The Tale of Snow Uni: Part One

by Shidi

In the Wizard's Tower, at the edge of the Haunted Wood in Neopia, lived the Wizard of Aus and his wife Shidi with all of their faithful animal friends. During the day the Wizard was often quite busy pondering the arts of magic, and creating various delicacies to be sold in his quaint little shop, Wizardfire. Shidi too, was busy with her own things, sewing and spinning, and tending to a small but earnest guild of busy Neopian entities called ARC Angels.

The pets, of course, attended training school during the days, learning the ways of the ancient masters of Neopia so that they might embrace the Tao of combat and the inner peace of Zen. The Mysterious Island was a place of wonder to the young pets, and they listened well to their instructors, yet each was glad when the time came to return to the Wizard's Tower for family time.

When the shadows drew long across the courtyard, and the sun dropped below the horizon and settled peacefully into evening, the Wizard would light a fire in the hearth and gather all the pets around. Shidi would bring a nutritious dinner for all, and after their repast came story time.

All of the pets loved the fascinating tales spun by the Wizard of Aus! He told the tales with animated gestures, did great characters voices, and illustrated the facts with such skillful spells of illusion and sound that the pets felt like they were really there!

Tonight was no exception, and as the fire crackled, Grylf the Lupe waited with anticipation for the tale to unfold. His ears perked up to the sounds of Nowne the Shoyru folding her wings and settling down beside him to watch the flames flicker, but his eyes did not stray from the Wizard's face.

The Wizard knew all the pets were waiting and realizing, as all good storytellers do, that anticipation wets the appetite for all good legends, he made a great exaggeration of settling into his chair and arranging his robes just so before speaking at last.

"Ah, good children…have you heard perhaps the tale of the most beautiful Uni ever to grace the forests of Neopia?" he said, scratching his beard as if unsure they'd wish to hear this particular tale.

Grylf snorted slightly, sure this was going to be another of those appalling "love stories" that made Dondria the Korbat swoon with tender feelings, while Nowne sighed and looked all dreamy. Grylf hated love stories, and could see that his brother Emorali the Eyrie shared the disgusted look.

"That's girl stuff," Emorali complained, before Grylf had a chance to. Gaelan elbowed his brother in the ribs, wanting him to be quiet so that the Wizard would tell the tale. It was, after all, about a beautiful Uni... how could that be wrong?

Nowne stuck her tongue out at Emorali, while Dondria teased him with a wing. "Boys!" they said at almost the same time, and with the same degree of contempt. Grylf grumbled and laid his head on his paws. "Just tell the story, please, " he muttered. After all, anything had to be better than listening to his siblings fight.

The Wizard hid a bemused chuckle with a stern look to the fighters, whom Shidi was already scolding quietly. Nowne and Dondria settled down with contrite looks upon their faces, waiting for the story to begin. Emorali secretly hoped that the heroine met with some horrible fate in the Battledome, preferably involving Dr. Sloth, but he kept his commentary to himself and listened respectfully.

"Now... this tale took place a very long time ago, long before any of you were even born. This tale was related to me by a very old Skeith, whom I met at market several years ago. He claimed that his great-great-great grandfather had been there, and witnessed it first hand. I still didn't give him a discount on the magic scroll he was attempting to cheat me out of full price on… " Here the wizard paused, his eyes twinkling for just a moment's amusement, perhaps at the mental image of how very mad that the Skeith had been.

To be continued...