Be sure to read "Sakirina's
Change of Heart" and "The
Gem of Truth".
"Psh," Sakirina snorted in disgust. "That faerie cloud
racers game is impossible!" Linkidu glanced at Sakirina then quickly went back
to his game.
"It's not that hard." He was doing better at
it than she was.
"Oh yes it is. Can we go to the fair now?" Sakirina
retorted.
"Oh fine," Linkidu replied as he sent his game
score and the Neopoints rolled out of the pink game machine. "Let's go." Sakirina
and Linkidu were on vacation in Faerieland and they were traveling around seeing
the beautiful Faerieland sights. They walked off along the road to the Faerieland
Fair. As they entered the fair grounds the green Lupe and yellow Chia were hit
by the sounds and smells of food, performers, and various other things. Pushing
their way through the crowds, Sakirina and Linkidu stopped in front of a food
stall.
"You hungry?" Sakirina asked, yelling to be
heard over the noise.
"Yeah, starving," Linkidu replied, also yelling.
"Let's get something to eat." There was a large green Skeith taking orders.
Sakirina walked up to him and said, "Two faerie
queen burritos please."
"Right away, ma'am," he replied. The Skeith
went to get their burritos. Sakirina and Linkidu stood there looking around
at the colourful things for sale. The Skeith came back and handed them their
burritos.
"Thanks," Linkidu said, handing him some Neopoints.
"Where should we go next?" Sakirina asked, taking
a large bite of burrito. Suddenly she looked up from her lunch to see a small
tent made out of starry fabric. A sign sat in front of it that said "Madam Ashiria's
Fortune Telling."
"Cool!" Sakirina exclaimed. "Let's go in!" She
skipped eagerly into the tent. Linkidu followed, shaking his head. Sometimes
he thought Sakirina was too adventurous for her own good. Inside the tent was
a low table with a milky white crystal ball.
"Hello?" Linkidu called nervously.
"Oh hello, children!" a soft voice said. A faerie
Aisha wearing a black lace shawl appeared out of the shadows. "What can I do
for you?"
"U-u-umm...we'd like to have our fortunes told,"
Sakirina stuttered. Linkidu rolled his eyes at her but didn't say anything.
"What else was I supposed to say?" she hissed at him.
"Hmmph," he muttered. Sakirina sat down on the
crimson cushion that was in front of the table. Madam Ashiria sat down on the
other side of the table and looked into the crystal ball.
"I see that you have hard times ahead of you,"
she whispered mysteriously. Sakirina gulped. "I also see a large blue jewel.
You are holding it up. A...a Chia is running away from you. The Chia is blue."
Linkidu and Sakirina looked at each other. What could this mean? "I see no more
in the crystal ball," Madam Ashiria concluded.
"Thank you," Sakirina said, handing her a few
Neopoints "We'd better get going."
"Come again some time!" Ashiria said.
"Sure, we'll come back sometime," Linkidu replied
nervously. "Let's go Saki." Sakirina and Linkidu walked out of Madam Ashiria's
tent. They blinked, trying to get used to the sunlight.
"What now?" Sakirina asked.
"Ummm, do you want go back to the hotel? I'm
kind of tired," answered Linkidu. He looked around the square of food stalls
uneasily.
"Sure, that's fine," Sakirina replied, looking
at him oddly. They walked back to the Faerieland Hotel where they were staying
in silence. Sakirina was puzzling over what Madam Ashiria had said about the
Gem. Did it have something to do with Hubrid Nox? Her description of the Chia
fit him so it was possible.
Looking around at the scenery of Faerieland,
Linkidu was thinking. About everything really. Mostly just about the Gem, Madam
Ashiria, and Sakirina. He secretly had a crush on Sakirina, but he would never
tell her as much.
They were coming to the Faerieland Hotel now,
which was a cozy 5 star hotel. As they walked through the front doors of the
hotel Sakirina and Linkidu could see something was wrong. Going up to a Usul
that stood a little back from the crowd, Linkidu asked, "What's going on?"
"Some Chia tried to break in the hotel. He didn't
steal anything but he got away. Nobody got a really good look at him, but we
know he was blue," the Usul replied. Sakirina gasped and looked at Linkidu.
He was gaping at the Usul, eyes wide.
"Could it be?" he whispered. "You left the Gem
here. He must have known that somehow."
"Hubrid Nox? Definitely," Sakirina replied,
looking around at the other pets that were milling around. "Who else?"
"I guess there is nobody else," Linkidu said.
"Let's go up to the room and talk about this there."
"Good idea," answered Sakirina. The two headed
for the stairs up to the second floor.
As they walked slowly up the stairs Linkidu
voiced a sudden thought, "I wonder if this has anything to do with Madam Ashiria's
prediction."
"It probably does," she replied. "And what do
you think that 'blue Chia running away from me' means?"
"That you're going to defeat him maybe? I dunno,"
he answered. They came to their room and Linkidu unlocked it. Going in, they
sat down on the bed.
"That's an interesting thought," said Sakirina.
"I wish we knew more about Hubrid Nox."
"Yeah..." Linkidu trailed off. They sat there
in silence for a while until Sakirina suddenly thought of something.
"Have you ever wondered why it was us that found
the Gem?" she asked, flipping on the NTV.
"Yeah, I've thought about it. It's probably
coincidence, although it could be something more," replied Linkidu.
"It could be, but why us?" Sakirina wondered
aloud.
"We're special?" Linkidu joked. "I dunno, but
thinking about it is making my brain hurt."
Sakirina laughed. "It kind of makes my brain
hurt too." She looked up at the NTV and scowled. A picture of Hubrid Nox was
on the screen of the television. "Too much publicity," she grumbled.
"At least they don't know he was trying to steal
the Gem," Linkidu told her.
"That's true," Sakirina admitted. She flipped
off the NTV and looked around for something to do. Seeing a book of spells,
Sakirina picked it up and ruffled through the pages. She sighed and set it down.
"I'm bored," she mumbled glumly.
"Me too," Linkidu replied sleepily. "Do you
wan to go get a snack from the café?"
"Sure, at least it will give us something to
do," Sakirina replied, standing and stretching.
"Let's go," Linkidu went to the door and opened
it, snapping off the light as he went.
As they walked down the stairs to the café,
Sakirina couldn't stop thinking about Madam Ashiria's prediction. As hard as
she tried, she couldn't put it out of her mind. Sighing, she asked, "What are
you thinking about?"
Linkidu shifted nervously. "Ashiria's prediction,"
he lied. He had really been thinking about Sakirina.
"That's what I thought. I can't stop thinking
about it! As hard as I try, I can't get it out of my mind!" she complained.
Good, she believes me! Linkidu thought. "Neither
can I! It's so annoying," he said. They were almost to the café now; Linkidu
looked around at the few Neopets still milling around outside the café. The
two stepped inside the double doors of the hotel café and walked over to a short
line of customers to get something to eat.
"What do you want?" Sakirina asked, looking
in the case of pastries.
"I think I'll have a Faerie Pastry," Linkidu
replied, pointing.
"Okay, I'm going to have the Earth Faerie Brownies,"
Sakirina decided. "One Faerie Pastry and the Earth Faerie Brownies please,"
she told the red Uni behind the counter.
"Sure thing!" the Uni exclaimed, making Sakirina
frown. She was in a bad mood at the moment. The Uni slid open the pastry case
and pulled out a Linkidu's Faerie Pastry and Sakirina's Earth Faerie Brownies.
Wrapping the food up in a napkin, the Uni handed the pastries to Sakirina and
Linkidu handed her some Neopoints
"Let's find a table," Linkidu said, leading
Sakirina off towards a small table by the window. They began to eat their pastries,
looking out the window and thinking about various things.
Suddenly Sakirina voiced a thought. "Hubrid
Nox will do anything to get the Gem of Truth back won't he?"
"I believe he will," Linkidu replied.
"Then I think Madam Ashiria's prediction was
right, we do have hard times ahead of us," Sakirina stated firmly.
The End
Author's Note: The third part of the stories of Sakirina and Linkidu has fallen
into place. I look forward to writing more about them and their adventures. You
may be able to find further parts to this story in later issues of the Neopian
Times. Feel free to send
me any ideas or feedback on the story! | 
