Becky the Gelert and the Mushroom Faerie

     The Spotted Gelert rested lazily on the freshly-cut grass in her backyard. It was the perfect place to relax on beautiful sunny days, and the garden wall beside her cast the perfect amount of shade. On her back rested a Mallard, her best friend and Neopia's best back scratcher. It was currently on a break, its head bobbing with each deep breath it took.

     That stopped suddenly when a noise came from the front yard. Becky's ears perked up. Is that Carey?! She got up and ran around to the front of the house, followed by her Mallard friend, who waddled quickly in pace. Around the corner, she spotted a Pink Lenny in a postal outfit nervously approaching the mailbox by the front door.

     "Hi Carey!!" She shouted excitedly. The Lenny jumped and held his chest in startled response.

     "Do you always need to startle me like that?" Carey asked. He always expected her to show up, yet never seemed prepared for it.

     "Sorry, I just get excited sometimes," Becky explained, her cheeks turning a light rose.

     "I wish I could bottle up half of that energy," Carey said with a smile. "Nothing too exciting today. Just the newspaper."

     "JUST the newspaper?! You're talking about the Neopian Times here! That's the most exciting part of every other weekend!" Becky said enthusiastically. Carey laughed. He had never met anyone else with a more positive spirit than Becky.

     "You should read the first article," Carey said, tapping on the front page of the Neopian Times.

     "Something Smells In Neopia," she read aloud. A smile crept over her face. She appreciated smells more than anyone she knew. And openly admitted it. The world would be completely dull without its many different smells.

     "Apparently there have been strange mushrooms popping up all over the place, many of which are not native to this area and completely out of season. And there are some that seem to emit a terrible odour," Carey said.

     "I bet they smell lovely!" Becky said.

     "I knew you would appreciate the article. Enjoy the rest of your day, Becky," the Lenny said with the tilt of his hat.

     "You too, Carey. I'll try not to get so excited next time," Becky said, knowing well that it wouldn't be possible. She stood on the stoop, animatedly reading the article with gasps and squeals. Then she turned to the Mallard who had been observing her the whole time.

     "This is perfect, Mally! I was just saying we should go on an adventure!" Becky cheered. "Or maybe I was dreaming that. Either way, let's check out these mushrooms!"

     "Quack," Mally said, flapping its wings excitedly.

     "My thoughts exactly!" Becky laughed. "Forests have lots of mushrooms!" Mally flew up to her shoulders and off they went to investigate the forest.

     Fortunately for Becky, she lived within close walking distance of a large, dense forest. As much as she enjoyed her adventures, she enjoyed them even more when she was close to home.

     "Ooo! There's one!" Becky squealed at the sight of a little red button mushroom budding up from the ground. "Just remember, Mally, you must never eat mushrooms in the wild. Many are very toxic, especially these red ones."

     "Quack!" Mally added.

     "Yes, some of the white ones are just as toxic," Becky said, nodding her head in agreement. She paused for a moment to sniff the air. She loved sampling the surrounding scents wherever she went. Autumn was the best season for scents with all the freshly fallen leaves, ripening fruit, and a diversity of mushrooms. But it was now the beginning of Summer, and most of the scents usually smelled fresh and often blended indistinctly together. It was also very rare for mushrooms to pop up this time of year. But such was not the case today. It was only moments before a familiar scent filled Becky's nostrils, making her eyes roll back slightly.

     "I know that smell! There are more mushrooms in the forest, Mally! Let's go!" She said, running into the forest, skipping an obvious trail nearby. Small clusters of mushrooms grew sporadically on the forest floor and up on the sides of trees. She stopped to sniff the air again.

     "This way! I'm smelling some strong scents over here!" Becky said excitedly, speeding up her pace as she spoke. Mally held on tighter to the scruff of Becky's neck with its beak. Becky stopped suddenly when she came across a large clearing in the woods. She stood without moving for a moment, agape, at a colourful sea of fungi in an assortment of shapes and sizes.

     Becky picked up her pace again as she ploughed through the field, enjoying the way the mushrooms squashed beneath her feet. She ran frivolously on all fours through the field, periodically bringing her nose down to the ground to let the mushrooms bounce off of her snout. Button mushrooms popped sporadically in the air like freshly made popcorn, and the air echoed with the Gelert's excitement.

     "You may not be able to eat many of these mushrooms," Becky explained to Mally between quick gasps of her breath, "but I promise you there's no better feeling than rolling through a field of mushrooms!" Mally took this as its cue to abandon ship, and as soon as the Mallard flew off of the Gelert's shoulders, Becky rolled around on the squishy marvel that surrounded her.

     Becky couldn't remember the last time she had so much fun galloping, rolling and having such carefree fun. Mally watched from a safe distance with a smile on its face, cheering her on with a series of clucks and quacks.

     Becky stopped suddenly when she came across an Aboogala that was crawling daintily under a mushroom cap, carefully planning each step it took with its long, spindly legs. As fun as it was to squish mushrooms, Becky also appreciated watching little critters walking around. She popped up to run again when she got distracted by a Fleaf hopping past her face and onto a blade of grass growing in amongst several pink mushrooms. It paused for a moment to readjust its legs before hopping onto another blade of grass a couple of feet away. Becky walked slowly up to the Fleaf for closer inspection; her face came so close to the Petpetpet that her nose almost touched it. She flinched back as it quickly hopped away.

     "I just love Petpetpets! They're so underrated," she said aloud to herself just as a loud buzz caught her attention from a clumsily approaching Springabee. She ducked her head out of the way just in time before it sailed by and disappeared into the distance.

     "Well, there are some exceptions," she said, remembering a bad encounter she once had when she stumbled upon a Springabee hive hidden in the ground. Why they'd build one there seemed a bit silly to her. Their planning was obviously just as clumsy as their flying. But she didn't want to think about Springabees anymore. It was still a bit of a sore subject for her. Literally.

     Becky took a moment to look around. She kinda barrelled into the field without taking a moment to appreciate the nature around her. Apart from the buzzing, her ears were tickled by the beautiful sounds in the distance. A number of birds were still singing their morning tunes, water trickled gently from a nearby stream, and several mushrooms were sulking over by an ageing stump.

     "Wait, that can't be right!" Becky said, cocking her head and lifting an ear in the direction of the foreign noise. A large cluster of brown mushrooms of varying sizes shuffled slightly ahead of her by a large tree stump.

     Upon closer inspection of the mushroom cluster, she observed dense brown strands resembling lush brown hair growing out from the gills of the uppermost cap. And was that a dress?

     "Excuse me!" Becky said abruptly, though it was subtly intended. A sombre-looking face peered over from behind the stump.

     "Sorry, I was trying to keep myself hidden," her soft voice answered as she stood up in front of the Gelert. She wiped a tear away from her eye and sniffed. She wore a large mushroom cap on her head and an elegant mushroom-print dress.

     "No way! A mushroom Faerie?!" Becky squealed excitedly.

     "No, I'm an Earth Faerie, but-" she stopped mid-sentence when Becky's body started to vibrate from the built-up excitement she was feeling. "Are you okay?"

     "I've never met a Faerie before," she said. "I really want to hug you!"

     "Uh," the Faerie uttered, not sure how she should answer.

     "Just a little hug. A tiny one," she insisted, struggling hard to fight off the sudden impulse to hug the Faerie without permission.

     "I guess," the Faerie said hesitantly. Becky showed no hesitation as she nearly lifted the Faerie off the ground with a lengthy embrace.

     "Sorry, I lied! It's a big hug!" She squealed.

     "I can barely breathe," the Faerie answered, half jokingly.

     "And I can barely resist the urge to kiss you!" Becky said, joking back before releasing her hold. "But I will."

     "Nice to meet you too," the Faerie said, smiling. Although she didn't say so, it was exactly what she needed. It was as though the Gelert instinctively knew this. "My name's Morel."

     "I'm Becky!" The Gelert said, finally calming down a bit.

     "Quack!" Mally said after catching up to Becky. It lowered its beak to flip up mushroom caps in search of tasty Petpetpets.

     "And this is Mally. My best friend," Becky said. "Mally gives great back scratches if you are in the mood for one."

     "Hi, Mally. Nice to meet you both. I think I'll pass on the back scratch for now," the Faerie giggled.

     "Wait!" Becky said suddenly upon realising something. "Were you upset because of me? I didn't mean to wreck your hard work."

     "No, I was happy watching you have fun," Morel said.

     "Can I ask why you're upset?" Becky asked.

     "I'm feeling a bit discouraged right now," Morel said, covering her face with one hand and shaking her head. "Look at what I just created." She pointed to a large, wilted-looking mushroom.

     "It's a mushroom," Becky said, not understanding the problem.

     "A smellyshroom, to be more exact. I was trying to grow a lilac bush with flowers that emit a beautiful scent. But instead I created one of the smelliest things imaginable."

     "Why is that a problem?" Becky asked. Being the Gelert she was, smells never bothered her. She loved all smells. And if something produced a very strong odour, there must be a reason for it, and that was something she could appreciate. Becky had a strong love for all forms of life, even life forms that were incapable of communicating to other living things.

     "It's not a pleasant smell," Morel said.

     "I don't find it unpleasant," Becky said. "In fact, I think I may have already rolled on some of those mushrooms."

     "Yes, I fear you have," Morel said, looking more embarrassed. "I'm very sorry about that."

     "I really don't mind, but it might explain why Mally is keeping a distance from me right now," Becky laughed. The Mallard looked over at Becky to acknowledge the comment, then went back to flipping over mushroom caps.

     "Not everyone likes mushrooms the same way you seem to. I was practising my skills in a park when I overheard a group of Neopians complaining to each other about my work. So I came here to practice instead," Morel explained.

     "Yeah, there was an article about that in the Neopian Times," Becky said.

     "How embarrassing," Morel said, trying to hide her face again. "The Faerie Council is being a bit ambitious and wanted to get an early start on the Faerie Festival this year. I think they may be worried that, with Fyora stepping aside as Queen, there could be unforeseen complications. So they asked us Faeries to take care of the decor, and Fyora agreed to judge our displays for her contribution to the festival.

     I wanted to make a beautiful display of flowers that would both impress her and make a lasting impact. Earth Faeries are supposed to be very good at creating stunning flowers, but the only thing I seem to be good at creating is primitive-looking mushrooms. And my dress? I tried to decorate it with a floral print and a daisy-petal hat, but that failed too!" Morel began to sob again. Becky didn't like seeing the Faerie sad and sat down beside her, resting a paw on her shoulder to console her. Then Becky spoke gently.

     "So why are you trying to create flowers when you are so good at creating mushrooms?" Becky asked, gesturing towards the beautiful scenery around them. "You said the Faerie Council put you Faeries in charge of the decor, but did they say it had to be flowers?"

     "Uh, no. But why would they want mushrooms?" Morel asked earnestly.

     "Have they seen what you can do? I'm sure Fyora would be impressed," Becky said with her infectious smile.

To be continued…