Fyora and Celandra: From Servanthood to Friendship - Part Five

     Celandra thought and pondered about but could not think of any way to anger Fyora as Fyora was a difficult faerie to anger. While dusting the castle, she came across a small trapdoor.

     “Hmm... what is this?” Celandra whispered out of curiosity. She crept through the trapdoor to find a courtyard full of weeds waiting on the other side.

     “What a mess! I’ll have to pull these weeds up.” Celandra sighed. She went back through the trapdoor and grabbed a hand weeder along with a bag to store the weeds she had pulled. As she began to pull weeds in the courtyard, she noticed an incredible sight. The subtle outline of an invisible doorway seemed to have appeared in front of her. She heard some whispering, a whooshing sound, and the door fading away once again.

     “I must be going crazy,” Celandra thought. However, her curiosity told her that it was a good time to go investigate what happened. She crept closer to the door. Suddenly, she ran into something solid, but the path ahead of her seemed perfectly unobstructed. She groped around in front of her until she touched something smooth, round, and cold. Again, a subtle outline of a doorway appeared. She turned the object and the door suddenly swung open, revealing a spiral staircase. Slowly she climbed the seemingly interminable staircase. By the time she reached the stop, she was panting heavily. Taking a moment to rest, she sat down on the floor and surveyed the room she had just climbed into. Items that glittered lined the shelves. There were shiny weapons and beautiful dolls that Celandra did not even know existed.

     “May I help you?” asked a faerie Kacheek behind a counter.

     “Um... no thanks,” Celandra said.

     An idea suddenly struck Celandra.

     “What if I took one of these items without paying? Fyora will have to reprimand me for that!” thought Celandra. Celandra looked at the Kacheek who was busy ringing up another customer. Celandra grabbed the faerie queen doll in front of her and put it in her pocket. She then started to walk out the door of the room. Suddenly there was a bright flash of pink light and at the next moment, Celandra found herself cornered by two castle guards. The two light faeries patted Celandra down and found the doll.

     “So, you attempted larceny and thought you’d get away with it. Unfortunately, under Faerieland law, we must take you away,” said one faerie.

     Celandra became very scared and was unable to utter any words. The two faeries gripped Celandra gently but firmly and carried her down the staircase. Celandra was petrified from her own fear. The faeries at last set Celandra down in some sort of dungeon like place where they locked her away behind bars.

     “Is there anything that you need right now?” one of the faeries asked.

     Celandra was still petrified.

     “You don’t look so great; perhaps I should get someone to at least calm you down,” the other faerie said.

     They left Celandra alone in the dungeon, but perhaps calling the place a dungeon would be superfluous. The pink walls and floors seemed to be well kept. Celandra’s cell had a twin-sized Fyora Print Bed, a Fyora Sink, and a Fyora Toilet. The dungeon didn’t seem to be such a bad place to be other than the barred windows. The doors to each cell were also missing keyholes, meaning they were probably opened and closed by magic.

     ----------

     Fyora received word from the Kacheek that something had happened in the Hidden Tower.

     “Your highness, there’s been an attempted theft of a faerie queen doll in your tower,” the Kacheek panted.

     “Oh? And describe this perpetrator to me?” Fyora asked.

     “Well she’s a purple Gelert wearing a lilac apron. She tried to sneak it out in her pocket,” the Kacheek replied.

     “Um... really? What are her whereabouts at this moment?” Fyora inquired.

     “In the dungeons, your majesty,” said the Kacheek.

     “Okay, thank you for telling me this information. You go close up the Hidden Tower for the day. Oh and also, no need to do the ‘your majesty’ and ‘highness’ thing; you may call me Fyora,” Fyora replied.

     “It’s my pleasure, Fyora,” the Kacheek replied, giving Fyora a quick bow before heading back up to the tower.

     Fyora then rose up and walked briskly toward the staircase to head down to the basement where the dungeons where.

     --------

     Celandra sat down on the bed and stared at the floor for quite a long time. Suddenly there was a knocking at the door and a squeaking noise. Celandra looked up to see Fyora standing at the door, arms folded and a stern look on her face.

     “Why hello, your majesty,” Celandra said.

     “If you wanted a Faerie Queen Doll, why didn’t you ask me?” Fyora asked.

     “I didn’t want your doll,” Celandra replied.

     “Oh? Explain yourself then. Why were you taking it from my Hidden Tower without paying for it?” Fyora inquired. Fyora clearly was angry but she never raised her voice. She was always gentle but firm with her rhetoric.

     “Uhh... because... someone told me to?” Celandra replied.

     “Who told you to do such a thing? Why did you listen to them? You’re a good Gelert; you shouldn’t hang with the crowd that makes you perform criminal acts. Now tell me, who is this character that told you to steal?” Fyora demanded.

     “Um... I can’t tell you, I... uh... forgot his name,” Celandra said.

     “Oh? Well, if you do remember, tell me. In the meantime, I’m here to get you out of here,” Fyora said, softening her glare and unfolding her arms.

     Clearly, Celandra’s plan had not worked; Fyora was still too kind to her.

     “No. I’m not going up,” Celandra protested.

     Fyora looked perplexed. “I’m sorry, I’m not sure that I heard correctly. You did want me to get you out of here, didn’t you?” Fyora asked.

     “No, I’m sick and tired of this job,” Celandra said.

     “Dear, I’ve done all I can to make your stay in the castle as comfortable as possible. Is there something I am missing? Are you unhappy? Am I not paying you enough? Are you perhaps just having a bad day? What is it dear?” asked Fyora.

     “Why are you being so nosy? And stop calling me ‘dear’,” Celandra retorted.

     Fyora was shocked to hear Celandra say such a thing.

     “Celandra, I’m the Queen of Faerieland. I’m trustworthy. I’ll keep what you say confidential. Now tell me, what’s wrong? You’ve been acting strangely lately; are you well?” pestered Fyora.

     “No, I’m not well and I don’t think I ever will be if you keep pestering me!” shouted Celandra.

     For some reason Celandra was getting angrier by the second. She suddenly had the desire to just leave. But how was she going to do it? Fyora was a powerful faerie that managed to make things work her way.

     “So you really want to leave? After all I’ve done for you and all you’ve done for me? At least make me feel better by taking some neopoints. I want to provide you something to help you out while you’re looking for a new job,” Fyora offered. She took out small bag of Neopoints. The coins inside were of high value, about 100k per coin.

     “Here, take it,” Fyora said.

     Celandra took a long, cold stare at the neopoints, and then grabbed them and threw them on the ground and ran out of the cell.

     Fyora watched Celandra dart off but didn’t try to stop her. She picked up the neopoints, put them in her pocket, and went back upstairs. She was distressed but calm. She sat back down on the throne. At that moment, Anne came into the throne room.

     “Oh hi, Anne. Do you mind cancelling all appointments for this evening? I do not wish to see anybody right now,” Fyora said.

     “Oh, ok. May I ask what is wrong?” Anne inquired.

     “First cancel the appointments, I’ll tell you what’s wrong afterwards. Fair enough?” Fyora replied.

     “Yes, Fyora,” Anne replied.

     Anne closed the door and hung a sign in the front announcing the postponement of all appointments until further notice. She then came back in and noticed that Fyora lacked her usual smile. She wasn’t the vivacious faerie she usually was.

     “Um... did you want to tell me something?” Anne asked.

     “Well, you know Celandra. She just ran off and I can’t possibly comprehend why. I mean I did provide a lot for her and she provided me with a lot of assistance. I just don’t understand why she would suddenly run off. She did try to steal a Faerie Queen Doll, but I wasn’t going to go after her for it. I just hope she’s okay,” Fyora said.

     “Oh, that old Gelert? I told you she wouldn’t be fit for the job, but you insisted on keeping her. I’m sure you’ll find somebody else to help you out. Why don’t you come to the employment agency to find someone?” Anne suggested.

     “I certainly hope you aren’t speaking of my Celandra. How dare you even suggest such a thing? Celandra is loyal, friendly and responsible. I will not hear anyone tell me otherwise,” Fyora shot back.

     “Ok, suit yourself, Fyora,” Anne replied.

     “I will. You may be dismissed now,” ordered Fyora.

     “Fyora, I only wanted to offer some...” Anne began before Fyora cut her off.

     “You may be dismissed now,” Fyora said, gently, but firmly this time.

     “But...” Anne started.

     Fyora gave Anne a soft glare. “Anne, I appreciate your attempts to advise me, but they are futile. Once again I will ask you to leave me in peace, or I will be forced to call for an escort,” Fyora said.

     “Yes, Fyora, I shall be leaving now,” Anne said while turning to leave.

     “Lock the door behind you if you will,” called out after Anne. The door shut and, with a single tap of Anne’s wand, locked itself.

     Fyora heaved a sigh and tried to choke back her tears, but before she knew it, they were flowing, nonstop.

     ------

     Celandra ran out of the castle. The guards were startled but thought nothing of it. It was typical to see Celandra running out to do errands. However, Celandra had no place to go. Her old neohome was probably demolished for a newer neohome. The flashing billboards advertising the new neohomes were hard to miss and also hard to resist. She was almost certain that her negligent owner would have destroyed the old neohome in order to fund the new one.

     The Faerie City was very beautiful, but at the same time very easy to get lost in. The wide corridors were lined with faerie vendors and faeries offering quests to passing owners with their pets. The alleys were very narrow and twisted. It seemed that Fyora intentionally wanted to design a labyrinth within her own city. After sliding up and down the narrow corridors and alleyways, she came to the entrance of a cave.

     “So this must be the Faerie Caves,” Celandra thought.

     As she stared to admire the beauty of the caves from the outside, she began to feel as if somebody was watching her. A shadow intermittently appeared and then disappeared again.

     “Wh-Who’s there? Show yourself!” Celandra squeaked.

     The perpetrators indeed did show themselves... as dark faeries led by none other than Jhudora.

     The dark faeries chased after Celandra. Celandra had no other choice but to try to lose them inside the cave. She went in and began Fyora’s Quest. The cave seemed pretty ordinary at first with bare walls and a cloud floor. Soon, though, the passageway opened up to reveal a room of shiny gems, burning torches, and a few bundles of TNT. Celandra could hear the dark faeries cackling and their loud footsteps. She had to act fast. Celandra grabbed the nearest torch and lit a bundle of TNT to blast through a wall. The explosion kicked up a lot of dust. It also caused a few boulders to tumble backwards. Celandra dodged but so did the dark faeries behind her. She continued running as fast as she could. However, she was not paying any attention to where she was running and ran right into a trap. The spiked iron bars shot up on both sides of her, confining her to a small space in between them.

     “Muahuahua, our mission is complete; you’ll never get out and take away our dignity again. You think you’re better than us faeries, but you’re just a measly little pet.” Jhudora cackled and disappeared, along with the other faeries, leaving Celandra in her predicament.

To be continued...