The Faerieland Royal Family

     However, the rest of the royalty in Faerieland had long remained a mystery. One could not be faulted if they thought Queen Fyora was the only royalty in Faerieland. Of course, she's the most prominent of them all. So, allow us to go into a deeper dive into the Faerieland royal family from her closest confidant to her more recently appointed “Master Thief” Hanso.

     It's important to note that before we start, the term 'family' is more nuanced when it comes to faeries. Often, a faerie's best friends can become a part of her family and thus, a faerie family can include faeries, pets, petpets, and other creatures of the land. Sometimes a faerie may have a small ceremony to celebrate someone as she welcomes them into her family. Traditionally, this involves lots of food and desserts, along with the presentation of matching beads intended for a family bracelet, indicating their bond with each other.

     Lady Aethia

     Now, let us delve into Queen Fyora's family. It's no secret that her closest friend is Aethia. The two of them spend the most time together, and Aethia often takes her job of protecting the Faerie Queen extremely seriously -- sometimes being overprotective. People close to Queen Fyora have noted how doting Aethia is towards Queen Fyora and how Queen Fyora usually reciprocates those behaviours. And one mustn't overlook the fact that Aethia and Queen Fyora share chambers. They also do a lot of the more mundane things together, such as eating and strolling through the garden. With the relationship this close, one could assume that Aethia could also have the title of Queen. Queen Fyora thought so too, but when she tried to bestow the title onto Aethia, Aethia simply refused, citing that there could only be one true Faerie Queen. After many back and forth discussions, Aethia was only willing to accept Lady Aethia as her title. Should something happen to Queen Fyora or should she step down, it has long been rumoured that Lady Aethia would take her place. As commander of the Faerieland army, she’s also in charge of a vast number of soldiers, although the Faerieland army is said to be solely for defense purposes. Thus, unlike Fyora, she’s not known for being gentle and is rather strict. However, she is undoubtedly kind and spends her time defending the defenseless. She has a strong sense of justice, but also teaches in her writing that in some situations, one should show mercy to their opponent, especially in the Battledome. One must wonder whether this is partly from Queen Fyora’s influence.

     Princess Celandra

     Also, in Queen Fyora’s inner circle is her beloved servant turned friend, Celandra. Celandra is a purple Gelert that was hired to be Queen Fyora’s caretaker when she was ill. She did such a good job that Queen Fyora offered her a permanent position. The rest is history as the two continued to bond in their friendship. Eventually, this bond led to Queen Fyora bestowing the princess title onto Celandra, so she is now known as Princess Celandra, which puts her in the line of succession after Aethia. She’s also given a voice in making decisions on behalf of Faerieland. Despite this, Princess Celandra continues to keep Queen Fyora’s chambers spotless, even though Queen Fyora doesn’t expect this from her. Princess Celandra also has the nickname “Fyora’s Ears” as she is keen on absorbing the latest gossip and feeding this information to Queen Fyora. After all, Queen Fyora is super busy and doesn’t always have time to stroll through the castle and hear the latest gossip. What Fyora does with this gossip is mostly unknown, although if she hears that a faerie is extremely disrespectful to another, Fyora has been known to call that faerie out. Depending on how often the faerie offends, she may do so publicly. Of course, if it’s a young faerie that doesn’t know better, Fyora tends to do these things in private. Therefore, some faeries now check for Celandra’s presence as a way to hide their gossip from Fyora. However, they find that they can’t hide it for long.

     Master Thief Hanso

     Lady Aethia was sceptical when Queen Fyora confided in her about adopting Hanso into the family. Queen Fyora reassured Lady Aethia that Hanso is a good person deep down and has never stolen from anyone out of malice. In fact, he has given some items to those less fortunate. As leader of the Faerieland army who was also in charge of Hanso’s missions, Lady Aethia gradually warmed up to Hanso, including his occasional antics. She also enjoyed sparring with Hanso, often commenting at how slippery and elusive Hanso’s technique was and even tapping him for some advice on his stealthy moves. Lady Aethia then warmed up to having Master Thief Hanso in the family. Queen Fyora and Lady Aethia both gave Hanso a bead on the bracelet, indicating that he was a good friend of both of them. When he’s not on a mission, he takes full advantage of all the privileges he is afforded, whether it’s room service where the faeries bring him food, or a relaxing bath in the Faerie Castle baths.

     Commander Brynn

     Naturally, with Hanso in the family and his close relationship to Brynn, Fyora also took her into her family. As a commander in the Faerieland Army, Lady Aethia also works closely with her and the two often bond over discussing strategies and the latest gossip that Aethia heard, erm, uhh, I mean the latest weaponry. Brynn often takes her job very seriously to the point where Queen Fyora often reminds her to take a break. Meanwhile, Hanso has no trouble deciding when to take a breather. Brynn also enjoys chatting with Queen Fyora, always keen on learning from her wisdom, just like she did with King Hagan. Prior to moving to Faerieland, Brynn also had minimal exposure to faeries and thus wanted to learn more about their history and culture. When she's not on a mission, she could often be found at the library reading a book about faeries. She also is very interested in Faerieland history and visits museums along with historical buildings, despite Hanso finding such things boring. “It’s just another house, what’s so exciting about that?” Hanso often says. Both Hanso and Brynn are quite popular with Faelanders, partly because they were responsible for saving Faerieland. And Hanso always can tell amazing stories of his past which tends to draw crowds of faeries and pets, often causing Brynn to roll her eyes at Hanso’s theater.

     Princess Kaia

     To say that the relationship between Lady Aethia and Princess Kaia is rocky would be an understatement. The two of them got off on the wrong footing almost immediately during the Wraith Resurgence when Kaia did not follow Aethia's orders. However, Queen Fyora believed Kaia’s skills were invaluable since the day Kaia saved the Faerieland Library. The two grew very close after that incident. Even Aethia had to admit that Kaia was very skilled in her clairvoyance. The two still bicker with each other but have learned to be tolerant. Often, Queen Fyora shows up exactly when they start to become argumentative, with folded arms and a glare. Usually, that’s all that is needed to get the two to stop fighting. The hostility occasionally does still linger in the air, and there are numerous instances where Queen Fyora has had to play the role of mediator between the two. Still, Princess Kaia is very much in the family and sometimes, two family members just can’t always get along with each other.

     Princess Lyra

     Princess Lyra is a dark faerie that serves as the head of the Faerie Castle infirmary as well as the health and well-being of all Faerielanders as Health Minister. You might have heard about her from Neoquest II and while NQII may or may not be a simulation, Princess Lyra is very much a real faerie. Should someone get injured or be taken ill in the castle, it’s up to Lyra to nurse them back into good health and she’s always been able to find cures or concoctions to heal any kind of illness or injuries. Some of her cures do take a while or require rare ingredients which she usually sends her assistants to find. Those that live in the castle have no problem trusting Lyra despite common misconceptions about dark faeries. Those outside the castle, on the other hand, occasionally still try to second guess Princess Lyra’s motives. However, Queen Fyora has tried her best to drown out those negative voices. On multiple occasions, she has emphatically assured all Neopians that Princess Lyra is an extremely kind and trustworthy faerie. Any negative comments rooted in general dark faerie mistrust will meet swift condemnation. Rumours have it that Princess Lyra is also in the line of succession but behind Aethia.

     Lady Xandra (inactive)

     While many of us know Xandra as the one who tried to destroy the faeries, at one point, Fyora considered her as part of her family. As an orphan in the Haunted Woods, nobody really knew much about Xandra’s past. However, it does appear that she was extremely talented in magic, and this was noted by Ilere of the Woods. Nobody knows whether Xandra came to Faerieland under her own will or if she was brought to Faerieland by a nefarious faerie. However, eventually, Queen Fyora took Xandra under her wing as a student and the two grew very close. It quickly became apparent to Fyora that Xandra possessed extreme talent that exceeded some of the magical prowess of some of the faeries even. However, this did not sit well with some of the other faeries and a few of them tried to make life in Faerieland miserable for her, constantly starting rumours about Xandra’s past. Queen Fyora tried her best to tell off those faeries but did not remove them from positions in her staff. Eventually, this led to a falling out and Xandra left Faerieland. She left Queen Fyora a note, thanking her for all of her days when she trained her, but mentioning that she could no longer stay in Faerieland as long as the faeries that tormented her were around. Queen Fyora grew very sad at this and then called every faerie that harassed Lady Xandra into her office, firing them one by one. Other faeries in Fyora’s inner circle tried to warn her that Xandra would potentially retaliate against Faerieland after so many years of built-up anger. Queen Fyora did want to believe that Xandra was capable of such things and reached out multiple times to try and have a conversation with Xandra. However, by then, Xandra made it clear she would not return. Several years later, Xandra launched her plan of attack, and the rest was history.

     Now, hopefully, you have gained more insight into the Faerieland Royal family. Queen Fyora befriends a lot of other Neopians, but none of them are as close to her as those in her family. She cherishes the time she gets to spend with each member of her family and hopes for many more happy moments with each of them. Although her family isn’t always perfect, at the end of the day, they do truly love each other. Faerieland and perhaps Neopia could not find a more tight-knit group of Neopians. What better than to celebrate Fyora Day than spending time with those she holds dear in her life?