A Faerie Friendly Wager

     At that moment, up in the comforts of the luxurious skybox, the Faerie Queen floated over to the Snow Faerie.

     “Alright Taelia, I concede. Terror Mountain is the better Altador Cup team,” Fyora said with a sigh.

     Taelia’s smug grin grew wider as Fyora said those words. “I knew you’d eventually figure that one out. Now remember our agreement.”

     Fyora reached into a hidden pocket in her dress and handed Taelia a set of keys.

     “I will help you move some things and get you settled in the Faerie Castle. Umm… do you have a coat I could borrow at least… for my month-long stay on Terror Mountain?”

     “There’s something in the igloo. It won’t be pink though. All my coats are light blue.”

     ***

     “Have a safe trip!” Aethia and Celandra said as they helped load some of Fyora’s things into a cloud racer.

     “Try not to freeze to death,” Aethia said, handing Fyora a coat that resembled the Snow Faerie’s coat, except it was pink of course.

     A group of fans for the Faerieland Altador Cup team had gathered around the racer. Fyora waved to them, shook some of their hands, and signed a few autographs before she stepped into the cloud racer. With the doors shut, she took off from the comforts of Faerieland and set her course for Terror Mountain.

     ***

     “You totally deserve this vacation!” Kari exclaimed, as she helped load Taelia’s cloud racer.

     “Ah yes, but it’s thanks to the Terror Mountain team for giving me this chance,” Taelia replied.

     “I’ll miss you,” Kari said, handing Taelia a negg. “Just remember me through this Negg!”

     “Kari, I’m only gone for a month.” Taelia took the negg anyway. “Thanks.”

     “A month is a looong time!” said Armin, Taelia’s best friend. “What if Fyora doesn’t like me?”

     Taelia gently put her hand under Armin’s chin and smiled. “You’re worried that one of the nicest faeries in Neopia won’t be nice to you? I promise you, she’s not super intimidating once you get past the “Queen” aspect. Armin nodded slowly.

     “Have a safe trip!” he said. The Snow Faerie stepped into her cloud racer and took off towards Faerieland.

     ***

     Kari disappeared into the back of the Neggery to care for Neggs that had just sprouted. It would take some of them several weeks to reach maturity and a few more weeks for them to ripen. As she began to water the Neggs, she heard a whooshing sound coming from outside the Ice Caves.

     “Oh wait! She’s here already?” Kaia said, setting the watering can down. “Zaira! Let’s take a break to greet our esteemed guest, the Faerie Queen!”

     Zaira nervously looked over at Kari.

     “Am I dressed properly for this?”

     “Don’t sweat it, the Faerie Queen generally doesn’t mind what you wear to greet her. I’m more concerned if she’s dressed properly for the cold!”

     The two of them dropped their things, throwing on their heavy coats, and headed out of the caves. Outside, they saw a large pink cloud racer descend from the sky and come to a halt as it touched the ground. Fyora opened the doors and stepped out.

     “Hello Kari, and you must be Zaira. Kari has told me all about you and I’m thrilled to meet you,” Fyora said, shaking Zaira’s hand and then giving both faeries a hug.

     A strong gust of wind blew from the summit of the mountain and nearly swept Fyora off her feet.

     “Ooooof that wind really bites,” Fyora commented, shivering suddenly, despite being in her coat.

     Kari laughed. “It’s a little chilly, isn’t it? Let’s go inside Taelia’s igloo where it’s at least warm. Just a secret, it looks like an igloo on the outside, but it’s not really an igloo. She put snow around a cabin for extra insulation. But don’t tell her that I told you.”

     The three of them stepped inside the “igloo” only to find Armin guarding the entrance.

     “It’s us!” Kari said.

     “Uhh... h-hello F-fyora,” he stammered.

     Fyora knelt and patted Armin on the head. “You must be Armin, Taelia has told me all about you. Thank you for taking care of her for me,” Fyora said.

     Armin wasn’t a fan of being patted on the head, so he pulled away from the queen which surprised Fyora a bit and caused her to fall over. Kari and Zaira gasped and rushed over to help the queen, but Fyora waved them off.

     “Oh, I-I'm sorry,” Armin said. “It’s just that I’m...could you maybe not pat me on the head?”

     “Don’t worry about it, I should have asked permission,” Fyora replied, regaining her balance and shaking Armin’s paw instead and standing back up.

     “I should unpack though so maybe we can get together again after I do so?”

     “Don’t miss the Snowball Fight tonight,” Kari said, grinning ear to ear.

     Zaira stared at Kari nervously and whispered in her ear. “Does she know that Snowball Fight involves others throwing snowballs at faeries... or trying to avoid hitting faeries but accidentally hitting them?”

     Kari tried to hide her giggles. “Shhh! Don’t tell her! It’ll be funny!”

     The two faeries and Armin left Taelia’s home. Armin looked at Kari and shook his head. “That was awkward. I’m not sure if Fyora likes me after I told her off.”

     “Nonsense, you stated your boundaries, and Fyora respects that,” Kari said reassuringly.

     “I don’t know her that well, but she seems nice,” Zaira concurred. “I didn’t get a chance to meet her at the Faerie Festival so it’s nice to finally see her.”

     ***

     “Welcome to Faerieland!” Aethia said, one-handing Taelia’s luggage effortlessly.

     “Hi, I’m Celandra. I normally help around the castle, and I help Fyora if she needs it.”

     Taelia stepped out of her cloud racer and felt the full thickness of the hot and humid air in Faerieland. As it was now on the ground and near warm waters, the temperatures in Faerieland can overwhelm some during the warmer months. She quickly shed her coat, revealing a light blue dress with snowflake patterns.

     “Ooo, that dress looks nice. Here I thought you’d stay here in that thick coat of yours,” Aethia teased.

     “How about we show her to Fyora’s room now?” Celandra suggested, not wanting Aethia to get too carried away with her slight ribbing of Taelia.

     The two of them escorted Taelia to Fyora’s chambers. Taelia followed them up the enormous spiral staircase and up to the floor where Fyora lived. They passed by the throne room, and Taelia stopped to peek inside.

     “Hmm, her throne looks rather ordinary, but comfortable.”

     “Well, I suppose as the one Fyora has bestowed temporary queenly powers while she’s gone, I could let you sit on it for a bit of time,” Aethia said.

     Taelia nodded. “Sure.”

     The three of them then made their way to Fyora’s room. Taelia poked her head in and saw that every portrait in the room was a portrait of her.

     “Umm... doesn’t she have portraits of other faeries... including herself?” Taelia asked, feeling a bit unnerved.

     “Yes, but she wanted you to feel at home, so she took every portrait she had of you and put them on the walls,” Celandra replied with a perfectly straight face. Aethia, on the other hand, covered her mouth and tried her best not to laugh.

     “Well, I suppose I better unpack.”

     “We’ll leave you to it. I’ve been practising my cloud racing and would love to challenge you later!” Aethia exclaimed.

     Aethia and Celandra exited the room to leave Taelia to unpack.

     “She’s good at cloud racing and battling, I’d watch out,” Celandra whispered to Aethia.

     “Don’t worry about me, I just enjoy the challenge.”

     ***

     “Ice Cream? In this weather?” Fyora said, widening her eyes as she noticed Mr. Chipper’s ice cream cart in Happy Valley.

     “You better believe it!” he said. “Oh, and I know you’re the queen and all, but I still require a coupon to buy ice cream. Queens don’t get special privileges here!”

     “Ah fortunately, I have this Pink Ice Cream Coupon I found in Taelia’s house!”

     The Lutari walked over to inspect the coupon and nodded. “It’s a genuine coupon alright! What is your favourite flavour?”

     “Strawberry!”

     “Oh nice! So, I get a kick out of watching folks spin in a circle. So, Your Majesty, would you mind? At least three times, please! When you’re done, I’ll have your ice cream order ready!”

     “Hmm... okay. Here goes!” The Faerie Queen stood on one leg and spun around fourteen times.

     “Bravo, here’s your strawberry ice cream!”

     Fyora turned to see Armin standing behind her.

     “Look, uhm, Your Majesty, I hope we didn’t get off on the wrong footing,” he said, tenting his paws.

     Fyora looked at him with confusion. “Wrong footing? I hope it wasn’t something I said.” She raised her eyebrows as she licked her ice cream. “Mmmm, this is good.”

     “No, I mean, I caused you to fall over and...”

     Fyora put her hand up, “I’m alright, it was my fault and I hope you’re not upset.”

     “Uhhh, no I’m not upset but, umm... do you have another ice cream coupon? Taelia usually gets me some ice cream and...”

     “Sure! Mr. Chipper, here’s another Pink Ice Cream Coupon! Did you want me to order for you, Armin or would you prefer doing it yourself?”

     “Uhh.... I don’t enjoy the spinning part. It makes me dizzy. So, if you could, your majesty...”

     “Please call me Fyora, Armin. Sure, I’ll be happy to get you ice cream. What’s your favourite flavour?”

     The Faerie Queen took Armin’s order, spun around ten times this time, and got Armin some Mint Ice Cream. The two of them enjoyed their ice cream as they made their way back into the Ice Caves.

     ***

     “Hey! Come back with that!” Taelia exclaimed as the pant devil stole one of her ice cream coupons.

     “Sorry, it’s the rules of the Wheel of Excitement. Chin up, you might get a better prize next time!” said the light faerie working the wheel.

     “Ugh, why is it so humid here?” Taelia complained.

     “I hereby challenge you to a cloud race!” Aethia suddenly blurted.

     Taelia turned towards Aethia. She stared Aethia down for a bit and then nodded. “Challenge accepted, prepare to lose!” she shouted back.

     “Wait for me!” Celandra exclaimed as the two faeries zoomed toward the cloud racing venue.

     “I got you!” said an air faerie.

     “Oh, thanks for the lift, Psellia,” Celandra replied. The air faerie brought Celandra to the venue and then zoomed off to the distance again. Ever since she rescued Jeran, Psellia had a habit of showing up randomly to assist folks needing to get somewhere.

     Aethia and Taelia already flown inside. Both poked around their cloud racers, ensuring their flightworthiness.

     “It looks good. Let’s make our way to the starting point!” Taelia exclaimed.

     “Hold on, I’m still inspecting mine!”

     “Aren’t you the battle faerie? Always punctual supposedly? Hurry up!” The Snow Faerie taunted as Aethia finally hopped into her racer.

     “Fine, I’ve heard enough! Let’s go!”

     “Well, since she’s the one that is taking the place of Fyora, I’m going to hop into her racer,” Celandra said.

     “Wait! But I’m the one that has queen duties! You’re a traitor!” Aethia shouted after Celandra. This didn’t deter the Gelert from jumping into the back of Taelia’s racer.

     “Huh? You’re riding with me? Ok.”

     With a sudden jolt and a burst of blue dust, Taelia’s cloud racer took off. Aethia’s took off right next to it. Aethia sped ahead and started zigzagging, trying to block Taelia’s path with a trail of fuchsia dust. Taelia, however, as a veteran cloud racer, simply flew her racer parallel to Aethia, thus avoiding the dust altogether.

     “Hold on tight!” she told Celandra.

     “I think I’m gonna be sick,” Celandra said. “Fyora flies much smoother than you.”

     “Ha, well that’s why I beat her once! She was too worried about how her hair would look at the end.”

     Celandra laughed before closing her eyes again and curling up to avoid feeling sick.

     Taelia flew circles around Aethia, trying to trap her inside a cloud of dust. “Oh, not today! That might have worked when I was just a beginner, but I’ve seen this film before!” Aethia shouted. She made a sharp turn cutting Taelia off.

     “Argh!” Taelia shouted as her racer slammed into a cloud of dust.

     “Hey, what’s the big idea?!” Celandra yelled as the racer came to a screeching halt, nearly sending her flying into the sky.

     “Looks like I won this round rather quickly,” Aethia said, flying her racer around Taelia to taunt her.

     “Do you do this to Fyora all the time?” Taelia quipped.

     “No, she wins more than she loses,” Aethia replied. The two of them turned off their pixie dust emitters and coasted their cloud racers gently to a stop as they landed.

     “That wasn’t the smoothest cloud racing I’ve seen,” Celandra said as she stumbled out of the racer. “Perhaps, we should practice before we do this again...”

     ***

     “Have you met the Snowager yet?” Kari asked.

     “No, I have heard rumours of such a creature. A large Snowickle-like creature on a pile of treasure. Does it really blast everyone though?” Fyora asked.

     “It depends on if it’s asleep or not. Let’s go see,” Kari said with a wide grin. Zaira and Armin gulped.

     The four of them arrived at the entrance to the Snowager’s Lair. Kari poked her head inside.

     “It appears to be asleep. Normally, if it’s awake, we’d hear some rumbling and murmurs.”

     Fyora followed Kari and the others followed close behind as they tiptoed into the lair, making as little noise as possible. Fyora gasped quietly as she saw a terrifyingly huge Snowickle sitting on a giant pile of treasure.

     “Do you know how it gathered all these things?” Fyora inquired.

     Zaira nodded. “I’ve been researching this, and I believe the Snowager used to be someone’s Petpet. It’s possible that these things were things given to it by its owner and the rest of the stuff was the owner’s personal belongings. We don’t know what happened to the owner, but perhaps it’s still guarding those belongings. One thing for sure we know is the owner is not Taelia. The Snowager has blasted her too.”

     “Why don’t you try to grab something?” Kari suggested. Armin shook his head.

     “Don’t do it, Fyora.”

     “Hey that Negg looks nice!” Kari said. She tried to grab a Platinum Negg when suddenly she heard a loud grumble.

     The Snowager opened its eyes and glared at Kari.

     “Uh oh…” Armin said.

     It then opened its mouth, preparing to roar when it noticed the Faerie Queen.

     “Kari, put the Negg down,” Fyora said. The Negg Faerie did so.

     Fyora then reached out and touched the Snowager and everyone gasped.

     “You… you just pet the Snowager…” Armin said in awe. “Only Taelia has done that until now…”

     Fyora leaned in as the beast made soft grumbling noises.

     “It says you can have the Negg since it knows you’re the Negg Faerie.”

     “You speak Snowickle?” a wide-eyed Zaira asked.

     “No, I just felt a hunch.”

     Armin continued to stare in awe as the Snowager went back to rest.

     “We should go, lest the creature change its mind,” Fyora suggested.

     ***

     Taelia made her way to the Hidden Tower after a long, relaxing soak in the Healing Springs. She greeted Baelia, who sometimes covered for the Faerie Queen as a shopkeeper.

     “Oh, hello Baelia,” Taelia said.

     “Taelia... welcome to the Hidden Tower, did you want to run the tower for a bit?” she asked. “I can get out of your way if so.”

     “Uhh... I’m not familiar with any of this so... can we do it together?”

     Baelia and Taelia began working together that day, with Taelia talking to customers while Baelia spent more of the day organizing and taking inventory of the stock. Everything seemed to flow smoothly until a customer tried to haggle on the price of a bottle of Glittery Faerie Dust.

     A Faerie Krawk came up to them with a rather sour expression.

     “So, I hope you two will be more reasonable than the Faerie Queen. 12.5 million Neopoints for some faerie dust is a rip-off! A rip-off! How can you justify charging that much for something that a faerie naturally produces?! I’ll pay 5 million for this!”

     Taelia stared at Baelia, unsure of what to do. Baelia came over and stood her ground.

     “Whether this is true or not, this is the price that Queen Fyora has set and thus, we cannot deviate from that...”

     “Hmph, when did you get so confident, Grey Faerie?” the Krawk sneered. Baelia hung her head in despair as these words stung her, shaking the confidence she had found since Fyora gave her a new role in the Hidden Tower. Taelia, however, grew angry at the customer.

     “Now hold on just a minute. That is uncalled for,” Taelia said.

     Aethia and Celandra sneakily observed from behind a shelf. Celandra almost stood up to try and diffuse the situation. Aethia stopped Celandra.

     “Shh, it’s ok, I think those two have it handled.”

     “If you don’t like the price, please buy something else instead. Plenty of options to choose from,” Baelia said.

     “Did Fyora teach you to say that?” the Krawk replied. At this point other customers turned to the Krawk, glaring.

     “Knock it off! She’s doing her job!” said a Faerie Pteri.

     Taelia then reached over and lifted the Krawk by his neck, taking care not to hurt him.

     “We are high up in a tower. It’s a long way down. I’d suggest you choose your next words carefully. I may not have Fyora’s power, but I’m still a faerie. The Snow Faerie.”

     She could see the fear in the Krawk’s eyes. Baelia could too. She stared at the Krawk with her arms folded.

     “Fine, I’ll stop. Please put me down!” the Krawk said, struggling against Taelia’s grip. The Snow Faerie lowered him to the ground. “Wise choice. Baelia, take it from here.”

     The Grey Faerie stepped forward. “As I was saying, we have other weapons at different price points. Why don’t we take a gander at them?”

     Aethia gave Celandra a thumbs up and the two of them snuck back out of the tower.

     ***

     “Time for a snowball fight!” Kari exclaimed.

     “Oh, you’ll have to teach me how to make the perfect snowball,” Fyora said.

     “Oh, you’re not going to be throwing any snowballs. In Terror Mountain, it’s your job to pop up randomly and players must avoid hitting you with them!”

     “Wait, Taelia doesn’t play this game. Why should Fyora?” Armin quipped.

     Kari winked at Armin. “Come on, it’ll be fun. Players would love the opportunity to avoid hitting Fyora and getting a double penalty!” The Bori shrugged. “Ok, I guess.”

     “Well, I guess I’ll give it a try.”

     “I’ll be a target with you!” Zaira offered. “Kari, what about you?”

     “Of course, I wasn’t going to let the Faerie Queen do it alone!”

     The three faeries lined up and ducked behind some snow forts.

     “Step right up! It’s time for a snowball fight!” said a Snow Bruce. “Today it’s double the penalty if you accidentally hit the Faerie Queen! Let’s make sure our esteemed guest stays clean during this!”

     A Hissi, an Acara, and a Cybunny started making snowballs and began to toss them. On the Faeries side, a Kougra, and Ogrin, and Armin the Bori started making snowballs to toss back.

     Kari nudged Fyora. “You go first!”

     The Faerie Queen popped up from behind the Snow Fort. The Hissi tossed a snowball that barely missed her. She ducked back down. Kari popped up next and immediately got drilled by a snowball.

     “Ahhh!” she yelled as she ducked back down, her hair covered in snow.

     Zaira then popped up and nothing came close to her, so she ducked back down after a few seconds. For a period, none of the faeries got hit and their side had a pretty good defence against the opposition.

     Fyora then stood up and got pelted twice at once. The Acara covered her mouth with her paw.

     “Oh no! I’m sorry,” she squeaked. Fyora nodded to acknowledge her apology. She ducked down and Armin wiped the snow off her.

     “A-are you ok?” he said.

     “Certainly, a little snow didn’t hurt.”

     The penalty for hitting Fyora twice did their opponents in as the time expired.

     “The winners are the folks on the faeries’ side,” the Snow Bruce announced.

     “Whew, now can we go get some hot chocolate?” Fyora asked.

     “Yes please, let’s go to Taelia’s place now!” Kari suggested.

     ***

     Taelia, Aethia, and Celandra basked in the sunlight while sipping drinks in a fancy gazebo in the Faerie Castle Gardens. For a while, they sat in silence and simply relaxed. Finally, Aethia broke the silence.

     “So, how do you enjoy Faerieland so far,” Aethia asked.

     “Oh, it’s nice. It’s a little warm, and I’m still mad about the Pant Devil,” Taelia responded.

     “Don’t worry, Fyora’s had stuff stolen by the Pant Devil too!” Celandra exclaimed.

     “But the castle is a nice place to stay and with how the Faerieland Altador Cup team is playing lately, I am to crash in this place more often.” Taelia said, laughing.

     “Hey! Team Faerieland isn’t totally useless. They’ve beaten Terror Mountain before,” Celandra said, glaring.

     “We’ll shall see next season, haha.”

     ***

     Fyora, Taelia, Zaira, and Armin sat in front of the fireplace in Taelia’s home. All of them sipped their hot chocolate and enjoyed the cosy warmth.

     Kari turned to Fyora. “How has your stay in Terror Mountain been?”

     “Ah, it’s a little cold, but I’ve had more fun here than I’ve had in Faerieland for a while. If Team Faerieland keeps losing, I may come here more often. But please don’t tell Taelia I enjoyed this. Otherwise, she might change the wager to having me sleep in the Snowbeast’s cave or something.”

     “That’s kind of rude, rooting against your own team,” Armin quipped.

     “I didn’t say I was rooting for them to lose!” Fyora snapped back playfully.

      “Ooo, don’t let Team Faerieland find out that you want them to lose!” Kari teased.

     “If they kick you out of Faerieland, perhaps you can help me in the Neggery!” Zaria said grinning.

     Everyone laughed as they all took another sip of their hot chocolate.

     ***

     Note: For the record, the Faerie Queen has made another friendly wager with the Snow Faerie for the upcoming Altador Cup season. Perhaps we will be able to enjoy more Fyora getting pelted by snowballs and Taelia losing items to the Pant Devil in the near future.

     The End.