thehometree | Glimmer, glitter, shine...

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Glimmer, glitter, shine...

One by one, new adventurers now arrive in the Tree. As one gain wings and rises to the second floor, another light brings in the next person. Soon, a steady stream of people from all kinds of worlds, times and realities come to join the others. Whether confused, angry, excited or scared, your arrival is welcomed with nothing but joy as the fireflies and glow worms descend to greet their new friends.

The Tree offers no explanation and no reason, but the truth is undeniable.

As you will soon realize, it isn't easy to be tiny.

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"That is certainly true." Nor would Fuu have trusted a neat little explanation if one was offered, not without testing it herself. "I'd look for my own information in any case, with or without a starting point."

Hm... he was a knight, she was a Magic Knight. Was there any connection? "I don't suppose any of your fellow knights are here, Sir Kyle?" She hadn't seen the uniform on anyone else, but it would be easy enough to overlook in this crowd.

There was a brief pause before Kyle answered Fuu's question. "No... no one else. They must all be back at the capital." What was left of them, anyway.

"But that's probably for the best. How about you? Any familiar faces in here?"

"Yes--it wouldn't do for it to be undefended," said Fuu. She tapped her fingers on her chin and looked around again. The problem was that all three Magic Knights were young girls and now they were even smaller--Hikaru in particular would be hard to spot. But if they were here, they would all be looking for each other, and both she and Umi would be doing so quite loudly. No, for now Fuu had to conclude that she was here alone.

"It seems as though it's only me," she said with a little laugh. That... was not good. They had been together in everything they'd done in Cephiro. Fuu was certain they'd want to be here with her if they could, no matter what this place proved to be.

"Well, chin up," said Kyle. "I don't know why we're here, but if someone did bring us here, they can probably put us back."

Pro...bably. "So you seem a little more used to the situation than me. There a story behind that?"

"The only question is what conditions we'll have to satisfy before they do that." Fuu realized that her cheerful air was slipping and quickly remedied it with a bright smile. Umi and Hikaru had been strangers at first. This situation was more crowded, but of course she would make new and trusted friends.

"And there is, naturally quite a long one. I was summoned to help another world, with two other girls like myself." Well, like herself in being normal eighth-graders. "It was quite an adventure, but things did come out all right in the end. So I think we should be optimistic about this new situation as well."

It was honestly kind of weird how much Fuu smiled. True, Kyle smiled a lot himself, but that was because he was a lot older and also kind of a Stepford smiler himself oh nooo.

"That... sounds like a pretty rough job." Then again, Freyjadour was about Fuu's age, and Lymsleia was even younger. No one that young should have to bear that much responsibility on their shoulders, that was Kyle's take on things.

"...Don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it."

What, what, this is totally not a defense mechanism papering over past trauma or present uncertainty, geez Kyle.

Was she so transparent, or was he just surprised that someone her age had been involved in such a dramatic situation before? Hopefully it was the latter. Being taken to other worlds was typical in children's stories, but quite a different matter in reality. "Of course," she said, remembering her sister's words. "I wouldn't try to endure a situation like this on my own, Sir Kyle."

"Well, that's good to hear. Too much thinking on your own, and even the worst plans start to sound good." He put a hand on one hip.

"Not that I'm speaking from personal experience, of course. Teamwork's important for a Queen's Knight!" He never went off on his own, nope not ever.

"I would have expected as much." Fuu had no reason to suspect him of being insincere, as much as she'd dealt with certain friends and their bad habits of taking everything on themselves, so for now she'd take him at his word.

"Perhaps we should explore this place together," she suggested. "That way we won't come to conclusions that are too strange."

"Well, I've been wanting to know what's outside for a little while now," said Kyle, motioning to the nearest opening. "You wanna come with?"

Two were better than one, and six was better than two...

"Certainly!" Fuu pressed her hands together and smiled. "And if we run into any dangers out there, one of us will be able to warn the other."

Kyle made his way over to the entrance, where a golden web was spread over the door to the outside. Nevertheless, he was able to pass through without incident, and after a moment's hesitation, that was just what he did.

"Now this is a tree..."

Fuu paused at the door, waving her hand through the strands of the web several times. That it was enchanted went without saying. She remembered the webbing being totally impenetrable when she first arrived--what was controlling it? Was it one way?

She could see the splendid view of the outdoors beyond, but she hung back as Kyle went through. "Sir Kyle, could you please come back in?" she asked, hoping that he could comply. If not--well, then they'd have another puzzle.

Kyle stepped back inside. If he'd been from Earth, he probably would have asked if they were doing the hokey-pokey.

"What's wrong, you forget something?"

Fuu smiled as he stepped back through the webbing without a problem. "No, I was just testing something," she said. "I hope this web doesn't become solid to trap us inside or outside!"

So she said with a bright smile before stepping through herself. "Oh! You're right--my, everything looks so different at this size."

Great, she was using him as a guinea pig...

"If it does, we'll just have to find some way around it," said Kyle. No sense worrying about that sort of thing now. He stepped back outside, where a comparatively giant crocus was growing out of the earth.

"Pretty nice garden they've got growing out here. Reminds me of some of the spreads back home."

Hey, it's not like she wouldn't help if he did get caught. But as long as he's out there she might as well test it.

She looked up at the crocuses, reaching out to touch the. The texture of the smooth leaves was quite different to tiny hands. "It's like an arboretum, from this angle" she said, smiling. She started to peer closer at the veining, but remembering her words from earlier dutifully looked up. "That mist is outside as well--it's too thick to make out anything above it."

You know, it case that wasn't totally obvious.

Kyle didn't answer; he was too busy staring at something past Fuu, deep in the mist. Something not quite visible, but of hulking mass, which lumbered along to the sound of crushed grass and twigs.

O-oh...

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Glimmer, glitter, shine...

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