The Day the Soup Faerie Ran out of Soup

     "What wrong ?" asked her faithful pet Katna, a Biscuit Ruki.

     "We are running low on donations, and you know we thrive on the donations that kind Neopians give to the Money Tree. But this week we have hardly gotten any and without the donations I cannot go out and buy all the ingredients to make all this soup for all the hungry neopets out there." The Soup Faerie put her head in her hands and started to sob.

     "Do not cry." Katna held her as she sobbed. "You know what, I have been saving some neopoints from all the games that I play. I am sure that I have enough that you can go out and buy all the things that you need to get to make the amazing soup that you are famous for!"

     "I could not do that to you, Katna." The Soup Faerie looked up and dried her eyes with her apron.

     "I insist." Katna jumped up with enthusiasm. "It is about time that I donated too."

     "Alright, Katna." The Soup Faerie got up gracefully and gave Katna a warm hug. "I am so glad that you are my best friend. I do not know what I would do without you." The Soup Faerie grabbed her bag and walked out the door.

     Katna looked around the room. There was the giant pot of soup with warm liquid softly bubbling. There were cabinets that could hold so many items to make soup, but sadly they were bare, and there was a big oak door that was open and hungry pets were lining up.

     Katna went to the door to great all the neopets. "Welcome! Come on, we are up and running!" The neopets eyed her, for they were expecting the Soup Faerie. Sensing their pondering, Katna spoke up. "Do not worry, everyone, the Soup Faerie will be back soon. She just went shopping to get more items to make more soup. She left me in charge while she is gone and everything will be like she was here." Katna smiled while she spoke to them.

     Minutes turned into hours and the Soup Faerie was still gone and the giant pot of soup was all gone. To make it worse, it was lunch time, the busiest time for the Soup Kitchen.

     "Oh no!" whispered Katna as she saw the empty pot of soup. "What will I do? There are so many neopets outside! I cannot tell them to go away. If only I had some more soup."

     Bing! A little light bulb went off in her head. She knew she didn't have any soup, and she knew that couldn't make any more soup, but they didn't need to know any of that.

     Katna opened the oak door and yelled out to the crowd, "Soup's up! It is our newest soup and it is the most tastiest one yet!"

     All the neopets cried for joy while they were running up at the door.

     "Hey, hey, there is no pushing!" Katna cried out in the stampede of hungry pets. The pets extended their bowls and Katna happily scooped some "soup" and put it in their bowls.

     "Wait, there is not any soup in my bowl," a yellow Lupe yelled at Katna.

     Softly Katna replied, "Yes, there is, love. It is invisible soup."

     "You are lying!" And the Lupe threw his bowl on the ground. Other neopets were looking at their bowls now. Some were dumping their bowls on the ground too. Others started to cry.

     That very instant the Soup Faerie walked into the door holding many bags in her arms. Hearing the ruckus, she put her bags on the ground and asked Katna, "What does this Lupe mean, Katna?"

     Katna knew she was caught in a web of lies, but before she could admit her guilt to her owner, the yellow Lupe piped up.

     "This Ruki is trying to tell me that there was soup in this bowl! Invisible Soup. Yeah, right." The yellow Lupe snorted.

     "Invisible Soup? The Soup Faerie looked at Katna, who was trying to hide her face. "Yes, little Lupe, she was telling you the truth. This is our new soup." She went to the giant soup pot and drew another bowl. "See, can you smell the onions? The broth? The yummy meat?" She took a sip of the soup. "Oh, this is so good! Thank you, Katna, for making this. I do declare that this is the best soup that this kitchen has ever made."

     Katna did not know what to think, for she knew that there was not any soup in there, but she could smell the onions, the broth and the meat. All she could say was the truth. "Soup Faerie, the Lupe is correct; there is not any soup. It was all made up. I ran out of soup and I could not think of telling the neopets to go away and try to find food somewhere else." Katna started to sob. "I was thinking that if I could make them think that they were having soup that they would think that they were really eating something. I am such a horrible pet!"

     "You are the best pet that I could ever ask for, but are you sure that there is not any soup?" the Faerie asked. "Take a bite then and tell me."

     Katna took a bite to please her owner, but she was surprised! There was soup! How did that happen? She was confused.

     They continued to serve the soup for the rest of the day.

     When night was touching the sky and all the neopets were full, Katna asked the Faerie how the soup was possible.

     "This soup was possible because of your selflessness." The faerie petted her.

     "Selflessness?"Katna echoed her.

     "Yes, that is right, selflessness. See, you gave up everything that you had to help others and the Queen was watching over you and when she saw that you were giving your all and trying your best, she helped you out."

     "Ohhh." Katna felt that she had some help during the hard day. "Wait a minute." Katna jumped up. "You didn't think I could handle the Soup Kitchen by myself?"

     "Oh no, Katna." The Soup Faerie motioned for her to sit back down. "I cannot handle the Soup Kitchen by myself. That is why I have you. I knew that you would need some help."

     "I'm glad that you knew that," Katna replied. "I needed it in the end."

     "I know, my little one. I know. Let's go to sleep. We have many more neopets to feed tomorrow."

     As the stars were coming out into the sky and as Kreludor was making its way into the sky, Katna got up and walked out into the night air. She looked up into the sky and spoke softly. "Thank you, Queen, for helping me out when I needed it the most and thank you for making it possible that I have the most kindest Neopian in the whole world as my owner." Katna walked back inside and lay down into her bed and started to dream of soup.

The End