The aftershocks from my poor handling of the Snowager and her situation continued
to crop up the next day. It was early in the morning at my owner's house when
the knock on the door came. I got to the door first and opened it to find a
faerie Kacheek hovering there with a bag slung over its shoulder.
"MonoKeras?" it chirped.
"Yeah," I replied, wondering who else it expected. It wasn't like there were
any other gold Unis living here.
"Special Delivery!" came the quick reply. The Kacheek thrust a very fancy
letter into my hoof and flitted off before I could even react.
I let the door close itself behind me as I wandered back into the house, opening
and reading this special delivery letter. I turned pale under my fur.
"Something wrong?" blchocobo asked.
"Uh? Oh! No, not really, just some stuff to take care of. Got some folks needing
information about a case."
"Oh." blchocobo continued to stare at me, and I felt like biting my lip in
nervousness. He didn't seem to buy it- no wonder, since that had been the understatement
of my life. "Some folks" consisted of the Faerie Queen. I had been summoned
to appear before her court "on charges of endangering the well-being and safety
of Neopia through magical means." This was serious, indeed. Those sorts of charges
could lose you your magic- or worse.
But no matter how much you might want to run from it, a summons is a summons-
and one from the Faerie Queen carried more weight with me (and with any other
honest pet in Neopia) than anything else you could name. You might escape the
Chia Cops, but you never escaped the magical reach of the faeries. At ten, I
was walking through the front door of the Queen's Palace for my trial.
The huge throne room was filled down each side with various faeries. A few
I knew, most I didn't. The centrepiece was the huge and impressively carved
throne that was the Queen's. It was flanked by six smaller, though still ornate,
seats, three on each side. The Uber-Faeries sat in them, talking quietly among
themselves. I snuck a look at the Dark Uber-Faerie to see if she looked bored.
She did. My stomach unknotted a half-turn. If there had been the prospect of
blood in the near future, she would have been far more interested. Maybe I had
a chance to come out of this whole after all.
There was one chair in the middle of the room. There was no table in front
of it, or anything around it. It simply sat there, facing the Queen's throne.
I didn't need to ask what it was for. I avoided looking at anyone else as I
sat down in the seat of the accused.
I didn't have long to wait. There was no audible call to rise, but every faerie
in there suddenly rose to attention. My legs pulled me out of my seat too- without
bothering to ask my brain for permission first. The butterflies in my stomach
began takeoff rolls as Queen Fyora walked in. We all sat down in unison as she
sat- my own rebellious body bending in obedience to her will as well.
There was the sound of faerie trumpets- not as loud and brassy as the regular
Neopian kind, but still very impressive and unique. I didn't bother to look
up towards the balconies the sound came from. I knew there was no one there.
There never is. It's part of the Queen's magic.
"Court is in session." Her cool tones dropped into the sudden silence following
her fanfare. "MonoKeras, you are brought here to answer charges of magical misconduct,
endangering the welfare of Neopia, wanton destruction, and other lesser crimes
stemming from your acts. Do you understand this?"
I gulped. "Wh-what exactly did I do wrong?"
"You drove the Snowager from its normal birthing grounds and managed to end
it as a result."
I sighed inwardly. Say what you will about Fyora, she was perfectly willing
to drop the fancy terms and cut directly to the core of an issue. She saw that
I knew what she was talking about, so she continued. "How do you plead?"
I took a breath to answer and said the only thing I could. "Guilty." There's
no use arguing with the faeries. They knew. I knew. And they don't have any
tolerance for pets trying to deny obvious guilt like some other, more idealistic,
courts do.
Fyora stared at me and I almost caught the faint quirk of a smile around the
corners of her mouth. "Good. That saves time. Do you have anything to say in
defence of your actions before sentence is passed?"
My chest tightened. From opening the court to passing the sentence would probably
be about two minutes. "That I... meant only to help? I... didn't know there
wasn't anything wrong..." Fyora just stared at me with no response. I summoned
one last shred of anger at the whole situation. "That no one bothered to tell
me what was happening!"
That got a response. "Who? The Negg Faerie? He answered your question totally
and completely. Is it his fault that you were too vague?" She waited until I
shook my head. "Perhaps you meant Tekeli-Li? He certainly knew. But, then, when
he told you the truth, you never waited to hear the rest of what he had to say...
did you."
My throat had a lump in it too big to talk through. I just shook my head miserably.
She was right. I'd been a fool, and worse, and there was no excuse. The worst
part was that I didn't even have the courage to accept the consequences of my
actions. I was sweating, and scared half out of my mind at what was almost certainly
going to happen next.
"As for the issue of your ignorance, that is painfully obvious. MonoKeras."
I looked back up. "Do you realise that you have gained thirty two levels in
ten days?"
I coughed and managed a faint "yes" in response.
"Yes. You now have more magical abilities- and level- than ninety nine percent
of the pets in Neopia. Do you realise what that means?" I began to say no, but
she continued. It had been a rhetorical question. "It means that you're a walking
disaster unless you learn to control and understand your new perceptions. It
means that you have a moral obligation to Neopia- and more particularly, to
me as the source of magic in Neopia- to not misuse them. It also means that
I've got one of two choices. For the safety of Neopia, I have to end your reckless
plans. Either I end you along with them, or I find a way to control you so that
it won't happen again."
This time, my faint sigh of resignation was heard throughout the court as the
Queen paused before continuing.
"MonoKeras! Are you willing to accept me as your ruler and authority, to pledge
obedience to me, and to accept the magical geas which I would have to lay upon
you?" I looked at her in confusion. Fyora decided to make it blunter. She dropped
the procedural cant and continued in a conversational tone. "Are you willing
to accept magical control from me if it means you can go on living?"
I nodded so hard my mane flew out in all directions. "Y-yes!" I stuttered.
"Good." She raised her hand and signed something with her fingers. I felt
the tension in the room rise about thirty notches. "MonoKeras, a geas from me
must be accepted willingly. Do you, in full and clear conscience, accept this?"
I opened my mouth to say something, and as I did all six of the Uber-Faeries
lowered their staffs. My mouth dried up as I became the target for six of the
Greater Staffs- not just one, or two, but all six. And not just any six- but
the originals that served as the template for the weaker versions of 'greater
staffs' that saw use in the Battledome. I gulped, trying to get enough moisture
back so I could speak. "I.... yes, but... isn't this sort of by force? I mean,
I'm willing, really! But..." I ran out of words and waved helplessly at enough
firepower to vaporise me several times over.
Fyora's smile was not too reassuring. "MonoKeras, I know that you are willing,
or I would never have asked the question. As you can see, getting rid of potential
problems is the last thing I need to worry about." I shuddered. She got no argument
from me on that point. "So, now that you have said it...." her other hand came
up, and she pointed all of her fingers towards me.
There was a shout of some sort, but I couldn't make out who or what. I was
overwhelmed by the sheer force of magic that hit me. My ears were still ringing
and my eyes spinning as I realised the greater staffs had all fired at once,
combining under the Queen's power to do... something. My skin twitched violently
as I felt the additional presence of magic in my aura.
"And now that the real work is over, I think it's time for a bit of fun. MonoKeras,
you have just been sponsored into the Century Club, as one of the top one percent
of magicians in Neopia. The oath is as follows..."
She said it. I repeated it. I swore myself to secrecy about details, and all
of the rest. There was a bit more movement in the gallery, as the general air
of relaxation spread to the other faeries. I noticed most of the Uber-faeries
were openly grinning now that the commitment had been made. It wasn't until
the ceremony was almost finished that I received my next surprise.
"MonoKeras, I now release you into the charge of your sponsor. Be thankful-
very thankful- that you have someone who is willing to take you in hand after
your rather poor showing earlier. You will report to him and he will instruct
you in your new duties." She motioned for me to look behind me. "And with that,
court is dismissed."
I never saw her leave. I was too busy staring at first, then stuttering an
apology to Tekeli-Li. My feelings of importance and affirmation vanished as
I realised the very one that I had yelled at so unfairly was the one who had
pulled me out of the trouble I'd gotten myself into.
"Come, now, MonoKeras, this isn't the place to discuss your life's history.
No, no, I insist! Come on with me and I'll show you something of things around
here..." Tekeli-Li ushered me out of the palace into Faerieland itself. "You
really have nothing to be ashamed of. Most Neopets don't gain levels nearly
as quickly- you're something of an oddity. By the way, the new Snowager is doing
just fine, she's settled in quite well, thanks to your help. I guess you never
realised that the last time the Snowager went to give birth, the resulting quakes
opened the tunnel into Tyrannia, setting off that whole sequence of events?
No? Well it was...."
Tekeli-Li rattled on as we caught the Neolift and floated down to Neopia far
below. I was totally amazed. He was saying more in just a few minutes than I'd
heard out of him in all the time I'd known him. Then I realised that he had
been scared, too! He was still venting his own fear and worry. It was a side
of him I'd not seen before. He was better able to face the monster hordes that
had almost overrun his homeland than he was to deal with the Faerie Court. It
said something about the court, I decided.
He was feeling so relieved, in fact, that he offered to take me out on the
town for a bit of entertainment. I turned him down, though. It was now mid to
late afternoon. My few minutes inside the court had taken up hours of outside
time, which is not at all unusual for faeries. I had my own plans in mind for
what to do. I fully expected to have a little private celebration of my own
for my promotion and new position. Me, myself, and I enjoyed that evening, but
there was a downside to it.
The next morning, any thought of what my new responsibilities might consist
of were the farthest thing from my mind. My head felt like it had been stepped
on by a Grarrl. And then I heard the news that the Neopian regulators had bailed
and let the stock market crash. That morning does not rank as one of the favourite
mornings in my life!
The End | 
