"So?" Ellete asked, appearing with Atler at her side. "How'd it go?"
"How'd what go?" Evelyn asked, shutting the door.
Leia, Asher, Brooke, Amelia and Camila had just left. They took up on Evelyn's offer for Fairyopoly and played for around two hours and said their goodbyes after Asher finished complaining about how Amelia always won and after a little more chatting.
"Your little playdate."
Evelyn didn't know what else to say except, "It was.....interesting."
But she still had a question to ask. "Why didn't you guys tell me you were famous?"
"Famous....isn't the right word. It's more like..... a little more powerful than average." Atler corrected. "And about not telling you, we're sorry about that." He and Ellete exchanged a guilty look.
"We just didn't want to overwhelm you," Ellete added.
"Well....if there's anything else I need to know," Evelyn started.
"We'll tell you. But for now, there's nothing else we're hiding." Atler assured her.
Evelyn nodded and leaned against the door.
"Well, I have to go prepare dinner." Ellete said, heading out of the hall and leaving Evelyn with Atler.
When Ellete was out of sight, Atler leaned in and said-whispered to Evelyn, "Wanna go somewhere?"
Evelyn nodded. After all, she didn't really have anything to do that afternoon.
Atler pulled her close and threw a teleball into the air. The usual bright white light blinded Evelyn and she shielded her eyes by covering them with her hands and uncovered them when the bright light disappeared.
Atler had teleported them into the middle of a very beautiful and stunning garden. The garden was surrounded by beautiful trees with purple, blue, pink and white leaves and there were colorful pastel flowers sprouting out of the ground.
There was a lake a little to the right with lily-pads and the water was clear and sea-through. Lily leapers, pink glossy frogs that could leap up to 13 metres, were resting on the lily pads and there were birds perched on the branches of the trees.
It looked like a garden that belonged to a princess or a queen.
"Welcome to Willowwill!" Atler announced, grinning. "This is a little secret garden that me and Ellete built by ourselves. We planted all the plants here too. This was supposed to be your secret little garden, but...."
He didn't finish it, instead signalling Evelyn to follow him. He led her to a willow tree and pulled back the thread of leaves hanging from the willow tree, revealing a giant bird nest with an egg inside. The egg was a few inches bigger than an ostrich's and was a light shade of red with hints of orange.
"This is an Aknesh dragon egg. There are many types of dragons, and an Aknesh dragon can control its' size-it can become big or small at will and it can breathe fire at will as well. I brought you here because I know you oftenly get bored being alone at home and I know you get lonely by yourself. So, I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to keep the dragonling when it hatches."
Evelyn did oftenly get bored by herself at home oftenly. And sometimes she did feel lonely at some times.
"What will happen if I don't want to keep the dragonling when it hatches?" she had to ask before she gave an answer.
"Well.....there's a lot of people I can sell the dragonling to. I can sell it to the DRA, the Dragon Riding Academy-or I could sell it to Chef Buso. I heard he's looking for dragons for his new menu recipe: Dragon steak. Or I could gift it to a friend." Atler said, patting the top of the egg.
Evelyn's eyes widened. "Dragon steak?"
Atler nodded. "Mmm-hmm. Aknesh dragon steak is the second best type of dragon steak, next to Fire dragon steak."
Evelyn's knees wobbled slightly. It seemed cruel to slaughter dragons for their meat, but humans did slaughter chickens, cows, pigs, ducks and even more animals for their meat as well.
"I guess I'll keep the dragonling when it hatches," Evelyn decided.
After all, how bad would it be to take care of a dragonling?
"When will it hatch?" Evelyn asked, brushing her fingertips across the egg. The egg's surface felt a little rocky and bumpy but was smooth otherwise.
"Guessing by the amount of movements and how big the movements are of the dragonling in the egg, I'd say the egg would hatch in about one or two months more." Atler replied, feeling and knocking the egg all over.
Evelyn eyed the egg. "Why do you have a dragon egg anyway?"
Atler lifted the egg and placed it in a more comfortable position. "The poor egg was found abandoned in a nest in a cloud. One of my friends found the egg and didn't know what to do with it and gave me it."
"The egg was on a....cloud?" Evelyn asked.
Atler nodded again. "Different dragons nest in different places, but so far, all different types of dragon have been found to either nest in clouds, caves, mountain peaks, under the sea, clear areas in the forests, on the tip of volcanos, in swamps, lakes and riversides. Smaller-sized dragons also tend to nest on the top of large trees and sometimes on the top of houses as well."
Evelyn went quiet after that, wondering exactly how a dragon could nest in a cloud. Wouldn't the dragon just sink through? She could ask Atler, but she felt like she was asking too many questions.
The lily leapers croaked in the background as Atler made some final adjustments to the nest.
"Right, I also wanted to show you another thing." Atler said and he patted the egg before stepping back, covering the strands of leaves back to hide the dragon egg.
"This way," he signalled for her to follow him and they took a turn around the willow tree. Behind the willow tree, there were even more strands of leaves. "I wasn't planning on showing you this, but since we're here, I might as well show you anyway if you want."
"What is in there?" Evelyn asked, trying to peek through the gaps of the strands of leaves.
"Some of your favourite childhood belongings. We put it here because this garden was meant for you but you lived in the human world, so....."
"Can I see them?" Evelyn asked.
Atler pulled apart the strands of leaves, revealing the tree's huge hollow. The tree was extremely large, and the hollow was almost half the size of Evelyn. Atler stepped aside and Evelyn peered into the hollow.
Inside there were numerous picture books with fairytale-like covers and there was a wind-up merry-go-round with unicorns instead of horses. There was a cloud night lamp, a rattle and several worn-out building blocks. There was a smiling stuffed yeti, a stuffed lavender dragon with a white belly, a stuffed kitsune, a stuff myth mare, a stuffed enfield and a stuffed wolpertinger. There was also a white deer plushie with antlers, which Evelyn didn't know what animal was. There were even figurines- a figurine of a merhorse, a kelpie, a kirin, a griffin and a pegasus.
Those were a lot of toys, and a lot of animal-based toys, no less.
"These...were my toys and stuffed animals?" she turned to face Atler, who looked like he was about to start tearing up.
Atler nodded and reached deep into the hollow and pulled out a stuffed chipmunk, which must've been buried underneath the pile of toys because Evelyn didn't spot it. He held the chipmunk in his hands, his eyes becoming a little misty. Then he handed it to Evelyn.
"This was your favorite stuffed animal when you was young," he explained and Evelyn examined it.
"It's a....chipmunk. I didn't know chipmunks were mythical."
"Chipmunks aren't mythical." Atler answered, pulling out the rattle and started pounding it against his palm lightly. "A friend of mine gave it to me for you when you was born."
"You friend lives in the human world?" Evelyn asked, squishing the chipmunk slightly.
Atler nodded. "He's actually an elf, but he went to live in the human world because he found humans interesting and wanted to study their lives. Sadly, I've lost contact with him. I don't even know if he's alive anymore- the time takes a toll on us when we stay in the human world. We can live for thousands and thousands of years in Celestria but will grow old in the human world. If he's still alive, he'd be about eight years old now."
Evelyn averted her gaze to Atler, a little frightened to ask her question. "Does that mean I'm older than my current age?"
Atler chuckled. "Of course not! Though, I think you might be a little younger..... but as far as I know, you're no more older than fourteen years old."
Evelyn cringed. "Does that mean my current age is now correct?"
Atler shrugged. "Age is a little complicated when you put Celestria and the human worlds' time side by side. But for now, let's assume you're fourteen years old."
"Just out of curiosity, how old are you?" Evelyn asked.
"Hm...I think I'm seven-hundred and forty-two years old. It's hard to keep track of age here."
Wow.
Atler was....old. But she guessed he was still young in Celestria time.
Evelyn went back to staring at the chipmunk. "So....this used to be my favourite stuffed animal?"
Atler nodded. "You used to call him Doodo."
Evelyn smiled to herself and repeated the name softly. "Doodo."
"Anyway," Atler said. "It's starting to get late. Wanna wrap this up?"
Evelyn nodded, staring at sunset, which was slowly morphing into the night. "Can I keep all of these though?"
Atler smiled. "You want to keep these?"
Evelyn nodded. "If it's not a burden, I'd kind of want to keep these. All of these. After all, they are my childhood toys."
Atler's smile turned wider and he nodded, walking off and coming back a second later with a wheelbarrow. "This is the wheelbarrow I used to bring the dragon egg here. Is it okay if we put your toys in here?"
Evelyn nodded and set to work, taking a handful of toys and dumping them into the wheelbarrow, and Atler did the same.
After a minute or two, they managed to get all the toys into the wheelbarrow, and Evelyn stepped closer to Atler as he pulled out a teleball and threw it over them. After a quick and bright flash of light, they were back in their home's hallway.
"Hey," a voice called out to them, and they turned to see Ellete leaning against the hallway's wide door frame. "Where did you guys go? And aren't those....Evelyn's childhood toys?"
"Oh, I just brought her to Willowwill. I showed her the dragon egg-which we are keeping, by the way- and showed her her childhood toys. And she decided to keep them and here we are." Atler explained, dragging the wheelbarrow out of the hallway and to the stairs.
Evelyn and Ellete trailed behind him, and they worked together to get all the toys up. It took a few trips, but they managed it get all the toys piled onto her bed in her bedroom after a few minutes.
"Dinner's downstairs when you're ready," Ellete told Evelyn as Atler dumped the final toys onto her bed.
She left with Atler a moment later, leaving Evelyn with her toys.
Those were a lot of toys.
Evelyn got to her knees and looked under the bed. She knew there were two trunks un derneath that she could use to store her toys. Sure enough, the trunks were lying underneath the bed and Evelyn pulled them out. She opened both trunks and swiped the toys in with one hefty swipe, but took Dodoo and set him on her night table.
She closed the trunks shut when all the toys were piled in and pushed the trunks back under her bed, staring at Dodoo when she was done.
She stared at her favourite childhood stuffed toy and started wondering how her childhood life was like.
But one thought led to another, and she was soon thinking about the fire that killed her family and her family's death.
As she thought about it, she could feel the scorching flames and hear the agonizing screams. She could feel the hotness soaking through her skin and the sweat dripping down her forehead. And the scene that replayed in front of her eyes....
She would never forget Talia's last scream as the flame-covered tree fell on top of her entire family.
And she would never forget-
No.
She shook her head to snap out of the horrifying reverie.
Her family wouldn't want this for her- they'd want her to be happy and safe, even though they were dead. They wouldn't want her mourning and grieving over their loss everyday.
She took a deep breath and headed for the door, suddenly very eager for something to distract her from these thoughts.
She climbed down the stairs and ducked into the dining room, where the table was half-full with delicious dishes.
Ellete and Atler were sitting at the table, waiting for her and when she finally took a seat, the trio dug into the home-cooked food.
Evelyn was in the middle of taking a bite of her food when chime of the doorbell rang through the house.
"I'll get it," Evelyn offered, getting to her feet and rushing to the door. She pulled it open and found Zak.
Something about him looked off- he looked nervous, somehow. He was fidgety and looked slightly pale. But he still gave her a smile, though he had to slightly tilt his head upwards to show it. "Hey, kid. Where's Atler?"
"Oh, he's in the dining room." Evelyn answered, stepping aside to let Zak in. Zak shuffled in and Evelyn led him to the dining room.
"Zak?" Atler asked as they reached the dining room. "Why are you here? If you're here for flour to dump on other unsuspecting grimmies, I've told you already- No more pranks!"
Zak turned a little more paler, and he fidgeted with his fingers. "Don't worry, I didn't come here for that." he assured Atler. "Can we talk? And somewhere private?"
Atler frowned but nodded, getting to his feet and leading Zak out of the dining room. Evelyn could hear Zak's hushed whispers as they walked away, and she frowned.
"What do you think that was about?" She turned to Ellete, plopping down onto her seat.
Ellete shrugged. "I honestly have no idea."
All Evelyn could say was a "Hmm" before she went back to eating.