Perhaps it is a foolish fantasy, Jonas_of_Arc
the Eyrie thought to himself, But for now I'd say it's a pretty good fantasy.
Jonas padded into a massive ice cave, carefully stepping around the fang-like
icicles that hung down from the entrance. A deep resounding rumble sent a vibration
through the ice and shook slightly under Jonas' paws. Jonas hesitated briefly,
and then when the rumble was finished he padded forward again. His paws made
a soft steady beat that was amplified by the close ice walls and echoed to the
creature residing within.
A turn in the cave and the aforementioned creature
came into sight, his mighty icy coils wrapped around and around a huge pile
of treasure. It was the Snowager. The ice serpent's head was raised and drawn
back as though to strike. Jonas flapped his wings and whistled a friendly greeting
and the creature's coils relaxed. The Snowager recognised Jonas' footsteps and
the whistle. Snowager bent his head down and nudged Jonas as gently as he could,
but still ended up knocking the Eyrie over. Laughing, Jonas patted the muzzle
and rolled to his feet.
"How are you doing Snowy?" he asked.
The Snowager sighed, "Another nova and five
neggs missing Jonas. I can't close my eyes anymore without my collection disappearing.
So many just want to steal. None of them trade, as you do. Nor do they bother
to even ask politely if I would be willing to do so." Jonas frowned, "I wish
I could help big guy. As it is, I can only afford to trade for what's on Mom's
list."
A shrug rippled through the big snake's long
body, "I appreciate your business." Then he shifted his coils to rest around
the walls of the entire room, coincidentally blocking all exits as he revealed
the mound of treasure heaped in the middle. Jonas picked his way through the
pile carefully, selecting the rare plushies that his mom had written down for
him and setting them aside. These were so rare that only the Snowager himself
had them anymore.
"Ahhh yessss...." the Snowager hissed softly
when Jonas was done. The cold breath made Jonas shiver, but it was only faintly
like the full freezing blast that the serpent could breathe out, "These really
are difficult to attain. Let's see..."
The eyes narrowed as it calculated the worth
of the plushies heaped before him, then, "These are very expensive Jonas. You
have half a million Neopoints heaped before you. Are you sure you can afford
it?" Jonas reached into his sack and pulled out several rare neggs, a faerie
paint brush, a desert paint brush and the final offer; a batch of his mom's
best cookies, still warm from the oven.
Again the narrowed eyed calculation while Jonas
fidgeted a little. He had triple checked the worth of the items himself only
half an hour ago. But a mistake could lead to a mess, for he didn't have anything
else extra and if he waited, the plushies might get stolen.
Then Snowager smiled and nodded, "Excellent
offer Jonas. I accept. The cookies are extra I take it?" Jonas returned the
smile, "Yeah. A thank you for letting go of some of your rarest items in the
collection."
With a smooth sweep of his tail, Snowager scooped
Jonas' offer into a small, hidden side cave. Then he delicately lifted the tray
of cookies and chomped them down with a rumbling purr that vibrated the entire
cavern again. Jonas grinned and caught the tray as it fell from the great jaws.
He slipped the plushies into a carrying sack and tied it closed. Business over,
now it was time for the pleasantries. Jonas lay down a thick blanket on the
cavern floor and settled onto it with a satisfied air.
"Ahhh," Snowager said, seeing Jonas get comfortable,
"So it is story time?" Unknown to the rest of Neopia, the Snowager longed for
things he had never felt. The warmth of the sun. The smell of fresh summer flowers.
The soft grass that sprouted in the spring and tickled your tummy when you lay
or rolled in it. All he knew was the cold, and the closeness of the cavern walls.
Jonas was a well-learned Eyrie, so he had a fantastic way with words. He would
spend at least an hour in the cold cave; describing as well as he could what
these things felt like. "Tel me about the open skies Jonas," the Snowager pleaded,
half closing his eyes.
"It a wondrous thing Snowy. When you spread
your wings and feel the air under them like a living thing, carrying you as
high as you want to go. There's nothing stopping you from going anywhere, like
falling without ever landing. Like sliding in the direction you want and knowing
nothing you see will stop you. You can feel the air rustling around you, keeping
you cool while the sun warms your back. Like feeling the heat of mom's cookies
all over, but a hundred times better. And then there's the clouds, they look
big and fluffy, like cotton candy, but you can go right through them like your
own breath…"
Jonas spent two hours with his friend, describing
to him as well as he could all the things that the outside world held. Finally
the Snowager sighed and opened his eyes, looking out at the gathering darkness
outside the cave. "As much as I hate to see you go, it is getting dark, and
you need to get home and get warm…" Snowager's voice got an envious tone on
the word 'warm' but continued; "It would be a bad thing if you got hypothermia
out here. But…if you can find the time… would you come again tomorrow?"
Jonas smiled and hugged the massive muzzle,
"I'll try."
On the way home, an idea struck Jonas. He made
a quick call home to tell his mom what he was doing and to get some advice from
his little sister Angelapril. He stopped by a shop to buy three glass roses,
then to a grooming shop to buy a small bottle of Eau de Neo, a flowery scented
perfume. At home, he and Angelapril carefully spritzed the flower scent into
the glass roses and left them by the heater to dry all night. The afternoon
of the next day, Jonas finished helping his mom stock the shop, then wrapped
the roses in a thick rag and made the flight to his friend's lair.
"Raaaarrrrrg!" The angry roar of the serpent
shook the caves outside and an Acara and her owner fled at top speed, clutching
a cheap plushie and pursued by a cloud of ice shards. Jonas shook his head scornfully.
All that trouble for a plushie worth less than 15 NP. They couldn't even get
a decent snack for that price. He let the cloud settle, then padded in and made
his greeting whistle. Now he felt better about carrying these flowers around.
It would really calm Snowy down and ease his bad mood. Snowy was coiled possessively
around his treasure and muttering darkly to himself, "Can't nap anymore… blasted
thieves the whole lot of them…. Oh hello Jonas. I'm sorry about that comment.
I never meant you."
Jonas smiled, "I know you didn't ol' buddy.
And personally I agree with you. Here. I've got something that might brighten
your mood. I know you can't go out and smell real flowers... but maybe these
can be second best." Jonas unwrapped the delicate flowers and held them up.
Snowager sniffed carefully and his eyes widened, "Is... is that what real flowers
smell like?"
"Some of them," Jonas agreed, and let his friend
pluck them up and carefully perch them on a shelf high above the cavern floor,
where the rest of Neopia couldn't reach.
"Thank you Jonas. This is a very special gift
for me." Snowy gently nudged Jonas and got a hug from the smaller NeoPet.
"Aww it's nuthin'," Jonas grinned, "Now, let
me tell you about the Boadaisy flower, with petals as red as a Fireball Negg
and striped stems like the paint brush. They grow thickly in valleys, and during
the summer their fragrance can be detected for miles…"
So Snowy rested his head on his coils and closed
his eyes, letting his imagination fill in the pictures that Jonas' words painted.
He couldn't leave his cave, but Jonas always brought a piece of Neopia to him.
The End | 
