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The Reptillior hissed and slid closer to the staring
cub. Unsure, it mewed and took a step backwards. The petpet's two inch fangs dripped
with poison and it swayed back and forth in a dance of death. Then there was a
crashing in the underbrush. Just as the Reptillior struck a pale fury charged
out and threw herself in front of the cub. The Cobrall struck the mother Kougra.
The mother Kougra flung the petpet carelessly into the bushes and turned to check
on her cub. As she licked the baby Kougra all over, the great tree they stood
under shivered (although there was no wind). The dappled silver light made the
two Kougras look insubstantial -- about to fade away like an ghost of mist and
moonlight. The mother's legs folded and she dropped to the ground as the venom
set in. The tree quivered again, and suddenly a shower of silver leaves came fluttering
down. The cub whined pitifully. Then the tree was trembling uncontrollably, and
its leaves fell like a million tears. The mother sighed and breathed no more.
When the human arrived, the faeries were already there. The Island Faerie had
whispered a few words beside the dead Kougra, whose body turned to dust and
blew away. A reclusive earth Faerie, later revealed as Illusen, had ventured
from her glade to comfort the grieving tree. Small faeries flickered everywhere,
and the eyes of coconut men and glints of gold wild Kougra jewelry flashed in
the bushes.
The staff member whispered softly, "It's true,
then?" Jhuidah looked up from the crying cub and nodded. The Neopets worker
sighed, "Well at least Eliyana left an heir." She held out her arms and Faerie
handed her the kit. It nestled tiredly against her polo shirt, its ear bumping
her Neopets Staff name tag. She stroked it sadly. "We will find you a home,
small one... when the time comes you will remember... remember... remember..."
***
My first day on Neopets I went straight to the adoption agency. It was so hard
to choose! I loved the Aishas, but seriously, they have a major squinting problem
(not to mention no nose). Lupes have goatees, Wockys are cross-eyed, Gelerts
are hyper, etc. I just couldn't find a pet that would suit my personality. I
looked at the catalogue over and over. And then I saw it. The Kougra. Perfect.
The attendant gave me some forms to fill
out-- colour, stats, and the usual. I had no trouble with the name: I tried
Korina, Korrina, and Korriena, but Korrinea was like fate. No numbers necessary.
Why that particular name? I have no idea. It just popped into my head. Until
then it didn't seem real, but when the assistant brought out a warm, slightly
damp bundle of turquoise fur and put it in my arms, I was speechless. It squirmed
and a great rough tongue swiped my cheek. Our eyes met. Everything the attendant
told me about responsibility went in one ear and out the other. This was gonna
be real.
Paint -- I had seen the signs on the rainbow
pool -- the fountain was flowing. I signed up with the sponsors and didn't even
have to ask Korrinea what colour- silver was so right. The Faerie smiled and
dipped the paintbrush in. Korri giggled and squirmed as the silver paint flowed
over her body, leaving a puddle of chrome on the ground below.
The Faerie began, "You'll have to wait--"
as small Korri leaped to my shoulder, her favorite place to sit. She sighed
and finished, "--for it to dry." So I had silver hair for a few days. It was
worth it. I always told her she would make my hair turn gray early.
I'm sort of a shy person, and from the
beginning, Korrinea was protective. She would snarl at the shopkeepers if they
wouldn't meet my price, and she always stayed extra close in the Haunted Woods.
We agreed not to get a NeoHome -- she was restless, and I would rather spend
the money on other things. So we slept under the stars -- nestled in the sweet
smelling grasses of the endless plains or the rolling dunes of the lost desert.
Time passed and Korrinea grew sleek and
strong. She was always enrolled at some class or other at the Mystery Island
training school. Although we were poor, codestones were never a problem. We
found them under bushes, won them in Tombola, or tripped over them while walking
to the village.
This particular day we were hanging around
the Island, about to get our fortunes from the Island Mystic -- we had never
been there before. Korri thinks he's a fraud. She says he tells everyone the
same thing. We waded across to the miniature island.
The tiny old man (this was before the
makeover) looked us over and said in a conversational tone, "Through loosing
yourself you will find yourself. A hot cup of borovan is in your future." We
stared at him and then I snorted. A grackle bug crawled out of his left nostril
and sat on his bone nose ornament, preening.
I choked (one of those moments where you
can't decide whether to barf, laugh, or cough significantly) and pointed out,
"Um, there's a bug on your nose-bone-thingy." He tried to simultaneously glare
at me and cross his eyes to see the bug, and succeeded only in making one of
the funniest faces I have seen to this day. He turned and walked stiffly back
into his hut.
Korrinea and I collapsed into giggles.
We were gasping for air by the time we got back to the island. "I see borovan
in your future!" I proclaimed mystically to my Kougra.
"I see bugs in your nose!" she giggled
back at my imitation of the Mystic. I tried to make the face at her.
Korrinea is friendly with the Haiku Kougra
(nicknamed by many the Haikougra) and we went to have a chat with it. It shared
a lunch of striped tchea fruit with us.
"The blueberry parts are way better than
the banana parts. Who likes banana anyway?" Korrinea wanted to know.
"Banana is great.
Blueberry tastes like Grarrl dung.
How can you eat it?"
"Well, you can have ashberrie's and my
banana parts then, 'cause we don't like it. Hey, what was that?" She was looking
intently at the forest.
"I don't see anything, Korri..."
"A Faerie! Come on, let's ask it to bless
me!" She raced off into the jungle. I followed, yelling goodbye to the Kougra
poet, who was already chewing on the end of its pencil and scribbling some words
on a legal pad.
"Come on, little Faerie! I won't hurt
you! I just ask a blessing! Please? I'm trying to work my way up to burrow!"
Korrinea panted after the glowing green pixy.
"Korrinea get back here! I'll buy you
an Earth Faerie!" We crashed deeper into the jungle.
"Hear that? If you don't bless me, we'll
support Balthazar!" The Faerie got rather mad at this point and hovered above
my pet whistling like an angry piccolo. Suddenly, the sound was muffled by a
blue-grey paw shooting out from behind a tree and grabbing the sprite. We both
stood speechless as Balthazar rose up like a fanged mountain above us.
He laughed -- and it was not an evil laugh,
only bitter.
To be continued...
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