Qasan's Quest: Part One

     “Hi, Qasan! Would you like some tea and neggs? I think I have purple!” Julie said.

     It was the red JubJub’s owner. That explained the hood. It was raining, so she wore it to keep herself dry. Qasan felt embarrassed. Why could he never be brave?

     Qasan hobbled after his owner into the spacious kitchen. This was his favorite room. Since Julie was particularly wealthy, Qasan and his three sisters enjoyed a cushy lifestyle filled with Draik eggs, petpets and petpetpets, vacations, and sometimes even paintbrushes. All of his sisters were strong. Resmerelle, his older yellow Poogle sister, often won the Poogle races. Even her fast moving Turdle petpet, Premidian, won the Turdle races. His sisters enjoyed doing quests and adored Taelia, the magnificent snow faerie. They had not failed a quest yet. Qasan liked quiet things, such as reading and Sakhmet Solitaire - which made him very smart. He was now a super genius, and was working his way up to the top. He one day hoped to be on top of the list and earn a badge.

     “Qasan, are you all right, dear?” his oldest Chomby sister, Dari asked, waking him from his daydream. The Maraquan Chomby had won the best dressed contest three times, and so had her Krawk petpet, who was also Maraquan style. She had gotten her color from a fountain faerie quest.

     Qasan nodded.

     “Okay, who wants Neggs?” Julie called.

     “Me! Me! Me! Me!” The siblings shouted.

     They were each served a Negg, but the youngest sibling of all, Karmeliza, a blue Kougra, was brought a badly wrapped box. It bore the words: ‘Happy Birthday.’ Qasan flushed. He had forgotten all about the Kougra’s birthday. Karmeliza tore the open paper, and found a real live Royal Paintbrush! She was the second pet to be painted in the family.

     She and her pink Meepit skipped out the front door the next morning, and came back in time for lunch to see herself as her royal highness.

     Soon, Julie, Resmerelle, Karmeliza, and Dari bade Qasan goodbye and set off for Taelia’s, wrapped up in their warm winter coats, hats, gloves and scarves. Two weeks before, Julie had taught Resmerelle, Dari and Karmeliza how to knit and bought them each a woolen scarf knitting set, though Dari hadn’t taken to scarves well, so Julie got her a woolen gloves knitting set instead. They had each made beautiful woolen garments for the whole family. They even made extras for the pound, for when winter came. Qasan’s scarf and gloves were red, to match his color, though he didn’t like red much. Dari’s were a pale aqua color, Resmerelle’s were bright Yellow, Karmeliza’s were a light shade of lilac, and Julie’s were a silky gray.

      Qasan thought that this would be a good time to get Karmeliza a birthday gift, so he and his petpet, Bailey, a Bika, set off for the Hidden Tower in Faerieland. It was a beautiful day, bright and sunny, with just the right amount of breeze; it was the kind of day where Qasan felt like nothing in the world could go wrong. He crossed his fingers and went in. But he went out empty-handed and grumpy.

      “A bit pricey, eh Bailey?” he muttered to his Bika.

      After they had visited virtually everywhere on the face of Neopia (including Kreludor, where he had almost passed out because of lack of oxygen), they then grabbed a ride to Krawk Island, where:

      Something has happened! You find some dubloons on the floor!

      Qasan went straight to the Dubloon-o-Matic. This was a perfect gift for Karmeliza because she had an impressive dubloon collection. He had “acquired” enough dubloons to make a ten dubloon coin. He was sure that she had a ten dubloon coin already, but nevertheless it was a nice gesture. He then went straight to Neopia Central to get it wrapped at Gifts Galore. After all, who wanted their wrapping paper to look like Julie’s? After spending ten minutes looking at paper, he finally decided on the deep purple with bright yellow stars and bought a happy birthday card.

      Satisfied with his purchases, Qasan bounced into the National Neopian bank to deposit his extra neopoints. He was confronted by the big, intimidating, rotund green Skeith who was attending to the bank’s front desk. Qasan and Bailey went in onto the linoleum tile and reluctantly stepped up to the counter.

      “Brr... Your name please?” the Skeith thundered.

      Qasan wished he had brought his Kougra earmuffs. He cringed and stuttered.

      “I-I... QasanKingstonIwanttowithdrawsomeneopontsplease. Don’t hurt me... please... Don’t do anything... unusual.” Qasan trailed off.

      “Slow... grr... down, lad. I am not as scary as I look... Grr...”

      Qasan sincerely doubted that. Qasan then turned around, decided to put his neopoints in at a later date, grabbed Bailey, and ran.

      As soon as the JubJub and his Bika got outside, Qasan felt embarrassed. Why did his fears always take hold of him?

      Qasan trudged home to Mystery Island, where he avoided glances from the malevolent Tombola man, the freaky Flotsam Kitchen quest guy, and Jhuidah the Island Faerie. Qasan longed to visit the cooking pot, but he was too afraid of Pango-Pango.

      But as soon as soon as Qasan stepped over the threshold of his house, it was strangely empty and quiet. Bailey checked the whole house (which took quite a while, because the house was so huge) while Qasan stood there, dumbstruck.

      Bailey showed him that nobody was home. Qasan got a little afraid, so he got out his very old utility fish, and gave a Draik egg to Bailey. He then formed his Utility Fish into a phone shape, and dialed the Negg Faerie. He knew that she was the only one on Terror Mountain with a land line. He also knew that she could give him information about Resmerelle, Dari, Julie, and Karmeliza, because they had all been at Taelia’s, and would have undoubtedly passed by the Negg Faerie on their way down the mountain. Maybe they are just taking a really hard quest, Qasan thought hopefully. The Negg Faerie picked up on the first ring.

      “Hello? Negg Faerie; owner of the best shop of Neggs on Terror Mountain.”

      “Hello, Negg Faerie. It’s Qasan Kingston. I think you know my sisters Karmeliza, Resmerelle, and Dari. I’m their brother. I usually don’t venture out into the snow.”

      “Why yes, Qasan, but I believe that they are at my sister Taelia’s on a quest.”

      “See, that’s why I called. They usually complete their quests in record time; have you seen them pass by?”

      “Yes, they stopped by on their way back.”

      “Oh. Thank you. Could you do me a favor, dear Negg Faerie?”

      “Sure.”

      “Would you please ask Taelia what they were looking for?”

     “I sure can. I’ll talk to her after the afternoon rush of customers, when I am on my lunch break. That’s in about ten minutes, so just hang tight were you are.”

      “Okay, I will. Thank you very much.”

      “Not a problem. I will call you when I have your information.”

      “Okay. Bye.”

     Qasan hung up.

     “Bailey, would you like anything?” he asked, hoping she would say yes.

      But the Bika shook her head. She went into her disco petpet bed and picked up her Zomutt fluffy ball, and, shaking it in her mouth, tossed it across the room onto her regal litter tray canopy top. Qasan watched happily as Bailey bounded toward him with her fluffy ball and made him throw it for her. As Qasan chucked the toy across the hallway, he had forgotten all about the phone call from the Negg Faerie. But when his Utility Fish phone rang, everything seemed to go in slow motion. Qasan ran over to the phone and picked it up.

     “Hello?”

     “Qasan?”

     “Yes?”

     “It’s the Negg Faerie. I have your information. They were looking for a Rod of Dark Nova Stamp.”

     “Could you please hold?” Qasan asked, reaching for a pen and a piece of paper.

     “I’m sorry, I have too many customers.”

     “No problem. Thank you, again!”

     Qasan pressed the fish into its original form and gave it to Bailey, who towed it into Qasan’s closet. He then dashed into his owner’s bedroom, and looked at her award- winning stamp collection. Julie had one of every single stamp ever printed. But on her desk, there were two identical stamps, The Rod of Dark Nova.

     So they had been there.

     But they were gone.

To be continued...

WHOOT! Thanks to my sister who helped me.