My Vacation: Part Six

Hello, friends and readers! Yes, it's Ailemea again. You're probably thinking, "Will this vacation ever end?!!?" Well, that's what I was thinking from the very beginning. But finally, I had a place I wanted to go! Meridell! After all, when Illusen saves your life, wouldn't you want to see her again? Haelee and Jeanie understood that, and thankfully, seeing as we had pretty much seen all of Faerieland, we set out early in the morning.

     This time, I didn't care about the Eyrie beneath me as we flew to Meridell. Once I caught sight of the sunrise on those trees and green lands, my breath was taken away. Now, I am sure I speak for most Xweetoks when I say - Xweetoks love forests. It was the only reason I had even agreed to go to the Haunted Woods. The fact that it had the word 'Woods' in it was enough for me.

     We flew smoothly over Meridell, and then flew a bit longer towards Brightvale, where the Neolodge was. The Eyries flew us straight into the hallway of rooms, an Ogrin waiting for us. (Jeanie had called beforehand.) The Ogrin unlocked the room, handed us the key, then walked off. The Eyries unloaded our luggage, and turned to leave.

     "Wait! Let's go to Meridell today and then check out Brightvale tomorrow," I said reasonably. "While the Eyries are here, too - so we don't have to walk fifty miles!" Jeanie shrugged.

     "Fine with me." The Eyries nodded, and we all went outside, locking the hotel room behind us. We boarded the Eyries, and off we flew, once again. Ten minutes later, they landed right outside of Illusen's Glade. The lovely faerie came outside to greet us. She smiled pleasantly.

     "Welcome to my home," she said. "Please come in." We entered her room, where a few Neopians were packing some items into random places. Illusen frowned. "I just remembered, I have some errands to run, but I'm so busy! Would you mind?" I looked at Jeanie, who shrugged.

     "We wouldn't," I assured her.

     "Great," she said, smiling again. "Could you possibly get me some bubble gum?" Jeanie tapped me on the shoulder and handed me some.

     "I bought it in Faerieland," she whispered with a giggle in my ear. I handed it to Illusen who laughed.

     "Well, aren't you resourceful! Here, have one of my cream cookies." She handed Jeanie the cookie. "Thank you... but I really am busy."

     "That's okay," Jeanie guaranteed her. "We have some sight-seeing to do." She took my paw and led me away. I waved at Illusen who smiled.

     Outside, we strolled the paths of Meridell and Jeanie gave out a thoughtful noise. I looked around to see what she was looking at.

     "Oooohh no! I ain't kissing no mortog," I said, glaring. Jeanie giggled. Then she started for the Turdle Races. I grabbed her hand. "Oh no, you don't! You already wasted two hundred Neopoints on those silly Poogle Races."

     I turned to see Haelee dashing towards the large sleeping Turmaculus. "Haelee, no!" I cried after her. I got there just in time to stop her from hitting the Turmaculus over the head with a log. Assorted tools lay all around. A bell, an empty water bucket, and pots and pans were a few of them. Jeanie gave the log back to Haelee. "Jeanie!"

     "Ah, let her have some fun, heck - we might get the avatar." Jeanie shrugged.

     "There you go again! You are just out to get her, aren't you!" I shrieked at my owner. She rolled her eyes. Once again I took the log from the Ditsy. She blinked, and I dragged her away, to Meri Acres Farm, Jeanie following behind.

     A Kacheek yelled at us to come count his potatoes, and then an insane looking Wocky did the same. "Who are these people?" I gasped. Jeanie shook her head. We finally found a sane Gelert offering to let us search his field for berries for a four hundred Neopoints. A bit expensive, but hey - it was lunch!

     As we walked lazily around Meridell, with our half-eaten berries and Haelee on Jeanie's head, Jeanie looked ponderously up at the sky. She was silent for a few minutes. "What is it?" I asked. Suspiciously, that is, don't ever trust Jeanie when she is quiet!

     "I was just thinking, there was such a big war between Meridell and Lord Darigan, that it wouldn't truly be tourism if we checked out the Darigan Citadel as well - what do you think? It'll be fun! And I'm sure everything would be fine... " she said slowly and reasonably. I was already shaking my head when she said 'war.'

     "I'll tell you what I think!" I cried. "I think that's crazy! They may be at 'peace' but there is still tension and I don't trust anybody up there! Especially those creepy Darigan Neopets! NO. Way." And that was it. No way no how! Jeanie sighed.

     "I should've known... " Don't ask, Ailemea. Do. Not. Ask. If you ask then it means you're curious! That means you're pretty much dead! Curiosity killed the cat? Remember! DON'T ASK, I was screaming at myself in my head. I couldn't resist.

     "Should've known what?" I asked. Jeanie sighed again.

     "That you'd be scared, but it's okay, Aile. Girls get scared all the time," Jeanie said, shaking her head. "If only you had a brother... " There it was. I knew I shouldn't have asked! She was manipulating me, I could see straight through her. But I couldn't help it - it was working! Angrily I jumped to my feet.

     I let out a shrill whistle. "EYRIE!" I called. I turned to Jeanie. "I am NOT scared!" A large blue Eyrie zoomed down and made a little squeaky noise as he stopped right in front of us. Jeanie climbed into the saddle on his back and I climbed onto his head. "To Darigan Citadel." He grunted.

     Thirty minutes later Haelee and I rolled around on our bed of straw, full of boredom. Jeanie stared blankly through the black iron bars. To make a long story short, I was right. After we arrived and started touring around, we were immediately caught thrown into the cell by those evil Darigan Neopets. I didn't want to be annoying but I really wanted to say 'I told you so' over and over again. And then about a million more times.

     "Heey! Can someone please let us out? This isn't funny anymore! I'll tell King Skarl! I'm not even kidding! PLEASE let us out!" Jeanie yelled, her voice echoing around the dungeons. I began to file my nails lazily on the wall. After awhile they did let us out - probably because they were sick of Jeanie's whining. I sure was. They did however pretty much kick us over the edge of the Citadel. That was rather rude...

     By the time they let us go it was already deep into the night. We called an Eyrie, and he flew us sleepily back to the Neolodge, where we collapsed into our beds and fell instantly asleep.

     The next morning I woke up and looked in the mirror. Then I screamed, shrieked, screeched, shouted, squealed, howled, and cried. I looked that bad. Everyone had to share my misery! Jeanie woke up to see what was going on then fell back to sleep when she saw it was only me. I glared at her and dug into my bags.

     I set to work while she slept. I brushed and brushed and brushed my hair, getting all curls and tangles out of it. I was brushing one last knot out when Jeanie woke up once again. "Oh, you look pretty," she said tiredly. I glared at her and ran to wash off the green face mask.

     After a few more minutes, I was finally finished and felt much more aglow. We went out into Brightvale, me on Jeanie's shoulder, Haelee on her head. Our first stop was the Wheel of Knowledge. I watched as Jeanie gave it a sharp spin. Our prize was a book about Tales of Bravery, Jeanie was thrilled. "You want to read it, Aile?" she asked excitedly. I shuddered.

     "That book is so boring!" I said, as we walked away, combing down my hair. Jeanie frowned and pocketed the book. We wandered for a long time when Jeanie jumped around with an idea.

     "Lets go meet King Hagan - I hear he is really smart," she said excitedly. "Or there is a boat to Roo Island we could take." I considered it. All we could do in Brightvale was shop and meet some King - which we could also do when we returned from Roo Island. That decided it.

     "Make sure you buy the tickets this time," I said in answer. She pushed me off her shoulder.

     ~~~

     "It was an accident," Jeanie said as we boarded the boat that would take us to Roo Island.

     "Oh I really believe that," I said stubbornly, nursing my paw. "You just happened to brush off the very same shoulder I was sitting on." Jeanie rolled her eyes and I held Haelee in my lap. There was silence as the boat pulled away from Meridell.

     When we reached Roo Island I looked around saw the Neopia Central skyline quite clearly. I started at it before slyly sidling up beside Jeanie. "Are you sure you want to go to the Lost Desert and the Haunted Woods?" I asked.

     "Ailemea," she replied, her warning tone back once more. I sighed. So much for that plan.

     We wandered around the lovely Roo Island and admired the views. Without warning Jeanie dragged me over to a merry-go-round. "Woooww..." I muttered, staring wide-eyed. A Blumaroo helped me onto one of the Unis and then collected the fifty Neopoints from Jeanie. With a jerk the merry-go-round started and a fun little song began to play.

     The merry-go-round turned faster and faster. When it ended I kind of fell into Jeanie's arms. "Oooh, I feel dizzy... " I informed her, and she carried me over to a park bench, Haelee on her head.

     For a few hours we wandered among the many Blumaroos and bought souvenirs. We caught our boat and returned to Meridell.

     As we entered Brightvale's castle, I frowned. "Aren't Kings supposed to be fat and inaccessible?" I asked Jeanie.

     "That's King Skarl, dear. King Hagan is supposed to be much nicer!" We entered the throne room and King Hagan looked closely at us.

     "Tell me wisdom," he barked. I looked at Jeanie and then smiled, a thought coming to me. I ran to the King and whispered something in his ear. He nodded.

     "You are not the smartest, but I grade you a B," he said, handing me a book called Brightvale Castle.

     "Umm... thanks," I said, heaving the book at Jeanie. She shook her head and smiled. We bowed ourselves out and then returned to the Neolodge. As we curled up in our beds, Jeanie sighed.

     "Our vacation is almost over." I didn't reply. We both fell asleep.

To be continued...