The small group of seven had only been traveling for little over a week when their journey was halted by the weather. The clouds had increasingly turned a dark shade of grey over the days and the wind had picked up to dangerous speeds. It was no surprise that heavy rain began to fall down upon the earth, bringing the temperature down along with it. Luckily, the travelers had Xena on their side, who had been able to lead them to a small town just in time to escape the worst of the storm.
The townspeople were more than willing to put them up until the end of the storm, especially since Amarice and Xena had once protected them from a warlord that had been preying on them, as well as the towns around them. They had even let them stay in their best inn, free of charge. To pay them back for their hospitality, Gabrielle happily told tales of her adventures with Xena, along with a few classic myths that everyone was familiar with. She was more than grateful for the chance to escape her reality; even if it was only for a little while.
Unfortunately, with everyone stuck together in such small quarters, a different kind of storm was beginning to brew inside of the inn. With such a large amount of tension between the travelers, it would only take a single spark to get the storm to rage out of control. And every patron of the inn that witnessed the interactions between the group wondered who would be the one to ignite the spark. They weren't the only ones that were speculating, however.
As Solan sat staring out the window, watching the heavy drops of rain slide down the glass, he thought back on the last few days that had passed in the town. He and Amarice were at each others throats, just like they used to be. Armon had unwillingly been pulled into their verbal war as well. He wasn't as eager as Amarice was to get into a fight with the son of the mighty warrior princess, but whenever the fifteen year old made a jab at the Amazon, he was forced to stand up for his woman. Solan was secretly happy whenever he saw that the dark-skinned male's attempts to stand up for Amarice made her more aggravated. Of course, he would never admit that to himself.
"Solan?" The small voice of a certain blonde child pulled the teenager out of his thoughts. Turning away from the window, Solan found himself looking at a four year old with the saddest expression on her face that he had ever seen.
"What is it, Nexa?" he asked, walking over to her side as he spoke. In no time at all, he had the troubled blonde in his arms.
"Scared," was the simple answer he received as he carried her over to the bed and sat down, careful not to jostle the young girl too much.
"What's got you so frightened, huh?" he asked, wiping away a tear that had begun to descend down the girl's cheek. "Is it the storm?" he questioned when the blonde didn't answer him. Nexa shook her head in response before burying it in Solan's shoulder.
"Eph'ny," she told him, her reply muffled by the scratchy fabric of his shirt. Sensing that the younger child needed comforting, Solan began to rub her back in small circles, hoping to make her feel better.
“What’s so scary about Ephiny? Did she yell at you?” he asked curiously. He didn’t have any problems with the Amazon himself, but he didn’t really know her that well. All he knew was that she was very angry and hurt, just like Xena had told them. He did realize that she was also very intimidating.
“Not me. Yelled at Mama. Scared for Mama,” the girl told him in a quiet whisper. “I don’t want Mama to get more booboos.” Solan had to smile at the younger girl’s protectiveness of her mother.
“Nexa, I don’t think Ephiny is going to hurt Gabrielle,” he assured her. “Especially when she has you protecting her.”
“But... I couldn’t protect her from Daddy,” the small blonde admitted in a quiet whisper, causing a frown to appear on Solan’s face. He didn’t know much about Nexa’s father, just that he had been a very bad man and had hit Gabrielle.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked. For a moment, he wasn’t sure if Nexa was going to answer, but soon he felt the girl shaking her head against his torso. Solan sighed before resting his head on the dark blonde locks. He hated knowing that the girl was scared and that he couldn’t do anything about it. Ever since they had taken Nexa in, he had viewed her as the younger sister that he never had.
“Why did Daddy hurt Mama?” Nexa quietly asked as she pulled away from Solan’s torso. “Mama’s good.”
“Nexa... sometimes, there are just people out there that do things that don’t make sense to us,” Solan told the small child with another sigh. “But you should know that you did protect your mother in a way. You, little girl, were her reason for living.”
“That’s what Jade said when I asked him,” Nexa told Solan with a small pout, scowling when the blonde boy chuckled and ruffled her hair.
“What else did Jade tell you?” he asked, hoping to get the girl’s thoughts off of the depressing subject. Four year olds shouldn’t be thinking about such depressing things, after all.
“He told me you have a nice butt,” the blonde replied, causing Solan’s eyes to widen. He then watched as the girl’s head turned, her attention obviously taken by something else. “You did, too... Yes, you did!” Solan smirked as he listened to the girl argue with an unseen friend.
“Perhaps you should go see your mother now?” he suggested. “I’m sure she’s wondering where you’ve gotten to.”
“How’d you know?” The familiar voice caused both Solan and Nexa to look towards the doorway, where they saw the girl’s mother waiting. Nexa’s face immediately broke out into a grin before the girl jumped off of Solan’s lap and ran over to Gabrielle. “Hello there, my little warrior. Have you been bugging Solan?” she asked, resting a hand on the girl’s head.
“No! I never bug Solan,” the girl assured her mother as she gave her a hug around the legs.
“Never, eh?” Gabrielle asked, receiving a nod as her answer. “Well, that’s good news. Know who you should go bug, though?” Nexa looked up with curious blue eyes. “Xena. She says she’s in the mood to get bugged by a certain blonde little girl.”
“I’m not little!” Nexa objected, earning an apologetic look from her mother.
“Sorry. I meant to say ’certain big, strong warrior’,” Gabrielle corrected herself, smiling as she watched her daughter nod before taking off to find the warrior princess. ‘That ought to teach her to get me a horse that‘s part giant,’ the bard thought with a satisfied smirk before walking over to Solan.
“Hey there,” she greeted him, feeling rather awkward. She hadn’t really had the chance to speak with him while she was back in Amphipolis, despite the fact that they had lived together for so long.
“Hi,” he replied, just as awkwardly. Not only had he not spoken to Gabrielle much during her stay in Amphipolis, but he had had a crush on her when they had first met. He had outgrown that crush, but that didn’t make things less awkward for him.
“I wanted to say thank you... for looking after Nexa for me. She’s fortunate to have such a great friend looking after her,” Gabrielle told him after she took a seat next to him on the bed.
“There’s really no thanks necessary. She’s a cute kid,” he assured her, giving a casual wave of his hand.
“Yeah, she sure is...” the bard mused. “But, just because she’s a cute kid didn’t mean you had to look after her like you did while I was...gone. Not a lot of teenage boys like to hang around a four year old for very long.” Solan simply shrugged, causing the bard to smile. “You are too much like your mother,” she joked before giving him a quick hug. “Thank you again. It really means a lot to me,” she told him once more before standing up and leaving the room, allowing Solan the privacy that he most likely needed. Not only that, but she could hear a certain warrior princess yelling for her.
Despite the arguing between Solan and Amarice, the temporary stay inside the inn went by without any major conflict. There had almost been a point where Amarice leapt across a table and throttled the blonde boy, but Xena and Ephiny had quickly reminded her that they were in a public place that was willing to let them stay. Not wanting to end up out in the rain, the two had quickly dialed down their antics. It wasn’t until after the storm passed that things took a turn for the worse.
The tempest had left a trail of destruction, leaving piles of rubble where houses used to stand and lining the streets with dangerous debris. Many of the people had been left homeless and injured by the storm, striking a chord in the bard’s heart. She knew she had to help the Amazons, but at the same time, she didn’t feel right leaving the townspeople to fend for themselves.
‘They let you fend for yourself, didn’t they?’ a small voice in her head questioned as she stared outside her window, watching as the citizens tried to put their lives back together.
‘That wasn’t them. It was an entirely different town on the other side of Greece,’ Gabrielle reminded herself, mentally shaking her head before bringing pinching the bridge of her nose. Why was she having an argument with herself?
“Something wrong?” Gabrielle smiled at the sound of her friend’s familiar voice. Leave it to her to show up just before she got herself depressed.
“Of course not, Xena. The storm’s finally over...” she assured the dark haired warrior.
“But?”
“Well...” Gabrielle sighed before shaking her head. “Xena, we can’t just let these people rebuild by themselves. They took us in. I want to get to the Amazons, but I don’t want to take advantage of these people. They’ve done so much to help us, after all.”
“So... you’re saying you want to stay and help?” the warrior princess asked, hoping she was wrong. She mentally groaned when the bard nodded her head. Ephiny definitely not going to enjoy this news. “Gabrielle, this town... it has enough people to rebuild by themselves.”
“I know but... can’t we just help out a little bit?” The blonde bit her lower lip as she watched the warrior try to come to a decision.
“Would you quit looking at me like that?” Xena asked in a growl as she watched Gabrielle staring at her.
“Like what?” the bard asked innocently.
“Like I just kicked your puppy,” Xena said before throwing her hands up in defeat. “Fine. We’ll stick around. But only for today,” she conceded, not enjoying the triumphant smirk on her friend’s face. “You’re the one that gets to explain to Ephiny why we aren’t leaving today, though.” That wiped the smile off of Gabrielle’s face. Satisfied with herself, Xena left the bard in her room to think of a way to break it to Ephiny that they would be staying another day.
‘I could just... no, that won’t work...’ Gabrielle sighed, realizing that there would be no easy way to confront the curly haired Amazon about the subject. ‘Might as well go face the music,’ she thought before leaving her room. She was surprised to find the very Amazon she was looking for exiting her room a little ways down the hall.
“Ephiny, I was just about to go looking for you,” Gabrielle called out, just barely managing to stop herself from stammering. “There was something I needed to talk to you about.”
“Oh really, princess?” Ephiny asked, crossing her arms over her chest. “And just what would that something be?” Gabrielle took a breath, preparing herself to tell the other Amazon.
“We’restayinghereanotherday,” she rushed, hoping that Ephiny couldn’t understand her.
“We’re what!” No such luck. “Gabrielle, we have to get to the Amazons! We can’t just stay here another day! Every day that we spend here is another day that Velasca is queen!”
“Ephiny, these people need help.”
“I don’t care what these people need. I care about what the Amazons need, which is obviously something you don’t care about,” the angry woman exclaimed. “Some princess you are.”
“That’s not true, and you know it,” Gabrielle said, although she had to admit that there was very little evidence of that fact.
“Just stop, Gabrielle. I’ll go the village myself. You can stay here and help, since they’re so important to you,” Ephiny told her, not giving her a chance to answer. The younger blonde sighed before shaking her head once more. She had been so close to earning Ephiny’s trust again, and then she had to blow it by wanting to help a town that never helped her.
‘No. That was the other town. This town did help,’ she reminded herself once more before going after the curly haired Amazon. Hopefully she could get the Amazon to listen to reason.
“Ephiny! Ephiny, wait!” the bard called out once she caught up with the other woman outside. She was heading for the stables where she had kept her horse. She had decided to keep him in a separate one from Gabrielle’s horse so that they wouldn’t have another chance encounter. It seemed that even that plan hadn’t worked, seeing as she still found herself turning around to talk to the smaller blonde.
“What!” she asked, agitated. “If you’re going to try to explain, save your breath. I don’t want to hear it,” she said before turning on her heels and walking away once more.
“Ephiny, you don’t understand. I-”
“No, I don’t understand!” she interrupted the bard, turning to face her again. “I don’t understand why you are putting the welfare of these people ahead of the Amazons. The Amazons that you are supposed to be ruling over! Tell me, Gabrielle. Is a town full of strangers more important than your Amazon sisters?” The silence that met her question gave Ephiny all the answer she needed. “Like I said: Some princess,” she scoffed.
“Will you just listen to me, Ephiny? I am not putting these people ahead of the Amazons!” Gabrielle argued. The curly haired Amazon simply turned once more and headed for the stables. “What happened to being my friend?” the bard asked, making Ephiny stop once more. Taking advantage of the pause, Gabrielle stepped closer and reached a cautious hand out. Before she even made contact, however, Ephiny had spun around and was throwing a blow at her head that she just barely managed to block.
“I haven’t been your friend since you left!” Ephiny shouted before throwing another punch, which was once again blocked by pure instinct on the bard‘s part. “I haven’t been your friend since you got married!” she yelled, kicking her leg out and sweeping it behind Gabrielle’s knees, knocking the bard to the ground. “And frankly, I’m tired of pretending to be your friend, just so you’ll feel better!” she added on before kicking at the other woman again. She was surprised to feel her foot meet resistance; namely, Gabrielle’s grip.
“What the...?” Before she could finish the sentence, she found herself being painfully flipped onto her back and getting the wind knocked out of her. Once she recovered her breath, she saw the bard standing over her, a distant look in her eyes. It was like she wasn’t even there. “Gabrielle?” she asked before rolling out of the way of a kick sent her way and jumping up to her feet. “Fine. If you want a fight, then you’ve got one. It will be a pleasure teaching you a lesson.” With that, the fight between the two Amazons was on.
It didn’t take long for Ephiny to realize that the Gabrielle she was fighting wasn’t the same one that had been in the healing temple in Thessaly so long ago. That Gabrielle had nearly risked death by not striking an attacker with a killing blow. The Gabrielle she was fighting now only seemed to want to kill her. The Amazon found herself struggling to block the blows that came her way. It was even harder for her to get in an attack of her own while Gabrielle was on the offensive.
It wasn’t until she thought she saw an opening near Gabrielle’s left side that Ephiny felt a spark of hope. She quickly brought her leg up in an attempt to land a kick to the exposed side, only to find that it had been a false opening. She then found her leg trapped by the arm of an angry bard. Gabrielle gave her little time to think about her predicament, however, before sending her onto her back again.
‘Since when does she move that fast?’ Ephiny wondered before kicking her legs up as the bard went to pounce on her, intending to send the bard flying. The result wasn’t exactly what the curly haired woman had planned, seeing as the other blonde had managed to twist in mid-air and land gracefully on her feet. “It seems being a housewife has taught you a few new tricks,” Ephiny mumbled after jumping to a standing position. Gabrielle didn’t answer, but the Amazon soon found herself blocking her face from more attacks.
She wasn’t sure how long it was before she saw a true opening, near the other blonde’s shoulder, but she took the chance and successfully got a punch through the bard’s defenses. Unfortunately, it was lacking her usual strength and the attack itself turned out to be a mistake. Once Gabrielle had recovered from the hit, she countered with a kick to Ephiny’s head, which hit its mark. The Amazon was dropped to the ground with a loud ‘thud‘, slightly dazed from the blow. It didn’t take long for her to figure out that the bard was on top of her, though.
At some point through her hazy mental state, she heard the unsheathing of metal. Soon she found herself staring up at the business end of a sai. There was an involuntary gulp as she watched the blade descend towards her body...
Continued...