Tina wakes up

Tina landed on the floor with a THUMP and, in her dream-addled state, thought she was still in Brightra's mouth. It was only the familiar feeling of porcelin under her bottom that started to wake her up from her nightmare. Her eyes began to adjust to the dim light and she recognized her mushroom bed, moss blanket, and fine china walls. She may have still been as small and as naked as she'd just been in dreamland, but at least she was relatively safe.

"Owie," Tina whimpered, rubbing her bruised derriere. "Why does everything have to be so hard around here?" In this case, "hard" referred to both her difficulty adapting to her situation and the physical sturdiness of the floor she'd crashed into. She may have been a knight ("may have" doing the heavy lifting there), duty-bound for adventure, combat, and protecting her kingdom, but this kind of physical strain was still too much in her estimation.

Tina stood up and started to pace across the room, not wanting to go back to sleep and risk seeing that nightmare again. Perhaps there was some way to ease her mind before slumbering once again. In the past, when Tina struggled with night terrors, Morgala would always give her a warm glass of milk and a biscuit to calm her down and send her right back to sleep. No matter what time of night (or day, sometimes), little Tina could always count on her nanny to put her right to sleep. It didn't dawn on Tina that this may have been why Morgala had such persistent bags under her eyes and a persistent exasperated frown.

There had to be some kind of warm drink somewhere in this palace. Tina decided to sneak down to the kitchen to try her hand at finding one for herself. She didn't trust the servants to get her what she wanted, nor did she think she could find anyone at this hour. After spending a futile few minutes trying to dawn her makeshift dress in the dark, Tina abandoned the idea and tiptoed into the hallway naked. It wasn't like she hadn't done it before. Her bare feet padded softly against the china as she took slow, careful steps toward where she thought was the kitchen. The palace was a maze even in the broad daylight, so navigating in the dark bordered on the absurd.

Tina had a brilliant idea, however. She chose to navigate not by sight, but by smell, and took a whiff of the air to try and pick up any tasty scents still lingering from dinner. She hardly had a strong nose (she'd inherited her mother's general obliviousness to her surroundings, and had to actively fight to pay attention most of the time), but the smell of cookies was something she'd always pick up no matter where she was. However, he air was dry and cold and nothing was able to catch her attention. Before she could give up, though, one thing made her nose perk up. It was faint, and the sheltered knight couldn't quite place what it was, but she knew in the back of her mind that it was something delectable.

The diminutive dame scampered down the hallway on the balls of her feet, following her nose. The faint scent grew ever so stronger as she darted past rows of dishes and precious metals, staying as quiet as a mouse in her pursuit. Finally, Tina's search led her to a large dinner plate door with writing on it that had to be more fae speak. She had no idea what it meant, but the smell was definitely coming from behind it. Screw the rules, I'm hungry! The queen can have her tantrum after I've gotten a proper night's sleep, Tina thought petulantly, her ravenous stomach starting to dictate her thoughts. As silently as she could, the naked lady pushed open the plate door to find...