Anniversaries, and Reflections on Time

     Granted, he supposed that would have been a strange thing to ask. How should he know what he’d be looking forward to a decade out? It wasn’t a milestone birthday for him, or anyone in his family for that matter. Not a particularly significant wedding anniversary, nor one for his career. What else was there to predict, down to a specific year?

     But the thing was, it had now been ten years since the Fall of Faerieland. So while the anniversary of the Fall wouldn’t be for a couple more months, it was still kind of a momentous occasion. The whole “party” atmosphere made it much more cheerful, too.

     Marius paused at the threshold of the festival grounds to take a deep breath. He’d come in from Altador with his family just yesterday, and he was still experiencing a little travel fatigue. He needed a moment to just… savour it.

     “Dad?” Marius could hear the impatience in his daughter’s voice, and he opened his eyes to see her bouncing on the balls of her feet. Camilla was getting to be that age – right on the cusp of teenager-dom, when she was still too energetic to stay still for long and now independent enough to let her parents know it.

     “Dad, let’s go in already!” she continued, her yellow ears twitching with impatience.

     Marius chuckled. “What, can’t let an old man be nostalgic for a moment before you run off to have fun?”

     Camilla pouted. She was already taller than him – the great peril of being an average-sized Green Draik with an Acara for a child – but the pout reassured him that she was still his little girl. “You’re not old, Dad.”

     “Can you say that again, dear?” Antonia asked, a playful gleam in her eyes. “I want to make sure I can repeat it back accurately in a few years when you tell us we’re too old to ‘get’ you.”

     Marius laughed again and reached out to give his wife’s hand a firm squeeze. He gestured to let Camilla lead the way.

     The family stepped forward into a world of colour and sound and literal magic. There were the usual festival trappings, of course: game booths, stands selling trinkets and treats, stages for performers here and there. But throughout it all, the faeries’ distinct handiwork was on display. Delicate vines, perfumed with flowers coaxed into blossoming out-of-season by earth magic, climbed pillars and hung over eaves. A babbling brook conjured by water magic ran alongside the main thoroughfare, providing the soothing sight and sound of running water. Motes of soft light drifted through the air, unnecessary until it reached the darkness of evening but bringing their own ambiance even in the light of day.

     Camilla took it all in with open-mouthed wonder, and Antonia’s long Gelert ears twitched at the burble of the flowing stream and chattering festival-goers.

     “I swear the host faeries outdo each other every year,” she said, stopping to inspect a marshmallow-roasting station centred around a bonfire of multicoloured dancing flames.

     “Seems like it,” Marius replied, eyeing Camilla warily as she darted past her mother to get a closer look at the magical fire. She stopped at a reasonable distance, though, and watched it for a few moments before turning toward the beaming Fire Faerie at the marshmallow booth.

     While Antonia went to buy her a couple of mallows for roasting, Marius had a moment to feel… he wasn’t entirely sure what. Sadness? Nostalgia? He came to the annual festival whenever he could – somewhat unusual for a Neopet, or at least one who didn’t live in Faerieland. He had friends that he liked to meet here, most of whom he couldn’t easily see otherwise. But he’d missed the last two Faerie Festivals due to other obligations.

     It felt good to finally be back again, especially for the sort-of tenth anniversary of the Faeries’ recovery from near disaster. And yet, in some ways…

     “The more things change, the more they stay the same,” he muttered to himself, eyeing a vine-draped statue with a smashed wing.

     “Dad, these marshmallows have chocolate in them!” Camilla shouted, running up to him with a half-eaten such treat in hand. “Try one, they’re soooo good!”

     Marius shook off his momentary melancholy and smiled. “Well, with that shining recommendation, how can I say no?” he asked, letting her lead him off once again.

     “Do you remember where we’re supposed to meet your friends, dear?” Antonia asked as the family made its way past booths selling local faerie crafts.

     Marius slowed down a little. “Uhh…” He turned around, casting his gaze at his surroundings, and stopped.

     “I can’t remember where the place is anymore!”

     Antonia frowned. “Are you sure? You said you talked with Pollux about it just last week.”

     Marius huffed, frustrated with himself, and scratched the back of an earfin. “Yes, but we just said the usual pavilion. Should’ve been simple enough, but it’s been three years and they keep moving everything! I don't know if I can tell which pavilion is the usual one now.”

     “Hmm.” Antonia brushed a lock of blond hair back behind her red-furred face. Looking around, she said, “Well, I’m sure that between the two of us, we’ll be able to find it again. We have plenty of time.”

     “Why don’t you just fly up and get a better look at everything?” Camilla asked.

     Marius shook his head. “Too many pavilions in a festival this big and busy. If anything, it will be easier to look at our map.”

     “Captain Marius?”

     Marius blinked and turned from Camilla to see an unfamiliar Air Faerie watching him a little farther down the path. The faerie’s eyes widened upon getting a better look at his face.

     “It is you!” she cried, smiling and inclining her head a little. “It’s an honour to meet you, sir.”

     Marius’s brows raised in bemusement. “Uhh… thanks. You certainly know your random guards,” he remarked half-jokingly.

     The faerie shook her head, still smiling. “You’re hardly random, Captain Marius. Is there anything I can do for you? I give quests, if you or your family would be interested.”

     Marius was starting to feel a bit awkward from the attention by this point. He was thankful when Camilla diverted it by grabbing his arm and hissing, “Dad, Air Faeries give movement blessings! Can I take the quest, please please pleeeease?”

     Marius gave her a scrutinising look. “And just what do you need a movement blessing for, young lady?”

     “It would be really cool!” Camilla insisted. “I want to see how fast I can run with magic, and I bet it’ll last long enough to show off to my friends at school!”

     Marius considered it for a moment, but he trusted her and the blessing would be temporary regardless. It wasn’t a hard decision to make. “Well, I have no objections if your mother doesn’t.”

     Antonia smiled. “I think a quest would be perfect. This is the Faerie Festival, after all.” She turned to the faerie. “What do you need?”

     “All right!” The faerie retrieved a list from her pocket. “Let’s see… Could you get me an Herbal Shampoo? No rush, of course, but there’s a quest station right here in the festival whenever you’re ready! Ask for Azuri.”

     Marius grabbed the paper map he’d picked up near the festival entrance and jotted down the item’s name on the back of it for Camilla. The faerie flew off after one last thanks, and Antonia gave him an amused look.

     “Remind me to get involved in something that will net me worldwide recognition next time,” she teased.

     Marius huffed, his wings twitching a bit. Like himself, Antonia was a high-ranking member of Altador’s Guard, albeit in a different sector. He didn’t consider himself any more special than her.

     “I’m hardly anyone famous,” he insisted. “She probably just knows Lady Siyana or Psellia.”

     “Hmm. You do realize that the fact that we personally know the Council of Eleven is noteworthy in and of itself, right?” Antonia countered.

     Marius waved the comment off, wings twitching again. It wasn’t like most people knew who he was, and he was quite happy with that. Even today. Maybe especially today.

     Besides, he thought to himself as Camilla inevitably dragged him off to check out one of the shop stands, he and his family had a Faerie Festival to enjoy.

     Marius and Antonia still hadn’t found their meeting spot, but he was pretty sure they’d successfully narrowed it down to this part of the festival grounds.

     For the moment, they stood with a gaggle of faeries and scattered Neopets to watch two storytellers perform on stage. They were quite the pair: a Light and Dark Faerie, each contributing illusion magic as well as voice to illustrate lifelike characters and fantastical locales from a legend of ancient Neopia. The story’s heroes were currently climbing a treacherous mountain in search of a wise but reclusive faerie more ancient than Fyora herself, in hopes of finding key information for their quest.

     Camilla was bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Are you sure we won’t find Herbal Shampoo here?” she asked again, her tone anxious. “It’s herbal, there’s gotta be an Earth Faerie who makes that stuff somewhere around here!”

     Antonia gently shushed her. “Yes, but it will be an artisan product that costs much more than what Azuri needs. We can find one at a grooming shop after we’re done at the festival today, just as we planned.”

     Camilla let out a little huff, but nodded and settled down. Marius suppressed a snort. His little girl was growing up fast, but he supposed she was still working on her patience.

     “Behold, I have foreseen the end of your quest!” a voice bellowed, pulling his attention back to the stage. It looked like the heroes of legend had reached the mountain’s peak, and now the Dark Faerie performer was providing the voice for the wise faerie in her cave.

     With a flick of the other performer’s hands, the illusory faerie raised her arms to gesture toward something in the distant sky.

     “The treasure you seek…” the Dark Faerie continued in the grand voice of the wise woman, “You will find it deep within the underclouds of Faerieland!”

     As she spoke, the Light Faerie started casting another illusion. Framed by the character’s outstretched hands, glimmering pink and purple spires took shape in the air. The magic trickled downward, forming the peaks of other buildings, then impossibly fluffy clouds, and finally a cluster of dark crystalline structures jutting out from the bottom. The Dark Faerie contributed to this illusion too, blending light and shadow with her counterpart until an incredibly detailed replica of Faerieland as it once was floated in the air before the crowd.

     All around him, Marius heard little gasps and cries of delight at the intricate illusion. Off to his side, another faerie sighed nostalgically and muttered, “Just like the good old days.”

     Marius fidgeted a little, suddenly uncomfortable in the crowd.

     A Peophin beside the faerie leaned toward her and whispered, “I heard they’re going to cover the Fall after this story.”

     Marius cleared his throat and turned away from the stage. “It’s getting late,” he announced to his family. “We should really figure out where that pavilion is.”

     Antonia glanced between him and the illusionists – back to the main story, now – with a thoughtful frown. “...I suppose it is time, if you’re sure. Come on, Camilla.”

     Together, the three of them spent some time searching around the area for their meeting place. Finally, just as Marius started asking himself whether the sitting area he’d found looked familiar because it was the right one or because he was getting desperate, he spotted a lone Red Skeith sitting at one of the long benches.

     “Pollux!” he called out, waving the Skeith down as he and his family came up to sit at the bench’s opposite side. “You’re here early. Where’s the family?”

     Pollux waved back with a big grin at his approach. “I could say the same about you,” he pointed out. “Rhode and the boys are over at the Cloud Racers. I’m no good with those things and it looked like the kids were going to be a while, so I thought I’d make my way here now so I’m not late. They should be joining us in a little bit.”

     Marius chuckled. “You sure you aren’t just trying to keep those faerie bubbles for yourself?” he teased, nodding down at the bag of treats sitting in front of his friend.

     Pollux laughed and slapped his rotund stomach. “Ah, what can I say? The boys went and inherited their dad’s appetite. I’ve gotta save some, at least.” He turned toward Camilla, and his smile warmed. “There’s still enough to share, Camilla. Want a faerie bubble or two?”

     The young Acara, who’d put her chin in her hand and let her gaze drift off when the adults started talking, perked up at that. “Yeah!” she cried, reaching out to grab a couple treats from the proffered bag.

     Popping one into her mouth, she asked Antonia, “Mom, can we go to the Cloud Racers?”

     “Later,” Antonia replied. “I’m sure the other kids will be here to play with you soon.”

     The small group continued to chat while they waited for the others to show up. Pollux was the only member of their crew that Marius saw on a regular basis, so there wasn’t much to catch up on. But it was a calm, pleasant moment in a lively atmosphere, and he was happy just to relax for the time being.

     When the next member of their little party, Hikaru, joined a few minutes later, everything still felt fairly “normal.” Hikaru had never really settled down and didn’t have a family with him, and Marius soon learned that the old Ogrin had finally retired from his longtime job as a trainer in Shenkuu’s Imperial Guard. Still, he had plenty to tell.

     Then King Altador showed up, the Qasalan royal family in tow, and whatever remained of the illusion that Marius and the others were ordinary festival-goers kind of fell apart. At the least, they now attracted much more attention from the people around them.

     Ah, well. He supposed that a member of the crew that had investigated the faeries’ curse and been most involved in the Fall of Faerieland would never entirely blend in at a Faerie Festival. Or maybe Antonia was just right about him being way too accustomed to knowing royalty.

     “Your Majesty,” he greeted his king with a short bow of the head. Beside him, Camilla stared wide-eyed at King Altador for a moment before hastily bowing as well. Ah, right. At her age, Marius supposed that the three years since she’d last seen these people must have felt like a lifetime ago.

     Altador offered the others a warm smile and took a seat at the bench, to the surprised stares of more than a few Neopians in other parts of the pavilion. “It’s good to see everyone together again,” he said. “My, Camilla, you’ve grown since the last time we met!”

     While Camilla tried to stammer out a response, Marius turned his attention to Jazan, Nabile, and their two daughters. The older one, the Desert Ogrin, was Zuhra, while the Yellow Gelert was Tahira, he recalled. Not that it was a particularly impressive recollection, considering the girls were princesses and all.

     “Camilla’s not the only one, I see,” he commented with a nod toward the girls. “It’s nice to see you, King Jazan, Queen Nabile. Are things going well in Qasala?”

     “As well as they can be, I suppose,” Jazan replied just a bit stiffly. That was common enough for him in the crowds, though Marius privately thought he’d mellowed out a bit in the past several years.

     “The others should be here soon, right?” Nabile asked, looking over the rest of the group as she and her husband sat down. “This must be the first time in ages that we’ve all been able to make a Faerie Festival!”

     Marius cracked a tiny smirk, while nearby, Altador laughed at some joke Pollux had made and Camilla slipped out of her seat to join Zuhra. “At least three years, by my count,” he said.

     “It's only appropriate that we all make it this year,” Hikaru chimed in. “Anniversaries like this one are a good time to remember the past, and to look toward the future. I know I’m happy to share that time with all of you.”

     Marius hummed in vague agreement and checked on the kids with a quick glance. Camilla and Zuhra were showing off the trinkets they’d gotten at the festival to each other, and by the sounds of it, the former had started chattering in excitement about her faerie quest. He was glad that the two girls had managed to find some common ground. Camilla was the only one of the kids who’d been born before the Fall, and even Zuhra, the second oldest, was a few years younger than her.

     Tahira, bouncing around with youthful abandon while the adults talked, was the real surprise. The last time Marius had seen her, she was just a baby.

     …Aaaand now he’d gone and made himself nostalgic again. With a wistful little sigh, he let his gaze drift until it settled on a nearby building that was being used for some festival exhibition or another.

     The building must have been an older one, because it had more than a few visible cracks in it. That just made things worse. He dropped his gaze with a soft snort.

     “Can you excuse us for a moment, please?” Antonia’s voice rang out over the general murmur, and Marius could feel her eyes on him. He turned back just in time for her to take his hand and coax him off of the bench and away from the others.

     Once they were well enough separated from everyone else, she lowered her voice and asked, “Marius, are you okay? You’ve been having these… these moments where you look upset about something all day, especially whenever the Fall comes up.” The skin at the corners of her eyes creased with worry. “Please tell me you aren’t starting to blame yourself for that.”

     Marius winced a little upon hearing that his shifting mood had been so obvious. He reached up to rub the back of his neck. “It’s not that, Toni. These festivals just make me kind of nostalgic. I guess between the gap since the last one we were at and the whole tenth anniversary thing, it’s been stronger this year. It keeps reminding me of how quickly everything changes.”

     He gestured back in the direction of the storytellers’ theatre, which was thankfully too far away for him to see whether they’d moved on to portraying himself and the odd little crew he’d been in ten years ago. “It doesn’t seem so long ago since I was up on one of those stages, getting accolades from Queen Fyora for something I was barely a part of while you watched with little Camilla in your arms.”

     He looked back at the exhibition hall, functional but nevertheless broken. “And yet, it has been that long. And, well… I’d always figured that Faerieland would be back up in the sky by now,” he confessed. “I can’t shake the feeling that we’ve all lost something beautiful forever. I guess being part of the group that failed to stop Xandra in time just makes that feeling a little more personal.”

     “Hmm.” Antonia scrutinised him for a moment. To his surprise, she gave him a wry little smile. “Well, the first thing I want to point out is that our nation managed to come back, and it took a thousand years. I think we can wait and see what happens for a little longer than ten.”

     Marius blushed at her clear point. He let out a snort to hide his embarrassment. “That’s different,” he insisted.

     “Maybe,” Antonia said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “But the other thing is, the faeries are happy, and despite everything that happened back then, their homeland is thriving and at peace. And you did help with that, whether it feels like it or not.”

     Her smile broadened. “So, yes, things can change quickly. Which means we all have a chance to make new beautiful things, whether Faerieland is in the sky or on the ground.”

     Marius managed to crack a smile of his own at that. She was right, of course. But it helped to get a solid reminder every once in a while. He looked back at his friends – all older now, even if King Altador’s faerie blessing meant he aged slower than the others. At the same time, all thriving in their own ways.

     A small figure caught the corner of Marius’ eye, and he turned to see a Kougra toddler running into the pavilion. The child stopped not far from him and watched the table where the others were sitting for a few moments before noticing the nearby Draik. He then turned, waved both hands up at Marius, and shouted, “Hi!”

     For a moment, Marius just stared down at the little Blue Kougra, struck by a vague sense of familiarity. Then he burst out laughing.

     “Well, you must be Cedric!” he cried, kneeling down. “Altador was right, you do look just like a mix of your parents. How’d you go and manage that?”

     “Lucky, isn’t he?” Marius looked up to see a grinning Hanso trailing just behind Brynn as the pair of them caught up to their son.

     Brynn took the younger Kougra’s hand in hers. “Is this really your first time meeting Cedric?” she asked.

     Marius shrugged as he and Antonia followed the three of them back to the meeting spot. “I think the last time I was here, he was too young to come to a festival. I’ve only heard stories.”

     “You’re late,” Jazan observed dryly, one eyebrow raised. “You live here; how in Neopia are you the last ones at the gathering?”

     “Tahira was three last year,” Hanso replied just as dryly. “You tell us.”

     Brynn and Nabile shared a knowing look in response to their husbands’ banter. Then Brynn turned her gaze to Marius and Antonia.

     “Did I hear you two talking about whether Faerieland would go back into the sky earlier?” she asked.

     Marius blinked. “Er, kind of. Why? Do you have any news about that?”

     Brynn folded her arms over the table and shrugged. “Sort of. A lot of people have come to prefer Faerieland down here on the ground, actually. But others would still like to go back. Queen Fyora’s been looking into options for doing a little of both, maybe building a floating city district or something.”

     “She thinks there’s a decent chance that some of the old Faerieland is hiding somewhere up there,” Hanso added, sparing a brief glance back from watching the kids. “It would make things a lot easier if she could find it.”

     Marius cocked his head. “Huh. That does sound like it’d be ideal, if it works.”

     As the group lapsed back into chatter and reminiscence and catching up, with the laughter of the children bubbling around them, he found that he felt comfortable with that assertion. What had happened ten years ago had happened. If those who had been most affected by the Fall could focus on the positives and move forward, then he could too. He’d done the same after Altador’s own crisis, after all.

     The more things changed, the more they really did say the same. And Marius decided he was okay with that.

     The End.