Girls' Night Out

     “Heh, thanks, Talinia. That Bruce sure had a strong arm on them.” Grinning wickedly, the Acara bent down, rolled a snowball in her mittened hands, and hurled it into the fray. The Bruce laughed uproariously as they hid behind a tree to dodge the snowball and waved at the Acara and the Eyrie as they walked past.

     “You’re not so bad yourself, Mipsy,” Talinia remarked. “You must be a snowball fight veteran.”

     “My cousin’s better, she usually had my back on snow days back in Meridell.” Mipsy glanced at a display of colourful coats in a fancy-looking shop. “Ooh, look at this red one with the pockets! It even has a matching cap – “ Her face fell when she saw the price tag. “What do you mean, this costs thirty thousand Neopoints?”

     “Don’t you already have a serviceable coat? Besides the one you’re wearing. The maroon one.”

     “But this one is pretty, don’t you think? Maybe I just want a pretty-looking coat.”

     Talinia furrowed her brow and stared at the coat. “It is pretty, but can you fit it into your luggage? And wouldn’t it be too heavy to carry?”

     Turning to look at her, Mipsy said with a wink, “I have my ways, and I’ll just have Rohane carry it for me.”

     A fleeting smile crossed the Eyrie’s face. “Very funny. Come on, there’s a store down this street that you might like. You did say you wanted to buy a new pouch for your wand and your other magical items.” She gestured for Mipsy to follow her. “Speaking of Rohane, I…he’ll be fine on his own, right? He really took a beating from that battle with Kolvars.”

     “He’ll be fine. He said so himself and even told us to have fun, remember?”

     “I don’t know, he seems like the type to say he’s fine when he isn’t.”

     The Blue Acara stifled a laugh. “You’re not wrong.”

     “Here’s the shop,” said Talinia, pointing to a homey little shop with a faded sign shaped like a purse and an old wooden statue of a Tuskaninny raising a hand in greeting. “The last time my family was in Happy Valley, my sisters and I found this place and got new knapsacks.”

     * * *

     “Aw, that’s too bad,” said the Scratchcard Kiosk Wocky, “you could’ve had five thousand Neopoints!”

     Mipsy sighed. “But can I scratch the rest of the spaces? See if this could’ve been a winning card?”

     “Go ahead, but it won’t count.”

     While Mipsy started scratching what was left of the card, Talinia got started on another one, and the Acara whispered to her, “Are you sure the scratchcards aren’t rigged?”

     Talinia chuckled softly. “Of course not. I won a prize years ago.”

     “What was it?” After scowling and chucking her card into the nearest trash bin, Mipsy leaned in closer to watch the archer scratch the card.

     “Magical snowballs.”

     “Oh.”

     “Aren’t you at least interested in how they work? How they infuse magic into the snowballs and ensure that they don’t melt?” The Green Eyrie took one look at her card, shrugged, and tossed it into the bin as well. “All I got were empty spaces.”

     Mipsy flapped a hand dismissively. “That’s beginner mage stuff. You learn that in first year. How to keep snow and ice from melting quickly, and how to enchant them and turn them into weapons.”

     “Can you do that…on my bow, or on Rohane’s sword?”

     “I could, but it’s a bit of work when doing it on actual weapons. Steel in particular can be resistant to certain types of magic, and you likely have to be an archmage to do it successfully.” The Blue Acara reached up and patted Talinia’s shoulder. “Both of you don’t need it, anyway. You’ve probably been shooting arrows since before I went to university.”

     Talinia focused on a second scratchcard. “Well…you’re not wrong. I learned archery soon after I learned to fly. Since we live in a remote village higher up on Terror Mountain, we all had to learn how to hunt and fight immediately. Though one of my brothers is really good with a battle axe, and one of my sisters favors a large wooden staff. Victoria was always Master Boreas’ favorite.”

     “Looks like you’re the scratchcard kiosk’s favorite,” said Mipsy, pointing to the card and bouncing with excitement. “That’s three, isn’t it?”

     “So it is!” The Scratchcard Kiosk Wocky crowed, suddenly appearing next to them. “Congratulations, you just won an Ice Shard Bow!” As quickly as she had come up to them, she thrust an ornate bow that resembled a pair of wings hewn from ice into Talinia’s hands.

     “Wow.” The Green Eyrie smiled, examining the bow and the matching quiver full of arrows that looked more like, well, ice shards. “This is…certainly better than snowballs. And I was shopping for a new bow – wait, is this only going to be able to fire these ice shards?” Nevertheless, she slung the bow and quiver over her shoulder, next to her own bow and arrows. “Thank you, Miss – er – “

     But the Scratchcard Kiosk Wocky had already moved toward a curious Mynci forking over some Neopoints. Mipsy and Talinia traded a look as they stepped out of the kiosk.

     “Business must be booming,” said the Acara.

     “I told you, the Scratchcard Kiosk isn’t rigged. So, where do we go next?”

     As the two of them started down a path toward a plaza surrounded by cafes, a disheveled Christmas Uni galloped up to them, out of breath and bearing a dagger over his left flank.

     “Oh, there you are, Talinia! I heard you were in town…and is this Mipsy?”

     “Who’s this?” Mipsy whispered.

     “Good evening, Mister Kyallan,” said Talinia. Then she turned to the Acara and added, “Mister Kyallan is a friend of my parents and one of the town elders of Happy Valley.”

     The Uni shook his head. “Never mind that now. I’m glad you’re here, because I need your help. While they were tidying up the Advent Calendar, a monster from the woods barged into it, an Angry Snowbeast…we got everyone out just in time, but now the Angry Snowbeast is running loose inside the Advent Calendar!”

     * * *

     “So much for our girls’ night out,” grumbled Mipsy as she and Talinia stepped into the Advent Calendar through the broken door, their boots crunching through fallen chunks of wood that seemed to be torn from the walls. The Blue Acara lit her wand and searched for a light switch.

     “You know we can’t say no. And not just because I know Mister Kyallan, or because he’s a town elder.” Talinia stiffened, her hand reaching up for her bow. “Did you hear that?”

     “Yeah, shouldn’t be hard to find our Angry Snowbeast, then. Ready? I’m switching on the lights.”

     With the tip of her wand, Mipsy hit the switch, and bathed the interior of the Advent Calendar in light. She and her companion saw the contraptions and conveyor belts that normally came alive one month in every year, but at this time, they were quiescent, casting shadows over the floor, the empty crates, and mangled old toys. But something else cast a shadow – a moving, stomping shadow that drew closer and closer.

     “Snowbeast!” she cried, and let a blast like a firework explode from her wand. The Angry Snowbeast shrieked and shielded its face before charging forward and chasing her. “Talinia, help!”

     The Green Eyrie had flown up to the top of a machine covered entirely in canvas, the Ice Shard Bow in her hands. She frowned, taking aim as the Angry Snowbeast continued its rampage, grabbing boxes and hurling them at Mipsy, who would either scream and run, or fire more spells that reduced cardboard to ash – or both, at the same time, leaving scorch marks on the walls and floor.

     “Where’s Rohane when you need him?”

     “Wait, Mipsy, can you keep the Snowbeast there? Right there. Slow it down!”

     “It doesn’t look like it’s slowing down!” The mage flung herself onto the machine where Talinia was, clinging for dear life.

     Talinia pointed the Ice Shard Bow and shot her icy ammo right into the Snowbeast’s face. The monster howled in pain, wiping the already melting ice from its face, only to get a handful of even more ice shards, which it shook from its fingers, while she reached out to help Mipsy up onto her vantage point.

     “You’re right, though,” the Green Eyrie said, shaking her head. “We don’t have a frontliner this time. Not to mention, Rohane would have thought of a plan by now.”

     “Can’t you think of one, Talinia? You’re not so bad at plans yourself.”

     After running out of ice shards, Talinia drew her own bow.

     “I’ll draw its attention while you bind it with a spell. That way, you can concentrate.” She launched herself from the top of the machine, the force creating a small gust of wind that blew into the Angry Snowbeast’s face, causing it to roar and grumble as it stared at her. Then it grabbed the remains of a King Altador Leg Lamp and threw it at her, prompting Talinia to veer away in the air and fire an arrow, which grazed the Snowbeast’s hand.

     Meanwhile, Mipsy clutched her wand and stood there, watching as the Angry Snowbeast flung more old toys at Talinia, who avoided them by somersaulting and at one point soaring through the Advent Calendar rafters.

     Then the Blue Acara took a deep breath and shouted, “Petrify!”

     A hazy light emanated from her wand, striking the Snowbeast before it could pick up a large crate and causing it to slow down before freezing while it was bent over on the floor.

     Talinia nocked a somewhat oversized arrow to her bow and fired. The arrow launched a large metal net with weights over the Angry Snowbeast, pinning it down as it screeched and struggled before finally passing out, unmoving.

     “Yes!” Mipsy pumped her fist with her wand. “We did it!”

     “And,” said the Eyrie, “I think that was part of the fun of our girls’ night. That was the first time we fought together, just the two of us.”

     “Oh, you’re right!” The Acara’s eyes widened, and she clapped her hands. “Guess we didn’t need Rohane after all!”

     Shaking her head and chuckling, Talinia said, “Don’t let him hear you say that. Anyway, after we tell Mister Kyallan that we’ve captured the rogue Angry Snowbeast, I think we still have time for that café we saw yesterday. The Jiving Jinjah, right?”

     Mipsy looked at her, eyes sparkling. “We’re continuing girls’ night?”

     “Who said we stopped having a girls’ night?”

     The End.