It had been a week since the conversation between Stella and Azura, and Stella couldn't help but notice that Azura was acting differently towards her. She was finishing up in the dining hall when Azura came in and spilled something on the table cloth.
"Come on! I just washed that this morning!" Stella threw her hands in the air. She was angry because she knew that Azura did it on purpose.
"Don't be mean it was only an accident" Azura feigned innocence.
"Yea, I'll believe that when wookies go bald…" Stella grumbled as she took the cloth off the table.
"What about my hunting lessons? You haven't tried to teach me since that day" Stella said.
"Well unlike you, I have more important things to do, I'm very busy you know" Azura crossed her arms. Just then Spicy came in.
"Oh Spicy, Stella was so mean to me, I accidentally made a mess and she yelled at me" Azura cried and hugged Spicy.
"That is so not true! She did it on purpose" Stella couldn't believe the show she was putting on.
"Oh Spicy, thank you for holding me, you're so kind" she batted her eyelashes at him.
"You know what!? Forget you! I will teach myself to hunt!" Stella growled and stomped off.
She grabbed her spear that she had a blacksmith craft for her. The spear was the sacred weapon of the Moonchildren. She went out in search of prey.
"Good for nothing scale brain, I'll catch prey myself" Stella muttered to herself. She spotted a multi-colored bird. It looked delicious and honestly she was tired of eating seafood. She drew her spear and slowly crept closer to it. When she was close but not too close she stopped and threw her spear at it. It stabbed into the bird. She ran over there and grabbed it.
"Yes! Haha! See I don't need no stupid fish lady to teach me, because there are no better hunters than the Moonchildren" Stella was so proud of herself. She couldn't wait to rub her catch in Azura's face. She rushed back to the palace. But Azura was no longer in the dining hall.
"I'll show Spicy instead" Stella said and went looking for him. She decided to check their room. When she opened the door what she saw horrified her.
"Oh my scales you are so hot" Azura drooled as she got into the bed with him. An overwhelming anger welled in Stella and before she could control herself she ran over there.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Stella let out the most animalistic snarl anyone had ever heard. She shoved Azura out of the bed.
"Hey!" Azura yelped in surprise.
"Stella what the heck are you doing!?" Spicy yelled. Shaking her head she snapped out of her rage.
"Oh gosh! I'm so sorry! I have no idea why I did that" Stella was hot with shame.
"You should be sorry, that was totally uncalled for!" Azura placed her hands on her hips.
"You just love ruining everything don't you!? First the woman on Coruscant then the women in the mansion and now this! Why can't you just screw off and let me enjoy myself!" Spicy was very angry.
"It's ok we'll just continue this in my room instead" Azura said. They both shot a glare at Stella before leaving.
Stella doesn't know why but she was utterly crushed. She was no longer hungry and just tossed her bird aside. She went down to the water and decided to go for a swim to lighten her mood. She changed into a purple and pink mermaid tail cover up and a purple swim top, she slowly waded into the water. She sighed in delight as the water was so warm. She thought about everything that happened, she knew that Spicy would no longer want to be around her if she had these outbursts every time a woman was flirting with him. But on the other hand she felt hurt that Spicy hadn't noticed or cared how mean Azura had been to her lately, she thought that she and Spicy were friends but he always chose Azura over her.
He was even starting to neglect Nyla, because he spent every moment he wasn't working with Azura. Suddenly she heard a scream that sounded like Azura. She rushed out of the water and ran as fast as she could towards the sound. She saw Spicy on the ground with a hooded man looming over him with his weapon drawn. All of a sudden Stella heard an unknown voice in her head.
What are you doing!?
Are you just going to stand there and let mate die!?
Do something!
"No!" Stella snarled and she felt changes in her body. She shifted into a shimmering silver wolf and attacked the man. And she didn't stop until he was no longer a threat. Both Azura and Spicy's eyes were wide and their mouths were agape. She changed back and fell to her knees panting. She was hit with sensory overload. Suddenly she could hear four times better than she could before and she could smell a hundred thousands times better than she could before. All of a sudden she was slapped in the face with the most amazing thing she had ever smelled in her life. She looked and realized the scent was coming from Spicy.
"Mate…." she whispered.
"Wow Stella! that was amazing! Thanks for saving me" Spicy said. She snapped out of her daze.
"Oh y-you're welcome" she said.
"It really wasn't that great" Azura mumbled.
"I shifted! I shifted!" Stella celebrated.
"Can you do that again?" Spicy asked.
"No, probably not actually, in the beginning it is very hard for us to shift at will until we get stronger and learn to control it" Stella said.
"Oh Spicy I was going to save you until she got in the way, you know that I love you so much" Azura said.
"I know you would have, you're so brave and strong" Spicy flirted. And the two embraced.
"Aaaah!" Stella yelled as her body was suddenly overwhelmed with pain.
"Are you ok Stella?" Spicy asked.
"Y-yea I think so, it was just some growing pains it will happen a lot until I adjust" Stella laughed it off.
"Oh by the way Spicy, the seaglass festival is going on in a few days, and I perform The Dance Of The Ocean, would you like to attend?" Azura asked flirtatiously.
"Of course I'll be there to watch you dance" he kissed her forehead.
"Ouch!" Stella fell to her knees as another wave of pain overwhelmed her.
"I'm sorry but I got to go" Stella ran to their room and sat on the balcony. She began to cry, the truth was her intense pain was not caused by shifting. But seeing her mate with another woman, the worst physical pain for a Moonchild was being away from their mates. She felt like she was cursed, first the late shifting and now being mated to a human. Since he was her mate she couldn't help but be madly in love with him, but he didn't care for her at all. He wanted another woman. She decided that she needed to stay away from him, so she decided to sleep elsewhere tonight.
Over the next few days she did her best to stay away from him. Keeping herself busy by practicing her hunting now made much easier with her enhanced senses. And trying to strengthen her wolf so she could get stronger. She had just finished brushing her platinum blonde hair and putting on a purple dress, she was ready for the festival. She was only going because once again Azura tried to make her look horrible in front of Spicy and guilt tripped her into going. She left the bathroom.
"Come on Nyla I'm sorry, don't you want to go for a walk?" Spicy said. The massif growled at him and turned her nose up at him. She walked over to Stella. Stella was shocked because she had heard the horror stories about Nyla's unfriendliness, but perhaps even she was so sick of being ignored by Spicy that she made an exception.
"Hey! You traitor!" Spicy looked offended.
"Yes you are" Stella remarked before she could stop herself from saying it.
"What?" Spicy asked.
"I was just joking, that's all" Stella played it off as a joke. She hated her conflicting feelings, she was so angry with him and yet the mate pull also had her so in love with him. It was really weird to go from a mild attraction to being totally in love with him.
"Anyways I'll see you at the festival" She quickly left before it could get any more awkward.
Spicy was waiting for Azura to get ready so they could go. He decided to leave Nyla because she was clearly very angry with him. He couldn't help but notice that Stella seemed mad at him too. Just then Azura came out.
"Ready?" she asked.
"Yes I am" he responded.
"Where is Stella? She won't be joining us?" Azura asked.
"Yes, she already went" Spicy said.
"Well that was kind of rude of her wasn't it? She couldn't have waited for us, oh well let's go" Azura linked arms with him and they left.
*Stella's Pov*
Stella was walking around the festival looking at different stalls that were selling various things. A fishman waved her over.
"Hello ma'am, do you have a special somebody that you would like to let know that you love them? Well you need a Siren's Heart, they are handcrafted by yours truly, made by only the finest sea glass and they come in a variety of colors, so how's about it? Would you like to buy one?" he explained
She had to admit they were pretty, and part of her thanks to the stupid mate pull, was considering buying one for Spicy. She simply held her head high and decided to buy one for herself.
"Oh yes, these look gorgeous I'll take one" she picked out a festoon style necklace with red sea glass and gold for the chain.
"It looks stunning on you, thanks for your business" the fishman nodded. She was admiring her new jewelry, she had to admit that she got the red sea glass because Spicy was on the Coruscant Guard.
"I'm so pathetic…" she sighed.
*Spicy's Pov*
Spicy and Azura were enjoying a plate of sea fruit pudding together. When they saw Stella and Spicy waved her over.
"Nice necklace" Spicy said.
"Thanks" she blankly said without looking at him.
"Wait, why are you wearing a Siren's Heart?" Azura sounded angry.
"Is that what it's called? I just thought it was pretty and decided to buy one" Stella acted ignorant.
"Can I talk to you for a second?" Azura asked Stella.
"Sure" Stella responded. And they walked off.
"Stop playing coy, you know what the Siren's Heart is for, the merchant would have told you, and the fact that you bought a red one to match Spicy's armor proves it" Azura glared at her.
"Why does it matter to you? You're already with Spicy, I bought this necklace for myself, as for the red it's my favorite color, so mind your own business you shallow sea slicker" Stella snapped at her. She lied, purple is her favorite color.
"How dare you talk to me like that!" Azura yelled.
"Well you've been behaving very crabby ever since you found out about my attraction to Spicy" Stella crossed her arms.
"Well I'm obviously the better option or he would have picked you" Azura smugly remarked.
"Moonchildren make the most loyal mates in the galaxy, you ought to be swimming around in someone's glass tank" Stella retorted.
"Ok Moon lover, you wanna fight? I've been training my whole life to hunt and fight, while you've been some broken loser with no wolf, forced to fraternize with politics, how distasteful" Azura bared her fangs.
"Well I've got my wolf now, I'm more than capable of fileting you!" Stella snarled, the two women drew their weapons. As people gathered around to spectate including a horrified Spicy.
"What are you two doing!? Don't fight!" Spicy yelled. But it was too late, the quarrel could not be avoided. Stella let out a howl of a wolf eager to protect her mate. Azura hissed and bared her fangs. The two women charged at each other, their weapons clashed.
Spicy looked on in horror, were they going to kill each other? and if they were who would he help. He can't take both their sides. Azura had better skills with her weapon as she managed several blows, but it seemed Stella had more brute strength using it to deal some damage. Stella was howling in excitement, the strength flowing through her was giving her life. While Azura's tail was wagging side to side aggressively. Azura scored her sharp claws across Stella's cheek. She gasped in shock and blood welled in the claw marks. She elbowed Azura hard in the gut, she stumbled clenching her stomach. She felt it coming on, soon she shifted into her wolf without meaning to. She pounced on Azura and pinned her down with her big paws. Just as she was about to go for Azura's neck she changed back to her human form. There the two women were Stella on top of Azura both covered in blood and wounds. Both panting, anytime Azura tried to wriggle free Stella would add more pressure.
"Never mess with a wolf protecting her mate" Stella threatened.
"What was that about!?" Spicy wasn't happy.
"Alright this isn't a spectator event!" Azura snapped at the Aquarians watching as she struggled to her feet. They went back to minding their own business shocked that their duchess had gotten into such a brutal fight.
"It was all over this" Azura showed him the Siren's Heart now dripping with blood, that she had pulled off Stella's neck.
"Over a necklace!? Are you serious right now!" Spicy was very angry.
"It isn't the necklace it's the symbol, a Siren's Heart is what we Aquarians use to profess our love, notice how it's red? She was going to give it to you and undermine our relationship, I had to protect us" Azura said. Stella snatched it back.
"That is a load of bantha dung, I bought it for myself, she is just a jealous possessive piece of wookie droppings she started the fight, thanks for breaking it you disposable trash, thanks for ripping my new dress thanks for everything you worthless sand gobbler" Stella growled.
"I'm sorry I got into a fight, I was just trying to protect you" Azura pouted.
"As was I, I don't know what this two timing salt sniffer is up to but its not good" Stella glared at her.
"That's not true you have to believe me, Stella told me that she was in love with you and she wanted you for herself, did you see it? She nearly killed me" Tears welled in her eyes.
"Don't pout because you poked a wolf and got your scaly butt beat, as for the shifting that was accidental I'm still learning to control myself" Stella said.
"What is wrong with you Stella? Azura was kind enough to let us stay with her and give us jobs and you expect me to believe that she started a fight with you, if anything you're the one who has been acting like an angry tooka, you're mean to Azura and me" Spicy held Azura closer as she put on a over dramatic pouty show. Then she stuck her tongue out at Stella where Spicy couldn't see.
"I'm so done!" Stella stormed off.
"Are you ok?" Spicy asked.
"Nothing a little salt water won't fix, thanks for believing me" Azura batted her eyelashes at him.
"Well I'm sorry that demon processed freak ruined the dance, I really wanted you to see me in my swimwear" Azura nuzzled him.
"Maybe you could dance for me a little later" Spicy winked. She giggled.
*Stella's Pov*
Stella was on the balcony crying as her heart was shattered. Once again Spicy had picked Azura over her. She wished desperately that she didn't have to cry over a man who clearly didn't care about her. She looked up at the moon, it seemed to comfort her as it casted its beams down on her. Enough was enough, she wasn't going to keep dealing with this. She went back into the room and was gathering what little belongings she had. Just then Spicy came in.
"What are you doing?" Spicy asked.
"What do you care!? Just go back to Azura!" Stella continued angrily slamming things into a bag. She was as angry with him as the mate pull allowed.
"Was it true? What Azura said about the necklace?" Spicy asked.
"Of course not! Why in the whole galaxy would I choose to love a man who clearly doesn't value me at all!" Stella snapped at him. She gathered her bag and was about to leave.
"Why are you so angry at me? Arent we friends?" Spicy asked.
"I don't know Spicy are we!? You haven't really spoken to me or acknowledged my existence in some time now! You always believe Azura over me no matter what happens! I'm done! Have fun with fishface! We'll see how that goes when we leave the planet!" Stella turned to leave.
"Stella wait! I have to go with you remember? I'm your guard" Spicy said.
"Not anymore, I don't need you to protect me! I don't need you for anything! I'm relieving you of your duties!" Stella stormed out of there like an angry nexu. Her face looked like a brewing storm. She didn't care that she had nowhere to live, the weather was always warm so she could live outside for all she cared. She just wanted away from Spicy and Azura.
She kept walking until she found a nice cove that would provide her great shelter from the rain. There was water sliding down the rocks in a steady stream making for a peaceful ambience.
"This will do nicely" she said. She got busy making a makeshift bed out of seaweed and moss. Another thing she could think her Moonchild heritage for was survival instincts. After she finished she decided to take a dip in the water, she slid into the water hissing as the salt water passed over her wounds. She sighed and laid her head back, thinking about everything that transpired. The overwhelming pain returned and tears welled in her eyes. Then anger swelled in her. No she would not shed another tear over Spicy he wasn't worth it. She snarled in anger, since she just shifted she was having a hard time controlling her emotions. She howled in rage at Spicy's betrayal. She could feel herself getting angrier and angrier. She was fighting hard to rein her wolf in. she had finally managed to calm herself down by taking deep breaths and letting the serenity of the water wash over her. She was exhausted from the fight with Azura, crying so much and expending tons of energy on controlling herself. She climbed into her makeshift bed, it wasn't the most comfortable but it would do. She soon drifted off
