Sarah had just finished shining the vases near the register when she heard the bell above the front door ring. She looked up excitedly to see a couple of Gold Shoyrus walk through the door.

"Hello!" Sarah said with a smile. "How may I help you today?"

"You can close up shop," one of the Shoyrus said bluntly.

"Excuse me?" Sarah asked a little taken aback.

"You heard him," the other Shoyru piped up. "This is a message from Madame Perkins in Meridell. We don't need another florist in the area! Pack your bags and go home!"

Both of the Shoyrus nodded their heads simultaneously and turned to leave the shop. As they approached the door Sarah called out to them.

"Wait! Isn't there anything we can do to resolve this in a friendly way? I'm sure if I just talk to Madame Perkins we could-" Sarah tried but she was cut short by the sound of shattering glass. One of the Shoyrus had flapped its wings and knocked over one of the arrangements Sarah had made earlier.

"Oops, I'm so clumsy," the Shoyru snickered as they both left the store.

Sarah stood there with tears in her eyes. She knew she had to do something to show Madame Perkins and her cronies that she deserved to be there just as much as anybody else. She finished cleaning up the mess left behind by her two visitors and was determined to not let herself be bullied like this. But how?

The flyer was white with multicoloured flowers printed on it. In large black font across the middle read -

“ARE YOU NEOPIA’S NEXT TOP FLORIST?”

The details underneath told Sarah that the following Saturday, in Faerie City, a florist competition was being held. Categories included “brightest display, minimalist chic and most creative use of daffodils”. But the information that really stood out was the postscript.

“COMPETITORS INCLUDE REIGNING CHAMPION MADAME PERKINS!”

“Could this be my chance to show her I deserve my shop just as much as her?” Sarah pondered. Then, as though following orders, she dialled the number on the flyer.

“Hello? This is Sarah from Sarah’s florist in Brightvale. I’d like to enter the completion next Saturday? Which category? Every category that Madame Perkins has entered. Ok thanks, see you then. Bye.”

She put the phone down and suddenly realised the enormity of what she’d done. With just a week to go, she’d entered the biggest show in the whole of Neopia. Sarah knew she needed help, and there was only one person she could call...

Not too long ago, while out picking wildflowers in the forests bordering Brightvale and Meridell, Sarah had stumbled across a lone earth faerie, hunched over on a tree stump, who had seemingly fallen from her treehouse. The poor thing was distraught - in her fall, her leafy wing had snagged on a gnarled old tree branch, and was hanging limply in tatters from her shoulder.

Sarah had approached her, rather tentatively - it was her first time meeting a faerie in person, and she had heard tales of their highly strung temperaments.

“Oh no - are you alright?” Sarah asked the Faerie, “Your poor wing is in a terrible state!”

“Oh, spare me your pity, Draik. My life is ruined, I’ll never fly again! Just leave me here to wither and rot.” The faerie moped, melodramatically.

“Now now, I know you must be pretty shaken. But this isn’t the end of the world - in fact, I just might be able to help…” Sarah trailed off, rummaging in her satchel.

Aha! She had packed it - a special plant tonic, carefully bottled in brown glass - a recipe passed down from her grandmother that was sure to resuscitate even the most melancholy withered old weeds and return them to their blossoming glory. It hadn’t failed her yet - and the fae’s wings were after all a plant - a magical, enchanted plant, but nevertheless botanical. It couldn’t hurt to try!

“Hold still.” Sarah said, unscrewing the dropper, and squeezing a few oily drops onto the damaged wing.

“Fyora above, that stuff smells AWFUL!” Exclaimed the Faerie.

But she couldn’t deny the soothing effect it was having on her. Slowly but surely, her broken wing began to rigidify and heal, the tears patching up before her astounded eyes. Before long, the faerie’s wing were strong enough to hover over the tree stump.

“Draik, I don’t know how I can repay you for your kindness. Please, if there is anything I can do for you, come find me. My name is Nadiyah”…

Sarah sat at the desk in her flower shop, signing off her letter. She rolled up the scroll and passed it to her Faellie, Pip, who excitedly fluttered out the door and off across the treetops towards the Nadiyah’s home. If anyone could help her win this contest, it was an Earth Faerie!

This worked out well, because she had only two customers since the day she opened: a Bouquet of Roses and Pearls prepared for her friend Jamie, a fellow Draik, and an Apologetic Bouquet of Flowers for a faerie Blumaroo who introduced himself as Bob Billy Joe. She wondered what he had done to warrant the apology flowers, and why he insisted on calling himself by 3 first names.

She didn't let herself wonder for long, though, because she had so much work to do. Madame Perkins had entered the floral design competition in all four categories. For Sarah, that meant she had to prepare three very different floral arrangements ahead of time. She was confident in her arrangement for most creative use of daffodils, and fairly content with her brightest display design. But "minimalistic chic"? Sarah had never done minimalistic chic in her life. That is the category she really hoped Nadiyah could help with, that and the final competition, which she was the most nervous about.

The final competition was a head-to-head timed contest where she would be given a collection of different flowers and have 30 minutes to create an arrangement with them from start to finish. Sarah was so worried about it. How could she prepare for something like that? Then again, she might not even make it to that stage of the competition; although she was registered for it, only the top two scorers from the prepared arrangement categories would compete. One of those competitors would surely be Madame Perkins, the reigning champion. Since Sarah didn't even know if she'd make it that far, she turned her focus instead to the three arrangements she could control.

A week and a half went by in an instant. Suddenly it was the Friday night before the competition, and Sarah had never heard from Nadiyah, even though Pip had come back home the next day after delivering the letter. She figured the faerie was busy, and wrote off any potential help she could get from her.

Sarah was in the back getting ready to close up shop that Friday night when she heard the bell above the front door ring. She froze with fear, thinking it was those two Gold Shoyrus again, coming to threaten her about Neopia's Next Top Florist. Hesitantly, she took a deep breath as she walked out to the front to greet her guests.

Standing in front of Sarah was not two aggressive Shoyrus, but one wide-eyed earth faerie. It was Nadiyah.

"Sarah! I came as quick as I could, I'm sorry it took me so long. I was held up in the forest, you know how that goes." Sarah did not, in fact, know how that goes, but she let her friend finish. "I'm here now. How can I help?"

How will this story end?

With a big grin, Sarah walked across the room to the kitchen, grabbed the faerie a clean Sticks N’ Stones mug, and poured some fresh borovan into it. Handing it to Nadiyah, Sarah took a deep breath. “Let’s get to work!”

The two friends poured over Sarah’s textbooks, turning the pages as quickly as possible. Nadiyah demonstrated as many things as she could, such as making a Beautifully Decorated Flower Arch, and the extremely popular Beekadoodle Flower Garland. Sarah’s head felt as if it were going to explode.

Before they knew it, it was Saturday, and the pair were sitting behind-the-scenes of the big event. Exhausted, Sarah powdered on her Flushed Blush and smiled at herself in the mirror. She heard Kitkat, the announcer, sing her name to the clapping audience. It was time.

Sarah took a deep breath and took one final look at Nadiyah.

“You’ve got this,” the faerie said, making a shooing motion with her arms. “Get out there!”

As Sarah walked out, she immediately saw Madame Perkins’ sitting in her section of the arena, smirking. Ignoring her competition, Sarah strutted to her seat and prepared herself for the different rounds of floral arrangements.

The first two rounds went wonderfully – Sarah made great time, and felt confident in her floral masterpieces. However, when the final round was announced, Sarah was suddenly nervous. This was the speed round that Nadiyah had prepped her for, but she didn’t know what the theme would be.

“You will have 15 minutes to arrange something botanical that young Neopets would love. You may ask for one prop.”

Sarah immediately recalled an old memory: her and Nadiyah swinging on the swing set at a park. Nadiyah had swished her wings, and flowers and vines wrapped themselves around the swing set beautifully.

After asking for a swing as a prop, Sarah got to work with the flowers she was provided. She wrapped them around the swings, intertwined them in the chains, and then stood back to enjoy her work. The Floral Garden Swing was perfect!

When she looked over at Madam Perkins, she saw that her competitor had created a pretty Floral Nature Charm. It was nice, but she knew she had this competition on lockdown.

After the judges reviewed all of the rounds, it was time to announce the final tally.

“…and the winner is….. SARAH!”

Nadiyah rushed on stage to hug Sarah, who was crying tears of joy. She had done it! She had proven to everyone that she was worthy of running her shop; nobody had any means to tell her otherwise. Both friends jumped up and down in pure happiness.

Sarah glanced over at Madam Perkins, wondering how she was taking the news. With a smile, her competitor nodded in approval.

The End,