We Live Again
Episode 11: Wisdom
By Inspiration
eaglewiccan
Disclaimer: The Gargoyles animated series, including the Goliath Chronicles, is the property of the Walt Disney Company and its affiliate Buena Vista Animation, originally created by Greg Weisman. The characters of Graeme, Ariana, Sata, and the mention of the Eldest, the peach sister, Agamemnon, and Brother Edmund are from TGS and are used here with the consent of the TGS staff with the condition of creative acknowledgement. Hudson's mate is a canon in training idea, and the name Deborah is from TGS. No copyright infringement is intended here nor authorized by the copyholders. This author only writes for fun and love of this beloved animated series. All original characters are the property of the author Inspiration.
Author's note: This story begins in the early hours of the same night as 10. Face Your Fears in mid to late February 2000.
Previously on Gargoyles. . .
"It's time for me to step down, and for you to lead." Hudson of 984.
"Then I will. But only if you stay by my side, I will need your wisdom to guide me." Goliath of 984.
"I thought my warrior days were behind me." Hudson.
"Nonsense, there are years of fighting left for you." Goliath.
"Och, now there's something to look forward to." Hudson.
They share a laugh, and then flew off into the night on their way home to the clock tower.
(Canon) Long Way to Morning.
"You can't read, can you?" Robbins.
"Well, who would teach me?" Hudson.
"I can teach you . . . there's no shame in being illiterate, Hudson, only in staying that way." Robbins.
(Canon) A Lighthouse in the Sea of Time.
"Didn't you tell me once that back in the tenth century, part of your warrior obligations included teaching?" Elisa.
"We taught the younger gargoyles any skills we had." Goliath.
"Well, maybe one way to get Hudson more involved is to make him feel useful. He has lots of skills he can teach." Elisa.
(TGS) To Restore Amends.
"If we can get the gargoyles better recognized by the law, you wouldn't have to hide any more. If your clan wishes to continue protecting, they'd have to go through basic police training and earn their own badges." Maria Chavez to Goliath.
(WLA) Collisions.
"Perhaps, Lad, humans are nae the only creatures who feel fear of the unknown." Hudson to Goliath and Tamora.
(WLA) Trust.
For centuries he has fed and his power has grown, but despite his ever growing strength, he still hungers, and his hunger has yet to be satiated. But more importantly he hungers for vengeance against the one who dared oust him from his sacred homeland and deny him his rightful place to be a god amongst his tribe. The one who dared call him an abomination when he dared call himself a god and Guardian of the People and long protects an unworthy bloodline that he senses has now become further tainted.
Having finally caught the faintest whiff of what he searches for, his journey has finally brought him here. And yet he senses his journey will not have been in vain, this greatly pleases him.
For a barbaric civilization said to be about only the worship of heretic science, ancient magic yet permeates the air.
****Castle Wyvern
Och, this be nothing but garbled nonsense. This writer dosnae even use real words, Hudson thought to himself as held little Alex in his lap and read him a bedtime story by a queerly named author called Dr. Seuss.
While it was still an enjoyable book for children, and Alex loved the sound of how it flowed with Hudson's thick Scottish brogue, the old soldier himself still found the books by this children's author amusing if a might daft.
Half the time there were not even real words, but some made up rubbish. Yet instead of letting it inhibit him, Hudson took the books of Dr. Seuss as a challenge to improve his reading skills. And a warrior always takes up a challenge.
Before finishing the end of the book, Alex was sound asleep in his arms, so Hudson set the book aside right after reading the last word and tucked the little princeling into bed. He then retired to the clan's private wing for some quiet time to watch any of his favorite late night shows such as Jay Leno or a re-airing of Celebrity Hockey.
As usual, ever loyal Bronx came to settle himself beside Hudson's chair and keep the clan's eldest member company. When not out on patrol with another in the clan, he took his instincts as a beast companion without question. It was what made their particular bond very special.
As Hudson flipped through the channels, finding mostly boring infomercials for useless products, Hudson found his thoughts beginning to wander or muse on the events of recent nights.
Just a few nights before, the clan's only adolescents, Graeme and Ariana, had been badly injured in a harsh battle against a small band of vampires and their new Halfling followers. Though it had been difficult and draining on the whole clan to see them in such a state to nearly lose their lives, it had been particularly distressing for their parents, Brooklyn, the clan second, and his mate Sata, from the Ishimura Clan's Feudal Period. Thanks now to Lexington's efforts and the clan's Chinese exchange healer, Kwan Yin, the younguns were well on their way to recovery in the castle's infirmary and will be back to causing mischief in no time, by most likely tomorrow night.
So much like their father, they are, when he and his brothers were that age.
It will be very fortunate for Graeme and Ariana to live long happy lives now thanks to Lexington and his ever queer interest in human magical devices, and especially this century.
Indeed, the poor lad had suffered his own misgivings in recent nights, one the old soldier himself had bared witness to. Having seemingly gone mad, Lexington claimed to have seen and fought with two of the clan's most formidable enemies, Jackal and Hyena of the upgraded Ultra Pack, when in truth he only fought empty air or left a small blow to his patrol partner. Hudson counted himself extremely fortunate to have only received some scratches from the young male, because though he be small in stature, he well made up for it in speed, ferocity, and tenacity. Though the lass, Yin, found nothing physically wrong with young Lex, she nonetheless offered spiritual guidance from her studies of ancient Chinese human philosophy.
In the coming months, Hudson could very well see good tidings in having the light jade green female as a clan healer for a time, and though she comes from a culturally different clan, he also hopes she will become more.
The lass had also offered similar guidance to an ever brooding Broadway, which was so unlike the lad to continually do from his more cheerful optimistic self. For almost a fortnight now, the young male had gone about the castle with a pitiful look on his face and limp in his step, even his wings appeared listless from long glides on patrols he had taken less to. Almost every night now, Hudson and many in the clan noticed Broadway head straight for the kitchens to make a rather big breakfast for everyone, and as he cooked he took more than his usual share of food and already he now showed twice his girth.
Hudson could only think the young fool ought to get over his stubborn pride and quickly get over whatever trivial problem has pointlessly burdened him because it was most unbefitting a warrior. Surly the boy had been taught better than that?
If Broadway did not get over it soon enough, but allowed himself to become a useless lump, how would he have the stamina to keep up with Angela on their first Breeding Season?
Aye, the boy forgets how fortunate he is to have Angela as his lifemate, Dragon bless her gentle heart. Yet it will take more than her gentleness and patience to bring Broadway out from his pitiful slump.
Speaking of breeding, he has seen Goliath do all that he could to be there for his beloved Elisa, who now carries their first child and therefore the first hatchling to be born to the clan in this new time, and continue to lead the clan. He knows exactly how the poor lad feels, having gone through it time and again with his own lifemate when she became egg heavy and they were clan leaders. While a child carrying female of any species is never easy to deal with, they still needed a strong male to support them and give them comfort.
Though Elisa was still very much herself, she was only beginning to show her first mood swings, complaining often enough about 'desk duty' at her precinct, and from what Hudson could understand it meant mostly sitting at a desk all day and looking at a lot of parchments. It sounded very tedious indeed and Hudson could not blame Elisa for it.
In her mood swings, Elisa had begun to tell of strange food cravings, mostly for more meat products and has been eating a lot of jerky. It will be difficult for Goliath in the coming months, but Hudson will offer his wisdom whist he can, especially as Goliath has to work with the castle's other guest the Chinese Clan ambassador Li Shen.
Though politics is always a challenge, the lavender clan leader had met and surpassed its difficulties and indeed has the makings of a true diplomat that may be essencial for the future of the gargoyles race.
Goliath and Xanatos had been working with Li Shen for over a fortnight now to negotiate with other clans about trading his clan's abundance of guardian beasts with beasts from other clans to create stronger and more diverse bloodlines in order to further breed these rare and magnificent creatures if they too, like their gargoyle caretakers, were to survive into the future for coming generations.
Li Shen himself is indeed a patient and wise elder, though he always keeps a rather peculiar outward neutral appearance which makes it often hard to truly understand what he may be thinking. Though he expressed more open and civilized opinions than those of his clan leader, he always expressed some skepticism about the ways of the human world, but always felt more concern about the benefit and future of his clan, a trait both elders indeed share strongly. In a way Li Shen could be a kindred spirit to Hudson as a fellow clan elder who may yet live long enough to see a new generation of hatchlings.
All this thinking of mateship and coming hatchlings reminded him of his lost love. Though she has now been part of the wind and skies these many long past centuries, there are nights he strongly remembered her image as though only having seen her last night. Her long pale blond mane, her velvety laugh, and a stubbornness and fierceness of the most marvelous warriors that went unmatched in battle. He missed her greatly, and he always carried her in his heart and saw her in new generations of hatchlings. Even now her legacy lives on, and could it be among the original survivors his own had . . .?
But that's ridiculous; he's beginning to think too much like a human. Such thoughts are best left alone.
Though he is set in his ways, he is still useful to the clan as a mentor and teacher, such as how he was strongly encouraged to take up the task of teaching the clones and young children of the Labyrinth to read. At first he had been resentful, but he quickly took to the challenge, and his students always looked forward to his lessons.
Though he be a seasoned warrior, he now looked forward to teaching a new generation the wonders of reading, a human custom he once only considered queer and useless. Now he prided himself on how his skills improved in only a few short years where once he had been ashamed of being unable to read. But his good friend Jeffery Robbins did not judge Hudson for it, and even offered to teach the old gargoyle how to read.
Perhaps he is not so set in his ways as he once was nowadays, for even an old fool like himself has had to learn to adapt. Why, he was the first of the clan to take a name in this new time thanks to the lass Elisa. Verily, that was another queer human custom he has come to appreciate a bit, though it is still queer to him how humans made it such a strong habit to name everything around them, even rocks and nearly every star in the sky.
The rest of the night he spent mostly in quiet comfort, but now he feels the instinctual pull of the dawn and sleep beckons.
As the clan gathered to their respective roosts, he took note of those around him. Goliath above looked happy, but greatly exhausted, Brooklyn and Sata were beaming with joy to have Graeme and Ariana rejoin the clan while they expressed annoyance from doting parents, Broadway seemed as morose as ever while Angela tried to get him to smile by tickling his big belly with her tail, and it gladdened Hudson to see Lexington return in much higher spirits this morning after spending a night out with a friend.
These may indeed be a few good omens, though Hudson was not one to get his hopes up too high.
As the brightness of the Sun finally broke over the East horizon, the clan assumed their positions for the day, Hudson having drawn his sword for a battle ready stance to then give a silent roar as his entire being became petrified in an organic stone shell.