"We'll be fine!" Maeven had laughed when Cullen had expressed his doubts about the safety of performing magic with Dorian without anyone else present.

"We're going into the mountains to try out some new techniques, it'll probably be best if we didn't have a Templar to worry about our every move, and Dorian knows what he's doing."

She had cupped his face as she reassured him before releasing him and presenting her cheek. He had huffed a sigh but leaned forward to kiss her, at the last moment she turned her head and his kiss wound up on her lips. It was a chaste kiss, but still had drawn eye-rolls and snorts from their companions.

"We promise not to set the mountain down on you." She teasingly told him as she and Dorian settled on their mounts and headed out of Skyhold. "We'll be back in a few hours."

A few hours passed, and the morning progressed into afternoon. Cullen's mental state had gone from worry to distressed. Two hours before sunset he gathered thirty of his men and prepared to march out. Leliana quickly sent Cassandra to dissuade him from personally going. Varric's interest had been piqued by the Seeker's hasty exit from Josephine's office, and followed after. The Seeker and Commander exchanged heated words before Varric had stepped in and soothed tempers. He convinced Cullen to stay while he and Cassandra would take the men and search the Mountains. At least Maeven had had the foresight to mark the spot where she and Dorian were going to practice. Armed with that knowledge the two set out with Cullen's troops.

OooO

"Maker's breath! What happened?" Cullen exclaimed. Before him stood pair of grinning, gleeful children, namely their resident Tevinter Mage Dorian, and the Inquisitor.

"Dorian and me were trying out his ideas of Lexisuses magic!" Maeven exclaimed delightedly. "And then the green thing went 'boom!' and then we got turned small!" She finished bouncing up and down excitedly.

"That was more or less what we got from them when we found them." Cassandra rubbed her temples tiredly.

"We need to change them back." Cullen said shaking his head in denial. "We cannot have the Inquisition led by a…child."

"We do not even know what they did to produce such results." Cassandra shot back. "How can we possibly change them back."

"Peace, Cassandra." Leliana crooned to the agitated Seeker. She turned to the children, crouching to their height. "Do you remember what you did? Or perhaps have any thoughts on how to reverse it?"

Dorian sighed, "I'm afraid I don't have answers for you. Even if I did, Maevy doesn't have her magic, and the mark doesn't appear to be on her hand anymore. Without those, we cannot even begin to replicate what we did."

Cullen groaned again, running his hands through his hair. At least Dorian was capable of stringing together a coherent sentence. Maeven had gone off and was now poking about his shelves, picking things up and rearranging them. The severity of the situation completely lost on her.

The door crashed open startling everyone. Lucan Trevelyan stormed in looking equal parts furious and anxious. His eyes flew from person to person, lingering on young Dorian, before flicking to Cullen's, then dropping to the child peeking out from behind.

Maeven blinked at him for a moment before her face split into a huge grin. "Lukey!" She exclaimed and flung herself at him.

Lucan swallowed heavily. "Maevy?" He asked softly, crouching to her height. He framed her small face with both hands. He gave a breathless laugh and pulled her into a hug.

"What happened?" He asked after a while.

"Dorian and me got smalled." She told him.

"I see." He said seriously. "What did you do?"

"Dorian and me did magic!" She whispered excitedly. "Then the green thing exploded. Its not on my hand anymore." She thrust her small hand at his face, a small frown on hers. "I'm hungry."

Lucan huffed a laugh. "Alright let's see what Cook has made for dinner."

"You're going to bring her out? Where everyone can see?" Cassandra asked sharply.

"Has the fact that the Inquisitor has been made younger been told to anyone?" Lucan asked as he picked up his sister, who squealed happily at the sensation.

"No, but…"

"No one, save my family, knows what she looks like, and my parents aren't here to make a fuss. If no one knows she's a child again, then no one will know there is a problem." Lucan said brightly before leaving.

"I dunno," Varric piped up from where he'd sitting on the sofa. "but Broadsword doesn't seem too unhappy about his sister being, ah, smalled." He chuckled.

"Indeed, that is very strange." Leliana said softly.

"This is a nightmare." Cassandra groaned as Cullen turned to Dorian.

"What exactly, and when exactly, did things go wrong?" Cullen asked.

"I'm actually sort of hungry myself." Dorian said looking after the retreating figure of Lucan.

"Fine, after dinner…" Cullen began.

"I would also like a bath and a change of clothes. I feel terribly common in these rags."

Cullen had never wanted to strangle the mage more.

"I wouldn't advise letting Dorian be seen Curly."

"Why is that Dwarf?" Cassandra barked.

"Because how many Tevinter children did we have yesterday? People might not notice the presences of another little girl from the Marches, but people will notice if a smaller Tevinter suddenly shows up."

"Of course they will!" Dorian exclaimed. "They can't possibly miss the best looking young man they'll ever see."

Leliana sighed "Varric is right, Dorian must stay out of sight while we find a way to reverse whatever it is they did."

Dorian huffed but said nothing.

"Just how will we explain the disappearance of both the Inquisitor and Dorian the day after they left for a day trip?" Cassandra shot back.

"It is something we must think about. For now, Josephine and the other companions must know. And we must somehow conceal Dorian." Leliana looked thoughtfully at Dorian.

Cullen settled in his chair, rubbing his pounding temples.

"What's wrong?" Cassandra asked him.

"Maeven didn't mention anything about attempting Alexius' magic." He said tiredly. Had she willfully hidden such a thing? His heart twisted at the thought.

"Ah. About that. It was actually I, who suggested we try. You see I'd been thinking and theorizing in my spare time, I believe I'd thought of a way to safely perform some kind of spell." Dorian admitted, staring at the floor.

"You don't know?" Leliana prompted.

"No, I confess, parts of my memory are slipping away. It's getting harder and harder to remember exactly what happened."

"Why did you not speak of this sooner?" Cassandra thundered.

"Because I'd written everything down in my notebook as soon as we realized what happened. Maeven started showing signs of forgetting much earlier than I, presumably due to the age she has been returned to. Now if you don't mind, I would like something to eat before I faint from hunger." Dorian turned to leave before a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"You cannot leave until we have solved the problem." Cassandra said firmly.

"Well, I'd like to see you try after you've starved me to death." Dorian snapped.

"Maker's breath, get him some food!" Cullen all but shouted.

Everyone turned to look at him, Cullen didn't care. His head pounded, his chest felt weighted with lead. The only person capable of taking those things away was currently six years old and oblivious to everything. Someone out there had a sick sense of humor.

Yes I do! XD

Will be followed by other short stories that feature a "smalled" Maeven, while I figure out how to grow them again.