Climbing the Snowflake Tree

     The house was of medium size and built of a very pretty material that could not quite be identified. There were large windows and the rooms inside were very pleasant. There was a room each for all of my pets, plus one for myself, in addition to both a front and back garden. We would be able to live very comfortably there, I thought.

     Bordelian was particularly excited about the prospect of the garden when I told them all of the intended move. He was only young, but it had been frustrating for all of us not to have had a large garden at the old home. Bordelian, more than any of us, loved to run and jump around- he was and is still the most adventurous of us all.

     Whilst the new home was very pretty, the garden was beautiful. It had been carefully landscaped by the previous owners of the home, and in pride of place was an enormous pastel snowflake tree. It blended in beautifully with the pale pink and blue flowers in the garden, and reached up majestically to the clear blue sky overhead which was dotted with the Faerie's cloud-like homes.

     Only I had seen the home before we arrived on moving day, and Bordelian, my faerie Bori, was enchanted. Rosa, Sofi, and Nessie all loved it too, but it was Bordelian's response that stuck with me.

     As soon as we arrived, he raced towards the tree and straightaway started to climb it. He did not get very far however, before crashing to the ground. I at once rushed over to him.

     "Bordelian! Are you alright?"

     "Yes, fine. Honest!" replied he, smiling and getting back up to his feet. "I just want to climb the tree, that's all."

     At this, his sister Rosa, my royal Uni, burst forth in giggles.

     "You don't have to climb it silly! You have wings; you can just fly up there. You know, flap flap and all that," Rosa could hardly contain herself, and Sofi and Nessie were both stifling giggles too.

     "They're right, you know," I said soothingly. "If you want to get up there and look around the place, you can fly up. I spent a lot of neopoints getting you those wings for you, y'know."

     Throughout this, Bordelian remained silent, but when I stopped speaking, he said quietly, "It's not the same, though. I want to climb to the top of the tree; flying is cheating."

     To this, I had no reply, but we agreed that as long as he was careful I had no objections.

     For the rest of the day, Bordelian looked longingly at the branches of the pale coloured tree whilst helping to move and unpack boxes. As with any move, there was a lot to be done in order to settle in.

     A week went by before all the boxes had disappeared and our lives returned to a semblance of normality. Nessie and I had discovered the payouts of the Faerieland Employment Agency with great joy, and so while we worked, Bordelian, Sofi and Rosa remained at home. Sofi and Rosa I suspected did little other than giggle and groom each other all day, but Bordelian I knew for sure spent his hours working on his ascent of the Snowflake Tree. Each day when Nessie and I arrived home, he had another scrape or bruise in his growing collection.

     Things continued in this way for some time, but then some old friends of ours came to visit from the city, at which point there was a small upset.

     My friend Kyra had brought her island Xweetok Bela to visit Bordelian, for they were firm friends and always had a fantastic time playing with each other. Overjoyed by the surprise visit, the two played whilst Kyra and I chatted and ate cookies in the warm sun. Faerieland was a nice change from the city for Kyra, who herself was impressed by the garden and beautiful Snowflake Tree. It seemed to strike most people before they even looked at the house, and I congratulated myself once again on finding such a beautiful spot for my pets and I to move to.

     Kyra and Bela left later that afternoon, but when by evening Bordelian had still not reappeared, I went to look for him. I eventually found him skulking around the flowerbeds and was dismayed to see that he seemed most upset. I wondered if perhaps he was missing Kyra, and asked him what the problem was.

     "She climbed the tree," he said, glumly. "First try, and she made it to the top. I can't even get half way up." I wondered if that was perhaps a little tear that I had seen slipping down his sky blue cheeks.

     "Oh Bordelian, don't worry. I am sure you will get there soon, and you'll enjoy it all the more for trying so hard! Kyra has maybe just had more practise at tree-climbing than you; you mustn't forget that you had never tried to climb a tree at all until we moved here."

     -

     Nessie and I were just returning from a particularly long day when suddenly I saw something very exciting. From the street, you could see the Snowflake Tree, and that day, I saw an extraordinarily triumphant faerie Bori sitting at the very top of the tree with beautifully coloured snowflake-flowers all over him. As soon as he saw us, his face broke into an enormous grin, and he shouted out very loudly:

     "I did! I made it to the very top! All the way, and I didn't even fall once, I didn't even slip or stumble or anything! And I just know I can do it again anytime I want!"

     "I knew you could do it!" I yelled back, beaming.

     I had thought that that would make him happy and he would be satisfied that he had succeeded and perhaps concentrate more on studying for his return to school after the summer holidays. But instead, his accomplishment had quite a different effect to that which I was hoping for. The following day, with a cheeky grin, he came to tell me that it was imperative that we move house again as soon as possible.

     "Why?" I asked, with alarm. Surely there was not something wrong with the house? Sofi and Rosa were both happy, I knew, and Nessie loved working at the employment agency, so there were no problems as far as I could see.

     "Because I climbed the tree," he answered.

     Bemused, I asked, "But isn't that a good thing? You have been working on it for such a long time! You should be happy that you finally managed it. And anyway, why is that a reason for us to move?"

     "Because it's not a challenge anymore. I can climb that tree but I want to go to a house with a bigger tree! The Snowflake Tree won't grow anymore, and I need another challenge if I ever want to get better at tree-climbing!"

     "Oh you silly," I replied, laughing. "If only you had this sort of determination with your studies!"

The End