Faeries and Soup

     But Storm did not have anything- no Neopoints to spend in any of the shops. His stomach growled. He had not had anything to eat for days. It had probably been a week since he had eaten! He was so very hungry.

     He looked into the bakery again. Mmm… he thought, a strawberry Aisha cookie. He stared at it for a while, but something caught his attention and drew him away from the yummy cookie.

     He noticed it was a beautiful faerie. Maybe she can help me! Storm thought with excitement, and he ran over to the faerie. It was the Tooth Faerie.

     "Oh, Tooth Faerie!" Storm cried. "Can you please help me? May I have please some food? Some Neopoints? Anything to help me out?"

     The Tooth Faerie smiled pleasantly. "Of course I can give you Neopoints!" she said with a toothy grin. "May I have your tooth? You do have one, correct?"

     "My… my tooth?" Storm asked, puzzled. Of course! Storm suddenly remembered what he had heard about her: The Tooth Faerie only gave Neopoints to Neopets who had lost a tooth!

     "I… Well, you see, none of my teeth are even loose yet!" Storm said, and his eyes began to fill with tears.

     "Then I can be of no help to you," the Tooth Faerie said sadly. She sighed deeply. "I can only give Neopoints in exchange for a tooth. I am so very sorry. I really must go. There are Neopets waiting for me to take their teeth and replace it with Neopoints I am sorry."

     Storm’s stomach grumbled again. He was so extremely hungry. He was miserable, too, because he had not played with a toy in a very, very long time.

     He peered into the Toy Shop again and he stared longingly at an adorable Yellow Scorchio Plushie sitting on a shelf. Will I ever be able to play again? Storm asked himself sadly.

     Again, a faerie suddenly zoomed past Storm. He smiled. Maybe this was the faerie he had been waiting for! "Wait, Miss Faerie!" Storm cried. "Please come back and help me!"

     The faerie turned very sharply. "Are you whom I have come to help?" the faerie asked hurriedly. It was the Space Faerie.

     "It’s… you… You’re the Space Faerie!" Storm cried. He stared at the beautiful faerie. This was a big thing! He was so lucky to even see her!! He would tell everyone he would see and…

     "I really have to go, young child," the Space Faerie said. "I am so very sorry, but there is a huge emergency and I really must go. It is rare that I am ever here, so I must move fast. I am so sorry." Storm watched the faerie fly away ever so quickly, rushing to aid someone, maybe to help in war. He did not know.

     More faeries came along, too. The Negg Faerie, the Light Faerie, even the Water Faerie. But they were all in a hurry and could not help Storm.

     Storm sighed a very deep sigh and looked around. There had to be someone, anyone, somewhere who could help him out!

     Then he saw a faerie, a grey and gloomy faerie, and he immediately knew who she was. She was the Grey Faerie.

     "Excuse me, Grey Faerie, ma’am," Storm said to her, tapping her on the shoulder. She turned sad and grey eyes to him and he continued. "I have heard such stories about you, and I know you have lost all of your powers, but do you have food maybe? Or perhaps a toy that I can have? Or just borrow maybe for a little while?"

     A lone tear rolled down the Grey Faerie’s face. "I have nothing to give to you," she said, her voice breaking. "I am just a lowly faerie that is completely powerless." She looked over her shoulder. "I do not even have wings." She slowly walked away, leaving Storm looking at her in a mixture of sympathy, anger, and self-pity.

     "CAN’T ANYONE HELP ME?" he cried to himself.

     Storm had lost all hope. He would never find someone to help him, and he would probably starve to death!

     "Are you all right?" a kind voice asked. Storm turned around. It was the Soup Faerie! "I heard your cry."

     "I suppose you cannot help me either," Storm sighed. "I am so hungry. I need rest! I do not know what I should do…"

     "Why, I can help you!" the Soup Faerie replied. "Come along with me!" She led him to a very extraordinary place -- the Soup Faerie told Storm it was called the Soup Kitchen.

     "Here, you will be fed and taken care of until you can take care of yourself," the Soup Faerie said with a smile.

     "Oh, thank you so very much!" Storm cried, throwing his arms around the Soup Faerie’s waist to give her a hug. The Soup Faerie patted his head and smiled.

     He would not starve after all! He would make friends with the Soup Faerie and with the other Neopets "bunking" in the Soup Kitchen.

     Suddenly, five more faeries flew into the Soup Kitchen. "We are awfully sorry we could not help you earlier," the Tooth Faerie and Space Faerie and the Light Faerie and the Water Faerie and the Negg Faerie said in unison. "Here!"

     They placed a small Yellow Scorchio Plushie in Storm’s hands. It was what he had always wanted, since he was a tiny cub!

     Then, he smelled it. The delicious smell of freshly made, boiling soup. "I am starving!" Storm said, turning to the Soup Faerie. "Can we please eat?" He placed his hand on his stomach as it grumbled again.

     "Of course," the Soup Faerie replied. She gathered up the other young Neopets and led the way to a place with a lot of very long tables, and before each chair on the tables, a bowl of steaming soup was set.

     Storm sat down and a young yellow Blumaroo sat beside him. Her name was Sunshine. They began to talk about their adventures, but the stories they were telling began to wander off and they began telling each other about their dreams, their wishes, and their secrets, and they became fast friends.

     "I met the Space Faerie," Storm told Sunshine. "That has got to be a once in a lifetime chance!"

     "You met the Space Faerie?" Sunshine asked enthusiastically. "You are so lucky! I’ve always wanted to meet her.

     Storm made plenty of other friends at the Soup Kitchen, too. There was a green Kacheek named Marty, and a blue Ixi named Cloud. He even made friends with a Christmas Kougra, whose name was Chris.

     Storm and the other Neopets became healthy and strong with the help of the srumdiddly-umptious soup, other Neopets and friends, the Soup Faerie, and the other faeries who came occasionally for a quick visit. And all was well at the Soup Kitchen, just as it always is, even now, feeding any neopet who cannot afford their own food and helping them.

The End