ADLER

The child stirs in her sleep. Is she a child? It doesn't matter anymore. Cephine is right. This little girl has some amount of power over me.

Ribbons of silk frame Greta's face as she wakes. Giggling through the bubble of a hiccup, she sits up taking another sip out of my goblet. Too much wine.

Over the hum of our room's private bath, the voices of those moving about in the tavern below can still be heard.

"W-what are you doing?"

"Relaxing. Many taverns have such a spring. Think of it as a mini bathing pool."

"It is tiny," she whispers with a sleepy smile.

My little pearl's tunic is tangled around her feet making her stumble from the bed. In a hurry, she untangles it. When she stands back upright, she openly looks over my chest with a growing blush.

Timid, she averts her eyes beneath the shade of her silky hair as she slips off the bed.

"She is delirious," my cynical son remarks across from me.

Small hands grip my shoulders. Brommy's attention remains on my star map.

"I'm not so certain. She must know you are here as well," I announce while lifting her squealing mass into the spring beside me.

"Her clothes are going to be soaked."

Interesting how the wine makes her more intent on getting close to me. Then again, the water is no longer warm.

My little pearl wrinkles her nose while latching onto my arm. "It smells!" she remarks.

Brommy laughs at her drunken, confused expression.

"It's the sulfur," he informs her.

Her pet leaves her neck and swims out into the center of the spring water. I try to focus on its tiny body rather than her soft legs that are circling around me now beneath the water.

"You're turning purple, Adler."

"No," I counter in a tight voice while watching my little pearl. "I'm just not used to being touched like this."

***

GRETA

Why am I wet?

And cold...very cold.

When I come to, I find my legs cramped and straddling the torso of a man. My heart hurts. It pulses rapidly when I lock eyes with Adler.

"You have woken."

"What am I doing in here?" I panic.

My brain feels clouded. I don't know why my world slips into blurs, but it is hard to discern his shape from the smudged blur of dim shapes around me.

Why is it so dark?

A deep voice whispers near my neck, "You came in last night. Don't you remember?"

Brommy?

"N-no!" I argue while flailing my arms around in the water to escape his nearness. "I'm getting out now."

However, my knees bang into something hard as a rock. Is it a rock?

Heat fans across my neck making every nerve come to life. Strong, icy fingers latch onto my waist. I tremble feeling his hand pass over the newly healing cut on my chest.

"I'm so sorry, my sweet. Let me make it up to you," Adler murmurs against my neck.

I cover his hands with my own.

"No!"

Somewhere behind me, water splashes. Brommy laughs at my outburst.

The figures of the two men tower above me now as they stand together.

Adler's voice is firm, "You have shrunken, my hatchling, to the size of a newborn. Let me help you out so you can dry off. Enoch is down in the dockyard market. We will share breakfast there."

A large warm cloth falls over my head. I dry my face off and blink a few times as my vision adjusts.

Knotted at Adler's waist is his tunic which now only covers his lower half.

He picks me up quickly and tucks my head into his chest while stepping out of the strange small pool.

"You're so tiny now. I hope your cut is feeling better, my sweet," he murmurs in my ear. My face burns when he kisses the small of my neck.

"Don't get too cozy with her, Adler. You don't want to walk out of here both purple. Enoch will have you put away, again," Brommy warns in a serious tone.

"I am emperor. He holds no power-"

"He has the people's favor now. Your wrongs in the book of jurisdiction have been released to the public. So, contrary to your drunken delirium, Enoch is the actual emperor you crowned, remember? He has more power than you and I at the moment. Where have you been all this time? Oh, right. Imprisoned by the ungrateful brat. Shocking."

"What?" Adler growls making my smile fall.

"Cephine decreed it be in the public's hands. Being your empress, she has every right to. Don't you remember what we were talking about last night? You striked the emperor, Adler. The hospice keepers witnessed it as well. The news is everywhere - Cephine did not have to bother with the book of jurisdiction. Your guards have families as well. What do you think they did after getting home and witnessing you whipping Enoch and killing your own men?"

Adler remains silent.

"I know Brommy is not your son," I say while holding onto his shoulder. I want to walk on my own. I don't like being held when I'm this small. It makes me feel helpless. "Can you put me down now, Adler? Surely, Brommy and you can work with Enoch to make sure Zard leaves. Maybe I can talk to Enoch and get you both the opportunity to work together."

"No," Adler replies in a monotone. "You are not leaving my hold until we return to the city," he babies while rubbing my back.

Beads of sweat drip down his neck. It is unbearably hot in here. No wonder they were sitting in the ice water. My tunic is almost completely dry already.

Our star really is changing.

"Adler?" I panic watching him shrink down to the ground.

The lines in his face vanish and a new youthful softness glows from his skin. I don't know how he isn't bothered by his sudden change in physical appearance for he only reaches Brommy's waist now!

"Oh, dear Ashta. Why the cosmos now?" Brommy grumbles while peering down at us.

It's funny how high Adler's voice is, "Walk with us to the tavern grounds, Brommy. Bring my voltak around-"

"You are too small to ride let alone carry Greta. I will have to hold her now," Brommy explains with concern.

Adler backs away from him with clumsy footing.

"No!" he argues while running off with me.

Brommy stomps after us.

"Damn it, Adler! You're going to drop her. You don't want Enoch to see you like this. What am I to do?"

"We will leave. Tell him I am taking Greta. Return here quickly and take us on your own stead. My stature should return by the time we make it to my temple. Perhaps, my sweet can reason with him. If we are to leave this place, along with the civilians, we will need light. The very light he has come to take. Enoch will just hand it over. He is too weak to stand up for this city. He has no plan when Zard leaves and the mongrels will have lost their patience by then. Enoch has no way of dealing with him other than giving him everything he wants."

Brommy walks toward the entrance to our tavern chamber.

"You don't know that," he argues lightly while walking out, "We need to work together. You can be angry with Enoch later. He did not kill you, Adler. He used Greta to keep you in place the same way he is using you to keep Zard in place. You can't even see that, can you?"

"Enough, hurry back. I will remain here with my little pearl," Adler says.

Newly alone with Adler, I begin to cry, but I can't help it. This tiny body affects my mentality and I do not want to depend on him like this.

His strength is reduced.

I can feel him struggling to carry me over to the bed.

"I'm sorry, I am trying to take care of you. I won't let anyone take you away," he says in a little boy's voice. He crawls onto the bed beside me and hugs me to his chest while watching the way Brommy left with a death glare. "You're going to be safest with me. My maturity is still in tact. Do not worry, my sweet."

How can I not worry? There is no guarantee I will grow back. I have no idea about him either.

Besides, beneath his soft words, I can feel how rigid his body is.

I peek up at his face again and find him smiling down at me as though a minute ago he did not look ready to murder Brommy.

"Hi," he coos while tickling my belly. "You're so cute. No more worrying. Soon, they will all be dead. Then I can have you all to myself...and you will become my little clever queen," he whispers while petting my hair. "No one will ever suspect our relationship then. I'm afraid your new height is going to be permanent as our star is shrinking quite rapidly now."

"What about you?"

"My age puts me at an advantage. The males of our species have a stronger tolerance to changes in our levels of star dust. I will return to my height."

I want to be angry, but all I can feel is the void he's always been in. Some unspoken sadness that dwells in his eyes and sucks me in every time I look at him.

How can I ever think of living on my own this tiny? I don't want to be babied.

"I want my own life."

"You can do whatever you want as empress. That's why Cephine is here. She'll do your duties like court work and such. You can have your freedom while she takes care of all your boring duties."

No one is ever going to want to be with me though. There is no chance of me being taken seriously when I am so small. Even the hands that hold me now baby and belittle me.

My moods are getting worse.

When will it be over?

I close my eyes, feeling tears drip freely.

"Stop that," Adler hushes. He wipes my face carefully with the sleeve of his tunic. "So what if you're very small now? I think it just makes you more cute. We will find a way to make it work. It is working, isn't it? It has not stopped me from loving you. I'm sure Enoch will come around too, my sweet. You just wait and see."

This is new. His hope is refreshing, and for once, it is not for himself, but me.

Dwelling on things won't get me anywhere good. I'm happy Adler is changing, or at least, trying. It is helping me change too.

Maybe there really is no way for him to stop the end. Will so many people really have to die though?

☁️