It took several days for both Pema and Elisa to recover.
Elisa's whole body ached, especially her arms which were sore for days after the strain she had put on herself holding the egg above the water. Goliath always brought her meals and stayed with her for those first few nights, but she soon grew bored of convalescing and she would visit with Pema. She occasionally got disoriented due to her head injury, but she was recovering well. After a few days, they started taking walks together during the day and talked.
Pema decided it was her job to tell Elisa all about gargoyle mating on one of those walks. Elisa listened to her attentively, and was actually grateful to have a knowledgeable woman to talk to about such matters.
One night, she went to check on Pema, but Tenzin was there with her.
"My love, it's been a week. I'm fine," she heard Pema say as she approached her room
"Pema...you're still recovering," Tenzin replied.
"I miss you," Pema said plaintively.
The door was slightly ajar and she saw as Pema caressed Tenzin's head, her fingers trailing through his feathers.
"Oh, my love. I can never refuse you," Tenzin growled in response, and he kissed her.
Elisa slowly backpedaled down the hall so she wasn't noticed...and backed right into Goliath.
"Oh!" she said startled.
"I just came to look for–"
"Shh!" Elisa hissed and urged him to back up.
"Wha–?" Goliath said in protest.
"Pema and Tenzin," Elisa said quietly and shooed him away with her hands.
"Oh," Goliath replied, his brows raised, and he quickly followed her.
"Good for them," he said wryly as they walked towards the dining hall together.
"Pema has been talking nonstop about Tenzin the last few days; they desperately needed some time alone together," Elisa replied.
"I know the feeling," Goliath said quietly.
Elisa grew acutely aware of Goliath walking next to her. His hand brushed against hers, his fingers lightly caressed her own.
She didn't pull away.
Instead, she slipped her hand into his and kept walking.
He glanced surreptitiously at her and entwined his fingers through hers.
It was a start.
...
...
The next day, Elisa found Pema sewing.
"What are you working on?" she asked as she admired the beautiful silk cloth.
"A gift," she said smiling. "For the woman who saved me and our children."
"For me?" Elisa said surprised.
Pema nodded.
"It's the least we can do," she said. "Since you're here, let me take some measurements."
Elisa protested briefly, but Pema told her if she didn't do it willingly, she'd sneak into her room during the day and measure her in her sleep.
Elisa laughed at the thought and shrugged out of her jacket, Pema's blood had been painstakingly washed out of it by someone, though she wasn't sure who.
Pema took her measurements and then resumed her hand sewing as they talked. Elisa told her about her family, about how much she missed them, and Pema spoke of her parents and siblings who had been dead for many years, but she still missed them very much.
...
...
A few nights later, they decided it was time to leave. Goliath had finished relaying his clan's history to Tenzin and repairs to the rookery and monastery were well underway. There was nothing else to keep them there.
Angela was champing at the bit to leave. She was bored of Shambahla, and Elisa suspected something had happened that she didn't want to talk about.
When they announced their intention to depart. Tenzin and Pema insisted they throw a celebration in their honor.
The next day, Pema presented Elisa with the dress she had been sewing over the days she had laid in bed resting.
"Pema...it's beautiful!" Elisa said holding it up in front of her.
Pema helped show her how to tie it properly, and then fixed her hair up with a decorative comb she loaned her.
"There…if you don't turn Goliath's head, I will eat my own shoe!" Pema declared, and Elisa laughed brightly.
...
...
Elisa had tried to help with preparations but she was shooed away by everyone, so she found herself standing next to the river and watched it rush past instead. It was hard to believe they had spent nearly two weeks there.
She had grown very fond of the place, and especially fond of Pema and Tenzin. It was going to be really hard to leave them tomorrow.
"It's a beautiful view," Goliath said behind her, startling her.
Elisa turned and found him standing a few yards away. She looked back over the water, the full bright moon cast light upon everything around them, reflecting off the river, and illuminating the snow on the mountains around them. It was quiet and tranquil.
"Yes, it is," she said wistfully.
But when she turned back, Goliath's eyes were on her and not the picturesque scene around them. He gazed at her with a look on his face that she was becoming all too familiar with.
Goliath was stunned by her momentarily as she stood there at the water's edge, dressed in a beautiful silk dress, and bathed in the moonlight. Her hair was pinned up revealing her long graceful neck. The dress accentuated the soft feminine swell of her breasts and hips. Features she didn't draw attention to very often as she preferred to dress casually, which was fine considering she often needed to be dressed for function and not fashion. She worked hard, and it suited her, but seeing her like this...she was a sight to behold, and she took his breath away.
She didn't have wings.
She didn't have a tail.
But she was stunningly beautiful.
His heart pounded in his chest. He ached to take her in his arms, to tell her how he felt, to run his hands freely through her hair.
To freely touch her.
Taste her.
Make love to her.
He briefly imagined what it would be like to undress her. To untie the fastenings of her dress and pull the silk away from her body.
She smiled at him as if she could read his thoughts, and her smile lit up her face, and he felt his heart crack open at the sight of her smiling at him like that.
Jalapeña...
He approached her slowly and stood next to her.
"It's so peaceful here," she said softly.
"Yes. It's almost like a paradise. Hardly any strife or conflict," Goliath mused.
"It's almost too calm. We haven't fought a single monster, mad scientist, fairy, or member of The Pack the entire time we've been here!" Elisa joked. "I keep looking for things to jump out of the shadows...something! Anything! It can't be this tranquil, can it?"
Goliath chuckled softly.
"Perhaps we were merely sent here so we could give valuable information to the Shambahla clan, and so that you were here to save Pema and the eggs."
"Maybe," Elisa replied and shrugged. "I miss home, though. It's lovely here, and New York is often loud and dirty and violent...but it's home."
"We'll get home soon. I know we will."
A breeze picked up and blew a few loose strands of hair out of Elisa's carefully pinned up hair. Goliath reached out to tuck them behind her ear. His talons lightly brushed her cheek as he did.
She looked up at him, her eyes soft and reflecting the moonlight, and the casual brush of her cheek turned into a more deliberate one.
"You look beautiful tonight, Elisa," he said softly.
Her cheeks darkened slightly, and her eyes glanced away. She didn't take compliments well.
"That's kind of you to say," she said timidly. "Compared to Tsering and some of the other females here, I look pretty average at best."
"No...not at all. Not to me," Goliath said firmly.
Elisa's cheeks darkened even further, and she looked back at him. They stared intensely at each other for a heartbeat before Elisa spoke.
"We should probably join the others. They'll be waiting on us," she said.
Goliath nodded, and she decided then to find the courage Pema had told her to.
"Will you meet me here...after dinner? We can go for a walk around the lake...and talk," she said as she put her hand on his arm.
A smile tugged at the corners of Goliath's mouth that he fought to contain.
"Yes. Of course," he said eagerly.
Elisa smiled at him and turned to walk up the path, as she did, she let her fingers run down his forearm and caught his hand for a brief moment, their fingertips brushed along each other before they broke away. Goliath couldn't help the smile that spread across his face, his heart felt lighter than ever before, and he followed her up the path and inside.
It was loud inside the dining hall with everyone gathered together. Hatchlings ran about while adults talked.
Elisa stepped into the hall and was greeted by cheers and clapping. She blushed furiously as Goliath put his hand on her shoulder.
"I think I can speak for everyone when I say that without you, we would have lost an entire generation. I speak with gratitude for our children...and for my mate," Tenzin said loudly.
Elisa blushed furiously.
"You should be proud of yourself, Elisa," Goliath whispered to her. "I know I am."
"I am only grateful I could be here to help," Elisa said graciously in reply to Tenzin's words.
"Tonight we honor you, let us eat and drink. We have much to celebrate."
After the meal a few of the more musically inclined gargoyles picked up instruments, flutes and drums and began to play.
Goliath danced with her, trying to follow the steps of the dance the Shambahla clan were doing, and more often than not they tripped over themselves and each other, but laughed merrily as they did.
It was fun. They had danced before last Halloween, and it surprised Elisa how light he was on his feet.
They never really did anything fun together. They were more often in constant peril, and this was a much needed reprieve.
She liked to hear him laugh. She liked it even more when she was the cause. When she put that smile on his face.
She wished they were alone. She wanted to kiss him. She wanted to feel him take her in his arms, feel his hands on her body, his mouth on her skin. She flushed at the thought and tripped, stumbling.
But he caught her, the way he always did.
"Are you alright?" Goliath asked her.
She nodded.
"I need some air," Elisa said. It was rather stifling inside, but she wondered if that was just her who was hot and bothered.
"Would you like to go for that walk?" he asked her, trying to hide the eagerness in his voice.
Her heart raced.
It was time.
She needed to tell him.
"Meet me outside. I just need a moment to freshen up," she explained.
"Of course," Goliath said graciously, assuming she needed to use the facilities, but she really wanted to take a minute to brush her teeth and freshen up.
She wasn't sure how things would go tonight, but...she had hopes, and her heart pounded and her stomach filled with anxious butterflies at the thought.
As she left, she cast a glance his way and smiled.
Goliath left the opposite way towards the river. He stood outside, waiting with anticipation, thinking of Elisa.
He would tell her tonight.
He had to.
He couldn't keep it in any longer.
He had tried to tell her everything that was in his heart before, but she hadn't been ready to hear it then, but he felt she was ready to hear it this time.
He looked up at the moon and felt lighter than he had in years. He hadn't felt this hopeful since before the massacre.
"It's a beautiful night," a feminine voice said from behind him, but it was not Elisa's.
He turned and saw Tsering walking towards him.
"Yes, it is," he said somewhat cautiously.
"I am sad that you will be leaving us tomorrow."
"I am as well," Goliath admitted. "It has been a joy to get to know you and your clan, but it is time for us to return to our quest. To return home."
Tsering stepped uncomfortably close, invading his personal space.
"Is there…anything I could say to convince you to stay?" she said, lowering her voice, and then she slipped her tail around his.
"Or do?" she added as she ran her hands up his chest and up behind his neck and in his hair.
Goliath was so shocked by her forwardness that he didn't react for a moment, and then one of her hands lightly dragged down his neck and back and towards his wing, and he snatched her hand before she could.
"Tsering...you take liberties that you should not," he scolded her as he extracted his tail from hers.
Tsering looked like he had slapped her instead of gently rebuked her, and her pale face flushed with embarrassment.
"My heart belongs to another," he explained gently.
"But...you are not mated. You told me...who?" she looked confused and then shocked as it dawned on her. "It's Elisa. You're in love with Elisa, aren't you?"
Goliath hesitated, wary of revealing something so private, but he nodded.
"What is it about human women?" she huffed.
"Elisa has been by my side through unparalleled dangers. She's the bravest, most loyal being I have ever known, and she has more than earned my love," Goliath said, his tone chastising as he admitted aloud what had been in his heart for a long time.
"I'm sorry. I'm so embarrassed," Tsering said covering her face with her hands.
"Don't be, Tsering. I should have been more forthcoming to avoid something like this, but she and I are...it's complicated."
Tsering sighed.
"Love often is," she agreed as she stepped back, and then she sighed heavily as though she were releasing a great weight with that breath. "Honestly, it's a bit of a relief."
"Oh?" Goliath said curiously.
"Don't get me wrong, you are very attractive, but my heart was not in it," she explained.
"Then why pursue me?" Goliath asked, perplexed.
"It's...complicated," Tsering said with an ironic laugh. "To my clan I am implicitly off-limits because of events in my past, because of choices I made. No one will have me, and the only one I want, the only one I love, I cannot have. I wanted to see if I could love another...if I could possibly find peace and move on with someone else, but...I'm in love with Rinchen. I always have, and I think I always will."
"Rinchen? He's one of the monks...oh, I see…" Goliath said understanding, remembering what Tenzin had told him about the monks. She was in love with someone who had vowed to spend his life in dedication to studying and protecting the knowledge their clan had spent hundreds of years gathering. Vowing to never take a mate to distract him from his work.
"We have loved each other since…as long as I can remember, but he had been selected to become a monk from the day we all hatched, and we cannot be together the way we desired."
"I am sorry, Tsering. That must be very painful."
She sighed and looked out over the river.
"I can't do anything about it. I cannot change my feelings for Rinchen, and I cannot change the ways of my clan. I am stuck. Unable to forget the past and unable to move forward. I am sorry for putting you in such an awkward position, Goliath. I think I have become a bit desperate to find some way to get over Rinchen," she sighed and then looked pointedly at him. "You have none of the obstacles I face. If you love Elisa the way you claim to, and if she loves you, too, you should not waste time."
"I was actually intending to tell her tonight," Goliath confessed.
Tsering nodded.
"Good, then I shall leave you be."
She started to walk away, and then she recalled that Goliath was leaving tomorrow and remembered the implications of that, and she turned back around to warn him.
"Goliath–" she began.
"Yes?"
Tsering paused, having second thoughts. They should have this moment, this chance, even if it was fleeting. Even if they never had another chance. Especially if they never had another chance.
"Nevermind. I wish you both immense happiness," she said, and then she retreated into the night.
As Tsering walked away, he began to wonder where Elisa was. She had not returned yet, and he began to worry that she had taken ill. He waited a few more minutes, and then he went in search of her.