WHAT UP!

In this chapter, we meet the Morgenstern family and yes, if you're wondering, I got that name from The Mortal Instruments series. It's one of my favorite series and I hope to meet Cassandra Clare in the future… I'm a huge book otaku.

Little update on my mom; her cancer is almost completely clear and she only has one more chemo treatments until she's done. Though, she is going to need a lumpectomy at the beginning of May and then, probably, a month of radiation. So please keep up those prayers and good thoughts!

Anyway, please enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Austin & Ally

Chapter 25

Nature of a Spriggan

After exiting the carriage, Austin and Ally climbed a small set of stairs to reach the Morgenstern estate, which to Ally's surprise, was not the usual brick house.

"Is that a tree?!" Ally yelled as she stared at the house in awe.

The manor was based in the trunk of a giant redwood tree and looked to be hollowed out to fit a large family. There were windows, doors and various woodland creatures all running up the branches, though they didn't look like regular branches. They were elongated and the ends were plateau into their own individual rooms. The natural foliage of the tree was what Ally truly admired. It may have been made into a house, but the tree itself had been perfectly preserved.

Austin could see the sparkle in Ally's eyes and he chuckled a little at it. He knew of her love of nature and he hoped that it would help in swaying the Morgenstern's.

"It's a part of their culture as Spriggans." Austin said. "They convert great trees like this one into dwellings. Right now, though, this one is the only truly grand one still remaining."

"What do you mean 'still remaining'?" Ally said, concern etched into her voice. "There are other Spriggans right?"

"Of course, there are others, but they prefer a simpler life. The Morgenstern's are the last true nobility of the Spriggans-"

"That is only half true, your Highness." A male voice brought Austin and Ally out of their conversation and back into reality.

Standing before them was a tall, slender man with chiseled features, tan skin and long, dark brown hair that was pulled into a ponytail on the back of his head. He was dressed in a fitted grey silk tunic that tied together at the neck and went down to the floor. He also wore a pair of cream trouser pants with brown leather boots. Upon his head sat a silver circlet that looked like intertwined branches with a round, silver gem set in the middle of his forehead.

"Well Michael, I was trying to not overload my lady with too much information." Austin said as he approached the man, known as Michael.

"Well, if I'm correct, and I usually am, your lady is actually wise beyond her years." Michael said. "Avion has said that she's quickly becoming one of his best students. Even better than yourself."

Ally watched as the men exchanged pleasantries, noticing that the banter was more friendly and not like that of royalty and nobility. She wondered if maybe these two were as close as those history books said they were.

"Speaking of your lady," Michael said as he turned his attention to Ally. She felt his piercing blue eyes set upon her and a cold chill immediately went down her back. "I presume this is her?"

"Ah," Austin said as he turned his head back to face Ally. "This is Lady Ally Dawson, a descendant of House Diae and my fiancé." He leaned down to kiss Ally's head as she began to blush a little.

"It is an honor to meet you, my lady. My clan were cousins to yours, so that means you and I are distant relatives." Michael said as he bowed, his robes flowing against the dirt ground, and then kissed Ally on the hand. She felt that chill again when they locked eyes.

"It is an honor to meet you as well, Lord Morgenstern-"

"Michael, please, Lord Morgenstern makes me sound like my father and I'm not that old yet." He gave a breathy chuckle. "Now, if you would, please follow me inside. My wife and children are anxious to meet you, my lady." He turned on his heel and headed inside his home, Austin following behind him. Ally lingered behind for a second, that chilling feeling still lingering in her head.

What… What was that feeling just now?! She thought. Surely, Lord Michael doesn't mean me any harm, right? Austin said he was on his side, but that chill… Best to be on my guard for this outing.

The inside of this tree house was just as amazing as the outside. Walls and floors were lined with different vines, flowers and plant life, small birds tweeted in and out of small houses and the glorious smell of nature. It was like stepping into a giant greenhouse and Ally loved every bit of it.

As they walked through, Ally could hear a loud noise, in fact, she could hear what sounded like a small group of people. Lord Michael stopped in front of a set of white French doors, which opened out into a vast garden filled with flowers and other greenery.

"Now, I must ask you Lady Dawson," Michael said as they came to a stop. "How good are you with young children?"

"Um," Ally began to think back to the times when she was around other noble families that had young children. They got along pretty well and she did, in general, like children, but why did he ask her that?00

"I get along pretty well with them, why do you ask?" Ally was given her answer when she felt a head slam into her knee. The pain caused her to double over as she gripped the area currently throbbing in pain.

She felt her anger begin to swell until she looked into the face of what ran into her. It was a little girl with large, watery forest green eyes, brown hair pulled into a braid and a little brown teddy bear held in her arms. Ally could see the water begin to pool in the corners of her eyes as she gripped the edge of her frilly white dress.

"Ah, please excuse me, Lady Ally," Michael said as he took the small child into his arms. "It seems as though one of my children escaped the careful hands of their elder siblings and nannies." The child wrapped her arms around her father's neck and buried her face as she continued to cry.

"Oh, no problem at all, Lord Michael." Ally said as her knee began to relax, dulling to a slight throb. "I'm more worried about… Um…"

"Oh sorry, this is Nina, my daughter. Well one of my daughters." Michael said as he checked his daughter's forehead for any damage. Ally could see the bright red bump beginning to form and quickly walked over to the youngster.

"Nina, right?" Ally asked as Nina raised her head slightly from her father's neck. Her eyes were still watery, but she still managed to shake her in a 'yes'. "How old are you?" She raised her right hand to show two fingers. "Two years old, huh? Wow, you're practically almost a young lady!" This caused Nina to raise her head more and her tears to cease. "But, Nina, you need to remember to always have an adult with you. You never know what kind of trouble you could get into. Do you understand?" While most would think that a 2-year-old wouldn't understand what Ally was saying, Nina seemed to understand.

"Also," Ally said as she rubbed any remaining tears from Nina face. "You look much cuter with a smile on your face than tears. So, always remember to smile!" Nina's seemed to take a liking to the idea as her face went from tears to a bright smile.

Meanwhile, Austin looked on as Ally interacted with Nina. Austin thought about how well Ally dealt with the situation and that it might have gained some points with Michael. He knew how much of a family man Michael was and with Ally acting so sweetly to one of his children, it might help to smooth over whatever doubts he might have. Now, he shouldn't expect all worries to be gone just from this, but a guy can hope for some form of relief.

He also thought about how Ally would be when they eventually become parents. Granted that will be farther down the road, but it was one of his greatest fantasies.

She will be an amazing mother, Austin thought, once the time is right.

Ally and Nina seemed to converse a little more before one of Nina's nannies came out looking for her. She apologized to Michael for losing track of her, to which Michael asked her to be more careful, and took Nina into her arms. Well, tried to take Nina into her arms. Nina had made her way into Ally's arms, growing quite attached in the brief time they had met. She refused to move until Ally reminded her that they would be seeing each other again soon and, reluctantly, went into the arms of her nanny. Ally could see tears beginning to form again until she pointed to her own face and reminded Nina to smile to which she did.

After the nanny walked away, Michael turned to Ally with a smile on his face.

"I must say," he said. "I've never seen Nina take to someone as quickly as you. It usually takes a lot to make her talk at all, but you managed it in under a few minutes. You will truly make quite the amazing mother, Lady Ally." Ally could feel her cheeks begin to turn red when he made that claim.

She knew that Austin, as a king, was expected to produce an heir with his wife. While Ally couldn't really see that happening between them, she never really doubted that she wanted kids. She loved children and would love to have some of her own, but not anytime soon.

"Yes," Ally said as they continued their way. "Maybe one day."

"Maybe?" Austin said from behind her. "I know for a fact that we'll have our first kid at least 8 months into our marriage." The color immediately drained from Ally's face at Austin's comment.

"Well, I'm sure we can hold off on those plans…"

"Nope, you know what they say, newlyweds can't keep their hands off each other the first couple of months after marriage, so obviously- "

"So obviously, you must also keep your fiancé's opinions in your mind as well." Austin stopped talking when another voice joined in.

Ally soon caught sight of what she thought was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. She was petite woman with a slender frame, skin as white as snow with hair as golden as the sun and eyes as blue as the water. She was wearing a long white dress with flowing sleeves, bare feet and a crystal headpiece adorning her head. She gave off the air of a respectable noble lady, but she also had the delicate charm of a loving mother.

To Ally, it was like looking at her own mother for the first time in weeks.

"Ah Stella, I thought you were with the children." Michael said as he walked over to the women.

"I was until I saw that Nina had disappeared. I went to look for her, but instead I find you and our king." She dipped into a curtsey as Austin stepped forward, Ally following behind him. "I welcome you and your fiancé to our humble home, my king. Whatever we have is at your disposal."

"Please Stella," Austin said as he helped her off the floor. "Enough with the formalities. I'm here today only as a friend, not as the king. Having someone I consider a second mother bow to me just makes me feel uncomfortable."

"I'm sorry, Austin, but I still can't get over how you are now engaged. Seems like only yesterday that you were following me around asking me to help lace up your boots. How time flies." She said as she gave an exasperated sigh.

"Ah Stella…" Austin said as a blush crept onto his face. Ally found it surprising at how comfortable Austin seemed with these two. It was almost, dare she say, cute to see him like this.

"Oh," Stella said as she caught sight of Ally. "You must be the girl that everyone is talking about." Ally soon had the older woman tight in face as she seemed to look her over. Ally could feel those blue eyes look her up and down as if trying to find fault with her. Stella gave a scoff as she took Ally's face in her hand and Ally began bracing herself for-

"You're just as cute as I thought you would be!"

Huh?

"I had heard that Austin's bride was a descendant of the Diae clan, but I didn't expect you to look this cute!" She then brought Ally into a hug as she continued to fawn over the younger girl. Meanwhile, Ally's brain was still trying to figure out what had just happened.

Why was this woman, who she had just met, suddenly call her cute and embrace her like an old friend? Granted, she liked this better than being insulted like the last family, but it was still very odd.

"You'll have to forgive me wife." Michael said as his wife let go of Ally. "She's a big of hugger and she loves to make friends with practically everyone."

"Well, Michael, if you had a bit of a better attitude, you might be able to make friends a little easier."

"Anyway," Michael said. "Lady Ally, this is my wife, Stella."

"Pleased to meet you, Ally, my name is Astellara Keefe Morgenstern, but you can just call me Stella."

"Oh well, nice to meet you, Lady Stella." Ally said as she curtsied a little.

"Come now Ally, didn't you hear what Austin said?" Stella said. "We're all friends here today, so no formalities for today or any other day that we are together."

"Speaking of friends," Michael said. "There are others that are waiting for us, so shall we head on?"

The walk down the hallway was a short one as they came upon two French doors leading out onto a beautiful terrace filled with many tables covered in different food and drinks. Servants were running around setting things up, but Ally could also see other smaller forms running around.

"Alright," Michael yelled as he threw open the doors. "Fall in line everyone, our honored guests are here!" That was soon followed by the clamor of children's screams and footsteps. The terrace was soon also filled with children forming a line and standing at attention.

"Everyone, please introduce yourselves to our guests in order." Starting from the left Ally could make out at a group of at least 12 children, 7 girls and 5 boys.

They can't all be Michael and Stella's children, can it?! Ally thought as she looked at these kids. That was quickly smashed when she saw how many of them looked like the two adults.

"Hello and welcome to our home, my king and future queen." A young girl with long brown hair stepped forward and bowed before them. "I' am the eldest child and daughter of the Morgenstern family. My name is Lyra, 15 years old."

"My name is Minami, 14 years old, second daughter of the Morgenstern family."

"My name is Michael Morgenstern II, 12 years old, eldest son of the Morgenstern family." Both Michael and Minami took after their mother, more than their father. With their pure blonde hair and crystal blue eyes, there was no doubt they were Stella's children.

"My name is Lily."

"My name is Luna."

"We're twins and we're 11 years old." These two, however, could have been Michael female replicas.

"My name is Ashton, 10 years old."

"We're Chloe and Ethan, twins and 7 years old."

"Niko and I'm this many." He held up his hand to show four fingers, meaning he was 4 years old.

"And, of course, you know Nina." Michael said as he gestured to the little girl currently making her way over to Ally.

"We also have one more, Hanna, who is 9 months. She's currently taking a nap though." Stella said as some of her younger children were now crowding around her.

"Wow…" Ally said as she picked Nina off the ground. "You two have certainly been blessed."

"It's quite common in the Spriggan race to have big families." Stella explained as she caught Ashton trying to steal from the dessert table. "I, myself, am the third eldest of 16."

Ally could feel her brain beginning to rack the numbers against each other as she tried to think about giving birth so many times. She could barely understand the pain of giving birth once, but 12 or 16 just blew her away.

Suddenly, numbers weren't what Ally was thinking about.

That cold feeling again, Ally thought as she looked around. It wasn't from Michael like she originally thought as he was busy talking to Austin. The smaller children were all distracted by the sweets table and the older ones were busy amongst themselves.

So, who could it be?!

"Well, since we've introduced ourselves, how about we sit down to some tea and lunch?" Michael said.

Well, here we go again. Austin and Ally thought.

WOOHOO!

Another chapter done and done. I recently had to write my last paper for my English class and that sort of helped defeat my writers block. Hopefully, with the semester ending, I'll have some time to think clearer about these stories. I hope to have 'My Sister's Secret' and 'Princess Bride' updated soon, so be on the lookout for that!

Much love and remember, STAY ROSSOME!