Angela, Ophelia, and Linnet were very much enjoying a peaceful moment in the common room under the north tower, where they were conversing happily with the Beloved Mother and her interpreter. The two guards of the mountain clan were teaching Little Brother and Sister a new training game in the courtyard as their uncles watched with amusement. Adelpha crouched inconspicuously in the far corner with a book, and though she stared silently at the words before her, Angela noted that she never turned a page and her ears remained perked at the sound of the voices of Beloved Mother and the younger sisters.
Beloved Mother had many fascinating stories to tell as they watched the hatchlings playing rambunctiously with their new friends through the open window. The three sisters were enthralled by the tales of her childhood, and her befriending of a human boy, who she called Great John. She recalled her youthful adventures with her childhood playmate so vividly and fondly that it was hard not to smile at them, even if parts required retelling by her interpreter. As she spent time with them, Beloved Mother was becoming more confident with attempting to speak to them in their own language from time to time.
"Oh, our dear Great John!" she exclaimed with a tear in her eye, "A good man! A very good man! He was… like a bear..a brave protector of our people!"
"Great John, was a very dear and loyal friend to our clan," the interpreter explained, "And especially to our Beloved Mother. There is a word in our language that is not easily translated. It means "a bond of the spirit". Do you understand it?"
The three sisters glanced at each other questioningly, and the interpreter noted their lack of understanding.
"It is a rare bond that occurs from time to time between one of our kind and one of theirs. It is not like the typical relationships a gargoyle forms with their rookery brethren, their elders, or even their mate. It's a very special bond of…of…"
"Friendship?" Angela suggested.
"Yes," the interpreter agreed, "But much more than that. It's a friendship that inspires oaths of loyalty and tremendous acts of faith…and forgiveness. Such Spirit Bonds form the covenants between our peoples that last for generations."
"A Spirit Bond," Ophelia repeated almost reverently, "Have you ever heard of such a thing, Sisters?"
"Not by such a name," Linnet replied with a sly smile, "But our dear Prince Luach is certainly well-attached to our former leader. A wee bit more so than she desires, say I!"
They all chuckled a bit at Luach's strangely misplaced infatuation with Adelpha, but then Linnet grew serious and added, "But I suppose a Spirit Bond is meant to be a mutual thing? Have you ever heard of such a friendship, Angela?"
Angela seemed to contemplate this idea for a moment as she gazed out the window. The gathering outside had been joined by Goliath and Elisa, who had just finished her shift. The game had been interrupted by their arrival, as the little ones were compelled to leap into their rookery parents' arms and greet them affectionately. But now the hatchlings were attempting to coax the two elders into joining them in the fun.
Angela smiled.
"Of course I have!" she replied confidently.
The interpreter went on to explain, somewhat sadly, how Great John's clan and the mountain clan had coexisted like brethren for generations. Even after the rest of the human tribe had been killed and driven away by their enemies, Great John's clan had remained and the gargoyles had protected them. In the end, according to the interpreter, it was not warfare that had scattered the last of their human brethren, but avarice. Men who sought the wealth within the mountain came, wishing to possess the land and mine it, and nearly all of the human families agreed to sell in exchange for money and the hope for a better life for their children.
Sadly, the interpreter explained how, one by one, the families left for the human world, all except Great John and his family. But the clan continued to protect his children and their children and regard them as brethren, though it was harder now that the land was owned by the mining company and operations had brought many strangers to their valley, hoping for wealth and a new life.
Great John, sensing the end of their way of life, and in an effort to protect his dear gargoyle friends, chose to confide in only one of his sons the secret location of the gargoyle clan. That son told only his wife and their child. So the mountain clan became the subject of local mythology to the few remaining family members as well as the new strangers brought in by the mining company. The community continued to spread the folklore of the clan of mysterious creatures that protected them, with varying levels of genuinity, but only the Son of Great John truly knew them.
Time eventually claimed the life of Great John, and then his son passed away, still a young man, seemingly from the poison that the mining operations had left in his lungs. Great John's son left a wife and young boy, but the woman sought a life among the human strangers after her husband's death. It pained the clan terribly to lose them, but how could they hinder them from seeking their own kind? The women remarried a wealthy and ambitious man who would become one of the owners of the mine.
With great fondness, the interpreter explained how the young boy, who was also called "John", grew up among the strangers, learning their ways. As he grew into a man, he began to work for his stepfather in the mines, and it was there he directly encountered the gargoyles. They had become a faded childhood memory, which he had always thought of as a dream, inspired by his grandfather's great storytelling. But they were real. They had always watched over him. And now, they needed his help.
Proudly, the Beloved Mother told of how Young John had fought for their clan, against the relentless approach of the mining company, which was always digging closer and closer to their sanctuary. Together, they had stopped the mining operations, and the company had closed. The loss of the gold drove away the avaricious outsiders, and the remaining locals scattered into tiny towns throughout the remote mountain valley. The small but steadfast gargoyle clan watched over their protectorate in peace. But best of all, Great John's grandson had returned to the clan, leaving most of the human world behind so that he could protect his gargoyle friends, and taking the name 'Pagosa', to hide himself from the outsiders who searched for him. He continued to fight for them to this day, seeking ways to reclaim the rights to the land so that they might always live in safety and peace.
As the interpreter spoke, Goliath, Elisa and the rest of the clan entered the common room, quietly listening to the end of the story.
"Do you think we could ever know such peace with the humans here in our protectorate?" Ophelia wondered out loud.
"I certainly hope not!" her mate replied with a snort, "It sounds deadly dull!"
"The humans of this city can't even live in peace among themselves," Linnet pointed out pragmatically, "How could we ever expect them to live peacefully with us?"
The clan fell silent for a moment, contemplating this gloomy reality, but then Goliath spoke.
"It is true that our protectorate is not a peaceful one. But this is why our service is so greatly needed here in the place where fate has brought us. And though we may never be one people with the humans we serve and protect, this does not distress me, nor should it deter our mission to defend the innocent. Their ways are not our ways. They never were, and perhaps they were never meant to be."
At this moment, Goliath extended his arm around Elisa, drawing her close, and he continued.
"But despite our differences, we are truly blessed with good and loyal human friends, who share in our mission and are clan to us. For these 'kindred spirits', I am forever grateful. We are not alone, even in this hostile city, and perhaps in a way, the tempest that surrounds us makes these bonds deeper and stronger."
"Aye! That it does," Thorn agreed emphatically from the corner, surprising everyone as he rarely spoke on matters of the heart. But the others found themselves nodding and speaking out in agreement as well. Only Adelpha remained silent, her eyes blank as she crouched at Thorn's feet, seemingly lost in her own thoughts. Goliath smiled proudly at them.
"Very wise, Goliath, my Brother," the Beloved Mother commented soulfully.
"Yes!" her interpreter agreed, "The elders said, 'A clan survives by strength and unity, but thrives on wisdom and justice.'"
"I guess we're doing pretty good then," Elisa commented with a smile, "Between us, we've got a little of all of those things!"
"May it always be so!" Angela added as she gathered the hatchlings into her arms.
And as the clan sat together, pleasantly pondering the strength that came from friendship and unity, in crashed the trio, each shouting the other two down and arguing at the sort of frenzied pitch that threatened a brawl.
"Broadway calm down!" Angela chastised her mate, whose blue face had gone a slightly purple color with rage, "What happened?"
"I don't know," he retorted, pointing at Lexington, "Ask this doofus!"
"Well, Doofus?" Blase asked sarcastically, "How goes your patrol?"
Lexington opened his mouth to speak, clearly indignant at the unnecessary name-calling, but before he could get a word out, Brooklyn exploded.
"We went looking for an object that Sorrow lost in the harbor," he explained angrily, "But we were ambushed by a clan that apparently Lexington knew of, but never felt the need to tell us about."
"Ambushed?" Goliath exclaimed, "What do you mean?"
"Captured and held prisoner, while their leader spoke with Lexington," Brooklyn replied resentfully, "But why, I have no idea, because my dear little brother doesn't feel like sharing."
"I told you, I can't!" Lexington protested, "It wasn't like I didn't want to tell you. It was for the clan's protection."
"Of course," Brooklyn replied, rolling his eyes, "We're surrounded by strange gargoyles who hate us, but why bother our fragile psyches with information like that? Let us exist in blissful ignorance. What could possibly go wrong with that plan?"
Apprehensively, Adelpha rose from the corner, approaching Lexington.
"It was him, wasn't it?" she asked under her breath, "Cato?"
Lexington didn't respond but gave her a knowing look that confirmed her suspicion. Adelpha gave Goliath a worried look. Meanwhile, Brooklyn's mouth fell open.
"What the hell?!" he exclaimed in an outraged fury, "She knows? I'm your second-in-command and you don't see fit to tell me, but you will tell her? The one who isn't allowed access to the curtain walls, lest she catch sight of anything new happening in the city and try to exploit it? The one from whom we've spent the last decade hiding everything from international warfare to changes in the bus schedule, lest try to use such information to destroy the world? The one who can't have unsupervised access to candles, kitchen appliances, or Google, lest she manage to devise a plan to kill us all? SHE needs to know about the mysterious clan of gargoyles, but I don't?"
Brooklyn's tirade seemed to hang, suspended over them, in a moment of horrifying silence. Adelpha's frozen expression gradually gained life and morphed from anxiety, to confusion, to rage, to agony, before resting at last on inscrutable blankness. Wordlessly, she turned and left the room, closing the open door to the courtyard behind her. Then, the entire clan erupted into a cacophony of confusion and arguing.