The Chronicles of Terror Mountain: Part Three

      The Snowickle nodded his head.

      “You see,” Taelia started, “I’ve recently checked my storage rooms, and I’ve found that the items I receive from Neopians for my quests are overflowing in the storage rooms. The treasures, if I may dare to call them that, are very rare and I wouldn’t want them to get damaged. Also, you’ve gotten quite big and strong lately, so you must be crowded in your room. I wouldn't want you to ever be uncomfortable while you're under my caring!”

      The Snowickle nodded his agreement. He had been quite squished the last couple of weeks in his room... He didn’t want to bother Taelia to make a bigger room for him. She had enough to do with those Snow Faerie questers who didn’t come back with the items she needed on time!

      “I’ve been thinking about an idea that could work to solve both problems,” the Snow Faerie continued, nervously biting her lip. It’ll make us both sad, though... Taelia added in her mind.

      Icky cocked his head curiously. Taelia's smart, Icky thought. I'm sure she came up with a great idea!

      “I was thinking that you could move out and guard my treasures,” Taelia finished, blurting it out bluntly. That probably wasn’t the best way to say it, Taelia thought. But honesty is important in a good friendship.

      Icky stared; already knowing his answer the moment Taelia had said that she needed to ask Icky for a big favor. He knew that it would be best for everyone, but he didn’t want to leave the comfy home of Taelia. He had grown attached to the home over the years, knowing all the wooden trapdoors and secret staircases.

      Icky slowly nodded, and smiled hesitantly. His smile wavered, but still stayed on. He didn't want to let Taelia know that he was in the least bit unhappy.

      “Oh, thank you so much!” Taelia hugged Icky tightly for a few minutes before letting go. “We can bring all your favorite toys and everything! I was thinking about you moving to one of the ice caverns in the Ice Caves, since you’ll still be close to me and sheltered from the wind at the same time. I can use my magic to change the cavern into something comfortable for you! Do you have a certain ice cavern in mind that you want to use?”

      Icky thought slowly. He was most likely going to live in that cavern for quite a long time, so he wanted to make a good choice. He remembered one ice cave that he was particularly fond of... the one where he trained every day to get to the size that he was now. Yes, Icky thought. That’d be a good one. It holds a lot of memories.

      Icky nodded his head once again.

      “Okay! We can start moving sometime this week or next week or next month,” Taelia said. “Anytime you want! Thank you so much again!”

      Taelia hugged Icky again. A quester called for Taelia and Taelia put down Icky and rushed towards the Neopian, but not before smiling at Icky.

      The Snowickle trudged back to his room, thinking about what had just happened. I’ll decide which favorite toys to take with me now, so that I can save Taelia some time, Icky thought. This is the least I could do for somebody who took me in and cared for me in my time of need.

      Icky started to sort through all his toys from Taelia, putting the ones he wanted to bring in one pile and the ones he would leave behind in another. In the pile he wanted to bring, he put a Symol Bouncy Ball, a Springy Mootix Toy, and a Zytch Food Bowl. He figured that the less was better, so that Taelia would have room to put all of her treasures in the ice cave. He said good-bye to his plushies and petpetpet. The Mootix hopped off, but not before waving, and disappeared. Icky didn’t think that the Mootix could survive in the cold of the ice caves, so he had to let his petpetpet go.

      The next day, Taelia came to help Icky. She had put a sign outside saying that she wasn’t giving out any quests that day, much to the disappointment of many Neopians. Icky had wanted to move the very next day after Taelia asked him for the favor, to help Taelia have some room sooner.

      “Oh! I see that you have already chosen your toys!” Taelia said, quite surprised. “Are you sure that’s all you want to bring? I already have the treasures outside, so we can bring them to the ice cave you want together.”

      Icky picked up his favorite toys, and Taelia picked up some of her Neggs. They traveled down the Icy Tunnel together and emerged in the Ice Caves.

      The Snowickle pointed towards a cave towards the corner of the Ice Caves, and they put their items in the cave. Curious Bruces and Poogles crowded around them, gazing at the treasure that Taelia had amassed.

      “Wow,” Taelia said. “This cave is huge! I’ll help make this cave look more forbidding so that any Neopians won’t come in and want to steal our treasure. Everything I have is yours, so don’t be afraid to eat anything I bring down here.”

      With that, Taelia made the icicles hanging down from the ceiling longer and bigger, and made the floor flat so that Icky would be comfortable sleeping on it. As a finishing touch, Taelia changed the outside of the cave so that it looked exactly like Icky’s head with his mouth open.

      When they finished moving everything, Taelia had tears in her eyes.

      “I will miss having you in my home so much!” Taelia said tearfully. “But this is best for the both of us. I promise I’ll visit you every day! You don’t have to guard the whole time! Be sure to get some sleep too! Oh, and I have a gift for you that I went out and bought.”

      The Snowickle cocked his head to the right, wondering what it was.

      Taelia took the gift out of her cloak, and gave it to Icky.

      “It’s one more gift to add to your favorite toys pile,” Taelia said. “I hope you like the Snowickle Usuki Set!”

      The Snowickle rubbed his head against Taelia to show that he did like it, and that he’d treasure it forever.

      “You know... after all these years, I’ve never named you,” Taelia said slowly. “I’ll name the first part of your name after your species and the second part after all the time we spent together. I’ll call you... the Snowager.”

Fin~

      Epilogue:

      The Snowager guards Taelia’s treasure for the greater part of the day, and only sleeps when he’s too tired. One day, the Grarrl shopkeeper from Sakhmet came to the Snowager’s Lair because he had heard of the giant worm who guarded a massive amount of treasure. The Grarrl actually didn’t want to steal any treasure, but was wondering if the Snowager was the small, little Snowickle that he fed sometimes. When the Snowager saw the Grarrl, the Snowager laughed joyously and had a long conversation catching up on everything that had happened. (Well, at much as a conversation could be, with the Grarrl asking questions and the Snowager nodding yes or no.)

      The Snowager also had visits from the Fir and Candychan from the Wintery Petpets shop. A nice Red Eyrie, who took good care of them, had bought them both. They lived quite close to the Snowager, so the Snowager was never bored while guarding the treasures.

      As for the petpets in the Lost Desert who had made fun of the Snowager behind his back when he was just a little Snowickle... the Snowager made sure that they never stole any of Taelia’s treasure.

      Various items have been made after the Snowager, most recently the Ice Caves Background and Snowager Background; both of them have a picture of the Snowager in the background. Also notable items include the Snowager Yoyo, the Snowager Plushie, and the Snowager In a Box. Who knew that the Snowager was so famous!

      As forbidding that Taelia had made the ice cave where the Snowager currently resides, many Neopians still dare to enter and steal some treasure while the Snowager is sleeping. Affectionately called “Snowie”, the place where the Snowager resides is commonly called the “Snowflake’s Lair” - I mean, the “Snowager’s Lair”.

      Although the Snowager has never actually eaten a Neopet, he does guard the treasure quite ferociously, but not because of greed; because of his loyalty to Taelia. Just be sure not to touch the Snowickle Usuki Set, or else you’ll get an extra hurtful blasting!

I would like to thank fluffycat2700, aqua337, and gwenie12345 for supporting me throughout the writing of my story! =)