Cecilia was safe, for now at least. But what of her size? She had been stranded at her current height for some time now. Was she doomed to be no taller than this?
She kept her concerns to herself, patiently waiting in Roy's hand. When he got closer to the exit, he clasped his free hand over the tiny pair. Not wanting to cause a commotion, he hid them from the view of the many Lycian soldiers pouring through the castle gates. At least, that was his plan...

Inside the darkness of Roy's grip, Cecilia was pressed against Sophia. The taller shaman was rather large compared to the mage, having to curl up to fit snugly between Roy's hands. Cecilia had a little more space, but not much. Little light filtered through Roy's fingers, leaving the magical ladies in relative darkness.
Suddenly Cecilia felt something brushing against her head. She moved, only to contact the smooth surface once again. All of a sudden, it was rather cramped for the green-haired woman. Her body started to push into Sophia, the dark mage letting out a startled gasp. She could see little, but Cecilia realized what was happening.
I'm growing again? Now, of all times?

The contents of Roy's hands slowly got heavier, and harder to hold. Unthinking, he pushed back against the force from within his hands. There was a small squeak in response. Confused, he removed his hand from the top of the little ladies to see Cecilia equal in size to Sophia. His handheld teacher grew bigger and bigger, her size starting to push Sophia off Roy's hand. To save her tinier companion, Cecilia stepped closer and closer to the edge of Roy's palm. However as she continued to enlarge, maintaining her balance became too difficult.
Cecilia fell from Roy's hand. She grabbed onto Roy's little finger, her fast reflexes saving her from a fall. She gripped tightly to the giant digit with both hands, her body dangling in the air.
"General Cecilia!" Roy quickly grabbed her foot-tall body with his free hand, fingers wrapping round her waist. Cecilia took a moment to calm down. Her growth had almost caused her to fall to her death.
"Thank you, Roy." She said. She let go of Roy's finger, trusting him to hold her in his other hand. She seemed to have stopped growing for now, but she knew she would soon shrink again.

"Are you all right?" Roy asked the tiny general. Sophia peered over his palm, looking down to check on the now bigger woman.
"Yes, I'm fine." Cecilia confirmed. She looked around. "Oh..."
"What?" Roy looked up to see a mass of soldiers ahead. Many looked confused, some of them with jaws agape. Rather than making a discrete exit, Roy and Cecilia had given the soldiers a very strange display.
"Uhh... Forget what you just saw!" Roy commanded. "Secure the castle!"
"Yes sir!" Some of the more dedicated soldiers answered straight away, saluting. They headed off, though some of the soldiers lingered in confusion. Before long, the hallway was cleared.
Cecilia felt herself flush with heat. "I must have looked rather foolish. I hope none of them recognized me at this size."
"They were quite far away." Roy pointed out.
"I suppose so..." Cecilia agreed.
Sophia said nothing, the dark mage curled up on Roy's palm. She hadn't moved from her defensive position since seeing the soldiers, not used to having so many eyes on her at once.

Deciding not to head outside just yet, Roy found a quiet room nearby. He put the tiny ladies on a table, before sitting down on a nearby chair.
"So, what do we do now?" Roy asked. "Any ideas on how we fix this?"
"I... Have an idea..." Sophia spoke for the first time in a while.
"You do?" Cecilia asked.
"Yes... I don't know how to remove the effects of the spell, but..."
Cecilia felt a bit disheartened at her statement, but waited for Sophia to explain her idea.
"Perhaps the spell can be replaced... By the version I mastered just now..." Sophia said.
"You mean the one you used on the tome?" Cecilia asked. Somewhere along the line, she had dropped the book, likely when she had fallen from Roy's hand.
"Yes... You would still shrink, but you would... Return to normal size..." Sophia finished.
"I see." Cecilia still had concerns. "But won't the magic combine, and shrink me even smaller?"
"That is possible..." Sophia said, "but if I use it on you now... When you are big... I think it should work..."
Cecilia would hardly call herself big, but she must have been large to the small Sophia. Knowing that she would shrink again soon, and satisfied with Sophia's explanation, she didn't waste any more time.
"Very well." Cecilia agreed. "Please, cast it when you are ready."
"Yes..." Sophia began her spell.

Cecilia would be grown back first. She was glad, not for the sake of quickly returning to normal, but because she didn't want anything to happen to the young woman. If the spell didn't work, and she was shrunk even further, then at least Sophia would be spared from the same fate. As the spell was cast, Cecilia felt her time was running out, the slight shrinking signaling her reduction to an even smaller size. Just before her rate of reduction accelerated, the new spell exerted its effects, the foot-tall woman beginning to grow. Though slow at first, her growth picked up in speed. When near three feet tall, she jumped from the table, wanting to avoid crushing the six-inch Sophia. She bent her knees to break her fall. By the time she stood back up again, her growth had finished.

Cecilia looked to Roy. She was glad to see she was roughly the same size as he, or maybe a bit shorter.
"It worked!" Roy cheered.
Cecilia took a moment to look over herself, and her surroundings, confirming that she was the right size.
"Wonderful. Thank you, Sophia." Cecilia smiled down at the tiny tabletop mage. She saw the small Sophia smile back, a gentle expression on her little face.
"Can you grow yourself back now?" Roy asked the dark mage.
"Not yet... I must wait until I grow a bit bigger..." Sophia answered.
Roy seemed a bit bigger than Cecilia remembered. Had he grown since she saw him last? Or perhaps she was still a little bit smaller than normal? She did shrink a bit before Sophia's second spell worked...
"General Cecilia?" Roy noticed her staring at him, confused.
"Oh, it's nothing." Cecilia said. She kept watch over Sophia, waiting until she could grow herself back.

A few hours later, Cecilia was in the castle study. Sat at a table, she wrote in her journal, recounting the events of the day. Shrinking in size had certainly been stressful, but her problems meant little in the wider scheme of things. Nearly the entire continent had gotten involved in an all-out war against Bern. She had joined the Lycian League of course, keen to help Roy end the conflict as soon as possible.
Soon they would be moving out, for the Nabata desert to find Arcadia. Cecilia finished writing in her journal, closing the book. Placing it amongst her belongings, she stood and walked towards the door. Suddenly she felt an odd sinking feeling, one that was all-too familiar.
That time already? I suppose it has been a couple of hours...
Sighing, Cecilia crossed her arms and waited as she shrank. She thought she'd never get used to the strange distortion in her surroundings, yet it was already starting to seem mundane. Rather than an impossible experience, shrinking had become just another annoyance.
At least she was alone this time. Since Sophia used the spell, this was the second time she had shrunk. Last time she was in the middle of a war council. She could still hear the startled gasps from around the table as she shrank before everyone. Just thinking about it was embarrassing. She wondered if she'd always be known as the doll-sized general.
Cecilia snapped back into reality, realizing she had finished shrinking. She quickly looked around, getting a feel for her size. Confirming she was a foot tall once again, Cecilia sighed. At least her shrinking was consistent now. But she would be small for the next two hours!
Always so inconvenient. And we're about to march...
Cecilia headed for the door. Luckily it was open, one less hassle for her to deal with. Now she had to find someone to help her load her books and weapons into the convoy. Doing it herself would certainly be difficult right now.
She swore that one day she would cure herself of this cursed condition for good. Surely there was at least one book in the libraries of Etruria that had something about this strange spell. A concern for another day. For now, she just needed to find some assistance...