Chapter Text
Ariana Oswald came screeching back to consciousness with a pounding headache and grass in her mouth. Which was irritating and odd - irritating because grass tasted absolutely disgusting (in her opinion), and odd because the last place she remembered being was in a place that didn't have a blade of grass in sight.
Odd, that.
She carefully flexed her muscles, wary of breaks or sprains, but found herself to be in relatively good condition. She sat up slowly, spitting out grass and looked around her with cautious, resigned eyes, wondering what the heck she'd managed to land herself in this time. A forest clearing, with silver trunks and golden leaves fluttering down to land on grass the colour of seafoam. It kind of looked like someone had turned the colour down on a tv screen, she thought absently. She could hear birds thrilling and animals moving about in the undergrowth, and a stream chattered excitedly only inches away from her feet, while the trees around her seemed to sing. But she couldn't really give a damn about singing trees or laughing streams (though she would turn the matter over in her mind later). No, her main worry presently was the fact that she seemed to be naked. When she glanced herself over to confirm that she was indeed starkers, another irritating problem presented itself.
Her body had shrunk. Well, maybe not shrunk, but de-aged. Her proportions were reminiscent of a toddler - flat chested and pudgy. Groaning, she inched closer to the stream to take a gander at herself. She was cute. Adorable, even. Her skin was rosy and soft. Her hair was almost white, it was such a light shade of blonde, and fell softly down to her shoulders. Her eyes were large in her face, her lips like petals and her nose was an adorable button. As her mouth dropped open, she saw that her teeth were tiny little pearls. Great. She had to go through the trauma of losing her teeth again. And puberty - god, wasn't three times enough?!
Fantastic.
As she squatted by the stream, she racked her brains trying to remember just what she'd been doing before she woke up. She'd been in Taiitsukun's palace, chasing a small platoon of Nyan-Nyans after they'd set her skirt on fire (the sneaky shits). And then they'd thrown something at her, and it must've been one of their flash bombs but it was a lot stronger than the ones she was used to. She'd gotten hit and landed flat on her back, heard someone barking orders, then nothing, and she woke up here. Completely naked. The situation wasn't getting any better.
Bizarrely enough, she could see her little bag hanging from a branch of a nearby tree. Annoyingly, she was now too damn short to reach it, and her super-charged phone, to call for help.
Bollocks.
After tottering around the clearing, she decided to stay put by a little willow on the banks of the stream. There was water there at least, and she figured that someone had to have noticed she was gone at this point. She'd give some of those Nyan-Nyan's a piece of her mind though, for landing her in such a mess in the first place.
When Ariana awoke sometime later, her stomach was starting to grumble and she was shivering. The temperature had definitely dropped, so she needed to get into her bag where she always kept a hoodie that she could wrap around herself before she got hypothermia.
But she hadn't woken up just because she was cold. Strange people were now in her clearing, puzzling over the bag - her bag - in their hands. She shrunk into the shadows of the willow, almost entering the water as her instinct to hide was squashed by a childish fear of not knowing who the strangers were, as well as the enormous urge to cry. She dug her fingers into the bark, furious with herself. She was an adult, despite her current appearance (and reasonably questionable behaviour at times), and she'd put herself through worlds of shit enough times that she didn't need to cry when she spied some strangers, for Pete's sake!
...although, maybe it'd be better to be cautious.
Caution flew out the window when a face suddenly peeped through the branches and she cried out in fright, stumbling backwards into the shallow water and nearly tripping. Hands flew to catch her, though they stilled when she screamed in fear. Then more of the branches were being pushed back until a lady appeared, crouching in the dirt as though she hadn't a care in the world. She had a flower garland in her hair, and a gentle smile on her beautiful face.
"We will not hurt you, little one," she said in a melodic voice. "Won't you come over to me? Surely the water is cold."
Celebrían, Celebrían, the river sang to her. Lady of Karningul.
Celebrían? The name was vaguely familiar, but Ariana didn't recall how, merely studying the lady with wary eyes. Her hair tumbled in long, moon-coloured waves about her lovely face, eyes like periwinkles regarded her gently, while her hands rested on her lap. It occurred to Ariana that despite the woman's apparent youth, her hair shouldn't be white - should it?
"Won't you come here?" Celebrían asked again. Ariana weighed her options and decided that she didn't really have much of a choice, so she stepped out of the water cautiously, hoping to God that someone would be nice and give her something to cover up. As she was taking careful, wobbly steps towards Celebrían, the stream chattered at her again, singing a silly little song that made Ariana laugh, even as she raged inwardly at the impulses of her childish body.
Daughter, Sister, Birthed from the Stream.
Warrior, Healer, Born to be Queen.
Celebrían took her into her arms, hefting her easily as though she weighed nothing and emerged from the branches of the willow into the clearing - and Ariana was suddenly reminded of how many people were there. And she was still naked.
Oh. My. God.
Ten pairs of eyes locked onto her, causing her to squirm anxiously in Celebrían's arms. Only one stepped forward, the others easily deferring to this strange man who looked so young but so wise. As the females approached, he looked down at Ariana with cool blue eyes. His face was set in a gentle expression. His hair was the colour of polished silver and hung just past his shoulders, and his features were as perfect as though he were carved from marble. His shoulders were wide and strong, his figure trim, and his legs long. He wore finely embroidered robes with flowing sleeves and an exquisite cut.
Celeborn, Celeborn, lord of light! the river sang again. Ariana turned and glared at the waters. She couldn't think with the damn thing singing like some kind of record player and...wait, what? As her mind stuttered, the man pulled his cloak off and wrapped it around her, cocooning her in warm velvet that smelt like sandalwood.
"What are you doing in our woods, little one?" he asked in a deep, rich voice. Ariana opened her mouth to tell him something, anything, but instead of a detailed explanation or stutters or even the swear words that were making the rounds in her head -
"No."
The man - elf - lord laughed softly, as though he hadn't expected anything less. Ariana, on the other hand...
Fucking...WHAT?
Oh god, on top of being the size of a toddler and looking forward to the joys of growing up, she couldn't talk? What the hell!?
The universe hates me, she thought mutinously as they moved through the forest. It hates me, and loves using me as its own personal punching bag. Screw you, universe.