Nyla's Embroidery: Part Four

      "Hello there! I'm a friend of Nyla's. Could you please get a sister of yours for me?" she asked sweetly.

      The baby's eyes widened and she hurried away, shutting the door behind her. Well, that was wonderful, thought Iliyana. The baby was afraid of me, and now I will never be untied. Just as she was beginning to roll away, the door opened again, and a sleepy royal Uni appeared.

      "H-hello? Who are y-you?" she asked. This Uni was obviously not used to being woken up in the night.

      "I'm a friend of Nyla's. I need you to untie me. I met her in Faerieland, and some mutant pets captured me in Neopia Central when I was trying to get help. Those mutants stole a bunch of paintbrushes, and I was reporting them," Iliyana explained. "I can prove that I know Nyla, if you untie me."

      The Uni did so, saying, "My name is Anya. Nyla embroidered all of my dancing dresses. Did she embroider anything for you?"

      "Yes, she did," said Iliyana, pulling a kerchief out of her pocket. In big, fancy, aqua letters, it read ILIYANA with a picture of a faerie Draik below it.

      "Well, that's definitely her embroidery," declared Anya. "Please tell her that we miss her, and that she needs to embroider this fuzzy blanket for Kaila's Jitters. Can you carry it there and maybe back for me, please?" Anya ran into the house and returned with a blanket. Iliyana nodded, taking the blanket, and Anya said," Thank you. This means a lot." Iliyana smiled and flew off into the night.

      ~ ~ ~

      Nyla was making her last few stitches on a droplet when she heard shouts coming from the palace doors. She looked out her window, and what she saw was quite upsetting. Iliyana had returned, and was holding something pink, which was strange, but good, but the fact that the mutant pets had returned and were battling the guards wasn't. She dropped her embroidery and flew as fast as she could to Fyora's room and pounded on the door. No one answered. Nyla tried a few other faeries' rooms, but no one answered her knocks then, either. Maybe they were eating. She stopped at the dining hall. No one. She traversed all the halls, knocked on all the doors, and found nobody. Nyla was scared. What was going on? Why hadn't anyone gotten her? She knew of other pets in the palace, and they weren't in their rooms; why had she been forgotten? Where WAS everybody? Just then, she heard soft footsteps. She quickly hid behind a pillar just in case it was a mutant. It turns out that it was a fire faerie by the name of Yalea.

      "Hello? Yalea? It's me, Nyla," she said, stepping out from behind the pillar. Yalea froze, then when she realized that it was really Nyla, said softly," Oh, good. I thought you were a fake for a minute! Those mutants are horrible!"

      "Where is everybody? I knocked on all of the doors, but no one answered. Come to think of it, why are you in the palace?" Nyla asked.

      "Shhh! You don't want them to hear! Everyone else is in the Hidden Tower. They used a secret undercloud passage so that it would stay hidden. I was sent to get you," explained Yalea.

      "But why wasn't anyone sent to get me before? Why was I forgotten, Yalea?" Nyla demanded.

      "You weren't forgotten, Nyla. We just decided that it would be best to get you when things calmed down a bit," said the fire faerie.

      "Oh. Well, shall we go?" Yalea nodded, and they took off towards the secret passage.

      ~ ~ ~

      Things were getting out of hand in front of the palace. Guards were battling everywhere, and some had been taken to the Healing Springs. The mutants were wild. Iliyana was bewildered at their behavior. One of her first friends had been a mutant Usul, and her older brother was a mutant Draik, and they were really kind. Then, glancing into the crowd, she gasped. Her old mutant friend was among them. She clutched the pink blanket and made her way into the crowd. After some pushing and shoving and a few close encounters with some large fangs, she finally made her way over to Tanoa, the Usul.

      "Tanoa!" she shouted over the roar. "What are you doing?" Her old friend turned, and then shouted back," Iliyana! I need to talk to you! You see, us mutants can't find anything to wear! If we could just have nicer clothes, we wouldn't do this, but it is our only option."

      Iliyana thought for a moment, then smiled and said, "Tell everyone to stop. I have a solution."

      ~ ~ ~

      Nyla had fallen asleep in the Hidden Tower, but was soon woken up by Iliyana, who hurried her out, along with Fyora, who was already up. Iliyana said, "I need you to do something. Okay?" Nyla told her okay, but was so tired that she was unsure of what was going on. Eventually they made it to the center of the maze in front of the palace, where the mutants were waiting. Iliyana told her her idea and Nyla agreed. Iliyana stepped in front of them.

      "Okay, here is what I am thinking. You all want pretty clothing, right?" They all nodded. "Well, Nyla here will embroider any of your clothes for you for a small fee of 500 Neopoints per item of clothing. You may be asking if she is any good, well, take a look." Fyora stepped on stage wearing the bluebell gown. The crowd oohed and ahhed.

      Iliyana continued, "Nyla's Embroidery Shop will be located at Nyla's Neohome. There will be a sign telling you where to go. I will take the orders, and Nyla, of course, will do the embroidery. You can have anything you want done. The shop's grand opening will be on the first day of Gathering, and please remember to come back when we tell you to so that you can pick up your orders. Payments are in advance. You may have to wait a few weeks, so please don't steal any paintbrushes while you are waiting." That got a few smiles. "Thank you for your time, and buy, buy, buy!" The three smiled and flew away, with the crowd cheering after them.

      ~ ~ ~

      A few days later, Nyla's family received a package. They brought it inside, and when they opened it, it was a big, pink, fuzzy blanket with Cyclamen and Starflowers all over it. There was also a note that said, Get well soon, Kaila, with the blanket. They all smiled as Kaila curled up in the blanket and fell asleep.

      ~ ~ ~

      Nyla woke up on the morning of the Faerie Festival and panicked. She hadn't quite finished her dress yet, and she only had a few hours before she was supposed to tour with the faeries that she had made dresses for. Her own pale pink dress was only three quarters of the way done, and she would normally need half a day to do all that! Yet she knew she had to finish it. She decided to skip breakfast, and sat down with her embroidery. Tick, tock, tick, tock went the Techo clock on the wall. Stitch, pull, stitch, pull, went her embroidery. It went like this for an hour or two, until Fyora came by to see if she was alright, since she had skipped breakfast.

      "Oh, I'm alright, Fyora. I am just finishing my embroidery. I am a little behind on my dress," I said.

      "Well, that's good, and your dress looks very nice, too. I'm sure you'll be done by this afternoon." With that Fyora left the room, and Nyla continued her embroidery. Miraculously, she finished just as Fyora came by to pick her up. Nyla slipped on the dress and the strange necklace, and went with Fyora.

      ~ ~ ~

      When will she get here? thought Iliyana as she paced in front of the palace, where they and the other faeries would begin their tour around Faerieland, being extremely kind and generous to all of the Neopians in honour of the Faerie Festival, as always. Iliyana were coming along because they, too, had been kind and generous for saving the Festival and for saving the paintbrushes. As they walked along, the Faeries restored the pets to full health, made some hunger go away, and gave out some Neopoints, too. Eventually, the tour ended, and the party began. All of the Faeries closed their shops, if they owned one, and came to the party, where they danced and dined on rare Faerie foods that even they hardly ever ate. Then, Fyora stepped on stage, along with Baelia, Nereid, Illusen, Ember, and Nyla.

      "Welcome to the Faerie Festival! I hope that you all are enjoying yourselves." Everyone nodded, and Fyora continued, "Well, before the festival, there was a bit of a problem. Ember, Illusen, Nereid, Baelia and I couldn't find anything to wear. But then, I found Nyla here, and she created these beautiful designs on our dresses. Lavender with Bluebells for me, red-orange with Mordongos for Ember, light green with vines and Rowzez for Illusen, grey with Drabby Roses for Baelia, and light blue with water droplets for Nereid. Nyla even had time to do her own gown, which is pale pink with Loveberries on it. She told me she picked Loveberries because it reminded her of her home in Meridell." Nyla nodded. Fyora said, "I would also like to introduce Iliyana, who saved the Hidden Tower from being robbed by some mutants. Nyla also took part in it by agreeing to embroider their cloths for 500 Neopoints per item of clothing. Anyone can have their clothing embroidered by her, so if you want some embroidery done, she lives on Turnip Row in Meridell. There will be a sign telling you where to go. There may be a wait, so please make do, and enjoy." The party continued, with many people complimenting Nyla on the dresses. When she finally returned from the party, she sadly packed her things. As she returned the necklace to the jewelry box, she found a note sticking out. It read,

     "Dear Nyla,

      Please keep the necklace. It can be used as an I.D. so that you can get into the palace anytime- as long as it is being worn by you. Nobody else can wear it and get in. Please come back and visit me!

      Fyora"

      Nyla smiled and put the necklace back on. She gathered her things, said good-bye to all of the faeries and promised to visit, and flew off towards home.

The End