The White Weewoo friend

     “Quick, come in out of the cold!”

     You enter and quickly shut the door against the icy temperature outside, only to be overwhelmed with the rather loud wails of a group of Petpets that look like some sort of biscuits!

     “Oh, don’t mind the Jinjah’s!” exclaims the shopkeeper.

     “Just caught them around the corner! Must have run away from their baker, the poor things, no worries! We’ll find them homes soon enough!”

     As you move into the store you take in the wonderful array of Petpets all sleeping or eating in their pens.

     “Hello”, you say quietly, you’re not sure how to begin. How do you explain to the shopkeeper that you’re here because you can’t bear to spend another winter alone in your Neohome with no one else to keep you company?

     “I’m uh, looking for a Petpet”.

     “Well obviously!” says the shopkeeper, “why else would you have made the trek all the way up the mountain to get here!?”.

     You quickly turn away, hiding the hurt on your face.

     “Hey, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it. Come over here and let's have a chat about why you’re here”.

     He leads you over to a plush chair by the fire, it's covered in some sort of green fur, or are they pine needles? But you sit down anyway. He clangs around a little bit before he drags over a stool and plops down next to you, holding a teapot.

     “Had a hard year sweetheart?” he asks kindly.

     You nod, wiping away a stray tear.

     “You want to tell me?” he says as he hands me a cup and pours into it some deliciously Hot Borovan.

     “Well, I guess I should”. I take a sip, it's perfect, and warm and makes you feel so at ease.

     So you tell him everything, how your beloved Snowbunny, or Sunny Bun as you affectionately called her, had gone missing this time last year. How you had spent all of the last New Year’s celebration searching your entire town for her, but there was no trace.

     How you’d put up posters and handed out fliers and called the nearby pound every day hoping that she had been turned in!

     That every knock on the door you felt this elation, could this possibly be it? Only to be met with disappointment each time.

     How you’d slowly come to accept that she wasn’t coming home…

     The shopkeeper sighed, “Oh sweetheart, I’m so sorry, nothing hurts quite like losing a beloved pet. I know! Lost my own little Candychan not but two years ago. Hurts my heart when one shows up here looking for a home. Nothing will ever be able to replace your Sunny Bun, but, maybe I have someone here that could help fill that gap in ya heart a little eh?”

     He grabs your cup and places it on a small table in the corner, then takes your hands and pulls you out of the chair.

     “Come right this way!” he says excitedly as he leads you to the back of the shop, past the Yullie’s and the Polarchucks, to a door behind some Petpet supplies you hadn’t noticed when you first came in.

     The door leads to a well-lit room with a number of empty cages. He continues to lead you past all of them right to the back of the room, where there’s a little heater set up and some lovely fresh grass and flowers all piled in a little roofed pen.

     “I wasn’t going to let her go to just anybody you see, she’s very special and not from around here!”

     He kneels down, and motions for you to do the same, quietly he calls, “Come on out sweetheart, it's alright”

     There’s a little shift in the grass but nothing appears.

     Again he calls, “Come on out sweet thing, you’re safe, it's warm out here.”

     It was, surprisingly, you look around, the little heater in the corner was doing a lovely job of heating the small area.

     You look back to the pile of grass, two little black eyes look back at you, and your heart seems to stop for a moment. The little White Petpet that has appeared in the pile of grass in front of you is one of the most beautiful Petpets you’ve ever seen!

     “She’s a Weewoo”, the shopkeeper explained.

     The little White Weewoo had made its way over to the edge of the cage now.

     “May I?” I ask quietly.

     “Of course” he gestures as he opens the small cage.

     I gently reach through and to my surprise, the little Weewoo springs into my hands!

     “Oh!” I exclaim, she doesn’t get frightened though, as I bring her towards me, she stretches out her beak and gently bumps me on the cheek.

     I sit there for a few minutes, gentle murmuring to her, patting her and scratching her small wings.

     The shopkeeper, still hovering over us affectionately, leans down to pat her.

     “She’s a real sweet we’ thing. But she’s not meant to be up here in the mountains, it's too cold for her. I’ll be real’ sad to see her go though, she’s a real little darling”.

     I look up at him, dreading to ask how much he will want to sell her for. Weewoo’s alone are worth thousands of Neopoints! I could only imagine how much a White Weewoo would be!

     “Ho..how much?” you stutter out, silently praying you won't have to be parted from this little darling if you can’t afford it.

     “Nothing,” he says.

     “WHAT!?” you exclaim, making the little Petpet start, she had just begun dozing in your lap.

     “Nothing” he repeats. “I knew that if I had a’ advertised her, some Neopet would just come and buy her and then try to sell her for more! I knew she was special, that she needed someone who would truly love her and give her the best home”

     You don’t know what to say, you are so overwhelmed that you just hold the little Weewoo closer to your heart and whisper, “Thank you, you have no idea how much your kindness means to me.”

     “Ah, I think I do lass” He smiles, come on then! Let’s get you both ready for the journey home. He grabs the carry case from the cage and lines it with the fresh grass. I place her down and she happily hops into it and perches on the small branch. As I close the door behind her, she turns around and gives me a little bump on the finger with her beak. I stand, pick up the case and follow the shopkeeper back into the main shop area. He stops to grab some things off the shelf as we pass. As we get to the counter he lays out a blanket, some Petpet toys and a book.

     “‘I Know Why the Caged Weewoo Sings’” I read, and look at my new White Weewoo, just her feathers visible as she had buried herself in the grass once more.

     “I don’t know how to thank you,” I began to say to the shopkeeper.

     “Say nothing of it lass! I’m just happy the two of you have found each other. You come back and visit me sometime when winter is over and the weather warms up a bit hey?”

     “We will!” I promise him.

     I pick up the carrier, carefully covering it with the blanket to keep her safe from the weather. He hands me the bag of supplies and opens the door for me.

     I lean down and give him a kiss on the cheek, thanking him again as I step back out into the cold.

     I get a little way down the yard when I hear,

     “Miss, wait! What are you going to name her?”

     I turn to see the shopkeeper standing in the doorway still, now holding one of the Jinjah’s that must have jumped out of its cage.

     I think for a moment, before softly calling back, “Aymara”.

     You peak at the little Weewoo, sleeping now.

     “It means friend.”

     The End.