An Altadorian Fyora Day

     “Is she going to be alright?” Jerdana asked, breaking the silence.

     King Altador shrugged a bit and nodded.

     “I think so, just give her some time and space.”

     The three continued to look on at the chair placed on the balcony outside of their chamber. The Faerie Queen could be seen sitting there, shoulders slouched, and hands buried in her face.

     “I thought you talked to her a couple of days ago and she seemed in good spirits,” Seshatia mentioned, wheeling herself closer to the window.

     “Yeah well, she’s not really in the best of moods right now. I think she’s going to need some time alone at the end of each day. The stress of all of this must be taking its toll.”

     “Well, it doesn’t help that there’s an argument every day between Lord Darigan and King Skarl,” Jerdana sighed.

     “Those two certainly don’t help the situation. The scars from their conflict never healed, and neither has Darigan’s land,” replied Altador.

     “Hey isn’t it almost Fyora Day?” Jerdana asked.

     “She’s probably in no mood to celebrate that. The last time we talked, I mentioned if she wanted to return to Faerieland for Fyora Day and she replied with ‘what is there to celebrate?’,” Seshatia commented.

     Altador rested his chin on his right paw as he descended into his thoughts. Moments later, he reemerged from this stance.

     “Perhaps we will bring the Fyora Day celebration to her here. After all, she’s probably too busy to spend time in Faerieland right now.”

     Jerdana pondered this.

     “But we don’t have much of usual celebratory items for Fyora Day. We need Faerie Food, especially Fyora themed food. And we also need decorations.”

     “Hmm, I may have an idea for that. I’ll bet the Faerieland Altador Cup team may be able to help us. I’m sure they have some Fyora Day decorations in their locker room here since they sometimes come here to practice during Fyora Day,” King Altador mentioned.

     “Hmm, I wonder if we don’t have to make strictly Faerie Food. Perhaps Siyana and Psellia know a thing about faerie fusion foods. Maybe we could cook up Altadorian-Faerie Food?” Seshatia suggested.

     A slight smile spread across King Altador’s face. “All of that sounds good. I think we’re going to need to borrow some folks to go accomplish all of this.”

     --

     King Altador stepped into the Altador Cup arena and took a long look around.

     “It’s a shame that there won’t be a cup this year, but also for the greater good. The athletes all decided to volunteer to help save the world from the void,” he said to himself, staring at the empty stands.

     “It does feel a little sad, doesn’t it?” said a gentle voice.

     “It’s probably for the best though,” another voice replied. King Altador turned to find a Faerie Uni and a Faerie Vandagyre standing there.

     “Valtonous, Whimsi, good to see you.”

     “Likewise, your majesty,” the two said in unison, bowing towards the king.

     “Please, just Altador is fine.”

     “Ah, just like Fyora,” Whimsi noted.

     “Shall we proceed?”

     The three of them went down a small little ramp off to the side of the stadium and into the locker rooms for the various teams. They passed by a care facility for Yooyus although it sat empty because there would be no cup this year. Valtonous Rea reached her hoof out and inserted a key into a pink door with the Team Faerieland crest on it. The door opened to a sparkling pink locker room decorated with faerie portraits along with other sights from around Faerieland.

     Everything seemed neatly packed away. However, as they neared a closet door, Valtonous told them to stand back. The door popped open, and a large pile of random stuff tumbled to the floor.

     “Well, some of this is extra equipment, but I bet all you wanted was this.”

     Whimsi Dia unrolled a large poster signed by Queen Fyora with a note that read “Faerieland sends its best regards for the team!”

     “Also, this!” Valtonous pulled out a cardboard cutout of the Faerie Queen, also autographed by her. The rest of the pile contained flags and other team memorabilia.

     “This is all very nice, I think we can use some of this,” King Altador replied. The three of them gathered all the decorations into a box.

     “Oh, and I talked to the team, and they all agreed to travel here for the celebration!”

     “Thank you, Valtonous. Really appreciate the efforts.”

     As King Altador returned with the box of items, Queen Fyora happened to bump into him. The box flew slightly open and a streamer for Team Faerieland popped out and dropped to the floor.

     “Ohhh, I’m sorry Altador. I was looking for you and… hey why do you have Team Faerieland stuff with you?” Fyora said, puzzled by the box.

     “Oh, um, I was doing a bit of cleaning myself and I found surplus Altador Cup things. I need to um, put these away.”

     “Hmm, okay, but I thought the groundskeeper took care of that.”

     King Altador thought quickly and responded with, “The groundskeeper went home sick and so I was doing his work for him, I was-“

     “Huh? I’m not sick, I’m right here!” growled a formidable looking Orange Yurble.

     “You know what? I just decided to do a little cleaning myself. Sorta putting myself in their shoes like a leader should. Anyways, I need to put this stuff away, can we talk later?”

     Fyora narrowed her eyes in suspicion but seemed to back off.

     “I’ll wait for you then, see you in a bit,” she said curtly.

     --

     “I’m not sure if simply adding miniature wings to this is sufficient enough to call this Faerieland-Altador fusion,” Siyana remarked as she watched Psellia attempt to add wings to an Altadorian Ambrosia.

     “Probably not, the wings aren’t even staying on properly,” Psellia sighed.

     “What if we make the frosting pink? And then maybe stick a Candy Fyora Straw through the top?”

     “Everything going alright?” Seshatia asked as she made her way into the kitchen with her crutches before sitting down on stool across from the other two faeries around a marble kitchen island.

     “Oooh, the royal kitchen here is quite nice,” she then remarked.

     “We’re working on the dessert. I think for the main snacks, we’ve decided to go with a Faerie Atladorian Gyro we wrap it with a toasted pink pita and sorta grill on a faerie wings pattern. The inside might be closer to what you’d find in a Faerie Queen Burrito rather than a traditional Gyro. Also, we went with a twist on the Faerieland Gourmet Burger where we use locally sourced cheese and relish. The bun will be shaped like faerie wings,” Siyana began.

     “And finally, we decided to make a Faerieland Lentil Soup. The base will be a Soup Faerie Soup which she generously taught me how to make a while back,” Psellia added.

     “That all sounds wonderful, what’s this about a dessert though?”

     “We want to use the Ambrosia as a base idea but everything we tried just makes it look like something that doesn’t fit well together. And Fyora Day celebrations must feature a dessert!” Psellia replied.

     Before they could continue though, Queen Fyora came through the door.

     “Ah hello, how’s everyone doing?” she greeted.

     “Quick, hide everything…” Psellia whispered.

     Siyana snapped her fingers and the things on the counter all disappeared.

     “What are we whispering about?”

     “Oh, nothing of importance, Fyora,” Psellia replied.

     “Oh really? I could have sworn I saw something on this counter just moments ago.”

     “We made a mess and felt like it’d be rude not to clean it up if you wanted to sit here and chat with us,” Seshatia explained.

     Fyora sat down on a stool next to Seshatia. “Hmm, if you say so.” She clearly sounded sceptical but did not to press further. Her eyes seemed heavy as she stared off into space for a bit.

     “You look tired, should I make you a pot of coffee?” Psellia noted.

     Fyora put her head down on the counter and mumbled a “yes”. She then closed her eyes and tears began to well up again.

     “Fyora, is everything alright?” Seshatia asked as Siyana brandished a box of tissues.

     “No, it isn’t.”

     “You can talk to us,” Siyana said, placing her hand on the Faerie Queen’s shoulder.

     “Nothing is going right with this council. We’ve yet to find any leads or solutions. Calling it was a mistake, clearly, it’s made things worse. Skarl and Darigan argue every day. People from each leader’s lands are getting impatient with the lack of progress. Perhaps we’ve already failed. And silly old me thought it was a good idea to send that crew out there all alone to fend for themselves. What am I doing here? Why did I think I could solve anything?”

     “There, there,” the three faeries said, gently patting Fyora. “I’m sure it’s not a waste. Look, we’ve discovered the culprits at least. That took both the council and the crew working together.”

     “But that was a while ago. We haven’t made any more progress.”

     “Sometimes these things take time, you said it yourself.”

     “I don’t know if I believe what I say anymore.”

     The three other faeries looked at each other, puzzled as to what to say.

     “I think you need a break from thinking about this,” Siyana said gently.

     Fyora wiped her face with a tissue and heaved a sigh.

     “Yes, a break would be nice, but I feel like I have to be doing something.”

     “How about we go for a walk?” the light faerie suggested. Fyora nodded and the two of them strolled out of the kitchen. Once they were out of earshot, Seshatia and Psellia shut the door.

     “We better make sure these Fyora Day celebrations go forward so she can take a break,” Seshatia remarked to Psellia.

     “I have an idea for these Ambrosias now. We can add different flavours of Faerie Bubbles to them.”

     --

     “So, we have decorations and food planned out. However, we need to set everything up in the council chamber while Fyora’s not looking. How do we do that?” King Altador asked as he checked things off from a clipboard.

     “I have an answer to that,” Jerdana said.

     “Not another time bubble,” groaned Psellia.

     “How did you know? It’d only be for an evening. Just in case Fyora walks in, she’ll only see an empty chamber without any changes.”

     “What’s this about a time bubble?”

     Siyana and Fyora returned from their walk, causing Jerdana to jump in surprise.

     “Umm, nothing. We were just talking about some…Altador history again, yeah that’s it.”

     The Queen’s eyes narrowed. “You know, some of you have been acting really strange lately, as if you’re hiding something from me. Is there anything you’d all like to tell me?”

     An awkward silence then filled the room. Nobody wanted to speak up so finally, Fyora spoke again.

     “Now people are hiding things from me. What else could go wrong?” Fyora lamented. She then turned to leave the room, clearly looking more dejected with each step.

     “Fyora, wait…” King Altador began.

     “No no, I get it, everyone’s tired of hearing about my troubles. I shouldn’t take it out on you all. You all have a good night.” The Faerie Queen left the room briskly.

     After a long pause, Jerdana finally interjected.

     “Well, I guess we might not need a time bubble if she’s in that mood…”

     “Let’s just start decorating. I’m sure when she returns tomorrow morning, it’d be a pleasant surprise for her,” Altador suggested.

     After a few hours, the council chamber transformed from its usual appearance to what might have resembled a room in the Faerie Castle, minus the pink flooring and walls. The crew barely got any hours of sleep before some of the guests showed up.

     The whole Faerieland Altador Cup team showed up first followed by several faeries from across the lands. Aethia, Taelia, Nuria, to name a few along with other faeries. Psellia and Siyana carefully arranged their new food creations on a table and then everyone began to wait for Queen Fyora to show up. King Altador went to her chambers and knocked on the door.

     There was no answer. He knocked again.

     “Who is it?” Fyora finally called out.

     “It’s me, Altador.”

     “Oh, I’ve actually decided I needed the day off so you can start the meeting without me…”

     “Actually, we’re doing things a bit differently today. We won’t be talking about the void stuff.”

     “Oh? I guess you all don’t need me then.”

     “No, I’d like you to be there for this.”

     The Faerie Queen heaved another sigh and then opened the door. The two of them made it down the hallway and then Fyora gasped as soon as she saw the chamber.

     “Oh, Altador, you didn’t have to…”

     “Happy Fyora Day!” everyone said in unison.

     Fyora ran to Aethia who nearly lifted her off her feet with her embrace. The Battle Faerie set Fyora down afterwards.

     “Happy Fyora Day! It’s so good to see you,” said Valtonous Rea. Fyora turned to see the entire Yooyuball team there.

     “Look, I’m sorry about the cup being-“

     The Uni held up her hand and shook her head. “No, we know it’s for the best. But we wanted to send our best wishes as you continue working to help Neopia.” The team then handed over a card and a bouquet of violets.

     Fyora then made her way to the food table to find the Altadorian-Faerieland fusion items.

     “Oh, this new take on Ambrosia looks excellent.”

     Psellia and Siyana breathed a sigh of relief. After all, both were sceptical if Fyora would like their fusion ideas. Fyora then grabbed an entire Gyro and munched it down faster than the fastest Poogle in the races.

     “Thank you for your kind words, Fyora.”

          The Queen munched on a few more things before mingling with the rest of the crowd which included other Neopian leaders.

     “Happy Fyora Day!” Nabile said, handing Fyora a pink gold bracelet with a faerie wing pattern. “A gift from Jazan and me.”

     The Faerie Queen then walked over to King Skarl who was still in his gloomy grey form. Still, he looked at her.

     “…Happy Fyora Day, I guess…”

     She reached over and lightly embraced the Skeith. Turning around, she saw Lord Darigan. King Skarl looked away, deciding it was not the day to start another row with Darigan. Instead, he made his way back over to the food table.

     “I’ve heard things haven’t been going very well.”

     The Faerie Queen reached over and hugged Lord Darigan. “No, no they haven’t. But I’m glad to have a break right now.”

     “Indeed, a much-needed break.” His expression barely changed, but a slight half-smile flashed across briefly.

     “I do appreciate your efforts, even if things haven’t gone totally right, but anyways, it looks like you have other important guests.”

     Fyora turned to see many Altadorians lined up with all sorts of faerie items.

     “I suppose regardless of where you celebrate Fyora Day, this is bound to happen eh?” King Altador said smirking as he walked by.

     “Thank you for arranging this, Altador. I’m sorry for being moody lately…”

     Altador held up his paw.

     “Don’t, it’s alright to not be alright all the time. We’re Neopian after all.”

     Fyora nodded. “That we are, now if you’ll excuse me, I have guests to meet.”

     Queen Fyora made her way over to the line and brandished a quill.

     “Alright, I’m here, who’s first? Hello there, young Kacheek. I see you’ve got a nice doll of me there. What’s your name?”

     She took the doll and signed her name on the doll’s dress.

     The End.