Coltzan’s Shrine. Although at the moment it seemed more like Coltzan’s Icicle. Snow and ice were piled as high up on the Shrine as she could see. Normally as one approached the Shrine, there was a buzzing in the air. Coltzan’s magic could be felt almost like electricity flowing through the air. Today, there was no such magic. Today there was only snow.
And footprints. Tiny little footprints that looked very familiar. Very much like the tiny footprints that covered her shop.
“Petpets” she spoke aloud. Princess Amira nodded but shushed her again with a finger to her lips.
Peopatra quietly snuck around the side of the Shrine, and gasped. At least two hundred petpets were swirling around the base of the Shrine. All of the petpets from her shop were shivering in the snow, trying to unstick themselves from the deep drifts. But it wasn’t just her petpets. There were also some she’d only seen on her short visit to Terror Mountain a few summers ago. A Feepit giggled and crawled out from a small hole in the Shrine. A Snowickle waddled over to her favourite Anubis and tried to help push it out of the snowbank. Peopatra tried to regain her composure.
“Darlings, won’t you come home with me?” She sang softly. Immediately her desert petpets perked up. They recognized her feeding time song and began to circle around her, looking for lunch.
“Now what drew you from the shop? Was it the call of the Horus?”
The Dua at her feet squeaked, then began to run around another side of the Shrine. She squeaked twice more, so Peopatra knew to follow her.
Turning the corner, a huge snowbank towered in front of her, with a small flipper poking out. Recognizing the poor Wintery Petpets shopkeeper, Peopatra called for Princess Amira to come help pull him out.
Once upright, the frazzled Bruce explained what happened. He had come down on a petpet delivery - a Christmas Dua. His cart had crashed, throwing him into a sand dune, and all his petpets had gotten loose.
“And that one—” he pointed at the giggling Feepit, “crawled under the Shrine. That’s when that alarm started going off. And the next thing I knew, it was snowing!”
“Ahh, the winter petpet must have confused the Shrine’s magic. The petpet desired snow, so that is what it generated.” Princess Amira smiled.
“And the alarm?” Asked Peopatra. “And my petpets getting out?”
“I think the Horus sensed our poor shopkeeper friend’s peril, stuck in the snow. Well, sand. That screeching, plus the magic call from the Shrine, must have driven them here.”
Peopatra shook her head, looking up at the Shrine. With the Feepit outside, the icicles had already begun to melt. Some water dropped on her head.
“At least the snow has stopped.” Said the Bruce. “Now just to round up these troublemakers.” Peopatra laughed and began her feeding song again. Her petpets fell in line and began to follow her back to the shop. Only one thing left to do now. She dropped into the snow and moved her tail across the snow. “Snow mermaids!”
The End,
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