The Fir’s King by aerisangel01 |  |
Christmas had already passed, but my Grandfather, an
eternally happy old Eyrie, was still in the festive mood. He looked at me and
my brothers and sisters, who sat in front of him.
“Not another story about Christmas!” complained
one of my little sisters. “We're in the month of sleeping now! Christmas won't
come for another year!”
“You know, Christmas is not only one day in
the year. Christmas can be all year long. You'll understand with this story,”
said my Grandfather with his old voice. He cleared his throat to begin his story.
***
Fir existed a long time before they began to be sold as petpets, and the people
of the Happy Valley knew about their existence for longer than anyone can remember.
Fir and Neopets lived in perfect harmony for ages. While Neopets in the Happy
Valley prepared themselves all year long for their favorite holiday, Christmas,
Fir spent their entire day honoring the biggest tree of all the Happy Valley
forest, called the Fir's King. Every day, every second, they honored it, only
stopping to drink in a river close to it, and starting again immediately after.
One day, as the month of Celebrating was coming,
the population of the Happy Valley got an idea. They would celebrate the biggest
Christmas ever. More lights than ever, more decorations, and also, the biggest
tree of all, even if that meant cutting the Fir's King down. All the citizens
were overjoyed at the idea of having the biggest Christmas in all of Neopia,
but one young Eyrie wasn't that optimistic. He thought about those poor Fir
who would lose their king. But of course, since he was young, none of the adults
wanted to listen to him. “You'll understand when you're older,” they all said,
but the young Eyrie knew that they didn't know what they were saying.
But he was powerless, and, the day they went
to cut the tree down, he was locked in his room. He shouted and punched at his
room's wall, but he could not get out.
***
This day was like any other day for the Fir in the Happy Valley forest. They
would honor the Fir's King, stopping only to drink. Then one of the Fir noticed
a shadow coming from far away. He let out a sound to let the other Fir know
about what he had seen. Quickly, every Fir came, out of curiosity to see what
was coming, and maybe to protect the Fir's King, if it was a danger. When they
saw the Neopets with their big axe, they all panicked, but stayed still, ready
to protect their King. Unfortunately, they were no match for the Neopets' axe,
and their beloved King was cut down, and taken away by the people of Happy Valley.
They’re hearts destroyed, the Fir had lived the worst day of their whole existence.
Happy like never before, the people of the Happy
Valley decorated the tree with millions of lights and ornaments. The young Eyrie
was even allowed to go out of his room to celebrate with the others, but he
refused, crying every tear of his body, crying at the same time as the Fir.
He heard the others sing and dance with happiness, but he only felt sadness
and pain in his heart, the exact same sadness and pain as the Fir.
That night, he ran away from his home, trying
as much as he could not to look at the Fir's King, for the pain was too great.
He followed the trail until he arrived at the place where the Fir's King once
stood. Fir were everywhere, by the hundred, wandering, looking lost, meaningless.
In the center of them, on the stump of the Fir's King, a Fir sat, alone, doing
what Neopets thought could only be done by Neopets: crying. He approached and
kneeled next to the stump of the King, next to the Fir. Every Fir came, surrounding
him, but he did not feel fear, he felt a connection between him and the Fir,
and he knew they too had felt it. He put one paw on the crying Fir, and he stopped
crying immediately, looking up at him with his wet eyes. The Eyrie sweetly removed
the tear with his paw.
The Fir began making odd little sounds, like
squeaks, and, even odder, the Eyrie understood them all. More and more Fir began
to squeak, and he understood all that they said. He had a true connection with
them, he was sure of it now. He took the Fir on the stump and looked at him.
Just by the look the Fir understood immediately what he wanted, and squeaked
to the other Fir. They sweetly made a way for him to pass, and when he began
walking, every Fir followed him, like a baby Mallard follows its mother. They
did it quietly, without a sound. Neither he nor the Fir needed to talk, for
they already knew what every one of them were thinking, because all of them,
no matter how many there were, were bound with their hearts.
They walked a long time, and as they walked,
new Fir came from the woods. When they arrived in Happy Valley, they weren't
hundreds anymore, but thousands of thousands. They invaded all of the town.
The ground was now green with the number of Fir there, and new ones continued
to come from the woods. Their King had been stolen, and they would get him back.
In the center of them, next to the Fir's King sat the young Eyrie, with the
Fir that he had found crying next to him, not leaving him even once. His grayish-blue
fur flashed in the green of the Fir. Neither he nor the Fir said a word.
When the sun rose in the sky and the citizens
of the Happy Valley woke up, the town was full of Fir. On the ground, on the
houses, even in the forest around the town. The citizens that went outside,
gasping in amazement, had difficulty making it even one step. A number of them
stayed in their houses, in fear. Some people thought of taking their axes to
chase the Fir, but they were too many. The town was more silent then it had
ever been, the Fir not making even one sound, not moving, like trees in an empty
forest. The only sounds that were heard were the citizen's gasps. Those that
had the courage to come out of their house or to look out by a window were amazed
by a grayish blue figure, standing still in the Fir sea, proud and noble.
The Eyrie made a sound like a squeak and, like
knights receiving an order from their king, the Fir began moving. They entered
the houses by any way possible, forcing all the pets in them, child or adult,
to go out. The Fir that had stayed outside made space for them, and they completely
stopped moving when everyone in the town was outside. The Eyrie then took the
Fir that never left him in his arms, before spreading his wings and rising into
the air above the Fir's King, so that everyone in town would see him.
“You!” he began. “All of you, you stole from
the Fir, their beloved King. You took it without even feeling bad, without even
thinking of what consequences it would have on them. You stole it without right.
Now, they are here to get it back, and they won't leave before it is finally
back returned to them. The fact that they are petpets doesn't mean they don't
have feelings!” He hugged his Fir harder before continuing. “What would YOU
do, if your father, mother, brother, or anyone else of your family was taken
away from you unfairly? It's what you did to them, and what you would feel if
it happened is what they feel now, and what I feel, too.”
The citizens of the Happy Valley looked at the
ground in shame. He was right. It was they who had to understand, not him. Despite
his young age, he knew a lot more than they. While they understood nothing,
he knew everything from the beginning. They started to walk, one after another,
in the direction of the Fir's King. One after another, they all began to remove
every light, every ornament, from the tree. When they finished, they took it,
and walked with it into the woods, the young Eyrie flying above them, hugging
his Fir in his paws, and all the thousands of Fir following them. They walked
until they arrived at the place where the tree used to stand, and put it back
on it's trunk.
The whole tree began glowing a pure and intense
light, and the Fir looked at with more happiness than they had ever felt before.
The young Eyrie looked at it the same way, smiling with the Fir. The citizens
looked at it with a mix of amazement and humility. When it stopped glowing,
it was totally back to its original condition, like it had never fallen. Every
Fir began dancing around it, squeaking happily. The Eyrie put his Fir on the
ground before flying into the sky. The same way the Fir were dancing and laughing,
a laugh came directly from his heart.
After some time, the citizens of the Happy Valley
joined them in their celebration, even happier than they had been when they
had cut it down. When the sun set, and it was time for the Neopets to go back
to their town, the Eyrie walked behind them, sadness in his heart, until he
heard a squeak behind him. He turned and saw his Fir come running to him before
jumping into his paws. More Fir followed him and jumped in the citizens’ paws,
until each of them had a Fir.
The young Eyrie's Fir squeaked something that
he translated.
“To thank us for giving them their King back,
they offer themselves as our pets. Whenever someone is born, take them here,
and a Fir will come for them, their Fir.” He hugged his Fir as a tear of happiness
came from his eyes.
***
“Christmas wasn't celebrated that year, for they already lived the best Christmas
anyone could ever live, when the heart of every Neopet and Fir was connected
in the same joy. People forgot the place where the Fir's King is now, but it
is better that way. Now Fir can be owned by everyone in Neopia, because it's
not just the people of the Happy Valley they wanted to thank, but everyone all
around Neopia. Christmas happens all year long, when the hearts of all people
are bound and, for a short time, forget about hate and difference, that's the
true meaning of Christmas.”
I saw a joy in his eyes, as he remembered that
day. He stood before telling us all to go to bed. When we were all in our beds,
he went into the forest, to the place where the tallest tree of all the Happy
Valley forest stood. Thousands of Fir were there, and they all greeted him as
he made his way next to the tree. He heard a little squeak coming from it, and
an old Fir, yellow from age, emerged from under the tree. My Grandfather took
it and hugged it sweetly, as he felt his heart go back to the time he was a
child, when he put his paw on his Fir for the first time.
He sat under the tree and fell asleep there
with his Fir in his paw, forgetting about any problem that ever could be.
The End
Author’s Note: I really had a great time writing this story, I hope you
had as much fun to read it then I had to write it. Any Neomail are welcome,
especially hatemail! I love those! But fanmail and criticism will be accepted
with joy, too. Oh, and I would like to thank Ember188 for helping me with the
editing.
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