Three Secrets

by aurakage

Lord Hyrilash looked out of his favourite window – the one that was chiseled beautifully from the stone walls of his castle. From that window he could look over the many lands that he had inherited from his ancestors, which had been started as far as Hyrilash could remember. But the most precious thing that the greedy red Eyrie owned, the jewel among rocks, was his orchard. It wasn’t very far from his castle, but it stretched outward until it touched small villages in the distance.

The orchard had many kinds of fruit-bearing trees – apples, peaches, and the occasional pear. But the orchard also bore a fountain that stood right in the center if its glory, squirting sweet clear water high in a silent cry of triumph. NeoPets visited the orchard nearly everyday, admiring its elegance and picking fruit that had already fallen on the ground. Lord Hyrilash wouldn’t stand for NeoPets picking from the trees – it was a waste of growing to him if the fruit was just going to be snatched by grubby little paws. But the main reason that villagers came to the orchard was because Lord Hyrilash had let a young yellow Shoyru visit the orchard everyday.

The Shoyru would have been gone if Lord Hyrilash had known that she brought joy to the visitors, but he didn’t know and nobody seemed to want to tell him. The Shoyru sometimes recited bits of philosophy from the tops of apple trees, and on rare occasions sang in such high notes that some parts of the song couldn’t be heard. She came when dawn broke the night sky, and left when dark fell. No one knew where she went, but she always carried that small bag on her back that held apples that had been taken from the orchard.

Anyway, on this particular day, Lord Hyrilash seemed to notice the yellow Shoyru for the first time, and the happy villagers with it. He watched for a while, fury bubbling under feathers and fur, while at the same time a deep sense of peace overwhelmed his senses at the smart wit of the young NeoPet. But soon anger took over – Hyrilash stomped down the stairs of his castle and walked straight out onto the orchard. At the sight of the furious Eyrie, the villagers fled, leaving the Shoyru behind where she was laying comfortably on a branch and enjoying an apple. Hyrilash stopped at the base of the tree.

“What are you doing in my orchard…?!” Hyrilash demanded. His voice quivered with tones of blind wrath.

The Shoyru, surprised and startled, dropped off the tree and landed on the ground. In a flash, Hyrilash grabbed her and squeezed her middle threateningly.

“What are you doing in my orchard?!” Lord Hyrilash asked again.

The Shoyru calmly tried to push out of the Lord’s grip; when she couldn’t she looked straight into the Eyrie’s eye, “I was eating an apple.”

Lord Hyrilash glowered at the Shoyru. “I’m going to throw you into Tyrannia’s hottest volcano if you don't treat me with respect!” he yelled, insulted.

“Oh, please don’t do that,” the Shoyru mock-pleaded. “If you don’t, then I will tell you three secrets that will give you even more wealth than you have now.”

At this, Hyrilash dropped the Shoyru. She flew to the apple tree and sat down on the same branch she was on before, plucking another apple from the tree. Lord Hyrilash flinched.

“The first secret,” she said, munching on the apple, “is don’t believe everything you hear.”

“That’s not a secret,” Hyrilash said, fuming. “That is a mere piece of advice from the villages. If I had wanted to know that, then I could have gone to one of them.”

The Shoyru continued, “The second secret is to never get mad over what you never had.”

Lord Hyrilash glared at the yellow Shoyru. “That is another secret I could have learned at a village.”

The Shoyru ignored him. “The third and last secret is this – always keep what you catch. “For instance, if you had kept me and thrown me into Tyrannia’s volcano like you said, then you would have seen my spirit trail gold on its path to the clouds.”

At this the yellow Shoyru saw a wave of anger raise in Hyrilash’s eyes, and she flew into the air and hovered over his head, giggling madly.

“Stupid Eyrie! If you had enough sense to have followed the first secret, then you would think twice about what I said. But instead, you led yourself into disobeying the second secret – you’re working yourself mad because of something you never even had! Therefore, not only do you know no secrets, you know no common sense!”

Lord Hyrilash watched as the Shoyru circled overhead, lifting higher and higher until she disappeared into the fluffy white clouds above. She was never seen in the orchard again.

The End