Caution: Quills may be sharp Circulation: 175,178,655 Issue: 371 | 12th day of Celebrating, Y10
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Fyora and Celandra: From Servanthood to Friendship - Part Three


by black_skull725

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Celandra just started her job cleaning the castle and she blew it the very first day. Her final task for the day was to clean Fyora’s room, but Fyora was inside, sleeping because she had fallen ill. While she was cleaning, Fyora woke up slightly and sneezed, startling the poor little Gelert that was cleaning. Celandra jumped, turned around, and accidentally smashed Fyora’s vase.

     Fyora continued to give Celandra a cold stare while Celandra’s heart continued to sink into the depths of Maraqua.

     “Who are you? Who allowed you into my chambers? What are you doing here?” Fyora demanded.

     Celandra stood there, frozen before the Faerie Queen. Fyora then turned away and went into a bout of coughing before turning back to Celandra.

     “Oh, please excuse me; I’ve been ill for quite a while now. Anyway, I would prefer that you answer my questions sometime today,” Fyora added.

     “Um... uh... you—your majesty... I w-was h-hired by the employment agency and um... th-they gave me a job to clean the castle,” Celandra stammered timidly.

     Fyora’s glare instantly softened.

     “Oh, what are they doing, hiring without my consent. What will they do next? Not that I’m upset with you, of course... what is your name, by the way?”

     “Celandra... I-I mean, my name is Celandra, your majesty,” Celandra stuttered again.

     Meanwhile, Fyora turned her head away again and coughed into the crook of her elbow. This time, however, she didn’t stop for a while.

     “Your majesty, do you need me to get medicine?” Celandra offered, growing a bit more confident now.

     “No, no *cough* I’m fine. *cough, cough*,” Fyora answered.

     “What about the vase, your majesty?”

     “Celandra, don’t worry about it. I have too much stuff anyway; just try to be more careful and don’t break anything else.”

     Fyora then went into another coughing spell. This time Fyora had to sit down, looking exhausted.

     “I’m going to get medicine,” Celandra said and dashed off before Fyora could utter another word.

     Celandra darted down the staircase, running right past Anne.

     “Hey! You forgot your day’s pay!” Anne shouted, waving a slip of paper at Celandra. Celandra ran too quickly to notice. She began to pant as she headed for the Healing Springs. The water faerie looked at Celandra strangely.

     “What’s wrong? You don’t look too sick. What’s the rush?” the water faerie asked.

     “Fyora’s ill... need medicine... Kikoughela apparently,” Celandra gasped.

     “I have no medicine here, only potions. I’m going to have to rely on spells. Oh, but my magic isn’t fully restored yet,” the water faerie cried.

     “Ugh... can you do what you can?” Celandra asked desperately.

     “I can try,” the water faerie replied unsurely.

     Celandra and the water faerie hurried back to the castle. Celandra ran while the water faerie flew as she did not have any feet, only fins. On the way back inside, Celandra ran past Anne again. This time Anne was determined to give Celandra her Neopoints, so she ran after Celandra. Most of the other faeries stopped what they were doing and stared. Although there wasn’t a rule about running in the castle, it wasn’t very polite to create such a scene. Faeries stared, wondering what was happening. Celandra burst into Fyora’s room, finding Fyora still sitting there, still coughing. Meanwhile, Celandra became exhausted from running and nearly collapsed next to Fyora. Meanwhile Anne poked her head in to see what all the commotion was about.

     “I brought someone that can heal you, your majesty,” gasped Celandra. At that moment Celandra collapsed onto the floor in exhaustion.

     Fyora looked at the motionless Celandra on the floor. She then looked at the water faerie.

     “Heal her first; don’t worry about me,” Fyora commanded.

     The water faerie took out a small spell tome and started flipping the pages. She spouted some faerie gibberish and laid her hands on Celandra. At that moment, Celandra slowly opened her eyes. Fyora looked at Celandra, and their eyes met. This was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. Fyora would never forget the day where Celandra exhausted herself for Fyora’s own well-being. Although Fyora was the Faerie Queen, she never expected anybody to make sacrifices for her. Although Celandra did not suffer any permanent injury, Fyora was still shocked from Celandra’s action.

     The water faerie then turned to Fyora.

     “My magic is not fully restored, your majesty. We may have to wait thirty minutes for it to restore,” the water faerie sighed.

     Fyora coughed a few times, then replied, “That’ll be okay. What can I do for Celandra?” Fyora asked.

     “Well, first you can give her these Neopoints for her work,” Anne said. Fyora, Celandra, and the water faerie whizzed around to see Anne standing there with a wad of paper Neopoints.

     “You hired her?” Fyora inquired.

     “Yes, your majesty, but I don’t think she’s fit for the job; she just collapsed on the floor and I want someone that’s strong. Also she broke your vase,” Anne replied, pointing at the cracked vase, neglecting the fact that Celandra was listening.

     Celandra’s heart sank. She lost her job on the same day she started her job.

     “Nonsense, but if you insist on replacing her on the first day, I’ll have you know that you are making a grave mistake,” Fyora warned.

     Anne shrugged, dropped the wad of Neopoints on Fyora’s coffee table, and flew out of the room.

     “Your majesty, Celandra needs to rest for a few days. You should probably send her off to the Neopian Hospital,” the water faerie advised.

     “Thank you, but that won’t be necessary. I have a Gelert sized bed she can curl up in,” Fyora replied through several coughs.

     “In that case, I’ll do what I can for you, your majesty,” said the water faerie.

     The water faerie muttered a series of faerie jargon and clapped her hands together.

     “Well, my throat isn’t itchy or sore anymore, but I’m still a bit fatigued,” Fyora said.

     “That’s all I could do, your majesty. You also need some rest,” the water faerie suggested.

     “Thank you, water faerie. Your services are much appreciated. You may go now. Celandra and I will adhere to your advice to rest for a few days,” Fyora replied.

     The water faerie turned and flew away. Fyora dragged out a circular shaped bed perfect for one Gelert.

     “Oh no, really, your majesty, you do not have to. I can just go back to my neohome,” Celandra protested.

     Fyora, being the near omniscient queen, quickly saw through Celandra’s words. “You, my dear, do not have a neohome nearly as hospitable here. I’d suggest that you stay here, just in case anything happens to you. Come on, you’ll be welcome here. You’ll be comfortable here. Why torture yourself?” Fyora asked.

     “How do you know all this about me?” Celandra asked, feeling very awkward.

     “Your voice sounds unsure, you had to get a job through the employment agency, and you definitely did not look happy when Anne suggested that you were to be replaced. Little things like that do not go unnoticed by a queen,” Fyora said, winking at Celandra.

     “If you insist, your majesty,” Celandra sighed.

     “By the way, call me Fyora, not your majesty; it makes me feel a bit old,” Fyora remarked.

     “Aren’t you... well, I mean... you’ve been queen for quite a while...,” Celandra began.

     “No, I’m still young; I won’t tell you how young I am. I am young, though; no need to question my age, Celandra,” Fyora said, smiling.

     So Fyora pulled out a Gelert sized bed and carried it to the extra bedroom in her suite. Celandra, meanwhile, felt indebted to Fyora. It just seemed so inconvenient for Fyora to take care of a Neopet along with the entire kingdom of Faerieland. After Fyora made Celandra’s bed, Celandra became rather hesitant to crawl into it.

     “What’s wrong?” Fyora asked.

     “Oh, nothing, Fyora...” Celandra sighed.

     “No, it’s something alright...” Fyora began.

     “It’s just that... that I don’t have a job here anymore. I have no business of being here; why are you so eager in providing your hospitality? You’re a queen. You don’t need to be bothered by an impoverished Gelert,” Celandra replied.

     “I see. If I gave you a job, would you take it?” Fyora offered.

     “I don’t want to waste your time, though. You don’t really have to...,” Celandra replied.

     “It’s a yes or no question, Celandra,” Fyora replied hastily.

     “Well, I would appreciate it if...” Celandra began.

     “Great! I don’t need a castle cleaner; Anne’s taking care of that. What I would rather have is a personal maid that would run some of my errands and do some of my shopping. Perhaps do a little cleaning of my suite. I don’t want Anne to send strange pets up here to clean and go through all my personal stuff,” Fyora interjected.

     “Oh, um... okay. I’ll take it,” Celandra replied.

     “Great! I’m glad you want to help. Get some sleep, though. You’re gonna have to recover from that exhaustion,” Fyora advised.

     Fyora turned to leave and Celandra crawled into her bed.

     “Goodnight then, Celandra.”

     “Goodnight, Fyora.”

     Celandra lay there in bed, thinking about everything that had happened in her eventful day. She went from a shabby neohome to a royal palace. At the same time, she felt empty, undeserving of even being in Faerieland Palace. Perhaps this was all just a dream. Celandra took her paw and scratched herself hard.

     “Ow...” she whispered to herself.

     It wasn’t a dream, all right, it was reality; reality like a fictitious novel with a happy ending. Today was a completely new chapter except that chapter whizzed by so fast that Celandra did not have time to absorb it all in. Celandra sighed and remembered why she was in the castle in the first place; it was by luck. But would Fyora really let Celandra permanently stay here? Would she really give Celandra a permanent job? Celandra assumed it to be provisional. Fyora was only giving her time to catch her breath and get established again. Soon Celandra would have to be back on her paws, searching for a new opportunity. Celandra decided she would worry about that later, for she was exhausted. She heaved a heavy sigh and closed her eyes.

To be continued...

 
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Other Episodes


» Fyora and Celandra: From Servanthood to Friendship - Part One
» Fyora and Celandra: From Servanthood to Friendship - Part Two
» Fyora and Celandra: From Servanthood to Friendship - Part Four
» Fyora and Celandra: From Servanthood to Friendship - Part Five
» Fyora and Celandra: From Servanthood to Friendship - Part Six



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