The Daily Life of a Grey Kacheek

      Unfortunately, the ride was relatively short. The Uni Taxi was the fastest method of transportation in Neopia. By the time Olivia had gotten invested in her dream about Faellies, she was awakened by a turn in her stomach as the taxi began to descend. The landing was rough and it shook off the rest of her sleep. It was over quickly as the Uni driver brought them to a stop. He disconnected himself from the machine’s apparatus and politely opened the door for Olivia. She exited with a smile, still somewhat drowsy, and thanked the driver for his politeness.

      Faerieland was, as usual, very purple. Olivia had been dropped off in Faerie City, at her own request. Every building was painted in shades of pink and violet, still haphazardly constructed and somewhat demolished from the fall of Faerieland. The denizens of the city were hardly concerned about the state of their home. They bustled about, multicolour wings translucent and shining in the sunlight, wearing bright smiles and even brighter clothing. Olivia was used to being around one faerie at a time, and now hundreds of them, Neopets and otherwise, were filling the streets and shops. It was disorienting, but Olivia did her best to remember that they were all just people going about their lives.

      Her first matter of business was to cash in her job coupon. From where she was dropped off at the entrance to the city, she headed west toward the employment agency. The large Walein hovered in the sky over the Faerie Quest building as she passed it. She wasn’t sure if it was happy or not, but it seemed to be smiling. In the distance, a large waterfall could be heard rushing toward a lake. The sound of flowing water was accented by the whistling of wind that had pushed the rainstorm north. Joining the chorus was the din of the city, accented by the twinkling of bells that signified faerie magic. Olivia took in the sights and sounds, feeling uplifted by the change in scenery.

      While distracted, Olivia’s sneaker connected with a brick in the road that was uneven with the rest. She tripped. The Kacheek fell hard and fast, landing on her face. She lay stunned on the damp bricks for a moment. A group of faerie Neopets passed her as she groaned. They laughed and continued walking. Olivia made a mental note that not all faeries were nice. She pulled herself up and brushed the bits of dirt and gravel from her paws. Her knees had hidden the ground hard as well, and her nose had begun to throb. Rubbing her face, Olivia stood up. The wind picked up then, and in her dishevelled state, the contents of her pockets were emptied into the air.

      All she had was the job coupon, which the wind was glad to steal. The breeze picked it up and swirled it about in an elaborate flip as it carried the envelope away from Olivia. She shouted and rushed after it as fast as she could, but she was slowed down by the aftereffects of her fall. The wind blew again, carrying the envelope even farther away. Olivia tried to shout after it but her voice was lost in the wind. A faerie Shoyru, flying overhead, noticed the loose job coupon and plucked it out of the air. With a whoop of celebration, the Shoyru flew off toward the Employment Agency, never looking back. Olivia watched, dumbfounded. Her job coupon was gone.

      With a heavy sigh, Olivia held her head in her hands and looked up at the sky. Her hair was messy from the wind and rain. The clouds had parted finally, allowing sunlight and the blue sky to shine down on her, illuminating her bad luck. So far, the highlight of her day had been the taxi nap. Everything else had gone horribly wrong. Just then, Olivia’s stomach growled, causing her to frown. All she had eaten was the cookies earlier in the arcade, and her body was crying out for something of substance.

      Her best attempt at optimism reminded Olivia that faerie food was absolutely delicious, making her mouth water in anticipation of something sweet and cakey. The Kacheek turned around and dusted off the rest of the dirt from her fall. She headed east toward the faerie food shop, passing the faerie quest building once again.

      Suddenly, a cloud of lavender smoke burst into the air, causing Olivia to yelp and stumble backwards. She fell hard, again, on her backside this time. The smoke swirled and bubbled, revealing the dark silhouette of a faerie within. She was almost twice as tall as Olivia, towering over the Kacheek who was trembling on the ground. Her wingspan was almost eight feet across. As the smoke began to clear, the faerie stepped forward, slowly. Her wings fluttered once behind the faerie as she approached Olivia. The violet tips of her wings were visible first, followed by the rest of her pink wingspan. She was holding a staff, and the orb at its tip reflected the sunlight into Olivia’s eyes, causing her to wince. When she opened her eyes again, the Kacheek was looking up at Fyora, the Faerie Queen.

      “Greetings, kind Neopian,” Fyora spoke, “I would like to offer you a quest.” Olivia was silent and starstruck in her presence. “Please find me Apple Lantern Lights.” With a wave of her staff, Fyora was gone in another puff of lavender smoke. Olivia coughed on the dense magic vapour. It was hard to not feel compelled by the Faerie Queen. On her spot in the dirt, Olivia felt particularly vulnerable. Pedestrians that had paused in the wake of Fyora had continued on their way. Nobody had offered to help the Kacheek up. She sighed, then stood up and brushed the dirt off her behind.

      While she was somewhat giddy with having met the Faerie Queen, the unfortunate reality for Olivia was that there was no way she could complete the quest. She was down to a hot one thousand Neopoints and still needed to buy lunch. She glanced between the quest centre and the faerie food shop, trying to decide which direction to head. Should she disappoint the Faerie Queen or stuff her face with cake first? With a growl of her stomach, the decision was made. It was time for lunch.

     The walk to the faerie food shop was fortunately short and uneventful. She approached the pink shop quickly, driven by the need for carbs. The inside of the shop smelled heavenly of spiced berries and vanilla. There were a number of customers inside, mostly Neopets painted faerie, but it wasn’t crowded. Olivia made her way through the pastel shop and its equally pastel customers up to the faerie shopkeeper. The Earth faerie who ran the shop was busy, fluttering about her different appliances and making sales. Her purple and pink kitchen was behind the counter. A number of dishes were cooking simultaneously, flipping, turning, and baking themselves with magic. She checked on the different dishes every now and then, renewing their spells or plating them for sale.

     Olivia was the only person at the counter. She waited quietly for the busy faerie to notice her. A long few moments passed before the Faerie caught her eyes and perked up before floating over to the waiting Kacheek.

     “Hi, welcome to Faerie Foods!” she said. “My apologies for the wait.”

     “S’okay,” Olivia mumbled.

     “How can I help you?” asked the faerie. Olivia hesitated. She had been so consumed with anxiety waiting for the faerie to notice her that she actually hadn’t decided what she wanted. The foods at the front counter were behind a glass bakery case. Most of the prices were in the four-digit realm, far out of Olivia’s budget. The faerie smiled kindly as she waited for Olivia’s choices. Of the few things she could afford, only one seemed appetizing.

     “I’ll take the Fruit Faerie Fingers, please,” Olivia asked. She picked out the exact number of Neopoints that the sign in the case asked for. She hated to haggle - it made her paws sweat, so she paid full price. The faerie bit back a smirk at the easy sale and took Olivia’s Neopoints. Then, she delicately packaged the pastry and its dipping sauce into a paper box with some tissue to protect them. Handing over the box, the faerie gave Olivia her best customer service smile.

     “Thanks,” Olivia managed to mutter in reply. She took her food and made a dash for the exit, her face burning. Something about buying and selling made her blood boil with anxiety. She hurried to a nearby park that boasted a few pastel blue picnic tables and settled down to eat. With her heart still beating fast, she scanned the park to make sure nobody was looking at her. Unfortunately, Olivia noticed she was the only one sitting alone. The others were in groups of two to five, laughing and smiling with each other. It took everything Olivia had to convince herself that they weren’t laughing at her, despite the fact that not a single person had even glanced her way.

     Regardless of her solitude, Olivia’s stomach was growling. She opened her box and was greeted with the same vanilla and berry scent from the shop. Before her thoughts could catch up with her actions, she dunked a pastry stick into the berry sauce and took a hearty bite. “Mmm!” the Kacheek exclaimed, accidentally out loud. The pastry was crispy and coated with sugar on the outside, but fluffy and soft on the inside. Its sweetness was subtle with a hint of vanilla. The berry sauce was tart and flavourful from the mixture of berries it was made with. Her woes forgotten, Olivia dug into her lunch gratefully. She didn’t have much, but she had Fruity Faerie Fingers and nobody to answer to. For a moment, enjoying her pastry in the warm afternoon sunshine, Olivia almost felt happy.

     It didn’t last long. The Faerie Fingers were meant to be a quick snack and Olivia was hungry enough to devour them in the span of a few minutes. Then, she remembered the reality of her position alone at the park with her mouth covered in sugar. She wiped her face, realizing she had no napkins, only to smear berry sauce across her cheek. With a sigh, she licked her fingers and rubbed furiously at her face, trying to get the stickiness off. While she was distracted, a breeze picked up and blew her now empty paper box and tissue off the table. She gasped as it was carried away deeper into the park. The Kacheek jumped up and rushed after the trash, only for it to be caught by an airborne faerie Aisha. They discarded it into a trash can and shook their head shamefully at Olivia, who flushed with embarrassment and hid her face. Olivia hurried away from the scene of the crime.

     Back in Faerie City, and still a little sticky, Olivia didn’t feel much better. The sugar from her lunch had given her a vague stomach ache, and the sugar high was giving her the jitters. She held her paws together to keep them from shaking as she made her way back to the Faerie Quest building. It was a short walk, but it felt much longer as dread set into her bones. She was about to disappoint the Faerie Queen. Her thoughts started to spiral. How would Fyora respond? Would she be angry or insulted? Would she think Olivia was useless or stupid to abandon her quest? While her mind was occupied, her feet continued to move her toward her destination.

     The inside of the Faerie Quest building was bustling with activity. Neopets and faeries hurried about with items in their hands, completing quests and enjoying their rewards. The air hummed with faerie magic. There was a front counter, like in a regular shop, but it was unoccupied. Olivia approached it hesitantly, dragging her feet. As she neared the counter, the Faerie Queen appeared in a puff of lavender smoke as though she had been expecting a visitor. Fyora smiled as Olivia caught her gaze, shaking in her sneakers.

     “Hello, dear Neopet,” she said, “Have you brought the item I asked for?”

     “Um, well..” Olivia began, “I actually have to abandon the quest. I’m sorry. I can’t afford it,” she explained. Olivia expected the ceiling to fall and crush her for how embarrassed she was. She was actually so embarrassed that she wished the ceiling would cave in on her. However, Fyora simply smiled, her eyes softening.

     “No worries, my child,” said the Faerie Queen, “I wish you the best of luck on your way.” Then, she disappeared into another purple cloud. Fyora was gone just as quickly as she had appeared. Olivia stood at the counter, somewhat dazed. She had expected catastrophe and had received kindness instead. She always expected the worst, so her mind was somewhat frazzled by a quick and easy confrontation. It hadn’t even been a confrontation - Olivia’s mind had simply warped it into something it never was.

     The sound of a loud “A-HEM” from behind her reminded Olivia that she wasn’t the only one in the building. A short line had gathered behind her as she was lost in her thoughts. Mumbling an apology, she hurried out of their way. As the Faerie Skeith behind her approached the counter, a perky air faerie appeared. She received her requested cosmetics with grace and blew sparkling magic over her chosen one. The Skeith didn’t seem appreciative as he stormed away from the counter, although he did seem a fair bit faster. With her mission and a bit of people-watching complete, Olivia left the Faerie Quest building behind her.

     The Kacheek’s final matter of business in Faerieland was to leave Faerieland, which was easier said than done. As the afternoon progressed, the city had become more crowded as the citizens were preparing for the night’s festivities. It wasn’t a holiday, but it was a weekend. Not that Olivia was aware of what day of the week it was. She weaved her way through the crowd, getting stepped on or shoved occasionally as she went. Eventually, she freed herself from the evening revelries and ended up on the street she had arrived on. There were a number of travel services waiting for patrons to transport. Her same Uni taxi from earlier was available, but there was no way Olivia could afford it. She opted instead for the cheapest form of ground transport: a Uni-drawn carriage. It seemed that Unis had a monopoly on the transport industry in Neopia.

     With her meagre remaining Neopoints, Olivia couldn’t afford a private carriage. Luckily for her, the flow of traffic was more into Faerieland than out of it. There weren’t many travellers milling about the area, and most of them were going after the private Uni taxis. Olivia approached a carriage that bore a sign signalling its destination as Neopia Central. She had enough leftover after the carriage fee to check herself back into the Neolodge for a week, which was her best and only idea.

     So, exhausted and still slightly embarrassed, Olivia paid the carriage driver. She tried her best to give them a smile, which was not returned. With her fee paid, she boarded the carriage, backpack in tow. Luckily, there was only one other passenger. A Neopet of indiscernible colour and species was dressed in a heavy black cloak and seemed to be asleep in the far left corner. Olivia took the front right corner of the carriage to give them as much space as possible. Satisfied with their fare, the carriage driver strapped themselves into the harness and set off. It would take all night and most of the next day for the journey to Neopia Central to be complete. Olivia took out her fire Ogrin plushie and settled in for an uncomfortable journey.

To be continued…