Tatiana opened her eyes as the heavenly light that surrounded her faded.
“I swear to use these powers wisely, Faerie,” Tatiana said as she lifted her head to look up at the statue. However, instead of a statue, she saw a large stone wall, with almost impossibly large bricks.
“Huh?” said Tatiana, tilting her head in confusion. “What happened?”
“Tatiana!” Zeke called out from behind her, hearing his boots hit the cobblestones as he ran towards her. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, Zeke, don’t worry,” Tatiana said as she turned around slowly. “And why are you so… loud…”
Tatiana’s voice trailed off as her eyes widened. Far off in the distance, she could see Alm, Celica and the others staring down at her as Zeke came up to her. The ground shook slightly as Zeke’s massive form came to a stop, then knelt down in front of her.
“Whuh… buh… Er… um…” Tatiana stammered in shock. “Z-Zeke? W-when did you get so… big…? Unless…”
“I’m afraid I am not the one whose size has been changed,” Zeke said. “It seems that you are the one who has been… shrunk.”
“I… I shrank…?” said Tatiana, looking over herself in confusion. “But… but why would the Faerie do that…?”
“I can’t say for certain, but I believe it may have to do with the other boon she has granted you,” said Zeke.
“Other boon? What are you talking about?” Tatiana asked.
“Step into my hand, and I will show you,” Zeke said, laying a hand flat on the ground with his palm up. Gingerly, Tatiana hiked up the hem of her new (admittedly beautiful) dress as she carefully stepped up onto Zeke’s hand.
“Are you ready?” Zeke asked, and Tatiana nodded. Zeke stood slowly, but even that sudden movement felt like a massive shift under her feet, causing her to stagger slightly. Thankfully, she didn’t fall flat on her face or otherwise embarrass herself.
“So, what did you want to show me?” Tatiana asked once Zeke had stopped moving.
“Look at the Idol of the Faerie,” said Zeke, pointing at the statue with his free hand. “What do you see?”
Tatiana turned around, feeling a strange twitching feeling in her back as she did so.
“I see… a woman, wearing a long dress,” Tatiana said slowly. “She’s twirling it with one hand as she steps forward. On her back she has a pair of… wings… wait…”
“Yes,” said Zeke as he lowered his other hand. “Now tell me, can you feel this?”
Tatiana felt a shiver run down her back as a large finger brushed against something, no, two somethings, that were connected to her back, but not a part of it. As she shuddered, she felt the somethings moving back and forth. Stunned, Tatiana turned her head to look over her shoulder. Just visible out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a shimmering green butterfly wing, similar in colour to her own hair. As the wings moved slowly, Tatiana felt new muscles in her back shifting in time with the movement of the wings… her wings…
“I have wings…” Tatiana said quietly. Slowly, a joyous grin spread across her face as she turned to look up at Zeke’s massive face. “Zeke, I have wings!”
“You do,” said Zeke, smiling softly. “Though I wonder how such a thing is possible… and why this occurred to you,” he said as his smile faded. “Why would the Faerie reshape you in her image?”
“I don’t know,” said Tatiana. “Oh, but maybe that hermit we met in the entrance will know!”
“A sound suggestion,” said Zeke, turning to look at Alm. “Tatiana and I will speak to the hermit. I do not wish to overwhelm him or make him feel threatened if we all approach him.”
“Alright, good idea,” said Alm. “We’ll wait in here for you two to get back.”
“And after what just happened, I don’t think anyone else will be using the Idol until we know more,” said Celica.
“Very well,” said Zeke. “We will return shortly.”
“Wait!” Tatiana cried, causing Zeke, Alm and Celica to look down at her. “Um… before we go, can… can I try something?”
Zeke frowned slightly, then nodded in understanding. “Of course,” he said softly. “Take as long as you need.”
Tatiana smiled up at him, then took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. Closing her eyes, she focused on the new movements she had felt in her back earlier. New muscles that had recently formed began to move, slowly and weakly at first, but growing stronger with each passing moment.
“Open… close…” Tatiana said quietly, timing the movement of her new wings with her words. “Open… close… open… close…”
She repeated the two words a few more times, slowly getting a feel for how her wings moved. Once she was more confident, she began moving her wings faster, slowly building up speed until her wings were flapping quickly.
“Okay, that should be fast enough,” Tatiana said. “Here goes… hup! Whoa!”
Tatiana grunted with effort as she jumped up into the air, then cried out in surprise as she shot up into the sky, her body tumbling and twisting around wildly.
“Eeek!” Tatiana squeaked in panic as she flailed about, her dress billowing around her wildly. She lost her balance and found herself flipping upside down briefly, her head spinning as she tried to right herself. She swung her arms and legs around, and slowly managed to right herself.
“Hoo,” Tatiana breathed out heavily once she was the right way up, her wingbeats slowing to keep her hovering in place. “Okay… okay… whew. That wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be.”
“How do you feel?” Zeke asked.
“I’m okay, I think, now that I’ve found my balance,” said Tatiana. “Alright, I can hover, but how do I actually fly? Hmm… maybe if I…”
Tatiana started trying to lean her body forwards, starting with her torso. Looking down, she could see the ground moving below her as she began to move forwards. She tilted back upright to stop, then started leaning backwards. Sure enough, she should feel the air around her moving past as she moved backwards. Leaning left and right achieved similar results, allowing her to move to the sides without moving forwards or backwards, almost like a sidestep. She also found that flapping her wings faster made her rise upwards, and slowing her wingbeats caused her to drop downward.
“Okay, I think that’s enough practice,” Tatiana said, spinning around and moving to fly in front of Zeke’s face. “Come on, let’s go find that hermit!”
Zeke chuckled. “Of course, my love. After you.”
Tatiana giggled, then turned and flew towards the entrance to the Idol Chamber. Zeke nodded at Alm and Celica, then followed after Tatiana, who was moving surprisingly quickly for her size.
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