Hilda has a Fangirl

In a few short minutes, Hilda and Tina were standing in an elaborate white structure facing the queen, still bound but at least freed from the pole and allowed to stand on their own feet. The cold feeling of the floor under their feet and the sheen of the domed ceiling reminded them of the polished marble of the royal castle, but even Hilda could tell it couldn't be something so pristine and heavy. Of course, the rounded cap on the roof and the curvy spout coming out of the side told the formerly-huge women enough on their own.

As the two heroines looked around at the china hall, the queen ushered for her guards to leave them alone in the room. The fairies looked at each other with hesitation, but a second glance from the queen was all it took to send them on their way, hovering out into the adjacent hall and sliding the door (a flower encased in what appeared to be a glass disk) closed. The silence sent shivers down Tina and Hilda's spines, not only because they were still naked but also due to the intimidating presence of the queen.

Looking at her straight on gave the tiny women a better look at the queen of the sprites. What they had assumed at first to be a trick of the light, the blue glow surrounding her body, was even brighter inside the teapot. Her throne was a cork with a few iron bolts acting as the arms and back, but the way she sat in it was regal and poised, looking more beautiful than any human queen. Tina briefly thought this was part of her magic but couldn't focus on her well enough to figure out what it was. Hilda tried her best not to look at the queen's bare legs sticking out under her dress, sweating nervously. The queen saw her eyes darting around and smiled knowingly, crossing her legs and perfectly blocking the view of her intimates from the gaze of her captives. "Now, ladies," her lilting, lyrical voice burrowed into their ears and down their nerves, "I'd like you to explain why the ladies of my court found you on the bank of our river."

Tina tilted her head, confused. "Your river? You put us to sleep, tied us up, and kidnapped us, and now you want us to answer your questions?"

"Of course. You can understand my curiosity. It's not every day that we see humans at our size, you know."

"How can you tell we're humans?" Hilda stepped forward and asked timidly.

The queen giggled cheekily into her hand, much like a child playing a prank. Stepping off her throne, she walked over to the bound woman, the sway of her hips capturing Hilda's gaze. As she approached the knight, she brushed her chin with her index finger and smiled. "Why, that's simple. It's because..." she leaned in close to Hilda, the lady knight's eyes going wide with shock, nervousness, and a small hint of eagerness, and whispered. "I'm a huge fan of yours."

"Huh?" Hilda cocked her head, baffled by that response. "M-me?"

The queen laughed again, though this time not with the restrained poise she had shown before. This was a louder and more guttural laugh, and it caused both women to jump and fall to the ground on their bare bottoms. "Yes, you. The great Hilda Brandt, playmate of our kingdom for decades and provider of the greatest wealth we'd seen in generations! Of course, I'd be a fan of you!"

None of this cleared anything up, especially for Tina, who asked assertively, "What are you talking about? I've never heard of this place." Hilda nodded, her mind seemingly stuck on the word "playmate."

"Oh, don't act so modest, your ladyship. Feel free to indulge your daughter in our many escapades over the years. Oh, but if you wouldn't mind, could I share one of my own first?" Hilda, lost for words, simply nodded, her mouth hanging agape. "Oh, yay! But which one to start with? There's always that time you got hit with the illusion spell and wandered the forest for days in blissful euphoria, leaving your armor and clothes behind with us. Then there's the day you traded your armor and sword for an "enchanted" fig leaf and a small stick that the old guard said would make you the most beautiful woman in the land; that's a good one. Oh, I know! I should regale you on Hilda's struggle against the mighty Grindlemox, the devourer of the fairies. Even when she was cursed by the beast to have everything touched by her skin turn invisible, including her clothes, she fought valiantly and saved our people. What a glorious warrior!"

Tina looked at Hilda in bewilderment, and Hilda's eyes went wide with recognition. She gasped and pointed at the queen like a schoolgirl figuring out the answer to a teacher's question. "It's you! You're the fairies who kept stealing my stuff on my quests into these woods!"

"Naturally." The queen brushed her azure hair over her shoulder vainly. "Who else would entertain us so thoroughly but Hilda Brandt?" She turned to Tina, smiling ear-to-ear. "You have to tell me what it was like to grow up with Hilda as your mother. Did she talk about us all the time? I can only imagine she missed us as we did her, but raising a child must be taxing for humans, I'm sure."

Well, it probably was to my nannies, at least. Tina thought but avoided snarking at her mother in front of the fairy queen. "Um, look your, uh, majesty-"

"Oh, please, call me Brightra."

"Um, right..." Tina was hesitant to talk with someone so obviously enraptured with her mother. "Not that I wouldn't love to share stories about my mom, but we kind of need to be on our way."

"Whatever for?" Brightra asked, looking at the tiny humans quizzically.

"Well, uh... we've been shrunk," Tina said plainly, confused as to why she needed to state the obvious.

"And we'd really rather not be," Hilda added, emphasizing the point.

Brightra looked between Hilda and Tina for a moment before her eyes lit up. "Oh, of course, how silly of me. Humans must not be used to life at this level. Well, don't worry. My servants will get you situated." Before the two women could ask what she meant, the queen snapped her fingers, and four guards flew into the throne room, hovering at attention behind the captive humans. "Take my guests to the guest chambers to be cleaned and readied for dinner. And for pity's sake, undo those wretched bindings."

"Understood, your eminence." One of the guards held out her hand, and a glowing green blade appeared in her grasp. She cut the bindings on the naked ladies, baring their chests for the world once again, and signaled her fellow guards to pick them up, with each one hooking their arms under the knights' shoulders. Before they could utter a word of protest, Hilda and Tina were carried out of the throne room and down a long hallway, out of sight of the queen, still chuckling to herself with gleeful excitement.