As the sun began to sink below the horizon, Lila found the wagon pulling into Amphipolis once more. It had been at least a month since she had heard from Xena when a messenger from Cyrene's tavern came bearing a message from the warrior princess a few days ago. Now, the warrior princess needed her to come back to Amphipolis. Lila had been fearing the worst the entire trip.
Xena had told her that Potidaea would be her first stop if she found Gabrielle. Obviously, that hadn't happened; and now Xena needed to tell her something that she didn't want her parents to hear.
"Lila, stop fidgeting. I'm sure what Xena has to say will be good news." The feel of her husband's hand resting on her forearm made Lila come out of her melancholy thoughts.
"I hope you're right, Leo," she said with a sigh before a scowl appeared on her face. "I'm not fidgeting!"
"What do you call it, then?" Lila looked down at her hands and discovered that she really had been fidgeting. A slight pout appeared on her face as she turned her head and watched the small shops go by. "That's what I thought," Leo chuckled. The rest of the ride went by in silence. Luckily, they were soon pulling in front of Cyrene's tavern, where they would be meeting Xena.
"Ready?" Leo asked, looking over at his wife. Lila was quiet for a moment, her mind going through a whirlwind. Did she really want to know what Xena had to tell her? She didn't know if she'd be able to handle it if the news was anything but good. She felt her husband place his larger hand over hers and give a reassuring squeeze. Lila closed her eyes and came to a decision.
'Gabrielle's my sister. I deserve to know what's going on, even if it's not what I expected.' Taking a deep breath, Lila opened her eyes again and nodded her head. "As ready as I'll ever be," she told him before getting down from the wagon. He was by her side in no time, and she found her hand subconsciously slipping into his for comfort. Once she had mentally prepared herself, Lila led the way into the tavern with her head held high.
It took a few moments for the busy inn-keeper to notice the familiar couple that walked into the tavern, but she greeted them with a friendly smile when she finally saw them. Once she was finished dealing with an angry customer, she quickly approached them and wrapped the two friends in a hug.
"It's good to see you so soon. Xena should be back in a moment," the older woman told them as she pulled out of the hug, "Two friends of Xena's showed up rather unexpectedly, and she had to go talk with one them. Or at one of them. Whatever it is my daughter prefers to do when people don't listen to her." Cyrene shook her head slightly when she said the last part.
"We understand. Do you want us to go put our stuff up in the room we stayed in last time?" Leo asked when it became apparent that Lila wasn't going to say anything.
"I had the room reserved specifically for you two," Cyrene replied with a smile before her attention was brought to one of the waitresses, who was holding a mug of ale over one of the patrons that had been giving her a hard time. "Tara! Don't you even think about it!" The teenager's head shot up and looked over at the stern inn-keeper, who was now tapping her foot. Giving Cyrene a sheepish smile, Tara brought the mug down to her side once more and walked away to serve more of the hungry customers. "I don't know what I'm going to do with her. It's like trying to raise another Xena," Cyrene admitted as she shook her head.
"I'm sure she'll turn out alright then," Leo told her with a smile before leading his wife to the staircase and ascending the steps. Soon, the couple was in the familiar room that they had been allowed to stay in the first time they came to Amphipolis to see Xena.
"Leo, I'm not sure if I can do this. What if... What if something horrible has happened to Gabrielle?" Lila sat down on the bed and wrapped her arms around herself. Leo came and sat beside her, wrapping his own arms around her.
"Lila, you and I both know that you'll listen to what Xena has to say. If something bad did happen, it's better for us to know than be left in the dark," Leo reminded her, gently kissing the back of her head in reassurance. He felt Lila sigh before resting her head on his chest.
"If you say so," she said sadly, closing her eyes in an attempt to bring back all the resolve that she had had when she got off the wagon. Her eyes snapped open, however, when she heard yelling coming from outside. Pulling away from her husband, the dark haired girl got up from the bed and walked over to the window. From her vantage point, she could see the familiar warrior princess, but it was impossible to see who she was yelling at.
"For the last time, no. Absolutely not!" The dark haired warrior was putting her foot down. Finding Gabrielle should be her problem, not everyone else's! When her friend merely smirked at her, she continued her rant, but in a much quieter voice. She had seen Lila watching her from her window, and she didn't want the girl to find out because she couldn't control her volume. "I appreciate the offer, I really do, but this is my problem. You don't have to do this."
"Xena, Gabrielle is my friend, too," the sandy haired demigod reminded her. "Iolaus and I truly want to help." The large man crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for Xena to respond. "Face it, Xena. You're good, but even the best need help sometimes," he pointed out.
"How did you even find out?" she asked, more interested in finding out how Hercules had found out what she was going to do before she even knew what she was going to do than she was in conceding to his point.
"Let's just say that not all Gods are like Ares," he said with a shrug.
"I don't think I need anymore godly interference," Xena growled in response.
"She only wants to help you and Gabrielle. Even if her reasoning is a little... self-centered." He muttered the last part to himself as he remembered his half-sister's attitude, and the reasons she had for telling him about the problem between Xena and Gabrielle. An angry fire in Xena's icy eyes flared at the information.
"Are you telling me the goddess of love is the one that wants to help me take on Ares? Please tell me you're joking."
"She may seem a little... egocentric," Xena snorted at this, earning a look from Hercules, "but Iolaus has been getting close to her, and I believe him when he says there's more to her than she wants people to believe." Xena still had a look of disbelief on her face, so Hercules tried a new tactic. "She sent me to you, didn't she?"
"If she really wanted to help, she'd use those godly powers of hers to bring Gabrielle back to me," Xena argued as a last defense.
"Like you said: She's the goddess of love. Do you really think Aphrodite would stand a chance against Ares if he caught her interfering in his plans to get you back on his side?" Hercules pointed out. Xena was silent, not wanting to admit that her friend was right.
"Fine," she finally said before walking away. The demigod smiled to himself as he followed after her, glad that he had been able to get Xena to see things his way. He knew that Xena knew he was right from the very beginning. She was just too stubborn to ask for help or receive it without a fuss.
"Hercules, I do believe that your friend here may be one of my favorite patrons now," Cyrene called out from the bar when they entered the tavern, nodding towards the table that Iolaus occupied. "Oh, Xena!" The warrior stopped her trek over to the table with Hercules and turned around. "Lila and Leo arrived not too long ago. They're getting settled upstairs if you want to talk to them now."
"I'll be right back, Hercules." The large man waved her off before taking a seat at the table with Iolaus, who was currently trying to fit all of Cyrene's food into his stomach in one night.
Not wanting to keep Lila waiting any longer, Xena took the stairs two at a time. She wasn't exactly sure how she was going to tell Lila what she had learned, but she knew the girl had to find out someday. Once she reached the top of the stairs, Xena made her way to Lila's room. She stood outside of it for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts and think of a way to break the news to her friend's younger sister. As ready as she could be, she opened the door.
"Lila, there's something I need to tell you about your sister," she said, shutting the door behind her as she began to reveal what had happened to Gabrielle.
After many interruptions and tears on Lila's part, Xena was finally able to finish the story an hour later. Leo sat holding his crying wife, comforting her the best he could, while Xena tried to tell her that she would do everything she could, and possibly a few things she couldn't, just to get Gabrielle back. Lila couldn't be calmed down, though.
"Why did we have to push her so hard into marrying him?" Lila asked through her tears, her voice muffled by Leo's shoulder. "Why didn't we see what he was really like?" Not having the answers to his wife's questions, Leo held his wife while Xena tried her best to pull the young woman out of her guilt.
"Lila, no one knew what Perdicas was like. Even I didn't, and I'm an expert at judging hostility," she reasoned. "He had everyone fooled. And even though we can't do anything about that now, we can try our best to save Gabrielle." Lila sniffled as she pulled her dark head away from Leo's shoulder and wiped her tears on the sleeve of her dress.
"She shouldn't have to be saved. She shouldn't even be gone!" Lila pointed out angrily, although she missed the flicker of guilt across Xena's face. The dark-haired young woman was correct; Gabrielle shouldn't have been out of her life. If she had just paid one visit to their home, Xena would have made sure that Gabrielle never went missing. But, she had chickened out each time she decided to go. Each time she decided to put off going was another day that Gabrielle could have been beaten.
"I know she shouldn't be gone, Lila, but she is. You're going to have to deal with it until we find her again. So either you quit playing the blame game and pinning it all on yourself and help find her, or go back to Potidaea with Leo and forget that any of this ever happened," Xena told her, deciding that tough love was about to become a familiar concept to Gabrielle's sister.
"You don't even know if she really is alive. You're practically basing the idea on words of her three year old daughter, and there's the possibility that she isn't even Gabrielle's daughter!" Lila countered.
"She is alive, Lila. Otherwise, Ares wouldn't have tried to cut a deal with me." Xena pinched the bridge of her nose, fighting off the headache that was beginning to form. Repeating what had happened to Gabrielle had been emotionally draining, and Lila's yelling wasn't helping. She was glad she had decided to send Nexa and Solan outside to play earlier. She didn't need Nexa to hear Lila doubting that she was Gabrielle's daughter. She had a feeling the little girl would be upset if she did.
"And how are you going to find her? Just wander around Greece until you find some kind of clue?"
"Lila, I think maybe you should wait until you've calmed down a little before asking Xena all these questions," Leo suggested, beginning to rub her shoulders slightly in an attempt to calm her down. The younger woman was about to object, but the hands gently massaging her shoulders were producing the desired effect. "Xena, maybe you should come back in a little while. She should be ready to act civil by then," he whispered as Lila's eyes began to close. Xena nodded and left the room, giving Lila the time to catch up on some much needed rest. It was obvious that the three days of worrying while traveling to Amphipolis, and then learning about her sister, had been taxing on the dark haired young woman.
After quietly closing the door, Xena headed back down stairs. The conversation with Lila had actually gone much better than she thought it would, but she still wished she hadn't been the one to upset Gabrielle's little sister so much.
'If he wanted to help so much, Hercules could have done that part,' Xena thought to herself as she reached the base of the stairs, even though she knew it had been better that she told Lila.
"So how did it go?" Hercules asked when his dark friend joined him and Iolaus at the table.
"I just told Lila that her sister was beaten by the husband they all wanted her to marry, killed him, and that I have no idea where she is. How do you think it went?" Xena asked coldly. Iolaus, who had been reaching for a piece of meat off of Hercules' plate, stopped mid-reach at the tone in Xena's voice. For a moment, it seemed like all of the noise in the tavern died. Seconds later, the activity picked back up and Iolaus was slowly pulling his hand back away from Hercules' plate.
"Xena, things are going to turn out just fine. I doubt that Gabrielle will be lost to us for very long with you out there searching for her," her friend assured her as he placed a large hand over hers, quickly pulling back when she gave him a cold look. She didn't want to be comforted right now. She didn't even want to be in the tavern; she wanted to be out looking for Gabrielle. And if it weren't for Lila, that's exactly what she would be doing.
"Look Hercules... I know you're just trying to help, but leave me alone for awhile, okay? I'll be alright," she told him as she got up from the table. She knew what she needed, and that was a good work out. Leaving her two friends behind, Xena left the tavern and headed for the outskirts of the small city. She knew of a spot in the line of trees that protected Amphipolis that would be a good spot to get rid of the stress that had been weighing down on her.
It wasn't long before she was entering the clearing that she used to visit when she was younger. Even before she started using a sword, the small space in the woods provided her a sanctuary. As she closed her eyes, memories of running to the woods whenever she got into a fight with her mother or older brother began flooding into her head. Even Lyceus hadn't known about the clearing.
Xena opened her eyes, ending the memories, before reaching back and pulling her sword out of its sheath. Her icy blue eyes reflected off the sharp blade as she got into a ready stance. Without a sound, she began fighting the imaginary opponent she created in her mind. The warrior princess lost track of the time as the fight between her invisible opponent continued. As the deadly dance between her and the air progressed into the night, the only audible sound was coming from the attacks she made on her imaginary enemy. By the time Xena finished, sweat matted her hair to the side of her face.
Exhausted, she sank to the ground, dropping her sword to the ground beside her. It had been a long time since she had worked herself that hard during drills, and the outlet had allowed her to take her frustration out on something other than those close to her.
“Xena?” The tentative, boyish voice made Xena turn her head. Even though the sky had darkened long ago, it was easy for Xena to make out Solan’s fair hair coming towards her. “Xena, are you alright?”
“I’m fine, Solan. How long have you been standing over there?”
“Nexa and I saw you on our way back from the tree you told us about. I sent Nexa back to grandmother’s and decided to follow you,” he told her as he sat down beside her. She gave him a questioning look, but then remembered that he couldn’t see as well as she could.
“Why?”
“I guess I was a little worried,” he admitted sheepishly. Xena found that hard to believe, considering that he had been so angry with her for not telling him who she was. She told him as much. “I may be... upset with you... but I can still worry, can’t I?” he told her. Xena chuckled in amusement. “What’s so funny?”
“I thought worrying was supposed to be my job,” she told him.
“Hasn’t anyone told you that you’ve been working too hard lately? I think maybe it’s time someone showed how worried they were about you for a change,” he responded with a smirk.
“Good to know you’re looking out for me, even when you’re... upset with me,” she said.
“Me?! Oh no. I was talking about Grandmother,” Solan said jokingly, flashing her a smile before standing up again.
“Of course you were.” Xena got to her feet as well, returning her son’s grin with a hesitant smile of her own as she picked up her sword and put it away. Although things weren’t perfect between them, it was nice to know that her son didn’t hate her. Thinking back on the conversations that she heard him have with Nexa lately, she realized it was nice to know that he was trying to figure out her reasoning for her actions, too. ‘It may take a while, but I may end up having both Gabrielle and Solan in my life,” she thought as she led the way back to the city.
When they got back to Cyrene’s tavern, her mother told Xena that Leo had been down to tell her that Lila had calmed down significantly. Deciding she should get it done and over with, the warrior princess left Solan to look after Nexa while she went upstairs to talk to Gabrielle’s sister once more.
Passing the door to Hercules’, and then Iolaus’ room, Xena came to Lila’s and Leo’s. Once again she had to mentally prepare herself to face the younger woman. Taking a deep breath, Xena went into the room and shut the door behind her, scaring Lila, who was staring out the window once more.
“Oh, Xena! You’re back. Look, I’m sorry about how I acted earlier,” the younger woman started to apologize before Xena held up a hand.
“Lila, there’s no need to apologize. Gabrielle’s your sister and you love her very much. I actually expected things to go much worse,” Xena assured her before looking around. There was something missing from the room that she couldn’t place for a moment. “Where’s Leo?”
“Well, after he talked to your mother, he decided to spend some time with those friends of yours. Speaking of friends, where’s Amarice? I’m not saying that I miss her company or anything, but isn’t she supposed to be your sidekick or something?” Xena watched in amusement as Lila paced around the room, straightening certain things out, as she talked. No doubt she was trying to stay in the calm state she was in by distracting herself.
“Amarice decided she needed a little time to herself so she could work a few things out,” Xena said in response to her question as she watched Lila straighten out the blanket on the bed. The younger woman paused for a moment before letting out a frustrated sound.
“Look Xena, I just need to know... How are you going to find Gabrielle?” she finally asked, unable to refrain from asking any longer.
“I have many skills, Lila. I also have a few good friends that are willing to help find her,” Xena told her. “Did you know that even the mighty Hercules wants to help find your sister?” She watched as Lila’s eyes widened in surprise.
“You mean that’s who Leo’s...?” Xena nodded, guessing what Lila’s question was. The surprise only lasted for a few moments, however, and was soon replaced by the familiar discouraged expression that had been on her face since she was called to Amphipolis. “What if no one can find her?”
“Then I go to plan Beta,” Xena told her.
“What’s plan Beta?” Lila asked curiously. By the look in Xena’s eyes, she didn’t think she’d like it.
“Ares,” Xena said simply. That was all she needed to say for Lila to see Xena’s true feelings for her older sister.
“You love her... don’t you?” A sad smile appeared on Lila’s face when Xena didn’t answer her. “Xena, she wouldn’t want you to give up everything you’ve worked at for her. No matter how much has happened to her, I know that Gabrielle wouldn’t want you to go back to Ares because of her. And as much I want to find her, I can't ask you to do something like that.”
“I guess we’ll just have to find her then, won’t we?” Xena said before leaving Lila alone in her room until Leo came back.
Later that night, Xena’s eyes shot open at the sound of her door opening. Her body tensed as she stretched her senses in an attempt to figure out where the intruder was. Xena relaxed, however, when she heard a small sniffle before feeling the bed move at the new weight crawling up beside her. Even though it didn’t happen very often, Xena always knew when it was Nexa that was joining her.
“What has you up at this hour, Little One?” she asked in a quiet voice, her internal clock telling her that there was still a few hours until the sun even came up.
“Scared,” said the little girl as she crawled under the covers. Xena’s arm instinctively curled around the small child as Nexa got comfortable. “Mama getted a booboo.” Nexa sniffled once more as she wiped her eyes. Unsure of what to say, Xena pulled the girl closer and kissed the top of her head.
“Don’t worry, Nexa. We’ll get your Mama back as soon as we can, and then you can help fix all of her booboos,” she promised, not only to Nexa, but to herself as well.
“’Kay, Xena.” The small girl’s voice was a bit steadier now that she had been assured that she could help her Mama. “Love you,” she muttered sleepily before drifting back into Morpheus’ realm, leaving Xena to ponder what she had said.
At first, she thought that Nexa had only been having bad dreams about what it had been like before she came to Amphipolis, when she lived with Gabrielle and Perdicas. There was something telling her that there was more to it, though. It seemed like every fiber in her body was trying to tell her that Nexa’s dreams and Gabrielle were connected somehow, but the thought was almost too ridiculous for Xena to consider it. Almost. Tucking the thought in the back of her mind, Xena closed her eyes, wondering just what Nexa had seen that had scared the little girl enough to come sneaking into her room.
“I can’t believe you let that attack get through,” Callisto snickered, leaning forward and examining the bandage around Gabrielle’s middle. The smaller blonde laying on her back couldn’t help but glare at the insane woman before returning her attention back up to the roof of her rocky cell.
“Ouch!” she yelped when she felt pressure placed on the wound in her side. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked, turning her head to face Callisto once more.
“Making sure you don’t drift off to sleep,” the willowy blonde explained, attempting to look innocent and failing miserably.
“Callisto, it’s a side wound, not a concussion,” Gabrielle pointed out, feeling like she was talking to a child.
“I know that. I’m not an idiot, as much as you like to think I am,” Callisto told her. “You just make too much noise when you sleep. Not that you don’t make a lot of noise when you’re awake.” Gabrielle took a deep breath, trying not to lose her temper since she knew that would just make Callisto happier.
“I don’t think you’re an idiot. Just crazy,” she said, adding the last part on in a whisper. “And what do you mean I make too much noise when I sleep?” she asked, genuinely curious.
“Most people, sane or not, don’t scream when they’re sleeping,” Callisto told her before pressing on the wound again.
“Ouch! Will you cut it out?! I’m not going to sleep any time soon! It hurts enough as it is without you touching it,” Gabrielle snapped at her.
“It wouldn’t hurt if you hadn’t let that little runt with the knife get in between us,” Callisto told her with a chuckle. Gabrielle shot her a dirty look from her position on the floor.
“Maybe if you had offered a little more help, instead of taking the other guy’s fingers off one by one, I wouldn’t have gotten hit,” she reminded the willowy blonde. She regretted even thinking about the torture that Callisto had made one of the other men go through when she felt her stomach flip. Stifling a groan, she scooted a little further from the insane woman.
"Oh, but it was so much fun. You should have seen the look on his face," the willowy blonde said almost cheerfully.
"I did see the look on his face. That's exactly why his partner's dagger got through," Gabrielle pointed out. "And I'd appreciate it if you would stop talking about it like it was some kind of game. That was another man out there, and you tortured him before you killed him!" Callisto rolled her eyes at Gabrielle’s words.
"Oh, like you should really be talking right now." Callisto sat back on her haunches, boredly examining her finger nails. “Get off that high horse of yours before you fall off. You're probably the biggest hypocrite I know, besides Xena. That must have rubbed off on you. Obviously her fighting skills didn't."
“Excuse me?” Gabrielle asked, glancing over to where Callisto was sitting as she waited for an explanation.
“You heard me, little bard. You may be the worst murderer I’ve ever seen, but you’re a murderer all the same,” Callisto said as she continued to stare at her hands. “So before you go preaching to me about my means of entertainment, think about where you are.”
“I am not a murderer,” she protested, although lately she had begun to suspect that Callisto was right. “At least, I don’t kill for fun.”
“Then why do you kill, little bard? Hoping you’ll stay alive long enough to see Xena again?” The willowy blonde’s gaze jerked up from her hands, and Gabrielle found herself staring into angry brown eyes before Callisto regained her composure. “What makes you think she’s even coming for you? She certainly didn’t save you from whoever it was that put you in here,” she said calmly as she looked back down at her nails. “Hm... You have more light over there. Did I get all the blood out from underneath my nails?” she asked, splaying her fingers out so Gabrielle could see better in the moonlight. The former bard ignored the subject change and sat up.
“You don’t know anything about Xena. All you know is that you want to kill her for something that isn’t her fault,” Gabrielle said, gritting her teeth against the pain in her side as she got to her feet. Chocolate brown eyes followed her.
“I suppose you think you know all there is to know about her, then?” Callisto asked sarcastically. “Well then tell me, little bard from Potidaea. Tell me about Xena. What’s so great about your warrior princess that I can’t see, besides the fact that she’s a murderer like you?”
“She’s not a murderer, you are!” Gabrielle yelled angrily.
“Ah ah ah, Gabrielle. Xena created me when she murdered my family,” Callisto reminded her as she stood up.
“I told you before that what happened wasn’t Xena’s fault. She lives with the guilt from Cirra every day.”
“Good. That’s the way it should be,” Callisto said as she crossed the cell and stood toe-to-toe with the former Amazon. “Murderers should have to live with the blood on their hands.”
And what about the blood on your hands, Callisto?” Gabrielle asked quietly, causing the willowy blonde to look at her with a puzzled expression. “In your quest for revenge, you turned into the very person you hate. You’ve probably killed just as many as Xena has,” she explained. Callisto let out a short laugh before placing a bony hand on the smaller blonde’s shoulder. Gabrielle tried to pull away, but Callisto’s grip was surprisingly strong.
“All of the blood that I’ve spilled is on Xena’s hands. If she hadn’t destroyed Cirra, none of this would have happened.”
“And if you hadn’t chosen the path of revenge, you never would have become a murderer,” Gabrielle told her sadly before managing to pull herself away from the insane woman. As she painfully made her way to the bars of the cell, which was now becoming her favorite spot in the cell, Gabrielle had a lot more on her mind than she did when the day first started. Although she didn’t want to admit it, some of the things Callisto said had gotten to her.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the cell, Callisto was shooing away her rat friends. For once, she wasn’t in the mood to talk to them. She didn’t want to admit it, but the last thing that Gabrielle had said to her really got her thinking. She hated thinking.