An hour later, the doctor had arrived, with the king and his wife standing over to the side of the room, Elizabeth trembling out of fear of what was happening to her poor daughter.

                Caroline, tall enough now so that the top of her father’s head didn’t even reach her waist, looked up and realized that her head was a mere few feet away from the ceiling.  As the bed had become so short and cumbersome to her, she laid on the ground, allowing the doctor a better position to reach her. When the physician had first entered the room and seen the mountainous young woman standing before him, he had actually fallen over in shock.  Following his quick recovery, he was sworn by the king to never speak of what he saw in the room, and he was paid extra to ensure this.  Regaining his composure, the doctor began to take out his tools to examine the patient.

                He first knelt over Caroline, which was difficult at first since her shoulders were about three feet wide, but he finally managed to lean over enough to try and feel her heart, beating powerfully in her now-larger chest.  He then began to wonder if he could decipher anything by feeling for a growth, which he believed, to cause such violent height changes, would have to originate lower.  He began at her feet, bare and cold on the marble floor.  He took hold of one of them, searching for any sign of entry point for whatever dark spell had befallen on her.  As he did, her foot, now at around two feet long, wiggled a bit as his small hands tickled accidentally in search.

                “Please, doctor… do you… know what it could be?” asked Caroline softly as possible, her voice cracking a little as she tried to work over her sadness in her mind.  The doctor pressed his ear against the sole of the foot, hoping to hear anything that might indicate the witch’s curse had left a trace here.  This method had worked before on the very few cases he had seen involving otherworldly events.  He removed his ear, shaking his head and allowing Caroline to lower her foot to the ground.  As she did, she felt more seams in her nightgown tear along her left hip, and she quickly covered them up with her long hand and four-foot-long arm, feeling very exposed, both by her size and the growing immodesty of her attire.

                “I’m… sorry, Your Majesty.  I’m afraid I haven’t the slightest idea of what’s happened here,” he said, sounding a bit fearful to have to deliver such bad news to the monarchs.  Caroline shut her eyes, placing a large fist over her mouth to cover her returning sobs.  Rose rushed to her size, kneeling beside her and trying to soothe her forehead.

                “Doctor…” said the king, sounding nervous.

                “Yes, Your Highness?”

                “Is there anything at all you can do to help her?  Anything?”

                The doctor paused for a moment, thinking intently.  “Your Majesty, I am very sorry, but I believe the best course of action now for the princess is prayer.  Perhaps some tonic, as well, would do some good, if only to help whatever pains she may have.”

                “How much?” asked Elizabeth.

                The doctor looked down at Caroline’s massive form, her long and mostly bare legs actually a bit longer than his entire body.  “I would take… a sizeable quantity of it.  One can’t be too careful,” he said, and with a deep bow, he proceeded from the room at the king’s allowance.

                The king and duchess gathered around their daughter, with Rose, who was now leaning on Caroline’s large shoulder and calmingly stroking her hair.  Caroline was actually feeling somewhat comforted by this, despite the odd feeling that her servant was about the size of a toddler to her at this point.  Still, whenever she had had trouble, particularly as a young child, Rose had been there, and her presence was soothing.  Caroline couldn’t even remember the last time she had cried purely out of fear for herself and her own condition, as her tears were mainly saved for some of the terrible occurrences she saw in the houses of the poor, but for the first time in a long time, she actually began to worry about herself a bit.

                “Oh, Rose…” said Caroline, breathing quickly in a sob before continuing.  “What… what will I do?  What is to become of me if this occurs every night?  Will… will it ever stop?” she said, closing her eyes.  She rolled her head to one side, onto Rose’s lap, and it actually took up all the space across both of Rose’s legs.

                “Caroline, please…” said Richard, seeming completely helpless to aid his daughter, feeling terrible guilt rip through him as his daughter was being forced to pay for his own alleged sins as a younger man.  “I… will do all I can, I will work doubly as hard.  Please don’t cry, my daughter…” he said, leaning over.  He removed a handkerchief from his more casual night robes and handed it his daughter, who held the massive thing as if it was a thin piece of tissue paper and rubbed it over her glistening, wet cheeks, sopping up the hanky with two long swipes over her tear-ridden face.

                “I know, father, I know you will… I’m just… I’m just frightened…” she said, looking up at the ceiling.  “What will I do if this happens every night?  If I continue growing?  If it happens once again as it did this night, I am quite certain I will no longer fit into my room standing up.  And what of after that?  Suppose I become as tall as an oak, or even the whole palace…” she said, realizing that if this trend did indeed continue, it wouldn’t be easy to hide for very long.  “What… what would people think of me?”

                “We will discover a solution before any of that happens,” said the king assuredly.  “I must leave you now; I am going to continue work immediately in the library with some of my scholars.  There are books on every subject known to existence, Caroline, as you well know from reading from it so often, and you can know that we WILL discover a solution, perhaps even before my scouts return, having captured Catherine.”

                Caroline wiped her cheeks again from the fresh tears, blowing her nose a little as she tried to regain a slower breathing style, and nodded.  Her father was a wise and well-learned man, and she was confident that if a solution actually did exist in the library, he would find it for her.  Without another word, the king squeezed his hand around as much of his daughter’s wrist as he could, although he didn’t even come close to reaching all the way around, and left briskly to continue working.

                Rose and Elizabeth, each resting on one of Caroline’s shoulders, each whispered comforting things to the large girl, but both were equally in the dark as anyone as to what was really happening.  Wordlessly, everyone involved in this had the great suspicion that this was not going to be reversed without Catherine having been found.  Despite this fact, Caroline’s servant and mother spent the remainder of the night just sitting on the floor with her, helping to soothe her.  Rose, realizing without even being prompted how shamed Caroline felt by having her clothes tear so easily off of her body, dragged in a set of large, old drapes from a storage room and set about altering them to be a makeshift garment.  Rose was an excellent seamstress, and by morning, as she continued leaning against Caroline’s shoulder to comfort her while expertly weaving around and cutting the drapes, she had fashioned an outfit.

                Gratified, Caroline stood to full height, feeling a bit uneasy once again as she looked down at two of the people she loved most in the world, seeing them be less than half her height, but she knew that they would be there for her, no matter what happened to her.  The pair gave her some privacy, and Caroline stripped out of the tattered remains of her nightgown into the long drapes.  As she pulled them on, the slightly rougher fabric feeling nonetheless comforting because of its length, felt ironically similar to her old nightgown, being large enough to sleep in well but at the same time being a bit tighter around her body for easier mobility in the casual quarters of the palace.

                Rose and Elizabeth returned a moment later.  “I’m off to make you something good to eat for your continued healing, miss,” said Rose, scurrying off.  Elizabeth took a few steps forward, her head tilted all the way up to see her daughter’s face.  “I will go and check on your father, dear, and see what sort of progress he has made.  I will return to you very soon,” she said.  Caroline thanked her as she left, beginning to feel like a burden to her mother, who normally had a variety of important social functions and royal events to attend to; her mother was also avidly involved in helping the less fortunate, and she didn’t wish to use her mother’s company for more than her share, however helpful it was to have her there.

                Caroline stretched he arms over her head, quickly running out of room as her long fingers pressed against the ceiling for support.  She yawned, having not slept very well and already feeling more nervous about what was to come.  She was grateful at least that no one besides her parents, maid, and doctor had to see her like this.

                Suddenly, outside the door, she heard some light shouting, and then what sounded like the stern voice of the guard.  “I’m going to see her, I don’t care, I want to see her!” came the small voice of Phillip.  The door burst open, and Caroline watched, suddenly in fear, as her little brother, being shorter even for his young age, rushed in abruptly.  She guessed that his head didn’t pass much over her knee.

                “Phillip, DON’T!” she cried out, not wanting to be seen.  She backed up, knowing there was little chance of getting out of it now.  She watched as her brother’s eyes bugged out, his jaw dropping, as he looked over her, looking up to her face.  She smiled wide, hoping he wouldn’t be frightened of her.

                “Phillip?” she said as gently as she could, leaning over a bit to shorten herself artificially in an attempt to lessen the shock.  As she did, though, she saw her brother’s knees begin to shake, frozen to the ground.  She immediately took a step back.  “Phillip?  It’s… all right…” she cooed quietly.

                Phillip, finally snapped back into reality, began running, dashing past his sister’s massive tree trunk-like legs, diving for the nearest hiding place, under the bed.

                Caroline felt her eyes welling with tears again, feeling terrible for the fright she had just given her younger sibling.  She knew that, as she didn’t seem to be getting smaller any time soon, her siblings would most likely have heard about it, but she desperately wished it wouldn’t have been in such a shocking manner, instead planning on having her mother explain it calmly to Phillip and Anne before seeing them.

                Caroline, herself, also wanted the comfort of both her siblings as much as they wanted to see her, and at this moment she desperately wanted to reach down and embrace her baby-sized brother, but she of course knew this was impossible without terrifying him, which she felt she had already done plenty of by standing up taller than a one-story cottage in her bedroom before him, when all he had known prior was that she was sick.  She felt absolutely awful, knowing her brother had come just wanting to comfort his ill sister, and but instead was met with a literally massive shock.

                Carefully and slowly, Caroline knelt down on her haunches, placing a massive hand on the ground for balance, and lowered her head to look under the bed, pushing the cascades of yellow hair out of her face.  Her brother was crouching under the bed in the exact middle.  Caroline noted to herself that he was technically in reaching distance of her, as her arms had become so long, but she of course would never have just reached out to grab him.

                Before she could speak, though, Caroline looked in and saw his body trembling so hard it was almost going into convulsions.  As light reflected in, she saw his cheeks becoming wet as he cried silently, clearly too terrified to even make a sound.  Seeing this caused the tears welling in Caroline’s own eyes to begin cascading down her face and to the floor with an audible plop.

                “Phillip?” she said softly, and felt the equivalent of having a knife jammed into her chest as she saw her brother wince visibly in response to hearing his name.  “Phillip…” she said, lowering her voice to the softest whisper she could.  “It’s all right, Phillip, it’s me.  It’s your sister Caroline,” she said, stating the obvious just to try and bring Phillip into the situation easier.  He didn’t wince when hearing this, but continued shaking.  Caroline felt a lump forming in her throat, and she had to wipe her eyes to see more clearly again.

                “Please, Phillip… I’m not going to hurt you.  It’s me.  Please come out,” she said, beginning to sound more pleading.  “Please come out to your big sister.”

                Phillip’s shaking slowly stopped and he raised his head up from his tightly crouched position.  “C-Caroline?” he stuttered, hugging his small legs to his chest.

                “Yes!  It’s me, Phillip, it’s me…” she said, smiling widely at this recognition.  Slowly and as non-threateningly as she could, she placed a large hand on the marble, sliding it forward under the bed until it was within reaching distance of her brother.  Then, she turned it up, her massive palms nearly triple as wide as a normal person’s, laying it flat on the ground.  “Take my hand, Phillip.  Please.”

                It took a moment, but with great relief and happiness she finally saw her brother’s hand extend, and he placed it squarely in the middle of his older sister’s.  It scared her a little to feel her brother’s clammy little fist in her palm, reminding her of just how small he was now to her.  She closed her fingers around his hand, giving light little pulses into his hand with small pumps from her fingers in an attempt to comfort him.  “It’s all right, Phillip.  Just come out from there and let me talk to you.”

                Nodding finally, Caroline pulled back as Phillip, his hand still grasped protectively inside the massive hand of his sister, crawled slowly out.  Caroline stayed in a crouching position on the ground, her large head being at the about the place it would have normally been if she was her regular height.  Phillip came out and stood up, bravely looking her in the eye.  Despite the trust she seemed to have gained, Caroline could still see fear in Phillip’s teary eyes.

                “Please don’t be afraid of me, Phillip.  It’s still me. Something’s just happened to me.”

                “W-what happened to you, Caroline?” he managed to squeak out, covering his mouth a little in shock.  Caroline continuing squeezing at his small hand in her closed palm, which much to her glee, was not being tugged at, if he were too scared to be touched by her.

                She sighed slowly and deeply.  “I don’t know, Phillip.  Father is trying to find out right now so he can help me.”

                Phillip nodded, solemnly, his gaze fading as if he were staring through the walls.  “It was the woman, wasn’t it?” he said, confidence growing in his voice now.  “Did… did she do this to you?” he said, his voice cracking again.  Caroline saw the glistening returning to his eyes.

                “Please don’t cry again, Phillip, it will be all right, I promise.  I will be well again.”

                “I have a sword!  I can go find her for you!” said her brother bravely, beginning to march past her towards the door.  Caroline kept her soft yet firm grip on her brother’s little fist, keeping him from running off.  She was genuinely touched by her brother’s fierce protection of her, but also knew there wasn’t much of anything he could do for her.

                “I know you could, Phillip, but I don’t want you trying to get into trouble like usual.  Just let our father deal with this, all right?” she said gently, nodding her head suggestively at him in hopes of getting a response of agreement.  Her brother wrinkled his little nose in thought.

                “But… what can I do, then?” he said, sounding puzzled.  Caroline smiled.

                “You can stay with me.  I’d like your company,” she answered kindly.  Phillip nodded.

                “That’s all?”

                “Well, that’s all I want.  Will you stay here, please?”

                He nodded.  “Caroline?”

                “Yes?”

                “Would you… read me one of your books again?”

                Caroline absolutely beamed.  “Of course, Phillip.  Go pick one out,” she said, releasing his hand.  He turned and ran to the bookshelf, scanning it with his eyes.  Careful not to stand at her full height and risk scaring her brother again, Caroline went into a quick crouching position and sat on the bed, careful not to apply too much pressure and risk breaking it.  Phillip returned seconds later with a thick green book in hand, the binding slowly coming unstitched from so many readings.

                “That one AGAIN?” said Caroline playfully.

                “Please?  It’s my favorite one.”

                “All right, then, let’s see what King Arthur has been up to today…” she said, patting the side of the bed with her massive hand for Phillip to climb on.  He did, clambering onto the tall bed, but he didn’t stop, placing a small leg onto Caroline’s now reasonably thick thigh.  He then swung his other leg around, taking a seat on a single leg (more than enough space to sit) and leaned his upper torso against his sister’s stomach, holding out the book.  Caroline felt like crying again, but for a totally different reason this time.  Holding out her hand, he placed it in, and she gingerly opened the cover up to reach the first page.

                “Ahem,” she said, clearing her throat and smiling down at her brother’s face, who grinned back at her; already, he was back to his normal, goofier self.  “Once, there was…” she began.

                For the first time in two days, she felt like everything might turn out all right.