A Starcrossed Christmas

Chapter 1: Azura

Azura struggled a little with the branch in her mouth, careful not to touch the holly berries with her tongue or teeth. Her paws were soaked into the snow as it crunched along the beaten trail that led home. ‘Myst will help me with the garlands and Sumia and Azalea are out getting the tree...oh what else is there?’ Azura’s mind filled with thoughts of preparation, Her tail twitching with stress. The holidays have always been period of stress for Azura. Being a single mother of five children, she always tried to make each one as great and as happy as the last. But since her girls have grown and her son had left, feelings of december always came back through leaving a cold stone deep in her gut that only intensified as she remembered years past. She didn't think of herself as old, but she always felt that way when weathering the cold. Possibly because of memories past, or because of the illness that cotrid her years ago… It was the presence of the girls that kept her going throughout december despite the aches and pains in her mental psyche during this time, and now this year she had a new goal this season, One involving a certain Kia named Mort Denver.

Mort was.. An enigma. A presence in her life that was very welcome after years of being alone. Her girls, have taken liberties in trying to ‘protect’ her from him, and she was sure they only wanted what was best for her. But if anything the protection was unneeded and she only hoped they would warm up to him enough, at least for the holidays. It's only been a few years since she first met the larger male and she already had her full trust in him, call her naive or whatever, but she fell for him hard, despite her girls obvious distrust in him. When she was told that he hadn’t really celebrated a true christmas before, the notion was a tad appalling, even to the girls. Azura then pledged to make this the best holiday season ever, which was why she now was walking home stressed with a holly branch instead of the mistletoe she was originally searching for… Azura hoped that the girls had done their part for the day, Mort was suppose to being home in a few days for the season from….whatever profession he works in. This was supposed to be a nice surprise, and everything being perfect at this point was certainly going to be a christmas miracle. But she knew her girls...knew them well. And if anything, she hoped they kept their promise. But as Azura walked within eyeshot of her cabin home in the middle of the snowfallen field, she could only sigh at the animated shapes of her middle daughters arguing heatedly, Hackles raised and fur bristling. Sumia’s white hair was stuck out, tangled with thorns and dirt and pine needles, it was obvious she was shoved into the snow at some point as her fur up to her thighs were both soaked and frosted and her eyes seething with annoyance. Azalea stood across from her with the same look in her usually calm demeanor, however much dryer and cleaner looking then her sister. Her long ears were folded back tightly against her head and her tail was twitching between her legs agitatedly. Azura, coming closer raised her eyebrows, the girls unnoticing their mother coming into the area.

“Me?! How is this MY fault! I was the one who tried carrying it and YOU botched it” Sumia shouted, her voice exasperated and wheezy, Azalea scoffed shaking her head vigorously. “How did I BOTCH it I never TOUCHED it!! YOU were the one who DROPPED IT”

“If you weren't so afraid of getting your paws dirty and actually HELPED ME CARRY THE DAMN THING we wouldn’t be here RIGHT NOW ARGUING NOW WOULD WE?”

Azalea scowled and twitched her ears lightly.

“I wasn’t the one who INSISTED that we didn't need the goddamn SLED and we could CARRY THE TREE OURSELVES! Besides you were FINE dragging it till you trip on your two feet ya clutz”

Sumia laughed sarcastically, shaking with anger.

“Clutz?! EXCUSE ME?? I TRIPPED OVER YOUR SORRY ASS BECAUSE YOU WALK SLOWER THAN A ELDERLY TURTLE”

“I WAS TRYING NOT TO FALL ON MY FACE.”

Azura sighed, there was no stopping these two. Her middle girls were twins, albeit not identical looks…..or mentality wise. which meant they tended to clash, a lot. Sumia was the tough gal, musician, her little virtuoso with a mean spirit while Azalea was more calm, level headed and more of a visual arts girl. Together they were a whirlwind of emotions that struck violently like a tempest, clashing together and wrecking any town that unlucky enough to be in the crossfire. They always seemed to bring out the best and absolute worst in each other, and right now, they were bringing out the ugly.

Azura looked away from her quarreling daughters into the window of her home. Through the open window her youngest, Calypso, was watching the two intently, her mouth curved into a small frown and her nose covered with white flour from baking. Caly flicked her blue eyes to Azura, pleadingly but Azura only shook her head solemnly. Unfortunately Azura couldn’t stop those two from fighting, even when they were kids they never seemed to listen to her, despite her being their mother.

Azura walked around the home to the backdoor, propped open with several decoration boxes from the basement. The smells of cinnamon and freshly baked bread filled her senses and she moaned happily, her mouth watering slightly. She dropped the holly she was carrying on a side table and walked from the hallway into the kitchen, watching Calypso balancing on a stepstool to watch her sisters outside.

Calypso was the smallest of her daughters, not as large as Mysti is and not was outspoken as Sumia or Azalea. She was quiet, very innocent minded and small in structure. Almost as if one small misstep would break her in half like a twig.

“Caly, whats up?”

Calypso jumped a little her ears perking up slightly as she turned away from the window, her blue eyes sparkling with mirth.

“Hey momma, I finished the pies and cookies...I was just waiting on the cinnamon bread”

Azura hummed excitedly and looked over the stove, several pies and trays of cookies sat there cooling off in the open.

“That’s great Caly, good job!”

Azura smiled happily ‘at least one thing went right in the plan…’. Calypso climbed off the stool and trotted over nuzzling her mom, Azura bent down kissing the top of her daughter’s purple hair, nuzzling her muzzle into the softness.

“Wheres Mystique?”

“Still hunting I guess.. She promised to come back tonight to help decorate though..”

Azura broke away hearing something crash outside, looking over she groaned seeing the two blurs of sumia and azalea tackling each other into the snow. Calypso sighed shaking her head in disappointment.

“She better come back so- speak of the devil and she shall appear…”

Azura let out a sigh of relief seeing the figure of her eldest daughter, Mystique, come into the clearing dragging a wooden sleigh covered in fallen prey from her escapade.

Mystique was the oldest and most mature of her daughters, a towering female with stern facial features and a lax nature that, for years, has been the the greatest help to her family that she could have ever asked for. Mysti had taken the mantle of surrogate mother to her siblings, when Azura was too weak from sickness for a period of time years before. Calypso and Priam were both toddlers at the time and Azalea and Sumia, both preteens were also too young to really accept responsibility to keep the family fed and happy. Mysti, despite her age had stepped up and taken the plate as the adult of the household. Helping her mother by taking care of the twins and schooling the toddlers.

Azura watched as Mystique glanced at the fighting sisters and rolled her golden eyes in exasperation. She dropped the rope that was dragging along the sled in haste, and stormed to the twin girls in agitation, ripping the two apart like paper. Mysti held sumia down with the scruff of her neck and pushed away Azalea with her back legs firmly, growling in warning.

“Ow!! Mysti!!!”

“Urk!!”

Azura laughed softly and Calypso took that as a cue to check on the baking goods before the tedious task of actually cleaning the kitchen. She watched Mysti straighten herself up and reprimand the two girls, the twins calming down and looking away in shame. Azura looked on in pride, with a little bit of envy watching her daughter be able to take care of the situation so swiftly. Azura glanced briefly at Calypso, then decided to walk back out to help with the sleigh. It was the least she could do for Mysti. Azura walked past Mystique and hummed. Mysti stopped her scolding for a moment glancing at her mother with a brief, calm smile.

“Hey Mysti baby”

“Hi Momma, foraging go ok for you today?”

Azura grimaced and shrugged a little, her eyes darting away a little.

“Uh...well not really. I found Holly branches but no mistletoe… the forest seems a bit scarce this year:”

Mysti frowned briefly twitching her ears slightly. Within a moment she found a smile back on her face and shrugged.

“Its ok momma, that doesn't matter too much? Holly is pretty anyways, plus we have enough decorations from the basement right?”

Azura shrugged sighing a little.

“Yeah. we do...you’re right. I was just..”

Hoping for natural decor? Hoping to have a green christmas...maybe kiss a certain someone?

“Everythings gonna be great Momma you worry too much” Mystique smiled softly before immediately turning her attention to her sisters with a stern look on her face.

“Now, as for you two…”

Azura turned her attention to the sleigh and bent down, picking up the rope out of the snow with her teeth and began to drag it to the side of the house. Mysti took after her when it came to hunting with the arrow, and it looked like she found good game tonight. Several pelts covered the sleigh, a large buck and a few smaller animals thrown in. Meat that, if stored soon, could last them through new years. That was one thing she always count on, survival skills. The village being a bit aways made it hard to go there frequently enough for supplies, so during the winter, they mostly relied on themselves for food. It was harder when her kids were younger and Azura was mostly alone, but she was thankful for the help she has now.

Azura left the sleigh to the side of the house and went back inside, shaking the snow from her pelt and sighing at the warmth of her home. She felt her limbs ache from wandering the woods all day and found herself trotting down the hallways and into the living room. The living room was small, a plush, woolen couch sat in the center and a rug given to her by her younger brother Malec lay in front of a large stone fireplace she had put together herself years ago. As many skills as she has, woodworking was never her forte. Her only piece of furniture created by her was a side table with three uneven legs and a rough, sad texture that gives splinters upon contact. Because of this, all of her furniture had come as gifts from her brother, or, from the village in exchange for produce or pelts left over from her hunts. Most of the furniture being mixed from the village or gifts from her brother had also given a tad bit of...personality...to the home. Because her brother was the reigning king of the land next door, the furniture from him was… high quality. Satin sheets, Casamere and royal silks. She fought with him, not wanting him to send her any gifts of higher quality but he had only laughed in amusement, patting her on the head.

---flashback---

‘Only the best for my older sis, Azura, plus my nieces need comfort too. The higher the quality, the longer it’ll last right?’

Azura pouted, her eyes darting around the home as Kias traveling with Malec unloaded the furniture from his caravan.

‘Its just….too much Malec, gosh...I don’t know if I can ever repay you for all this’

Malec shook his head chuckling, his eyes glistening in mirth.

‘You’re family, I’m allowed to help out family when needed. This is my gift to you… think of it as all the christmases and birthdays I’ve missed with you over the years.’

Azura huffed, Her back weighed down by the weights of Sumia and Azalea, who at the time were only a few months old. A four year old Mystique was watching the movers with wonder from under Azura’s legs, her tail swishing with excitement.

-End Flashback-

Azura knew he was only doing what he could to help her out, although her pride was rearing its back and screaming in agony. As much as she didnt want to admit it, Malec was right, she also wanted the best for her daughters and comfort was better then sleeping on the cabin floors all year, even in the frozen winters.

Malec’s existence had only been in her life briefly. Upon visiting the kingdom and passing through the village by himself, he had seen Mystique playing in the streets while shopping one day. Noting her resemblance to their mother, the former queen of Yeshua, he immediately Located Mysti and asked where her mother was. He then personally escorted her home where he then met his older sister for the first time. Azura of course, was a baby when she taken so had no memory of her birth family. This made her sceptical of the excited king and it took a lot of convincing on Malec’s end to reel her in (including a lot of portrait comparences and look into the kingdom’s written birth records). Since then he had tried his hardest to include her in his life, even inviting her back into the kingdom as an official royal.

But Azura refused, how could she, she had a mate, and at the time was pregnant with the twins, plus, a daughter. Her life was already settled down in the field. It was soon after the twins were born however, that that all changed for the worst. The loss of her mate made things very hard for her, which had her have no choice but to swallow her pride and reach out to Malec, who graciously, helped her with everything she needed at the time. He made sure there was no point in her life that her children weren’t fed or warm, even having kias come down to repair her cabin during one particularly rainy spring. He had done so much for her, she felt bad accepting anymore from him. But Malec was just as stubborn as she, and really it must run in the family. Malec would come make fairly frequent visits throughout the earlier years, and that dwindled as the girls became older. Especially after he found his own mate and began a family of his own. She remembers making a rare visit to Yeshua with Her daughter Mystique in tow, leaving Sumia and Azalea to keep charge back home. It was during this visit she witnessed the birth of her niece and two nephews, a milestone she never expected to witness. She had met Hartley, Malec’s husband and befriended him immediately, feeling slight jealousy in the relationship the two had with each other. But in all she was glad he was happy, it made her feel better living far from him knowing he had family of his own that loved him.It wasn’t as if she wasn’t without love anyways, she had her daughters, her son might be afk, but then there was Mort, who was a potential parental figure, one she had been wishing for, for years now.

Azura, lost in thought, drug one of the couch’s cushions to the floor along with a wool blanket. She snuggled next to the fireplace on the fancy rug, her eyes dropped in lethargy as she stared into the dancing flames. Memories flickered through her head like the flames, dancing like a common pattern. It was the season, the winter always made her remanence consistently like this, almost bordering the line between present and the past. It was reminiscing that Azura found herself falling asleep, her tail curling up around herself and under the thick blanket.