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After a while, Nadriella slowed down, finally out of
breath. The air Faerie wiped her eyes dry and looked down at her companion,
who had never left her side.
“Celalith what are we to do?” Nadriella hugged
her blue furred friend. The Gelert laid her head on the Faerie’s shoulder and
sighed.
”I don’t know Nadriella, but at least we’ll be
together, right?” Celalith added hopefully. Nadriella nodded and straightened
up, looking around the hallway.
“Well, perhaps we should go and get our things
out of the room, Celalith, and start heading for… well… I’m sure, but we’ll
figure it out,” She smiled at her friend. Her companion looked around the walls
with a confused face.
“Sounds good… but how do we get back to the room?”
Celalith asked. Nadriella opened her mouth to answer, but realized that she
did not know where she was either. The halls were completely unfamiliar to either
of them, and they had no idea which door they had entered in, or which door
to leave in.
“I don’t know, I’ve never been in this part of
the academy,” Nadriella said, voicing what both were thinking.
“That is because this is not part of the academy,”
explained a softy voice behind them. The pair jumped as a pair of purple eyes
peered down upon the saddened pair. “The academy and palace are connected, but
no one really ventures through the halls long enough to find these passages…”
“Queen Fyora!” Nadriella yelped, quickly brushing
the tears off her face and launching into a respectful curtsey. Fyora quickly
shook her head.
“Please, you really do not need to show such
formalities, Nadriella,” Fyora answered. The Faerie and Gelert looked at each
other and then the queen, nodding simultaneously.
Fyora gave a great sigh and focused her purple
eyes upon the two once again.
“I have heard about the council’s decision…”
Fyora said in a what would be casual manner. The effect of these words was instant;
Nadriella looked down at the floor in sadness while Celalith‘s fur stood on
end as she growled at a wall.
“It’s not your fault, Queen Fyora,” Nadriella
answered, looking down at the floor so that the queen could now see the tears
welling up in her eyes once again. “I mean, the council’s job is to decide what’s
best for each Faerie because they are both wise and powerful… so I really have
no place to defy them…”
“Those who have both power and age can still
be as foolish as those who have neither of the two… such as the council is,”
Fyora interrupted. Something in her voice lingered when she said those words,
a sort of anger and power that Nadriella never heard in anyone’s voice before.
“The council did not decide upon your skills
or experience, they did it because many feel you carry the awful burden very
much similar to our wingless sisters,” Fyora explained.
Of course, Nadriella thought. How could
she have thought that even having magic or the skills necessary to pass the
test would, or could, mask her awful shriveling wings on her back…
Celalith turned from the Queen of the faeries
to her own Faerie Between the two was an awful understanding, but Celalith didn’t
understand…
“Wa-wait,” Celalith interjected, holding up her
paws. “They rejected Nadriella because of her wings? I don’t get it! What a
really dumb thing to do!”
“They don’t want me, Celalith,” Nadriella said.
Her voice was that of forced control and calm, giving it even more the impression
that she was burning and bursting with rage and anger. “They feel that those
without proper wings are unsightly and bad luck. That I shouldn’t be around
pets or faeries because my appearance would bring them awful cursed life…”
But she could no longer continue, for the sadness
was too much and she began to cry. Celalith’s eyes bulged as she ran to her
Faerie, pressing her face into Nadriella’s hand in an attempt to console her.
Fyora watched the display, her eyes sharing all the pain of the air Faerie’s,
but a kind of cold distance as well.
“You make it sound as if the world is over, my
dear Nadriella,” Fyora said. Nadriella’s cries ceased as she looked up, no longer
caring if she looked weak or improper in front of the queen before her.
“S-sound? It really should sound as if my life
is over! After all I’m not a true Faerie and no one will accept me anywhere!
I don’t see what about my life isn’t over and decided!” She cried angrily, displaying
a bitterness she never felt before.
“Though I do hate to say this… well perhaps I
don’t really, both of those statements of yours were incorrect,” The Faerie
queen said in a matter-of-factly tone. Nadriella and Celalith stared at their
queen, confused once again. Fyora gave a bit of a superior chuckle, her smile
becoming broad and open.
“Though most of our old-fashioned sisters feel
that those whose wings are not as big or beautiful as the others, I feel that
it is not your wings nor power that determine anything, but your persistence
and strength of heart,” The Faerie Queen smiled down at the small air Faerie,
who continued to stare in mild confusion at her.
“Therefore, I, Fyora, Queen of Faeries which
dwell on Neopia as well as regions beyond overturn the councils decision and
hereby decree that your role, Nadriella, Faerie of the element air, are to become
aid to the high council of faeries…that is of course if you wish to,” Fyora
asked with a grin. The Faerie and Gelert started in utter disbelief. A position
such as this was only acquired after years of service as a quest Faerie, followed
by a long stint as an assistant to a guardian Faerie and even then, you were
lucky if you were even thought of being able to handle such a job.
“Queen Fyora, this job… it’s far more than I
deserve, and you never saw how I can perform or…” Fyora put up a delicate hand,
quickly ending Nadriella’s stuttering.
“Really Nadriella, it’s improper to argue with
the decision of your superiors. I thought you of all faeries should know that,”
She added with a look of laughter in her violet eyes. “And to answer your belief
that you are not powerful enough let me tell you this then. Faeries are rarely
bound to pets for the simple reason that the link between both is so emotionally
draining that some cannot take it. The bond dissolves if the two cannot accept
each other, leaving both in a less than desirable state.
”But you maintained this bond, even as young
as you are! Only those of extreme purity of heart, courage, and a certain magical
ability can maintain the link between Neopet and Faerie,” Fyora explained. These
words were inspiring to Nadriella, but sparked something within Celalith’s mind…
“You!” she said, pointing at the queen. Fyora
turned and looked at the Gelert, an expression of mild surprise on her delicate
face.
“Hey, you were the Faerie lady who told me to
go to Nadriella!” Celalith said, slowly gaining a startlingly realization. Fyora
smiled and shrugged.
“Naturally,” she said simply.
“You?” asked Nadriella. “But, how could you?
You need the Faerie to be present when they are bound to a pet and I know I
certainly wasn’t present at any sort of ceremony in which…” Once again Fyora
held up her hand, silencing Nadriella’s verbal thoughts.
“You were not, that much I admit. However, the
day that I was your teacher, upon your desk you let a hair. It may not seem
like something extremely importantly to you, but only something belonging to
the Faerie needs to be present during the ceremony. Of course, the ceremony
itself is amazingly simply, so it was not that difficult to have Celalith bound
to you,” Fyora looked at each of the pair in turn as she explained this, beaming
with pride and warmth.
“But, why would you give me such an honor? At
the time I could barley cast a spell, no one liked me, and I wasn’t even a real
Faerie” The air Faerie looked away form Fyora as she laid a hand on Celalith’s
fur.
”Nadriella, you didn’t understand at the time,
and it appears you still do not. A Faerie is not determined by their rank, element,
power, or even if they have wings or not. Faeries are made or broken by the
strength of their hearts and wills. I have heard tales of many Grey Faeries
who had their wings removed by dark ones, and suffered for hundred of years
in ways far worse than you care to hear. But their hearts remained pure, and
they gained new wings and new names despite the trials and hardships because
they were strong! Not because they had wings or anything of the sort!”
”Few faeries, if any, understand such things.
They believe that a Faerie must be beautiful and have wings, and because they
fall victim to these false beliefs some loose their power later on as their
hearts becoming impure and false.” Fyora explain pointedly. Celalith rose a
confused eyebrow and stared impudently at the queen.
“What does that hafta do with Nadriella?” Celalith
snorted, growing weary of the Queen’s cryptic messages.
”Nadriella was one of those, whom I spoke of,
believing that a Faerie was made from the outside and not the inside. Because
of that her power began to wane and loose its strength. If you notice, you wings
may have begun to droop and sag even more, compliments of your attitude that
you are not a true Faerie,” Fyora finished, quietly pointing to Nadriella’s
wings. As she began to think about it more and more, it was making sense, like
a jigsaw puzzle that finally started to come into place.
“S-so… you gave me Celalith so that I would have
someone to talk to…and someone to believe in me so that I would realize that
I really am a Faerie?” Nadriella speculated aloud, slowly putting the remaining
pieces together. The purple Faerie gave a mysterious smile and nodded.
”Correct. I believe your magic has greatly improved
with Celalith around as well. One day, your wings will begin to feed off the
magic which is now growing greatly inside you. Who knows, perhaps one day they
will become full and beautiful and you may be able to fly,” Fyora nodded. Nadriella
smiled, but it wasn’t necessary to have the ability to flit and fly among the
clouds. Thought she would like to be a normal Faerie and have joined her sisters
who were now most likely celebrating in their dorms about their assignments,
a life without Celalith by her side would have been a lonely one indeed. She
would no sooner fly among the clouds if it meant that her best friend, the one
who saved her from a life she dare not think about had to stay upon the ground
alone.
“Now, if you’ll come with me, Nadriella, the
elemental council has some matters upon which to discuss and we will need you
there to record the minutes if you would be so kind,” Fyora inclined her head
in politeness and started to march down the hall. Nadriella and Celalith looked
at each other, their expression indiscernible to the other. Suddenly, however,
the Faerie and Gelert broke into identical smiles as they gazed at each other.
“Well Nadriella, upset that you didn’t make quest
Faerie status now?” the Gelert asked in tone of mock concern, nestling close
to the Faerie as the two began to catch up with Fyora.
“Not at all,” she said, resting her arm on Celalith’s
head. Though many would look upon the pair as an awful sight in Faerie eyes,
unworthy of being around any civilized pet or Faerie, the two had each other
for all eternity.
For all that mattered to her was not her power
nor her appearance, but her friend who helped her through both the thick and
thin.
And in the end, that is what made Nadriella a
Faerie
The End
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