The Tooth Faerie's Magic

     "That took a while," he said. "What's going on in Neopia? With that rate they'll all be toothless in less than a few months."

     The Tooth Faerie put her bag down and stretched her back. "It's not as bad as you think," she said. "There are so many pets out there, millions of teeth and every day some new pets are born."

     "And you're the only one who takes their lost teeth away," the Uni remarked, getting up and sniffing the rattling bag. "You could use an apprentice or something."

     "I'm doing fine," the faerie claimed, sitting down behind the table and starting the dinner that had been waiting for her there. "Listen Thorn, do me a favor and bring me the book, will you?" Thorn nodded, trotted away and returned with a huge book.

     "Dinner first, business later," he warned; the faerie laughed and kept on eating. Thorn had been a young little foal when she had found him in the woods on a cold winter evening. She had taken the Uni home to take care of him and in a couple of weeks Thorn was fit again. However, he didn't completely leave the kind faerie. He was a wild Uni, careless and free but he often visited the Tooth Faerie to help her with her job and sleep in front of her fireplace when it was too cold and windy outside to fly.

     "Twenty thousand and three, twenty thousand and four…" he counted, keeping an eye on the teeth. "Ooh, that one looks nasty," remarked then, pointing at a long yellow fang.

     "Balthazar," the Faerie commented. "He really has to stop buying food from Meridell. Stone Soup… seriously."

     "That's it for today," Thorn said, looking as the Tooth Faerie's quill wrote down the last tooth. "I still don't understand why you're doing this job. Giving people Neopoints for their lost teeth… come on, that doesn't make much sense."

     "Most things in life don't make much sense," the faerie smiled. "But you're commenting my job without ever even seeing how it goes. Would you like to come with me tomorrow?"

     The Uni glanced at her, then shrugged. "Why not? Might be interesting. I'm gonna hit the hay now, good night." He curled up on the rug again and the Tooth Faerie smiled widely. She had never understood how Thorn was able to live in the wild when he spent most of his time sleeping. Perhaps his shadow fur worked as a camouflage, she didn't see any other explanation.

     The next morning when the sun was rising, the Tooth Faerie flew out of her home and whizzed down over the edge of Faerieland. Thorn was by her side, yawning widely and rubbing his eyes with his front leg.

     "Why do you start your day so early?" he demanded.

     "Because it takes a lot of time," the Faerie responded. "Let's see now…" They headed for Neopia Central where Thorn spent the whole morning yawning and fluttering by the Tooth Faerie's side while the kind-hearted Faerie gave out Neopoints to all sorts of pets who had lost a tooth. Eventually after the 3487th tooth the Uni looked up at the sun and announced:

     "It's almost midday, you know."

     "Ah yes, lunchtime," the Tooth Faerie nodded. "Well then, let's pay a sister of mine a little visit, shall we?"

     The Soup Faerie was very glad to see them. "Actually you have about 29,560 Neopoints with you, and I won't even get to the sum you have at the National Neopian Bank," she remarked, giving Thorn his third bowl of soup, "but I'm always happy to help my sisters out."

     "And I don't have a single Neopoint so you can always feed me," Thorn said with his mouth full. The Soup Faerie smiled and looked at her sister.

     "An apprentice or something?" she asked.

     "The 'something'," the Tooth Faerie replied. "I just wanted to show him what my job really is about."

     The Soup Faerie laughed. "Let me guess. Teeth?"

     "Is there supposed to be a lump of dung in here?" Thorn wondered. The Tooth Faerie finished her soup and stood up.

     "We have to get going now," she said. "Thanks for the soup. Come on Thorn, our next stop is Tyrannia and it will take a while there."

     "Yeah, the land where Neopets eat twigs and stones," Thorn muttered. "I think there's a piece of dung stuck between my teeth…"

     It took them almost three hours to finish with Tyrannia and Thorn's wings were exhausted. The Tooth Faerie looked at him with a regretful smile and said:

     "Okay then, off to Terror Mountain. I hope you brought warm clothes."

     "You simply couldn't tell me in the morning," Thorn groaned, moving his wings as quickly as he could to prevent them from freezing while the Faerie took the Neopets' teeth and gave them Neopoints in return, just as always.

     "Almost done," she finally said, landing in the snow as Thorn silently thought that his wings would probably fall off if he moved them again. "Now there's just… come on Thorn, it will only take a minute."

     "It better be. My wings feel like… actually they don't feel like anything. What are we doing in front of Snowager's lair?" Thorn asked rather nervously.

     The Tooth Faerie had entered the cave already. "I'm the Tooth Faerie, my job is to retrieve all teeth that have ever been lost in Neopia and that also goes for the Snowager. Come on, it won't hurt you as long as you're with me."

     "Have you asked it about that?" Thorn demanded, following the faerie. They walked for a little while until they reached a huge pile of treasure which reflected back from shiny walls made of ice. And on top of that pile, there it was. The Snowager, the powerful ice worm that always guarded its treasures viciously. Many Neopets had tried to steal something from it and several succeeded. That's why it was so suspicious about all Neopets and that's why Thorn was so nervous to go near it. Besides, the worm was awake. It was holding its massive head near the ceiling of the cave and looking down at the two.

     "Give it to me," the Tooth Faerie said, reaching out her hand. For Thorn's surprise the Snowager simply bent its head down and opened the huge mouth. An icy fang fell out and the Tooth Faerie caught it.

     "And this one in return," she said, throwing a small keychain into the pile. "Have a nice day." She walked out of the cave again and Thorn galloped out as well.

     "You see," the faerie explained as they left Terror Mountain, "things go a little differently with the Snowager. It doesn't care about Neopoints; it only wants treasure, that's why I gave it the keychain. And the tooth itself if useful as well."

     "What exactly do you do with all the other teeth?" Thorn asked, glad to finally feel his wings again.

     "That's really my own business," the faerie replied. "But Snowager's tooth is special. You'll see what I mean when we get back. Off to Roo Island now."

     They got back when it was really late and the moon was shining over Faerieland again. Thorn was terribly tired but now he was extremely curious about the Snowager's tooth. The Tooth Faerie had time though, she had dinner and took the book to write down each and every tooth they had collected that day. The Uni used that time to take a nap.

     "Hey Thorn, you wanted to know about the Snowager's fang?" a voice eventually woke him up. Thorn stood up, yawned widely and followed the Faerie to the other room. A second later he was fully awake.

     Thorn had never been to that room. Usually he just slept in front of the fireplace. The room he saw now was rather small, it also had a fireplace but there was a cauldron in there. The walls were covered with shelves and there were dozens of books on them. The Uni could see several potions in a cupboard in the other end of the room. That room had no window, only the fireplace lit the surroundings.

     "I thought you only collected Neopets' teeth!" Thorn gasped. "You never said that you also dealt with those potions and spells!"

     "Usually I don't," the faerie agreed, "I don't have much time for that. Sometimes I mix up a thing or two though, like all the faeries. Haven't you ever wondered where toothpaste comes from?"

     "Snowager's teeth?" Thorn asked suspiciously. The Tooth Faerie laughed, went to the cauldron and poured some thick white liquid into it.

     "No. This tooth is useful for something else. Hand me that jar, will you? Now, this may take some time but the result is worth it."

     She added several mixtures and potions, read a few spells and once in a while looked in an old tome. Thorn curled up in an armchair and watched her. The chair was comfy and soft but he wasn't sleepy. An hour slid by and finally the Tooth Faerie took Snowager's fang, said a short spell and dropped the fang into the boiling liquid. It sizzled and thick fume emerged from its surface.

     "Is it supposed to do that?" the Uni asked, peering at the cauldron. He could barely see the Faerie through the fume.

     "It'll fade away in a minute," the Tooth Faerie replied merrily. "See?" The fume was already disappearing. "It's done now. Come and see." She picked something out from the cauldron and held it in front of Thorn's muzzle. The Uni saw that same tooth the Snowager had given them but it was now hanging on a chain that seemed to be made of ice. The tooth was shining and sparkling.

     "You took it out from boiling liquid and it's entirely made of ice?" he asked, raising his brows. The Tooth faerie laughed.

     "Magic, my dear," she said. "The tooth now has magical powers. It's called Snowager Tooth Amulet and it's quite rare. The Snowager doesn't lose teeth every day."

     Thorn looked at the cauldron. It was empty. Then he looked at the amulet.

     "What do you do with that now?" he asked.

     "Do you want to have it?" the faerie asked back.

     Thorn glanced at the amulet once more. "Is it powerful?"

     The Tooth Faerie giggled a bit sheepishly. "Not that powerful. Like I said, my job is to collect Neopets' teeth. I don't make invincible Battledome items on my free time. But there are definitely Neopets out there who'd love to have it - maybe for a gallery, maybe for a gift, maybe just because it's shiny and can be worn around one's neck. If you don't want it then someone else will have it. I don't decide who though." She went out of the house and Thorn followed her. The Tooth Faerie reached her hand out and threw the amulet into the air. It sparkled in the moonlight and then the soft wind carried it away.

     "Someone will find it," she said. "I hope it will bring them some joy." She looked at Thorn and smiled. "Do you want some borovan?"

     They went back inside.

The End