The Search for the Tooth Faerie: Part Three

We arrived at the Poogle Races only moments before the next race.

      "We better place a bid quickly," Dewdrop snapped. "Let's go look at the contestants!"

      Dewdrop and Strife had run off ahead even before I had a chance to react. I followed to see them making their choices and looking through their bags for a snack to feed them.

      "I thought we were going to look for the Tooth Faerie, not bet on the Poogles," I said as I finally caught up.

      "We are doing…um…research." Dewdrop smiled.

      "Yeah." Strife giggled. "We are seeing if this game would be a great choice for the Tooth Faerie. We won't know if we don't play it."

      "You've played it before," I said, a little hurt. "Don't you remember?"

      "We do," Strife said, pulling out a Melowhirl. "It's just been a long time so we don't remember what it was like."

      "Here you go, Poogle Two," she whispered. "Maybe it'll help you float over any bumps on the track so you won't get distracted this time."

      "And I'm giving Poogle Four a Funnydew Melon so he won't get thirsty," Dewdrop said as she handed it over.

      "Isn't he getting a little old to be racing?" Strife teased. "I wouldn't bet my Neopoints on him."

      "It doesn't matter how old he is," Dewdrop reasoned. "Any Poogle wearing my favorite color is good enough to get my bet."

      "Are you feeding your Poogle something?" Strife asked as she looked over at me.

      "I think I'll just sit this one out," I replied and took a seat in the stands.

      We forgot all about Faerie Bubbles and Fyora's Quest, I thought as I saw a passing light faerie in the stands. I didn't want to continue thinking of all the other places to visit. There were many places left to look at and the day was quickly going by.

      I took a moment to look around; a lot of faeries were present in the arena, but no Tooth Faerie.

      Strife and Dewdrop came back, and neither looked happy. "I guess that means your Poogles didn't win?"

      "No," Dewdrop mumbled. "But at least mine placed third!"

      "Just because mine stopped right before the finish line," Strife sighed.

      "That doesn't matter." Dewdrop beamed. "What matters in a race is that you finish, and the Poogle I picked came in third."

      Strife conceded, then her ears perked up again. "Speaking of races, why don't we try Faerie Cloud Racers next!"

      "That sounds great!" Dewdrop cheered. "We can play against each other, and I can show you I'm not only good at picking out Poogles, I'm good at picking out cloud racers as well!"

      "You wish!" Strife shouted back. "You only got lucky with the Poogles, you won't have nearly as much luck in the cloud racers."

      "Isn't the Tooth Faerie one of the options you have in the game?" I asked, hopeful that we may have found our first clue.

      "Yeah," Strife replied. "That's right! You can choose the Tooth Faerie in that game. I'll wrap you in a trail of smoke so thick you will know for sure the Tooth Faerie is real!"

      "You're just forgetting one thing," Dewdrop teased Strife right back. "You have to avoid the trail of smoke I've wrapped around you first."

      I sat back and watched as Strife and Dewdrop walked off again. It didn't seem to me that they were even worried about the Tooth Faerie anymore. They weren't fighting and getting along great now, and for me, that's what was important.

      I decided to leave them for the moment and let them enjoy their fun together. I, at least, was still curious about the Tooth Faerie. So, I decided to take a nice, leisurely walk inside the city, knowing that whatever my pets were up to, I would be able to catch up with them before nightfall.

      I was hoping to run into Fyora and seek her advice. I knew my chances were as slim at finding her as they were myself having a lucky streak in Poogle Racing. So I thought that if I may be able to find Fyora, then we might be able to find the Tooth Faerie later. I didn't know the best way to do that though. I had heard that Fyora was the Tower Guardian, but I never could find the Hidden Tower. Perhaps today was a good day to start looking.

      I had more luck running into Strife and Dewdrop than I did Fyora or the Hidden Tower (which is one of the reasons I decided to walk slowly. Can you imagine running face first into a Hidden Tower? Ouch!). It turns out they were having a wonderful time together. I got bits and pieces out of them that they both managed to smoke each other in Faerie Cloud Racers, though depending on who you talked to, the true winner changed. They had tried the Wheel of Excitement and seemed to make out well enough that they were able to make another trip to Faerie Foods (though apparently didn't do well enough to invite me along). They played Faerie Bubbles and outdid my high score, which I pretended to care about but really only cared that they did it together. They had forgotten all about their argument and were too busy enjoying each other's company to even ask what I was up to.

      That is, of course, until they ran out of Neopoints. Only then did they want to know what I was up to.

      "I'm searching for the Hidden Tower," I replied.

      "Searching for it?" Dewdrop raised an eyebrow. "You mean you don't know where it is?"

      "I hope you haven't wasted too much time looking for it," Strife added.

      "What do you mean?" I asked, slightly confused, but I already knew what the answer would be.

      "If you wanted to know where the Hidden Tower was, all you had to do was ask one of us!" Dewdrop sighed. "Follow me, I'll take you right to it. Next time, don't wait so long to ask us!"

      I could hardly believe my ears. If I wasn't walking on clouds, my feet would have been killing me, and all this time the location of the Hidden Tower was no secret at all to my pets.

      So, I did the only thing I could do: swallow my pride and follow Dewdrop and Strife around Faerieland to the location of the Hidden Tower. We walked up what seemed like a never-ending staircase and just as I was about to turn back, Strife opened a door and waved me inside.

      "Welcome," Fyora said.

      "Um…hi," I almost whispered. I had heard a great many things about the Faerie Queen, though in all my years on Neopets I had not actually met her.

      She could either sense my nervousness, or lack of Neopoints, and gently smiled and said, "No, I don't do loans!!! But you are free to look around for a future purchase."

      "Oh! We aren't hear to buy anything," I blurted out. "We're here to find the Tooth Faerie."

      "The Tooth Faerie?" she repeated, a little surprised. "Well, she is in Faerieland, but she's not here in the tower."

      Then she turned to my pets, leaned forward and gently told them, "And, if you are here because you lost a tooth, you don't need to find the Tooth Faerie. Give her some time and she will find you!"

      "The Tooth Faerie already visited me," Strife told Fyora. "Earlier, though, Dewdrop and I got into an argument over..." She paused for a moment and glanced at Dewdrop. A little white lie wouldn't be inappropriate in front of the Faerie Queen, would it? "Over where she lived. She visited when I was taking a nap and I wanted to see her and thank her."

      Fyora smiled, "You don't need to thank her, she does it because she is grateful you are letting her take your teeth. You might not have any need for them, but the Tooth Faerie has a lot of uses for them, though I cannot share those uses with you. I made a promise to her long ago I would keep her secret safe."

      "Will you tell us where she lives, then?" Dewdrop asked, still hoping at least a little to know where she lived.

      "I cannot tell you that either, I'm afraid," Fyora replied. She noticed the disappointed looks on both Strife's and Dewdrop's faces and then added, "But I will let you know that the secret to her home is near and more visible than this tower in Faerieland."

      Strife and Dewdrop nodded, and came next to me again, which I knew meant it was time to go. We traveled down the long staircase (though it was much easier on the way down) and were about to embark on the journey home, certain there was indeed a Tooth Faerie, but most importantly that we were a happy family again.

      We were just about to leave Faerieland when Strife noticed a little blue dot next to the city. "What's that over there?"

      I had never noticed it before, and we all went together to investigate. It was a discarded Blue Grundo Plushie.

      "How sad," I said. "Someone lost it here."

      "No," Strife whispered. "He's not lost."

      "He's here for a reason," Dewdrop added.

      Strife and Dewdrop nodded to each other, and Strife took out her thank you card and put it next to the plushie, and Dewdrop followed with her own note.

      They sat by the plushie for a moment and then walked next to me. "Can we go home now?" Dewdrop asked.

      "Sure." I smiled and started to guide them back home.

      "Will you take us out on more outings if Dewdrop and I get into arguments?" Strife asked, and Dewdrop and she giggled together.

      I closed my eyes, winced, and then warned them: "Don't get any ideas!"

The End