Elisa broke the news to the clan after they woke for the night, but before they could run off on their patrols.

Some were… more understanding than others.

And that was putting it mildly.

Brooklyn was furious with her. He'd tried to hide it by becoming a wall of silence, but Elisa caught the burning anger in his eyes. Elisa could not blame him. He'd had quite a few run-ins with Demona that didn't end well, where he had fallen for her tricks.

It was bad enough before, but now he had Skyler to protect. He could protest all he wanted, but Elisa knew that his feelings for her were stronger than he was letting on.

Goliath was pretty upset too, but Elisa knew he'd forgive her… eventually.

Angela was the only one who Elisa was unsure how they felt about her mother being released.

With a resigned sigh, Elisa asked everyone to sit down. She started with when she and Angela had gone to speak with Demona about the Council, and ended up floating in the white space. She spoke of watching Nell's life, and interactions with the gypsy band.

She spoke of the false arrest by the guards, and the resulting punishment. Goliath's posture went rigid, having been in the room when Elisa's body had been reacting to being whipped. He hadn't been told what had happened, but knowing now…

Elisa watched as the story finally clicked.

Goliath's head snapped up, and he stared at her in disbelief. "I remember," he started speaking slowly, as if still trying to digest it all. "I remember we had gone out to protect some of the castle's best hunters. They had gone out hunting for game that morning, and there had been reports of large wolves attacking people in the nearby kingdom," Goliath said, picking up speed as it all came to the surface. "The hunting party had not yet returned when we awoke, so we went to look for them. We found them, and returned to see…" He drifted off, closing his eyes.

Hudson stroked his beard thoughtfully. "I remember now, too. The lass, Nell," He corrected, "Had not spoken of meeting any gargoyles there, though."

"That's probably because she wasn't there to see you," Elisa pointed out. "She passed out during the…" Elisa shook her head to clear the images and the memory of the pain inflicted, "But I think we both passed out. When I woke up, it was just me in her body. I wasn't just observing anymore. I woke up, and was being treated by an older female gargoyle with long, gray hair."

"The Healer," Lexington said softly. "I remember her. She took care of the hatchlings, and learned healing to help the humans when she was needed."

"That sounds like her," Elisa said.

"Goliath saw what was going on first, and grabbed the whip from the officer," Brooklyn said. "He and Hudson got between them and the girl…"

"That girl," Broadway said, his own memories being refreshed. He turned to Brooklyn, "We were the ones to help get her down to the Healer."

"Yeah," Brooklyn said softly. "Someone cut the rope, and we caught her before she hit the ground. I remember seeing her back and wondering if she…" He drifted off.

Elisa realized what they weren't saying. She hadn't seen the injury, herself, but evidently they had wondered if she… if Nell… would live.

She had the sudden urge to scratch her back, swearing that she could still feel the broken skin and healing wounds.

"It was bad, lass," Hudson said. "We had arrived just in time for the captain to strike the fifth blow." He shook his head sadly, "Some things are best not remembered."

"And some things you can not forget," Goliath said. He took a steadying breath before continuing. "We realized that the punishment had been carried out without the Captain because he had gone with us. The Princess had not ordered such a thing done, either. So, a group of us went in search of the Gypsy people."

"Goliath thought that it would be a good training for some of us younger clan members," Lexington said. "We weren't expecting a fight, so we were allowed to come along."

"Yeah," Broadway chuckled. "We landed in the middle of an argument they were having. There was this old man who was yelling, and everyone else was trying to get a word in."

"Motshan," Elisa said. "The eldest."

Broadway nodded.

"Yeah," Lexington said. "He was demanding to know who the thief was, and to go back and get the girl free, but the soldiers had driven them away before they could do anything."

"Then we caught their attention, and all hell broke loose," Brooklyn said.

"Everyone started to scatter," Broadway said.

"Then the elder turned to face Goliath, and demanded to know where Nell was." Hudson chuckled. He shook his head. "He was fearless."

"That was when this woman," Broadway said, "The real thief, I guess, started screaming about how we had come for her."

"She confessed all, and her people turned her over to us." Goliath said. "The sun was about to rise, so we were not able to make it back that night. We spent the night in their encampment, with their vows to keep us safe and return with us to escort the thief and let her go before the princess to save the woman who had been wrongly accused."

"You got there just in time," Elisa said, realizing for the first time the danger they had put themselves in to save Nell, an innocent.

The group turned to her again in wonder.

Elisa smiled. "I was still there when you all returned with Menowin, the woman who actually stole the cups," she clarified. She turned to Goliath then. "You took me back to my little room after Menowin had been taken away."

He jerked in surprise.

Elisa shrugged. "I think I really shocked you that night, but I was hurt, scared and I missed you so much…" Elisa trailed off.

Goliath gathered her close. "I am so sorry, my love." He whispered for her ears only.

Elisa nodded, swiping at the traitorous tear that had welled up.

"It's nice to know what happened, but between you finding the gypsies and you're return with the gypsies, I met younger Demona. She was left to watch me for a while, and I managed to convince her to help me."

"How?" Angela asked abruptly.

It was the first time Angela had spoken since Elisa had been her story.

Elisa drew a breath. This was the hard part. "I explained as much as I could, as much as I felt I safely could, without altering the events of the past."

She told the clan what she had done. "I wanted so badly to tell her about the clan, and to warn her about what was going to happen. Try to save everyone," Elisa hung her head. "Maybe I should have tried, but…"

"You could not have done anything," Goliath hurried to reassure his mate.

"No one would have believed you, Lass," Hudson said, sounding tired. "Demona was our second in command. None of us would have believed her capable of such deviousness."

"I know," Elisa said. "But maybe…"

Goliath squeezed her shoulders.

Elisa took the hint and stopped talking in "What ifs" and "maybes".

"So Demona believed you," Angela reminded her.

"Yes," Elisa said. "She found the book with the original spell in it. She cast it, and suddenly I was back."

"So why release her?" Brooklyn asked. "Just because she helped a human in the past doesn't mean she's not dangerous now."

"No," Elisa agreed. "But she was already on the path that brought her here. She already hated humans, I could see that, but after I explained that there were still humans in the future who knew and cared for Clans of Gargoyles in the world, she decided to help me."

Elisa paused. "I'm not saying that she's not going to cause problems in the future, but I guess it gave me hope. I mean, she is trying to connect all of the clans together to support each other, so maybe…"

Elisa gave Angela a look. "I'm not suggesting that we move her back in with open arms. I don't think she'd accept that, or that it would be a good idea at all… but maybe she's finally finding her way on the right path and trying to make amends for the past."

"Maybe," Angela muttered, looking away.

"We will not let down our guard," Goliath said with a sigh, "But we will not make the first move against her, either."

"That's all I ask," Elisa said. "And, believe me, I never thought I would be defending Demona."

-{- -{- -{- -{- -{-

Across town, Demona paced in her empty library.

Damn humans, ransacking her home, stealing her books and not bothering to return them.

Holding her prisoner for days and then just letting her go as if she were nothing.

She snarled.

She would deal with them in her own time, but for now, she would have to do some thinking.

She had worked too hard, spent too long, trying to organize the clans of the world. If they could band together, they could prove to the humans that they were not creatures to be hunted down.

The time for hiding in the shadows was past. She saw that, even if no one else did.

Yet.

And she was not going to let Goliath, and that lying human take that from her.

Oh, she remembered what the human had said, over a millennium ago. While she hadn't lied, she hadn't told the truth, either.

And she'd actually helped her.

Oh, that thought stuck in her craw. She'd helped a human who knew what was going to happen in the past, and said nothing to stop it.

Then again, she probably would have thought the human mad. Insane. She had put so much faith in the human Captain of the guard to keep them all safe, that by the time she realized how wrong it could go, it was too late.

She had tried to convince Goliath to move the clan, even if just for that one day and night.

But what then? If they'd come back to an empty castle, Goliath would have just invited more humans in, or found another place for them to protect where it would have all begun again.

Demona stormed into her room and started packing. In the morning, she as Dominique would leave Manhattan, and see if she could salvage her work with the other clans.

She would, she vowed.

Even if she had to lead them herself.