The stone floor of the dark room was cold, and she shivered. She pulled her
ragged, brown shawl closer and tried to beat her wings, but it was too cold
and she was too weak. She closed her orange eyes and played back in her mind
what happened a few months ago…
***
She, that is, the Fire Faerie named Kira, was sitting in a tree by a river
in Neopia when she saw it all happen. Kira was eating an organic red apple when
she heard someone shouting. She turned her head towards the noise and as she
did, her shimmering hair swept across her shoulders. There were two figures
at the edge of Ghomhir River.
“Go away, Marngor!” said the little white Zafara. The big purple Kougra came
closer.
“What are you gonna do about it, Chimiba? Scream? Ha ha, you don’t even have
any arena skills.” Marngor laughed. Then, the little white Zafara got angry
and bounced toward the bully, bonking him in the stomach with his head. This
made Marngor very angry, and he stepped back to slash at Chimiba with a big
paw, but his back foot slipped on the mud at the bank of the river. He fell
into the foamy, rushing river, sending a light spray of water everywhere. When
he surfaced again, he saw Chimiba running away into the sunny woods.
“Help! Help!” shouted Marngor, doubting that anyone would hear. Kira saw him
and flew from the tree, across the plain, and over the river. She followed him
downstream and plucked him from the water, just before he went over the waterfall.
She set him down carefully on the bank. Marngor opened his eyes and said in
disbelief, “You saved my life!”
Kira smiled, but the smile only lasted for a few moments, for she soon remembered
that a Faerie must never show their faces to those they help. She looked away
and said, “You must tell no one of this.” She began to fly away on her delicate
wings, but a voice made her halt.
“Why? Why did you help me even after I was pushing that Zafara around?”
Kira thought for a while. She had always been a compassionate Faerie, even
when she was younger. She turned towards the Kougra and said, “Because you needed
it.” She fluttered away in a cloud of orange sparkles.
That day in the Royal Palace of Faeries, a messenger fluttered to the Faerie
Queen. “Your most high majesty, someone has broken one of our laws!”
She turned to face the messenger and replied, “Well, that doesn’t usually
happen. Which one did they break?”
“A Fire Faerie showed her face to someone she helped, your highness. You may
remember that this law was passed before you took the throne.”
“Yes…” the Faerie Queen muttered. “I never did like that law. It’s rather
pointless. I mean, what harm can come if she shows her face?”
“Why, it can put us all in danger! I don’t exactly know how, but… it was something
that the Great Faerie decreed. She now serves as the highest judge in the Grand
Courthouse of the Sky… the only judge, as well. She’s very powerful--”
“Yes, yes, I know.” The young queen had only come into rule four years ago,
and if she went against a law made by the Great Faerie, there would be a risk
of uprising among the Faeries. She wasn’t about to let this happen. “All right,
then… punish her, I suppose…” The queen walked away slowly, fearing that she
may have made a grave mistake.
The messenger flew to a dark room and pulled a velvet cord. A low bell sounded,
and an old Faerie flew slowly into the room. “Did it work?” she said in a raspy
voice.
“Yes, oh great one. That foolish girl they call a queen fell for it. You know,
this is rather risky. That is to say, um, I mean, not that you have made an
error in your plan; it’s just that… this is a crazy plot!”
The old Faerie laughed evilly, and said, “This is all part of the plan; did
you forget? Ah, so forgetful. I shall tell you again, since you seem to have
a lapse of memory. This Kira girl is a good friend of the queen. Once the queen
sees that it is her childhood friend that is being sentenced, she’ll beg to
have her set free. That is, I’ll give her a choice: She can either risk changing
the law which will most assuredly cause an uprising among all Faeries on account
of treason and law-changing, or she can concede the crown to… ME!!! No doubt,
she’ll choose the latter. The crown is as good as mine! Finally, I, the Great
Faerie, will return to my rightful place, the royal throne!” The old Faerie
laughed again. “The trial is tomorrow in the Grand Courthouse of the Sky. I
simply can’t wait!”
The next day, in the Grand Courthouse of the Sky, Kira was brought before
the Great Faerie. Kira stood in the very center of the courtroom, her hands
magically fastened to a post. She looked around herself nervously. The trial
had begun.
The Great Faerie cleared her throat and began, “Rule number 3912 of being
a Faerie is stated as this: ‘A Faerie must never show her face to those she
helps, excepting those who are released from bottles and may bless the pets
who release them.’ As I recall, Kira, you outright broke this rule. In doing
so, you have endangered yourself and everyone else in Faerieland.”
“But,” Kira protested, tears in her eyes, “He would have drowned--” The jury
gasped, for Kira had just doubted the Great Faerie’s judgment. The Great Faerie’s
eyes flashed in cold anger, and threw a chill down Kira’s spine.
“Kira, for this you shall be punished. Not only for breaking rule number 3912,
but also for doubting my superior judgment. You are hereby sentenced to an undisclosed
period of time in confinement, and also, you must wear this.” She brought forward
a metal mask that fitted over a Faerie’s face, exposing only the eyes, nose,
and mouth. “First, we must petition the queen… to make sure that she passes
supreme judgment.” This should be easy, thought the Great Faerie. The
Faerie Queen stepped forward to make the final decision.
“I rule that—oh, my goodness, is that you, Kira?” she said, rushing to her
friend. “This can’t be happening! Great Faerie! I must talk to you!”
“Of course, your majesty…” the Great Faerie said with an evil smile. They
stepped behind a curtain.
“That’s my best friend! I can’t do this to her!”
“Your best friend… why, the thought never occurred to me…”
“Oh, I cannot banish her to a mask! What must I do?”
The Great Faerie smiled with an evil glint in her cold, black eyes and said,
“Well, you could always revoke the law, you know… make it not a law anymore,
or… well… there’s only one more option…”
“What? What is it? Oh, I’ll do anything!”
“Concede the crown to me.”
“What?” the queen replied in shock, her eyes wide in disbelief.
“Yes… give me the crown, make me the queen, and I will make sure she is set
free… and all the people will be happy. What do you say, your highness?”
The young queen sighed. “I must do what is right. I cannot go back on the
law, even if it is not one I have set on my own. I must banish her to the mask.”
“WHAT? Uh, that is to say, my queen, that, uh…”
“I must do what I must do.” She stepped in front of the curtain and faced
the crowd, who were waiting to hear Kira’s fate. The young queen said, choking
back tears, “Give her the mask!”
“Noooooo!” Kira screamed. The cold metal clung to her face and glowed. She
clawed at her face and tried to get it off, but it was no use. Her tortured
cries filled the courtroom. “Aaaaaaaugh!”
***
Back in the cold cell, a tear fell from Kira’s eye and ran down the tarnished
metal of the mask. She looked outside the bleak window at two Acaras walking
down the road, wearing thick coats. When they passed her cell window, they whispered
to each other, “That’s the one that’s been banished to a mask!” Kira shivered
again, and tried to keep warm, but it was nearly impossible, for the cold was
almost unbearable, and it was nearing the winter months. Soon, she drifted off
to a weary sleep.
She awoke the next morning to a strange sound. It was a whimpering sound,
and it came from outside the window. Gingerly, Kira stood and crept closer to
the sound. Through the bars, she saw a young Uni crying in the streets. “There,
there,” she called softly. “What's wrong?”
“They’re coming! They’re coming!” the yellow Uni sniffed. “They’re going to
take me away!”
“Hush, now,” Kira crooned. “Who is?”
“There’s a group of Grarrls who are after me.” The Uni stopped talking only
to cry a bit. Then, she said, “Why do you wear a mask?”
“It’s a long story. All right, there, young Uni. What is your name?”
“Tamir. They’re after me, oh, they’re after me!”
“Now, now, just calm down, and listen carefully,” the Faerie said. “If you’ll
help me out of here, I will help you with the Grarrls. Deal?”
The Uni thought for a while, pondering with her large, luminous eyes before
she said, “Ok, if you promise!”
“All right. Now, can you get me a few things?” The Uni nodded, and Kira continued,
“I need a few good matches, and a small ring, ok?”
“I’ll be right back!” Tamir said, scampering off. In a few moments, she returned
with the matches and ring. She passed them through the iron bars of the window
to Kira, who took them gratefully. She set fire to the ring and put it on her
right hand. She struck the second match and lit the tips of her wings, and the
fire glowed throughout them. Finally, she lit a third match and swallowed it.
Kira blew on the iron bars, melting them completely. Tamir looked at her in
awe.
“Ok,” Kira said, climbing out of the cell. “Where are the Grarrls?”
“There. Coming over the hill!” Tamir looked at Kira with fear in her eyes
and said, “Do you have a plan?”
“I think so,” said Kira.
A few moments later, the thunder of many Grarrls could be heard, and a herd
of the dinosaur-like Neopets hurtled over the hill. The ground shook like there
was an earthquake, and the creatures trampled everything in their path. It was
a horrifying sight.
“I’m scared--” trembled Tamir.
“Shh... they’ll hear us,” whispered Kira from atop her back. “Be ready to
jump on my signal.”
“TAAAMIIIIIR!!!” shouted the lead Grarrl, a big, black one. “We know you’re
around here somewhere! Show your face!” He paused, and then growled, “Nobody
gets away with stealing from us!!”
“You stole from them?” Kira breathed.
“It was only a bite of a Green Pepper Omelette. I was starving!” Tamir whispered
back.
“Wait...” said a green Grarrl. “Did you hear something?” All of the Grarrls
looked around for Tamir, and she shivered.
“NOW!” yelled Kira, and Tamir, with the Faerie on her back, leapt from the
top of a nearby NeoHome and flew toward the Grarrls. Kira was beating her Faerie
wings along with the Uni’s, making it look like a four-winged Fire Faerie Uni
was flying toward them.
“What in blue blazes is that?!?” yelled the black Grarrl. Kira, unseen by
the Grarrls, placed her ring on the end on Tamir’s horn and tapped it hard.
A huge ring of fire shot out from the ring and surrounded the Grarrls in flames.
Kira then stretched out her hands and rained a fiery shower down on them.
“AUGH! Run away!” yelled the leader, although they couldn’t because they were
surrounded by fire. Soon, the Neopolice came, and Tamir and Kira came down from
the air.
“Why, it’s the Grarramos!” exclaimed the police chief, a gray Lupe. “We’ve
been looking for these guys for a long time! Thank you so much for catching
them! However did you do it?”
The two just shrugged and smiled. Then, another one of the Neopolice members,
a Kacheek, said, “Hey, aren’t you that Fire Faerie that was banished to a metal
mask?” Kira squirmed uncomfortably.
***
Kira was pushed to the stone ground of the cell. She rushed back to the wooden
door. “I was only trying to help! Hey! Is there anyone out there? Hey! Please,”
she said, bursting into tears. “Let me out, please...” She sank to the floor,
dejected. Outside, a celebration was in progress, congratulating Tamir for being
heroic. When Tamir’s glance caught Kira in the cell, her laughter stopped for
a moment. Then, the mayor presented her with a medal and she smiled again. “There’s
no hope for me,” Kira said quietly amidst her tears. As the sky grew darker,
she cried herself to sleep. The early winter winds swirled around the cell.
***
The next day, Tamir was allowed to tour the palace, because she had caught
the Grarramos. The tour guide was a little boring, so Tamir decided to walk
off on her own. As she passed a black curtain, she heard some angry talking.
She looked through a hole in the curtain and saw the Great Faerie talking to
her messenger. She tried to listen in.
“Your grace, you mustn’t blame yourself--”
“I do not! Those stupid Grarramos! I hire them to get rid of someone, and
they go off chasing Unis! I never should have picked such an infamous gang to
do the dirty work. I was sure that the queen would rather forfeit the crown
to me to save her friend! How was I supposed to know she would go all righteous?”
The Great Faerie paced back and forth.
“I fail to understand, master...” the servant questioned.
“The only way I can get the crown now is to get rid of the queen! That’s what
the Grarramos were supposed to do, but they messed up—again!”
“You could always try to convince that group of rabid Kyriis...”
“Are you mad?! And have another mess-up? Bah! I’ll do it myself! Where’s the
dagger I ordered?”
“Right here, your grace.”
The Great Faerie looked at the blade of metal with an evil smile. “Tonight,
when she is just about to go to sleep in the North tower... yes, it’s a perfect
plan! Nothing could possibly go wrong!”
As the Great Faerie walked towards the hole in the curtain, Tamir ran down
the hall. I’ve got to tell Kira! Tamir thought. She ran out of the palace
and down the road until she reached the prison. There was a light dusting of
snow on the ground, and she could see her breath as she rung the bell. “Please,
may I see the Faerie that has been banished to a mask?” She asked. The guard
hesitated before letting her in. He led her to cell #589 and he opened the door.
Tamir shivered as she walked inside. She thanked the guard and waited for him
to leave. Kira lay on the floor in her brown shawl. “Wake up, Kira, I have something
important to tell you!” Kira did not say anything. She simply lay on the floor,
her back to the door. Tamir came closer. It was only then that she noticed that
there were snowflakes all over the shawl and Kira’s wings. She came closer still
and nudged the sleeping Faerie with her furry nose. Kira rolled over, her eyes
open and glazed, frost on her pale face. Tamir screamed. Kira’s body was stiff
and still, and there was a single tear frozen on the cold, metal mask. “Guard!
Come here! Quickly!” The guard rushed in, and seeing Kira, his eyes widened
in horror. “Don’t just stand there! We must rush her to the Healing Springs!”
When the guard looked doubtful, Tamir screamed, “I don’t care if it is against
the rules to take a prisoner out of her cell, just do it!” The guard picked
Kira’s body up and followed the Uni to the Healing Springs.
“Please, you must help her,” Tamir pleaded to the Water Faerie in charge of
the springs.
“I’ll see what I can do,” she said, reluctantly. She placed her hands on the
cold Fire Faerie and felt for signs of life.
While she was examining her, Tamir said anxiously, “Well, is she going to
be all right?”
The Water Faerie looked up at Tamir with very little hope in her blue eyes,
and said, “I’m sorry, but there is nothing I can do. She’s probably been gone
for several hours.” She turned slowly and walked away. The guard left for the
prison, and Tamir was left all alone by the bed of clouds where Kira lay. She
sighed, a tear in her eye, and came closer to the Fire Faerie. She tilted her
horn into Kira’s cold hand and the ring slid off. Then, she turned away sadly
and began to walk away. Thunder rolled in the sky, and it began to get cloudy.
Suddenly, Kira’s finger moved, and the ring began to glow. Rain began to fall,
and the ring burst into flames. Tamir turned back to look at Kira for one last
time, and she halted at what she saw. Kira’s cold wings lit up with fire, and
Tamir gasped. Kira’s skin began to glow once again with life. In a single lightning-quick
movement, Kira’s hand grasped the flaming ring tightly, and she bolted upright.
She gasped for air and opened her eyes of fire, sending a beam of fire from
them. She glowed in the rain.
“Kira!” shouted Tamir, rushing toward her and leaping into her open arms.
“I thought I had lost you!” Kira smiled and hugged the Uni. Tamir paused in
her glee and said, “But there is something important I must tell you. That’s
why I came to the prison in the first place. Then I found you like that, and--”
“Never mind that. What did you want to tell me?”
“The queen is in danger!”
“What?”
“Okay, it all started like this. I was in the palace, taking a tour, when
I heard the Great Faerie talking to her messenger. It seems that when you were
arrested, the Great Faerie was planning on the queen forfeiting the crown to
save you from being banished to the mask! Or, at least, that’s what she said.
She was planning on taking the crown when her plans went bad. The queen decided
to put you in jail. She didn’t think the queen was actually going to do that.”
“Wait, let me get this straight. You’re telling me that the Great Faerie told
the queen that she could save me from getting put in jail if she gave up the
crown to her?”
“Exactly. Now she plans on taking the crown another way--”
“You mean--”
“Well, she would be next in line to rule if anything happened to the queen.”
“Let me guess: she plans on getting rid of the queen so she can get the crown
and rule again.”
“Oh, yes,” Tamir said. “I saw the dagger and everything.
“Dagger? Wow,” Kira said, “this is getting more complicated by the minute!”
“Which is why we have to get over there and save the queen. The Great Faerie
plans on knocking her off tonight!”
The Faerie Queen sat down in front of her diamond mirror and began to brush
her hair. She hummed a little tune as she did. There was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” she said. The Great Faerie swept into the room in a cloud of long
robes. “Oh, this is a pleasant surprise, your honor,” the queen said. “Uh, what’s
wrong? You don’t usually come in here at this time of night.”
“I tried to give you a chance... but now, I must take the crown by force.”
“What are you talking about?” the young queen said with fear in her eyes.
“I was going to exchange the crown for the punishment of your childhood friend,
Kira, but you put her in jail instead. I want that crown... and I shall have
it!”
“You can’t just take it!”
“My, my, my, who ever said anything about taking it?” The queen looked confused,
and the Great Faerie laughed and continued. “As you know, I am next in line
for the throne. If something should happen to the queen,” she said, smiling
evilly, “then I will take over. Let’s just say that the government works too
slowly.” She laughed and pulled the glimmering dagger from one of her long robes.
“Oh,” said the queen, “you wouldn’t dare!”
“But I would dare! This time, I don’t have to worry about those stupid Grarrls
messing up my plans--”
“That was—that was all your doing?”
“You catch on so quickly, your majesty. Now, if there will be no more stalling
or interruptions, let’s get down to business, shall we?” She advanced on the
queen, dagger in her hand. Just as she was about to bring it down, Kira flew
in the window, atop Tamir.
“There’s been a change in plans, your honor!” she shouted. She grasped the
blade before the Great Faerie could bring it down on the queen and melted it
in her hands. Tamir tackled the evil Faerie and pinned her to the ground.
“No! You—how did you get out? Let me up, I say! I must have that crown!”
“Sorry, your honor,” Kira said with a smirk. “This is all for the best, you’ll
see.”
“Guards,” cried the queen. “Arrest this Faerie! Imprison her immediately,
and see that the doors and windows are locked securely.” The guards hauled off
the Not-So-Great Faerie and left the queen in her room with Kira and Tamir.
“I am so sorry, Kira. I should have known what she was up to.”
“No need to apologize, your majesty.”
“Now, about this mask...” The queen looked in her dresser and withdrew a tiny
key. She fit it into a hole in the side of Kira’s mask and twisted it slowly.
She and Tamir stood back to watch. The mask glowed like Kira’s eyes, and slowly
fell off. Kira gasped and felt her face. She slowly walked over to the queen’s
diamond mirror and looked. She put her hands to her face, surprised to feel
flesh instead of cold metal.
“I—I had forgotten what I looked like.”
“Kira, won’t you come to the Grand Courthouse of the Sky for a formal renouncement
of your punishment?”
“Yes, I will!”
***
“Thank you for coming, everyone. I wish to announce that all charges against
Fire Faerie Kira are hereby forgotten, and she is free!” A cry of joy went up
among the Faeries. The queen continued, “I also want to let everyone know that
she saved my life last night, and in doing so, she saved Faerieland! And so,
because of what she did, I wish to present her with this.” She took the crown
from her head and put it in front of Kira.
“But, your majesty, I don’t deserve this! I did nothing at all!”
“Your bravery shows that you are fit to serve as the Faerie Queen; fitter
to serve than I.” She placed the shimmering crown on Kira’s head and bent down
on one knee. One by one, every Faerie in the courtroom bowed as well.. Kira
looked around the courtroom at her new subjects, and smiled.
***
Kira was a kind and just ruler, the best of the best. She served for many,
many years, with the original queen as her advisor and with Tamir as her friend
and handmaiden. The world of Faerieland had never been more prosperous. | 
