The Friendship Quest

     "Oh, I know!" agreed her friend, a blue JubJub. "And the only reason we get to eat them is because of each other!"

     "We are a great team at doing her quests," said the Zafara, whose name was Mitzi. The two friends smiled at each other as they finished eating. Mitzi got up off the grass where they had been sitting. "I'd better go home now. It's getting late. But I'll see you tomorrow, Coco!" she called as she waved goodbye to the JubJub.

     "Okay, Mitzi!" said Coco. She flashed her companion a sweet little smile and made her way up the path to her home. Mitzi entered her own house next door. Coco found her adorable yellow Faellie and played with her near the window, which was open since it was such a beautiful day.

     All of a sudden, Coco heard a noise. She couldn't put her finger on what it sounded like, but she knew she'd heard it before. Peering out the window, she discovered what was making the noise -- it was Mitzi's front gate, which Mitzi herself was sneaking out of! The Zafara looked back over her shoulder before creeping away down the path that led into town.

     Coco stared after Mitzi with her big black eyes, too shy to say anything. She forgot all about what she'd seen until the next day, when Mitzi invited her over.

     "So, did you do anything fun yesterday after we played together?" Coco inquired offhandedly. She could keep a straight face with no trouble at all; Mitzi, however, bit her lip and looked around the room shiftily. When Coco cleared her throat, Mitzi jumped a foot off the ground and Coco could almost see the beads of perspiration pouring down her face.

     "Er, no, I-I had a pretty boring and dull day, er, yesterday," said Mitzi, ever so smoothly.

     The subject was dropped until later, when the two friends went outside to play. "Let's go find Illusen and do a quest for her!" Coco suggested excitedly. The two friends did a quest for their friend Illusen every day. They had done this ever since they'd met each other, so Coco was a little surprised by Mitzi's reaction.

     "No, I don't feel like doing a quest today," said Mitzi.

     "But why not?" asked Coco. "Aren't you feeling well?"

     "Yes," said Mitzi, "I just don't want to do a quest."

     If Coco were more outgoing, she might have pressed her friend further. Instead, she shrugged and went off on her own to complete the quest for Illusen. When she returned, Mitzi was nowhere in sight. Coco went to inquire of Mitzi's mother as to where she might be, but the mother Zafara had no knowledge of where her daughter had traipsed off to.

     Coco was just going to go and look for Mitzi herself when she saw her friend coming up the street. She made her way towards Mitzi and saw that the Zafara was clutching something in her paw. "What's that you have?" asked Coco, interested.

     "Oh, it's nothing, I - "

     But Coco had already seen the object. "It's one of Jhudora's brushes!" she gasped. "You've... you've been doing Jhudora's quests?"

     Mitzi began to sniffle. "I didn't want to tell you!" she sobbed. "I knew you'd be angry."

     "I just don't know why!" said Coco disbelievingly. "We've always done Illusen's quests. Jhudora and Illusen are strict rivals! Why are you doing her quests?"

     Suddenly Mitzi stopped crying and narrowed her eyes at Coco. "People can be different," she said. "You don't know Jhudora. Just like you don't know me." She snatched her brush and stomped off in the direction of her house.

     Coco stood there for a few moments, bewildered, and finally followed suit and returned home, knowing deep down that she might have just lost her best friend.

     The next day, Mitzi sneaked out again. She brushed past Coco, who was out playing with her Faellie, and gave her a dark look. "You aren't going to tell on me." It was more of a statement than a question. Coco nodded and Mitzi went on her way.

     Mitzi didn't return with anything that day, but the following day she was wearing a hideous t-shirt, obviously from Jhudora, as the evil faerie's face was on the front. Coco sighed and looked down almost guiltily. She felt bad. Why was Mitzi doing this? Did she think Jhudora had better prizes than Illusen's beautiful, hand-crafted gifts? Coco couldn't understand why...

     After awhile, Coco just wasn't the same. She hadn't talked to Mitzi since the day she'd seen her with Jhudora's t-shirt. Illusen knew something was different, too, since Coco hadn't come to see her in a long time. She finally asked the depressed JubJub what was wrong when Coco came to see her for the first time in a week.

     "You seem so sad, Coco. Is there anything I can do?" questioned the faerie sympathetically.

     Coco lifted her head to look glumly up at Illusen. Her bottom lip quivered. "Mitzi's been doing Jhudora's quests," she said sadly. The whole story spilled out from there. "I really wish she'd come back and do your quests with me," Coco confessed.

     Illusen wanted very much to help. "I have an idea," she said. "I remember how much you two used to love my cream cookies. Maybe if you bring Mitzi one, she'll remember how much fun she used to have when you were friends."

     That sounded like a wonderful idea to Coco. "Oh, thank you so much, Illusen!" she said and ran off to find Mitzi. "I hope this works," she thought to herself when she saw her friend just leaving her home, apparently going out to do another of Jhudora's quests.

     "Before you go," said Coco nervously, "I wanted to give you this."

     "I don't need - " Mitzi started to say, but then she saw what Coco was holding out to her. Mitzi stared in amazement at the little cookie with its tempting green minty cream.

     She did indeed remember when she and Coco had eaten them together. Even though this had only happened days before, it seemed like years.

     Mitzi forgot all about where she had meant to go, and rushed over to hug her best friend. "I really did miss you, Coco. I don't know why I let Jhudora force me to do her quests. How could I stop being friends with you?" She sighed. "I'm really, really sorry."

     "It's okay," Coco said.

     "So, if we can still be friends, I'd be very happy," said Mitzi.

     "Of course we can!" said Coco. She held out one of the cookies to her friend, and kept the other one. "And remember, we can't get these without each other," she said.

     "Right! So we'd better keep doing Illusen's quests. Together," said the Zafara excitedly. "Because just like these cookies, friendship is sweet!"

     Coco couldn't help but smile at how well Illusen's idea had worked out. She made a mental note to try and repay the faerie somehow for the valuable friendship that she had helped to save.

The End