Loving Heart

     “Talyl, please listen to me! I try so hard for you! What’s wrong with Omelette and Jelly and free soup? Look, please understand! I spend the Neopoints most carefully! They’re in the bank account, waiting for something important!” Talyl’s owner Ravendhi was a tall, thin girl with auburn hair and bright green eyes. She was kneeling, pleading with her pet. She wore ragged clothes; all of them from Advent Calendars over the years. Talyl wore Advent Calendar Clothes too or things picked up from the Money Tree: for now, one coat and that was all. Everything else had been sold to get the meagre scraps of Neopoints. He shivered now, but looked straight at his owner.

     “I hate you.” He said those words, those awful words, perfectly calmly and coldly. Like unshakeable ice, a block without a crack. His tone was perfectly level, not a single intonation or inflection to indicate emotion.

     “Talyl! Say that again!” Ravendhi’s first tear fell. To be fully betrayed like this, to have the only thing in your life offer nothing but his complete rejection of you, it broke Ravendhi completely inside. Everything smashed like a dropped plate when Talyl took sides against her. “Say that again!” she screamed.

     “I hate you.” Just as before, exactly the same. Talyl might have been replaying a tape.

     “Please, don’t say that! I love you! I do so much, all I can for you! We’ve got a Neohome; I play the games; what more do you want?! Tell me!” Ravendhi reached out and grabbed Talyl’s shoulders, pulling him closer. She looked into his eyes, human green to Pteri black.

     “I want a real bed, not a Straw Bed. I want my own room. I want pocket money; I want a Neohome that isn’t one room, made of Cardboard! I want to go to Neoschool; I want to have friends; I want good food; I want a Petpet; I want clothes that actually cost you money, not rubbish from the Advent Calendar or Money Tree! I want trophies in a nice shiny cabinet; I want good furniture; not free stuff that’s rubbish! You ask me what more I could want; I want everything!”

     “T-Talyl, darling, what are you thinking?” Ravendhi made a grab for her pet’s arm, but he shook her off.

     “Careful now,” he teased angrily, “Don’t fall over and rip the Neohome!” The one room was Cardboard, and situated in the Ice Caves. Ravendhi hadn’t paid, of course; her brother had bought her the property and a little bit of extras. Talyl angrily stormed over to his Straw Bed. A thin, patched blanket lay over it. He grabbed a corner of the blanket and held it up for a moment, as if considering. Then he let it drop and walked out the door without it.

     “TALYL! COME BACK NOW!” Ravendhi came running out. She made a jump for her pet, but he soared up out of reach. His little wings flapped as he flew through the glittering Ice Caves. Ravendhi had tears pouring down her face. She knew they would freeze there, so she rushed back inside, sat at the one table, rested her head in her arms, and sobbed.

     It was cold outside as Talyl’s wings collapsed. He dropped into a pile of snow in Happy Valley. Shivering, Talyl looked around for a place to stay for a while in peace. He hung behind a shop, sheltered from the wind. A flash of colour caught his eye; a jumper that might once have been white but was now grey and ripped. For an instant Talyl’s pride grappled with his shaking body, but the shakes won. He slipped off the coat and pulled the jumper on. His hand shook so much with cold he could hardly grab the coat again, but he seized it and pulled it back on. Wrapped up now, and not so cold, Talyl looked around. He was feeling tired. A girl stalked past arrogantly. She was well wrapped up in furs and thick clothes.

     “Miss? Could you please tell me the time?” squeaked Talyl.

     “Where’s your owner?” the teenage girl asked, leaning in and talking to him like a baby. “Are you lost?”

     “I walked-” began Talyl, but suddenly he shivered violently. He took a deep breath of frigid air and started again. “I walked out on her. We were so poor and didn’t have anything!”

     “You abandoned yourself!” asked the girl, eyes wide.

     “Yes,” said Talyl simply, bravely. After all, he had, hadn’t he? Ravendhi had tried to keep him in, and he’d run off. So now, with no intention of returning, what else was that but self-abandonment?

     “Come with me. I’ll adopt you. I have been so hoping for a little Pteri like you...” The tall girl, almost a lady, wrapped Talyl up in a spare cloak she was wearing and walked away, with Talyl snuggled down in her arms.

     The Eyrie Carriage that arrived at the depot was dark and hugely ragged looking. Talyl was used to patchy things, but this carriage drew the line.

     “Where to, miss?” asked the Red Eyrie harnessed to the carriage. He was poorly groomed and his fur hung in dirty tufts.

     “Take him to Faerieland, Fire Faerie Crescent, number 12849,” ordered the lady.

     “Aren’t you coming?” asked Talyl anxiously.

     “I’ll go in the next carriage.” The lady smiled. “I don’t want to crowd you.” She waved goodbye as the carriage soared up into the air.

     The carriage landed on the fluffy clouds. Talyl, shaking, scrambled out. The Eyrie took off instantly. Talyl looked up and saw a beautiful carriage, drawn by two graceful white Unis, land on the clouds a few meters away. It screamed richness and comfort, and was velvety and plush everywhere. The lady who was to adopt Talyl stepped out and paid the Unis. They soared away beautifully with a perfect, easy grace.

     “How come you got a first-class carriage while I had a really bad one?” asked Talyl suspiciously. That’s how he tried to sound. It came out more as a jealous whine.

     “Just luck,” replied the lady. She walked on for a while in silence, ignoring Talyl’s many questions.

     “But who are you?” Talyl cried for the fifth or sixth time, several minutes later. That lady just smiled and turned her head away.

     “Come, this is my home,” she said, indicating a sprawling mansion of Gold and Marble. Gardens with trees and bright flowers stretched down long one side and the front. The house itself occupied all three storeys and sprawled in an unruly manner over the grounds.

     “Wow, you must be so rich!” gaped Talyl. “How many rooms are there?”

     “Almost fifty rooms, my pet,” said the lady sweetly. “My name is Lady_Juliana, but you can call me... well, perhaps we’ll leave that for now. Now, come inside and I will show you your room.”

     Once inside, Talyl quickly saw rooms in it were not always made of Gold or Marble. There were a few Silver rooms, and one made of Transparishield.

     “What’s that room?” asked Talyl eagerly, pointing to the Transparishield room.

     “Aah. That is... my study. You never, ever go in there, ok?” The lady glared at Talyl until he meekly promised to obey.

     “Where do I sleep? And don’t you have to adopt me properly?” Talyl asked.

     “I’m not adopting you properly. That gives you rights as a free citizen. You are not a free citizen! You are now my slave and you will do whatever I wish!” Lady_Juliana raised her head, eyes flashing arrogance and nobility. She looked like a queen – shoulders square, tall, but she wasn’t stupid.

     “What are you talking about?” cried Talyl, stepping backwards. He was terrified – could this woman be worse than Ravendhi? Even Ravendhi, if she hadn’t cared about their poverty, had given him the gift of freedom.

     “Oh, for my sake!” cried Lady_Juliana. “Let’s sit down and have some slave lessons.” She grabbed Talyl’s wing in a grip of iron and dragged the struggling pet into the Transparishield room.

     “No, no! Let go!” All Talyl’s cries and struggles were to no avail. The woman sat on a Zen sofa, finally releasing Talyl’s wing.

     “Now,” began the woman. “I’ve trained slaves before, and you look as intelligent as any. When you address me, call me either ‘Your Majesty’ or ‘Lady.’ Any problems so far?” Talyl looked up angrily, leaping to his feet.

     “Absolutely,” he spat. “Why should I call you ‘Your Majesty’? You’re queen of nowhere!”

     “Sit down!” hissed Lady_Juliana, half-standing. Talyl sank down slowly, rebellious eyes gleaming. “You will call me so because I wish it! Remember, I control your life; what you eat, when you eat, how long you sleep for... the list is endless.”

     “You are the most horrible, pathetic, vile little Pile Of Dung I have ever known.” Talyl chopped up the words into more syllables than usually possible and fired them like darts. Trying to sound menacing, he just sounded lame, as though that was the best he could do.

     “At least,” sniffed Lady_Juliana disdainfully, “among Dungs I would still be a lady!”

     “Among ladies you will always be dung,” laughed Talyl under his breath. He was not prepared for what happened next. Lady_Juliana grabbed his wing again and, with superhuman strength, threw Talyl right out of the room.

     “See that banister?” Lady_Juliana almost yelled. Talyl craned his neck and saw the stairs.

     “Yeah, oh course, I’m not blind!”

     “I want it perfectly clean by dinnertime, or else.”

     “Or else what?” Talyl had to laugh. This was just like books he’d read. Lady_Juliana stalked out of the room, her high heels clicking on the marble floors.

     “I will not tell you because I have eaten recently and do not wish to upset my stomach,” she sniffed. She walked away down the corridor.

     Talyl found a cloth and a bucket in the bathroom. He filled the bucket up with water and saturated the cloth, then headed back to the stairs and started cleaning the banister. Water slopped everywhere, but the banister did look lovely and shiny when he was through. The carpeting on the stairs was blotchy from the water, and the floor below had pools everywhere. Talyl wanted to splash in them like when he was a little kid, but knew he shouldn’t. Beside, he had no clean change of clothes. He headed up the wet stairs (with very clean banister) and knocked on Lady_Juliana’s door.

     “What is it, slave?” barked the girl.

     “Your banister’s cleaned,” replied Talyl.

     “Good, I will come see it.” The door opened and there stood Lady_Juliana, in a black dress and enough makeup on her face to paint a whole house with. She walked within an inch of Talyl’s tail and bent down to look at the banister.

     “Well?” asked Talyl. He’d never been very patient.

     “There’s water everywhere! I swear, you’ve stained the new carpet. There are scratches in the paint! This is terrible! Mop up those stains and run out and buy a tin of paint, this colour.” Lady_Juliana stalked back to her room and slammed the door. Talyl grabbed a clean towel and flung it in front of the fireplace for a while. When it was heated up, he began working the water out of the carpet. He couldn’t help but notice the fibres being left behind from her vigorous scrubbing to get the water out. He grinned, and scrubbed even harder. Make him work... right. Talyl knew what he had to do. Lady_Juliana thought she was great, and powerful, but Talyl would have his fun.

     “The colour from the towel is left behind! Get the vacuum cleaner at once and get the fluff out!” Once again Lady_Juliana left and Talyl wondered how to sabotage this clean-up. He grabbed the vacuum cleaner and plugged it into a wall socket. While attaching a brush, it got stuck and no matter how hard he pushed or pulled it, it remained wedged firmly there. He tried to open the tray holding other brush heads and the handle broke. Furious with the thing, he kicked it. Hard. A dent formed in the plastic covering. He turned it on and nothing happened. No vacuum. No suck. Talyl grinned. No cleaning. An accident... wonderful. He hadn’t even tried.

     As expected, Lady_Juliana was furious once again.

     “It’s perfectly simple! You have completely wrecked a brand-new vacuum cleaner, put scratches all over the banister, stained my new carpet, and gotten fluff all over it! I am fed up with you! I’ll get a slave who isn’t completely incompetent!” She grabbed Talyl and dragged him out of the house, down the street, and to the very edge of the cloud.

     “What are you doing?” screamed Talyl. His fear was not faked.

     “Goodbye, o pathetic one!” laughed Lady_Juliana, and threw Talyl over the edge.

     Talyl fell right off the magical cloud of Faerieland and plummeted down towards the ocean. Then he spread his green wings and glided towards the peak of Terror Mountain in the distance. It was a long flight, and cold up in the air. He almost didn’t make it, but the last flap of his wings brought him crashing down into the snow of Happy Valley, the place where it all began. Cold, shivering, he stood, still wet from the cleaning. His wings exhausted, he staggered laboriously back towards the ice caves, to his home – his true home – and his owner.

     “T-Talyl!” cried Ravendhi, leaping up from her place on the bed as he came in. “You came back! Oh, my sweet pet, never, ever, leave me again!” She sprang across the room and wrapped her pet in an enormous hug.

     “I won’t, Mum,” Talyl whispered, choking on tears. “Because I’ve decided I don’t care about trophies, or money, or a house not made from Cardboard, or even proper clothes. I’ve seen these things, had some of these things, and they are nothing compared to the loving heart inside you. I’m staying right here – I’ve got everything I need.”

The End