Only an Accident

     The blue Draik was the only one on the road when the incident happened. She looked into the ditch where the sound was coming from, and saw a Fire Faerie.

     "Please help me!" the faerie looked at the Draik with begging eyes.

     "Of course," Sinthya replied. The Draik took a closer look at the poor faerie. The dress was torn and ripped, her beautiful her had lost its shine and the wings were somewhat ripped. Yet it was still obvious that she had spirit, and her clothes weren't all that gray.

     "Help or not?" the pretty, magical being demanded. Sinthya had forgotten that she was still there. The Draik reached out a paw and helped the faerie onto the road.

     "Thank you," the Fire Faerie said. "By the way, I'm Eld."

     "Happy to help," the Draik replied. She knew it was rude, but she couldn't stop herself from asking, "What happened?"

     Eld rolled her eyes. "It's a long story," she shook her head sadly. "Do you really want to hear?"

     Sinthya thought for a moment. Well, there wasn't school today and her owner wouldn't mind so much. But there was also the Elite Draik Club to think about. They would definitely be very cross if she came late. The blue Draik shrugged it off. It couldn't be that bad, and faeries were always interesting.

     And I've always wanted to be friends with a faerie, Sinthya thought as she nodded.

     "Well, today was the first day of the great competition in Faerieland. It's for the Faerie Festival, since the best of us gets to go out in Neopia and be kind. I really wanted to win, so I used a little bit too much of my power in the beginning of a duel. My opponent, Nereid the Water Faerie managed to win and now I'm not going to go around and be helpful," Eld looked very sad when she said it.

     "There is a competition?" The Draik looked quite surprised. Then she remembered what she wanted to know and asked, "So why did you end up here?"

     "You see, I had an archenemy who took advantage of my weak moment in there. Mouria the Dark Faerie attacked me and turned me into the horror that I am now. Since she robbed me of my ability to fly, I fell down here," Eld said as she looked at herself.

     "I'm sorry," Sinthya said sincere regret, considering the fact that she had been probing.

     "Well, it was all just an accident. Here, I'll return the favor," the Fire Faerie held out a orange-colored leaf to the Draik.

     "What's that for?" Sinthya asked.

     "If you say 'Eld of the Fire, come to my aid!' while holding this leaf I'll come and try to help you," Eld said. "But please do be careful, this can only be used once."

     "Thanks!" the Draik exclaimed with surprise.

     "Well, thank you for helping me!" With that, the Fire Faerie disappeared.

     That was a nice meeting, Sinthya thought as she looked at the sundial. Oh no! I'm late for the Club Tryouts! The Draik started to run towards the big, fancy neohome area.

     -

"You're late!" Cindy told the poor blue Draik in a cold manner.

     "I know, I'm sorry," Sinthya replied as she sank down in a chair.

     Here were the three main Draiks who would pick out the new member to their exclusive little group of Draiks. She looked around at the competition. There was a Faerie Draik, a Red Draik and a White Draik. Sinthya looked at Cindy, who was the third one in command and saw that she was already wrinkling her nose at the two Draiks who were not as elaborately painted as the Faerie one.

     It would seem that the main threat was the Faerie Draik. As the other two great EDC (Elite Draik Club) members entered the room, the White Draik left in a hurry.

     "What a joke. Afraid of me?" the Mutant Draik that had entered the room called out. "Me, Elias the Great?"

     "Don't taunt that one too much, there are other potential Draiks in here," the Maraquan one gestured to the row of sitting Draiks. I noticed that he was paying extra attention to the Faerie Draik.

     "What's your name?" I poked her gently. She looked back at me with annoyance in her eyes, but relented.

     "Aryanae," she replied and took a sudden interest in the pot of flowers in the window. Fine, but she could've told me if she didn't wish to associate with me, Sinthya thought with hurt pride.

     "We shall conduct three tests. The first one will be a short game of Ultimate Bullseye, the second one shall be a game of Meerca Chase and the third one shall be based on your beauty," Elias exclaimed. He was the leader of this Club, after all.

     The Draiks who were trying out were led outside to a big field with lush, green grass and fresh breezes. There was no time to enjoy that, as Dorian the Maraquan Draik put a bow and three arrows in their hands. Sinthya knew her virtues and flaws. She knew that she would not win this game, since she was very bad at things concerning precision.

     The red Draik was the first. Vailor, as he was called, got bull's eye all three times. Cindy inhaled sharply as the other two gripped her wrists tightly. She looked like she wanted to claw someone very bad.

     After that, it was Sinthya's turn. The first arrow got five points; the second was a bull's eye. The Draik felt so proud about her success that she missed the target completely with the third. The three Draiks gave poor Sinthya a dark glance as the gestured for Aryanae to start shooting.

     "A great archer to-be, aren't we?" Vailor said in a friendly tone as he approached the nervous Blue Draik.

     "Not really," Sinthya admitted shyly.

     They talked as the Faerie Draik shot her arrows. As Aryanae saw them talking, her face turned to a bright scarlet hue of fury. Surprisingly, the last Draik missed the target. Thrice. The three EDC members looked very angry about the results. Sinthya was sure that they would've preferred if Aryanae had won.

     "Let us move onto the next game, Meerca Chase," Elias said as he led the three Draiks into another field.

     It was no surprise that Sinthya won. She knew that she would've done it, just not with a landslide. Some steam rose from the inspectors. The aggravated Cindy tried not to shriek with rage. Her face was all red as Dorian muffled her mouth. Vailor laughed out loud at that.

     "You're out! GET OUT OF HERE!" Cindy bellowed at Vailor when Dorian let go of her.

     "This is not worth the trouble," he told Sinthya as he walked off, whistling a tune. Aryanae scoffed as the two remaining Draiks moved onto the last little contest.

     As expected, Aryanae won. After all, Faerie was so much better than Blue.

     "I'm sorry, Sinthya, but Aryanae will be our newest member," Cindy spat at the Blue Draik. Sinthya had the feeling that they all liked Aryanae better, but she was still quite naïve.

     "Is it my color? Is it my way?" the Blue Draik asked.

     "No… It's just that we have decided. Try next time," Dorian replied as the Elite Draik Club walked off with Aryanae.

     Sinthya sank to the ground in disappointment. Why me? Was I not good enough? But… I tried my best… I really did…

     -

 "Eld of the Fire, please help me…" Sinthya whispered as she clutched the flame-colored leaf in her hands. Nothing happened. Was she saying it wrong! Oh! The Draik remembered the correct saying.

     "Eld of the Fire, come to my aid!" she shouted. Flames danced around Sinthya as strong winds shook the patch of grass that she was in. A beautiful creature illuminated the dusky evening.

     "Any problems?" Eld asked, smiling at Sinthya.

     "The club…" Sinthya sobbed.

     "Tell me. The whole story." Eld sat down and put her arm around Sinthya. It was clear that the little Draik needed support and comfort.

     Sinthya told her the whole story. How she had dreamed of getting into the best of the best! The Elite Draik Club! But all that was left of the dreams were some crushed pieces of a shattered dream.

     "It's okay. They're mean anyway," the Fire Faerie hugged the Draik gently.

     "How do you know?" Sinthya wondered. The tears had ended and now she was regaining some of her curiosity.

     "Let me show you…" Eld said as she cupped her hands. A small blue-white flame appeared, and some shadows were moving inside. She could see them!

     The figures of the Elite Draik Club were inside this little fire. The Faerie looked sadly at Sinthya, who heard the comments.

     "That idiot of a Draik! Thinking that she could be one of us!" Cindy shouted to the other members.

     "How rude of her to ask my name when she was late!" Aryanae joined in.

     The Draik watched for a while, but the comments grew so wretched and ugly she couldn't bear to hear them. With a little plop, the fire in Eld's hands died out.

     "They… were… mean…" Sinthya whispered.

     "I think you knew that the whole time, but yet you envied them so much. Why?" the Fire Faerie asked.

     "I don't know. They all looked so beautiful, painted, glamorous… and just really great," the Blue Draik admitted.

     "What they look aren't what they are inside," Eld said wisely.

     "I'd still like to look nice, though…" Sinthya trailed off as she thought of what she'd like to look. Oh yes… Just like Aryanae, a Faerie Draik!

     "I see," the Fire Faerie smiled. "I think I can grant your wish."

     "Huh? But… how did you know?"

     "One cannot avoid noticing how much you envied that Faerie Draik," Eld said, "Wait here. I'll go and get something." She stood up and disappeared in a puff of smoke

     What? What is she doing? It isn't anything about me, is it? At least I hope it isn't. A battle was taking place in the Draik's mind. Oh, I can't get my hopes up…

     "You deserve it," the Fire Faerie said as she handed Sinthya a wrapped package, coming from nowhere.

     With an excited gleam in here eyes, Sinthya quickly opened the package. She gasped as she saw the Paint Brush. It couldn't be true! It was a Faerie Paint Brush!

     "Is this really… for me?" the Draik asked, unsure of what to say.

     "Of course. Just returning the favor," Eld replied nonchalantly. "I can do something nice and be kind even if I wasn't chosen for the Festival."

     "Oh, thank you so much!" Sinthya hugged the Fire Faerie.

     When she was done, the Draik looked into a pond to see her reflection. The new coat looked stunning…

     "Well, I forgot to ask for your name the last time around," Eld said with a little remorse in her voice.

     "My name is Sinthya," the little Neopet replied as she smiled, "Sinthya the Faerie Draik."

The End