the Last Journals of Tale Weaver

The next group of tales will take place during the Reign of the great gryphon queen, Sunsky. This is the last entry from my Forest Lake journal, concerning the time after the great changes came to Gryphonia.
 
From the Last Journals of Tale Weaver, at her home in
the Forest Lake Nesting Site:
 
…And so here I am in old age, sitting in my nesting den, remembering the time when gryphonic society finally shifted from the old ways into the new. The changes that occurred after the reign of Talona finally ended were indeed the building blocks upon which the New Society was created. It is difficult to believe that at one time, our gryphonic society deemed it acceptable to sterilize keythongs and kryphons and to use them as servants; or that gryphons used to fear hippogryphs and horses. The younger ones of today do not remember a time when gryphonic beings were slotted onto their life paths at birth based solely upon their gender, life form, or class.

Queen Sunsky and King Dreamspinner have been reigning for well over twelve sun revolutions. The twelve-point leadership structure that the former magistrate, Queenstar, put into place became the base of the New Society, which is also referred to as The Four Trinities. The Queen’s sisters, Mountain Rain and Cloudhopper, have moved into the second and third elements of the gryphonic queenship trinity, replacing the elderly Queen Skystar, so that she might enjoy retirement with her even more elderly mate, King Sun Quest. 

King Sun Wing of the opinical kingship trinity moved into the intermediate leadership role and has long since learned the wisdom of cooperating with the opposite gender. He has also been blessed with a new mate from our own Forest Lake community, the gryphon poet Verse Scribbler.   

White Feather, the young opinicus son of Groundsky, took over the third “junior” element of the opinical kingship when his uncle, Sun Wing, moved into the intermediate position.
       
King Groundsky of the keythongs has continued to make the changes to the societal structure that his mother, Queen Sunsky, began. Queen Fluff Feather of the kryhons, his constant companion, aided him in this endeavor. Both Groundsky and Fluff Feather were well trained in their leadership roles by Old King Ground Paw and Old Queen Egglight, before the elderly couple left the ground forever to return to their spirit nest in the skies.
 
Lionheart, the former law enforcement officer (L.E.O.), was killed defending the gryphonic mountain society from the power-hungry rogue king named King Gorwal of the Krestins, who challenged the New Society five sun revolutions into its reign. The gryphonic mountain society joined with the Forest Lake community to return power to the Four Trinities, after an extended dialogue with the remaining krestin leaders. Lionheart’s kryphon counterpart and mate, Queen Day Minder, survived the crisis and helped Groundsky, Sun Wing, and Fluff Feather to rebuild the society after the krestins had ravaged it. Eventually, Queen Day Minder graciously stood aside to allow the young couple, Groundsky and Fluff Feather, to move into the premiere role.

The young couples have proven themselves to be wise and responsible, and yet also creative, energetic leaders. They have raised their sons and daughters to be the same way in their chosen professions, although they have not tried to dictate to them which life path they should choose. Groundsky’s hippopinicus son Kingdreamer, for example, has not chosen for himself a governmental position as his name might suggest, but he has instead traveled to the Forest Lake Nesting Site to pursue the art of drama and acting. 

King Groundsky and Queen Fluff Feather, rather than choosing one of their own offspring to train for the role of the “junior” kingship/queenship positions, opened up the third element of the keythong/kryphon leadership trinity for an election among the youth. The keythong and kryphon youth, in their collective wisdom, elected a king and queen of very humble origins, Ground Hobbler the lame keythong and Tealeaf, a dwarf kryphon. Both of these candidates were chosen, not because of their differences, but because the youth believed them to possess the courage of true leaders.

Moon Wing of the hippogryphs eventually re-joined the herd of her half-sister, Night Lover, and took over the reign from her when she retired. Queen Moon Wing is well-known among the hippogryphs for helping them to overcome their fear and mistrust of the gryphonic people and to forge new bonds of friendship. She has been aided in this task by her equine daughter Moon Drop, who has taken over her grandfather, Nightsky’s, role by acting as an ambassador between winged horses and the various species of gryphonic beings, including the hippogryphic peoples.  
             
After becoming a hermit for a certain length of time, Talona, the former despot, left the mountains and went to our Forest Lake community. She recovered with the help of the soul healer, Snow Wing, the paternal sister of Truth Speaker the late oracle.
Talona helped Sunsky and her family to overcome the krestin leadership challenge, along with her friends from Forest Lake, Gripe Piper the gargoyle and Kowl the Wisdom Seeker, a cat owl. Talona, or Tal, as her friends named her, eventually created a new way to serve her society. Talona ultimately came to terms with her past actions and redeemed herself by working with “rebel youths”, young ones of all varieties who had been hurt or rejected in one way or another by their families and their societies. In this calling, she has finally found her true spirit, the one that was within her all along.
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There are too many gryphonic beings within this narrative to recite all of their stories in one epilogue, but I will say that many of them have chosen much more creative paths than would have been open to them before the New Age of Equality.

...And so it is that I, Tale Weaver, put down my feather-quill pen and let the past go.            
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