A/N: Hello there, dear reader, and welcome! I know that Mr. Moffat has explained the provenance of the Church of the Silence to us, but I liked the idea that the Papal Mainframe biologically reengineered a humanoid species that already existed. Perhaps a species that had developed a unique survival method. If a creature cannot be recalled, then it cannot be hunted by predators, can it? Anywho, this is my idea of the origin of the species (and perhaps the name) of the Silence.
The Forests of Silence were among the most feared places of the Land of Dragons. City folk in Del whispered of the monsters spawned of the first forest, and even the earth-wise Raladin shuddered to think of some of the dangers of the Forests. But there was one breed of creature in the Forests that none knew of. Rather, those who knew never remembered the knowledge. This is the tale of one Del man who encountered these strange beasts as he traveled through the Forests.
Ervik Os-Mine was an adventurer, much as his famous nephew Ben was. He lived for the sake of finding out what was over the next hill. One day, in the middle Forest, Ervik was pitching his camp. In the Forests, this meant finding a tree limb large enough to sleep on before night fell, as a way to avoid the ravenous animals that crawled the ground at night. Ervik was just settling himself in a convenient fork in a branch when a peculiar sound brought him up short.
It was almost the sound of wind rustling over dry leaves, but not quite. Ervik inhaled sharply as he realized what the difference was. The sound came from all around him, and was paced out like breaths. After listening for a few moments, Ervik decided that's exactly what the sound was: the breaths of some undiscovered animal of the Forests.
Cautiously, so as not to draw the attention of the animal (Or could it be animals? Ervik wondered), he raised himself to a seated position on the branch and looked down.
His breath caught in a wheezy gasp of surprise. Tall, narrow creatures surrounded the tree in which Ervik was sitting. All the creatures had their bulbous heads tilted back, looking directly at Ervik with large dark eyes. There was intelligence in the gleaming of their eyes. Ervik's hands tightened on the branch. He had never encountered any creature that seemed so close to human, and yet so alien.
One of the creatures raised its arm and pointed at Ervik with an oddly shaped hand. It chittered something to its companions, and the ring of creatures closed in on the tree. Carefully Ervik reached for his long dagger. He didn't know what these creatures were, but he knew he didn't want to be their dinner. A beam of red light cast by the setting sun caught the blade of his dagger and Ervik cursed under his breath. There would be no way the creatures hadn't seen the crimson light glinting off the metal.
To Ervik's amazement, the creatures halted their measured advance. The one who had pointed to Ervik raised both its four pronged hands. Ervik couldn't help staring in fascination. The hands, with their long wide fingers didn't seem like they would be much good. His musings were interrupted by the creature. A series of clicks and hissing noises emanated from it, a small dark mouth appearing in the mass of gray the thing had for a face.
"Maa-aaa," the thing hissed with difficulty. "Maaaaaaan. You…maaaan." Ervik stiffened in surprise. It was rumored that dragons could speak the language of men, but of course no one had ever been near enough to a dragon to confirm this.
"Yes," Ervik said, and winced at how loud his voice had sounded. Moderating his volume, he spoke again. "Yes, I am a man. What-who are you?" A chattering hiss was the response. Ervik tried again. "Has a man ever given your-er, group a name?" The creature gracefully nodded its oversized head.
"Maaan come before," it rasped. "Maaaan caaaall us Grey Onessss, and Creatuuuures of the Foresssstsss of Siiiiilence." Another of the creatures whispered something, and the leader nodded again.
"My child assskss, what isss the meaning of siiiilence? None ever tell usssss." Ervik blinked in surprise. The creature could not speak human language well, but Ervik was beginning to have the idea that this didn't mean the creature was less intelligent. He gathered his thoughts and cleared his throat.
"Silence means the lack of sound. You know the word 'sound', yes?" he asked hopefully. The translating creature let out a rasping wheeze that may have been laughter.
"Yessssss, maaaaan, I know sssound. That why 'ssssssiiiilencce' no understand. Never not ssssound in foresssst." The creature paused. "Issss siiilence real other places?" Ervik nodded. The creature spoke in its own language for a few moments, presumably translating what had been said. When the creature paused, Ervik tried to take control of the conversation again.
"Do you, you personally, I mean, have a name?" Ervik asked. "That is, what do your friends call you?"
"Cha'att'a," came the reply. "I caaalled Cha'att'a. You name?"
"Yes. I am Ervik Os-Mine of Del." He realized that the creature would think that was his whole name and hastened to add, "But people call me Ervik."
His whispered name came wafting upward from the group, like mists of sound. Suddenly discomfited, Ervik spoke again.
"I don't mean to be rude, but my people sleep after the sun goes down and the sun is down," he said, silently blessing the thickness of the tree branches that caused a swifter nightfall on the forest floor. "But perhaps we can speak again in the morning?" Cha'att'a bowed his head.
"Perhapssss," was the only reply. The creatures vanished into the darkness as effortlessly as they had appeared.
Cha'att'a sat in his nest. It saddened him that the human had frightened so soon. There was a great deal that could be learned from the humans, and much that the humans could learn from them. But no matter what, it always ended the same way.
"Father?" The musical voice of Cha'att'a's daughter, Se'echa came from behind him/
"Yes, child?"
"Do you think this man will remember us in the morning, Father?" Se'echa asked quietly.
"No, child. He won't. They never do."