To My Best Friend

     Now, with her fur ruffled and wet because of the pouring rain, she yearned for the roof and the four walls she had felt trapped in before. And as the rain ceased and a chilling wind started to blow, she missed the warmth of the other petpets and felt lonelier than ever.

     After a long time flying, when she considered she was far away enough from her former home, she landed and let herself lie under a tree; her head supported by a root coming out of the ground. She curled up in a ball and closed her eyes. The wind was still blowing, making her shiver, but the Faellie’s little body felt so tired she dozed off easily.

     The next morning, the sun shone brightly. The Faellie opened her eyes slowly, allowing herself some time to adapt to the light. She looked around as she gained consciousness. Last night’s events had seemed like a dream, but today everything had become a reality. She looked at the vegetation that surrounded her, and saw only one thing: freedom.

     She thought she heard something among the bushes just behind the tree she had been resting on. Her left ear twitched filling her with a new emotion: uncertainty. She fidgeted, trying to gather the courage to go find the source of the noise. The Faellie decided not to fly. She nervously took a few steps towards the bush, and then she saw him.

     The blue Dandan was picking berries off one of the bushes, pulling them with his mouth. The pink Faellie just watched for a while. As the Dandan showed no sign of having even noticed her, she approached him a bit more.

     This time, the Dandan turned to look at her with big curious eyes. For a moment, he just stared. Unable to read his mind, and unsure if her presence bothered him, the Faellie stepped backwards clumsily, which made her trip and fall.

     The Dandan’s eyes opened wide, and this time he was the one approaching the Faellie. She hadn’t picked herself up from the ground yet, but even from where she was, she could see he was concerned.

     The Faellie then knew he wasn’t a threat. He could even be nice company. Perhaps he was just as lost as she was. After all, she realized, she had nowhere to go.

     The Faellie stood up and walked past the Dandan decidedly. He kept staring at her, but his gaze no longer made her feel uneasy. She only stopped when she was right in front of the bush with the berries. She pulled one with her little paw, and once it had detached from the bush, she placed it on top of a large leaf. By the time she started pulling the second one, the Dandan had joined her.

     It was hard to believe two little petpets had gathered such a big pile of berries. It stood as tall as them, and the berries themselves were relatively small. The petpets sat on opposite sides of the pile, tired but proud of their work.

     The Faellie really wanted to eat a berry, but she was too shy to take it. She waited for the Dandan to take one first, but he didn’t seem to have the intention of doing that. She hesitantly reached out for one, moving slowly and timidly. She placed her paw on top of a berry, but didn’t take it. She looked at the Dandan questioningly instead. He smiled. She smiled back. Then she tasted the sweetest berry she had ever eaten.

     ***

     The next day, the Faellie awoke to find the Dandan already up and active.

     The Faellie hadn’t planned staying in that place for long. In fact, yesterday’s rest and the berry feast she had eaten had helped her regain her strength. She was ready for another big flight, had she wanted to travel farther. But she didn’t, because that Dandan intrigued her. She knew virtually nothing about him, yet the day before they had made a good team. She had felt a connection. The Dandan wanted to stay, and so she would stay too.

     The Dandan was busy gathering twigs and leaves. He had started constructing something the Faellie understood was a refuge. The Faellie didn’t know why, but she felt attached to this petpet she had just met the day before. She felt obliged to help.

     The Dandan hadn’t asked for assistance, but he didn’t refuse it either. The Faellie was very pleased about this. Slowly but surely, the refuge started to take shape. It looked like a tent, except made out of completely natural materials. The petpets used all they could find, but there’s only so much to be found in a forest. The refuge was just big enough for them both to fit inside, and although it held no similarity to the gallery the Faellie had lived once in, it had the same homely feel to it.

     That afternoon, they both sat outside their tent and admired the sunset together. Maybe if petpets could talk, the Faellie would have rambled about how much she loved the colors in the sky, and she would have told her story to the Dandan in that time. And maybe, just maybe, the Dandan would have told her how he had ended up there too. But that didn’t happen. All they shared were moments of silence, but those can be really precious too.

     When the night started falling, the Dandan went inside the tent, but the Faellie didn’t follow. She was scared of not belonging. She feared the Dandan would see her like an intruder in his home. Sure, she had helped build it. But she had done less than half the work, and she felt uninvited.

     The Faellie didn’t mind. She went to look for her usual spot under her favorite tree, the same she had rested under in her first night. She lay down and closed her eyes.

     That night, a chilly wind picked up. It wasn’t any worse than it had been on her first night, but it woke the Faellie up, and no matter how hard she tried, she was unable to go back to sleep. In the middle of one of her attempts, thunder was heard, and she knew a storm was coming. Scared and nervous, she knew there was one place where she could go.

     The Dandan had been woken up by the thunder, and there he was, conscious as always, staring at her as she entered the refuge. The Faellie wore a frightened expression, but the Dandan just smiled. Relief swept through her body as she got comfortable inside the tent.

     The Faellie didn’t know what would happen tomorrow. She wasn’t even certain she would be able to sleep that night. But there was one thing she knew for sure. Out of nowhere a friendship had blossomed between her and the blue Dandan. No one could take that away from her. She wouldn’t feel lonely anymore. Now she had someone to call her best friend, and for him, she would never be invisible.

The End