Crickett's Journey

One night as Crickett, the tri-colored Corgi, is sleeping the Snow Queen came to her in her dreams. They talked for a bit then out of the blue the Queen asked Crickett to come meet her family in the Winter Realm. Crickett didn’t really understand why she had requested it after all she had just met the Snow Queen a few days ago so a trip to her realm seemed a little quick. Crickett doesn’t want to appear rude or ungrateful though so she agrees to go with the queen to meet her family.

Crickett discovers that the Winter Realm is very beautiful but very cold. Crickett has never seen mountains before and especially not mountains covered in the bluish whitest snow she’s ever seen; everything around them is covered. At home she absolutely loves playing in and eating the snow so she has to physically stop herself from running away from the Queen to frolic in the snow just beyond the path.

Unfortunately the longer they walk the colder Crickett’s feet start to get causing her to whine and limp a little with each step. The queen hears her and stops to look down at the little dog. She reaches down and picks Crickett up then says as she holds Crickett close, “I’m sorry little one I forget sometimes that not everyone is immune to the cold. We still have a ways to go so you can snuggle up to me to keep warm. Once we get to the castle though you can curl up in front of the fire and get all snuggly warm.” The queen, still smiling, continues walking.

Just as Crickett feels her eyelids lids begin to droop she catches sight of a very beautiful castle in the distance. It looks to be made completely out of ice and a beautiful dark stone. Excited, she is fully awake now and can’t wait to see the castle up close. She has to make sure to stay extra still so that the queen doesn’t have any issues carrying her. If she starts wiggling the queen could drop her or get hurt herself. Neither of which Crickett wants so she stays very very still until they arrive at the castle gates.

At the gates Queen Flykra gently places Crickett on the ground to wait for the draw bridge to lower before them. Their wait wasn't long because the draw bridge began to lower as soon as the gates were in sight. As Crickett watches the massive draw bridge she notices that it is the same as the rest of the castle, ice and dark stone. It looks impossibly cold but when Crickett steps on to the draw bridge she is amazed to discover that it is warm as if the sun shining on its surface is warming it up. Although the land all around her and castle are covered in ice and snow the sun is shining brightly above them and the warmth on her back tells Crickett that the snow and ice should be melting but for some reason they are not. The realm truly is magical.

After walking a few feet past the gates they came to the castle itself. The doors of the castle open for them as soon as they get close allowing Crickett to see inside. She thought with all the ice and stone on the outside that the inside would be the same and while the floor is the same black stone the walls are different. They appear to be a smooth off white stone of some kind giving the whole area an ethereal look about it. It is so beautiful that Crickett can’t help but look everywhere except where she’s going. So it’s not a surprise when she runs into the backs of Queen Flykra’s legs. Instead of being upset the queen merely giggles. “It is very impressive, I know. Come this way I have someone I want you to meet, well a few someone’s actually.” Queen Flykra says laughingly then continues walking down the hall with Crickett in tow who is trying her best not to run into the queen again.

Finally they come to an intricately carved wooden door and stop. Crickett can feel her heart beat pick up when they stop. As if sensing her sudden case of nerves Queen Flykra looks down at Crickett and says, “There’s no need to be scared. Beyond this door are my children and our Corgi Nicholas. Are you ready?” Cricket smiles and bounces a bit in place while she waits for Queen Flykra to open the door. Crickett absolutely loves children and meeting new dogs. Although she loves meeting new people and creatures it still makes her a bit nervous but she can’t wait to meet everyone. After the queen opens the door a little boy squeals in delight and runs to her wrapping her lower body in an enormous hug. “Mommy! Mommy! You’re back, we missed you so very much. Neve missed you too. She won’t admit it naturally because she says she’s too grown up for that kind of stuff.” A very cute little boy says to the Queen as she looks down at him and he gazes up at her with adoring eyes. Queen Flykra bends down and picks up the little boy before saying, “Well I missed you guys too. I brought a friend for you to meet too.” They walk further into the room and take seats on some couches and when everyone is comfortable the queen introduces Crickett to everyone.

“Now children, I want you to meet Crickett. She is a friend to your aunt and uncle Queen Elowen and King Fjord. She has helped them many times with many things.” to Crickett she says, “Crickett these are my children Princess Neve and Prince Quilo and our trusted Corgi Nicholas.” Crickett yips happily at the children then approaches the Corgi. He is a handsome little dog with a red and white coat where hers is black, white and brown. She’s never seen a Corgi colored this way. Truthfully she’s not seen many other Corgis. They approach each other slowly then do circles smelling each other a few times before sitting down again. With pats given all around the family starts talking about what each had missed while the queen had been away.

While the queen and her children visit Crickett and Nicholas do the same. They talk about their lives Crickett and notice a sadness in his voice. She wonders why as they continue talking about why he is so sad. “He has all the snow he could ever want to play in.” she thinks then gets a dreamy look on her face as she remembers all of that wonderful snow. She wants to help him but she doesn’t feel they know each other well enough for her to just come out and ask him what is the matter. So for now she will just be here for him and listen for as long as she is in the Winter Realm.

Some time later she feels herself begin to wake up in the human world. She rises from where she had been with Nicholas and turns to him to say goodbye. As soon as the words are out of her mouth Nicholas whimpers and hides face in his paws. Crickett is a little confused by his actions. Queen Flykra stands and walks towards them when she hears what Crickett had said. She stops before them and leans down. Smiling a little wickedly she touches Crickett’s head and says, “No little one you aren’t going anywhere. This is your home now.” Then the queen and her children leave the room locking the door behind them.

Crickett can’t believe what just happened. She’s never going to go home again. She’s never going to see her parents again. She’s not sure what will happen to her body in the human world but she really hopes it reacts the same way so they won’t be worried or sad. If she had known this was going to happen when she came with the Snow Queen she probably wouldn’t have come. Well she would have at least told one of her friends where she was going first. She could never be mean or disrespectful towards a Queen or really anyone else for that matter. She just isn’t built that way.

As she lays with her head on her paws crying softly Nicholas comes to sit beside her. He places his head next to hers and says, “I’m sorry Crickett I should have warned you when you came in. I just didn’t think she’d do it again. When I was just a puppy she did the same thing to me. I was with my mother and siblings still but Queen Elowen had not decided it was our time to leave. You see every Corgi is born in the Light Fairy Realms until they are old enough to go to their human homes. In the human world Corgis are just tiny fluffy puppies when they first come home with them. It isn’t until a week or two later that our essence travels from the fairy world and enters us in the human world. Since Queen Flykra took me early I was not able to enter the human world with my siblings. So I’ve been sad lately and I think her bringing you here is my fault. I am so sorry Crickett. I wish there was something I could do to help” Then they just snuggled up together and waited.

What Crickett didn’t know. What she couldn’t have known was that someone had seen her leaving with Queen Flykra. Her friend Poe, the Raven, had been sitting high up in Grover’s branches when he had seen them walking by. He was instantly concerned. Crickett has no business being with the Snow Queen. Poe fears what it could mean. He flew as quickly as he could to let King Fjord know what happened and what he suspected was about to happen.

King Fjord is furious with his sister, the Snow Queen, when Poe tells him what happened and what he thought it could mean. He thanks Poe for letting him know about it and promises him that he will get Crickett back and everything will be ok. As soon as Poe leaves the King’s presence Fjord rushes from the room to inform his wife Elowen what has happened. Elowen is on her feet in an instant after hearing the news and rushes from the room to let her sister Queen Levana and her husband King Rizolvis know.

In no time King Fjord and Queen Elowen are on their way to bring Crickett back home. With them is King Rizolvis and Queen Levena of the Dark Realm. Crickett is a very sweet and kind hearted little dog everyone around her wants to protect her. Even their children had wanted to come along but they were not allowed because it could be too dangerous. They needed their children to stay just in case they did not return. So they stayed and waited and worried both for their friend and their parents.

In the meantime Crickett is trying her best to sleep but she can’t seem to get comfortable then she hears someone calling to her, not where anyone else could hear but in her mind. She instantly perks up when she recognizes the voice of King Fjord calling to her. She sits up quickly and calls back to him, “Sire, I am in Snow Queen’s castle. She won’t let me go back home. I’m so scared I won’t see my parents again.” She could swear she could hear the king roaring and feel it in the stone all around her.

“We are on our way. You will be coming home with us before too long. Stay brave my little friend." King Fjord says to try and calm Crickett’s nerves. Then she hears the rumbling of footsteps inside the castle. Outside their door Crickett hears the Snow Queen say, “Fjord? What are all of you doing here? It’s the middle of the night.” She is trying to defuse the situation by pretending to be ignorant of it. This has the opposite effect on her brother that she had hoped for. The king instead of buying her lies roars at her causing the whole castle to shake around them.

Barely able to contain the anger welling within him King Fjord replies, “You know very well why we are here. We’ve come for Crickett. She does not belong to you.” Then Crickett hears the door knob turning followed by the door being flung wide open wide and standing in the door frame is King Fjord and he looks angry. But an instant later he looks confused. He turns to Queen Elowen and motions for her to come inside the room with him.

Once inside the room Queen Elowen smiles at Crickett but the second she sees Nicholas she gasps. She kneels before him and looking deep into his eyes she says to him, “Nicholas? Is that you? What are you doing here? You disappeared so long ago.” Then she scoops him up in her arms. Crying and hugging him tight as she places kisses on top of his head. With tears of joy in her eyes she looks to King Fjord.

Somehow even angrier than he had been when he entered the room he turns back to Queen Flykra and asks her, “What is he doing here? Did you come into my court and steal him for yourself? You know better. You could have waited for him to return after his life was lived. They return to the fairy world once their lives are lived in the human realm. You deprived him of the life he deserved. You are very lucky you are my sister or you would pay for such actions.” Crickett is shocked by what she hears. She did not know that she was born in the fairy world nor that she would return again. She finds that she is very happy about both.

Hours later the Kings and Queens are leaving the Winter Realm and with them are Crickett and Nicholas. It was decided that Nicholas would return with Crickett and become her brother so that he could live the life he deserved. Prince Quilo and Princess Neve are extremely sad that he has to leave them but they understand. At least they tell the grown ups they do but deep down they do not, they are too young to truly understand why he has to leave them but they put on brave faces just the same.

Nicholas tells the children goodbye saying, “I will return in my dreams to see you as much as I can. I will always be here for you both.” Then the children engulf Nicholas in a massive hug not wanting to let him go just yet. They do after some more time though and after they say their last goodbyes they run to their mother and bury their faces in her legs to hide their tears.

Later when Crickett and Nicholas are on the front porch of Crickett’s house she kisses Nicholas on his nose and says, “In a few minutes I will wake up and bark. That’s when you bark and scratch on the door.” With that set Crickett returns to her sleeping body so she can wake up and bark. Moments later Crickett barks waking her parents then Nicholas does the same. Her parents rush to the door and find Nicholas sitting there shivering. Crickett’s daddy quickly walks to the little dog and scoops him up to bring him inside to get some food in his belly and to get warm.

Later that same day as Crickett and Nicholas are sitting together on the blanket her mommy made for her on the couch Crickett smiles at him and says, “I love you. I’m so glad you’re here.” She knew as soon as her daddy picked up Nicholas and brought him inside to get warm that Nicholas would be with them from that moment on. That makes her so very happy and she hopes it makes Nicholas happy too.

Nicholas smiles at Crickett, his new friend, his new sister, and replies, “I love you too. I’m very happy to be here as well.” Then they both snuggle closer to each other and fall asleep. He can’t wait to see what the future holds for him and his new family. He misses Princess Neve and Prince Quilo but he will see them again. For now he has a new family that already loves him dearly. He couldn’t ask for anything more than the chance to live his life as he was destined to do all those years ago.

THE END…

WELL THE BEGINNING REALLY