Elisa-garg's reality. Castle Wyvern. Icy silence.

[random_xtras]

It's been a few days since the incident with the mugger. Icy has returned to her routine of practicing with Hudson, Goliath, and the other fighters, filling the kitchen with goodness, sitting under the furniture to study, and spending time with Lex. The shock's faded from her eyes, and she even smiles again, but she hasn't said a word since she woke up the night after she knocked the man down. It's not a conscious thing, and she's rather mystified at her lack of voice herself.

Right now she's sitting in one of the living room windows, hidden by the curtain as she scratches away busily in a pretty journal that one of her sisters gave to her. Her handwriting is getting better, and the flow of words onto the page is soothing.

Comments

[random_xtras]

She gets a shy smile and wave in reply.

[elisas-clan.livejournal.com]

"We have not had much time to speak before, have we?"

[random_xtras]

She shakes her head and hesitantly points to the couch beside her. Will Desdemona sit?

[elisas-clan.livejournal.com]

Taking a moment to fold her wings, she takes Icy up on the offer. "The others call me Desdemona," she says. "I am comfortable answering to that, I suppose."

[random_xtras]

She takes the scrap paper and writes, "I'm known as Icy."

[elisas-clan.livejournal.com]

She takes her time reading it over, carefully sounding out the words. After all, she's still in the process of learning to read.

"I still find it strange, this need for names."

[random_xtras]

'Me too,' she writes, making her letters more printed and less cursive. 'I often forget them.'

[elisas-clan.livejournal.com]

She nods her agreement. "I am much more used to defining others by the relationship to myself, or their position with the Clan. But if names are what is required, I will bow to that will."

[random_xtras]

Icy nods, tucking her feet up under herself and catching her tail so that she can frazzle the tuft.

[elisas-clan.livejournal.com]

Desdemona tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "It amazes me, the strange journeys all of us have taken to bring us to this place."

[random_xtras]

Icy cocks her head, big eyes going quizzically to the taller woman. 'Aren't you part of the leader's original Clan?'

[elisas-clan.livejournal.com]

"I am, though it was not nearly so easy or simple an affair that brought my love and myself to this time."

[random_xtras]

Icy's brow ridges lift inquiringly. She would like to hear the story.

[elisas-clan.livejournal.com]

"I suppose our story, like the others, begins more than a thousand years ago, in Scotland, when this castle still stood on Wyvern Hill."

She pauses, thinking how to begin. "When I was your age, I was considered one of the more desirable females of my rookery sisters. In particular, there were three males who vied hardest of all for my affections. My mate, whom the others have called Othello, a sniveling coward of a Gargoyle whom became the menace called Coldsteel, and a horned fellow given to wearing pieces of armor picked off his foes."

"My heart always belonged to my beloved. But this enraged our cowardly rookery brother to no end."

[random_xtras]

Icy leans forward slightly, intent on the story. Some of the words she doesn't know yet, but she thinks she's getting the gist of it. Her big eyes are fixed on her larger sister's face.

[elisas-clan.livejournal.com]

"My love is, and always has been, something of the jealous sort, and sometimes quite gullible. Our wicked brother was able to convince him that I had betrayed him with Goliath, fostering hatred in my love's heart. He fought with Goliath. But our brother's deception was discovered, and he was banished from the Clan for one year."

[random_xtras]

There's a frown from her grave small listener. Icy is totally intent.

[elisas-clan.livejournal.com]

"I am sure you have heard from the others how Goliath's mate, our second in command, joined with the captain of the guard to betray the castle to the vikings. My mate, my rookery brothers and sisters, the hatchlings, the watchbeasts, my elders, all were destroyed, smashed to pieces, save for Goliath, our former leader, the trio, and one of the watchbeasts. And Goliath's second, of course."

She shudders. She'd been sleeping them, stone, unable to even know that the end had come.

"But surprisingly, the story does not end there. She who betrayed us collected some of the remains, believing them to be solely that of my mate. When she united with Xanatos, she used those remains, mixing his science with her sorcery, to create the unliving mechanical monster called Coldstone. But because there were different remains used, the souls of three different Gargoyles were trapped in that body. My mate, myself, and our evil brother."

[random_xtras]

The little blue female wrinkles her nose and tries to say something, only to blink with surprise when no sound comes out. Still blinking, she looks around to see where she left her pen.

[elisas-clan.livejournal.com]

"Is there... something wrong?"

[random_xtras]

She finally rescues it from the couch and prints, 'I can't speak. Please forgive me for interrupting, sister.'

[elisas-clan.livejournal.com]

She shakes her head. "Do not worry about it."

She goes on. "As Coldstone, our evil brother nearly slew Goliath and his clan, once on his own, once working with the human called MacBeth and Demona. My love gained control of the body and we fled to the Himalayas, only to be found there twice. First by Goliath, Elisa, and Angela, who we did our best to drive away, for fear of what the evil one might do on Avalon, and later by Xanatos."

She grows quiet, mentally editing some of the next bits of the story, pieces she isn't proud of. "Through science and the intervention of this Clan, the souls of myself and our evil brother were transplanted to new robotic shells, called Coldfire and Coldsteel, while my mate remained in Coldstone."

[random_xtras]

Icy nods, once more engrossed in the tale.

[elisas-clan.livejournal.com]

"Unfortunately, Coldsteel allied himself again with Demona, who at that time had been transformed into a human, due to failed efforts to return Elisa to human form. He managed to capture us, and Demona intended to sacrifice us and the magic which bound our souls to those bodies in order to gain further magical power for herself."

"That effort failed, thanks to the Clan and its friends, both near and far. Demona was forced to face her fears, and used a magical device called the Mirror of Erised to unleath her greatest desire. For peace at long last. It returned her to Gargoyle form and permanently cast her in stone, while bringing my love and myself back to life in living, breathing bodies. Our evil brother was destroyed in the conflict.

"We stayed here for a time, until it became necessary to accompany Arthur Pendragon and Griff in the search for Merlin. When that seemed to prove fruitless, Arthur and Griff left to consult with Griff's clan, and we chose to return here to ours."

[random_xtras]

Icy's mouth moves again. It's soundless, but she's unmistakably said 'wow'.