Meanwhile, a gargoyles fanfic

Meanwhile...

Disclaimer: Gargoyles is the property of Disney and Buena Vista Television. All original characters and plot are the creative property of Christi Smith Hayden. Members of the Ishimura clan are borrowed with permission from the fanfics of Kimberly T.

I. A Family Outing

"I've come for my apprentice," said a voice from the rookery door. Kirin looked up expectantly for it was a voice that had long been familiar to him. It belonged to a tall slate blue male with a distinctive crown of horns on his head and fish whiskers at the corners of his mouth. He worked the boats with the other fishers of Ishimura, both human and gargoyle.

"I don't know, Namazu," the head rookery keeper said, pursing her lips as she looked over the class. "It wasn't that long ago that you took Kirin out with you. If you keep doing this, he might get behind in his studies."

One of the other rookery keepers laughed. "Oh, Miya-san! Let him go! You know very well it's the only way that the others can keep up!"

Miya rolled her eyes and threw up her hands. "Well?" she asked Kirin, who had been holding his breath. "Have you finished your lessons for the day?"

"Yes, sensei!" Kirin tried to not sound too eager but his table mates Yama and Kai snickered at him. He glared at them as he gathered his papers and put them in proper place on the teacher's desk. Bowing to the rookery keepers, he turned and bolted out the door.

"I hope you have been studying hard," the tall fisherman said. "We have a long sail ahead of us and you know she will ask a lot of questions."

"Okaasan is coming too?" It slipped out before Kirin could stop himself. Unlike most hatchlings in the rookery, he had been aware of who his parents were for as long as he could remember. They were, after all, were very unique-looking in the clan and Kirin had inherited features from both of them.

His father merely raised one brow ridge at Kirin's slip of the tongue. "Yes, she's going to gather some of that purple seaweed that she uses for that dye she likes. I have permission to take the sloop out to Nee-chan Island so you can help me with the rigging."

"Are we meeting her at the weaver's hall?"

"No, she said she'd meet us at the docks." He smiled knowingly. "She had kitchen duty earlier so I expect there may be some tasty treats in her basket."

"Cookies?"

"Entirely possible."

Kirin seized his father's hand in both of his and began towing the larger gargoyle down the path. Laughing, his father let him do so until they encountered others of the clan and then they both dropped back into a mode of proper behavior. It was very difficult and Kirin felt like he would fly out of his skin from excitement. The prospect of time spent with both of his parents was a rare treat.

The bright red-gold of his mother's hair was the first thing Kirin could see as he came in sight of the docks. She was very different from the other Ishimura females – while most of them had the human-like features of geishas, she resembled an elegant dragon with a flaming mane and a long slender muzzle. She was very quiet and soft-spoken as well, rarely showing more than a flash of crimson when she was in a temper. Normally, she dressed as formally as she did when she was a temple attendant but tonight she was wearing a simple short-sleeved tunic and her hair was bound up in a tight braid. Kirin grinned because this meant that she was planning to swim and swimming with his mother was always fun.

"There you are," she said as they thumped down the wooden steps to the dock. "I was beginning to wonder about you two."

"He was just finishing up his lessons, Shiori. You know how Miya can be about that." His father led them over to one of the clan's sailboats.

"Oh?" His mother took Kirin's other hand and helped her mate swing him over into the boat. "What subject?"

"Math." Kirin took the things that she passed over. The covered food basket had delicious smells coming out of it that made his mouth water and there was definitely something chocolate in there. "Kai and Yama are probably still working on theirs. They were caught climbing trees again and tore their clothes so Miya had to scold them."

"Ah." Taking her mate's hand, Shiori carefully stepped down into the boat. When she turned and started to help with the mooring lines, Kirin firmly intercepted her.

"This is my job today," Kirin told her proudly. "Namazu said so!"

She must have given one of her looks, which could be remarkably expressive for such a gentle female, to his father over the top of Kirin's head because Namazu said in mild tone, "Suna took him out with her last week on the skiff and said he has a good grasp of the basics. He's big enough to help out now so you might as well let him."

His mother sighed wistfully but went to stow away her things in the storage bins while her males got the ship underway. As a rule, Namazu insisted that she let him do all the work whenever they took a boat out. He always treated her with an unusual degree of delicacy and care, as if Shiori was a fragile treasure. He explained to Kirin once that he had admired her for many years, thinking that he was unworthy of her but when he finally found a way to approach her, he found she had been waiting patiently for him. As Kirin grew older, he began to follow his father's example and also treated his mother with the same gentle respect.

When Namazu finished on the dock, he hopped down into the boat, spreading his wings for a light landing. As soon as Shiori and Kirin were settled in, he maneuvered the boat out of the harbor. The night wind was strong enough to get them out to the Sisters, the series of little islands just off the coast where the deeper ship channels split off into the open ocean. The waters became shallower and the residents of Ishimura, both human and gargoyle, used sailboats to get to the islands.

Each island had their own specialty and Suna, one of the few females in the fishing fleet, had been telling Kirin stories about them. The Elder Sister was the biggest and had a series of fresh water springs. There was a lighthouse and a cluster of small buildings for the few that lived there. Some of the steep slopes had been terraced with fruit trees and other crops but it took a gargoyle to reach them. The Middle Sister was home to a small pearl fishery and a seaweed farm. Humans worked there during the day and gargoyles took over at night. The Little Sister was farther away, trailing behind her sisters' skirts according to Suna , but it was the one place where Shiori could find the special plants and seaweeds that she used to dye the silk and cotton threads for her weaving.

Namazu guided the sloop into a sheltered cove on the leeward side of the island. Kirin perked up instantly and asked, "Are we spending the day here?"

"We'll see," Namazu said as he began to take the sail down. "I dropped some crab traps a few nights ago. Miya will be very happy if we can bring some back for her, neh?" He grinned and gave Kirin the end of the mooring line. "Here – I'll give you a toss and you go tie us up."

Kirin grinned and ran up to put his foot in his father's laced fingers. Namazu was used to heaving heavy fishing nets so one small gargoyle went a long, long way. Gliding to the beach, he looped the rope around a tree and held it steady while Namazu guided the boat in using the long oar at the back of the boat. There was a notch in the high sand bank that they had used before to dock the boat. As soon as his father maneuvered the boat into place, Kirin tied off the boat and helped unload. In addition to the delicious-smelling picnic basket, Shiori had also bought along bags and containers for the things she needed to collect.

Namazu began to clean out the stone-lined fire pit that they had built above the tide line on an earlier visit. Shiori took up a canvas sling and held out her hand. "Come along, Kirin-kun," she said with a smile, "help me fetch the firewood."

"That's all right," Kirin said taking the sling from her, "I can do it!" He exchanged a brief worried look with his mother as he passed her on the trail into the trees. They had both heard the low growl. Over the past few weeks, Namazu had become more irritable. After an unfortunate incident where harsh words had driven Kirin to tears, Auntie Suna had taken him up to her hut and explained that it wasn't Kirin's fault – it would soon be time for the mated adults to go away together. Some males, she had snorted and glared out the window at this, simply needed to control themselves better. Kirin had learned the warning signs and would make himself scarce until things settled down.

Even though he would have much rather have gone exploring with his mother, Kirin still found plenty of interesting things to look at in the forest. He found enormous stag-horned beetles to stage insect sumo matches with and a hollow log filled with tiny glowing mushrooms no bigger than his thumb talon. When he came across the bank of sand plums, he wound up dumping the firewood out of his bag and tying it in a bundle with a piece of string so he could pick his fill of the tangy-sweet red plums. The fact that he was snacking on them while he was picking them was hardly worth mentioning. For every handful that went into his mouth, two went into the bag. He was staggering back down the path to the beach when Shiori came looking for him. She took one look at him and laughed.

"Aii-ya! Dearest one, you look like you crawled out of a jam jar!"

"Look!" Kirin held out his bag. "I found sand plums!"

"Indeed you did," Shiori agreed. "And so many!"

"Suna loves sand plums. Can I give some to her?"

The corners of his mother's mouth quirked up as she carefully took his bag from him. "Of course you can, but first I think you should drop the wood by the fire and then go jump in the water."

In the brief time that Kirin had been gone, his parents had set up camp. There was a small shelter tucked back between the tough scrubby trees above the tide line, whether gargoyles or humans had made it, no one knew but visitors that knew of it kept it in good repair. One never knew when one might need a safe haven in a storm or a place to wait out the day. There was a stone-lined firepit out front and a couple of sturdy footlockers tucked inside containing matches, dry tinder, emergency rations, and a few musty-smelling wool blankets. Someone had dropped off some old tatami mats that something had taken to nibbling on but they must have passed Shiori's approval for she had already set her things out on them.

Namazu had managed to start a fire with driftwood and was placing the wire grill over it when Kirin dropped his bundle of wood on the sand and charged at the surf. He gave the hatchling a long look before asking, "All right, what did he get into? I don't think he was wearing that much pink before."

"Plums," Shiori said, still with a faint chuckle in her voice. "The fire will need to burn down a bit before we can cook on it. Go get the tunic off him so I can scrub the stains out. You two have a good swim until dinner." She arched one brow ridge at him and kept smiling.

Blowing out his fish-like whiskers with a sigh, Namazu stood up to nuzzle his mate's cheek and strode off into the water. He had already stripped down to his fundoshi so it was a simple matter to persuade Kirin to do the same. They dove down into the deeper water of the cove and caught some fish for dinner, as well as a dozen or so brown shore crabs.

After Namazu and Kirin cleaned the fish, they added them to the hot grill where Shiori was basting vegetable skewers and triangle-shaped rice balls with teriyaki sauce. Everything tasted delicious coming straight off the fire. Kirin only managed to finish two chocolate chip cookies before his yawns forced him to lean into Shiori's side. She laughed softly as she lowered him to the tattered tatami mat and tucked something soft under his head.

"He's eating a lot," Namazu's deep voice rumbled softly. "He'll get fat."

"Nonsense." A light blanket was pulled over his body and across over his shoulders. "We were talking about it during my kitchen shift this week. Just as you and I are preparing for our season," Shiori's words became light and teasing, "Kirin and his rookery are preparing for their changes."

"Changes?"

"Miya says that hatchlings that might develop horns or longer muzzles or other features begin eating more than usual. They will all start to eat more and more until right before the breeding season and then they will become very lethargic. They'll spend long periods sleeping and some may even enter a light form of stone sleep."

"Sounds dangerous."

"It's an evolutionary adaptation, apparently. It keeps the hatchlings safe while most of the adults are off on their breeding flights. The elders and other adults will keep a close eye on them. We're lucky that our journeyman healer is not seeking a mate so he can tend to any problems."

Namazu snorted. "True, but don't think Kado's happy about it. He and Suna had a huge fight in her shed and I was just glad Kirin was not there to hear it." His big hand reached over and straightened the blanket. "Do you think he will be all right? Going through this change?"

Her slender fingers drifted through the tangled curls on Kirin's head, tracing the horn nubs that had been aching lately. The gentle pressure was very soothing. "His horns will be coming out in their adult shapes. They are already beginning to swell."

"That is true, beloved. Suna was only commenting the other night that he's due to grow into his feet as well."

Shiori's laugh was like a tinkling wind chime in the breeze. "Your height will look good on him."

"As it should."

"I have a terrible feeling he's due for my muzzle." She sighed. "I remember waking up and my whole face had changed. I wanted to hide in the back of the rookery chamber and never come out."

"And yet you did, like a butterfly from a cocoon," Namazu said with a low chuckle. "My beautiful dragoness."

The quiet voices of his parents blended into the sounds of the surf rushing upon the shore and Kirin drifted off to sleep.

Namazu = catfish

Shiori = poem; weave