Taelia’s Sick Day

     Taelia was cold. Ironic, given she was THE Snow Faerie. But not just that, she had come down with a cold. Which Snow Faerie gets colds?!

     Even under her thick wool coat, Taelia shivered. Since she couldn’t find her usual cures D’achoo, or Neoflu Jelly pills, she felt helpless. Even her magic wasn’t working like usual. She wondered if she had contracted some other sort of magical disease. Her runny nose hadn’t stopped dripping all day, and between that and the constant sneezing, she’s almost run out of tissues. She’ll need to remember to add tissue boxes to her list of items to request from eager quest-goers. But for now, she’s closed her igloo doors and turned away all Neopians who had travelled up to Terror Mountain to visit the reclusive Snow Faerie for a quest. She didn’t want anyone catching whatever she had.

     It had been two days of misery, coughing and sneezing. Taelia was tired. She was down to her last Neggdrop Soup, thankful for the items quest-goers had given her. But what she really wanted now was some Chicken Dumpling Soup. In the past weeks, whenever she had requested this item, Neopians never returned. Most of them cringed whenever they heard her say “Chicken Dumpling Soup”, as if they were allergic and fled Terror Mountain as soon as they turned and left. Some did return eventually, spewing apologies and begging for another quest. When she questioned them, they gave the excuse of “inflation”. How much could some soup inflate?

     But Taelia wasn’t going to harp on that. She was the famous Snow Faerie who specialised in alchemy. If she wanted some Chicken Dumpling Soup, she could make it herself easily. No cold nor inflation was going to stop her.

     So despite her weary body, Taelia pushed herself off the comfort of her cosy blankets and headed to the kitchen. Cooking was basically alchemy, right? How hard could it be?

     ——

     She was wrong. Taelia wiped a spot of flour off her cheek (not realising that it only made the spot bigger since her fingers are also covered in flour), and sniffled. Flour highlighted her black hair. The kitchen looked like a blizzard had passed, and Taelia dreaded having to clean this up. On her first attempt, she added sugar instead of salt to the mix. On the second, she tried using her magic and alchemy, but ended up freezing the dough. Her head was hurting, and her powers wouldn’t cooperate.

     Third time’s the charm, she thought, as she scooped two cups of flour into another bowl. But before she could proceed to the next step, she sneezed. Three times.

     That’s where she currently stood, by the kitchen counter, a mess of flour all over, and snot on the raw dumpling dough. She was thankful her favourite coat was white.

     Taelia sneezed again. Her eyes were watery, but she couldn’t rub them with flour all over her fingers. Everything was terrible. Why did it have to be Chicken Dumpling Soup that inflated? Why couldn’t it have been Celery Salad or Zafara Gruel?

     Her head began to spin. She washed her hands in defeat and slumped back to the comforts of her bed. If she couldn’t even get dumplings right, she wasn’t going to try the soup part. Alchemy and magic always came easily to her, and cooking, too, most of the time. But not in this state. She grabbed a tissue and blew her nose for the thousandth time that day, before tossing it to the corner of the room. Perhaps she could sleep it off. Cleaning the kitchen would have to wait till she got better. No one was coming into her igloo to judge anyway.

     With her coat still on, she snuggled under the covers with her blanket. Inhaling deep icy breaths through her mouth since her nose was blocked, she slowly drifted to sleep.

     Just as she was about to lose herself in blissful slumber, loud banging reverberated throughout her igloo. Taelia was yanked back to her cold reality by the noise coming from her door. Didn’t Neopians see the big “NO QUESTS” sign she hung up? She pushed off the warm quilt and shuffled to the door with a grumble.

     “I’m not… giving out any quests now!” Taelia said with a cough, hoping that her voice would carry through her door to whoever was across.

     “TAELIA IT’S US! MIKA AND CARASSA!! OPEN UP!”

     Taelia opened the door just slightly, not wanting the icy Terror Mountain air to blow in, and also so the two Chias couldn’t peek into the mess she had made inside.

     “Mika, Carassa…” Taelia coughed again. Her voice was giving out by the moment. “I’m not doing too well today. Can you come back next week?” She was about to shut the door when the hand of a blue Chia gripped the door.

     “Taelia! You sound terrible! We heard from the Neopians visiting our Igloo Garage Sale that you’ve been out for a few days now, and we got worried!” Carassa shouted through the small gap.

     Carassa’s loud voice buzzed in Taelia’s ears, making her head hurt more. “It’s just cold… I’ll be fine tomorrow,” Taelia assured, though she didn’t believe her own words. Her cold had drained her of the small strength needed to close the door on the two Chias. Mika pushed the door open, and the two of them stepped in. Taelia’s pride as The Snow Faerie of Terror Mountain crumpled like a nasty used tissue as Mika and Carassa looked around her igloo. “I’ll clean it up when I’m better… The two of you should go, I don’t want the two of you catching whatever I have…”

     Completely ignoring what she said, Carassa grabbed Taelia by the shoulders and guided her towards her bed. “Mika! Clean up the kitchen while I bring Taelia to bed!”

     “On it!” The Blue Chia was already in the kitchen, stacking the used mixing bowls in the sink.

     Taelia was rather helpless in the situation as Carassa pushed her towards the bed. Her legs hit the side of her bed, and she fell headfirst onto her pillow, world spinning. Carassa fluffed the pillow and pulled the blankets up to Taelia’s chin. “Just rest now, and we’ll take care of the rest, alright?”

     If Taelia wasn’t coughing and her head wasn’t spinning, she might have felt embarrassed that she was being taken care of by the other Neopets. Mika and Carassa were good friends and long-time neighbours on Terror Mountain, but it didn’t feel right for Taelia to ask for their help even when she needed it. For now, she closed her eyes and listened as Carassa joined Mika in the kitchen, the two of them speaking quietly in hushed tones as they cleaned up the mess. Before Taelia fell asleep, she thought about how she could repay the Chias for their kindness.

     ——

     Taelia woke to the smell of soup. As she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she slowly got up from the bed and went to the kitchen. Carassa stood by the stove, a pot of Chicken Dumpling Soup bubbling merrily. Taelia immediately felt her spirits lift. Her icy counter sparkled, not a single speck of flour or dough in sight.

     “You’re up! Just in time! Mika went back to watch the Igloo Garage Sale, but he brought over all the Chicken Dumpling Soups we had! We figured that’s what you were trying to make from the mess earlier. Oh, and he also brought more boxes of tissue for you, and different cures that might help.”

     Taelia flushed in embarrassment, thinking of the two Chias cleaning up after the mess she made. Carassa didn’t seem to mind at all. She hummed as she happily scooped some soup into a bowl. “Here, eat up!”

     Taelia sat at the counter with the bowl of soup. It smelled amazing. This was what she dreamt of. The first bite warmed her body and filled her empty stomach. She didn’t want to eat too fast, with Carassa watching her, but Taelia hadn’t eaten anything all day, and her tired body now begged for energy.

     “Oh, Tarla also came by while you were asleep and sends her well wishes along with a Pretty Bouquet!” Carassa gestured to the bouquet in a glass vase on the table.

     “Thank you so much for all this, truly. It’s kind of embarrassing to be looked after like this, but I really appreciate it,” Taelia said. She smiled at the Yellow Chia and hoped her sincerity showed, past her rough voice and stuffy nose.

     “Don’t mention it, Taelia!” Carassa beamed at her. “We’re neighbours! And if you ever need anything, just let us know! We’ve got everything, really.” She emphasised the last line, and Taelia didn’t doubt that the two Chias had everything in their Igloo. “Well, I won’t intrude any longer! Mika must be getting tired restocking the igloo all alone. There’s more soup on the stove. I’ll pop by again tomorrow to check in on you, so get some rest!”

     Carassa waved goodbye, and Taelia was left alone in her igloo. She finished the bowl of soup and went back to bed. For the first time since she fell ill, Taelia felt warm. She was glad she lived up here in Terror Mountain, next to kind Neopians who helped her without wanting anything in return. And maybe being taken care of once in a while wasn’t so bad. She always asked Neopians for help with gathering items, so what’s so different about needing help from those closest to her?

     With a smile on her face and a stomach full of Chicken Dumpling Soup, Taelia fell asleep for the night, knowing that tomorrow she would definitely feel better.

     The End.