Leaves crunched below the pegasus knight's boots. Hinoka searched through the forest on foot, the dense trees preventing her from bringing her pegasus. The castle was well hidden, and had no shortage of food. However her wayward retainer, Setsuna, had seen fit to venture out to hunt.
"Setsuna! Where are you?" Hinoka yelled. This was far from a rare occurrence for the princess. Nearly every day she had to go searching for the archer, who had an uncanny ability to fall into a trap wherever she went. When she had failed to return this afternoon there was little doubt in Hinoka's mind that Setsuna had been caught again. She wasn't worried, but keen to find her retainer as soon as possible. It wasn't long before nightfall, and she didn't want Setsuna to be lost out in the cold. This forest wasn't particularly pleasant either. Most of the trees had been losing leaves, resulting in a mostly skeletal landscape. Many traps littered the landscape, though they were very easy for Hinoka to see and sidestep. They were obvious to any human really, but Setsuna was always the exception to that rule. This forest was on the edge of the mountains, where it was thought some isolationist monks still reside to this day. They probably hunt around here, Hinoka thought, stopping to listen to the sounds of the forest. Bird calls filled the air, leaves blew about in the wind, a small voice sounded out... A very familiar voice.
"Lady Hinoka!" it sounded out from the direction the princess was facing.
Hinoka sighed. "Just as I thought..." she mumbled to herself, trudging towards the noise. Such a routine occurrence was no cause to hurry.
Following more shouts, she eventually saw a large mass dangling from a distant tree. Hinoka stopped close to the tree, staring up at the odd shape with her hands on her hips. She had to squint to see through the fine mesh, but imprisoned within the net was the ditzy archer, without a doubt.
"Again, Setsuna?" she quizzed her retainer with a hint of frustration that the other woman did not pick up on.
"Oh... Lady Hinoka... What are you doing out here?" Setsuna asked.
"I'm here to rescue you again." Hinoka told her.
"Rescue me..? Oh, right. The trap. Hee hee..." Setsuna giggled.
"At least you're in high spirits..." Hinoka sighed.
"Yeah..." Setsuna also sighed, a sort of imitation that annoyed the princess slightly, "I knew you'd find me, lady Hinoka."
"Someone has to." Hinoka agreed. For all the trouble Setsuna caused, Hinoka was at least reassured with how much faith she had in her liege. Or was she being taken advantage of?
"You should come up here, lady Hinoka." Setsuna said. "There's a lovely view..."
"I'm not too keen on being stuck in a net like that." she replied.
"Oh, yeah... I guess I'm just used to it now." Setsuna stared wistfully into the horizon.
"Well, you can't stay out here forever." Hinoka told her retainer. "It'll be night soon, you'll freeze to death."
"Oh..." Setsuna sighed in agreement, "I don't want to be cold. Please let me out, lady Hinoka."
"Of course." Hinoka replied. She grasped her naginata and stepped forward. Hinoka stopped immediately when she heard a crunch. Looking down, she saw an arrow split in half by her boot. She was glad she hadn't set off a trap herself, she wouldn't want to get any of Setsuna's bad luck. Looking around she noticed several arrows strewn about the leaf-covered floor, and a discarded bow below the net.
"Must you drop everything like this?" Hinoka chided, "We'll never find all of these arrows again."
"My apologies, lady Hinoka..." Setsuna replied in a sing-song voice. Hardly sincere, more like an automatic response.
"Not listening again..." Hinoka mumbled, stepping forward again. Suddenly, a jolt surged through her body, a gust of wind blowing from the ground somehow.
"What the...?" the princess spluttered, trying to step back, but her foot was rooted to the ground. Pulling at her boot with both hands, the leaves blew away from beneath her to reveal a piece of parchment, like a scroll or spirit tag, anointed with an odd symbol. Pink light surged out of the mysterious paper, flying up into the air. Hinoka's gaze followed the magic, which pooled above her head.
"Setsuna, help!" she called to her retainer. The light surrounded the crimson-haired princess, encasing her in a sphere and closing off her escape. Her new prison was transparent, allowing her to see out into the world she could no longer reach.
"Lady Hinoka, where did you go?" came the confused reply.
"Help me!" the princess shouted. The net jostled slightly, but there was no sign of her retainer's escape. Electricity cracked over the sphere, making Hinoka flinch. When she looked back, the outside seemed somehow different. Was Setsuna higher on the tree than before? The outside world steadily magnified, Hinoka's heart sinking as she realized what this meant. The sphere was contracting, and her with it. She pushed against the walls of magic, banging against the glass-like object with both fists, but there was no sign of her prison yielding.
"SETSUNA!" Hinoka shouted again, more desperate. She blushed as she heard her own higher-pitched voice echoing in her enclosure. The tree continued to rise above her head, her body shrinking yet more as the sphere grew smaller. Only by looking straight up could she see the bag containing her retainer, which wriggled less by the second. Seeing Setsuna's fatigue drained Hinoka too of energy, her screaming ceasing as she gave up. Hinoka was helpless as she watched the tree double in size, now dwarfing her diminutive stature. As quickly as it appeared, the sphere faded, releasing its occupant and she fell to the ground. She was free once more, but in a now much larger world.
"Lady Hinoka!" Setsuna called again. "Where did you go!"
"Over here!" Hinoka squeaked, jumping and waving her arms. This experience was overwhelming for her, but at least if someone knew where she was she could fix this somehow.
The net writhed once again, eventually revealing the face of the absent-minded archer. "Oh, there you are." Setsuna said, calm as ever. "Why are you so far away?"
"I'm right here!" Hinoka cried, "I've shrunk!"
"Oh... That explains it then..." Setsuna said, as if this was an everyday occurrence. "Oh well..."
"Don't give me that!" Hinoka shouted, her face red with embarrassment and anger, "you have to help me!"
"But I'm stuck..." Setsuna replied, her tone almost implying that Hinoka was stupid.
"Ughhh..." Hinoka growled. Looking around, she could estimate that she was about a foot tall. The tree was huge now, but she could probably climb it, she had climbed many as a kid after all. It might even be possible to free her unhelpful retainer. On the other hand, she could probably find her way back to the castle, even if it would take her longer now. Hinoka pondered her choices for a moment, before deciding to...
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