Meridell Mysteries - Part 3: The Imposter Revealed

     “How about we have some dinner?” Edith asked.

     Illusen grinned ear to ear. “I could go for some Corn On The Cob myself!” She paused to peer around the venue. “I know a great vendor who serves it around this time. Let’s go!”

     Once again, Illusen grasped Edith’s arm and began running through the crowd, sifting through bustling legs, arms, and torsos like a pro. In no time at all, the pair had arrived at a large, wheeled stall—more like a cart than the familiar tents that dotted the rest of the fair. Unsurprisingly, there was a line several Neopets deep already assembled, so the faeries took their place at the end of the queue.

     “…and that’s why Neopian Fun Stamps are going to go. To. Kreludor,” a Royal Girl Hissi was saying, crown shaking with every confident nod she gave. “I know the Food Tokens went bust, but this is different—see, I haven’t even liquidated half of my holdings yet, and I was able to buy this colour for myself!”

     “Come on, Tiffany,” a Cybunny replied, exasperation showing in her kindhearted eyes. “We all know you sold Mikey’s Neopie for that.” When the Hissi baulked, offended, the Cybunny added, “Yeah, you’re not as sly as you thought!”

     The Hissi appeared to be in deep thought. “In that case, I’ll get a Stealth Paint Brush next time,” she declared, earning groans from the small group assembled around her. The Hissi’s friends, Edith supposed.

     “Guys, our food’s ready,” an Alien Aisha called, breaking the commotion. “And it’s about time we started heading toward the fireworks, so let’s save this debate for a more opportune occasion.”

     “Ugh, fine,” the Hissi relented, slithering forward to fetch the group’s food from the vendor. “Just know that this exchange is gonna cost BOTH of you a million Neopoints when I’m rich.” She tilted her chin haughtily but paused when she noticed Illusen from the corner of her eye. “Hey, it’s Illusen!” she shouted. “The OG! I studied you so hard when I was preparing for my method acting debut—“

     The Aisha waved a paw in front of the Hissi’s face, distracting her with a few quick snaps of his fingers. “Come on. Fireworks. We have to get there early if we want a good spot.”

     “Indeed, Pi,” agreed the Cybunny as they hurried off.

     As the group departed, Illusen and Edith arrived at the stall to make their orders. “Lively group, huh?” Illusen asked, pulling on the sleeve of her dress nervously. “That Hissi was funny—ha ha!—I have no idea where she thought she knew me from…”

     Jhudora could only nod and smile at Illusen’s strange behaviour. She didn’t understand what had broken the earth faerie’s composure, but she felt she could relate, on some distant level, to the mischievous and slightly-annoying Neopet that had confronted them; although the Hissi was brash, sarcastic, and quite possibly a Neopie thief, she’d managed to make some friends. Friends, no less, who seemed to care about her, despite her flaws.

     The disguised dark faerie put a finger to her chin. Maybe—just maybe—“having an image to keep” didn’t mean she’d have to give up companionship altogether. I just have to find people who tolerate me… no, who respect me… for the faerie I am. But who in their right mind would do that…?

     “—and my friend here will have the same thing…” Illusen told the Jetsam cashier at the counter. “Is that alright, Eddie?”

     “Uh—um—yes!” Edith managed, lost for words. Was she feeling starstruck by Illusen right now? Or was she simply worried by the realisation that she was living an elaborate lie, a lie that would have to end at some point? She defended me during that song. She called me her friend… but if she knew who I was—if she saw through this facade to the real me—I don’t know what she’d do.

     And that frightened Jhudora.

     So, when Illusen leaned forward, back momentarily turned, to retrieve the two butter-slathered Corn on Cobs she’d ordered—along with a wobbly slice of Bullseye Pie, no doubt an impulse buy—Jhudora buried her doubts, cleared her throat, and put on a smile that felt just as fake as Edith. “How’d you know I wanted pie for dessert?”

     Illusen, looking over her shoulder with a wide smile on her face, replied, “I figured it was only fitting for someone as sweet as you, Edith.” Unfazed by the blush creeping onto Edith’s face, Illusen winked and, using her Corn On The Cob, gestured at an archery range in the distance. “Plus, it reminds me of one last thing I wanted to show you before we caught the fireworks show.”

     A few minutes later, Edith and Illusen arrived at the archery range—appropriately titled Ultimate Bullseye MDXX. The earth faeries were delightfully stuffed full of Corn On The Cob and their shared slice of Bullseye Pie. With concentric layers of rich custard, blueberry compote, and cherry filling, the pie had been sweet, but Edith wondered if Illusen really meant what she’d said earlier.

     …Someone as sweet as you wouldn’t lie to me, right? Edith could almost hear the earth faerie asking, taunting, voice distorting on the last syllable.

     …And then she snapped back to reality. Illusen was hefting a wooden bow she’d pulled from a rack behind the shooting line, testing the weight of the string by pulling back on it with a flourish. Satisfied, she guided the string back to its resting position, then turned to Edith with a grin. “Come, Eddie.”

     She didn’t have to be told twice; Edith made her way past the throwing axes and towards the rack of bows as she wondered which bow was best for her. Unfortunately, she was more familiar with bubbling potions and magic staffs than she was with the humble bow and arrow, so she stood stumped beside Illusen for a moment, uncertain of which to choose.

     Illusen must have seen the hesitation on Edith’s face because she reached over to point at a long curved bow that sat on the far end of the table. Similar to Illusen’s, the bow didn’t have any fancy accessories, and as Edith picked it up in gentle hands, she realised it was probably designed for a beginner. Although the realisation stung her ego just a bit, it was probably for the best.

     The pair took their places at the shooting line, watching as the previous group of archers turned in their equipment and headed off, presumably to reserve their seats for the fireworks show. “Looks like we might have trouble finding a good view at this rate,” Illusen remarked as she retrieved an arrow from her quiver and nocked it carefully on her bowstring, a characteristic smile on her lips. But as the earth faerie pulled the string back, fingers coming to rest like an anchor on her chin, Edith sensed worry in her expression.

     Her hand moved almost instinctively to console Illusen with a pat on the shoulder, but she stopped herself halfway through so as not to disturb her shot. “You can leave the seat-finding to me,” she announced instead, jabbing a thumb at herself. Then, whispering, she added, “In exchange, I’m gonna need you to teach me how to shoot an arrow. I have no idea what I’m doing here, and I’m not even sure it’s physically possible for me to do whatever you’re doing now.”

     Illusen giggled, worries put at ease. There was a moment of silence as she eyed the target set at the end of the range, holding her shot as she waited for a gust of wind to pass. “Fair deal, Eddie. I would shake on it with you, but…” She gestured with a tilt of the head. “You know.”

     “Yeah, I know.” Edith smiled and crossed her arms. “Now, how do you shoot these things?”

     “Well, you pull the string out kind of like I am,” Illusen replied, arms beginning to shake at the exertion of holding her shot for so long. “Because we don’t have many accessories on our bows—personally, I prefer it that way—we’ll want to aim using the point of our arrow, then…” She narrowed her eyes, dead focused, and released the arrow after a moment. It flew with graceful precision to the target, striking it slightly off of centre. “…then, you let go, and hope that you hit the target.”

     Hope that I hit the target. She supposed that wasn’t too bad. With a confident nod to Illusen, Edith prepared to take her first shot. How hard could it be?

     It was hard. Very difficult. Edith felt her face go hot with humiliation. She honestly wondered if Illusen brought her here just to show off.

     The faux earth faerie’s anxieties were at least partially quelled when Illusen’s palm met her back, rubbing Edith gently. “No one is good their first time, no worries. Really, I don’t know how you managed to shoot the ground in the same exact place 5 times in a row—I’m impressed!”

     “In my defence,” Jhudora groaned, “no one ever specified whether beginners’ luck was good or bad.” She shooed away Illusen’s comment with a shake of the head. “We can’t all be sharpshooters like you.” Then, forgetting herself, she added, “You’re just something else, you know that, Earthie?”

     “I… um… yeah,” Illusen stuttered, at once seeming lost for words. “I get that a lot, but for some reason, it feels… different coming from you.”

     There was a long moment of silence. Edith looked away in embarrassment as a flush crossed her cheeks. I could tell her now and end it here, she reasoned. Surely, it would be easier to rip the bandage off now and leave on my own terms than wait any longer. Still, she hesitated…

     “Hey, Edith?” The voice belonged, of course, to Illusen. As Edith looked over, she realised the famed earth faerie was pointing in the direction of the just-set sun. “I gotta say, I sure hope you’re better at finding seats than you are at shooting arrows.” She grinned. “It must be packed at the amphitheatre by now.”

     “Who said we were going to the amphitheatre?” Edith returned, grinning back.

     True to her word, Edith selected the peak of a nearby forested hill as the location from which she and Illusen would watch that night’s display. Though something of a journey to reach, during which it had become dusk, and then an early night, the locale offered an unimpeded view of the darkened sky… which was, by the time they reached their destination, bursting with fireworks.

     “Ooooh,” Illusen mouthed as she stared, wide-eyed, up at the flashes.

     “Oh no, it looks like we’re a little late…” Edith trailed, dejected. “I’m sorry, Illusen…”

     “Hey, don’t worry about it.” Illusen fluttered her wings, adding, “We could’ve flown, but, y’know, I kinda preferred hiking up here with you.” She briefly looked away from the fireworks to look into Edith’s eyes. “End the day with something physical and a little more intense, you know.” She gave a barely perceptible smile.

     That made Edith feel a little better. The two earth faeries looked back at the skies, and the lips of the disguised one tilted into a smile… but it faded as Edith remembered what she had to do. Maybe I can wait a little longer, she thought, bargaining with herself in an attempt to prolong the inevitable. Does Illusen really need to know I’m Jhudora? Would it hurt her so much? Would—?

     —she paused as a firework exploded overhead, painting the sky with dazzling green sparkles. Another one popped, then another, until the sky glimmered with the outline of Illusen… as close to Illusen as you could get with a bunch of fireworks, anyway.

     “It’s you!” Edith gasped, pointing at the display. For the second time that evening, she found herself feeling starstruck by Illusen. “How’d they do that?”

     “I might’ve called in a favour from Delina,” Illusen admitted. She put a finger to her lips. “Don’t tell anyone, but I’m full of surprises.”

     Edith came this close to blurting, “Me too, I’m Jhudora!” but stopped herself at the last second. Fortunately, there wasn’t much of an awkward silence, because as soon as Illusen’s image faded into smoke, more fireworks came to take her place, lighting the sky with more browns and pinks and… Jhudora’s Bluff greens?

     “Look, it’s you!” Illusen shouted, mimicking Edith’s excited gesture at the sky. Then she winked, there and gone in a second, and rested a delicate hand on Edith’s shoulder. “Delina… owes me a lot of favours,” she continued, her voice hardly above a whisper, earning a laugh from Edith. “What better way to use them than this, right?”

     “Right.” The gesture, kind as it was, sat poorly with Edith. And how could it not? The whole thing was built on a lie—‘Edith’ was a lie, her friendship with Illusen was a lie—all of it, all of it was a lie!

     …Did being a lie make her newfound friendship with Illusen… a lie? Could someone love a lie?

     …WAS Edith a lie? Or was this who she was? Who Jhudora could—would—be?

     A squeeze on the shoulder snapped Edith from the spiral of thoughts swirling darkly—chokingly—through her head. “You alright?” Illusen asked, genuine concern showing on her face. “I know Delina took some artistic liberties with the fireworks, but—”

     “It’s not that, Earthie,” Jhudora said, her mannerisms defaulting to those of her dark faerie self. “It’s not any of that. It’s just…” Her voice caught in her throat. “It’s just… I can’t do this anymore. I can’t keep pretending to be someone else.”

     “Someone else?“ Illusen started before realisation shone in her eyes. “Earthie…” she muttered, putting a hand to her chin and beginning to pace back and forth in a small circle. “…strange green nail polish… setting off Kayla’s potions with powerful magic… muttering ‘Jhudora’ in the salon bathroom when you think I can’t hear you…” She halted abruptly, then spun on her heel and pointed triumphantly at Edith. “It is you, Jhudora! I knew it!” Much to Jhudora’s surprise, the earth faerie started to dance a little jig, pumping her fists to the rhythm of the firework show above.

     As Illusen concluded her victory dance, Edith shrunk as deeply as she could into the comfort of her disguise. “You’re… not mad?” she squeaked.

     Illusen shook her head. “Why would I be mad?” she asked. “I just cracked the case of the mysterious earth faerie named Edith!” She put a finger to her chin—playfully. “And have fresh evidence in my case to open up and peek inside the motivations of my ‘rival’.”

     “…Yeah, er, you did those with a pretty big hint from me,” Edith complained, loosening up just a little. Though she continued to clutch to her disguise like a security blanket, she felt she could finally relax: her secret was out in the world, at least to Illusen, and the earth faerie seemed to be taking it… better than she’d expected. Maybe even in stride. At least, she didn’t seem disgusted by the revelation that she’d spent the day with the Princess of Mean.

     “Indeed, your hint was the last piece I needed to complete my investigation,” Illusen said authoritatively. “But! I was 99% sure I’d figured it out on my own, which is why I asked Delina to put together a special finale.”

     On the ground before Edith, a rainbow of lights reflected from the sky above. The popping sound of explosions came shortly after, and Edith turned her attention once more to the firework show.

     Though somewhat malformed through the flashy medium and dark canvas of the night sky, one could (relatively) easily discern the group of faeries that appeared as part of the finale. There was Fyora, tall and prudent, waving a magic wand through the stars; Delina tinkering with her craft supplies; Taelia shivering in the deep folds of her cloak; Kari juggling Neggs. At the centre of the group, Jhudora spotted herself, not as Edith this time, but as Jhudora. Is that a smile on my face? she thought, squinting; sure enough, it was. I would never smile like that, she was about to say, before she noticed Illusen in the sky beside her, once more illuminated in firework form. “I suppose it’s fine,” she grumbled.

     “More importantly,” Illusen continued, “I wanted to show you the Jhudora we see—the Jhudora who might benefit from letting her inner Edith shine through a little more.”

     The faerie-packed scene illuminated in the skies overhead lasted longer than it should have under normal circumstances; Jhudora supposed Delina had imbued some magic into the fireworks. A slow smile spread over the faerie’s lips.

     Then came the finale of the finale. In succession, the emblems (seemingly taken from the Altador Cup teams) of Darigan, Brightvale, then Meridell appeared in the sky, followed by the words, “HAPPY 20TH ANNIVERSARY,” and “SEE YOU IN 5 YEARS FOR THE SILVER!”, and “(EVEN THOUGH MD SHOULD HAVE BEEN GOLD THIS YEAR)”.

     “Darn right they should have,” Illusen said to no one in particular as she shook her fist at the dark skies above.

     “Let me guess,” Jhudora muttered over the crowd cheering and applause in the distance, “another favour from Delina?”

     Illusen winked in affirmation.

     This earned a chuckle from Edith—no, Jhudora… she supposed it didn’t really matter at this point. They were the same. “You’re funny, Earthie.”

     Illusen folded her arms and smiled her simply cute smile. “How so?”

     Jhudora gently elbowed her rival’s ribs. “I never took you for an Altador Cup fan.”

     “Hey,” Illusen said with only mild annoyance, “Faerieland is continually in the gutter, and the outstanding performance and dedication of my adoptive home gives me SOME team to cheer for.”

     The faeries giggled.

     “So…” Illusen trailed.

     The faux earth faerie swallowed nervously. “So?”

     “Jhudora—”

     “Yes, that’s me.” Edith shuffled anxiously. She knew what Illusen would ask her, but… could she do it?

     Illusen sweetly grinned. “How about you shed Edith for now and let me see the real you?” Upon noting Jhudora’s hesitation, she added, “I won’t like you any less. I like you for you, Edith. And if Jhudora wants to spend time with me, I want to spend time with her too—‘darkness’ and all.” Her grin widened. “You two are the same faerie to me… And you can always revert back to Edith if you need to.”

     Edith nodded. She mustered her strength and courage… and drew a deep breath. Illusen was right. Jhudora was right. She was right.

     Being Jhudora didn’t mean having to uphold some demeanour of meanness. She wasn’t liked by Illusen simply because she was Edith… but because she was her. Jhudora didn’t have to give up her snark or mannerisms, but she could additionally be warm, playful, and inviting. Jhudora could be kind, nice, benevolent, and lighthearted. She was Edith, after all.

     She released her breath, and with it, the magic ended. She looked down at herself and saw purple. Purple skin, purple hair, purple robes. “Well… here I am,” she said with a sheepish grin as she met Illusen’s smiling eyes.

     Illusen took her hand and patted it softly. “Here you are.” She grinned. “Why hello there, friend.”

     Jhudora smiled back, still anxious, but no longer fearful. “Look, Illusen, I… really enjoyed our time today. I… really needed this. You were right.” She found herself more relaxed at the confession.

     The earth faerie waved her free hand almost dismissively. “Don’t mention it, the pleasure is shared.” And then a tiny smirk formed on her lips. “The festival might be over, but that doesn’t mean we have to be! We can keep our night rolling!”

     Jhudora frowned, a look of skittish confusion spreading across her face. “Er… wait, what, Earthie?”

     Illusen gripped Jhudora’s hand tighter and started pulling her down the hill. “Oh, I have a great club in mind. Meridell has awesome nightlife, I’ll have you know! It’s not all just kissing Mortogs and counting potatoes.”

     Jhudora’s eyes widened. “But Neopets will see me, and you know how they’d—”

     “Don’t worry Jae, I’ll protect you. If anyone gets after you”—she raised her free hand and balled her fingers into a fist—“I’ll make sure they think twice before doing it again.” She started to laugh, probably at how serious she sounded.

     Jhudora found herself laughing, too. A couple of gal pal BFFs out on the countryside town… Not the end to the day she envisaged. Not in the least.

     This was so much better.

     The day had ended with a new beginning.

     I really should have done this years ago, thought Jhudora.

     The End.