“Careful, princess.” The servant said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m fine, really.”

She sat down in her bed and looked at the concave walls of her chamber as the drapes were drawn. The servant came back, uncertain, holding a simple white tunic in her hands. She spoke again.

“Stop this at once.” The servant hesitated where she stood.

“My Lady?”

“You will lay this tunic beside me on the bed. Now go fetch my palanquin.”

There was a short pause. “It is.. already here, My Lady.” The tunic still in her possession, she stepped forward and placed it on the soft mattress. Clasping her hands together, she spoke softly. “I know I may be stepping out of line, My Lady, but don’t you think you aren’t…”

The look in the princess’ eyes meant just as much as what she didn’t say. The servant muttered an excuse and bowed slightly, walking backwards up to the simple archway that had been carved directly into the Great Oak’s core. When she had walked out of the chamber, she turned around and walked away.

Alone on the bed, the elf sighed. The festival had gone quite well the day before, and for that she was grateful, although she may have gone a little too far for her taste. She knew that was what her people needed, but she was still reminiscent of the extent of what she had put on display. But, there was no use in ruminating, it had already been done. Plus : it would all be back in a couple weeks, as usual.

She looked at the tunic beside her. It was a deep, rich, creamy white, so soft she wouldn’t even know she was wearing it without looking down at herself. Delicate lacework decorated both the bottom rim and the collar, expertly knitted by the silent sisters, the best knitters the Kingdom had ever seen. The cut-out sleeves would stylishly hang loosely at her sides while still exposing her shoulders.

She extended her right arm towards it, feeling the immateriality of the fabric with her stump, before pushing her arm inside to try and fit it over her head. Manoeuvring her body in this state was hard, she knew it, but she had always insisted on doing things herself after she had used her magic. She swung it up, hoping for it to land on her head, but aimed too high. Spinning around her arm like a pole, it crumpled beside her again, the straps and the sleeves already starting to get tangled up.

Bringing it up again, she slid the dress down to her shoulder in an attempt to fit her other arm through the sleeve. Even through the greatest of efforts, she couldn’t even get it inside the dress. A lot shorter than its twin, it swung far and wide, trying to gather up the extra lengths of fabric to slip her arm under it, but to no avail. The remnants of her left leg, which had been dangling off the bed since she sat up, mirrored her displeasure. Frustrated with her futile attempts, she swung the dress to the side and scoffed. She brought her right arm to her forehead, trying to find an alternative.

While she was tempted to call for aid, the princess was known to be particularly stubborn and would most likely not let herself be defeated by a simple tunic. After taking a few deep breaths, she squinted her eyes to focus on the discarded dress and her pointed ears twitched once. Slowly, like carried by an impossibly lucky gust of wind, the dress rose into the air. She meticulously untangled the mess she had made when trying to put it on, including a most tenacious knot between the lacework and the sleeves, before lifting the whole thing over her head and raising both her arms. 

As it lowered around her, she fit her arms through the open sleeves and adjusted the cups under her breasts and only then did she let go of her grasp.

Through this process, her right arm had shrunken even more, now ending slightly above her elbow, but not quite as high as her left one already did. She clicked her tongue and the air in front of her condensed into a floating mirror. Staring back at her reflection, she fixed her hair and set her dress properly around her hips. She wasn’t oblivious of the tingling sensation rapidly running up her left leg but at this point, she wasn’t sure if she didn’t care, or if she didn’t want to care.

She let go of the spell only to find her leg had been almost entirely consumed, from the middle of her calf, where it had stopped shrinking the night before, nearly up to her hips. She sighed again and set her remaining foot on the ground to stand and hop her way to the entrance of her chamber. She looked down from the balcony that led directly outside and noticed her palanquin stationed on the ground... several floors beneath her. By her orders, no one had stayed on the floor to help her down, both to her pleasure and dismay. She needed to make it all the way to the courtroom and still be able to keep her dignity, but she wasn’t sure how much energy she still had left. Surely not enough to make herself float over the entire flight of stairs, but maybe just enough for...

She lowered herself on her knee and sat back on her foot, going through her routine breathing exercises, this time completely closing her eyes. First, she pictured every inch of her body, in its current state, then the place where she currently sat. She could feel the hardness of the wood, the warm breeze on her skin, even the sap running deep inside the tree, still very well alive even though her chambers had been entirely sculpted in its insides. And only then did she imagine where she was going.

Accompanied with the sound of an millennial tree fractured in half by a storm, she materialized on the seat inside her palanquin. She opened her eyes to see exactly what she had built inside her mind : beams of golden metal supporting the richly decorated interior, with green curtains hanging loosely at the edges of the stationned platform. Outside, there was a commotion. Slacking off instead of being in position, the guards quickly rushed towards her and pushed the curtains aside. A satisfied grin on her face, the princess rose her chin and pointed forward with her shortest arm, under the acclamation of one or two passers by. The guards’ faces flushed with surprise, they promptly bowed and took hold of the palanquin.

She fell back in her seat as they lifted her and marched forward, instinctively jerking her legs up as she lost her balance. She set them back down and, without even looking, knew they were now the same length.