The Negg Faerie's Pet

     It was a nice day on Terror Mountain. Well... nice compared to some other days. The snow fell silently that day, enveloping the land in a blanket of pure white and falling on the upturned faces of neopets with their tongues out. It was a very quiet day as well. Most of the shops were closed, and so the only neopets on Terror Mountain that day were those who were headed for the Snow Faerie’s house to get a quest. And even in the Ice Caves it was calm. The only place that was open was the Snowager’s cave, as he was sleeping. The Negg Faerie had closed her shop to get a break.

     All of a sudden, the silence was punctured by a shrill scream that seemed to erupt from the very air itself. The scream lasted only a syllable or two, and was immediately cut off by a deafening, deep roar that seemed to shake the silence and shatter it into a million pieces. When the roar ended, the scream continued – it had never actually stopped, but been interrupted by the roar. Several doors flew open and many neopets ran out of their houses to see what had happened. However, when they reached the source of the screams and the roar, they stopped, shook their heads, and turned around.

     But one Neopian hadn’t left her house. The Negg Faerie was the closest to the place where the screams and roar had come from, yet she was the only one who didn’t rush out to see what had happened. That was because she knew that it was the Snowager who had roared and that it was an unfortunate neopet caught stealing from his hoard that had screamed. It happened several times each day, but not each day was as silent as that one, and so the other neopets had been shocked out of their senses and ran to see what happened. The Negg Faerie, however, never lost her senses.

     Just as the calm, peace, and quiet started to return, an urgent knocking disrupted the Negg Faerie’s relaxation. A panting Lupe stood outside her door, letting out weak little whines every few seconds. The Negg Faerie went to answer the knock grudgingly. “Oh please, Mrs. Negg Faerie, you have to help me! You see, Greggory and I went to the Snowager to get some items, and Greggory got caught! And the Snowager got very mad, and won’t let Gregory go! Please help us, Mrs. Negg Faerie!”

     Thalia sighed. This also happened several times a month. Because she was the closest to the Snowager’s lair, the neopets who got blasted always ran to her first for help. Usually, she just gave them advice and sent them back to free their friends, but this time... the Lupe looked so desperate... “Listen, Gregory will be fine. Just go back there and return the item you stole, and the Snowager will let him go.”

     “But Mrs. Negg Faerie! That’s exactly why I need your help; Gregory and I didn’t steal anything, and yet the Snowager won’t let my brother go!” The Lupe whined again for emphasis, but Thalia wasn’t paying attention. She was standing frozen in the doorway, frowning in concentration.

     Why was the Snowager holding this Gregory captive when he didn’t take anything? That was very unlike him. And so the Negg Faerie decided to accompany the Lupe to the Snowager’s lair to see what was going on. “Ok, I’ll go with you to see why the Snowager won’t let Gregory go. By the way, what’s your name?”

     “Ice Tear.” The Lupe panted. “Now, please, let’s go help Gregory! I’m afraid something might happen to him.”

     Unlikely, the Negg Faerie thought, however, the Snowager was acting strange lately, and so there was a possibility that this Lupe’s brother was in danger. Grabbing Ice Tear’s paw in her own hand, the Negg Faerie dragged him along. But she was only dragging the neopet for a while, as he immediately began to run, and caught up to her brisk pace fast enough.

     Soon, the unlikely pair was outside the Snowager’s cave, and they could hear the ragged breathing and slight whimpers coming from inside. “That’s Gregory whimpering!” Ice Tear exclaimed, looking very worried. The Negg Faerie hushed him with a finger to her lips and stepped, slowly but confidently, into the Snowager’s lair, leaving Ice Tear outside to wait.

     “Snowager?” she asked, rather loudly in case he was sleeping. The Snowager looked up from his hoard of items and bared his teeth automatically, but when he saw that it was the Negg Faerie, he stopped, and changed it to a grin of welcome. “Snowager, I would like to ask – well, I’ve been informed that you are keeping a thief hostage – and I would like to ask why. It’s unlike you, you know.”

     “My dear Negg Faerie. I think I should know when something is unlike me, thank you. I don’t mean to be rude, but what business is it of yours?” The Snowager then halted the Negg Faerie when she started to explain that it was her business, and continued, “I am keeping this thief hostage because he stole something very precious to me.” Thalia looked at her old friend the Snowager with a puzzled expression.

     “But- but a Lupe came to me and told me that you were keeping his brother hostage and they hadn’t even stolen anything. Now you tell me that he has stolen something. What did he steal?”

     “He stole, my dear Negg Faerie, one of my offspring.” The Snowager’s answer almost knocked the Negg Faerie over with shock. She hadn’t heard that the Snowager had offspring! And what were the Snowager’s offspring like, she wondered...

     “Snowager, an offspring? I never heard that you had offspring! And what is it, may I ask?”

     “You Neopians call my offspring ‘Snowickles’,” the Snowager ended, looking at the Negg Faerie as if daring her to oppose him. But all that she could do was gape at him in surprise. She had heard of those rare petpets, and they did somewhat resemble the Snowager...

     “Gregory,” the Negg Faerie called to the shivering Lupe, huddled in the corner of the cave, “Gregory, did you steal the Snowickle?” The Lupe huddled in the corner shook his head, indicating no. All of a sudden, the Snowager reared up, and yelled at him things like: Thief! Liar! Petpet-napper!

     Then, Ice Tear dashed into the cave, crying out, “Stop! Stop! My brother tells the truth! He didn’t steal the Snowickle!” The Negg Faerie looked from the Snowager to Gregory, to Ice Tear, and didn’t know what to say or do. So she decided to play no part in the events that were unfolding before her, and kept quiet as Ice Tear explained. “I... I did.”

     Ice Tear looked down at his paws shamefaced, and gulped. The Snowager, however, again acted very unusually, and didn’t roar at Ice Tear. Instead, he looked at him as if saying, go on. “I... I took him so that I could make neopoints, but... but here he is.” With that, Ice Tear pulled a little Snowickle out of his pocket, and set the creature – that was looking at him and scowling as if to indicate it was stuffy in there! – on the ground.

     The Snowager looked at his offspring with a look of tenderness, and gently pushed it with the end of his nose. It looked at him in a happy way, and trotted over. That was when it caught sight of the Negg Faerie. The little Snowickle stopped itself in its tracks, and gazed at the Negg Faerie a moment before proceeding toward her. Once it reached her, it nuzzled against her leg like a little kougra.

     The Negg Faerie was enchanted by the Snowickle. Picking him up, she smiled and smiled as she gazed at his wonderful little face. The Snowager, through it all, looked at them with as close to a smile as the Snowager could achieve, and an approving look. “Oh!” was all that the Negg Faerie could say.

     “You can take him home. I see that he’s happy with you. Besides, he is a petpet, and petpets need owners,” the Snowager said to the Negg Faerie with a fatherly glint in his eye. Then, to the two Lupe brothers who were hugging each other, relieved to be safe, he said, “And as for you two...” The brothers immediately expected the worst. But all that the Snowager said to them was, “You run along home now, and a word of advice; in the future, find a more honest way to make neopoints.”

     The Negg Faerie, watching them leave, rubbed her nose against the Snowickle’s, and whispered to him, “I think I’m going to name you Ice Tear.”

     The Negg Faerie’s dreams ended with a jolt, as a little icy figure leapt into her lap, awakening her. It settled there, as if to stay, and then looked at her apologetically when it saw that she was awake. She smiled at it tenderly, and said, in a cooing sort of voice, “Ice Tear! What would your father say if he knew you were so naughty?”

The End