6.5: Disturbing Questions

Adam finished his lesson in the clan's unofficial history with another comment on Ursula. "I'm glad she's chosen a mate again; from what I've seen of him, your Hudson will suit her well. So long as he knows when to give in and let her have her way, that is…"

Goliath and Elisa both chuckled, before Elisa prompted, "So if you don't mind me asking… when did you receive that letter you mentioned, and what was in it?"

"The leader gave it to me on my eighteenth birthday," Adam replied, turning to stare at the stone form of his mother. "In it, she wrote about how much she and David had hoped and prayed that I'd come to exist, solid proof of their love and the union between two races… And she apologized for not being there as I hatched and grew, but she loved my father too much to want to live without him."

Goliath slowly nodded. "We had pairings that close back in Scotland, though in all cases back then both mates were gargoyles; when one died, the other often chose to greet his or her last sunrise rather than face another night. The clan tried to prevent that from happening, but weren't always successful… but I have another question. This cottage you mentioned, the one that David and Anastasia lived in and you were evidently conceived in… was that cottage, perchance…?"

Adam turned back to them with another wry smile. "Yes, that's the cottage you've been staying in for the last three nights. Ursula suggested it, and I thought it appropriate."

Goliath gave a warm smile of appreciation… but Elisa went pale as she could get, as she muttered, "Oh, Lord…"

Goliath overheard that, and looked down at her in concern as he asked her what was the matter. She looked up at him, wondering if she dared to say it aloud…

She and Goliath had just spent the last three nights making love, while she was biologically fertile—not compatible with Goliath's biology, but still fertile… in the same cottage that a hybrid gargoyle had been conceived, due to some spell that had been cast while that female had been biologically fertile.

What if that spell was still active inside the cottage, or had been reactivated by the presence of two people from different species having hot raw sex? What if she'd just gotten pregnant?

She had no doubt that Goliath would think that was the best news since waking up in the modern world; she knew his views on children. But Elisa herself was still nowhere near ready for motherhood…

But rather than say anything about her sudden fears, she cast desperately about for another subject, and found one. "Hey, look! Isn't that Hudson up there? We should talk to him, to congratulate him on getting together with Ursula!"

Goliath looked up, shrugged and hallooed upwards at the gargoyle gliding overhead, silhouetted against the clouded-over moon. And in short order, Hudson spiraled down for a gentle landing beside them in the cemetery. The clan elder glanced warily at the stone form topping the raised crypt, but said nothing about it; instead he said to Goliath and Elisa, "T'is good to see ye two out and about again; I trust yer wee 'breeding season' was well enjoyed?"

But instead of the impish, still-young-at-heart grin they would have expected to see accompanying such a question, Hudson mustered barely a polite smile. And his good eye had no roguish twinkle; if anything, he just looked tired and weary. Goliath frowned as he said, "Yes it was, but what has happened to you, old friend? We had heard good news about you and Ursula, but your appearance now leaves me wondering if the news is still good."

"Och, 'tis both good, and not so good," Hudson sighed. "I'd been thinking from the night we arrived, that Ursula would be a good companion to have for me remaining years. And I as much as admitted to it, and agreed to a mating ceremony, last night when the two of us were in the library with Benedict. But in truth, we hadn't much talked about mating afore that… and we hadn't discussed where we'd be perching together."

"Oh, ouch," Elisa said with a wince. "Let me guess; you brought it up tonight, and found out she really wants to stay here?"

"Aye, she does," Hudson sighed.

"Well, of course she does!" Adam said, apparently slightly indignant that anyone could think otherwise. "This is where she was hatched, and where she's raised three generations of hatchlings; this land is in her blood and bones!"

Goliath sighed and closed his eyes. "This is indeed a problem."

"It doesn't have to be," Adam said gently. "You've seen for yourselves, we have room enough for any or all of you…

Elisa knew exactly what he meant. Adam was once more extending the invitation for any or all of the Manhattan Clan to come live down in New Orleans permanently.

Matt's words echoed in her head, words he'd spoken grimly on the night they'd met the first envoys from the New Orleans Clan; the night they'd decided the best thing to do would be to get the gargoyles out of town as quickly as possible. "You know Goliath won't leave town without you, and the clan won't leave without him leading the way." She knew equally well that when she went back to New York, Goliath would return with her… and the clan-loyalty the others felt would have them going back too, no matter how comfortable they'd become down here.

But if she didn't go back…

If she didn't go back, then they'd all stay here, where there were no murdering Quarrymen out to kill them. No Tony Dracon, with his army of goons all too willing to get the gargoyles first if they could. No alarmed and suspicious populace that was not only aware of their existence, but more than halfway convinced that they were demons made flesh, and willing to pick up weapons against them. Here, the clan was relatively safe…

She was a New Yorker, dammit! Born and bred! She'd spent damn near all her life in Manhattan, made most of her friends there, fought her way up through the ranks of the NYPD, made a name for herself… No one had any right to ask her to give all that up and go live somewhere far away to start all over again!

But then, wasn't that what she'd been subconsciously expecting Ursula to do, up until a few seconds ago?

Her thoughts were interrupted by Goliath rumbling, "Your offer is most generous… but our reasons for reluctantly refusing still stand. We must return to Manhattan, and battle for acceptance from the populace that now knows of our existence. Now that we are 'in the spotlight', we cannot flee back into the shadows forever… not until the battle for acceptance is won. Otherwise, the next clan that is discovered and unwillingly cast into the spotlight may indeed find itself destroyed, by human fear and ignorance."

Oh yeah, Elisa had forgotten that argument. (Whew!) She said, "The Big Guy's right; as much fun as we've been having down here, we have to go back. If we don't show everyone that gargoyles are people too, the next clan that gets discovered could be in even bigger trouble; Xanatos can't bail out every clan that gets in hot water. And besides, I know just how persistent Travis Marshall and some of those other reporters hot on 'the gargoyle story' can be; sooner or later someone will figure out that the holograms Xanatos is randomly projecting now aren't the real thing, and start wondering where they've gone to. If they decide to start checking the flight plans of every Xanatos-owned aircraft that left New York on the night of the last confirmed gargoyle sighting… the longer we stay down here, the more danger that we could be putting your clan at risk."

Now Goliath, Hudson and Adam were all looking alarmed. "No danger can come to the hatchlings!" Adam said forcefully, his wings flaring reflexively.

"I hadn't thought of that… we must return immediately!" Goliath rumbled, and Hudson nodded fervently.

"Hey, whoa, no panicking!" Elisa said hastily as she held up her hands to forestall them. "Fox told me that last time she'd spoken to her husband, the holograms were doing the job just fine, and it would likely take more than a couple malfunctions and sudden distortions or disappearances before the press really took notice; there are still plenty of stories going around of gargoyles as big as King Kong and walking through walls for them to sift through. I'm just saying we shouldn't stay down here for more than another few weeks; another month, tops. If nothing else, the P.I.T. will be wondering why the gargoyles aren't attending their meetings anymore… and they're allies we can't afford to lose."

Everyone considered her words, and slowly relaxed again. "We'll stay a bit longer, then… another fortnight, perhaps," Goliath rumbled. "But after that, we must return… All of us. Only Brooklyn may stay here if he has not chosen a female to court yet, and once he has become mated, he must return immediately. Between that first video made by the Hunters, the encounter with the Quarrymen at Manhattan Medical and the meetings of the P.I.T., I believe all of the clan has been caught on film or introduced to the public at least once."

"And just how were you planning to explain away the sudden appearance of gargoyles who haven't been seen in public before?" Adam asked with a raised brow ridge.

Elisa snorted. "Actually, that's the easy part."

Goliath nodded. "Elisa came up with the idea, and I believe she is right in that it will work easily. Since few human females are warriors in their own right, we will simply tell those who ask that Rebecca and whoever Brooklyn chooses for a mate, and Ursula if she comes, were kept hidden in order to, ah, 'protect the gentler sex' until it was thought they'd be safe."

Elisa added, "And the reason Angela was already seen is because she didn't listen to her mate and stay in the shadows like a good girl… Male chauvinism is still alive and well, believe me; at least 80 of the people who hear that line of bull will believe it without a second thought."

Adam gave a wry smile. "The sad thing is, you're probably right... But still, if Ursula doesn't wish to leave our home here, you'll likely never change her mind. And don't ask me to try to persuade her, either; I trust you understand why."

Goliath nodded, then rumbled, "But I trust you won't object if I speak with her? She'll be needed up in New York, and not just as Hudson's mate; our clan will need a rookery keeper. Of all the gargoyles in our little clan, only Lexington actually has any rookery-minding experience, and he left his rookery training behind to become a warrior nearly a decade before our thousand-year sleep. It should be easy enough to mind eggs, but we will need someone like Ursula with full rookery training, to raise the hatchlings."

Adam frowned heavily as he gave them a challenging stare. "So you still intend to not only live up there, but breed up there, and raise hatchlings in a known hostile environment."

Goliath matched him stare for stare. "It's hoped that by the time the eggs hatch, the environment will no longer be so hostile."

"And hopes can be cracked as easily as eggshells!" Adam's eyes began to glow.

Elisa saw that faint glow and knew without looking that Goliath's were also beginning to glow. "Hey, calm down, everybody!" An idea struck her, and she added, "Have you forgotten the cuteness factor?"

The clan leaders broke off their staring match to look at her in surprise. "The… cuteness factor?" Goliath echoed slowly, as if not sure he'd heard her right.

"Yeah, the cuteness factor! Even if the city's still leery of gargoyles by the time the eggs hatch, trust me, they won't be afterwards!" Elisa said enthusiastically, liking the idea more and more every second. "I've seen the hatchlings in your rookery and the ones in Ishimura, and I'm telling you, gargoyle kids can be as cute as human kids! I'm willing to bet they'll be even cuter when they're little toddlers, taking their first steps… We release a few home videos of infant gargoyles playing with their toe-talons and sucking their thumbs, and I guarantee that nearly all of New York will go, 'Awwww, how cuuuute!' and kick the Quarrymen out of town for wanting to hurt such cute little critters. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the mayor asks about putting one on posters as a city mascot!"

"…Mascot?" all three male gargoyles echoed in varying tones of disbelief.

"Hey, it could happen!"

But privately, Elisa sure hoped she was right about that cuteness factor… It had worked for the harp seals just fine; the practice of killing the infants for their white fur had just about died out after some people took photographs of seal pups before they were clubbed to death and showed them to the general public. People had actually gone up to the frozen north and risked their lives to stop the annual slaughters, and the U.S. federal government had finally passed some law making it illegal to import seal fur; without their primary market in the fashion industry, the hunts dried up and all but stopped dead. And all because those little guys looked so darn cute lying there in the snow, turning their innocent wide eyes up towards the camera… But would the same "cuteness factor" work for baby gargoyles, and by extension the entire gargoyle race?

Just one more thing for her to worry about, in addition to the worries over whether or not she was pregnant now. She wondered how soon she could get her hands on a pregnancy testing kit, and how far along one had to be before the little stick changed colors or whatever…

To be continued…