The Queen nodded silently, realizing Rikive's word was the only shield she would have for her actions this day. It was the slimmest of hopes but her court had fled and all her knights were corpses at her feet.

With a heavy sigh she took the orb in both her hands, set it on the dais at her feet and held one hand over Parael's head. 

Slowly, Parry shifted inside the orb, growing by inches until his arms and legs fit inside the sleeves of his clothes again. And continued growing, not stopping at a toddler's size like before. The orb started to expand as well so he wasn't crushed or squeezed, though Parry had to tuck his legs under himself for just a little extra room. Fortunately his clothes grew with him instead of constricting his body.

The orb stopped growing just as Parry reached four feet in height and from there his head and arms started to stretch against it, like he was pressing against a balloon from the inside. 

Finally, as Parry reached his usual 5-foot-8 self, the orb popped in a spray of water that drenched the Queen and left Parry soaking on the floor, his hair matted and wet like he'd just stepped out of the shower.

Parry stood up on both legs, looked at the infantile outfit he was still wearing, and looked back at the Queen.

"I should kill you for making me leave here dressed like this, but I won't," he said, walking back toward Rikive. He nodded at her once, reaching into the diaper bag for the iron sword and removed it. 

"I should kill you for the diaper rash I've got right now. But I won't." Slowly, stepping over the bodies of the knights, he approached the dais.

"I should kill you for making Rikive take care of me. I should kill you for putting her in danger. And I most certainly should kill you for putting all the children I'm supposed to watch in danger." Like a lightning bolt, his sword arm shot forward- the iron tipped blade reaching for the throat of the Queen- and stopping just short.

"But I won't." Parry stepped away, turned and walked back to Rikive's side. "There's a bush outside the front door of the Daycare center. You're going to open the Hedge for us there. Not in the park. And if you ever interfere in the lives of either of us again, I will put my wings back on just to come back here [i]and bury you[/i]."

The Queen, speechless, flinched as another flash of lightning outside her tree-hall was followed by a boom of thunder that shook the stones of the earth. 

She nodded. At the edge of the glade, another path opened up, tall enough for both to walk through, and on the other side was the front lawn of Parry's center.

Parry turned to Rikive as he started walking (well, waddling, since his underwear was sized up too) to the exit.

"I've been on Earth for a few hundred years Rikive. A few friends would go to bat for me in a pinch. But none would stick around after what that Queen did to me," he smiled, but rubbed at his eyes as they stepped into the Hedge. "Not after knowing me for less than a day. So... thanks hon. I really... I don't know how to..."

Parry was seconds away from breaking down, and as the two stepped out of Hedge onto his front lawn at the dead of night, he finally gave up and wrapped Rikive in a big hug, squeezing her as hard as he could.

"Thank you so much. I thought I was... that she would... Just, thanks." He finally broke off the hug, pulled back and rubbed his eyes. "Also, I'll buy you a nice Prada bag for every time you had to change me. It's the least I could do."