STORIES OF SNOW
"It started one snowy day on Terror Mountain."
"Isn't it always snowy?"
"Hush, I'm telling this story. Anyway the current Snow faerie was busy studying a list of ingredients for her potions."
"Was it great-grandma or great-great grandma or great-great-great- grandma??"
"Listen frost bite, who's telling this story?" The old wizened women leaned forward in her rocker and tapped the small girl on the nose.
"You are." The child crossed her arms and frowned, her pale blue eyes narrowed.
"Then listen." The old woman settled back. "As I said she was busy making her lists, when the door of her cottage burst open. A flurry of snow, wind and ice swept in around the intruder. When the door was closed, the wind and snow abated. There before her very eyes." The old woman paused. "There stood." She frowned.
The little girl turned her head. "Mum! Gram forgotted again!" Her voice startled the Snowy creatures dozing before the fire. In a bundle of fur and fangs the creatures woke, untangling themselves in frenzied motion.
A tall slender young woman appeared in the doorway, draped with a blue snowflake patterned apron. She was drying her hands on a towel. She looked at the chaos and sighed.
"Elsa how many times have I asked you to speak softly inside?" She spoke as she separated the tangle of white fur.
"Only a million." The child Elsa said. "To speak as softly as the snowflakes fall on a midnight sky under a gentle wind." She quoted dutifully.
"Very well, now what seems to be the matter?" She sat on a velvet covered window seat, the wintry night clear and the stars bright behind her.
"Move you oaf!" One of the white furred creatures pushed at the others. "She's going to tell a story.
"Mira. Name calling?"
The white kougress frowned. "He stepped on my tail." She pointed to the white Lupe.
"Did not." The lupe in question, one Ice by name, growled.
"Can we get on with it all ready?" The old woman snapped, having lost her audience.
"With what?" A yawning Wocky appeared in the doorway. Her midnight blue coat was striped with white.
"Mum is going to tell a story Kess!" Elsa proclaimed as she climbed into her mother lap.
"Oh lovely!" Kess the wocky was suddenly awake. "I'll get the others!" The sound of her pattering feet could be heard along with the slamming of a door.
"No one ever gets excited over my stories." The old woman grumbled.
"Perhaps it is because you forget them." Ice said. "Ouch. Hey! Tara stepped on my tail." The white Kougress looked the other way.
"You go girl."
"Now Gram." The mother protested.
"Oh hush Faerelle." Gram snorted. "We old folks have to get even some how."
"Perhaps." Faerelle pulled Elsa closer as she leaned against the window frame.
The sound of scurrying and hurrying feet ended the cozy scene, as two boys along with several animals stumbled into the room. Kess and another wocky of the same hue crowded into a chair while three white Aisha's piled around them. The silver Kougra and another white lupe entered at a slower speed, as did the electric Eyrie. The two boys were twins, noted by the identical ice coloured eyes and ebony hair. They threw themselves upon the rug in front of the fire.
"Well." Faerelle looked about her. "Are we missing anyone?"
"Fa is tending to the equines." One boy spoke.
"He'll be in shortly." .and the other finished.
"Hmpfh." Gram crossed her arms. "Just like his father."
"Mum, the story please?" Elsa looked up at her mother.
"Well I suppose Drake? Talon?" She looked at the twins. "Any requests?"
They shook their heads. As the menagerie settled themselves, Faerelle began the story. She leaned back and folded her hands her eyes bright.
"Listen children to this story of days gone by.."
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~~* It was a snowy windy day. Most every one had stayed indoors, for storms on Terror mountain could be frightfully dangerous. More then one Neopian had lost their lives trying to battle the elements.
In a small cottage at the very top of the mountain far before the Ski Lodge was actually built. Lived a young woman, now she had been orphaned at a young age and had grown up mostly by herself. Soon though it became apparent she had unusual gifts of healing and intelligence, so much so that others who lived on the summit began thinking of her as Fae. Which she was of course. But it was on this night of snowy tempests that she found herself pouring over ancient manuscripts of potions and such. *~~
"Tiger squash?" She asked herself. "What in the Snow is that?" She continued reading. "Frozen lemon juice? Pumpkin cookies? With frogs!" She sat back astonished. "Whatever could that be?"
~~* For you see she had lived all her life upon the mountain and had no idea about the world below her. With the few Chias' and Poogle's that lived around her she knew no one else. These things she read about were strange and unheard of. But her quest for knowledge was a powerful thing. She just had to know what these things were.
So she gathered her largest satchel and put on her warmest coat and began her trek down the mountain. She had a map of the ice caves so she would not get lost, she was amazed at all the crystalline beauty.
She finally reached a large cave, where a huge block of ice rested in its center. She studied it closely, making notes in her journal. A strange looking creature was trapped inside. As she made her way around the mammoth block she came upon the strangest look hut.
Pausing only briefly to put her journal away she knocked on the door. *~~
"Come in! Come in!" A voice echoed eerily.
"Hello?" She peered through the opened door.
"Oh 'ello." A green haired woman popped around the corner, wearing the strangest of clothes. "Are you here for the Neggary? Cuz I'm still working at it." The woman sighed, tugging on her pointed ears.
"A what?'
"Neggary, you know neggs." She pulled out an egg shaped fruit, only much larger. The woman looked at her strangely. "Haven't you heard of neggs?"
"Um no." She felt quite foolish.
"Hmmm you must not be from around here then." The woman sighed. "I am Negia the Negg faerie. And you are?"
"Frosta from the mountain." She shook Negia's hand.
"Hmm, you wouldn't happen to know what happened to the neggs in happy valley would you?"
"I'm sorry? Where?"
"The mountain valley." Negia looked perplexed.
"Oh no. I'm from the summit of the mountain."
Negia's mouth dropped and she pointed uselessly toward the tunnels. "From way up there?" Her voice came out in a squeak.
"Well yes, is that so odd?" Frosta asked scowling.
"Girl, have we got to talk." Negia pulled Frosta into the hut.
~~* You see the summit of Terror Mountain was shrouded in legend and myth. What Frosta did not know was that she, herself, was part of it. For how many normal people lived for hundreds of years? Anyway Negia questioned Frosta extensively. It became quite apparent to Negia that Frosta was the last of a race of faeries quite forgotten. She tried to convince Frosta to travel with her to the Cloud Kingdom known now as Faerieland. Of course Frosta was hesitant. She never had left the mountain and wanted to finish her research.
In the end Negia convinced her to go. When they reached Happy valley, they spent several days looking over the shops and marvels that Frosta had never seen. However it became quite apparent several days later that something was quite amiss.*~~
"You look awful." Negia said to Frosta.
"I feel odd." Indeed she did, she had left off her coat, for though it was cold in the valley it was not as brutal as the mountaintop. But still she felt terribly warm and quite limp.
"Perhaps you'll feel better when you reach Faerieland." Negia was feeling quite proud of her 'discovery' as she put it and did not want anything to happen.
"Perhaps." Was all Frosta could say.
~~* So a day later they packed their belongings and had started descending into what is now known as Neopia. Frosta was feeling quite dizzy and would have tumbled down the slope had not a young man from below caught her.*~~
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"I bet it was great-great-great-grampapa!" Elsa squealed clapping her hands.
"Hey don't interrupt!" Drake and Talon chorused.
"Shall we proceed or shall I stop?" Faerelle asked quietly.
"I say we break for cookies and hot chocolate." A rich velvety voice rumbled from the doorway.
"Fa!" Elsa all but flung herself at her father, neatly stepping on the heads of several animals. "Mum is telling a story!"
"So I heard." Wicked silver eyes gleamed at his wife, who glanced at him coolly.
"Will you get the chocolate and cookies or are you going to stand there?" She asked quite evenly.
"For you milady the world." He bowed bundling Elsa under one arm. "Come along Frostbite help me carry the food." Elsa grinned and stuck her tongue out at her brothers who grumbled but were too comfortable to move.
"Men." Gram snorted. "Foolish nonsense." A twinkle lit her silver eyes. "Just like his father."
Faerelle grinned. "Not at all like his mother then?"
"Well, were else do you think he got his looks?" The old woman chuckled.
"From your mother perhaps?" The Eyrie Phiora asked innocently. She was a favorite of Gram, being the only one strong enough to carry the old woman about Neopia.
"Daft creature." Gram snorted. "It's the females that pass on the looks in this family." She waved a thin hand at her grandchildren. "Were else do ya think they got those black locks."
"Certainly not from me." Faerelle smiled, her own red-brown locks were pinned in a becoming twist.
"Ah but they have your eyes." He entered, bearing trays of steaming chocolate.
"I had to have some say in the matter." Her blue eyes twinkled.
"And in everything it seems." He grinned unrepentantly at her.
"Oh behave yourself Hunter." Gram snapped as she took her coco from her son.
"Don't I always mum?" He dropped a kiss in her silver hair.
"Cookies!" Elsa chimed as she carried a large platter of fragrant sweets. "And no hogging!"
Once they were all settled with cookies and coco, Faerelle once again began her story.
"Ah yes where were we?"
"The mushy part." Drake muttered around a mouthful of cookie.
"So it would seem." She nodded.
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~~* The young man indeed had caught her before she fell to her death. But perhaps he had not been quick enough for her pale complexion was rosy and she was unconscious. So worried for the fair lady, the young man carried her back to the valley. He basically ignored Negia, who was wailing and moaning. At once he sent for the doctor, a kind elderly Shoyru.
After spending an hour in seclusion with Frosta the Doctor emerged. He looked sad and quite worried. *~~
"Is she alright?" The young man, who had introduced himself as Fallon, asked. His concern was very real, for he had fallen for the pale beauty he had rescued.
"I know I should have called the faerie queen!" Negia moaned.
"Doubtful she could have done anything about it." Doctor Albain said.
"What is wrong with her?" Fallon asked.
"Climate."
"I'll take her to the desert!" Negia cried.
~~*For then the desert wasn't quite lost just somewhat misplaced. Only the faeries really knew about it.*~~
"Hmpfh. That'd likely kill her." The doctor shook his head. "Nope she needs to go north."
"North?" Fallon asked puzzled, for he did not know anything about Frosta but her name. "Tell me where and I will take her there!"
Albain sighed. "To the coldest place possible. Her system isn't made to handle this heat."
"Heat?" Negia looked skeptical. "But its very cold here!"
"Needs to stay below freezing." He shook his head. "Her lungs will collapse and she will suffocate."
"When?" Fallon asked determined that she should live.
"Soon."
~~* After the doctor left Fallon stalked from the room and left Negia to sit beside Frosta. Hours later when night had fallen, a knock on the door woke Negia. She was shocked to find Fallon dressed in heavy furs, and even more so to see the long sled behind him, pulled by six white lupes.*~~
"What are you doing?" She asked as he pushed his way inside.
"Taking her to the summit." He said as he gathered Frosta into his arms.
"You'll never make it." Negia said as she grabbed her coat.
"I have to try."
"But you don't under stand." She grabbed his arm. "She's Fae."
He smiled sadly. "I know."
"How?" She placed her hands on her hips and scowled at him.
"Blood calls to blood." He draped furs about Frosta hoping the added warmth wouldn't send her further in to decline.
"You?" Negia was unconvinced.
"My grandmother was." He looked at her. "If you are going to help then do so, but if you get in my way."
"Yeah, yeah, you'll need a guide. Though how we'll find a way through the ice caves is beyond me!"
~~* It was not an easy journey for though Negia knew the way to the Ice caves and hence her home, the elements were against them. Blizzards descended with fury. It took them three days to reach Negia's home. It was then that Frosta opened her eyes.*~~
Both Fallon and Negia leaned over her staring hopefully.
"W-what happened?" She asked weakly.
"You've been very sick." Fallon said concern lacing his voice.
"Heatstroke.go figure." Negia shrugged.
Frosta grinned slightly before frowning at Fallon. "Who are you? I don't remember."
"Prince charming to the rescue." Negia sighed dramatically, "Rescued you from spilling your innards all across the valley."
"Can you kill the humor?" Fallon asked darkly.
"Naw, this is was keeps me sane." Negia glared at him.
"H-how else could she get away with her clothing?" Frosta smiled.
Negia looked at her mouth gapping. "Why I never!"
Just then Frosta started coughing, a deep rasping cough.
"We can't wait much longer." Fallon said kneeling beside her. "We need to know how to get to the summit. But we can't make it through the caves with out you help." His eyes searched hers intently.
"The satchel. is a map." Her eyes fluttered as she fell back.
"Ah ha! Gotcha!" Negia had riffled through Frosta's satchel and found the map. "Lets go times a wasting!"
~~* So after restocking their supplies and resting the lupes who agreed to continue on, they set out through the caves. It took them three days to reach the summit and each day it grew colder and more brutal. But amazingly Frosta was regaining her strength. By time they had reached her cottage, it was Negia who was bundled in the fur-lined sled, grumbling about the weather.
When at last they stood out side her home, Frosta turned to her newfound friends. She thanked them for saving her life, she vowed to never to forget them. But as it would seem she could not stray far from her home, she could only visit Negia briefly.*~~
"It's okay." Negia said. "I'll come visit you and then you can show my how to transform plain neggs into well not plain neggs."
"I'm sure I have a recipe somewhere." She hugged her friend. "And you can collect my ingredients for me. Though once your Neggary takes off I don't know what I'll do."
She then turned to Fallon who was looking quite distant, as he stood amongst the whirling snow.
"And you have saved my life." She peered up into his face. "I'm not sure how to thank you."
"I believe that's my cue to leave." Negia commented as she headed for the cottage. "I just hope your fireplace works. Come on fella's time for hot food!" She chuckled as the lupes followed her.
"She's rather.." Fallon began as he watched Negia's exit.
"Unusual?" Frosta asked.
"Yes, she has a good heart though." He grinned.
"As do you." Frost replied softly.
"If you think a little cold is going to chase me away." He frowned down at her. "Well.."
"I was actually hoping you would stay." Her ice blue eyes glimmered.
"Is that a proposal Miss Snow?"
"I believe so." She smiled.
He bent forward, whispering in her ear. "The man is supposed to ask, but I'll have you anyway." She laughed brightly as he picked her up and they whirled about in the snow.
Negia looked out the window. "Twitter-paetted. Happens to the best of us." She grinned at the couple. "Which is why I am the worst!" She glanced at the lupes. "Now will it be tea, coffee, or coco? Hmmm chocolate rules hands down." She grinned to herself, she wasn't that bad of a matchmaker. If the Neggary didn't pan out she'd still have a job.
~~* So it was that Fallon and Frosta married, the moon shone brightly as new snow fell about them. Most of there friends from the valley came, as well as the faerie Queen herself, to witness the union of the happy couple.
And so that is how the Snow Faerie found her love and her life. As for Negia, her business with neggs took for so quickly that she had little time to help find ingredients for Frosta's potions. So she sent her customers to the summit and those that would, helped Frosta in her quest for learning.
And so from the day hence the Snow faerie and the Negg faerie were fast friends. It was a friendship that has last through the ages the story passing down through the line of descendents. Even until this very day.*~~
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"And that my dears is the story of how the Snow Faerie and the Negg faerie became friends." Faerelle said.
"You forgot something." Elsa looked sternly at her mother.
"And what was that?"
"And they lived happily ever after!" She announced.
"So they did." Hunter grinned. "And that is also why you are here today, for if Fallon had never fallen in love with Frosta, none of us would be here."
"Well you wouldn't be anyway." Gram cackled. "Now off to bed with you all. I'm tired." She pushed herself from the chair and looked back at Faerelle with a gleam in her faded eyes. "Maybe someday you'll tell them the tale of how you came to our lonely mountain."
"Perhaps." Faerelle said.
"Hey! Does this mean Aunt Ishala has to get married?" Elsa asked, speaking of the current Snow Faerie and her father's sister. "Or do I get to be the Next Snow faerie?"
"Girls." The twins rolled their eyes as they departed the room.
"We'll see won't we?" Hunter ruffled his daughter's dark hair. "But perhaps there is something else in store for you."
"Like what?" Elsa asked pale eyes bright.
"Someday when you're older." He smiled, his eyes on Faerelle.
"Yeah that's what I thought." Elsa stalked off towards her room, scowling. "Nobody tells me anything. I am eight after all!" She hollered over her shoulder. Gram caught her arm and together they walked upstairs.
Hunter came to stand behind Faerelle as she stood looking out the door window. All the animals had departed to their various beds and they were alone in the room, even the fire had died down to a mere glow.
"You will tell her?" He asked bending to speak into her ear.
"Perhaps." She grinned looking back at him with a wicked grin. "Perhaps I shall save that Tale for another day."
THE END
"It started one snowy day on Terror Mountain."
"Isn't it always snowy?"
"Hush, I'm telling this story. Anyway the current Snow faerie was busy studying a list of ingredients for her potions."
"Was it great-grandma or great-great grandma or great-great-great- grandma??"
"Listen frost bite, who's telling this story?" The old wizened women leaned forward in her rocker and tapped the small girl on the nose.
"You are." The child crossed her arms and frowned, her pale blue eyes narrowed.
"Then listen." The old woman settled back. "As I said she was busy making her lists, when the door of her cottage burst open. A flurry of snow, wind and ice swept in around the intruder. When the door was closed, the wind and snow abated. There before her very eyes." The old woman paused. "There stood." She frowned.
The little girl turned her head. "Mum! Gram forgotted again!" Her voice startled the Snowy creatures dozing before the fire. In a bundle of fur and fangs the creatures woke, untangling themselves in frenzied motion.
A tall slender young woman appeared in the doorway, draped with a blue snowflake patterned apron. She was drying her hands on a towel. She looked at the chaos and sighed.
"Elsa how many times have I asked you to speak softly inside?" She spoke as she separated the tangle of white fur.
"Only a million." The child Elsa said. "To speak as softly as the snowflakes fall on a midnight sky under a gentle wind." She quoted dutifully.
"Very well, now what seems to be the matter?" She sat on a velvet covered window seat, the wintry night clear and the stars bright behind her.
"Move you oaf!" One of the white furred creatures pushed at the others. "She's going to tell a story.
"Mira. Name calling?"
The white kougress frowned. "He stepped on my tail." She pointed to the white Lupe.
"Did not." The lupe in question, one Ice by name, growled.
"Can we get on with it all ready?" The old woman snapped, having lost her audience.
"With what?" A yawning Wocky appeared in the doorway. Her midnight blue coat was striped with white.
"Mum is going to tell a story Kess!" Elsa proclaimed as she climbed into her mother lap.
"Oh lovely!" Kess the wocky was suddenly awake. "I'll get the others!" The sound of her pattering feet could be heard along with the slamming of a door.
"No one ever gets excited over my stories." The old woman grumbled.
"Perhaps it is because you forget them." Ice said. "Ouch. Hey! Tara stepped on my tail." The white Kougress looked the other way.
"You go girl."
"Now Gram." The mother protested.
"Oh hush Faerelle." Gram snorted. "We old folks have to get even some how."
"Perhaps." Faerelle pulled Elsa closer as she leaned against the window frame.
The sound of scurrying and hurrying feet ended the cozy scene, as two boys along with several animals stumbled into the room. Kess and another wocky of the same hue crowded into a chair while three white Aisha's piled around them. The silver Kougra and another white lupe entered at a slower speed, as did the electric Eyrie. The two boys were twins, noted by the identical ice coloured eyes and ebony hair. They threw themselves upon the rug in front of the fire.
"Well." Faerelle looked about her. "Are we missing anyone?"
"Fa is tending to the equines." One boy spoke.
"He'll be in shortly." .and the other finished.
"Hmpfh." Gram crossed her arms. "Just like his father."
"Mum, the story please?" Elsa looked up at her mother.
"Well I suppose Drake? Talon?" She looked at the twins. "Any requests?"
They shook their heads. As the menagerie settled themselves, Faerelle began the story. She leaned back and folded her hands her eyes bright.
"Listen children to this story of days gone by.."
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~~* It was a snowy windy day. Most every one had stayed indoors, for storms on Terror mountain could be frightfully dangerous. More then one Neopian had lost their lives trying to battle the elements.
In a small cottage at the very top of the mountain far before the Ski Lodge was actually built. Lived a young woman, now she had been orphaned at a young age and had grown up mostly by herself. Soon though it became apparent she had unusual gifts of healing and intelligence, so much so that others who lived on the summit began thinking of her as Fae. Which she was of course. But it was on this night of snowy tempests that she found herself pouring over ancient manuscripts of potions and such. *~~
"Tiger squash?" She asked herself. "What in the Snow is that?" She continued reading. "Frozen lemon juice? Pumpkin cookies? With frogs!" She sat back astonished. "Whatever could that be?"
~~* For you see she had lived all her life upon the mountain and had no idea about the world below her. With the few Chias' and Poogle's that lived around her she knew no one else. These things she read about were strange and unheard of. But her quest for knowledge was a powerful thing. She just had to know what these things were.
So she gathered her largest satchel and put on her warmest coat and began her trek down the mountain. She had a map of the ice caves so she would not get lost, she was amazed at all the crystalline beauty.
She finally reached a large cave, where a huge block of ice rested in its center. She studied it closely, making notes in her journal. A strange looking creature was trapped inside. As she made her way around the mammoth block she came upon the strangest look hut.
Pausing only briefly to put her journal away she knocked on the door. *~~
"Come in! Come in!" A voice echoed eerily.
"Hello?" She peered through the opened door.
"Oh 'ello." A green haired woman popped around the corner, wearing the strangest of clothes. "Are you here for the Neggary? Cuz I'm still working at it." The woman sighed, tugging on her pointed ears.
"A what?'
"Neggary, you know neggs." She pulled out an egg shaped fruit, only much larger. The woman looked at her strangely. "Haven't you heard of neggs?"
"Um no." She felt quite foolish.
"Hmmm you must not be from around here then." The woman sighed. "I am Negia the Negg faerie. And you are?"
"Frosta from the mountain." She shook Negia's hand.
"Hmm, you wouldn't happen to know what happened to the neggs in happy valley would you?"
"I'm sorry? Where?"
"The mountain valley." Negia looked perplexed.
"Oh no. I'm from the summit of the mountain."
Negia's mouth dropped and she pointed uselessly toward the tunnels. "From way up there?" Her voice came out in a squeak.
"Well yes, is that so odd?" Frosta asked scowling.
"Girl, have we got to talk." Negia pulled Frosta into the hut.
~~* You see the summit of Terror Mountain was shrouded in legend and myth. What Frosta did not know was that she, herself, was part of it. For how many normal people lived for hundreds of years? Anyway Negia questioned Frosta extensively. It became quite apparent to Negia that Frosta was the last of a race of faeries quite forgotten. She tried to convince Frosta to travel with her to the Cloud Kingdom known now as Faerieland. Of course Frosta was hesitant. She never had left the mountain and wanted to finish her research.
In the end Negia convinced her to go. When they reached Happy valley, they spent several days looking over the shops and marvels that Frosta had never seen. However it became quite apparent several days later that something was quite amiss.*~~
"You look awful." Negia said to Frosta.
"I feel odd." Indeed she did, she had left off her coat, for though it was cold in the valley it was not as brutal as the mountaintop. But still she felt terribly warm and quite limp.
"Perhaps you'll feel better when you reach Faerieland." Negia was feeling quite proud of her 'discovery' as she put it and did not want anything to happen.
"Perhaps." Was all Frosta could say.
~~* So a day later they packed their belongings and had started descending into what is now known as Neopia. Frosta was feeling quite dizzy and would have tumbled down the slope had not a young man from below caught her.*~~
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"I bet it was great-great-great-grampapa!" Elsa squealed clapping her hands.
"Hey don't interrupt!" Drake and Talon chorused.
"Shall we proceed or shall I stop?" Faerelle asked quietly.
"I say we break for cookies and hot chocolate." A rich velvety voice rumbled from the doorway.
"Fa!" Elsa all but flung herself at her father, neatly stepping on the heads of several animals. "Mum is telling a story!"
"So I heard." Wicked silver eyes gleamed at his wife, who glanced at him coolly.
"Will you get the chocolate and cookies or are you going to stand there?" She asked quite evenly.
"For you milady the world." He bowed bundling Elsa under one arm. "Come along Frostbite help me carry the food." Elsa grinned and stuck her tongue out at her brothers who grumbled but were too comfortable to move.
"Men." Gram snorted. "Foolish nonsense." A twinkle lit her silver eyes. "Just like his father."
Faerelle grinned. "Not at all like his mother then?"
"Well, were else do you think he got his looks?" The old woman chuckled.
"From your mother perhaps?" The Eyrie Phiora asked innocently. She was a favorite of Gram, being the only one strong enough to carry the old woman about Neopia.
"Daft creature." Gram snorted. "It's the females that pass on the looks in this family." She waved a thin hand at her grandchildren. "Were else do ya think they got those black locks."
"Certainly not from me." Faerelle smiled, her own red-brown locks were pinned in a becoming twist.
"Ah but they have your eyes." He entered, bearing trays of steaming chocolate.
"I had to have some say in the matter." Her blue eyes twinkled.
"And in everything it seems." He grinned unrepentantly at her.
"Oh behave yourself Hunter." Gram snapped as she took her coco from her son.
"Don't I always mum?" He dropped a kiss in her silver hair.
"Cookies!" Elsa chimed as she carried a large platter of fragrant sweets. "And no hogging!"
Once they were all settled with cookies and coco, Faerelle once again began her story.
"Ah yes where were we?"
"The mushy part." Drake muttered around a mouthful of cookie.
"So it would seem." She nodded.
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~~* The young man indeed had caught her before she fell to her death. But perhaps he had not been quick enough for her pale complexion was rosy and she was unconscious. So worried for the fair lady, the young man carried her back to the valley. He basically ignored Negia, who was wailing and moaning. At once he sent for the doctor, a kind elderly Shoyru.
After spending an hour in seclusion with Frosta the Doctor emerged. He looked sad and quite worried. *~~
"Is she alright?" The young man, who had introduced himself as Fallon, asked. His concern was very real, for he had fallen for the pale beauty he had rescued.
"I know I should have called the faerie queen!" Negia moaned.
"Doubtful she could have done anything about it." Doctor Albain said.
"What is wrong with her?" Fallon asked.
"Climate."
"I'll take her to the desert!" Negia cried.
~~*For then the desert wasn't quite lost just somewhat misplaced. Only the faeries really knew about it.*~~
"Hmpfh. That'd likely kill her." The doctor shook his head. "Nope she needs to go north."
"North?" Fallon asked puzzled, for he did not know anything about Frosta but her name. "Tell me where and I will take her there!"
Albain sighed. "To the coldest place possible. Her system isn't made to handle this heat."
"Heat?" Negia looked skeptical. "But its very cold here!"
"Needs to stay below freezing." He shook his head. "Her lungs will collapse and she will suffocate."
"When?" Fallon asked determined that she should live.
"Soon."
~~* After the doctor left Fallon stalked from the room and left Negia to sit beside Frosta. Hours later when night had fallen, a knock on the door woke Negia. She was shocked to find Fallon dressed in heavy furs, and even more so to see the long sled behind him, pulled by six white lupes.*~~
"What are you doing?" She asked as he pushed his way inside.
"Taking her to the summit." He said as he gathered Frosta into his arms.
"You'll never make it." Negia said as she grabbed her coat.
"I have to try."
"But you don't under stand." She grabbed his arm. "She's Fae."
He smiled sadly. "I know."
"How?" She placed her hands on her hips and scowled at him.
"Blood calls to blood." He draped furs about Frosta hoping the added warmth wouldn't send her further in to decline.
"You?" Negia was unconvinced.
"My grandmother was." He looked at her. "If you are going to help then do so, but if you get in my way."
"Yeah, yeah, you'll need a guide. Though how we'll find a way through the ice caves is beyond me!"
~~* It was not an easy journey for though Negia knew the way to the Ice caves and hence her home, the elements were against them. Blizzards descended with fury. It took them three days to reach Negia's home. It was then that Frosta opened her eyes.*~~
Both Fallon and Negia leaned over her staring hopefully.
"W-what happened?" She asked weakly.
"You've been very sick." Fallon said concern lacing his voice.
"Heatstroke.go figure." Negia shrugged.
Frosta grinned slightly before frowning at Fallon. "Who are you? I don't remember."
"Prince charming to the rescue." Negia sighed dramatically, "Rescued you from spilling your innards all across the valley."
"Can you kill the humor?" Fallon asked darkly.
"Naw, this is was keeps me sane." Negia glared at him.
"H-how else could she get away with her clothing?" Frosta smiled.
Negia looked at her mouth gapping. "Why I never!"
Just then Frosta started coughing, a deep rasping cough.
"We can't wait much longer." Fallon said kneeling beside her. "We need to know how to get to the summit. But we can't make it through the caves with out you help." His eyes searched hers intently.
"The satchel. is a map." Her eyes fluttered as she fell back.
"Ah ha! Gotcha!" Negia had riffled through Frosta's satchel and found the map. "Lets go times a wasting!"
~~* So after restocking their supplies and resting the lupes who agreed to continue on, they set out through the caves. It took them three days to reach the summit and each day it grew colder and more brutal. But amazingly Frosta was regaining her strength. By time they had reached her cottage, it was Negia who was bundled in the fur-lined sled, grumbling about the weather.
When at last they stood out side her home, Frosta turned to her newfound friends. She thanked them for saving her life, she vowed to never to forget them. But as it would seem she could not stray far from her home, she could only visit Negia briefly.*~~
"It's okay." Negia said. "I'll come visit you and then you can show my how to transform plain neggs into well not plain neggs."
"I'm sure I have a recipe somewhere." She hugged her friend. "And you can collect my ingredients for me. Though once your Neggary takes off I don't know what I'll do."
She then turned to Fallon who was looking quite distant, as he stood amongst the whirling snow.
"And you have saved my life." She peered up into his face. "I'm not sure how to thank you."
"I believe that's my cue to leave." Negia commented as she headed for the cottage. "I just hope your fireplace works. Come on fella's time for hot food!" She chuckled as the lupes followed her.
"She's rather.." Fallon began as he watched Negia's exit.
"Unusual?" Frosta asked.
"Yes, she has a good heart though." He grinned.
"As do you." Frost replied softly.
"If you think a little cold is going to chase me away." He frowned down at her. "Well.."
"I was actually hoping you would stay." Her ice blue eyes glimmered.
"Is that a proposal Miss Snow?"
"I believe so." She smiled.
He bent forward, whispering in her ear. "The man is supposed to ask, but I'll have you anyway." She laughed brightly as he picked her up and they whirled about in the snow.
Negia looked out the window. "Twitter-paetted. Happens to the best of us." She grinned at the couple. "Which is why I am the worst!" She glanced at the lupes. "Now will it be tea, coffee, or coco? Hmmm chocolate rules hands down." She grinned to herself, she wasn't that bad of a matchmaker. If the Neggary didn't pan out she'd still have a job.
~~* So it was that Fallon and Frosta married, the moon shone brightly as new snow fell about them. Most of there friends from the valley came, as well as the faerie Queen herself, to witness the union of the happy couple.
And so that is how the Snow Faerie found her love and her life. As for Negia, her business with neggs took for so quickly that she had little time to help find ingredients for Frosta's potions. So she sent her customers to the summit and those that would, helped Frosta in her quest for learning.
And so from the day hence the Snow faerie and the Negg faerie were fast friends. It was a friendship that has last through the ages the story passing down through the line of descendents. Even until this very day.*~~
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"And that my dears is the story of how the Snow Faerie and the Negg faerie became friends." Faerelle said.
"You forgot something." Elsa looked sternly at her mother.
"And what was that?"
"And they lived happily ever after!" She announced.
"So they did." Hunter grinned. "And that is also why you are here today, for if Fallon had never fallen in love with Frosta, none of us would be here."
"Well you wouldn't be anyway." Gram cackled. "Now off to bed with you all. I'm tired." She pushed herself from the chair and looked back at Faerelle with a gleam in her faded eyes. "Maybe someday you'll tell them the tale of how you came to our lonely mountain."
"Perhaps." Faerelle said.
"Hey! Does this mean Aunt Ishala has to get married?" Elsa asked, speaking of the current Snow Faerie and her father's sister. "Or do I get to be the Next Snow faerie?"
"Girls." The twins rolled their eyes as they departed the room.
"We'll see won't we?" Hunter ruffled his daughter's dark hair. "But perhaps there is something else in store for you."
"Like what?" Elsa asked pale eyes bright.
"Someday when you're older." He smiled, his eyes on Faerelle.
"Yeah that's what I thought." Elsa stalked off towards her room, scowling. "Nobody tells me anything. I am eight after all!" She hollered over her shoulder. Gram caught her arm and together they walked upstairs.
Hunter came to stand behind Faerelle as she stood looking out the door window. All the animals had departed to their various beds and they were alone in the room, even the fire had died down to a mere glow.
"You will tell her?" He asked bending to speak into her ear.
"Perhaps." She grinned looking back at him with a wicked grin. "Perhaps I shall save that Tale for another day."
THE END