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I

Five Years Earlier

The large human boy slapped Alix's books out of his hands. The books thudded onto the floor in a small mess at his feet. Alix's ears flattened against his head, his tail wrapped around his legs, and his brown eyes looked down at the books with a look of resignation stamped on his face. A lock of his wild black hair fell over his right eye. He wore a purple tee shirt, dark blue jeans, and had a brown leather belt with a simple bronze buckle holding them up. His black backpack was stuffed with his swim trunks and towel, so he had been carrying his books instead. He gave himself a mental note to ask Mom to get him a separate bag for his books.

"Come on, Bruce," he said to the large human male in front of him with a sigh. At two foot eleven inches, Alix was not a large child, and compared to Bruce, who stood three foot nine, he looked even smaller. Bruce and his two cronies, Sam and Micah, picked on anyone smaller than they were, which included most of the school. Alix was just their favorite target. Bruce had a head of brown hair cut in a military fashion, pale (almost pink) skin and angry brown eyes, with a slightly chunky body frame. Sam was also a human, slighter than Bruce, but just as tall. Sam's skin had a bronze hue to it, short black hair, and dark gray eyes that always seemed to have a malicious joy lurking deep in them.

Micah was a Raccoonin. His brown fur did not have a lot of black in it, giving him almost a naked look compared to others of his race. The fur on his hands were solid black, as were the backs of his ears, and he had black bands in his long hair. The bands on his bushy tail were only just coming in. Micah lacked the black mask on his raccoon shaped head that his parents had, and mentioning that fact always brought out the worse in him. Micah was the quiet one, and standing at four foot one, the tallest of the group. He was also the one who went after those kids who tried to run from the trio.

"What you say, sissy boy," said Bruce.

"You've done this twice today already, making this the seventeenth time this week. Don't you get tired of it?" Alix instantly regretted opening his mouth. Bruce was a pure jock, with poor grades, and a terrible head for math. Alix had good grades in everything but gym and loved math. And Bruce did not like being reminded of it.

"OK, now you've ask'd for it, sissy boy!" Bruce grabbed Alix by his shirt front, and raised his other hand to punch Alix. Alix instinctively raised his arms to shield his head, and closed his eyes in anticipation of the blow. Then a large, brown furred hand closed around Bruce's wrist.

"I wouldn't do that," said a rich, cultured voice. The trio turned in surprise, and Alix opened one eye.

Behind them stood Hector Iona, Alix's best friend, and sometimes protector. Hector was a Bympyr, and at eight years, he already stood at five foot two. He had the body structure similar to that of a human, save that he was covered in a coat of soft, thick brown fur. His sea lion like head sported two small, round ears. His closed, calm mouth hid two rows of needle sharp teeth that left most people disturbed whenever he gave them a full smile. He round, dark eyes looked between Bruce and the other two boys, assessing the danger. Coming from a race of natural warriors, he could easily deal with all three boys with out breaking a sweat. Added to this was that his father, a colonel in the Clan Army, was teaching him hand to hand combat, and made the prospect of Bruce winning a fight very unlikely.

"Here to protect yer girlfrien', gain," Bruce asked as he jerked his arm free of Hector's grip.

Hector's eyes narrowed a little and he crossed his arms across his chest.

"Look, if you get out of here, I won't have to resort to pasting you on the wall. And if you lay off Alix, I won't tell the teachers." Hector gave them a tooth grin as he said this. All three boys felt a cold shiver run down their spines. As one, all three of them turned and ran down the hall.

"I won't forget t'is," Bruce called over his shoulder.

"You had better not," Hector said quietly, before turning and helping Alix with his books.

"I swear, Alix, you draw more attention then the flowers in my Ma's garden."

"That's mean," Alix whined.

Hector's Mom did gardening as a hobby and she had one of the best gardens in the neighborhood. The local paper had even done a small article on it.

"That's the truth. Alix, you draw bullies to you like my Ma's flowers draw bees. Every time I see you, your in some sort of trouble. Come on, we need to get home. Did you get the permission slip for tomorrows field trip?"

"Yeah," Alix said. He flipped through the books in his hands and pulled out a piece of paper. "I'll have Mom forward it to Ms. Habbenstaub after she signs it. I'm looking forward to it. What do you think we'll see when we get there? You think we'll see The Prince?" Alix's tail was moving back and forth in his excitement.

Hector looked down at his friend. "Your such a girl sometimes," he said. "I doubt it. Ms. Habbenstaub says that The Prince is really busy. I know she wants to show us the Parliament Room." He pulled out a piece of paper from his jeans. "Let's see. We're going to have a look at the Clan Charters, and The Sapphire Empire's Constitution," he said after consulting the paper. "There is the Gallery of The Shifter Expedition, and we're supposed to meet with Prime Minister Blackfur."

"You're just hoping to see Ajax Corinth," Alix said with a big grin on his face. Hector gave him a dirty look.

"Well, yeah. She is the head of my tribe, as well as my aunt. It would be nice to see her."

"So she can pet you like a puppy again?"

"Whaaat? I'm not a puppy!"

"That's not what it looked like to me," Alix said and stuck out his tongue.

"Why you- Come here!"

"Ah, don't hurt me!!"

Both boys ran down the street laughing.

* * * * * *

"Mom, I'm home," Alix called out.

"I'm in the kitchen, hun."

Alix walked into the kitchen to find his mother moving about it, cooking dinner. Heather Nyt Astarte looked younger than her thirty five years, and for having two children, one of which was fifteen and half way through high school. At four foot two, she had a specialized step installed along the bottom of the kitchen counters to aid her in reaching the higher cabinets and allowed her to work on top of the counters themselves. Even then, she frequently had to have either her husband or older son get things down for her. Her bright red fur covered most of her body, save for the white fur that ran from her throat to her belly, and the white fur at the tip of her tail. Her rich brown eyes sparkled with enjoyment as she moved around the kitchen, her long red hair drawn up into a low pony tail, bobbing with her movements. Heather wore a bright green, knee length skirt, and a white, short sleeved pull over top. A silver necklace hung around the lower part of her throat. Heather's gold wedding ring and diamond, inset gold engagement ring decorated her left hand.

At the kitchen table, sitting in a chair, and hunched over a mess of papers, sat Jon, Alix's big brother. At fifteen, he already stood at four foot nine; tall for a Foxling, and was likely to get taller according to Doctor Rogers, the family physician. He had bright red fur like his mother, with the same patterns of white fur, save for a large patch of gray fur that covered part of his shoulders and most of his back. The fur that covered his hands was black, as was that of his paws, which he had inherited from his father. Also like his father, his eyes were a bright apple green. Jon kept his hair short, as he was into sports and hated it getting in his face. His hair was darker than the rest of his fur, more of rust red with natural occurring flame red high lights. Over his right eye, a large lock of hair had changed color to the same dark gray as that on his back, some four years ago. He wore a black tee shirt, a brown leather belt with a steel buckle, and a pair of light blue jeans.

Jon looked up as Alix came in.

"Hey, squirt," he said with a big grin on his face.

"Jon!" Alix ran over to him and gave him a warm hug. "You're home early."

"You're home late." Jon frowned for a moment. "Was Bruce Campbell picking on you again?"

Alix's ears flattened before he could prevent them. Jon had walked him to school a few times, and had once given Bruce a black eye. There had been a huge hue and cry about it, until it was discovered that Bruce had been ambushing Alix and stealing his lunch. Alix knew that those walks took time from Jon's own school time, however, and Alix didn't want Jon to get into trouble for beating up a boy seven years younger than him. Besides, Jon now had a girlfriend, which took even more time away from the time Jon had to spend with his little brother. Not that Alix minded. He liked Nova Sunfield. The fennec Foxling was sweet natured and thought of Alix as her little brother. She was an only child, and had always wanted to have a little brother or sister. All this Alix kept in the back of his mind, as he hated to bother his brother with such things as bullies.

"Yes," he said reluctantly, seeing the anger entering Jon's eyes. "But Hector took care of it."

Jon sighed. Heather placed a few dishes on the table and looked at her youngest child.

"Hunny, this has to stop. The next time he picks on you, I want you to tell your teachers, or I will have to insist on having your coach escort you out of the school every day."

"Yes, Mom." Then Alix brightened, put his books on the table, with a little effort, and pulled out the permission slip. "Mom, this is the permission slip for the field trip tomorrow. Could you sign it and forward it to Ms. Habbenstaub?"

"The one for The Palace?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Sure thing, hun," Heather said as she took the slip. "Why don't you help Jon with his Geometry homework while I take care of this. Then you guys need to clean up and get ready for dinner. Your father will be home soon, and we'll have dinner when he does."

Alix looked up at Jon. "Geometry?" His tail was already wagging back and forth.

Jon smirked. "You and math," he chuckled. "Come here."

Jon picked up Alix and set him in his lap. As the two boys set about solving the problems, Heather walked out of the kitchen to take care of the permission slip.

An hour later, the boy's father came home. Henry Darwin Astarte was unusual in that he stood five foot; extremely tall for a race that usually only just broke four feet. This fur and close cropped hair was a rust red color, with black fur on his paws, hands and the tips of both triangular ears. Today he wore a blue sports jacket over a white dress shirt, and a pair of black business slacks. A bright red tie with white stripes hung from around his neck; a gift from his sons for his birthday. A simple black leather belt with a steel buckle held up his slacks. On his left hand, he had his gold wedding ring, while his right had his class ring with an amethyst, Henry's birthstone, set in it. He set down his briefcase and held out his arms as Alix came running to him.

Scooping him up, he gave his youngest son a hug, and then gave his wife a kiss.

"Did you have fun at the pool today," he asked Alix.

"You bet." Alix gave him a wide smile. "And tomorrow is the field trip to The Palace."

Heather picked up the briefcase and took it to Henry's office, as father and son moved into the dinning room.

"Oh, is it. Well, I don't know about you but I'm famished. Why don't you tell me about you're day while we eat. Jon, supper time!"

"Coming, Dad."

Henry set Alix down in his chair while Heather put the finishing touches on the dinner. Jon joined them a moment later. They had a nice long dinner.