Up-to-date coverage on faerie wars Circulation: 196,800,688 Issue: 943 | 27th day of Hiding, Y23
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Rosalina and the Way-Weird Beast


by downrightdude

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PART ONE

     The bell above the door jangled, and a worried blue Elephante hurried into the store, her expression a mix of urgency and panic. “I need something quick!” she cried, waving her flower-filled wicker basket in the air. “Quickly, now! An ailment! I need an ailment, yes I do!”

     Face burning, Rosalina quickly turned away to face the medical cream shelf. Though she liked helping the customers, interacting with them—or even greeting them with a polite ‘hello’—made her squirm uncomfortably. She drew a sigh of relief when Margo began interacting with the customer instead, leaving Rosalina to do nothing but wish she could turn invisible until the wailing Elephante left.

     “Which ailment are you seeking treatment for, Ms. Humphrey?” asked Margo in her professional tone.

     Ms. Humphrey made a snorting sound, as if she couldn’t believe Margo wasn’t aware of the increasing health scare. “I’m certain you of all Neopians would know what I’m speaking off,” she said disdainfully.

     “Of course.” Margo hurried to the shelf of soothing stones, grabbing two. “These just arrived from Shenkuu,” she explained, holding out a stone towards her customer. “Shenkuuan doctors believe they can heal many ailments, so maybe your loved one would feel better with one or two of these.”

     “And how do these smooth stones work?” asked Ms. Humphrey, eyeing a stone with a sceptical glare.

     Good question, thought Rosalina, turning back to see how the Intelligent Margo was going to pitch them.

     “Well—” Margo began.

     “Nevermind. I’ll take three and try them out myself,” said Ms. Humphrey impatiently. She handed Margo a fist full of Neopoints, deposited the three stones into her flower basket, and turned to leave.

     Before leaving, Ms. Humphrey turned back and handed Margo a cream-coloured envelope. “It was lying on the doorstep. No need to thank the messenger.” She hurried out of the store, her shoes clip-clopping on the wooden floorboards.Rosalina hurried into the apothecary shop, panting. “We need ...more ...pills,” the pastel Xweetok gasped. She hurried over to her sister, stooping over and breathing heavily.

     Margo handed her a glass of water. “Pills for what?” asked the woodland Xweetok. “And please, try to talk more slowly.”

     After gulping down the water—and being able to take a few deep breaths to steady herself—Rosalina started again. “We need more Neoflu Jelly Pills. The local health committee believes the ongoing epidemic may just be a severe case of Neoflu.”

     “And last month, they said it was Kikoughela,” Margo sighed. “We had to order two crates of the syrup stuff, and now we’re stuck with one unsold crate!” She turned her head to the shelves overflowing with the red bottles of Kikoughela Syrup. “A real shame.”

     “Agreed,” said Rosalina.

     For the past two months, the girls’ Brightvalian village had been struck by a terrible sickness; many of the villages were ill, others working their hands off to care for their loved ones and keep their farms and businesses afloat. The disease was initially viewed as a common flu. Nowadays, however, it was spreading rapidly around Brightvale and other parts of Neopia. There were even rumours that King Hagan had also fallen ill, as his castle had been refusing visitors from the past week, and nobody outside the castle had seen him since.

     “Do you really think Hagan has fallen ill, too?” asked Rosalina, twisting a lock of her curly brown hair with a finger.

     “Of course not. It would have made NT headlines by now if it were true,” said Margo as she filled the front display table with a variety of glass medicine bottles. “Besides, we have other issues at hand. Like keeping ourselves safe from this ongoing pandemic.”

     She pointed her head behind her, where three boxes were stacked in a pyramid. “Can you unload those and put them on with the other Shenkuuan medicinal remedies?”

     “Why must we keep ordering those weird Shenkuu medicine-things?” groaned Rosalina. “Everybody knows how ineffective they are with, well, every known Neopian disease.”

     “In these trying times, people are eager to try what they can get their hands on to fight this unknown illness,” Margo countered. “Like that onion and honey paste recipe?” She opened another box and began unloading the contents. “Neopians are getting more desperate for cures. The longer this pandemic continues, the graver Neopia will become.”

     Roselina picked up a smooth white stone and eyed its shiny surface. She knew running an apothecary shop was hard work—work her sister didn’t mind doing since she was always interested in medical stuff—but the ongoing epidemic was frightening and felt like an everlasting nightmare. Every day was almost always the same: customers would arrive, demanding the latest remedies; rumours would fly about, detailing those who were sick or bearing the first symptoms of fever; desperate souls dishing out piles of neopoints, hoping whatever medicine they’d purchased would help cure their loved ones. I personally can’t wait for the day all this panic and woe ends and we can go back to living our peaceful, uneventful lives, thought Rosalina, admiring the neat rows of soothing stones she’d arranged on a freshly-dusted shelf.

      “Ooh, a letter,” said Rosalina, hurrying to her sister’s side. “Who’s it from? Is it about my reviewed Math’s Nightmare score? Am I getting a trophy??”

     Margo removed a letter and quickly read it. Peering over her shoulder, Rosalina saw the words were written in a fancy script with dark blue ink. She couldn’t make out a majority of the words, but she knew the letter was much too fancy to be from TNT.

     “So? What does it say?” pressed Rosalina.

     “This doesn’t look good at all.” Margo pursed her lips, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. “There's a medical emergency at a nearby estate, and I have been requested to arrive as soon as I’ve received this notice.”

     “Right now?” Rosalina gasped.

     Margo smoothed her skirt. “My reputation as the village’s finest nurse certainly pays off at times, I suppose.”

     “But you can't go now! What about the shop? Who’ll look after it?” Rosalina panicked at the idea of being left alone—having to deal with panicked customers, recommending remedies she wouldn't be certain would work, and being home alone in any time of the day gave her a serious case of the heebie-jeebies.

     As if not picking up on Rosalina's panicked tone and worried expression, Margo nodded firmly. Her decision had, unfortunately, been decided. “If there's somebody in need, I can't turn a blind eye against them,” she declared, as if her determined look hadn't made her decision clear enough.

     “What if it’s the mysterious sickness and...um, you get sick?” stammered Rosalina.

     “Don’t worry. Everything will be just fine,” Margo insisted. “I’ll bring a medical mask with me. Now, help me pack some things and then you can close the shop.”

     Rosalina sighed with relief. At least there was one less thing she had to worry about.

     ***

     “Send a note if you need any kind of help,” said Rosalina, opening the shop door.

     Margo looked out the window. A black carriage was waiting, and the sisters assumed it had been sent from the distressed letter-writer. “I’ll be fine,” said Margo, stepping outside with her velvet carpetbag. “Hopefully I can test out our new soothing stones on this patient.”

     “May they succeed.” Rosalina gulped as she waved goodbye and, shivering, locked the door and disconnected the wire for the electric OPEN sign.

     After the carriage rolled away, Rosalina looked up at the sky and clouds, now in shades of pink and purple as the sun continued to set for the day. She sighed and turned her attention to the register, which needed a nice polish and its contents counted and stored in the wall safe. After the day’s profits were counted, she recounted, hoping to distract her mind from her ongoing worries. Why did somebody have to write a letter, requesting help? Who sent it? Why did Margo decide to go? How would Ms. Humphrey react when the Shenkuuan soothing stones failed in treating whoever had fallen ill?

     There was a knock at the door. Panicking, Rosalina ducked behind the counter, peering out ever-so-slightly. She was surprised to see a green Bruce there, waving and adjusting her square-shaped glasses. Despite wanting to flee or scare the customer away with a broom, Rosalina unlocked the door and allowed the strange Bruce inside. “Can I help you?” she asked cautiously, expecting the Bruce to attack at any given moment.

     The Bruce smiled. “Does your store sell candy bars?” she asked.

     “Um, no. We don’t,” said Rosalina. “In fact, we don’t sell candies here.”

     “Oh. Okay.” The Bruce nodded and left the store without another word. She did smile, though.

     That was ...odd, thought Rosalina. She fought her urge to rush to the arcade and play Wingoball in favour of heading up to the apartment and settling down for the night. Tomorrow was another day, and that meant she may need to open up the shop if Margo was either late or decided not to come home.

     Rosalina hoped Margo would return the next day, though. She couldn’t imagine opening the shop by herself and interacting with the customers without her knowledgeable sister by her side, acting all self-assured and confident. Talking to the candy bar-wanting green Bruce was an awkward experience already!

     Though we could get away with selling a few candies, mused Rosalina as she shut the store’s lights off. The thought would entertain her well enough until Margo came back.

      To be continued…

 
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