Copyright J.B. Norman
“This is vexing,” Tenebella mutters. “I am quite vexed.”
“But you’re so cute!” Kat says.
An unfortunate magical mishap has left Tenebella trapped in a small, child-like form with much-reduced magical powers. As the five members of the Four Horsemen of Castle Ansangaar — including the female Gwaedbran, who objects to being counted as a Horseman — feverishly pore over an entire library’s worth of magical tomes for a potential solution, Kat works to keep up Tenebella’s spirits.
And resist an overwhelming urge to pinch her cute little face…
Tenebella glowers up at her. “Stop patronising me. It is especially vexing. Particularly because I’m four months older than you!”
“Ahem,” Kat stammers. “Why don’t we get some lunch?”
She glances over her shoulder to the Horsemen — and Gwaedbran.
“I think it’s still going to be a while.”
“Take heart, my lady,” Captain Ratsumies says. “We’ve found a promising lead.”
She points down to the dusty old book on the table.
“Although it’s written in ancient Tanithite, we’ve found something that’s either a spell to reverse the effects of other spells, or a bawdy limerick,” he says.
He flips over to the next page. A deep blush creeps into his face.
“Apologies my lady. It is most certainly a bawdy limerick. And quite the bawdy at that.”
He hastily slams the book shut.
“Rest assured, my lady, we shall do our utmost from allowing this material from scandalising any innocent sensibilities.”
“I would like steak,” Tenebella informs Kat.
She glowers up at Kat again.
“I will not suffer any smart comments about serving size,” she says.
“I didn’t say anything!” Kat protests.
“I may not have access to my magic, but I am the perfect size to kick you in the shins,” Tenebella notes.
“I didn’t say anything!”
“Very well,” Tenebella declares with a nod. “Let us be off.”
“Where is it going?” Kat cries, watching the tiny Tenebella eat a steak that’s nearly as big as she is.
“Yes, well,” Tenebella says, dabbing her mouth with her napkin. “Now you know how the rest of us feel watching you eat an entire cow.”
Captain Ratsumies and the other Horsemen — and Gwaedbran — burst into the room.
“My lady,” Captain Ratsumies pantes, clutching another old book. “We’ve found it. We’ve deciphered yet another ancient Tanithite spell!”
“Cast the spell, Captain,” Tenebella bids.
Captain Ratsumies consults the book. The words of the incantation echo off the walls and every starts to feel that weird magicy way that makes Kat’s teeth chatter and makes colours smell like sounds.
Kat notices that Tenebella doesn’t look all that different. Then, she notices something else has clearly gone terribly wrong.
She gasps.
“Wait,” she says. “Why do I feel small?”
“Ah, apologies,” Captain Ratsumies says, flipping to the next page. “It has been a while since I formally studied ancient Tanithite. It seems I’ve gotten a little rusty.”
“Kat,” Tenebella says, moving towards her. “Your little is so cute. I must pinch it!”
“I’m still bigger than you!” Kat cries.
My inspiration here, broadly for the scene overall, but especially for that header quote is The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated!, an anime that I’ve mentioned several times now and has quickly become one of my favourites.
In brief, Jahy is a fairly typical Fantasy-genre Dark Lord-type figure — though technically not the Dark Lord; she’s the second-in-command — who ends up banished to a non-specific city in Japan (unless I just haven’t been paying attention, I don’t think it’s ever established to be an particular real city), stuck in a tiny child-like form and working as a waitress (though she uses her limited available power to return to her big form to work) to afford rent and food.
For an anime with a haughty demon sorceress as a main character, it’s a shocking relatable series. And not just because the second theme song translates to “Life is Hard, Give Me Money.”
Also, I’ve established Tanith as basically Realmgard-Carthage, and located it on the Wandering Coast, the equivalent of North Africa, so Tanithite writing shouldn’t look Ancient Egyptian. I’m not sure at a glance what form of Egyptian that is is in the header image, but Tanithite should logically look more Phoenician, but that header image is a simple way to convey “ancient and hard to translate.”
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