Music

     "Lots of practice," she says, and her voice is like laughter.

     Even while five years are between you, her being sixteen and you eleven, you and she are like sisters. Every day after Neoschool, you come to Nivia's house and watch her play piano, and since you live across the street from her, your owner doesn't object.

     It seems to you like you could be content forever just watching the Purple Aisha practice. Her notes are so perfect, her songs so well played, and even when she stumbles over a hard part, or skips a beat, it still sounds to you like the most beautiful music in the world.

     "I wish I could play like that." Your words hang in the air, floating on a stifled sigh.

     "Of course you can play like this." The Aisha's brown curls bob against her shoulders as she turns to you. "It just takes practice, Telisa."

     You turn your dark eyes on her. "No, I can't play piano. At all. I've had lots of different teachers, and they just can't get any talent out of me." A wistful sigh, and you jiggle your fingers over imaginary keys. "I just make mistakes."

     "Everybody makes mistakes. I make mistakes." She stops playing.

     "I make more than anybody," you protest.

     "Do you really want to learn, sugar?" Dainty purple fingers ruffle your Spotted Gelert ears. You nod, enthusiastically.

     "Yeah! I do."

     "Okay, then. I'll be your teacher."

     "Truly?" Your eyes widen. This is like a dream come true.

     The Aisha smiles. "Truly."

     *

     "You're not trying, Teli..!"

     "I am!" you wail as your fingers stumble clumsily over the piano keys. "This is a difficult song, Nivia!"

     "Telisa, it's not difficult, you're just not trying hard enough." Nivia puts her hands gently over yours and guides you through the rest of the piece. "Don't be so tense and rigid. Relax."

     Several deep breath and many efforts later, you play the last note of the song after a nearly flawless performance. "There!" you say, breathlessly. "How was that?"

     "Good! That was good!" Nivia's smile is like the sun breaking over the horizon. You beam with pride.

     "I'm getting better!" you boast. "Come on, Nivi, help me with another one!"

     She swiftly obliges, flipping through the piano book to a waltz. "Here you go, sugar."

     Many hours later, you are sweating from exertion and tiredness. Your fingers feel numb and heavy, even though you have rubbed blisters on them from playing so long. Your tousled black hair is falling out of its ponytail.

     "You're tired." Nivia hands you a glass of water, which you gulp at thirstily. "Go on home, Telisa, and I'll help you some more tomorrow."

     *

     Two years later, you finally feel like you are rather intermediate. Now you are thirteen and she is eighteen, but you and Nivia are even closer. She is the only one who has kept on teaching you, through the mistakes and blundering, through the wailing and whining and whimpering.

     Nivia sits down beside you as you play one afternoon. Your hands are dancing over the ebony and white keys in a cheerful jig. When you finish, you turn, smiling, to your friend. Nivia is not smiling. She is frowning.

     "Oh, was it that bad? I really tried," you begin, but Nivia cuts you off.

     "No, it was lovely, Teli. I-I just have something to tell you." She stands up suddenly, and paces slowly back and forth, before whirling to face you. "It's just this..." She breaks off again.

     "Go on," you prompt, your stomach twisting.

     Nivia takes a deep breath. "It's just... I'm leaving Neopia Central."

     For a second, time seems to freeze. You stare at her with horror, your Gelert ears flattening. There is a knot tightening painfully in your stomach and a lump forming in your throat.

     "You... can't leave," you whisper. Nivia's eyes darken, and she looks at her feet.

     "I'm sorry, Telisa."

     "Where are you going?" You force back the tears that well in your eyes. "When are you going?"

     "Faerieland. On the Twelfth of the Month of Sleeping, three days from now." The Purple Aisha turns around, her hands clasped behind her back. "I- I'm going to college. I'm eighteen, Telisa. You're too young to understand."

     You feel hurt. "I'm thirteen, Nivia."

     For several moments, a tense silence stretches between you. Then the Aisha speaks.

     "I'll be really busy. I won't be able write very often."

     You feel even more hurt. You don't answer.

     "And I won't be able to teach you anymore."

     "Of course you won't, you'll be in Faerieland." You stand up, grab your piano books, and run out the front door. Your heart beats wildly. You feel betrayed.

     "Telisa, wait!" Nivia is standing in the doorway, her curls blowing around her face. "Wait!"

     But you keep running.

     *

     Tears drip onto the windowsill as you watch Nivia pull her suitcases into the Uni carriage. You know that her family is fairly wealthy, so they can afford to send her by the expensive transportation. Most owners use Eyries to get from place to place.

     Nivia's owner stands beside the door, probably exchanging a farewell with her pet. Then she closes the door. The two Faerie Unis pulling the carriage rise into the sky. You watch them until they are out of sight, one thought pulsing through your mind.

     She doesn't care enough to say goodbye to you.

     *

     For a month after that, you give up piano. You store away your piano books. You refuse to look at Nivia's house when you trek to Neoschool, and when you come back home. For a month, you are tired and stressed. Your grades drop, and many serious talks about school ensue. For a month, you sulk around the house and haunt your room.

     Then, in the Month of Awakening, you realize that life must go on. You are going to keep playing piano.

     *

     Before, you almost never touched the old piano in the corner of your living room, since every day you were at Nivia's house. Now, you practice on it every afternoon for an hour.

     Before, you got up early to eat breakfast and go to Nivia's house to talk before you walked to Neoschool with the older Neopet. Now, you get up a little bit later and eat breakfast with your owner and siblings.

     Before, you stayed at Nivia's house nearly all afternoon, practicing and practicing on her piano. Now, you come straight home after Neoschool and play and argue with your younger brother and sister, and bake cookies and goodies with your older sister. You read and scrapbook and laugh at the comics in the Neopian Times with your owner. You play in little concerts for your friends and family.

     Before, you came home in the evening from Nivia's house, tired and dull from piano. You would do your homework late, before taking a shower and going to bed. Now, you do your homework in the afternoon, go to bed early, and sleep sweetly and soundly.

     Finally, after a while of feeling hurt and betrayed from Nivia's departure, you realize that it might have been for the better, both for you and for her. She will be learning what she loves best, music. You will be spending more time with your family. You are making your life better.

     For the first time, you aren't devoting yourself to your practicing. You are doing other things that you like. Drawing, writing, baking. And you love it.

     *

     When you are twenty, and have moved out of your owner's house, you are invited to play in your first concert. Apparently, word of your talent at playing piano has gotten around. Of course, you accept. You travel to Shenkuu and perform in the Emperor's palace. Instantly, you are a hit. You are invited to play in concert after concert.

      By your twenty first birthday, your name is known almost all over the face of Neopia (and a little bit on the face of Kreludor, too). You have been invited to play at the Brightvale Castle, the Altador Castle, and the Castle of King Roo. You have traveled to many exotic places.

     Your job is well paying, so you are fairly rich. You have moved into a beautiful, comfortable house in Shenkuu, where many a fan mail reach you. Your family visits every summer.

     But through all these years, you have never, ever received a letter from Nivia.

     It's better that way, you often reason with yourself. Sometimes, you think it is. Other times, you wish she was here with you.

     But still, you cling to the shred of hope that she will visit you. By now she would be twenty six. You know she would be out of college.

     For the longest time, she does not come.

     *

     When your twenty third birthday has come and gone, you are invited to play in Faerieland. You are told that Queen Fyora herself will be in the audience. You oblige, of course, even though the name of the land stirs memories that hurt you. You knew it would happen sometime, and you are prepared.

     *

     Your fingers skip over the gleaming keys, and then your hands fall to your lap as the last notes cling to the air and then fade away. For a moment, there is complete and utter silence, until you stand and bow. Then the still air is shattered into pieces by the thousands of voices cheering, and thousands of hands and paws clapping, clapping, clapping.

     *

     "Could you sign this for me, Miss Telisa, please?" The tiny Brown Uni holds up a picture that appears to be cut from a newspaper. A picture of a Spotted Gelert with long, glossy black hair, wearing a Fashionable Gelert Shirt, Jacket, and Skirt. A picture of you.

     "Of course, darling." With beautiful, looping, curving handwriting you sign your name on the scrap of paper. The Uni's huge eyes smile up at you as you hand it back to her. She scurries off, squealing, "Thank you!"

     You look up. You are sitting at a table covered with a pink and purple tablecloth. A line is forming in front of you, pets waiting for autographs.

     "How can I help you?" you ask, pleasantly, to the next pet in line. "Would you-- Nivia..!"

     The Purple Aisha is indeed Nivia, though her brown curls are cut into a bob, and she looks much more mature.

     "What are you doing here?" you whisper.

     "I need to talk to you." Nivia steps out of the line, calling her request over her shoulder, "Please, I'll wait for you outside the palace."

     You watch her go, before managing to shake the shock out of your mind and looking at the next Neopet in line.

     After all these years, she decides to see me now?

     *

     "...I've heard about you, you know."

     You don't say anything as you and Nivia stand beneath a flowering tree. The air is warming to spring. The grass is wet with dew under your feet.

     "You're famous."

     Now you look up at Nivia. She is staring off into the distance.

     "You're all over the Neopian Times. Everybody knows about you." She turns to look at you. "You're better at playing than I am." Her voice sounds almost disappointed. You remember that she always wanted to be the best piano player she could be, and now her student had risen to a higher level than her.

     "Thanks." Your reply is short. The bitterness of her never bothering to send letters stirs in your heart. "You... You never wrote."

     "I told you I would be busy."

     "You've been out of college for years."

     "Telisa." Her voice is gentle, the voice that you were used to hearing every afternoon before she abandoned you. "I'm sorry."

     You look at her, ready to say that you will never forgive her, that she never bothered to keep in touch, that she couldn't really be sorry.

     But instead, your answer is, "Don't be."

     And all the anger dissolves.

     *

     "Who wants gingersnap cookies and apple cider?" Your older sister walks into the sitting room of your beautiful home. She carries a tray of cookies and mugs.

     A tree stands in the corner of the room, strung with shining garlands and twinkling ornaments. Presents are piled under the branches. Your old childhood friends, your siblings, your owner and your friends' owners are scattered about the room, talking and laughing. Several plates of goodies are already placed on the table, along with a pitcher of borovan, but still, a chorus of "I do!" meets your sister's question.

     You lean back in your chair, completely and totally relaxed. You love being here, surrounded by your loved ones. It makes the holidays so much merrier.

     A quiet voice and a gentle touch startle you out of your thoughts. "Am I late for the party?"

     "Nivia!" You stand up. "Better late than never!" You hand her a cup of borovan that you have kept warm. "Your favorite kind." Winking, you hug her briefly and sit back down.

     She smiles. "Thanks, Teli. You're the best."

     "Anything for you, Nivi."

     *

     A hush falls over the sitting room as you adjust your position on the piano bench, then open a book of songs. You poise your hands over the keys.

     A pause, then you turn around on the bench.

     "Nivi."

     Eyes wide, Nivia stands and makes her way to you.

     "It's a duet."

     "Do you really want me to play with you?"

     Your only answer as she sits down beside you is, "You play Primo. I'll play Secondo." You touch the keys gently, and then you begin playing. Nivia joins in.

     And the music sounds sweeter than anything you've ever played as it dances through the air.

The End