttering of broad, yellow leaves drifting down in the stiff autumn wind as Brennan carried a heavy chest across the courtyard. Normally, he wouldn't complain about simple chores like this, but he'd been assigned to carrying the princess's belongings all day and now that the sun had drifted well past noon, the act was growing tiresome. He set the current chest against the ivy-covered wall that surrounded the palace - the rest of the chests had already been carried through the nearby gate - and decided to use its lid as a chair while he gave his arms and back a much-needed rest.

The work had been tiring so far that day, but Brennan was by no means weak. Beneath the simple workman's garb of black tunic and gray trousers, the young man was well-built from his years serving the royal family. And while it was certainly strange for a human to be seen in these parts, he was for the most part welcomed as a member of the household.

A member of the household who would not be permitted to travel with the princess this year.

"Moping again?" a familiar voice called from the top of the wall. Princess Flora Celestine Syllen - simply Flora to Brennan - dropped easily from the dark-leaved vines and landed on the chest beside Brennan. "You know that feeling sorry for yourself won't get you anywhere." The princess was the only child of the elven royal family and as far as Brennan was concerned, she was the most beautiful thing in the entire city. Her raven hair reached below her waist in a long, intricately-braided cascade, her deep eyes were as green as the jade necklace fastened about her slender neck, her blue silk gown complemented her body's natural curves perfectly. The human had served her since they were both children, and he wouldn't have chosen anyone else even if he had been given the chance.

"I know, I just had hoped to come along with you this time."

"I have already spoken of the matter with Magister Olaxidor."

Brennan leaned forward, his eyes glimmering with unexpected elation. Flora wanted Brennan along on the trip just as much as he himself did, so she must have been able to get her way. "And? What did he say?"

Flora sighed and shook her head. "Tradition dictates that I must leave you behind."

Brennan's momentary hope fell crashing into the pit of his stomach. If there was one thing the long-lived elves loved, it was their traditions. The specific tradition in question was the Rite of Falling Leaves: While Brennan hadn't been told the details being human as he was, what information he did have was still enough for his needs. When an apprentice sorceress reached a certain age (Brennan couldn't be sure of the exact number, but understood it to be the equivalent to nineteen in human years), she was required to take a journey across the Great Leaf-Sea to an ancient tower where an elf called the Star-Weaver lived.

"That's too bad," he said quietly, averting his gaze down to the moss growing between the cobblestones.

The princess brightened up and patted him on the shoulder as she said, "There you go moping again. I have a plan to circumvent the Magister."

Brennan looked back to Flora, trying to keep the hope fluttering in his heart from showing on his face as he did. "I wouldn't want you to get in trouble on my behalf."

"There's no need to fear punishment, Bren. I assure you, no one will even know you've been stowed away with me."

"I doubt that." He had seen the caravan being gathered for the princess and it wasn't nearly big enough to hide him from all the other servants, not to mention the Magister, who would be accompanying the princess as supervisor. "Unless you've been practicing an invisibility spell, I'm bound to be discovered before long."

Flora smiled slyly. "Not an invisibility spell, exactly..."

"Are you planning to use me as a magical test subject again?"

"No, certainly not!" the princess exclaimed. "I have already practiced this spell plenty of times. I wanted to make sure it was perfect for you before I unveiled my scheme." Flora concluded her response with a devious giggle, making her sound a bit more like a conspirator than Brennan was comfortable with.

"So are you going to show it to me?" he asked.

"Don't be so hasty, Bren. I will be ready to show you the spell at sundown. Meet me in the South Garden then." The princess leaned in close and lightly pressed a kiss onto her servant's cheek before spinning around and running off toward the palace's main hall.

"O-Of course!" he called after her, his face turning bright red from the unexpected gesture. This behavior was nothing new for the princess, but Brennan never got used to it. Sometimes, he suspected that was precisely why she kept it up.

Brennan tried futilely to put the mystery of what would happen at sundown behind him as he finished the day's chores. Since he was the princess's personal servant, he was spared from such unpleasant jobs as mucking the stables or sweeping the kitchen, but he still had plenty to do. The chests he had carried from Flora's personal quarters needed to be loaded into a stagecoach, her horse needed to be attended to, her room needed to be cleaned. Every few minutes, he would glance at the sun in the hopes of seeing it had moved closer to nightfall. Every time, he would be disappointed.

Despite the fact the day didn't seem to be moving forward at all, the sun eventually reached the western horizon. Brennan finished off his final chore for the day and hurried off to the meeting place, telling himself all the way there that he was only hurrying out of curiosity and nothing more.

The elven palace was ringed by seven separate gardens, each one dramatically different than the last in both architecture and plant life. While many of the gardens contained secret groves and out-of-the-way nooks, the South Garden was practically a maze. Thick hedges grew half again as tall as Brennan and cut the area up into narrow corridors and dead ends. At some points, curved silver lattices formed a roof out of roses and ivy.

It was under one of those sweet-smelling arches that Brennan found Flora waiting for him. The princess was seated on a low stone bench expertly carved to resemble a waterfall, a pocket watch in her hand. "There you are," she said, looking up and giving Brennan one of her usual bright smiles. "I was beginning to worry I had picked somewhere too hidden to meet you."

"Is there a point to the secrecy?" he asked. "It's not as if you need to hide the fact we're talking, after all."

The princess's smile didn't waver, but something in it changed and grew more devious. "You'll see. Stand where you are, Bren. I'm going to prepare the spell."

Brennan did as he was instructed as Flora pulled out a small notebook. 'Flora's Workbook' was written on the cover in the princess's less-than-stellar handwriting and the corners of the pages showed more creases and wrinkles than the oldest advisers on the royal council. "Ah, here we go," she said. Brennan noticed the page she had turned to had more strings of arcane text scribbled out than usual. That fact did nothing to calm his nerves. Just as he was about to tell the princess this might not be such a good idea after all, she finished deciphering what she had written down and began to speak the first dire syllables of the incantation.

The air around the two grew thick and hazy, the telltale sign of powerful sorcery at work. Motes of light like fireflies flickered to life around Brennan. Occasionally, one would caress against his arm or leg and where it touched bare skin, a wave of cold tingling would wash outward. In the heavy darkness, the hedges seemed to tower higher than ever around him. Strangely, the plants seemed to be growing farther apart at the same time. He looked back to the princess and was shocked to see she appeared to be a full head taller than he was. The human blinked hard and took a second look. Flora had always been shorter than him. But when he looked again, she had grown even taller. It was only then that Brennan felt his clothes start to grow loose around his body.

"F-Flora... I don't think-" Brennan started to protest, but it was clear the princess wasn't going to respond. In fact, he doubted she could even hear him at this point. She had continued to grow larger until she was twice his height, and even then didn't stop. Judging by the way she kept getting taller and his clothing was starting to pool around him, he started to realize she wasn't growing taller, but rather, he was shrinking. So this was how she planned to hide me, he thought as he tried to stave off the first rumbles of panic.

The tingling sensation from earlier grew stronger and stronger as his tunic and breeches fell off completely and he was lost in the mound of fabric. Brennan shouted to Flora, but the sound was barely more than a squeak and when he looked up, all he could see was crumpled brown fabric and, beyond that, darkness broken only by the swarming arcane lights.

A part of Brennan's mind knew he wasn't in any real danger: Flora was his oldest friend, after all. That part of his mind was overridden by the unfamiliar fear of being shrunk, however. The now-tiny human struggled against the cloth prison that had once been his tunic, his heartbeat feeling more like the blows of a crazed blacksmith in his chest. Finally, he managed to scramble up and out of the pile. As he did, he got a good look at the princess from a new angle. At his new height, Flora towered over him like the most ancient and revered trees surrounding the palace. Amid the leftover haze and sparks from the spell, she appeared both majestic and terrible, like a titan out of the oldest stories.

Brennan started to run as soon as he saw the princess bending down, but he knew running away was futile. His tiny legs wouldn't be able to carry him away from Flora's grasp no matter how hard he pushed himself. That fact didn't stop him from trying, though. The now-miniature human took off for the nearest hedge at a sprint. The tough branches were too dense for Flora to follow him, but at his current size, it would be no trouble to wriggle in and away from the hand looming overhead.

"Don't go in there, silly," the elf chided. In one motion, she dropped onto her stomach and wrapped her arms in a wide circle around Brennan, caging him in and blocking all exits. "Spiders live in there. At your current size, I wouldn't put it past one to try and make a meal of you."

Brennan swallowed hard on his fear and turned to face the princess. Her head alone was twice as tall as he was, and her curious face took up nearly his entire field of view. To his surprise, he felt a slight heat rising into his cheeks at the sight. He had always known the princess was considered beautiful, of course, but he had never had the opportunity to see her so up close like this. "Was... Was this worth it? Shrinking me, I mean," he asked.

"Of course! Now there's hardly any chance of you being found at all," Flora replied. "Besides, you're so cute like this."

Brennan's blush grew deeper at the compliment. "N-No, I'm not."

"Sure you are!" The princess moved herself forward on the ground, tightening the ring of her arms with the motion.

"You're just t-teasing me."

One of Flora's hands came up behind Brennan unexpectedly. The sudden brush of her fingertips against his bare back caused him to jump in shock. "If I wanted to tease you, I'd remind you of how you're naked in front of a princess," she said with a giggle.

Brennan was sure he would need to invent a new shade of red to describe the severity of his blush. His hands shot out to cover himself as best he could and he turned aside slightly, trying his best to preserve what modesty he had left. "D-D-Don't look!" he pleaded.

With another giggle, Flora knocked him onto his back and pushed his arms away. "Stop being so embarrassed, Bren. There's hardly anything to see anyway, what with how tiny you are now." As she spoke, her hand ran up and down his body, petting him like he was some mouse she had just found.

Brennan squirmed under her touch, but couldn't escape. "F-Flora, please stop..." he protested, though the words came out weak and unconvincing.

"But you're so much fun to tease," the princess said.

The shrunken human was in the middle of trying to think up an appropriate response when he felt Flora's fingers slide easily underneath him. Before, he had always marveled at how slender and delicate her hands were, but now he was able to fit easily into one of her fists. With a sudden movement that sent his stomach dropping, Brennan was lifted off the flagstone path and into the air as Flora adjusted herself back into a standing position. At first, he watched the ground falling away from him, but that soon gave him a terrible bout of vertigo and he shut his eyes tightly to stop the perilous spinning.

"Did I frighten you?" Flora asked, now cradling him with both hands. The sensation was pleasantly reassuring after the ordeal that had brought him to this height.

"A little, I suppose," Brennan admitted. "Just don't drop me, please." Only then did he realize he had been instinctively clinging to the elf's fingers.

Flora noticed as well, and apparently found his antics as cute as his new size. With a sound of delight, she lifted Brennan to her face and planted a kiss on him. Her lips were soft and warm as they cushioned against his face and chest in the loving gesture. "Don't worry, Bren. I would never drop you." The princess fished a pocket watch out from somewhere in her dress and flipped open the lid, then looked up at the sky. Stars were beginning to gather overhead and the red glow of sunset had faded to the cool black of night. "Oh, but it's getting late. We'd better get you inside. There's a big day of travel ahead of us in the morning, after all."

"And I'm not even prepared," Brennan said. Since until now, he had been under the impression he was to stay at the palace while Flora went on her journey, he hadn't bothered to pack anything at all. "I'll need some help, but I think I can... What are you looking at me like that for?"

In answer, Flora leaned down and placed another gigantic kiss on Brennan. "You don't need to pack anything, Bren. What would you even bring at your size? Unless you have doll clothes hiding in your quarters you haven't told me about."

"Of course I don't," Brennan said stiffly. "But the fact remains I need to be put somewhere tonight. If not my quarters, then where?"

The wide grin on Flora's face told him all he needed to know.

As he suspected, Flora brought him to her private quarters. She stuck to empty corridors and halls on the way up to the tower she called her own, and so there was little need for Brennan to hide. That was one fact he was thankful for. He could only think of a few places the princess would be able to hide him, and all of the options brought a terrible blush back to his face.

While Brennan had been into the princess's bedroom before as part of his servant duties, his new size gave him reason to reassess his surroundings. The first room in the suite was a simple antechamber for receiving guests and decorated in the usual elven fashion: graceful arches and intricately crafted furniture in hues of silver and green. Beyond an arched door set in the far wall was a spiral staircase. After passing another closed door Brennan had never been through, they reached the top of the tower and the second room in Flora's suite - the bedroom. The walls were more glass than stone here, with lace curtains drawn across the floor-to-ceiling windows. In the center of the room was a massive four-poster bed. The rest of the room was unusually empty, as most of her belongings had already been packed into the caravan in preparation for departure tomorrow morning.

"So..." Brennan said, his uncertainty showing through his voice. "Where will I sleep, then?"

"In bed with me," Flora replied.

The tiny human would have reeled back in shock and embarrassment if the princess's grip had allowed such things. "I couldn't possibly do such a thing!"

Flora nodded. "You're right. You'd get the linens dirty as you are now. When was the last time you had a proper bath?"

Brennan was too flustered to answer.

Taking his silence for an admission of guilt, the princess nodded sagely and said, "Just as I thought. Come on, we'll fix that right now."

As it turned out, the closed door they had passed on their way to the bedroom was a washroom. The room was much less decorated than the others, with simple stone walls and thick mats laid out across the floor. The washing basin had already been filled with steaming water and the air had been scented with jasmine.

Brennan struggled as he was brought into the warm room. "F-Flora, this is t-too much," he protested. The princess responded, but he didn't hear what she said. His entire being was focused on the loosening of her fingers about him and the sudden, sickening feeling of slipping out of her grasp. He had struggled too hard. With a cry of fear that was turned into a squeak by his size, he plummeted out of Flora's protective hands and toward the floor.

That would have been the end of Brennan if it hadn't been for Flora's dress. Before he could fall very far, he landed on the curve of her thigh and managed to grab onto the silky fabric. That wasn't enough to stop his descent completely, but it did slow him down enough that his free fall turned into a gentle slide. He followed the shape of her leg, until finally he reached the hem at her ankles and dropped onto the mats below.

"That was very foolish," Flora chided. "You could have injured yourself." The princess knelt down and placed her hands palms-up on the floor in front of Brennan, then waited expectantly.

Still panting from the terror of his near-death experience, he climbed onto her hands and allowed himself to be lifted back up. This time, he didn't struggle as he was carried to the wash basin.

As it turned out, Brennan didn't have as much to worry about as he thought. The princess was exceedingly careful with helping him into a bowl of water not deep enough to cause him any trouble. She didn't even get into the bath herself, as he had thought she was going to. After he had washed and dried on an offered towel, he was carried to the bedroom and placed on a pillow. He even found himself feeling a little disappointed when Flora left him to bathe alone.

When Flora returned, she had changed out of her dress and into a simple black nightgown. "I hope you're looking forward to the trip still," she said with a smile as she climbed into bed, being careful not to accidentally lie on top of Brennan. "Oh, and I'm sorry about teasing you so much. Seeing you like this just brought such joy, I couldn't hold back."

"That's alright. I know you weren't being mean by it." Brennan shifted uneasily on the pillow. He wasn't sure where it would be proper for him to lie down. Too close to the princess and he might come across as rude, but too far away and he might get lost amid the blankets. In the end, he remained where Flora had initially placed him.

For a long while, Brennan lied in bed and watched the shadows dance across the canopy draped over the top of the luxurious bed. He knew he should sleep, but his mind was too full of whirling thoughts to calm down enough for that. "Flora?" he said. When she didn't immediately respond, he turned toward her and repeated, "Flora? Are you awake?" The princess was turned toward him, her face relaxed in the gentle embrace of sleep. Brennan couldn't help but smile at the sight. She was about to embark on what could very well be the most important journey of her life so far at sunrise, and she was still able to rest so peacefully. If she can sleep so soundly, I should at least give it another try, Brennan thought. He stretched out on the pillow and closed his eyes. He would only rest for a bit, he told himself. If he didn't fall asleep right away, he would get up and look for a more comfortable place on the bed. The mattress was the size of a large courtyard to him now, so he doubted he'd run out of places to check. Maybe he would even try moving a little closer to Flora, just to see what would happen...