Carta de la Autora: GARGOYLES and everything else associated with them belong to Disney and Buena Vista. They do not belong to Clan LeFemme and most definitely not Byrdie. The character "Byrdie Fae" belongs respectively to the author and is not to be used without her permission, nor is she to use anyone else's without consent.

This is another installment to the Clan LeFemme series. Feedback is always appreciated as it is welcomed, but please be constructive. Enjoy! :-)

Description: Byrdie Fae stops to review a few aspects of life and to get on the right track.

It was a dark night. Quiet, too. The whistles of the crickets and the lights of the fireflies gave the air a certain accent. Giving the atmosphere a sense of peace and security.

"Oh, come on! There has to he at least *one* human around here!"

Byrdie had been flying for what seemed to be forever. Traveling for days and nights, she had been over mountains, rivers, and anything else that she could think of. Her power was being drained at a fast rate that was hard to control.

Too tired to keep her flying pace up anymore, Byrdie landed in a strip of trees beside a road covered in tar. There in the safe bushes, she plopped down beside the trunk of a tree, wrapping herself in her cape and placing her hood over her head.

Looking up into the night sky, Byrdie let out a sigh of frustration. At the moment, she had left herself dazed, confused, and utterly lost.

She was missing the Gathering. She was not on the Isle with her brothers and sisters, where the sunlight was soft and not harsh like the sun's rays out the outside world. But neither Lord Oberon of Lady Titania had sent for her, which puzzled Byrdie.

"Have I... been banished from Avalon...?" she asked the moon, not expecting an answer.

And, of course, she did not receive one. The moon just stared back down at the Fae down on the earth. She was an insignificant speck on the planet which the mysterious moon protected.

Just then, a sinking feeling of despair loomed over the Fae's mind. What if she *had* been banished? Never to see her brothers, sisters, or the magic Isle again? What would her life as a Faerie amount to then?

Shaking her head quickly, Byrdie forced the idea out of her mind. She couldn't have possibly been exiled. It wouldn't make any sense for her to have been thrown out of her own home and had not been told! She was just being silly. But she couldn't help but wonder...

Curling into a ball, Byrdie sank into her cape. She had other things to be worrying about at the moment. Like finding whomever or whatever she was looking for.

In the beginning, Byrdie had had the distinct feeling to go northward bound, but now, she was not so sure. From what she could tell, these feelings of familiarity were coming from all directions, but the strongest was reaching her from the north.

She then had an idea. Closing her eyes, Byrdie slipped into the Astral Plane.

Feeling her spirit leave her physical body, she searched through the stars for an answer. Seeing a star cloud, the Fae's spirit flew up to it, clutching her dragon pendant in her hands.

She knelt before the cluster of stars, holding the pendant over her head in the manner of offering. "Please, O Sacred Guardians of the Astral Plane. Please give me the answer as to where I am going.... The answer as to whom I am seeking..."

Disappointment washed over Byrdie's face when she saw the stars dim instead of brighten as they would if they had good news.

"We, the Guardians of the Astral Plane, know of your troubles, Little Fae.... But this is a matter in which even we must keep these answers amongst ourselves. You are to seek them out yourself..."

Sighing, Byrdie put her dragon pendant away and she stood back up. "I thank you, Sacred Guardians," she whispered with a bow. Closing her eyes again, she vanished before the star cloud.

Byrdie gasped at the sudden rush of her spirit being returned to her physical body. Sighing to herself, she slumped her shoulders and leaned her back against the tree.  "That helped a lot..." she muttered bitterly.

"'We know of your troubles, Little Fae...'" she said, deepening her voice to mimic the Guardians. "'But we have to keep the answers for ourselves, even though we're not going to be using them anytime soon.' Shoot. What was with that 'Little Fae' stuff? I'm thirteen centuries old! Who needs that kind out help, anyway?"

"Well," she said, chin in hand, "I could always go to Avalon and ask Lady Titania what I should do." She then shook her head again. "No, that wouldn't work. If I went back there, banished or not, Lord Oberon would punish me for not going to the Gathering for sure. I need to find... whomever or whatever I'm looking for first."

Standing up, Byrdie decided that she had rested enough. Becoming airborne again, she flew in the dark night sky, again searching for a human on this path that the humans called a "highway".

After flying for about twenty minutes, Byrdie sighted a machine that the humans called a "pick-up truck" pull over on the far right side of the black path. Giving a little sigh of relief, she began to fly down closer to the trees to land.

When she landed, Byrdie flipped her cape's hood over her head to hide her elven appearance. Walking over a little closer, she observed as two humans came out of the machine.

Giving the scene a once over, Byrdie placed them in the "country bumpkin" category. Byrdie had figured that the truck used to be blue, but it was so covered in rust that anyone could've sworn that it was red.

The two humans, obviously male, were completely different. The first was short and fat, dressed in a flannel shirt and denim pants, his feet in working boots.

The second human, thought also dressed in the same manner as the first, he was tall and bowlegged. He had a pasty complexion and on his head was a cap with an obscene message written upon it.

Trying hard to ignore their appearances, Byrdie walked over to them. The two country bumpkins were having a not all too intelligent conversation about something that Byrdie did not care too much about. They spat out curses as if they were tobacco, cigarettes hanging out the sides of their mouths.

"Excuse me, sirs," Byrdie said politely, not wanting to get any trouble.

They just continued on with their conversation, throwing out slanders against females and laughing.

"*ahem* Excuse me," Byrdie repeated, not sure if she had been heard. And again, she was ignored.

"Hello? Excuse me?" the Fae asked, growing impatient.

The two idiots just kept on with their jokes, completely disregarding the five and one-third foot Faerie beside them.

~Insolent fools!~ Byrdie mentally roared, and her eyes began to glow a magical green, two small storm clouds forming in her hands.

"Hey! The two village idiots with the rusty truck! Pay attention!" she yelled as two lightning bolts shot from her hands, striking the two humans on their rear ends.

Screaming in pain, the two country men jumped around, holding their behinds trying to save themselves.

~As if that's going to help you any~ Byrdie thought.

Calming down, the two so called "men" ceased their screams. Breathing heavily, they stopped running around like chickens with their heads chopped off. "*whew* What were that, Jimmy?" asked the fat man.

"I dunno, Hank, but, uh.... Hey! Well, lookie here!" said the tall man, finally noticing Byrdie. "Well ain't that the cutest thang ya' ever did see?"

~Cute?! Ugh, such rednecks..."

"Glory be!" the man called "Hank" exclaimed. "What you be doin' out here, gal? What's yer name?" he asked, smiling, showing his yellow teeth.

Scowling, Byrdie looked away from the short man's disgusting smile. "My name is of no importance. I wish to know where I am, sirs."

Laughing, the tall man called "Jimmy" slapped his knobby knees and bent down to look at Byrdie in the face. Smelling the menthol from the cigarettes and beer on his breath, Byrdie began to cough.

Smiling, Jimmy laughed again. "Well, I reckon you be in Tennesee, purdy lady."

~Tennesee? How did I manage to go west?~

"Ah... right," Byrdie said slowly. Turning quickly on her heels, she began to walk away. "Thank you for your time. Good-bye!" She then jumped into the trees as quick as lightning, going northward bound.

Blinking, Jimmy looked down at Hank. "That were a strange one, won't she, Hank?"

"Yep." Hank spit his cigarette out on the ground and put it out with his foot. "You reckon she's one a dem dere i'leagal 'aliens' cuzin' Jethro dun tol' us 'bout?"

"Yep. Could be."

Flying faster than ever, Byrdie aimed herself towards the northeast. ~As disgusting as they were,~ she thought, ~those two humans were very helpful.~

She then looked up into the sky. ~Pray for me, moon. Pray that I will find what I seek..."