Lifestyles of the Affluent and Illustrious : Lisha

Meridell - After two wars and all the things that had already happened, Meridell definitely takes its part in the life of the average Neopian. Even people who aren’t Meridellians go there sometimes; they try to make the king laugh, count potatoes, or attempt to wake up the Turmaculus. And everybody also knows that if wasn't for a bunch of schoolchildren from Neopia Central, none of that would be possible by now.

A lot of stories have been told about Meridell, for example during the war when Meridell articles flooded the Neopian Times. But how would things be during the truce period? My heart was set on an interview with Lisha the Aisha, one of the most famous inhabitants of Meridell, and I was confident she could answer my question. So I grabbed my notebook and headed to the medieval land, with my Aisha Niko Niko following doggedly at my heels. (She is probably one of the greatest Lisha fans in all of Neopia.) After telling King Skarl a joke and only getting 48 Neopoints for the effort, I started to ask people about where I could find Lisha. Following the instructions of Morris, Boris and Kayla, we headed to the Royal Library.

We entered there, and inside a deep silence reigned. The Royal Library is a really big place, and for a moment we thought that we would never be able to find her. Then my Aisha heard a little breathing sound. It was Lisha, who was sitting among lots of books and had apparently fallen asleep in the middle of her reading. I tried to wake her up in the most delicate way possible.

"Excuse me, Ms. Lisha?" I said, poking her arm gently, " I'm Noodle, a Neopian Times reporter, and I would like to know if would be possible to interview you, please."

"Hmmm, what?" she said, still only half-awake. "Neopian Times, did you say? But another reporter had already interviewed me . . ."

"Yes, Ms. Lisha, I have read you previous interview," I said, trying to be as polite as possible. "But during the time of your last interview, we were in the middle of the war. Now that we live in a time of peace, I think that things in Meridell are different than they were before. I believe that the readers of the Neopian Times would like to know more about the new, peaceful Meridell."

"Hmm, OK," she answered, still looking sleepy and doing her best to stay sitting in her chair.

"Thank you very much," I said with a smile. "Now, it looks like you've spent a lot of time here in the library...is that the way you usually spend your free time?"

"Yes, I suppose so," Lisha responded and, looking at all the books under the table, she started to clean up the mess. "When I'm not in the library, I usually play Meriball and other games with my friends and sometimes with Jeran if he isn't training or battling."

"Oh, I see," I said, while my Aisha was taking notes of what we were saying. "And how is your brother nowadays? Looks like his popularity has been falling since the end of the last war . . ."

Lisha's face got serious. "Yes, he isn't in his better days. Since he fell from the citadel he hasn't been the same Lupe as before, but I think he'll be fine. . .at least I hope so."

"In the other hand, you're doing great in the popularity polls," I said, trying to say something to cheer her up. "It's a really impressive increase."

It seemed to work. "Tee hee, really?" she asked, giggling. "I wasn't expecting that, honestly! I did what I had to do, without stopping to think about the other people's opinion... If I'd gotten worried about that, I would not have been able to break up the Court Dancer's spell."

"Since you've mentioned it," I asked, really looking forward to the answer, "what do you think about the Court Dancer? Do you hate her or something like that?"

The smile disappeared from Lisha's face. "No, I don't hate her, even though she probably would not say the same thing about me... We were living in the middle of a war in those days. I think that kind of thing can't be taken in a personal way... I think I was the only one to do it at the time. We have plenty of people being trained to fight, but honestly, who else would be able to enter in the Library and find the book that would break up her spell as quickly as I did? I know the library like the palm of my paw. I filed all ten thousand books the Royal Library has, and I don't think either the King or my brother would have been able to do that.."

"And lots of people from the Darigan Citadel should dislike you even now because of what you've done," I said.

"It doesn't happen just in Darigan Citadel," Lisha said, interrupting me for the first time. "Here in Meridell, we still have people who annoy me and keep on saying that the Court Dancer was being controlled, that she wasn't evil..." Lisha started to speak louder. "Of course she was evil; she was controlling all the people in the castle with her spell! That isn't the kind of thing you can just sit down and wait for to happen, don't you think so??"

Lisha was shouting by the time she finished her question. After that, she put her head down, looking a little embarrassed.

"I think I lost control for a second, sorry..." She said.

"It's okay," I answered and went up to another question, trying to move on. "Is it true that you've filed up all the ten thousand books of the Royal Library?"

"Yes, it is!" Lisha replied with a smile, almost laughing. "They were in a completely random order when I arrived in Meridell! I don't understand how people can stand that...." She stopped a little and then continued talking. "Well, maybe it's because not too many people used to visit the library.... I think it's more or less the same thing when people call me a ‘hero’ ..."

"What's the matter of calling you a hero? Isn't that good?" I asked, really puzzled with what she had said.

"The point is that I'm a girl," Lisha answered almost immediately after my question. "Why people can't call me a ‘heroine’ instead of "hero"? Geez, it's all about grammar!"

"Uh....grammar is a very important thing," Niko Niko suddenly said, probably trying to say something that would impress Lisha.

"Yes, it is," Lisha answered, taking that as a very serious comment. She was looking very annoyed, so I quickly went up to a new subject.

"Do you believe that another war between Meridell and Darigan will happen in the future?" I asked.

"Honestly, I've fought against Lord Darigan, and even knowing that he's a ‘good guy’ now, I remember pretty well when he cast a spell on my wand and it wasn't working well....I hope you didn't misunderstand me when I said that..."

"You mean that's difficult to you to trust in Lord Darigan?" I asked her.

"Yes," She replied tersely. I wasn't expecting such a firm answer from her.

"Do you hate the Darigan minions?" I asked her, and she looked at me with a surprised face.

"I don't like all that 'hate' stuff," she said, sounding slightly annoyed. "If a Darigan painted pet just popped out here now, I wouldn't attack him or her just because they were a Darigan minion. I know there are some people in Meridell who would do that, but not me. It doesn't matter where your loyalties lie, there are innocent people in both sides and I would like nothing better than a true peace between the two kingdoms..."

Lisha's voice drifted off and she fell silent with a thoughtful expression on her face. I went up to the next question.

"And what about Lord Kass?" I asked. "Do you think that he's really dead?"

"Hm, I haven't seen him in person and I would not be totally sure..." Lisha answered thoughtfully. "Some peasants told the King that they saw him playing Whack-a-Kass, but the King thought it was just a joke and gave them an avatar..."

"And you, have you ever played Whack-a-Kass?" I asked, trying to move to a less emotional topic.

"Yes, I've played Whack-a-Kass, it's so funny!" Lisha said, with a big smile. "Even though I'm not very good at it, it's lots of fun. The only dangerous thing about it is when Jeran decides to play. Poor Kass plushies… instead of simply whacking them, Jeran practically destroys them all. I think the reasons are obvious, aren't they?" She ended up, looking unsure if it would be OK to laugh about that or not.

"And there are other Meridell games that I like..." she said, trying to continue.

"Like Meriball?" I asked.

Lisha answered with a gleeful "Yes!"

"Some people think that Meriball is a useless game, but I don't think so. I love Meriball! It's the best game here in Meridell in my opinion." She stopped, apparently thinking in another thing to say, and than continued. "I think I've tried almost all games around here . . . Morris and Boris usually get arrowed when we play Ultimate Bullseye, but it's all about fun, nothing serious."

"And could you tell us something about their training as Meridell squires?"

"Well, it looks like they're doing pretty good at it," Lisha answered and with a sigh added wistfully, “I wish I could do that too . . ."

"Would you like to be a knight?" I asked, curious. Lisha seemed to be a little nervous with that question but after a few seconds, she answered firmly.

"Sure I would! Rumor has it that King Skarl might make me a knight for all the things I've done for Meridell, but I don't think it's entirely true," Lisha's voice sounded disappointed as she continued talking. "Remember, Meridell is a medieval world, girls aren't able to do some of the things they do in Neopia Central, here . . . it sometimes seems like people here think all the girls should act like little royal painted posh pets, what isn't my cup of tea . . ." She stopped to take a deep breath, and tried to continue with a small smile. "Well, anyway, I'm not exactly a fighter and maybe I should concentrate my efforts on raising my magic power . . ."

As she was speaking, Lisha started to look around as if she was searching for something. I thought she was looking for her Wand of Ultra Nova, but a different thing appeared- a small Warf, which was hiding under a book, popped out.

"Oh, Chubby, you shouldn't be here right now," Lisha said, trying to hold the Warf in her arms.

"I didn't know that you're the owner of a Warf, Lisha," I said, surprised.

"Oh, yes, Jeran gave her to me," She said, cuddling the Warf. "When he spends a long time away from here, he usually gives me some kind of gift when he returns. I think it's the way he's found to say that he didn't forget about me or something like that..." she ended, smiling. The Warf left Lisha's arms and suddenly started barking. We looked into the direction she was barking and we realized that she was barking to Fuwa Fuwa, my Aisha's Babaa.

"Fuwa Fuwa did nothing," Niko Niko said nervously. "I swear."

"It's okay," Lisha said, giggling. "My Warf isn't used to seeing other Petpets apart from Kayla's Turtum, maybe that would be the reason."

I was about to answer when a voice in the background shouted something like "Shut up! Make that petpet shut up! I'm trying to read!"

"Oh, I forgot that we are at the Library..." I said surprised. I looked at Lisha and she was even more surprised than me.

”But . . . no one used to come here. And when I say 'No one', I really mean 'no one'; do you understand what I mean . . .?” Lisha said, still surprised with what had just happened. I took the opportunity to ask Lisha something else.

"Ms. Lisha, this series of articles that we're working on is called 'Lifestyles of the Affluent and Illustrious' and it should also include a description of where the interviewed person lives. Knowing that, and because we have to leave the library now, would you mind showing us your bedroom? It would be a very significant thing for our article."

With Lisha's consent, she led us out of the library.

"You forgot to say something," my Aisha said to me, poking me in the arm. "You forgot to say that the series of articles is sponsored by the Neopian Times Appreciation Guild."

"Now that you've said it, I don't have to," I responded as we continued to follow Lisha. After going up and down several flights of stairs, and passing through lots and lots of hallways, we arrived at Lisha's room.

"Make yourselves at home," Lisha said, opening the door. "Please come in and have a seat."

Actually, her bedroom was quite simple for a girl living in the court. The walls were painted white. In the right wall we could see a big wardrobe. In the left wall was a big window covered by a pink curtain that looked like it was made of a shiny silk. Near the window was a bed, covered by an Ultranova patterned blanket. Right next to the bed was a desk crammed full of books and a few other things. There were also three or four beanbags. We were about to take our seat when we notice that were some books 'sitting' in the beanbags. Lisha apologized and took the books away, my Aisha settled into a beanbag while I looked around the room. Under the desk I saw, among another things, her wand of Ultranova and a little picture. It was a photograph of Lisha and Jeran together, hugging each other. A real example of heart-throbbing siblingness. "What a cute picture," I said to Lisha. "Even Jeran looks cute here."

It took me a second to realize that what I said wasn't exactly nice, but Lisha didn't seem to notice. Or maybe she noticed and didn't get angry with me. I tried to find another subject quickly.

"Would you mind if we open your wardrobe?" I asked, pointing to it.

"Well, I don't have a great variety of clothes, but feel free to go ahead," She said, opening the wardrobe doors.

Inside the wardrobe, there were a lot of white shirts and grey skirts - you know, the school uniform that Lisha usually wears. Hiding in a dark corner of the wardrobe was something that I couldn't recognize at the first sight. When I took it, Lisha made a little weird sound, like if she was about to say something but stopped before that. I took that thing out of the wardrobe and got a surprise - it was a dress. A long pink dress with purple accents, similar to the Royal Aisha dresses.

"Jeran gave me that too," Lisha said, blushing. "I couldn't tell him that I didn't like it, he looked so happy . . ."

Feeling that I went a bit too far with the questions that time, I replaced the dress and closed the wardrobe. I can't say how long we stayed in silence after that. But before I could ask her my next question, she started talking on her own.

"I still don't understand . . . about the Library . . .no one ever goes there . . .that's very, very strange . . ." She said, almost talking to herself.

"Well, maybe it's just because we're here," I said with an ironical voice. Suddenly Niko Niko poked me.

"We're running out of time," she said nervously.

"Well, Ms. Lisha, I think it's our time to go," I said to Lisha. "I would like to say thank you for the interview you gave us."

"You are welcome," she said with a smile. "And you can call me just Lisha from now on."

"Just one thing left, would you like to give a message to all the Neopian Times readers?"

After a few seconds thinking, Lisha responded. "I wish that this New Year will be a better and more peaceful year than the last year was. It would be good if people didn’t need to fight anymore. But if you have to fight, keep on fighting for what you believe that is right and don't listen anything other than your own heart. It's important to be nice with others, treat your pets well and read good books."

I was about to say the last "thank you" of the day and end the interview when somebody started talking before me.

"Hey, wait please . . . before we go I . . . I would like to ask Lisha something." It was Niko Niko speaking. Holding a book with both paws, she asked in a trembling voice, "Could . . . could you give me an autograph, please?"

"Sure I can!" Lisha said, and she took the book - a Lisha of Meridell one - signed up her name in a cute hand-written way and gave it back to Niko Niko. My Aisha took the book, bowed a little and said nothing else, just stayed there holding the book tight. After saying good-bye to Lisha, we left Meridell and started our way back to Neopia Central. Usually the horror of war makes a pet tougher than he or she was before that, but it looks like the little yellow Aisha were able to keep her heart safe from that fate.

Author's note: I would like to say 'thank you' to my biggest friend shelly_tenjou for always reading all my stuff. I'm also very grateful to everybody in my guild who had read my article and helped me with that: moonila32, nimras23, slamina83, stoneslopes, nano_cat, haliete, animageous and springsteen0991 - you are awesome!