As the beak slid under her silken gown, Ellena felt the first pangs of anger she had ever felt in her life. "Enough!" She cried, and with an unexpected burst of fiery energy from her fingertips, she threw the enormous crow off of her body and sent him sprawling onto his belly further away.
She stood to her feet, brushed herself off, and watched as the circle of crows around her backed off, eager to see what their leader what about to do in response to this outrage. Instead, however, the lead crow looked back at the princess with fear.
"You are a coward and a bully!" Ellena scolded. "Attacking a helpless elf in such a filthy manner! You call my people down yet it is by your actions you have done the same." Her fingers crackled with the white energy of magic. The princess was literally fired up.
The lead crow gulped, staring at the luminescent glow of Ellena's hands. This was not good.
"Look at your leader! He cowers before truth. Who of you here follow him now? This bully?"
The circle of birds looked at each other nervously and backed down, each knowing that their leader's fate was sealed and they could each share it. The fun and games or their little gang had come to an end.
"I thought as much!" She stared at the cowering crows. "Let this be a lesson to you all, then, of picking on things smaller than yourselves!"
There was a brilliant crackle of white lightning in the air, a small burst of light, and before the birds had any time to react, the spell took hold on them all. They began to shrink in size, so rapidly that each animal barely had time to register something was happening before it had finished completely. When the energy cleared, the birds looked on themselves with abject horror, some with trembling fear, as they all realized they were no taller than the princess's knees. The lead crow, however, sat in the middle of the circle smaller than all of the others, so tiny that he was small enough to fit in the palm of her hand.
With high pitched squawks of horror, the freshly shrunken birds scattered away in a panic to hide. All but the leader, who now sat on his haunches staring *up* at Ellena with trembling horror. The princess scooped the tiny bird up in her hand and stared at him sternly.
"Oh, you'll all return to your normal sizes eventually. I would not be so cruel as to make the change permanent. However!" She pointed an admonishing finger at the crow's beak. "I want you to think long and hard about how small and helpless you feel in my hand this moment. It is how you made me feel just now."
The crow gulped, shaking in the elf's grasp. He said nothing.
"It's not a nice feeling, is it?"
The crow shook his head before speaking in a very high pitched mockery of his former squawk. "N-N... N-No, your highness!"
"Remember that feeling. Please! You musn't hurt others just because you're bigger than them."
"Y-Yes, your highness." The crow agreed with a hearty nod.
"Good." She set him down gently. "Learn this lesson well."
With a horrified squawk, the crow took to the wind as well, fluttering away.
"I wonder if they'll learn." Ellena chuckled. "No matter. That is my cosmic justice for the day."
Her spirits lifted, she collected her cloak and began her journey once more, not sure where to go but enjoying getting there. Odd, she thought. Her magic had grown more powerful. To summon it forth so quickly to protect herself was new. Would it always be so quick from now on? She would have to experiment with this new development.