With his inch-tall companion safely in the palm of his hand, Corrin stepped into the portal. The light of the doorway between dimensions was blinding for a time, but quickly faded.
Azura opened her eyes. Looking around, she could tell she was somewhere very different from the realm she had come to know so well over the past few months. Trees stretched high above her tiny head, brown leaves fluttered to the ground in the wind. Further ahead she could see a vast stone wall, its limits beyond her field of vision. She wondered if this was yet another strange world.
"We're here!" Corrin shouted.
Azura looked to him, confused. "You know this place?"
"Of course I do!" Corrin said, "we're back home again!"
She gave the wall another look. There was something familiar about it, but was this really the wall of the castle? Then she remembered. The last time she had been here, she was her normal size. Stuck at such a small size for so long, her perception of the world had changed. The castle was the one she knew, only many times bigger than how she remembered.
"You're right!" she chirped, "we really are back!"
"After all of this time..." Corrin turned, Azura's viewpoint shifting as he moved, "so it took us out here..."
Looking up, Azura saw a vast expanse of water, like an ocean stretching into the horizon. She realized they were out at the lake, not too far from the limits of Corrin's castle. There was always something otherworldly about this place, that neither of them could put their finger on.
"I... I can hardly believe it," Azura said.
"Is this another dream?" Corrin wondered, "could we really be so lucky?"
"We should hurry to the castle," Azura said, remembering the others, "everyone else will be so worried, we've been gone for so long!"
"Y-you're right!" Corrin stammered. He clenched Azura in his fist and broke into a run, heading for the castle gates.
Corrin stumbled through the castle gates, utterly out of breath. Everything seemed just as he remembered it, the largely empty courtyard he knew. His treehouse was in the same place, too.
"Hello?" he called out, "Anyone here?"
"Lord Corrin!" he turned at the voice, one that he had not heard for so long.
"Felicia!" Corrin shouted to his retainer.
"It really is you!" she broke into a run, the fastest he had ever seen her sprint. But her steps were poorly coordinated, the maid stumbling more and more as she got closer...
"Felicia, look out!" Corrin warned, but too late. Mere feet from her lord, Felicia tripped, falling forward. Corrin reflexively withdrew the hand he held Azura in as Felicia fell. She crashed face-first into the ground by his feet.
"Ouch..." she whined, sitting up, "that's going to leave a bruise..."
"Are you all right?" Corrin asked, squatting down.
"I'm fine!" she said, her energy returning, "but more importantly, are you ok? You and Azura fell down that cliff!" Remembering the princess, she looked around. "Is she not with you?"
"I'm here," Azura called up from Corrin's hand, "it's good to see you, Felicia."
Felicia's mouth dropped open, her eyes opened so wide it looked like they might fall out of their sockets. She gasped, unable to find the words for a moment, before shouting. "WHAT?!"
Azura flinched at the deafening roar, her hands to her ears. "Please, not so loud..."
"But... How did you even...?" Felicia murmured, unable to settle on a question.
"It's a long story..." Corrin sighed.
"I see..." Felicia nodded, though her confused expression remained, "so there were strange dragon veins that turned Azura tiny and cute?"
"Yes," Azura nodded, ignoring the last part of her comment, "I'm not sure how to get back to full size. We traveled through some very strange places..."
"How has everyone been?" Corrin asked, "what happened when I was away?"
"Oh, Gunter and Lilith are fine," Felicia replied, "we escaped, then came back here. Not much has really happened."
"Not much?" asked Azura, "but the war between Hoshido and Nohr was just starting when we left..."
"W-well, I haven't heard anything new about that," Felicia said, "it started not that long ago..."
"Wait, how can that be?" Corrin asked.
"I-I'm sorry, it's just... We haven't had a chance to find out. We're only just back from the last battle, after all," Felicia explained.
"But..." Corrin began.
"Hold on a moment, Corrin," Azura interrupted, "Felicia, how long has it been since we last saw each other?"
Felicia looked even more confused. "A-about... two hours or so? Maybe less?"
"Two hours?!" Corrin repeated.
"We were all so worried!" Felicia said, standing up, "I should go and tell everyone else, they'll be so relieved!"
Corrin watched the maid dash madly away towards the barracks. He looked to the tiny woman in his hand.
"So we've only been gone for two hours..." Corrin said.
"That appears to be the case. Remember when we were separated? Time moved slower for you than for me. It seems we were in a realm where time moves much more slowly than in our world." Azura explained.
"Huh. So hours here became months out there..." Corrin pondered, "maybe that will be useful someday..."
"Perhaps. In any case, we should go and see the others," Azura said.
"Yes," Corrin agreed, standing up, "I wonder how they will react to seeing tiny Azura..."
"Felicia certainly surprised me," Azura said, "honestly, I had forgotten that I'm not usually this size."
"I had too," said Corrin, "I guess I've known you longer at an inch tall than I did at five feet."
"I suppose so," Azura smiled, "that's an odd thought..."
Smirking, Corrin walked towards the barracks.
"Well, I'm glad that's over with," Azura sighed, "how many more times must we explain my size?"
"Yeah, it's getting a bit tiring," Corrin agreed, walking out into the courtyard once more, "it's so strange. Everything is exactly as we left it, so long ago..."
Azura suddenly stood up. Feeling her movement on his palm, Corrin looked down at the shrunken songstress to see her staring towards the wall.
"Is something the matter?" Corrin asked.
"Can you feel it?" Azura said.
Corrin waited for a moment. "Feel... What? I can't sense anything," he replied.
"Go that way." Azura said, pointing to the exit of the castle. Corrin had no idea what was up, but he trusted Azura completely, so he walked in the direction she indicated...
"Where are you taking us?" Corrin asked as he walked through the small forest on the edge of the castle.
"I don't know," Azura answered, "but I think we're nearly there."
The tiny woman led Corrin to an incredible sight. Back at the lake where they had emerged from the other world, the water was aglow with a strange blue light.
"What's happening here?" Corrin asked.
"I don't know," Azura replied, "but I can feel something here."
Corrin watched for a moment, the light shining off the surface of the pool.
"This is kind of like where we met, right?" Corrin asked her.
"Not really," Azura answered, "that lake was much smaller than this one."
Corrin raised an eyebrow. "I think it was a bigger lake, actually..." The light rising off the surface also reminded him of Azura shrinking. The glow was just like that which enveloped her after using those strange dragon veins. "Wait, could this be..?"
"Put me in the water," Azura instructed, cutting him off.
"B-but..." Corrin gazed down into his hand, "are you sure? You're so small, you might drift away!"
"Trust me," Azura replied, "besides, I'm sure you'll be able to get me out again!"
"Well... All right," Corrin crouched down at the edge of the water, glancing around. Was there anything he could use to fish her back out again? He picked up a twig in his free hand, just in case a rescue was needed. He lowered Azura into the water, letting his hand be submerged. Stretching out her arms, she allowed herself to float in the water. Corrin watched in awe as her tiny body started to shine with light...