Olivia meets the Grand Duke of Owls

Male voice: *A, E, I, O, U*
*A, E, I, O, U*

Olivia looked up to see a long line of misty letters in the colors of pink, blue, and green, and she followed it as she was walking through the tall jungle of plants and grass. She then heard someone's singing voice coming from a nearby distance, as she then spotted a large, slightly obese owl with purple feathers, thick white eyebrows, yellow feet, and green eyes, wearing a black cape with a red interior and collar and a monocle on his right eye. He was the Grand Duke of Owls, and he was the one who was singing the vowels A, E, I, O, and U while pressing the black knit squeezer of a large blue perfume flask that had released the mist of the vowels.

Grand Duke of Owls: *O*
*U, E, I, O, A*

Olivia made her way over to the Grand Duke of Owls and climbed atop a small mushroom that acted like a step to the larger mushroom. Her hands were placed on the edges of the mushroom, and she was standing on her toes to give herself enough height to see him, before she placed her elbows on the mushroom and her hands on her face. She had a curious smile on her face, as she wanted to talk to him.

Grand Duke of Owls: *A, U, E, I, A*
*A, E, I, O, U...*

Once he stopped singing, the Grand Duke of Owls inhaled the thick mist of his perfume, and exhaled slowly in delight of the wonderful aroma that had shrouded the two like a fog. He then turned his head to Olivia and jolted, widening his eyes in shock and dropping the squeezer onto the mushroom.

"Who...are...you?" he said to her, leaning in toward her face with one eye looking at her and the other shut tight. With each word the Grand Duke of Owls would say, the mist of the perfume would form a letter that must match the ending of the word. The letters "O," "R," and "U" had formed and faded into Olivia's face. She could smell an oceanic air from the fragrant blue mist, and then she knew that it was the exact scent the Grand Duke of Owls had breathed in a moment ago.

"I- I- I hardly know, sir," Olivia replied to him, nervous by the Grand Duke's frown that had just formed on his face due to her presence. "I changed so many times since this morning, you see..."

"I do not see," the Grand Duke of Owls said, cutting her off. As then, the blue mist was sprayed once again, this time forming the letter "C." "Explain yourself."

"Why, I’m afraid I can’t explain myself, sir," Olivia said to the Grand Duke of Owls, as she felt the misty letter spinning around her right wrist before fading away. "Because I’m not myself, you know."

The Grand Duke of Owls turned away from her and said to her, "I do not know."

"Well, I can’t put it anymore clearly for it isn’t clear to me."

"You?" the Grand Duke of Owls repeated, asking Olivia the same question when he first saw her. The letters "O" and "R" had formed from the blue and green sprays from the Grand Duke's perfume, and Olivia ducked underneath each of them. However, she could smell the ocean air from the blue mist and eucalyptus from the green mist.

Olivia started to say something only to be sprayed in the face by the pink letter "U." "Well, don’t you think that you should tell me..." But she coughed and squinted her eyes, though she could smell the scent of cherry blossoms from the pink mist that faded away. "Who you are first?"

"Why?" the Grand Duke of Owls said, pressing the squeezer again and releasing a yellow mist that formed the letter "Y." The yellow mist had the smell of sunflowers, which was also a delightful aroma the Grand Duke of Owls loved so much.

"Oh, dear!" Olivia said, before kneeling down on the small mushroom, "Everything is so confusing."

"It is not."

"Well, it is to me."

"Why?" Once the Grand Duke of Owls asked her why again, the letter "Y" was formed by the blue mist with the sea breeze. With a tedious expression on his face, he laid on a purple leaf that was on a stem next to the mushroom.

"Well, I can’t remember things as I used to," Olivia answered, shaking her head a little. "And..."

"Recite." the Grand Duke of Owls cut her off.

That snapped Olivia out of her worries, and the girl stood up to him, replying to him with a short curtsey, saying, "Hmm? Oh! Oh, oh, yes, sir."

She took a moment to clear her throat, before trying to remember which recitation she had heard of before. Once she did finally come up with one, she then began reciting.

Olivia: Um
*How doth the little busy bee*
*Improve each shi...*

"Stop!" the owl commanded, cutting her words short. He rose up from the leaf he was laying on and landed back on the large mushroom, unimpressed by what she had just started to say.

"That is not spoken correcti-cally,” he said to her. "It goes..."

He then took a short breath before starting to say the correct recitation.

The Grand Duke of Owls: *How...*

Just as he pressed the squeezer, he widened his eyes in surprise. He pressed the squeezer rapidly many times, a red vein popping up on his head and growling in frustration. The owl then noticed that his foot was holding the thin black tube that would lead the perfume from the bottle to a small opening on the cerulean cap. He then patted his foot with his wing harshly, causing it to release the tube.

Olivia was giggling at the owl's small mishap, and a smile had formed on her face. The Grand Duke of Owls, on the other hand, cleared his throat and pressed the squeezer again, and this time, a green mist was sprayed out of the bottle. It then formed into a crocodile walking on all four legs.

The Grand Duke of Owls: *How doth the crocodile*
*Improve his shining tail*
*And pour the waters of the Nile*
*On every golden scale*

The green mist faded away as the owl climbed onto another lavender leaf with his wings holding the squeezer.

The Grand Duke of Owls: *How cheer...*

Just as he was about to say the next line, however, he suddenly opened his eyes and widened them in surprise.

The Grand Duke of Owls: *How cheer...*

He then tried to say it again, but he was cut short once more and looked down to see his feet wiggling off the edge of the leaf. Annoyed by this, he let out a short growl and swiftly placed his feet onto the leaf.

Olivia let out another giggle in reaction to the owl's mishap, but she saw his frown and stopped in order to avoid adding fuel to his anger. The Grand Duke of Owls then laid his head on the stem and finally recited the next few lines of the recitation.

The Grand Duke of Owls: *How cheerfully he seems to grin*
*How neatly spreads his claws*
*And welcomes little fishes in*
*With gently smiling jaws*

"Well I must say, I’ve never heard it that way before." Olivia said to the owl.

"I know," the Grand Duke of Owls replied, deeply inhaling the scent of eucalyptus through his beak and exhaling through his mouth. "I have improved it."

With that said, two "O's" in the smoky mists of pink and green formed and flew into Olivia's face just as she was about to say something to the owl. "Well..." She coughed and squinted her eyes tightly again, even though she smelled the aromas of eucalyptus and cherry blossoms.

"If you ask me..." she finally said, as she opened her eyes and frowned at the owl.

With a tedious expression on his face, the Grand Duke of Owls turned to Olivia and replied, "You?"

The owl pressed the squeezer again, and the green mist formed in the "U" shape once it was sprayed out of the perfume bottle, then morphed into the "O" as he leaned in toward Olivia's face. The blue mist formed in the "R" silhouette, and a red mist appeared in the "U" contour as he asked her again, "Who are you?"

As all the letters had been sprayed into Olivia's face, she shut her eyes again and coughed once more, though she could smell the ocean from the blue vapor, the eucalyptus from the green, and strawberries from the red. The red mist then changed into the pink cherry blossom fog.

Suddenly, Olivia's nose tickled by too much perfume.

"Ahh...Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah-CHOO!"

She let out a big sneeze, only to fall backwards off the small mushroom. Olivia swiftly rose up, still frowning at The Grand Duke of Owls for giving her a perplexing conversation and spraying his multi-scented perfume in her face so many times. She had quite enough of him! And with that, she started marching away from the owl, and the pink mist formed on her right foot. It gradually faded away with every step the Scottish-British girl mouse took, though she noticed it and stomped on the ground at a rapid pace, then lifted her foot and shook the mist off of it. Then Olivia opened two small leaves and entered through them, just as the Grand Duke of Owls started to have second thoughts about making her leave with his actions.

"You there! Girl!" he called out to Olivia. "Wait! Come back!"

Then Olivia opened the leaves again once the owl's shouting grabbed her attention, though she was still worked up by her discomfited talk with him.

"I have something important to say!"

"Oh, dear!" Olivia said, before slinking back in the tall grass and crawling her way through it. "I wonder what he wants now."

Olivia went over a small root and walked through the jungle of plants and grass, before returning to the Grand Duke's large mushroom.

"Well?" she said to him, folding her arms crossly with a stern look on her face.

"Keep your temper." the Grand Duke of Owls replied to her, spraying an orange mist at the blue and white circles. The white mist had the fragrance of Egyptian cotton, and the orange one had a citrus scent as all the circles and the dot disappeared into thin air.

"Is that all?" Olivia asked, her hands placed on her hips as she moved two steps forward to the mushroom.

The Grand Duke of Owls placed his wings in front of him and moved his head over backwards. "No," he answered her, before placing his wings on the very end of himself. "Exacti-cally what is your problem?"

Green, pink, and yellow mists were sprayed out of the perfume once the owl asked Olivia, having a mellow expression on his face.

"Well, it’s exacti—" Olivia started to say, struggling to say the peculiarly long word the owl just said to her. "Exactic—Well, it’s precisely this. I would like to be a little larger, sir.”

"Why?" the Grand Duke of Owls asked, pressing the squeezer. The pink spray was released from the bottle and it formed into a question mark.

"Well, after all, three inches is such a wretched height," Olivia answered. "And..."

The Grand Duke of Owls swiftly rose up, glaring at Olivia angrily in reaction to her answer as he pressed the squeezer many times, releasing a silver mist that would represent his rage. "High?! I am exactically three inches high," he boasted, turning red and leaning in toward Olivia before swiftly returning to his position. "And it is a very good height indeed!"

The silver fog had the scent of firewood, and Olivia could smell it as the mist engulfed the red owl right before her very eyes.

"But I’m not used to it. And you needn’t *shout*!" she snapped, blowing the silver fog away. Once the fiery vapor cleared up, however, the Grand Duke's molted feathers, along with his cape and monocle, were scattered all over the mushroom. Luckily, his perfume bottle was still there.

"Oh, dear!" Olivia said, picking up his monocle with her fingers.

She then dropped it when she heard a new voice saying to her from above, "By the way, I have a few helpful hints."

Olivia looked up to see that the Grand Duke of Owls had transformed into a small, slender red Chinese dragon with blue horns, a gold mustache, a yellow underbelly, a dark red nose, claws, tail tuft, and spikes on his back, and black eyes named Mushu. He stands about 1½ feet in height. She observed him fluttering in the air and gasped in shock.

"One side of the mushroom will make you grow taller! And the other will make you grow smaller!"

"But which side will do which?" Olivia asked him.

"You’ll see," Mushu replied to her. "It’s only a matter of time before you try two pieces of the mushroom, one on each side! The effects depend on which of the sides you pick!"

Once Mushu walked away, Olivia sat down on the small mushroom and took two pieces of it, one on each side.

"Hmmm...One side of the mushroom will make me grow..." she repeated the essential piece of Mushu's advice. "But which is which?"

She looked at the two pieces of the mushroom left and right, still a little confused by them. They may be identical pieces of the mushroom, but the two have the contrasting effects that may help with her height. After taking a moment to make up her mind, Olivia lifted up the piece of the mushroom that was in her right hand.

"Hmmm...After all that's happened. I-I wonder if I..." she thought aloud, before lifting the piece to her mouth, "I don’t care."

With that said, Olivia took a bite of the mushroom slice that was in her right hand.

"I'm tired of being three inches high -yi -yi -yi -yi -yi!" she said to herself again.

Just then, Olivia felt herself stretching higher and higher at an alarming rate, as she knew that she had grown taller—much taller than her normal height!

Her head popped out from the top of a green tree, and a nest holding a female penguin that was on top of her scalp. She looked around and saw that her legs and feet were way down toward the ground and beneath the tree.

The female penguin was a female black and white feathered Adelie Penguin with a skirt-like pouch. She is beautiful with purple eyeshadow, a light orange beak with a red tip, green eyes, and light orange webbed feet, wearing a pink rosebud on top of her head with a pink pearl attached to a black string underneath, and a purple choker with a pink stone on it. Her name was Marina.

Anyway, Marina shook her head rapidly and looked down as well. She gasped in horror to see Olivia's colossal body beneath her and cried out, "A serpent!"

Marina flew out of her nest in a panic and swarmed around Olivia, calling out for help and shouting, "Aaaaahhh! Help! Serpent! Serpent!"

"Oh, but please! Please!" Olivia exclaimed apprehensively to the penguin.

"Off with you! Shoo! Shoo!" Marina shouted to Olivia, still assuming that the girl was a monstrous serpent as she flew around her again. "Go away! Serpent! Serpeeeent!"

"But I’m not a serpent!"

Marina stopped soaring and turned to Olivia with a scowl on her face. "Indeed?" she asked her, before propping on Olivia's nose. "Then just what are you?"

"I’m just a little girl." Olivia answered, as she saw the penguin flying away from her gigantic form.

"Little?" Marina repeated, placing her flippers on her sides. "Ha! Little?" The penguin then burst out into laughter, much to Olivia's worries.

"Well, I am," the Scottish-British girl mouse said to her. "I mean, I was."

"And I suppose you don’t eat eggs, either?"

“Yes, I do, but...”

That frightened Marina even more, as the penguin had been very protective of her eggs the whole time she encountered Olivia and her enormous height. "I knew it!"

"But-but-but..."

"I knew it!" she boasted in front of Olivia, before flying around her at least three more times. "Serpent! Serpeeeeeeeeeent!!"

"Oh, for goodness' sake!" Olivia exclaimed to the female penguin. She then glanced to the other mushroom piece in her left hand and repeated the second piece of Mushu's advice, "And the other side of the mushroom will..."

"The very idea!" Marina complained in a frustrated voice, carefully gathering her five eggs in her nest. "Spend all my time laying eggs for serpents like her!"

Just as Olivia took the bite of the second mushroom slice, she felt herself shrinking at an alarming rate, causing Marina to fly out of her nest and lose her eggs in the process. The nest landed between two small branches as Olivia continued to shrink down the tree, and Marina caught all five of her eggs with her flippers whereas Olivia landed in the grassy terrain. The girl had now reverted to the height of three inches she was before.

"Goodness," Olivia said, still holding the two mushroom pieces in her tiny hands as she sat up on the ground. "I wonder if I’ll ever get the knack of it."

She then lifted her left arm up as she glanced at the mushroom piece in her right hand, which was the one that caused her to become the giant that scared Marina. Then Olivia took a lick of it, and that caused her to grow again—but this time, back to her regular height.

"There, that’s much better." Olivia said, satisfied with the problem finally solved in spite of the ups and downs she had went through. As she started walking, she looked at the mushroom pieces in her hands one last time, before placing them in her two dress pockets.

"Hmmm...I better save these." she said to herself.