The curly haired blonde turned her attention from her drink when she heard Xena's voice saying her name. A smile spread across her face when she saw the familiar warrior that had delivered her son, Xenan.
"It's good to see you, Xena. I wasn't sure if..." As Ephiny trailed off, the smile disappeared from lips. The warrior princess followed her gaze to Gabrielle and then turned back to Ephiny, surprised to see a scowl on the Amazon's face. "What is she doing here?" she asked, her hostile tone causing the bard to recoil slightly.
"Ephiny, it's Gabrielle," Xena said, thinking that the other woman was unable to recognize her old friend.
"I know exactly who it is!" she hissed at Xena. "But the last I knew, she was enjoying the wonders of married life. Shouldn't you be back home cooking for your husband?" she asked the blonde, who was struggling to hold the other Amazon's gaze.
"That's quite enough, Ephiny," Xena warned as she took a protective stance between Gabrielle and the angry Amazon, not bothering to stop herself from leveling a glare at the woman. "Before you go yelling at Gabrielle, maybe you should learn the whole story."
"What's there left to tell? She abandoned the Amazons just when we needed her most. If she had been there for us like a true Amazon princess is supposed to be, I wouldn't be here asking for your help," she said. Before Xena could say anything else, Gabrielle placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back slightly.
"Xena, maybe we should just let her explain," Gabrielle suggested before adding on quietly, "I'll try to patch things up with her later." Seeing Xena relax, the bard turned her attention back to Ephiny. "What happened in the village?"
"Velasca happened, that's what," the other Amazon started off, beginning to calm down a little. She may have been angry at Gabrielle, but she still needed to tell Xena what was going on; and in order to do that, she needed to get a reign over her temper.
"I don't remember there being any Amazons named Velasca in the village," Gabrielle stated curiously.
"That's because she didn't show up until after your marriage," Ephiny explained, not bothering to keep the anger out of her voice. "We knew she was bad news when she showed up in the village again, but Melosa refused to listen to us. I guess it's hard to take in that your daughter is pure evil."
"I didn't know Melosa had a daughter," Xena admitted, finally contributing to the conversation.
"Not by birth. She adopted the girl at a young age, when her mother died," the Amazon clarified. "And even though she grew to love that little girl like her own, she knew that Velasca would never be queen material. She was too impulsive and wasn't good at planning subtle strategies. Melosa told her as much when the girl turned fifteen and asked when she would inherit the mask."
"I'm guessing she didn't take it well?" Xena asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You could say that. She challenged Melosa for the Mask of the Queen then and there, believing that she was strong enough to best her. Turns out she was wrong. The queen beat her and sent her away, telling her not to come back until she could learn to control herself better. Well, she came back.” Ephiny stopped for a moment, obviously preparing herself for what she was going to say next. Judging by the look on her face, Xena and Gabrielle weren’t going to like it. “She somehow managed to worm her way back into Melosa's heart, even with us warning the queen against trusting her... and then she killed her." Ephiny ignored the gasp that she heard come from Gabrielle and continued on.
“She had killed her during a challenge for the mask, so it was considered a fair fight. There was nothing Solari, Eponin, or I could do about it, so we watched from the sidelines as Velasca became our new queen,” Ephiny told them before glaring at Gabrielle. “If you had been there, you could have stopped her. You had the Right of Caste from Terreis. You should have been there to take the mask after Melosa but you were too busy with your precious husband to do anything about it!” she accused the smaller blonde. “If you had been there, you could have stopped the Amazons from becoming a Nation obsessed with destruction!”
“Ephiny, calm down!” Xena told her as she stood between the angry Amazon and her friend once more. “You’re creating a scene and there are some people here that don’t appreciate the yelling,” she said in a quieter voice, her eyes glancing next to the curly haired woman. Ephiny looked down to see a scared little girl standing next to her.
“Where did you come from?” she asked in surprise, shocked that she hadn’t heard the little girl walk up behind her. If she had known that the child was there, she would have tried to control her temper more.
“I came to ask my Mama something,” the girl said quietly, afraid that if she didn’t give the right answer the woman would yell some more. “But I forgot what it was. May I see her still?” she asked.
“Nexa, you can ask later. Right now Mama needs to talk with an old friend. So why don‘t you go help Cyrene in the kitchen?” Gabrielle told the blonde girl in a soft voice, not taking her eyes off of Ephiny. Nexa gave the loud Amazon a suspicious glance before walking over to her mother’s side.
“Is she going to yell more?” she asked, making sure to imitate Xena and take a protective stance next to her mother. Gabrielle looked down and shook her head. “Is she going to give you booboos?” she asked. Nexa remembered that before her daddy was gone, her Mama used to get booboos whenever there was a lot of yelling.
“No, my little warrior. I’m sure I’m safe,” Gabrielle told the girl with a smile as she bent down low enough so that she was eye level with her daughter. “Ephiny isn’t going to hurt me,” she assured Nexa, secretly glancing at Ephiny. The Amazon nodded, assuring the other blonde that she hadn’t come all this way to beat her up. “Now go help your grandmother,” Gabrielle told the girl, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead and ruffling her hair.
“Mama!” the girl protested before smiling at her mother and running off to do as she was told. The three adults watched her leave before turning back to face each other once more.
“Cute kid,” Ephiny commented. Gabrielle was unable to tell if her old friend was being sarcastic or if she really meant it, so she chose to ignore the comment. Seeing that no one else was going to say anything, Xena spoke up again.
“I think it’s time we took this conversation outside,” she suggested, although it came out sounding more like an order. The two Amazons silently agreed before heading for the door, ignoring the stares they received from the patrons of the tavern that had witnessed the scene between the three of them.
“So what did she mean by ‘booboos’?” Ephiny asked once they were outside and further away from the tavern. For a moment, no one answered her, but before she could ask again, Gabrielle found her voice.
“It doesn’t matter right now. What matters is that you tell me what has happened since Velasca took over,” she said, somehow managing to stop her voice from catching. “You came here for help, didn’t you?” she said when she saw the questioning expression on Ephiny’s face.
“Not from you,” the Amazon told her bluntly before looking over at Xena. “I came to ask you to defeat Velasca. Ever since she took power, she has been planning to stomp out every other nation, starting with the Centaurs. We were able to stop her up until now. Although many of my sisters have sided with her, there are those that are more respected than the others that oppose the idea of killing off every living thing. The Nation was at a stand still for a long time, neither side gaining ground.”
“Until...?” Xena asked with a raised eyebrow. Ephiny was silent, no doubt trying to figure out how to word what she had to say. After a few moments, though, she began to talk again.
“Until Eponin was found with an arrow in her chest,” she said. Xena could tell she was trying to hold back tears at the memory. “The shaft of the arrow had a Centaur design on it, so the nation was led to believe that the Centaurs committed the crime. But I remembered when Terreis was killed and I... Well, I did some digging. I just couldn’t believe that the Centaurs would end the treaty like that. It was too much of a coincidence,” she said before sighing. “And I was right. The Centaurs didn’t kill her.” There was another pause before she continued.
“When I went back to the site where Eponin was killed, I didn’t find anything that had to do with the Centaurs. Not even hoof prints. I did find, however, a piece of leather armor,” she said. “The only problem with that is, I found it up in a tree. Centaur’s can’t climb trees.”
“Velasca?” Gabrielle asked, earning a glare from the Amazon before she nodded in response. “I’m sorry,” she apologized.
“Save your pity. That’s not what I came here for,” Ephiny told her before turning back to Xena. “I went to take the evidence back to the council, to show them that Velasca was tricking them, but by the time I got back...”
“Everyone had already left to fight,” Xena finished for her, feeling a sinking feeling in her stomach when she saw the curly haired warrior nod. “So I take it the Centaurs are extinct?” she asked, hiding the remorse she felt behind her warrior mask. She was surprised when Ephiny shook her head.
“No. When I saw that they had already left, I did the only thing I could do. I betrayed them and went to the Centaurs. I went to my son,” Ephiny explained before turning to Gabrielle. “You’re not the only traitor to the Amazons,” she said before looking down at the ground, although Gabrielle could still see the shame she felt in the warrior’s posture.
“Ephiny, you did the right thing,” Gabrielle assured her, making the other woman jerk her head up in anger.
“No, I didn’t. The Amazon Nation is supposed to come before everything else. I put my son ahead of them; and because of that decision, more of my sisters died and I’ve been branded a traitor,” she said.
“What you did... it didn’t just save your son, Ephiny. If they weren’t stopped there, they would have killed a lot of innocent people,” Gabrielle told her quietly. She wasn’t sure if the Amazon would listen to her, but she figured it was worth a try.
“And you know what would happen have happened then, don‘t you?” Xena continued on for Gabrielle, knowing she was more trusted than the bard at the moment. “The Amazons would become a target of other nations. And not just your tribe in Thrace, but all of the Amazons. And because they’re scattered, they wouldn’t be able to stand a chance against the rest of the world.” The warrior princess waited as Ephiny allowed the information to sink in, watching as conflicting emotions wore away at the Amazon’s warrior mask. “It was the right thing to do.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” she finally huffed, crossing her arms and walking away from them, no doubt heading off to deal with her guilt and everything they had said. Once she could no longer see Ephiny, Xena turned to face Gabrielle. She found the bard staring down at the ground, kicking small rocks around with her feet.
“Hey. You can’t blame yourself for what happened,” Xena told her, walking closer to the bard and lifting her chin up. Guilt-ridden green eyes briefly looked back at her before the bard pulled her head away from the warrior. “Gabrielle, it wasn’t your fault,” she said in a sterner voice, determined to take the weight off of her friend’s shoulders.
“Isn’t it, though? Everything she said was true,” the bard objected, not bothering to look at Xena. She was afraid that if she did, she would break down, and that was the last thing she needed.
“What she said was out of anger. Ephiny doesn’t know about what happened. If she did, I’m sure she would forgive you.”
“Xena, even if she did know, she wouldn’t forgive me. It would just make her hate me more,” Gabrielle argued with a sigh.
“What makes you say that?”
“Because she would think that I would rather stay with an abusive husband than go back to the Amazons,” she answered sadly before turning around and going back to the tavern, leaving Xena by herself for the first time in months. Knowing that Gabrielle needed her space, the warrior gave a mental sigh and headed for the stables, thinking that it had been awhile since she had taken Argo out for a run.
“Hey girl. Did you miss me?” she asked when she reached the stall that her loyal steed was stabled in. Argo whinnied as she nodded her head. Xena chuckled when the mare walked to the gate and began shoving her nose into her chest. “No, I don’t have anything for you today.” She laughed at the disappointed look the horse gave her before rubbing the mare’s nose. “I just thought you might want to go out for a run today.” The animal seemed to think it over for a moment before nodding in the affirmative. “Good, because I really need it,” Xena said before opening the gate.
Once Argo was saddled and ready to go, Xena mounted the horse and slowly exited stables. She smiled when she saw Solan and Nexa standing outside.
“What are you two doing out here?”
“Well, Gabrielle came back in the tavern and she wasn’t really in a good mood,” Solan started explaining.
“So you came out here to ask me what happened, did you?” Xena finished for him. Solan sheepishly rubbed the back of his head while Nexa nodded vehemently.
“But it looks like you’re busy, so we can wait. Isn’t that right, Nexa?” Solan looked down at the little girl, who nodded in response. Xena sighed before shaking her head.
“You two can come along.”
“Yay! I get to go fast!” Nexa yelled as she ran over to Argo. She squealed in delight when Xena reached down and pulled her up in front of her. Solan was able to contain his joy a bit better than Nexa, merely smiling as he went to get his own horse out of the stable. Once Solan’s horse was ready, the three of them were off. Although she was going slower than she had hoped to be going, Xena was still glad for the relaxing ride. Nexa’s yells of ‘Faster! Faster!’ also helped make the ride more enjoyable.
Xena didn’t stop until they reached a far off meadow that her and Lyceus used to play in. After quickly dismounting Argo and catching a jumping Nexa, Xena let the horses wander off for a while, knowing they would come back when she whistled.
“So Mother...”
“Who was the bad lady that was yelling at Mama?” Nexa asked before Solan had the chance to word it more discreetly. Solan sighed before glancing over at Nexa, who merely smiled at him.
“She wasn’t a bad lady. She was just... hurt. She’s mad at your mother,” Xena told the girl as she took a seat in the long grass. Nexa and Solan followed suit, although Nexa chose to sit on Xena’s lap rather than the ground.
“But why? Mama’s not a bad lady either,” she asked.
“No. Your Mama is a very good lady who’s been through more than most people have in a lifetime,” she assured the girl. “But Ephiny has gone through a lot, too, and now she just needs someone to blame,” she explained before laying on her back and staring up at the sky. “And now we need to make things right again so that she doesn‘t have to blame Gabrielle anymore.”
“Mom... are you going away again?” Solan asked, failing miserably at hiding his disappointment. Xena looked over at him and gave him a small smile.
“Not without you two,” she assured him. ‘I don’t think Gabrielle and I could stand being away from you for that long,’ she mentally added on before facing the sky again. “Of course, Amarice and Armon will be coming, too.” She almost laughed at the groan Solan made.
“You don’t like Am’wice?” Nexa asked curiously, looking over at the blonde boy. Xena looked to, wonder just what his answer would be. She chuckled when the boy couldn’t think of anything to say to the question before turning her eyes to the grey sky once more, trying to enjoy what she knew was going to be her last day of peace for a long time.
Later that night, when they finally returned to the inn, Xena carefully tucked a sleeping Nexa into bed before hugging her own son goodnight. She then headed to the room that her and Gabrielle shared, only to be stopped by the sound of pacing footsteps coming from inside of it. Along with the pacing, she could hear the bard muttering to herself. After a few moments of listening, she decided to end the one sided argument that Gabrielle was having with herself and entered the room.
Gabrielle didn’t seem to notice her when she came in, so she was sure to make her footsteps louder than usual. She doubted that now was the time to ‘sneak’, as Nexa put it, on the bard.
“Hello, Xena,” Gabrielle said when she felt arms wrap around her waist and pull her closer. Turning around, she looked up into pale blue eyes and smiled, even though she didn’t feel much like smiling. “I’ll have you know I’ve decided on what I’m going to do.”
“Oh really?” Xena asked with a raised eyebrow. “Because I’ve decided on what we’re going to do,” she said. Before Gabrielle could say anything else, she laid out her plan. “You’ll challenge Velasca and then name me as your champion.”
“Just like what you did when Melosa wouldn’t listen to you,” the bard said, getting a nod from Xena. “There’s only one problem with that. These people need a queen, Xena,” she told her. “And I can’t be their queen if I have you fighting all of my battles for me,” she said with a sigh before taking a seat on the bed.
“Gabrielle...” Xena began before getting interrupted by the small blonde.
“No, Xena. This is my fight. I messed up and I plan to take responsibility for my mistakes,” she said, hoping to stop any objections that the warrior princess had with her plan.
“I was going to ask if that’s what you really wanted. I guess it is,” the warrior said before taking a seat next to Gabrielle. “You’re wrong about one thing, though,” she stated, getting a curious look from the bard. “You didn’t mess up. What happened isn’t your fault, so you shouldn’t try to shoulder all of the blame for it,” she pointed out. Gabrielle simply sighed before leaning against Xena’s shoulder.
“If you say so, Xena,” Gabrielle said as she began tracing patterns on the warrior’s tanned arm.
“I do,” Xena told her before surprising both of them by kissing the top of the blonde head. Luckily, she was an expert at hiding the blush she could feel creeping up to her face. Gabrielle wasn’t, however, and soon her tanned cheeks were turning beet red before she got up from the bed.
“I think I’m going to go sit with Nexa for a little while. I’ll be back soon,” Gabrielle said before leaving Xena alone in the room. The warrior watched her leave before shaking her head. Why was it so hard for her to get through to the bard? Frustrated with herself, she laid back on the bed and waited for Gabrielle to come back. It wasn’t long before the bard was walking through the door again and was heading for Xena’s bed.
The blonde stood there for a moment, looking unsure of what she should do, before she finally asked for permission. Xena simply rolled her eyes before scooting over. Gabrielle gave her a smile in thanks before climbing into the bed with her.
“I’m sorry. I just... I really want to feel protected right now. Today was a little... testing,” she explained as she made her way closer to the warrior.
“No need to explain, Gabrielle,” Xena told her as she wrapped an arm around the slender body, secretly glad that the bard felt safe with her.
“Good night, Xena,” the bard said sleepily as she turned on her side and rested her head on Xena’s shoulder, her arm making its way across the warrior’s waist.
“’Night, Gabrielle,” Xena muttered in response as she began to close her eyes.
“Love you,” the blonde sighed softly as she managed to nestle herself closer, reminding Xena of Nexa. Once she could hear the soft snores coming from the bard, Xena gave her temple a soft kiss and whispered, “I love you, too, Gabrielle,” before joining the bard in sleep.