I...I was still small. Why? I got here in time for the pod to bloom, so why wasn't I normal sized again? It didn't make any sense. But I'd I was honest with myself, did I really want to leave all of this behind?
I was pulled away from my thoughts as twinkling lights rose from the pod and swirled around the room, illuminating the room with a cheerful air as they glided to stop in front of me and formed a sparkling image of the woman I now know was Tara, the Queen of the forest. The twinkling lights suited her, they were awe-striking and beautiful, but not gaudy and overdone. They gave the gentle, if ghostly, quality of a powder painted translucent glass figurine, much like what you might find atop an antique music box. She was there, but wasn't at the same time. The shimmer of the lights made her seem as if she was fading in and out of our reality and one somewhere else, which she was. Her ghostly form smiled softly at me, "Take care of them for me," She said gently, then turned to Ronin, who was smiling for the first time I had seen, "There's that smile," she said to him with a grin, and his joyful smile turned to one of sadness and longing. Turning back to me, she placed her lips to my forehead, then faded back into the realm from which she had come. I heard a gasp, but didn't understand what was going on. The next thing I knew, they were all bowing. Why were they bowing? I wasn't someone important. I was M.K., the stomper who got shrunk and fell in love with a leaf man...did I say that out loud? It's not like I was the Queen. The Queen...oh great...
Nod well...nodded. Gestured with his head would probably be a better word, for me to look down. The sight that awaited me made me gasp.
All the way to the floor, falling in soft, cream colored ripples, were rose petals forming the swirl-waisted skirt and bodice of a dress that slowly transitioned to an iridescent ivory at the train to a vivid red characterized solely to roses, with no definite point of change between the colors that slowly shifted through the color spectrum as they spiraled upwards. Though I couldn't see it, I knew by the weight of it that my hair had at least doubled in length instantaneously with two waterfall braids that met in the back of my head, leaving soft curls falling through in a cascade of auburn.
Looking around, I made myself place a smile on my face, seeing as everyone else was happy. Except one. There was only one face in the crowd that wasn't smiling, though her mother reprimanded her and it was evident that she was trying, I could still see the tears in her eyes. I couldn't just let her cry, could I? I walked over to her, though it was slower than usual, as any dress that beautiful is, naturally, very heavy. When I reaches her, she looked up at me with tears in her eyes as I bent to eye level with her and pulled her into a gentle hug. "Its okay, sweetie, you are a queen, whether anyone else knows it or not, and you'll do great things in your lifetime," I told her. It was a strange feeling, I was talking and the words were mine, but I felt as though it was someone else speaking. I would just have to get used to it I supposed, and it was okay, I realized as she smiled up at me, her tears stopping gradually. Ronin nodded his approval with a small smile, and Nod just kept his smirk-like from in place.
The festive atmosphere remained, and it appeared I was the only one troubled by easily Mandrake was imprisoned. It appeared to me that he wanted to be locked up. As if this was all a game to make him feel glorified. And that child me to the bone. No one, not even Nod could make me change my mind about the fact that something was coming. Something big.