Two Birds, One Feather
The Lives and Times of Lorewyn & Rhianyn in America
C.J. Pearson
Copyright © 2021 C.J. Pearson
This is a work of fiction. All incidents and dialogue, and all characters with the exception of some historical figures, celebrities, and well-known persons are products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical figures, celebrities, or other well-known persons appear, the situations, incidents, and dialogues concerning those persons are entirely fictional and are not intended to depict actual events or to change the entirely fictional nature of the work. In all other respects, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review. For more information, address: [email protected].
The following segments of printed text appear in this work from other sources and are either in the public domain or fall within the realm of fair usage.
From The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, written 1883
From the lyrics to Mo Ghile Mear (Traditional Irish Folk Song)
From the lyrics to Downhearted Blues by Alberta Hunter and Lovie Austin, written 1922
From FDR’s Infamy Speech/Declaration of War Address, delivered by Franklin D. Roosevelt on December 8, 1941
From the introduction to The Adventures of Superman television program, 1952-1958
From KNX Radio 1070 AM Los Angeles, news coverage of the JFK assassination on November 22, 1963
From the Full Audio Transcript of the 9/11 Tapes as documented in the Rutgers University Law Review
Cover art by Kevin Pruitt
Preface
Book 7 of the New Adventures of Lorewyn & Company, Carried Swiftly on her Breath, was quite a radical departure from my series’ norm. In fact, it was a journey into a whole new arena of writing and a rather unorthodox (but satisfying in my opinion) ending to a saga. The idea of Lorewyn and Rhianyn experiencing adventures on Earth, in our realm, wasn’t new. It had been touched on briefly at the end of I Remember When the Raven Returned, then explored more in depth as the primary setting for both The Archer’s Understudy and More Than Diplomacy.
But Carried Swiftly on her Breath indeed carried our heroines into a whole new genre and style. Epic narrative fantasy gave way to more documentary-centered Sci-Fi, Arthur C. Clarke-ian futurism replacing the more familiar Tolkienesque and C.S. Lewis-ish approach of earlier novels. Much of the story was told through an interview with Lorewyn, with heavy emphasis on pop culture references, contemporary humor, and a significant focus on Lorewyn and Rhianyn’s experiences in 20th and 21st century America. It was quite fresh and somewhat “un-Cordysian.”
I found it fun and exciting to write. Unfortunately, it was captured in Book 7, the end of the series, chronologically speaking. But I had gone down this road before with the Cordysian Chronicles. Sure, lines might’ve been drawn in a literary fashion to set boundaries on timeline… but who’s to say that as an author I can’t continue to color within those lines? So, I went back to work and decided to do some more coloring, this time in the area of my protagonists’ adventures during that century-long period in America described to some extent in Carried Swiftly on her Breath. Just like supplemental books were written within the Cordysian Chronicles offering further tales within the Cordysian timeline previously unexplored, the New Adventures of Lorewyn & Company could have supplements as well… and here’s one indeed.
Two Birds, One Feather, aptly named for anyone already familiar with Lorewyn and Rhianyn’s history, chronicling their lives and times in America, from their arrival at Ellis Island from Europe in 1921 to about a hundred years later… the present. Of course, a hundred years in the life of an Elf is but a drop in the bucket, and as you’ll hopefully see, both Lorewyn and Rhianyn made a significant ripple in that bucket with just a single drop… as is their overall and typical M.O.
Prepare for more of what you’d expect from these two multi-realmed superstars, and a healthy dose of the unexpected as well. After all, it’s Yellowfeather, Blackbird, and America… anything can happen!
For Elicia (aka Arania), a fellow traveler between realms, with the courage to explore (even when such travels weren’t part of the original plan) and the talent to chronicle what she sees and finds.
* * *
And with special thanks to Megan Wilson for her help with research pertaining to this novel, and for her overall support of my work. Go Wolves! (and pugs!)
“The two girls were soon running almost neck and neck, their speed steady as the river current which ran alongside them gradually increased as if to match them, their hair blowing behind them in the wind, blonde and brunette, side by side, as two birds, one black and one yellow.”
- from Two Flew at Midnight
PROLOGUE
(an excerpt from Carried Swiftly on her Breath)
***
“You and Rhianyn didn’t stay in Europe indefinitely, did you?”
The bottle of replicated Crescent Berry Wine had been finished by now. Lorewyn was sipping on some tea.
“No, we moved to North America in the early 1920’s,” she responded. “The First World War had ended. We saw the H1N1 Influenza pandemic come and pass. Europe had a long road to recovery, perhaps more so than we had seen before. We could’ve stayed and helped, but we had been part of European history for almost 1,500 years by that point. We had been to every country there, lived in so many towns and cities, seen so much change, lived countless different lives… we felt as if we had worn out our welcome. And things had evolved. Technology had improved. Human society had changed. It was becoming harder to remain anonymous, to not cause suspicion. During the Victorian Era, both Rhianyn and I had been forced to use some short-term memory wipes on individuals and take some rather bold steps to erase our ‘footprints’… steps that came very close to doing things that I’d rather not discuss. We both realized that staying in Europe would be risky. So… we packed up and took a ship across the Atlantic, arriving on Ellis Island in 1921 as immigrants to America.”
“That’s… the United States of America?” Zyrjenta asked.
“Correct,” Lorewyn replied. “That was the country’s name. It’s long gone now, of course, the land it once occupied now part of the Pacific Division of the NWC. But in 1921, the nation was emerging as a world power. Slavery had been abolished there decades prior, although ‘people of color’ as they were called then still had a long way to go to achieve true equality with those of Caucasian heritage. A law protecting women’s right to vote had just been passed. Although it had been a few centuries since anyone had called it ‘the New World,’ it was new to us. A fresh start. We could recycle older aliases, not be so worried about people getting suspicious, and try to make a home in a place where it was said anyone could find opportunity and success. That’s a claim that could undergo some serious scrutiny, as we discovered, but at the time it sounded wonderful. A new adventure, you could say.”
“You never wrote much in your books about your experiences in North America,” Zyrjenta noted. “I take it that you and Rhianyn had a rather uneventful time there?”
“Oh, on the contrary,” Lorewyn chuckled. “I’d have to say that our time in America was perhaps the most eventful and eye-opening portion of our entire experience living on this planet!”
PART I: OF BIG APPLES AND SM
ALL EMPIRES (1921-1930)
* * * *
CHAPTER 1
“Oh, Blackbird, it’s even more beautiful than I had imagined!”
Rhianyn looked over to where Lorewyn was pointing from the portside bow of the ship where they were standing. They were sailing into the Upper Bay at the mouth of the Hudson River, heading toward the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan. It was a clear summer morning and the shores of Bayonne, New Jersey as well as those of Staten Island could be easily seen off the portside. Lorewyn and Rhianyn had just come over from starboard where they had seen the docks of Brooklyn earlier, greeting them with the rising sun. But nothing had prepared Lorewyn for the sight that was now in front of them, despite having read plenty about it before their voyage.
“Isn’t she simply amazing?” Lorewyn exclaimed again. “I can see why so many people come to America… if she’s the reception committee!”
Lady Liberty, standing over 300 feet from ground level to the torch that was raised in her hand. Her green patina hue, distinct and unmistakable, defining her contours against the sky above her, the tablet in her other hand, the broken shackle and chain at her feet. Lorewyn felt a wave of emotion overcome her and instinctively reached over and took Rhianyn’s hand, just smiling.
It had been a long week. They had left Liverpool on June 22, the expectation being that they’d arrive in America by the end of the month. The voyage had indeed taken a full week, on an ocean-liner with about a thousand other passengers, all heading for a new life in the New World, although that particular term was somewhat antiquated by now. Lorewyn had purchased two 2nd class tickets. Rhianyn had objected at first, wanting to travel 1st class.
“2nd class won’t be like our passage on the Anemys to the Crown Islands, Yellowfeather,” she had insisted. “We won’t have our own cabin. We’ll be sharing space with other women, maybe even families. 2nd class is only a step up from steerage, you realize that, right?”
“Yes, I realize that,” Lorewyn had explained. “But this is a rare experience! Don’t you want to see how people do this? How they’ve been traveling to America to make a new life for themselves these past decades, just like we’re doing now?”
“I can see that just fine from 1st class,” Rhianyn had remarked. “I don’t have to smell it as well. How about I just get a 1st class cabin for myself and let you enjoy the dormitory for half a fortnight?” But she conceded and traveled 2nd class with her wife… without further complaints.
“You really are a romantic S’trysthyl, you know,” Rhianyn was saying now as they stood together on the bow amidst the other passengers, all gazing at the Statue of Liberty as they passed en route to Ellis Island. But she lovingly accepted Lorewyn’s hand and held it, feeling her wife move in a bit closer.
“Did I ever tell you that I got to see my mother’s statue?” Lorewyn’s voice was quieter now, almost a whisper. “It was not long after my initial transformation at Sacred Lake. Blythe and I made a visit to Eldritch Peak, incognito of course. I had never seen it during my life before that, given the circumstances, but I really wanted to. I’m glad I did, since her statue was destroyed a few years later in the incident with the Demon. This statue here is much bigger, but it reminds me of my mother’s… the way the torch is held aloft, like my mother’s sword.”
Lorewyn fell silent, still a bit overwhelmed by the moment. Rhianyn examined the statue as they continued to sail past, then turned to face her wife.
“I imagine your mother’s statue had wings, though?” she asked.
Lorewyn’s eyes narrowed for a moment then she gave a slight chuckle. “Obviously,” she mused. “Khalvyn wouldn’t have sculpted it otherwise! I’m sorry, Blackbird, I’m just having one of those reminiscing moments.”
Rhianyn pulled her in a bit closer, leaning in to whisper more softly. “It’s okay. You’re allowed. I still love you, regardless, and I’m glad we decided to do this together.”
She did a quick check with her keen peripheral vision to make sure no one nearby was watching them, then gave Lorewyn a very brief kiss on her cheek. These things were always a bit risky in public… for a number of reasons. They certainly had been during their tenure in Victorian Era London and the years following. Perhaps here in America things would be different?
Lorewyn had smiled affectionately at Rhianyn’s kiss, then spontaneously began quoting something, a poem.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Rhianyn glanced at her in surprise as Lorewyn finished her recitation. “Did you just come up with that on the spot?”
“No, although I wish!” Lorewyn laughed in reply. “It’s a sonnet titled The New Colossus. It was written by a woman named Emma Lazarus almost 40 years ago as part of a fundraising effort to help build the pedestal for the statue. I read it back when we were still in London, as we were making our plans to come here. I really liked it and memorized it. And supposedly it’s inscribed on a bronze plaque on the pedestal!”
Rhianyn nodded, grinning with understanding. She knew her beloved Yellowfeather quite well!
“And you’re about to say that the first place you want to go and see after we get off the boat is the statue and that plaque, right?”
Lorewyn shook her head, grinning as well. “Your mind-reading skills have become amazingly keen over the years, Blackbird.”
“It doesn’t take much to get inside that S’trysthyl head of yours,” Rhianyn commented. “But if I recall, they closed the torch balcony to visitors about five years ago, so we won’t be able to go up to the very top.”
Now it was Lorewyn’s turn to look at Rhianyn in surprise. “If you recall? Wait, you’ve been studying up on the Statue of Liberty too???”
Rhianyn laughed at her astonishment. “I saw what all you were reading before we left! You’re not as sneaky as you might think, Yellowfeather, especially when it comes to me. I knew you were fascinated by the statue and were looking forward to seeing it when we arrived. So of course I did some study of my own.”
Lorewyn just gazed at her lovingly. “You’re the most amazing wifey a girl could ever hope for,” she offered softly.
The steamship didn’t actually dock at Ellis Island, much to Lorewyn and Rhianyn’s surprise. It made port at the south end of the East River, on the docks near the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge. The 1st class passengers were allowed to disembark without much protocol. Rhianyn gave Lorewyn a knowing look and sighed, but maintained her resolution not to say anything about it.
They joined the other 2nd class and steerage passengers on barges that took them to Ellis Island for processing. The steerage passengers had it worst; they were subjected to lengthy waits, medical examinations, and all sorts of legal cross-checking with the ship’s manifest. The 2nd class folk, however, were able to bypass a lot of this.
“This is really happening!” Lorewyn exclaimed to Rhianyn as they moved with their luggage through the Great Hall, toward their processing station and ultimately the gates that would allow them formal entrance into the United States of America. “A whole new part of the world. I mean, think about it… aside from that brief visit in Canada we made on behalf of Krysayra and the other survivors of Cordysia’s end a couple millennia ago, and that one other time about three cent
uries ago that we don’t talk about, we’ve never set foot on this side of the Earth. It’s going to be so brand new for us… exciting! And America is supposed to be amazing! These people weren’t directly impacted by the Great War, their land untouched by trench warfare and artillery shells. Not like Europe at all. Huge expanses of wilderness in the west, cowboy towns and ranches, mountain ranges even greater than the Alps, the likes we haven’t seen since the Crescent Mountains long ago. Just think about it, Blackbird!”
“Yes, I am thinking about it,” Rhianyn considered, pulling her luggage along. “Those are all nice things to be sure, but don’t get so caught up in a romantic fervor that you forget the other side of this nation… the other things we’ve read and heard. This country is only a few decades past legalized slavery, Yellowfeather, and from what I understand the way darker-skinned citizens here are still treated makes the way most of our kindred treated Humans in New Sylestia at one point look like childish games. Out of the thousand other passengers we were with on that boat, how many dark-skinned people did you see? I didn’t see any, just a lot of other people who look like us. I don’t blame them. Only a few generations ago dark-skinned people weren’t on ships crossing the Atlantic to America by choice! And all that western wilderness you were talking about? Well, from what I understand the way Europeans treated the indigenous people here when they arrived was pretty horrific. A law protecting women’s right to vote was only passed a year ago. If we had come here before that, we wouldn’t have any voice in how this nation was governed. Yes, it’s a new world, a new opportunity… but just remember that we’re about to start a new life in a place that has a history of not everyone having equal access to opportunity… and that history is still unfolding. I’m very happy that we made this choice, that I’m here with you. But we can’t walk into this blinded or ignorant. I expect that we’ll face plenty of challenges, just like we have in the past. Let’s keep our eyes open and stick together, like we always do.”
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