The Forgotten Faerieland: Part Three

      "I-I'd love it more than anything, but what's the catch?"

      Fyora sighed heavily, "Nobody knows it but me, but I expect that all faerie pets are soon to turn grey. I heard Baelia mutter the poem before she fully turned grey. Though the pets weren't all together, she was very strong and I believe that her plan still worked. It is taking some time, but she finally won. Even I feel as if I'm becoming more dim and grey. Though I won't turn grey, I know that even the faeries will be far from what we are now. But to answer your question, any pet you meet from this time will reveal who you are inside. You will be your normal self with your normal wings. However, this will apply only to you and none other. This is a great gift that is yours only because you saved me. Treasure this, Tuirsa."

      Tuirsa stared at her gratefully. "I will."

      Fyora nodded. "Very well."

      Fyora waved her wand and said something under her breath. "You are now going to be Faerie when around any pet from this time which I feel is coming to an end. Enjoy Neopia, my dear subject."

      Fyora sent Tuirsa to Faerieland and more specifically to my home down there which Fyora had instructed me to keep should I need it in the future. To this day I wonder if she somehow knew exactly how this was going to turn out, but that would be cruel and Fyora cares far too much about her people to let something like that happen without stopping it.

      A bit before Tuirsa's encounter with Fyora, Fyora had sent me back to Neopia which is most likely because she knew that Tuirsa would need a home.

      I remember she spoke to me kindly, but with a voice overflowing with power and emotion. "I'm putting Tuirsa in your care, so please take care of her and make sure that she enjoys her life. However, she may never be painted. Boochi will never hit her, she will never be too angry or sad, but do not paint her lest her punishment fall on you too.

      I nodded in agreement and was transported to Neopia to prepare for Tuirsa's arrival by making a room and buying furniture and whatnot.

      Fyora called a meeting of all subjects, with no exceptions. Every faerie and pet in Faerieland was present.

      "My people, Baelia has turned grey and is lost to us forever, but she has certainly left a legacy that we shall never forget. All the faerie pets before us are doomed to become grey. I can feel myself losing some of who I am, and I see it happening to the other faeries. We shall not turn grey, but we are looking more alike. I am so sorry, but I am not powerful enough to counteract it. Soon you pets shall also have to leave Faerieland. If you somehow find a way to be faerie again, I beg of you to please return, but the rules of Faerieland strictly state that you must be a Faerie in order to live here. I apologize very much and I will personally help as many of you as possible pack your things. I ask that you now all return to your homes and gather your things. You are free to stay here until the transition is complete. I will miss you all dearly and wish that it was not so, but not even I have the power to rewrite the law simply for my own wishes and desires. I am so sorry."

      Fyora looked on in sorrow as her subjects started to turn grey. She noticed that some pets kept their wings but didn't stay faerie. She wanted to at least allow them to stay, but there were some rules that not even she could violate, so she had to look on with a tearstained face as her people had to prepare to leave the place that they had always called their home.

      Fyora called to meet with Luce as this was going on. "What have I done? Is there no way to prevent this?!"

      Luce thought for a moment before speaking, "It could be possible to create a faerie paint brush, but it would not quite have the desired effect. ALL faerie Ixis would look the same, ALL faerie Rukis would look the same, etc. The pets will be far less than they are now, but it is still technically possible, but we will need one faerie volunteer from each type of faerie."

      Fyora immediately gave a list of names of people to try. "I am willing, are you? If so then I bet we could get Illusen and Jhudora, and maybe even the Fountain Faerie, we're good friends. Let's see, anybody else?"

      Luce laughed a little. "We should be good. We just need each faerie to give up a tiny bit of their power. It will be VERY little, and they won't notice it. Though we may have to trick Jhudora.

      Fyora laughed a bit as well. "I'm sure we will."

      The next day the faeries were brought together and a tiny bit of their power removed. Jhudora especially grumbled as she gave up a tiny bit of her power, though many believe it was merely an attempt to reconcile with Fyora.

     As Luce was mixing the ingredients she also threw in a pink paint brush as well as a few other colors to add in to the mix. She chose to avoid the purple paint brush because it caused some weird reaction so the poor pets were stuck with orange spots. Anyhow, she made the paint brush and suggested that Fyora had copies made and started to sell them in the Hidden Tower so that pets could buy them and paint themselves faerie.

      "Luce, you're brilliant! Thank you so much for returning my hope!"

      Luce blushed. "Your highness, it was nothing, really."

      Fyora chuckled. "Oh, but it was everything, thank you so much Luce, thank you."

      A week later, there were plenty of paint brushes, but no more pets left in Faerieland, for they had all finally changed and had to be sent to Neopia. Fyora had to think of more ways to give the paint brushes to the pets because she couldn't simply had them out to the pets that were left, as there were none.

      Pondering what to do, Fyora decided to throw down a paint brush every now and then and hope that a pet would paint themselves with it. She did this periodically and would summon all faerie pets to Faerieland the moment they were painted. She then asked them if they would like to stay in Faerieland or go back to their homes in Neopia.

      By now Tuirsa was at my home in Neopia. She eventually found Riki, and Riki now lives with me as well. It's been hard for me to know Tuirsa's story and learn of everything that really happened. Like I never knew about what Fyora had done for her but now I usually see Tuirsa as she was since she and Riki are home a lot. To greater my astonishment, she can hide her true self if she wants to, though she rarely wants to. I think that she doesn't care so much about her beauty or anything like that. I think it's because she yearns for wings and the freedom to fly around. No matter how sad or grey you are, a good flight can cheer up event he most sad or upset pet.

      I miss Faerieland a lot, but I'm fine living in Neopia. Fyora, as it turned out, got her wish and the law restricting faeries to only live in Faerieland was abolished; so now anybody can live there, except for us. Neither Tuirsa nor myself mind. We've had enough of Faerieland for quite some time. It's not that we're bitter towards Fyora or Faerieland, of course, we simply have a new lifestyle that we've found we enjoy nearly as much.

      I hope that I have not made anybody feel sad or upset with this account. It is true, but it's not all bad. For if things hadn't turned out as they did, nobody would now be living in Faerieland, except for a few faeries. Tuirsa couldn't be happier, now. She at first felt as all was her fault, but she knows that she had no other choice. She always tells me that there are times when she wonders if she should have obeyed Luce and stayed away from Baelia, but when she thinks about the poor, pitiful Baelia lying on the floor, grey and different, she knows that she could never have allowed that to happen to Fyora.

The End