2017 Advent Challenge

[Ranger of the North]

Hahahahaha — that would be me XD

[TheSongOfTheStars]

Me too tbh, I think I'm partially reptilian. I hate the cold.

[TheSongOfTheStars]

17
Family
1,046

"Dawn feather? What are you doing here?"
Jasmine turned, her candles in her hand "Orchid? I'm buying my candles for the Festival. What are you doing here?"
"I was taking a walk when I saw you in here," Her graceful older sister tilted her snow white head to catch a glimpse of the candles "You could have sent a servant to fetch those for you."
"Yeah, I know," Jasmine rubbed at the back of her neck, looking down at the candles in her hand "But it's such a personal thing... Do you need any?"
Orchid Jewel shook her head "No, we used to burn two for you and Crystal rose, but I suppose it is no longer necessary."
"No, suppose not," Jasmine turned and began walking towards the counter to pay "Odd, I never thought of someone burning a candle for me. Not even when I faced dying."
"Oh," Orchid jewel followed her sister "It is a rather morbid thought. So, who are those-?"
"My parents....my adoptive parents, I mean," Jasmine turned after paying "And...for Lily."
"The cook's sister? Why for her?"
"Lionel's sister," Jasmine emphasized as she walked out into the bitter cold "And I'm burning it because she is my friend."
Orchid jewel let the silence dangle as they walked side-by-side down the snowy street before correcting her sister "Was."
"Is," Jasmine stopped walking to face her sister "Her death did not by any means terminate our friendship. If she came back right now, I would not say the because she died she had stopped being my friend. Lily is my friend, just as she is Lionel's sister."
Abruptly she turned back away and marched off, not waiting to see if Orchid jewel was following her.
Orchid swallowed hard and blinked, surprised by the emotion in the sister she had marked as the reserved one. She hadn't realized how important the cook's sister had been, simply assumed she was another one of the refugees caught up in the tragedy of the Rebellion.
Clearly she had been something much more.

Jon-tai pattered through the halls of the servants court, fighting to keep his scarf around his neck and loosing
"Do you need some help with that?"
He paused to look for the speaker, finding her in the shadow near her door.
"Yeah," he tugged at the obstinate piece of fabric "Would you mind?"
"Of course not," Mei-li stepped closer and wrapped the scarf gently around his neck and knotted it tightly "Are you going somewhere?"
"Yeah," he gave his scarf a quick tug to ensure that it wasn't going to try to escape again "Thanks Miss Mei."
"Of course," Mei-li smiled and straightened the sleeves of his coat, her fingers lingering at the tips of his fur "Where are you going?"
"Oh, Lionel asked me if I could go get his candles for him since Freeta doesn't want him going outside."
"Why not?"
"Well his foot still isn't all the way healed yet and y'know his stick doesn't exactly work amazingly on ice."
"Oh, oh yes, I see," Mei paused before beginning to fuss with his scarf again "Are you sure you'll be warm enough?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," he tugged away and started pattering down the hall.
"W-would you like some company?" she called, following him.
He stopped and looked over his shoulder "Sure. Do you need any candles?"
"Oh...No, I just thought that...you might not want to go alone."
"I don't mind. But if you wanna come that's fine."
She smiled nervously, tugging her coat closer "Just don't want you to get in any more fights."
"That was one time."
"Well, just don't make it two."

Then they walked in silence, Jon-tai focusing on where he was going and Mei-li focusing on Jon-tai.

Sometimes he wondered what had really happened to her and what had really happened to her family. He guessed that they had died during the rebellion, but he'd never asked, but sometimes the heartbroken way she glanced at him made him think she had lost more than her parents.
But now he learned she wasn't going to burn a candle.
Maybe she had no one, maybe she was an orphan like him and only wished like he did for blood ties.

"Hey, do you know which candle is for a sibling?" Jon-tai stood on tip-toe trying to peek at the higher shelves.
"Oh, mm, blue I think, that's for...Lily right?"
"Yeah," Jon-tai swallowed as he picked up a green one, the one burnt for a friend "Do you think I should...burn one for her? She was my friend."
Mei-li's eyebrows curved upwards in a sympathetic look "Of course you should. It...will make you feel better."
He sighed and checked the pouch on his belt "Never mind, not enough coins. I'll just get the three."
Mei-li hastily checked her own pockets and came up with a single coin.
"Here. This should be enough for it."
"But that's yours."
"No," she held it out with a watery smile "It's yours. You should burn a candle for her."
"Thank you," Jon-tai tried to make it look like he wasn't wiping away a tear while putting away the coin "It...it's more important then you think."
"I understand."

"Dawn feather, Crystal rose, come, your father's about to light the tall candle."
Jade and Jasmine looked at each other, then at Tigretta.
"Mother, we're going to be with our friends out in the garden," Jasmine said, clutching her blue candle "if that's alright."
"Of course," Tigretta smiled and watched her daughters disappear down the hall, then her shoulders sagged.
"Are they coming?"
Tigretta turned "No Orchid Jewel, they're going down to the gardens."
"With their friends?"
"Yes."
"But they're suppose to be with us," Orchid jewel turned to the window, picking out her siblings' tall forms amidst the smaller servants "after all this time alone I thought they'd want to be with us, with their family."
Tigretta joined her at the window with a heavy sigh and looked down at them, flanking a crippled otter at the wall "I don't think they've ever been alone. Nor do I think they define family by blood."
"That...ragtag band of-"
"Those are the pieces to a puzzle," Tigretta sighed "And one's missing. Let them be, Orchid. They've gained a sister and lost a sister."

[Ranger of the North]

Me too tbh, I think I'm partially reptilian. I hate the cold.

XD


Oh, I like the mother's attitude

[TheSongOfTheStars]

18
Smiles


Excuse me, hi, hey I was wondering if you could maybe help me out."
Mei-li turned from shoveling away the drift of snow from the small gate to find a shivering she-otter standing with bare paws digging into the wet snow.
"Uh..." Instead of answering, Mei-li stared; at the scars that ripped through every inch of fur, at the tattered tunic with pleated ends that barely made it past her hips and gave her no protection whatsoever from the cold, and at the sword hanging from a loop of cord with no sheath and glittered like it was made from crystal rather than steel.
"I need some help," the strange otter continued after several seconds of silence "I'm looking for someone and I think they might work here. But the guards won't let me in and they won't tell me anything."
"I-I can't let you in," Mei-li stepped closer to the gate, gripping the shovel tightly.
"I know, I just need to ask you a question."
"Alright, but please be quick I need to keep working."
"It will be quick. Do you know anyone here named Lionel? He probably works in the kitchen? Please I've looked everywhere and this is the last place I could think of."
"Lionel...?" Mei-li lowered the shovel slowly.
"Yeah, you'd know if you met him, he's-"
"A cripple?"
"Yes," the stranger pressed forwards eagerly "You know him?"
"Yes," Mei-li stepped back, raising the shovel again "How do you know him?"
"He's my brother! Please...please could you-"
"You're Lily!? They said you were dead!"
Lily's ears flattened against her head as a scrambled explanation came pouring out "Well I almost did but when the ship wrecked I got washed up on an island and I was stuck there for like three months and I thought I'd be stuck there forever and it was [i]so[i] lonely, but then a Navoiren ship hauled in for water and the captain, whose name is Martin, said that they would take me to Navoire but then we were attacked by pirates and he and I got captured and we had to escape but then when I got to Navoire I found out that Queen Aberdeena closed the borders so I couldn't get a ship to Shi-ree and I've had to wait six months because of the plague in Twora and the fighting in Shi-ree and Syka and then when I finally got here I didn't even know where to start looking and...and...and now I'm here."
Mei-li stared at Lily as she trailed off, panting hard.
"I'll...go...get Lionel."
"Thank you," Lily melted into a watery smile while Mei-li closed the gate and barred it. Then she hurried through the snow laden gardens towards the kitchen.
"Lionel!" She called as she caught a glimpse of the blue clad figure weaving through the bustling crowd of cooks "Lionel!"
He paused and turned, flour smudged under his cheek and a stain of berry splotched across his shirt "Mei?"
"There's someone..." she stopped to take a breath as she caught up to him "Down by the servant's gate... They want you."
"They want me to what?"
"Go talk to them," Mei-li swallowed hard, suddenly realizing that if the stranger wasn't who they said they were, he'd be heartbroken "They said... they said that they are your sister. Lily."
She watched at the reaction her words had with concern; his face froze blankly as he suddenly sagged against his stick, gripping it with strained fingers while he swayed slightly.
"Lionel?"
"The servant's gate?" He asked, his voice rasping in his throat.
"Yes."
She blinked as he moved past her with a speed she never had imagined him capable of, disappearing out of the kitchen within half a heartbeat.

Lionel's belabored breath steamed out into the freezing air as he stumbled across the snowy garden to the gate and struggled to remove the bar. He let the wooden board drop to the ground and shoved the gate open, to find a scarred shivering girl standing in front of him.
"Embrethil?" He breathed her name out in a stream of vapor.
He heard a sniffle as she flung herself against him, wrapping her arms around him and sobbing into his shoulder.
For a moment he was too stunned to even think. Then with a sob from his own throat he hugged her back.
"I'm sor...I'm so sor..."
"It's okay," he choked out "Lily, it's okay."
She pulled away from him just far enough to look up at his face and suddenly she burst out into a huge smile "Yeah, it's okay."
He smiled back, rubbing away the tears from her face "What happened? How...how did you survive? Why didn't you come back?"
"Can...can we sit down? Somewhere warm? I'll tell you everything, I promise. I'm just really cold."
"Of course," he pulled her through the gate and closed it, still smiling and still crying "You can tell me and everyone else."
Lily's grin grew wider "Everyone's here? They're all alright?"
"Yes..." He swallowed hard and guided her back across the garden "But our stories can wait. Come on. Let's get you warmed up."

Mei-li paused as she saw Lionel walking back up the garden, scraggly green figure in tow, with a smile on his face that made her feel warm, even though it wasn't for her.
"M-mei-li," he gasped as they reached her "Would you one more thing for me?"
"Yes, yes of course."
"Please, would you gather the others and ask them to join me in the servants communal hall?"
She nodded and bolted off, feeling her heart racing inside her.
That warmth she felt when she saw Lionel's smile increased every time she told another one of Lily's friends about her presence. But never so much as the first time, not one was quite as bright as Lionel's.
And when they were all crowded by the thin scarred otter, crying and laughing and smiling, she found herself drawn to his continuing soft smile, filled with all the pain of his grief and all the brightness of his love for his sister

[TheSongOfTheStars]

19
Snowed in
1,493
"Dad! Dad! Look! It's snowing!"

Martin looked up from his book with a smile as Skipper and Tiger lily came racing into his study, bouncing with excitement.
"I know," he laughed, leaning back in his chair to look through the curtains out the window at the thickly falling snow "You guys going to go outside?"
"Yeah!" Skipper tugged on Martin's sleeve "Can you help us get our coats on?"
"Oh of course," Martin let Skipper pull him to his feet "Let's go get your coats on."

"Wow," Lily peered up into the gray sky, snowflakes gathering rapidly on her face "It's really coming down now."
"I'm tired, Mum," Tiger lily tugged on Lily's sleeve "Can we go in now?"
"Yeah," Lily picked up her daughter, hugging her tightly "Oh you're all cold!"
"Are we going inside now?" Martin called from across the yard, a final snowball packed between his paws.
"Yeah, Tiger's cold."
"Okay," Martin spun around and hurled the snowball, nailing Skipper in the shoulder and knocking him to his tail.
"Martin!"
He laughed and dashed past her as Skipper yelled and chased after his father, flinging poorly made snow.

"Do you think it's going to snow all day and all night?" Skipper asked, looking out the window as he gnawed on a warm biscuit.
Martin joined him at the window, gnawing at a biscuit from the same batch, and he stared thoughtfully at the thick snow plummeting down from the heavens.
"Storm?"
Lily asked from the other side of the room.
Martin nodded, his whiskers twitching "Feels like it."
"So it is going to keep snowing?"
"Looks like it, little mate," Martin finished his biscuit with a large bite "Come on and help me bring in some more wood."


It was late the next morning and Martin was just awake enough to appreciate how warm his blankets were when he heard a muffled shout of dismay from downstairs.

Lily groaned and pulled the pillow over her head and Martin tried to bring himself into wakefulness as they heard feet pattering rapidly up the stairs.

"Daaad?" Skipper asked slowly as he pushed the door open.
"What?" Martin asked in a rough morning voice as he sat up.
"Um," Skipper scooted closer to the bed, Tiger lily on his tail "I opened the door to see if it was still snowing and..."
"And what?" Martin asked with a bit of dread brewing in his stomach.
"Come look."

With a groan Martin slipped out of bed and followed Skipper back down the stairs. Halfway down he stopped and his sleep laden eyes went wide
"Skiper..."
"I didn't know it was going to do that!"
Martin stared at the snowdrift that had fallen into the entry way when Skipper had opened the door.
"Blasted..." Martin trailed off with a moan "Alright, let's clean it up."

"It's still snowing."
There was a noticeable drain of excitement in Tiger lily's voice compared to the day before as she stared out the second floor window at the snow that was fast piling up towards the sill. It still had a good few feet to go before it reached the window but it seemed determined.
"When is it going to stop?" She asked as Lily wrapped another scarf around her neck.
"I don't know, soon hopefully."
"What if it doesn't stop?"
"Oh, don't worry, it will."
Tiger lily turned back to the window and squinted out across the road at the house across from theirs "Is Tim gonna be alright?"
"I'm sure Tim is going to be fine."

"Well, the good news is that it stopped snowing," Martin said to Lily as he stood at the window.
"And the bad news?" She asked from beneath the blanket.
"I can now walk from our bedroom window to the hallway window on Darkmoon and Shyshie's house."
"You're joking."
"I am not. Come see."
"No I'll take your word for it."

He frowned "Do you think I should go check on them?"
"What, you just walk over there on top of the snow?" She pulled the blanket off her head "Really?"
"I'm worried about them."

"Alright, dress warm, have fun."
He snorted softly as she rolled back over "Calm down you'll make yourself sick with worry."
"Mmm, okay."
He rolled his eyes and tugged his boots on "If I don't come back wait until the snow melts to search for my body."
"Will do."

It was an unearthly silence that accompanied him on the short walk. He couldn't even hear the sound of his own footsteps as he stepped on the soft fresh powder. The sound of his own fist beating against the glass of the window made his heart jump and immediately wondered if they could even hear him.
He waited half a minute before knocking again. This time he heard footsteps on the stairs and then saw Darkmoon's figure moving through the dim hole.
"What are you-"
He didn't wait for her to finish her sentence, and instead stepped down into the hall, brushing snow off, then pulled the window shut.
"Hello Darky, just having a bit of a jaunt around the neighborhood, thought I'd stop by and say hello."

She stepped back and planted her paws on her hips "Trevoiant, what are you doing walking around when the neighborhood is buried under twelve feet of snow."
"Saying hi to my neighbors," he pulled the scarf away from his face and grinned.
She gave him a hard look that caused him to reiterate.
"I was worried. You guys got enough firewood? Food?"

"We're good, at least with supplies," Darkmoon's scowl softened into a nonplussed look "But Shyshie's catching cabin fever."
"Really?" He turned to follow her down the hall "Thought she'd just read endlessly."
"Me too, but she's read everything and... she hasn't been able to go to the sea in weeks since the harbor is basically frozen over and I think it's getting to her head."
"What's wrong?"
Darkmoon stopped in front of a door and pushed it open "I found her this morning like this."
Martin stepped into the washroom, one eyebrow lifted, and he looked down into the washtub, where something dark sploshed quietly.
Darkmoon lit a candle and set it on the sink, it's light revealing the little seal sitting in the puddle of water at the bottom of the tub.
"O-oh kitten," Martin was torn between laughter and pity "What are you doing?"
The mournful eyes stared up at him for a moment then she settled back down into the puddle with a huffy sigh.

"She won't talk to me, she won't change back and she won't eat anything," Darkmoon leaned against the door with a frustrated sigh "Talk to her Martin."
"You gonna come out kit?"
She squeezed her eyes shut and ignored him.
"Shy...C'mon you've gotta be cold in there."
Her head swished back and forth, sending ripples through the water.
"Really? Are you going to sit in there until the bay unfreezes?"
She lifted her head slightly, then dropped it back down with a quiet smack against the water.
"Aren't you bored?"
No reaction besides a slight flick of her hind flipper.
"Because... I was talking to your mum about the pair of you coming over to my house for a bit. Lily's gonna cook something hot for breakfast, kids and I are gonna play some games..."
He waited a second, receving, as he suspected, no reply, then continued "Oh yeah, I still have that book from the library, y'know the one you haven't read yet...what was it....Oh yeah "Anthology of Devione's poems, sonnets, and rhymes"?"
The selkie's head jerked up in sudden interest and she barked.
Martin laughed "Yeah?"
"Thank goodness," Darkmoon muttered.
"Well come on kit, let's go."
The washtub creaked as Shyshie heaved herself out onto the floor.
Martin stared down at her in surprise "Uh, aren't you going to change back?"
She paused, then shook her head.
"Uh, yes you are," Darkmoon interjected "I'm not dragging you across the snow, you weigh twice as much as when you're a seal."
Shyshie shook her head again and continued heaving herself across the floor.

"Oh no, don't you take that attitude with me young lady," Darkmoon planted herself directly in front of Shyshie and glared down at her "You change back right now or you are going no where."
The seal moaned, then it was a little cat, arms and legs splayed out in an uncomfortable posture on the floor.
"But Mama," she said, sitting up dripping wet "I'm warmer if I'm a seal."
"You'll be fine once we dry you off and put actual clothes on you," Darkmoon snatched a towel off the rack and wrapped it around Shyshie "Come on."

Martin forced himself to bury his snickers as Darkmoon picked Shyshie up and carried her off.
"I'll just wait here by the window," he managed to call, shaking his head and losing the fight against his laughter.

[Ranger of the North]

Hahahahaha XD

[TheSongOfTheStars]

20
Mist
676
Darkmoon awoke to the night wind howling through the halls of her own house, moaning at her very door.
Her head pounding with her own slow blood, she slipped out of bed and directly into her boots, yanking her gloves on as she stood. Then with a shiver, she opened her door and let the cold night into her room.
Tears sprang up from the cold air rushing up into her face, but she ignored them as she pulled on her coat and snatched her banshaw blade, more as a precaution than in expectation of a threat.
She walked past Shyshie's door, open and creaking in the restless air, then down the stairs, the wind moaning against the banister up from the front door.

Darkmoon shivered as she stepped through the door, pulling it closed behind her, and faced the night awash in a sea of eerie white waves; mist seeping up from the sea and burying Port Capitale in its breathing cold silence.

Darkmoon waded down into it, the cloud vapor coming up to her waist and creeping up to her chest.
She started towards the sea, the ocean of white deepening with every step she took down and the waves reaching up along the sides of building, creating a feathery tunnel around her.

The restless sound of the worried sea reached her ears after longer a walk than she thought it should have been. Then she turned and began following the sound, never able to see the water for the mist.

Eventually the her boots crunched in the sand instead of clattering against the cobblestone and as she headed the sound turn soft and squelch beneath her feet as she descended the sand dune. And another sound began to penetrate the mist, soft, sweet, stirring; it signified the end of her long trek through the mist.
She could see the disturbances in the mist first, the swirls curling out through the night, before she saw the dancers, unearthly and beautiful, they had come creeping up from the sea like the mist and now they danced within it, manipulating it with their voices, drawing it up around themselves like lacy dresses that would bleed away at the faintest hint of warm light.

Darkmoon sighed and stayed back from the whirling circle, collapsing down with her back against a dune, staring into the mesmerizing patterns of the dancers and the mist. Slowly her had drooped down on her chest and her eyes flickered, then fell shut.

It was the long sighing silence that woke her, the absence of the singing and the faint rush of water against the shore, and the warmth nestled against her side.
She opened her eyes and curled her fingers into the soft fur.
There was a quiet mumble, then a groan as Shyshie stretched herself out, showering her mother in sand.
Darkmoon's sputter caused Shyshie to startle, kicking more sand into Darkmoon's face.
"Oh... oh, Mama, I'm sorry," Shyshie turned and began to brush away the sand "You startled me."
"I-it's fine," Darkmoon rubbed her hand over her eyes and yawned "How are you feeling?"

Shyshie ducked her head "Like I drank all the fog and it's in my brain now."
Darkmoon reached up to touch her forehead "Let's get you home, you look tired."
"I feel tired. More than usual." Shyshie scrambled to her feet, her coat dragging around her.
"Well maybe that's because this is third time this week that you've danced," Darkmoon stood up and glanced around to find that the mist was still clinging to the shore, but it was much thinner than it had been, gray and almost transparent.
"I blame the full moon and the mist. It's fun to dance in the mist when the moon is full. The mist shines and it almost looks like it glows."
"I'm sure it does," Darkmoon tapped her shoulder "Let's go home, hmm? I'll make you some tea."
"Okay."
Side-by-side, they walked back up the dune, towards the city, the mist drifting in soft cool banks around them.

[TheSongOfTheStars]

Okay I don't know what happened but I'm missing a prompt somehow, I think when I loaded the draft it glitched.
Okay I got it back and added it to one of my earlier posts.

[TheSongOfTheStars]

21
Mountain
585

Vrell didn't turn as the heavy footsteps approached him, the snow crunching quietly.

"Aren't you cold?"
He smiled as he heard her voice and shook his head.

Jade sat next to him with a shiver "Do you enjoy sitting at the edges of very high cliffs and dangling your feet over the edge?"
He laughed softly and curled his legs underneath him "It's not that high."
"High enough to kill you if you fell."
"And suddenly you care about safety and sanity?"
She edged closer to him, until the fur on their shoulders just barley brushed together "I care about yours."
He turned a thoughtfully sweet smile towards her and she responded with a tremulous one of her own.
"So we're going to do this," he said looking back over the slope of the snow burdened mountain.
"Yes, we are. There's no stopping us now."
"Oh yes there is," he sighed, lifting his eyes up to the next peak, higher and shining white in the clear air "There's a whole mountain between us and marriage and it's called Emperor Kif Thang.
"My father doesn't exactly get a say in the matter."
"He's the Emperor, Jade. He can say whatever he wants and he can keep us apart," Vrell's shoulders sagged "And if he knew about this he'd never let it happen."
"Then we'll go somewhere else. We don't have to live in Shi-Ree," Jade leaned forwards her eyes flashing.
Vrell shook his head slowly "He won't let you go, Jade, and no country is going to idiotic enough to oppose literally the largest military force in Animalia over something as serious as a Royal wedding."
"Then we go to Green Shade, not even Kif...my father would dare to violate its sanctuary."
"Perhaps not," Vrell scowled up at the mountain ahead "But Jade...I can't do that to you. It isn't within your personality to be trapped in place, away from your friends and from your sister."

"Oh, we'll figure it out," Jade waved her paw, as if the whole affair could be brushed away like a buzzing fly "There's another mountain to climb."
"Oh. What is it?" Vrell clenched his jaw, trying to imagine what else could be going wrong.
"Children."
"Children?"
Jade nodded briskly "Seven."
"Seven?"
She continued nodding, then stopped and tilted her head sideways "Well, maybe six, that way it could be even. Three boys and three girls."

Vrell stood up and stared down at her, eyes wide "Jade. Sometimes I can't be sure. So tell me honestly whether or not you're joking."
"What," the left side of her mouth tucked up into a half smile "Too many? I could compromise on four."
"Jaaade..."
"Okay, I'm serious," the smile fell off her face "I want kids. This is important."
"I know!" He rubbed a paw across his face "But... I don't exactly think I'd make a very good father."
"Well you definitely need some work, but you'll be fine. I think."
"You think."

Jade stood up and slipped her hand up against his shoulder "You'll do good. So that's what... three mountains?"
"Three? I thought it was two. Your father opposing our marriage and children."
"Well, we still have to get down off this one."
"Oh, right," he glanced over the edge at the long path they had to take to reach the bottom "Why did I have to go all the way to the top?"
"I dunno," she shrugged, then nudged his elbow, grin returning "C'mon, I'll race you."