First time jobs are always hard, especially for the young ones who start their experience of work. This is true no matter what part in the world one happened to reside in. Most of the time, children and teenagers take up odd jobs for neighbors, friends or family members to do this or that mundane work so that they could begin to earn a little something by the end of it. From trimming grass to shoveling snow for less than anyone else, it comes to no surprise that the youth tend to grow to hate at what they do.
The same could be said in what remained of Griffonstone. To outsiders, the enormous tree-like city of a once proud civilization that stood on top of a mountain and next to a cliff is what could only be described as run down. With no king for centuries (give-or-take a couple of decades,) the city had seemed to completely fall into disrepair beyond being fixed.
However, to the Gryphons who happened to be born and raised there, it wasn’t exactly true. Sure, there was no royalty like the old days to keep things organized. Yet, that didn’t mean that there wasn’t an economy either. There’s no doubt about it as there were jobs that were needed within this kingdom.
One of them, a young griffin who goes by the name of Gabby, has stepped in to fulfill one of those said jobs: to deliver the mail. Of course, it was indeed a very important job, as it was the only thing that would let those in Griffonstone to have any idea what’s going on from the outside world. Yet, at the same time, it wasn’t exactly the most ideal job to have.
“No! You should have put the firewood out of the open air! Now because of you, the wood is completely wet!”
“Ah yes, let me use my crystal ball next time, stupid me!”
In particular, when she must drop off the mail to those who were in a bad mood, which meant delivering to pretty much anyone in town. This is what small griffin heard, with a mail saddle on her back with a bagful of letters as she approached the address in her claws. The sea green youth cautiously approached the home while the shouting smacked against the walls before she lifted a brave claw to knock on the door.
“Hello?” she called out.
Before she knew it, the door opened up to a rather annoyed looking vulture-headed griffin with a sharp tongue, “What!”
Putting on a smile, she held up the letters, “I have your mail for today, sir.”
A grumpy claw snatched it out of her, nearly ripping the mail in two before slamming the door.
“Who was that?” a voice questioned inside.
“Some girl with the mail, at least she’s more officiant then you are.”
“For what? Didn’t predicting that it would rain last night?”
“No, for not having the common sense of taking the wood inside so it won’t take forever to light you lazy-”
Gabby knocked on the door again; the same griffin opened it again, “What?” he asked coldly.
“Uh… you didn’t pay me. Delivery rules I’m afraid,” she held out a claw.
The resident grunted, “How much?”
“Just a bit, sir.”
Unchanged in his mood, the griffin reached for a bag out of sight and held it for a moment with suspicion; pulling out a single gold coin he let it drop it on the ground before the door was slammed once again.
“What did you do with the money?”
“Did what?”
“I can tell that this purse is lighter than this morning! I haven’t used it since yesterday, what did you do with it?”
“I didn’t do a thing!”
“Ha! That’s a laugh; I wouldn’t be surprised if you used a good chunk of it to gamble it away in some back alley somewhere!”
“I don’t gamble!”
“Yes you do! I saw it!”
Gabby picked up the bit off from the cold dirt and placed it in a pocket in the sack. She started to walk away from the micro-civil war as she adjusted the scarf around her neck while the icy wind blew down the street. She reached into her assorted letters and was about to pull out when she felt something hit her face. Quickly reaching up, she pulled from her beak an orange leaf.
“Huh? Where did this come from?” The leaf was indeed unusual since the mountainous land that surrounded Griffonstone isn’t known for its trees. Even the nearest trees that she knew were pine, and yet, this single leaf of bright solar orange seemed to have come from someplace far away. As curious as the simple item was, Gabby immediately put it away in the same place as the money before anyone noticed it.
She returned to her work to decide what part of the city to go to next. Looking at her sack, she was down to two addresses: a set of letters for one and a small package for the other. Gabby quickly calculated in her head of who lives the closest from where she was and chosen the former. Spreading her blue wings, she raises herself in the air towards her next destination.
It was thankfully nearby. Sat on a dead branch, it was a tiny hut that sat right on the edge between the deep cliff and resided ruins. At first, Gabby hoped that maybe this delivery would be much more pleasant than the last one. Putting up a cheerful face, she knocked on the door.
At first, there was nothing except the wind that flies past and around her. Another knock with no result, but before she could do it again for the third time, the door opened up to a shaking, “What!”
The one who answered the door was a burgundy orange griffin with the head of a falcon that had bags underneath her eyes. By the looks of it, she looked like that she had woken up from some much-needed sleep. “Well?”
Clearing her throat, Gabby held out the mail to her, “I’m here to deliver these. Sorry that I woke you up from your-”
“You’re late,” the resident grumbled.”
She blinked, “Sorry?”
“Those letters?” the lady pointed at the bundle of letters in her claw. “They were supposed to be here two days ago.”
“O-Oh… Sorry, we’ve just got these and-”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said impatiently. “How much is it?”
“A bit ma’am,” the young one replied. As she watched the older Griffin search her hut for her bits, she decided to try to start up a conversation. “It’s cold today, isn’t it?”
“I wouldn’t know,” she mumbled. “Now where did I put it?”
“Do you think it’s gonna snow any day now?” Gabby pressed further. “I won’t be surprised that we get some by next week. Personally, I can’t wait for the sledding and snowball fights an-”
“Are you always this chatty?” the resident questioned as she reached for a clawful of bits.
“I’m just trying to make conversation, is it bad to do so?”
“Here,” she came over to drop two bits into her claws.
Gabby looked at it confused, “What’s this for?”
“One is for the mail,” she replied. “And the other is to get you to shut up.” Then she slammed the door. Gabby’s smile dropped with a sigh. She turned to her bag to the final delivery of the day. Spreading her wings, she took off to circle the dead tree to the very base of it.
The address she was heading off to was a place that, although she had seen it, she never was able to come up close to. If anything, by the time she landed, she felt a sense of nervousness. Truth be told, she wasn’t exactly looking forward to making the delivery to this particular hut. It was the kind that children would whisper to be the home of something sinister. The kind in which some notice that no one goes in or out of; where ghostly music is played at odd hours of the night; some would think that this particular hut was outright haunted.
Gabby wasn’t exactly stricken with fear. But she was hesitant to approach it. The hut wasn’t like all the others. It wasn’t a simple structure of white walls and a thatched roof. The home was made with walls of stone with a red, painted wooden door, and underneath the piles of hay were stained tiles that made up the roof. What made it really stand out was that the structure had no windows at all. It was like a forbidden stone box that was embedded within the dead, white tree.
She took up all the courage that she could summon to walk up to the scarlet door to softly knock on it. The young griffin looked about her, hoping to see at least one other in case she might go missing. Gabby thought briefly that she might be able to just leave the package at the doorstep and fly away before it could be answered. However, before she could act upon it, there was an audible clack! Then the door creaked open.
“Yes?” a voice answered. “Who is it?”
Although Gabby couldn’t see who it was, the voice she heard sounded elderly yet sweet – like it was someone’s caring grandmother. Clearing her throat and putting on a nervous smile, she replies, “Yes, hello. I’m here to give you your mail ma’am.”
The red door opened wider too which the young one can now see the kind of griffin she’s delivering to. She was old; there was no doubt about it from the ghostly gray feathers on her cannery-like head to the wrinkles of her fur that resembled a snow leopard. Over her head was a black bandanna with glasses. “Oh?” she inquired sweetly, “Is it Wednesday already?”
“No ma’am, it’s Tuesday,” Gabby held out the small package to her. “Here’s your mail.”
However, the old griffin stared at her. “Pardon me young lady, but have I seen you before?”
Gabby blinked, “I… I don’t think so?”
“You sure?” she raised an eyebrow. “I could have sworn that I have seen you somewhere before. Tell me, what was your name again?”
“I never said what it was, but it's Gabby. It’s short for Gabriella.”
Reaching for her glasses, the old lady took them off, “Wait… Gabriella? As in… Gabriella Gryphus?”
The young one was taken aback by this, “How did you know?”
She watches the older Griffin reaction to this revelation. The old lady’s beak drop, tears forming in her eyes as she suddenly hugged her tightly, “Oh goddesses, is it really you?”
“Uh… ma’am,” Gabby said, completely weirded out. “What are you doing?”
“Oh Gabriella,” she told her, “I haven’t seen you since you were a hatchling. I’m Catherine, your grandmother.”
The young griffin blinked, “Really? I didn’t know that I had one.”
Letting go of her hug, Catherine’s took on a worried look. “You don’t believe me?”
“It is a rather bold claim to make,” she folded her forelegs. “What makes you think that I’m your granddaughter?”
“Tell me, do you know who your parents are?”
“I live with my dad, but I know a little bit of my mom. Why?”
“Your mother was called June and your Father was called Levi, and the last time I’ve seen you was about fourteen years ago.”
Gabby blinked. Not only was she correct about the names of her parents, but also her age as well. “A-And how did you know about that?”
The old Griffin smiled, “Come inside. I like to get to know of my granddaughter better that isn’t freezing.”
As cautious as she was about the current situation, in which she wasn’t exactly sure if she completely trusts this old lady or not, Gabby did follow her inside. She expected the dwelling to be small, cramp, dark, and even stuffy with eons of dust and earth. However, when she stepped right through, she was taken by surprise of how much room there was as the home itself was carved right into the tree. Nearly everywhere there were glowing, yellow crystals that took their place of candles to light up space. The interior of the home was a cylinder as it was made up of layers of open spaced rooms to where one would simply fly up to one floor to the next. But what took Gabby by surprise was how much stuff there was. From furniture decades old to ancient tapestries that hung at certain spots like pieces in a museum. If anything, from the college of items, that was exactly how she would describe it, a museum without any plaques to tell what or where these things came from.
“You live here?” the young griffin exclaimed in wonder.
“Absolutely Gabriella,” Catherine answered as she locked the door behind them. When Gabby looked back at her, she explained, “This is just a precaution, I don’t want any of this to get stolen.”
The young one took wing as she went up to get a closer look at the collection. “Where did all of this come from?”
“Some from the ruins of the palace above, while others find their way to the train station from across the globe, but I have traded everything in here fair and square, that I can assure you.”
“Okay, but what does that make you exactly?”
“I tend to think of myself as the last museum curator in Griffenstone. Trying my best to preserve the past as long as I can.” The old Griffin too took off and went up to a particular level. “Come up here, I’ll whip up some tea and put on some music for you?”
“Like play me something?”
“Just on the phonograph.”
Gabby immediately went up to see this for herself. But sure enough on the fourth level that closely resembled a sort of living room and the kitchen was a gramophone that sat on a small table with a stack of records directly underneath.
“Where did you get this? Aren’t these things crazy hard to get?”
“Not if you know the right kind of ponies to get it from,” she replied as the gray elder took out a teapot. “You can choose the record, I’ve heard them all.”
Gabby picked up the small stack into her claws, going from the top to uncover one title to the next. But as she did, she quickly realized how much of these that she never heard of before. “Moonlight Sonata” by Beethooven, “Here Comes the Sun” by The Beatles, “Lo Ti Penso Amore” by Paganeighni, and… “This one sounds interesting,” Gabby said as she picked up one of the records.
“Let me see,” Catherine looked over her shoulder. “Ah yes, that’s a good one – somewhat sad, but a good one nonetheless. Do you want me to put it on?”
“Since I don’t know how to work this thing, yes,” She placed the record on the turntable, turning a crank for it to start spinning before she carefully placed the needle on the outer edges of the grooves before white noise was heard from the horn. Then her ears picked up the plucking of a duet guitar and a descending flute. In a way, Gabby thought of snow falling from the sky before the singer began his song.
She listened as the old Griffin was at work with the tea. A nostalgic voice reminisced in the chilly notes of the guitar of missing someone dear to the singer. It spoke of the coming of winter and using metaphors of falling leaves to describe the leaving or passing of someone dear. The song was undoubtedly sad, yet, the voice had a warm quality in the cold melody.
“You know,” Catherine said looking over her shoulder as she put the kettle on the stove. “The song is actually very appropriate for the given situation.”
“How so?”
“Tell me; did anyone in your family told you about me?”
“I didn’t know I had a grandma,” she said honestly. “I kinda assumed that she-you were-”
“Oh...” the old Griffin sighed. “I see. Looks like they still haven’t forgiven me yet,” Gabby expressed that she didn’t quite understand what she meant. At first, Catherine was hesitant before she began, “Well, I suppose that the first thing you should know is that I am your grandmother on your mother’s side. Though, I can safely say that you didn’t know much about her, do you?”
She scratched her head, “Other than her name and what dad has told me about her… nothing much.”
“You look quite similar to her,” the old Griffin took out a couple of teacups off the row of hooks that was nearby the stove. “I think you have her smile too. June was one of the most positive griffins that I knew, very optimistic even when times were rough. If anything, you would have to try very hard to get her upset at anything.”
“Sounds something like her,” Gabby commented. “Dad said that when they meet, they were standing in a line for soup and by the time he got up to the front, he realized that his bits were stolen so he couldn’t pay for a bowl. So, mom used hers to get a big one for her and dad to share from.”
“That sounds like my June alright,” Catherine smiled warmly. “She was such a nice soul – something that you don’t see that often in this town.”
“Tell me about it,” the young griffin sighed. “It’s really hard just to be friendly sometimes. Like take my last delivery, I went up to…” she put a claw to her beak. “Huh, come to think of it, I don’t think I caught her name. Anyway, when I went up to her door, she apparently woke up because she opened it in a grumpy mood. Well, I tried to make some small talk with her; however, she ended up paying me extra just so that I would shut up.”
“Doesn’t surprise me none,” the grandmother shrugged. “Griffonstone isn’t exactly the nicest place in the world, but what can we say? It's home.”
“For you maybe,” she grumbled.
“Sorry?”
Gabby waved a claw, “Never mind.”
“No no, what’s wrong?” Catherine asked as she brought out a jar of sugar. “I can tell that you’re unhappy.”
“It’s nothing.”
The elderly griffin frowned, “Gabriella, even if you don’t believe that I am your grandmother, you do have something on your mind that I’m more than willing to listen to. I promise that I won’t interrupt, that I will hear you out from start to finish. And who knows, perhaps I might have the wisdom you needed, but I can’t try if I don’t know what’s wrong.”
Gabby didn’t respond right away, but let the melancholic song fill the silence. By now, the band was playing its interlude with their instruments. It was still calming as an orchestra of violins repeated the same calming tune. “It’s… not that I don’t like living here…” she began. “But lately, I don’t exactly fit in with anyone. I mean, here I am trying to spread my own brand of sunshine, but the more I try, the more isolated it all becomes. Heck, the only Griffin that tolerates me is my dad, but I might as well be on an island somewhere.”
“So you don’t think you belong?” Gabby nodded. “My, we do have a lot in common than you realize. I mean, how isolated we really are.”
“How would you know?”
The old Griffin paused, staring at the kettle on the stove. “Have you ever wondered why you’ve never heard of me until now? I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised in hindsight since apparently I haven’t been forgiven yet.”
“Forgiven for what exactly?”
“Tell me, Gabriella,” she began but was interrupted by the high pitch whistle of the kettle. After taking off the stove and transferring the boiling water to a pot to mix the tea leaves in, she carried it and a set over to her on a table. She began again, “Do you know what happened to your mother?”
As Catherine was pouring her cup, Gabby told her, “She died of childbirth didn’t see?”
The old Griffin nodded, “To tell you the truth… it was my fault.”
“What? How?”
After giving the cup to her and pouring her own, Gabby’s grandma began. “Another thing you should know is that I cared for your mother once she became pregnant. In a way, I acted as her personal nurse for several months that she carried you. At the time, your father approved of the idea since he didn’t have much of a clue as to how to take care of a female that is with a child.” She proceeded to scoop up some sugar into her cup. “But as the final days drew near, I noticed that June was becoming sick, which presented a dilemma for me. I could take her to a hospital in Equestria and risk you being born there – if you did, I feared that you wouldn’t be accepted as a griffin because you weren’t born here. Or, I could have her stay here, wait until you were ready to come out of your mother then take her there.
“So I chose, in the end, to stick to tradition, and convinced June to stay until she gave birth to your egg…” Catherine gave a somber look before taking a sip of her tea. “In the end, it only cost her as her health disintegrated before our very eyes. The day before you came, your father urged me to get her out of Griffonstone to save her life, but I told him that she was strong that she could wait… Only… by the time she gave birth to your egg…” she shook her head. “She was very brave, even up to the very end.”
Gabby looked down at her reflection in the teacup. “So… is that why I never heard about you from dad?”
“I’m afraid so,” she nodded. “Consider yourself lucky that you weren’t hatched yet at the time, because you definitely don’t want to hear half of what he said to me. Sufficient to say, he felt betrayed, and rightfully so. There were plenty of times and opportunities that I could let the rules of her heritage go for yours and your mother’s sake. But I didn’t. As you might have guessed your father took your egg and forbid me to come near either of them. In fact, a couple of days later, he came back to tell me that you were dead.”
The younger Griffin looked up in surprise, “What!”
“It’s true. He told me that your egg fell over the cliff. So I was convinced that you were dead too.” She chuckled, “Well, imagine my surprise when I saw you show up on my doorstep.”
Gabby, while taking a mental note to have a stern talk with her father, tasted the tea before wincing at its bitterness. So she proceeded to put in several spoonfuls of sugar into her cup. Catherine asked her if she’s still unconvinced if she’s her grandmother. “I’m not so sure. I mean, even if you’re not, you’re one of the nicest griffins that I’ve run into.”
“Thank you.” She replied as she took the needle off the record. “I can say the same with you. It’s rather nice to be visited by someone that I can relate to. Like you, I too have felt isolated, with keeping my collection a secret and never running into anyone that has the same interest or dedication as I do.”
“I know, this stuff is amazing. I just can’t believe that you would go through all the trouble to preserve all of this stuff.”
“Everything here is valuable to me to some degree. While another griffin would look at this teacup and think nothing of it, I see memories in them – like these were the very cups that I served them up to your mother when she was your age.”
Gabby blinked as she looked between her cup and the old lady, “Really?”
Catherine nodded. “Yes, it’s true. Why I will value that package you’re delivering to me because it has the memory of you arriving at my door.”
“Oh!” the young griffin laughed embarrassingly as she pulled the package out of her bag and hand it over to her. “Here you go.” The grandmother thanked her as she set the small cardboard box aside. Gabby finished with the rest of her tea when an idea came to her. “Here,” she reached into her saddlebags once again, “I have a gift for you. Something to remember me by,” here, she pulled out the orange leaf she found.
“A maple leaf,” the old Griffin gasped as she held it gingerly in her claws. “I haven’t seen this in years, where did you find it?”
“It was carried by the wind while I was making my rounds. Speaking of which, I’m expected to head back so I can finish my job.”
Before she could spread her wings and head towards the door, the grandmother told her, “Gabriella, you are welcome back to this place at any time. If you needed someone to talk to, you know where to find me.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” she smiled, “And thanks for the tea, ma’am. Bye.”
The gray griffin smiled sweetly as she watched her flew back to ground level and made her way out the door. Now alone once again, she turned the phonograph on, set the needle at the very beginning of the record, and let it play as she finished her tea.
