Auntie Alti! Auntie Alti!" Little Vai rushed into the common room where Altalena was sitting by the fire place. The little korbat was dragging his infinitely smiling plushie slorg, Keef, along by his tail. I has question! Question for Auntie Alti! Question, question, question!"

Altalena watched Vai run in circles around her chair for a few minutes before skillfully grabbing the little giggling korbat and setting him on her lap, "Yes little Vai, what is it?" Vai bounced up and down impatiently before getting settled in the nook of Altalena's arm and nuzzling Keef.

Where do babies come from?" Vai looked up at Alta with a big innocent smile on his face and eyes gleaming with curiosity. Keef mimicked Vai and put on a huge, clueless smile.

Little babies like you, Vai-Vai?" Altalena poked his tummy playfully and giggled at his question. He was growing up too fast.

Vai squirmed and giggled but then pushed Altalena's finger away. I am not a baby! I am fo' and tree quarters! Remember, Auntie Alti, remember?" His oversized ears twitched with impatience, Answer, Auntie Alti, answer!"

Okay little Vai, okay," she patted him on the head softly to settle him down. She paused for a moment and waited for little Vai to stop fidgeting. "Well little Vai, when a mommy or daddy decides that they want a little baby bat like you, they go to see a Creator." Alta paused for the inevitable.

Crater? What is Crater? Tell me Auntie, tell me!

A Creator is someone who makes little plushies like you. Raggies is a Creator." She paused, thinking of a way to word it all so that Vai would understand. "Creators take broken things that can't move, and fix them so that they can move. Do you remember when Keef was just a sock?"

Vai nodded and Keef smiled up at him. Vai had stuffed a green and white, wool sock with lint he found around the house and dragged it around when no one would play with him. He remembered Raggles asking if he wanted a friend to play with, and Vai said his sock, Keef, was his friend. Raggles took the sock called Keef up to his room and sat Vai down on the stool next to his desk. Emptying the sock of the lint and other various stuffings, he began enchanting it. Raggles worked quickly, and soon added eyes and a mouth. He refilled the sock with a mysterious sand and pinched the opening shut, forever mending it together with much more than a simple band. The moment Raggles' hands had left the little sock, it stirred and smilied and jumped right onto Vai's lap.

Well he created you too," she stopped, hoping this was not too much for little Vai to take in. Well it wasn't.

Creator… He creatored me!! That's so cool Auntie Alti! How did he creator me?"

No, little Vai, he created you, silly. Say it with me," they both sounded out 'Cre-a-ted' and other various forms of the verb "create" until Vai pronounced it all properly. Altalena loved teaching Vai new things. It was something she rarely got to do with Reni when she was a child; Rawrk did most of her teachings. Once Vai stopped shouting all the new words he had learned, Altalena continued. "Well, you were very special to Ragglies. He found you as a broken little plushie under the Money Tree." --- Raggles exited the Neopian Plaza after his daily visit to his favorite shop, the Plushie Palace. He found himself walking past the Money Tree and wondered why he had never visited it before. This was soon answered. As he looked under the tree, he noticed it was covered in trash; old boots, rusty old cans and soggy old boxes. No wonder he always aimed to arc around it when traveling home to Altador. However, something caught his eye under the pile of rubbish. A small piece of orange fabric poked out from under an old cardboard box. He quickly grabbed it, knowing full well that if he didn't at that very moment, it would be gone forever.

What he found was unexpected, a reject orange korbat plushie. Its wings were nearly completely torn off, and it was missing its tail. Feeling an immediate connection to the plushie, he stored it in his tummy pouch, and set off for home.

--- The Money Tree? Vai didn't sound too excited. Some… someone no want Vai?" Vai's tail turned pale blue and he began to cry. Mimicking Vai's emotions, Keef began wailing as well.

Oh Vai, no, no, of course you were wanted!" She cradled Vai in her arms and hugged him tightly. She definitely didn't expect that reaction. Vai continued crying with Keef, hugging him relentlessly as Altalena tried to calm them both down. "Shh, little one, shh, it's okay," she patted his back gently, "Someone just wanted to give the joy you gave them to someone who really needed it." Vai slowly stopped crying once he heard this. Altalena continued to comfort him silently.

Vai wanted? He looked up at Altalena with those big black eyes, glazed over with tears. Keef was still wailing awkwardly into Vai's stomach.

Yes Vai, you were always wanted," she replied. "You brought Raggies so much happiness when he found you, if only you knew." --- Raggles arrived at the small palace within the forest of Altador not long after his visit to the Money Tree. Before entering, he unzipped his pouch and examined the plushie more carefully than he had at the tree. It was considerably larger than most of the plushies he encountered at the Plushie Palace, about a foot or so high. There was a large rip down its backside where most of the stuffing had fallen out. At the base of the rip, where the tail should have been, there was a tiny hole that left evidence of the past stitching. He turned the plushie over. The wings were completely torn, and would have to be replaced. The ears also seemed to be held on by a few fraying threads. The only part still intact was the little korbat's face, with the exception of the nose, which seemed to have been glued on. Poor little one, I have my work cut out for me, don't I?

Raggles opened the front door of the palace, and walked inside. He was greeted by an empty house. Nothing stirred as he walked in, mostly everyone was outside or in the main city. Reniok was reading in the garden with Rawrk, and it was likely that Larienti was by the creek that ran by the side of the palace. Altalena was visiting the main palace for a reason that she would not reveal. Leore was of course, out traveling Neopia as she had always planned; ranting and raving about how the conversions were coming.

Raggles walked up the staircase his room, which was nothing extraordinary. However, it was also his workshop where he repaired and made plushies. It consisted of a desk, a stool, a sewing machine (although most of his repairs were done by hand) and various rolls of fabric and thread. It also included a rather large beanbag on which he slept, and a significantly smaller beanbag, which was actually his Plushie Rock, Pacho.

Where to begin," Raggles said to himself. He placed the plushie on the desk, and sat on the stool. He examined the plushie once more and decided to begin with the ears. Seeing as they were about to fall off anyway, he cut the threads and removed them. He took a brightly colored purple polka dotted fabric and quickly sewed replacement ears. It was only after they were complete that he realized they were a bit too big. No matter, he thought to himself, They give him character.

Now that he had begun, Raggles worked quickly. He worked on the plushie all through the night, making a new set of wings using the same purple polka dotted fabric and cleanly mending any smaller holes. When it came time to sew the back up, Raggles paused. He looked to the corner of his room where a small satchel lay sitting on a high shelf. "A gift from Fyora," Rawrk had told him. Which was quite true; it was adorned with the insignia of the royal faerie family. Raggles took the satchel from the shelf carefully and sat back down on the stool.

The small pouch was tied shut with a thin, translucent, white ribbon that simply said, For Raggles. When he first received the gift, he wondered why the Faerie Queen would give him a bag of sand of all things, but he treated it with great value. He never truly discovered what the sand was for, but he though it would bring his new plushie great luck. A fitting end to an otherwise sad beginning. He took a large handful of the sand, and mixed it with the silent, grain-like beads that he normally stuffed his plushies with – his trademark, used by no one else in Neopia. Afterwards, he closed up the plushie and held it in his hands, admiring his work.

Raggles yawned, it was dawn when he had finally finished. The rest of the household knew not to disturb him while he was working, so he had lost track of time. He hopped off the stool, plushie still in hand, and waddled off to his beanbag. He seated the little plush on Pacho and curled up into his own beanbag and fell asleep.

This didn't last more than a minute because soon he felt something tapping on his head.

Vai!

Raggles opened his eyes and saw the small orange korbat plushie tapping on his front horn.

Vai, vai, vai, vai, vai, vai! ---When you woke Raggles up, he was completely shocked, it was so funny," Altalena laughed to herself in amusement, "He ran out of his room screaming out 'Alta, Alta! Look what I did! Look, look, look!' really it was quite hilarious."

Vai looked up at her and twitched what would be his nose, You is silly, Auntie Alta."

Well that is where you came from," Altalena finished with a smile, "And many other little plushies like you were Created with Fyora's gift of life."

Hmm. Ok! Thankies Auntie Altie, Vai said, clearly satisfied with the story. He grabbed Keef by the tail, jumped off Altalena's lap and ran out the door of the common room without any more questions.

Alta got up from her chair and stretched. Before she was able to leave the room, Vai returned and began running around her feet in circles once more. Auntie Alti! Auntie Alti!"

Yes, little Vai," she giggled, expecting his return, "What is it?"

Cookie time!