I'll Cover You

Aindreas and Jophiel were beset with a hundred questions all at once from their rookery siblings.

"When did this happen?" asked Muriel.

"How long has this been going on?" asked Veronica.

"Were you /ever/ going to tell us?" asked Raziel.

"You haven't done anything but kiss, right?" asked Azrael.

"Are you the ones that have been dog-earing the /Karma Sutra/?" asked Raphaela

"Jophiel! How could you do this to Angela?" asked Camaela.

"Aindreas, how could you do this to Finella?" demanded Tuwahel.

"What are you talking about?" asked Finella. "I thought he was courting Hypatia."

"No way!" said Hypatia. "Everyone knows Noah and me are...."

"That's what you think!" Leliela cut her off.

"You aren't really leaving Avalon, are you?" asked Donal.

"How come you didn't tell anyone?" asked Sanvi. "Katherine wouldn't be this mad if you just told her."

"She'd still be mad." pointed out Willeam. "It's still wrong for her to make them go away."

"Yes, but she's still our Guardian." added Eistir "What she says goes."

"We're not hatchlings anymore!" said Ophelia "Gabriel, you're the leader. What do you think?"

"I think...I think I need a drink." He walked out, followed by Ophelia, just as Angela walked in.

"Angela!" Camaela ran up and hugged her. "I am so, so sorry! This must be terrible for you!"

"Camaela," Angela sighed. "Is this about Jophiel? I told you, nothing is going on between us. He's just like a brother to me."

"Did you know, Angela?" asked Xenia.

"Were you keeping a secret?" asked Ariel.

"Hey, everyone!" Uriel entered through a window. "I'm un-grounded! Who wants to go to the beach with me?"

"Enough questions!" said Angela, ignoring Uriel. "All of you need to leave Jophiel and Aindres be. They're in enough trouble with Katherine without having to worry about you."

"Ah, so you two are who Katherine's mad at!" Uriel approached them. "Whaja do? Break something? Anyone dead?"

"Uriel," Angela sighed. "We haven't time for one of your jokes!"

"I just wanna know what's going on!" said Uriel. "Don't wanna be outta the loop."

"Katherine just found out Jophiel's been cheating on Angela...." Camaela started.

"He is NOT cheating on me!" Angela's eyes flashed red in annoyance.

"Simply put," said Raphaela. "Katherine found Aindreas and Jophiel kissing."

"And now she wants to banish them from Avalon!" said Sandalphonia. "That- that just isn't right!"

"Is it right for two males to kiss?" Israfel seemed a bit disgusted with the idea.

Uriel started laughing. "Oh, very funny guys!" Uriel clapped his hands. "Yeah, great performance! I know what this is about. You're all still mad at me for spiking the punch and all those other pranks I've pulled over the years, and now you've all decided to put one over on me! Even got the Guardians in on it. Well, don't kid a kidder!"

"This isn't a joke, Uriel." Angela said sternly. "Katherine is seriously thinking of making Aindreas and Jophiel go away. Forever."

"Aw, c'mon!" Uriel waved his hand dismissively. "Katherine loves us all too much to banish one of us! Even I know that. And, really, two males kissing?" Uriel laughed. "You really expect me to believe Aindreas and Jophiel would kiss?"

"Believe this!" yelled Jophiel. He grabbed Aindreas and kissed him passionately. Aindreas made a token resistance, but then gave over to Jophiel's lips and tongue. Most of the males immediately covered their eyes. Some of the females gasped wide-eyed at the side. Some of them turned pink and excused themselves. The bottom of Uriel's beak nearly unhinged and hit the floor.

"Uh-you-uh...you're not playing a joke, are you?" asked Uriel. "I mean, this is um, this is getting just a bit...um...yeah."

"And Katherine isn't kidding." sain Aindreas. He sighed sadly. "If Katherine wants us gone, then I guess we'd better leave."

"No!" said Jophiel. "There's still a chance. Tom and Magus might yet talk Katherine out of this."
********************************
"It is an abomination!" growled Katherine. "I can nae allow this to go on!"

"I don't think this is something you have much control over, Princess." said Magus.

"They should have controlled themselves!" sobbed Katherine. "I don nae understand! We raised them the same way we raised all the others. Why did they do this?"

"Katheine," said Tom. "Aindreas and Jophiel are still the same two lads you loved for the past forty years. All that's different is they love each other. Just as Gabriel and Ophelia do. Remember how worried you were about how Ophelia would turn out?"

"Aye." Katherine nodded. "I was afraid letting her hunt and wrestle with the lads would cause her to have unnatural desires later in life. Now, she's happily married and even looking forward to being a mother. But Aindreas and Jophiel...." She shook her head. "Where did we go wrong?"

"Perhaps nobody did anything wrong." said Magus. "Think reasonably, Princess. Are Aindreas and Jophiel harming anybody with their actions?"

"It- it's wrong!" she said. "God wouldn't condemn it if it wasn't."

"We've been over this, Princess." said Magus. "The Gargoyle Way is not necessarily what humans believe to be right or wrong. Not even where your Bible or God are concerned."

"They need to reproduce!" said Katherine. "They need to choose females to bear eggs for them."

"We never had our own children." Tom pointed out. "You took silphium seeds, declaring that a baby would make caring for the Eggs too difficult."

"Gargoyles have a greater need to reproduce than humans do." Katherine pointed out.

"With sixteen females and seventeen males," said Magus. "Things were uneven to begin with. Gargoyles take one mate for life and they all care for all of the young."

"And are the future young of our Eggs to learn that this is acceptable?" asked Katherine.

"Aside from your Bible and God saying it's so," said Magus. "What's wrong with it? Gargoyles are unlikely to die out just because every once in a great while a couple find they fancy their own gender. No more than humanity will die out because a few humans cloistered themselves and took a vow of chastity."

"It's...it's unnatural!" said Katherine.

Magus hung his head in shame. "I once said the same about all Gargoyle-kind. You believed it once too. We both learned better, didn't we?"

"Katherine, my love." said Tom, taking her hands. "Aindreas and Jophiel are our children. We vowed long ago to love and care for them. I have seen but bare glimpses of the Outside World from the skiff, but enough to know Aindreas and Jophiel could not survive in it. Oh, they're brave lads and they'd try to. Maybe they'd be able to hide themselves in the Outside World. But not for very long. It would be wrong for us to deny them the protection of Avalon. Admit it, Katherine, even knowing what you do, you still love them."

"I...I...." Katherine could not deny her feelings. "I love them. But I can nae approve of what they do!"

"They don't need your approval, Katherine." said Tom. "They need your love. You don't really want to send them away, do you?"

"I...no...but, Tom, this goes against everything I've been taught!"

"You were also taught that princesses didn't marry peasant boys." Tom pointed out. "Especially not boys ten years their junior. Also remember, no clergyman was present when we declared ourselves husband and wife. We simply joined hands and declared ourselves married, swearing to the All Seeing God and to ourselves to love deeply forever and always." Magus looked away uncomfortably.

"We...we have all been forced to rethink what we thought we always knew." said Magus.

Katherine sighed. "I spoke in anger." she admitted. "I would nae have harm befall my Eggs for all the world. It appears I owe Jophiel and Aindreas an apology."
***********************************************

The gargoyles who were still in the library turned their heads when the Guardians returned, Katherine in the lead. She walked up to Aindreas and Jophiel and embraced them both. The two gargoyles returned the hug, hoping this was a good sign. "Lads," she said. "Can you forgive an old women for harsh words spoken too hastily?"

Aindreas smiled. "Katherine, of course we do!" He embraced her.

"Does this mean we can stay?" Jophiel asked hesitantly.

"Aye." Katherine took their hands. "I'm a foolish old woman with foolish old ideas."

"You're not foolish, Katherine." said Aindreas.

"I certainly felt foolish for not seeing the truth." said Katherine. "The truth is, love is love. And I have no right to tell someone who to love." She joined the two hands together. "Love one another in peace." All were speechless in the presence of such an expression of love.

"So!" shouted Uriel, breaking the reverent silence. "I'm still not grounded, right?"


A/N: I actually did a little research to find out what reasons someone would have against homosexuality. In a nutshell, the only reason anyone seems to come up with is "Because God said so!". They even try to give more than one reason, but they're all "BGSS" in different wordings.
Also, in case anyone's wondering, silphium is a now extinct plant (maybe not extinct on Avalon?) that was used in ancient times as an herbal contraceptive.