Once she had finished with her tale, Xena looked at her mother and Amarice. The whole time that she had been telling the story, she had been caught up in the past and unable to pull herself out of her memories to judge how her audience had been reacting to her words. That's why Gabrielle had been the bard in their partnership, and not her.
"So... We've been traveling with your son this past week?" Amarice asked once she was able to overcome her surprise. Xena nodded. "I knew there was something familiar about him!" Amarice exclaimed, almost making her chair tip over when she punched the air triumphantly. "You may not have raised him, Xena, but he sure does have your attitude." she teased the older woman once she resettled herself.
Surprisingly, Amarice had no problems with the fact that Solan was her friend's son, although it was weird for her to think of Xena as a parent. Even if Xena had lied about who the boy was, it wasn't like Amarice didn't have her own secrets that she hadn't shared with anyone yet. At least Xena kept her secret for a good reason. If anyone knew about Solan, it was very likely that the boy wouldn't have lived to see the age of ten. Cyrene, however, wasn't as understanding as Amarice.
"You mean to tell me that I've been a grandmother for fourteen years, and you never planned on telling me?" she asked. "Xena, how could you keep something like that from me? I'm your mother."
"That's exactly why I didn't tell you. If people knew that you had information like that on me, you'd be hunted down by every enemy of mine that's still free." Xena said, trying to explain. "I don't like the idea of putting my mother in danger because of my actions."
"Xena, you should have thought of that before you became a fighter. Did you ever think that maybe I was already put in danger just by being your mother?" Cyrene pointed out. "Every decision that we make and everything we do has consequences. It's how we deal with them that determines our character. Hiding something like this from me when you had all those chances to tell me... Well, that just makes you a coward, Xena."
"Oh, and just what would you have liked me to do, mother? Just come by, tell you he was my son, and then drop him off with you?" Xena asked, quickly becoming exasperated with her mother.
"Isn't that what you're doing now?" her mother asked, immediately making Xena cringe. That was exactly what she was doing, although she had pictured it going better in her mind.
"I think I should go now." Amarice interrupted the argument, beginning to feel like she was witnessing an argument that was meant for family ears only.
"Go ahead, Amarice. I'll get you in the morning once breakfast is done." Cyrene excused the girl with a smile, her voice suddenly gentle. "Now tell me, Xena: Were you or weren't you planning on leaving Solan and Nexa with me?" she asked once Amarice had disappeared up the stairs, her voice becoming hard again.
"Mother, I-"
"Answer the question, Xena." Cyrene interrupted her daughter. Xena wasn't getting out of this one. The Warrior Princess let out a sigh of defeat before nodding her answer. "I thought so."
"How did you know?" Xena asked, curious about how her mother had known about her plans.
"I told you before, Xena. I'm your mother, so I know everything." Xena raised an eyebrow at this, skeptical that her mother knew everything. Although, sometimes it did seem like the woman did know about everything going on inside Xena's head. "Oh, alright. I knew because it was obvious." Cyrene admitted. "Come on, Xena. Don't tell me that you actually thought that I would think you were going to let those two children continue to travel with you." she continued when she noticed the questioning expression on her daughter's face. Xena had the decency to look sheepish at this accusation..
"Xena..." her mother tsk'd before reaching up and caressing her daughter's cheek. "You don't really think I'd let them follow you and Amarice around on those dangerous missions, do you?" she asked before suddenly pinching her daughter's cheek.
"Mom!" Xena groaned, pulling away from the offending digits. "You know I hate it when you do that."
"That's why I do it." her mother explained with a smug smirk similar to her daughter's.
"So does that mean you'll look after them?" Xena asked, getting back to the subject of the children. Cyrene sighed before nodding.
"Of course I will, but only if you meet a few important conditions." Xena immediately knew she wasn't going to like what was coming. "First of all, you need to tell me about Nexa. She told me her mother said she was to go with you."
"Amarice, Solan, and I found her mother after they had been attacked by slavers. She died right after pleading with us to go save the littler girl. So we rescued her." Xena explained, leaving out the fact that she had taken on the entire slaving party and its leader by herself. "When I found the little girl, she told me that her mother had told her about me and that she wanted her to go with me." Xena brought a hand up to her face and pinched the bridge of her nose. All of this explaining was giving her a headache, and she was sure it was just going to get worse before she went to sleep. "I didn't even know the woman, so I don't know why she would want her daughter to go with me."
"Alright." Cyrene said once she was sure her daughter was telling the truth. "Now, the second condition is that you be a part of their lives. That means you'll have to stop by here more often than once a year." Cyrene explained. Xena nodded, showing that she understood; although she had the sneaking suspicion that her mother had also added that one on so she could see her more often.
"Last of all, and you probably won't like this one much, but you need to tell Solan that you're his mother."
"You sound just like Gabrielle." Xena remarked before finding an interesting spot on the wall to stare at so she wouldn't have to look at her mother. Cyrene's hand gripped her jaw and forced her to look down at the older woman, though.
"Great minds think alike then." she said while making sure that Xena didn't look away from her again. She really needed to make sure that her daughter understood she was serious. "Xena, you will tell that boy who you are. He doesn't deserve to be thinking that his mother is dead while she's standing right next to him."
"Fine. I'll tell him after his next birthday." Xena acquiesced.
"Do you even know when his birthday is?" Cyrene asked, her hands on her hips as she stared her daughter in the eyes.
"Yes, Mother. I was the one that gave birth to him, after all." Xena growled, although she mentally admitted that she had deserved that.
"Good. I suspect that it's a long time from now, since you picked it as the day you would tell him. That gives me time to think of a present for him." Cyrene said, already trying to think of something to get a young man for his fifteenth birthday.
"Can I go now?" Xena asked through grit teeth.
"Oh, yes. Of course you can, dear." Cyrene excused her, waving absent-mindedly to shoo her away. Xena took that as her cue to go to bed, so she began heading for the stairs. "Oh, and Xena," her mother called after her, stopping her daughter's ascent up the wooden steps, "I'm proud of you for telling us. I know you worry, even if you don't like to show it sometimes, but you have to trust people to take care of themselves. It's a part of developing strong relationships."
Xena didn't respond to her mother's words even though the older woman was right. Instead, she continued her journey to her bedroom. She wasn't tired, but she didn't know how to deal with her mother at the moment; and her bedroom seemed like a good place to hide from her for the night, just like she used to do when she was a child.
"I love you, Xena!" Cyrene called up after her daughter. After a few moments of silence, she heard a faint 'I love you, too' coming from upstairs, making her smile to herself. Her daughter certainly had changed over the past three years, and she believed that it had been a change for the better. It was a testament to her daughter's inner strength that she could continue to better herself after losing the one person that she thought truly believed in her. 'Perhaps that's why she continues to work so hard at changing.' Cyrene pondered as she began blowing out the candles in the room they had all occupied.
-----
"Sleep well?" Callisto asked as she saw her new cellmate coming to her senses. It had taken far too long, in her opinion. A day was much too long for her new plaything to lay around sleeping before finally waking up. Although she had to admit, the rats had done a good job of keeping her entertained while she waited for the little bard to wake up.
"Callisto!" Gabrielle gasped when her mind finally registered the voice taunting her. "Please let this be a nightmare." she quietly prayed to any Gods that were listening as she began scooting away from the direction that Callisto's voice had come from, only to be stopped by the feel of hard bars pressing into her back.
"Nope! You are completely awake, my dear." Callisto giggled before stepping out of the dark corner of the cell and into the moonlight that was shining into the shared quarters. "And it's about time, too. It was becoming extremely tempting to just kick you awake." she said as she knelt down next to the blonde former sidekick. "Didn't your hair used to be longer?"
"What do you want, Callisto?" Gabrielle asked, clenching her jaw to stop herself from flinching away when the willowy blonde began playing with the short strands of her hair.
"Just to have a little chat." Callisto told her with a shrug. "You see, it gets extremely boring in this prison when people aren't fighting, even if the rats decide to come visit." she explained, not caring if Gabrielle wanted to hear her explanation or not. The former bard frowned.
"Not that I'm complaining or anything, but why haven't you tried to kill me? The last time we met, that seemed to be the only thing you were interested in." Gabrielle asked, jerking her head away from Callisto's fingers so that the woman would stop playing with her hair. The insane blonde pouted when Gabrielle pulled away before sitting down beside the bard.
"Why haven't I killed you yet?" Callisto asked, just to make sure that was exactly what Gabrielle was asking, before putting a finger to her chin, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Well, little Gabrielle, the people that run this place don't want me killing you. The only explanation I can come up with for that is because they must have invested a lot of money in you."
"Since when do you listen to what others tell you to do?" Gabrielle asked in a skeptical voice.
"Since I've begun to realize that I like it here." Callisto said with a shrug. "Don't get me wrong, I'm all for hunting down Xena and destroying her name, along with anyone close to her; but you already took all the fun out of that." The blonde bard blinked, wondering just what the other woman meant by that. "Don't give me that look, Gabrielle. I'm sure if you think about it, you'll realize what I'm talking about."
"I haven't spoken to Xena in almost four years, so I haven't had the chance to do anything to her."
"And that's why you hurt Xena, the mighty Warrior Princess, far more than I ever could." Callisto said with a giggle. She frowned when she saw that Gabrielle was still confused. Then she remembered something. "Oh that's riiiight! You weren’t with us when she was taking me back to jail. You missed out on our entire conversation. Too bad; your loss.”
“I highly doubt that.” the former bard muttered skeptically. “And why would Xena talk to you? She doesn’t even like you.”
“Well you certainly weren’t around for her to talk to, were you?” Callisto growled before standing back up again and stretching her arms. When she was certain that her cellmate wasn’t going to respond, she headed back to her corner. “I suggest getting some sleep, little bard.”
“And what’s to stop you from doing something to me while I sleep?” Gabrielle asked, not willing to trust the willowy blonde woman that shared a cell with her.
“Simple. I have to fight tomorrow and I don’t want to be off my game. I’d rather experience life and all its agonizing glory while fully rested.” she said. While Gabrielle didn’t know what Callisto was talking about, she did admit to herself that she needed to get some sleep, too. She knew that if she didn’t, she probably wouldn’t be able to face whatever the next day held in store for her. Unable to keep her eyes open any longer, Gabrielle fell into a restless sleep.
The next morning, as beams from the sun were beginning to shine onto her face from between the cell bars, Gabrielle woke up in a sweat. It seemed that the fates were out to avenge Perdicas’ death by giving her nightmares of him.
‘It’s not fair. Even in death, I can’t escape him.’ she thought as she rubbed at her eyes with her hands, trying to stop the tears that were beginning to fall. “It’s just not fair.” she muttered, her voice cracking.
“Didn’t anyone tell you that life isn’t fair?” a mocking voice asked, reminding her just where she was at the moment. “Oh, don’t cry, little bard. Especially if I’m not the one making those tears fall.” Callisto said as she walked out of her corner and knelt beside Gabrielle, who was now staring at the rat that had taken up residency on the willowy blonde’s shoulder. “Oh, I see that Ares has caught your attention. He’s been very curious about you. Always chattering away, asking if you were ever going to wake up and if he‘d have to share his food with you.” Gabrielle turned her attention on Callisto instead of the rat, wondering if the woman was joking or not.
“Are you insane?” she asked when she realized that her enemy was being serious when she spoke about the rat as if it was her friend.
“Only as insane as the next person in here.” was the answer she received before Callisto stood up again and returned to her corner, although it wasn’t nearly as dark as it had been the night before with the sun shining in. Which reminded Gabrielle of something that had been on her mind.
“I’ve never heard of a prison that’s outside.” she mused aloud as she painfully stood up. Her legs were still a bit shaky, but she was sure that she just needed to walk around a bit. Curious about the place that she would most likely be spending the rest of her life in, she turned and faced the bars, taking in the view in front of her.
It was a giant canyon carved into the ground by the Gods. Across the chasm, Gabrielle could see cells carved into the stone walls of the canyon, most of them hosting three or more prisoners. Anybody that wasn’t in a cell was a guard, each carrying a sword and crossbow. The top of the ledge that she could see was lined with archers. There was no doubt that it would be impossible for anyone to escape from this prison. She sighed in defeat. She was going to be stuck here for the rest of her life.
“That’s because nobody talks about this prison, especially those that do know about it.” Callisto’s voice came from directly behind her, but Gabrielle resisted the urge to turn around and face the other woman. “The best part about this place is all the way down at the bottom.” the villainess told her, a thin hand pointing down to the floor of canyon. “Down there is where the excitement happens take place and it’s also why nobody knows about this place. You see, Gabrielle, this prison also serves as an underground fighting arena.” Callisto explained before giggling. “Get it? Underground?”
“You’re lying.” Gabrielle said, refusing to believe that anybody would pay to watch other people fight each other.
“Oh, but I’m not, little bard.” Callisto said with a chuckle before wrapping her hands around Gabrielle’s arm and leaning forward. “What better way to make money while eradicating criminals? After all, we’re all just a bunch of murderers here.” she whispered into Gabrielle’s ear.
“I’m not a murderer!” the bard objected, shaking Callisto off before turning around, green eyes flaring. “You are the murderer! You are the one that belongs here, not me! You are the one that let your hatred of Xena lead you to destruction!” she yelled at the willowy blonde, shoving her with every sentence to emphasize her point. When she heard herself yell the last sentence, she stopped in her tracks. ‘I am a murderer.’ she thought before realizing that Callisto had wrapped her hand around her neck.
“Oh, you are going to pay for even thinking about touching me, little bard.” Callisto growled. Before she could do any serious damage, however, two guards were banging on the bars of the cell to get her attention. Looking over at them, she noticed that they all had their crossbows pointed at her.
“We told you already. You aren’t to kill her unless it’s in a fight.” the one on the left reminded her.
“So let go of her, or you won’t live to see your next match.” the other one threatened. Callisto rolled her eyes before releasing a sigh.
“You ruin all my fun.” she said before throwing Gabrielle against the stone wall, a loud thud echoing in the cell when the bard made contact. The guard on the right immediately fired one of the bolts from his crossbow at her. She showed him what a mistake that was by catching the projectile and throwing it back at him, hitting him square in the chest. “Oopsies. I guess my hand slipped. I’d tell the management that you need a new partner, if I was you.” she told the remaining guard.
“You just wait, bitch. One of these days, you’re going to go too far.” the man said, a scowl on his face. “Remember: Kill her now, and you’ll be shot with so many needles, you’ll look like a pin cushion.” he warned her before shouldering his crossbow and grabbing the hands of his now dead partner. As much as he hated it, he would have to do as the murderess suggested and get another partner. That was the third one in as many months that he had gone through.
“Now you see what you made me do?” Callisto asked Gabrielle once the guard had walked away. The bard was leaning against the wall, using it to support herself. “Oh, did I give you a booboo?” the villainess asked with a smirk, making the former bard’s mind turn to Nexa. She hoped her daughter had gotten to Xena alright and that she was being taken care of. She wished she could be with her instead of in this prison.
“I’m sure that by the time you get out of here, you’ll have a lot more than the one I just gave you.” Callisto assured her before heading back to her corner to be with her rats, leaving Gabrielle to think about her daughter.
------
“Nexa, is something wrong?” Solan asked from the branch of the tree he was hanging upside down from. Xena had told them about the tree that she and her brother, Lyceus, used to play on. The little girl had been talking constantly as they made their way there, even as she watched the older boy climb up the tree without her.
When he didn’t receive an answer from the little girl, Solan dropped from the branch, twisting himself as he dropped so that he landed on his feet and didn’t hurt himself. Nexa seemed to be staring at something when he looked at her. Following the girl’s gaze, his eyes landed on the tall weeds that surrounded the tree. He didn’t see anything, though.
“Nexa... Nexa!” he called her name, snapping his fingers in front of her eyes to get her attention. After a few tries, it finally worked. “Nexa, what were you looking at?” he asked, receiving a shrug in return.
“I dunno. A hard place with rats.” she replied before smiling up at him. “Will you teach me?” she asked.
“Huh?” Solan asked, thoroughly confused by the request. Nexa pointed up at the treetops above them. “Oh, that. Sure; I’ll teach you how to climb.” he told her before leading the little girl over to the trunk of the large tree. “Watch closely.” he said before beginning her lesson on tree climbing.
The blonde boy jumped and grabbed on to the lowest branch of the tree before getting a grip on the base of the tree with his feet. Once he accomplished getting situated, he pulled himself up with his arms, while pushing with his feet. After a few seconds, he was sitting on the branch, smiling down at Nexa.
“Tada!” he told her, making her clap her hands together while laughing. He bowed as he received the applause from his small audience before slipping backwards and hanging upside down once more.
“Up! Up!” the girl said excitedly, hopping up and down as she pleaded with the older boy. For a moment, Solan wondered if it would a bad idea to bring the girl up with him. Then the moment passed and he was gently reaching down and grabbing Nexa by the wrists. A few seconds later, they were both swinging on the branch. Unfortunately, Solan wasn’t quite strong enough to hold the little girl long enough to get them both up onto the tree branch, and Nexa ended up slipping from his grasp before crash landing on the ground below them.
“Nexa!” he cried out before losing his balance and falling from the branch he was on, landing on his back next to the little girl. Turning on his stomach and getting on all fours so he could get a better look at the small blonde, Solan found himself looking into laughing blue eyes and smiling face. “Are you alright?” he asked. “I didn’t mean to let go.”
“Again! Again!” Nexa shrieked before sitting up and wrapping her small arms around the boy’s neck in a tight hug.
“Nexa, I can’t... breathe.” he told her, trying to pry her arms off of his neck before he passed out from lack of air. For a three year old, the girl had quite a grip.
“Sowwy.” she apologized as she pulled away from him, still smiling. She lost the smile when the boy ruffled her hair.
“It’s alright. I should be the one apologizing for dropping you.” he told her with a sigh. He had really screwed up. He just thought himself to be lucky since nothing bad had happened.
“Don’t be sad, Solan. I’m alwight. That’s why I’m Mama’s big wawwior.” she said proudly before standing up and striking a pose that always made her Mama laugh, her hands on her sides and her chin in the air. It worked just as well on Solan as it did on her mother.
“Come on, Nexa. I think we’ve had enough excitement for one day.” the blonde boy suggested as he stood up from the ground. The girl’s smile disappeared, replaced by a pout.
“Aw... I want to go up again.” she told him, crossing her arms to complete the sad look she was giving him. Solan only shook his, telling her that he didn’t want to risk her getting hurt. She didn’t know what the word ‘risk’ meant, but she got the message. It seemed she wouldn’t be having anymore fun on the tree after all, even after she had worked so hard on pouting with Solan.
-------
That same afternoon, back at the prison, Callisto was preparing for some fun of her own. The fights that she had told Gabrielle about were taking place, and she was up next. She couldn’t wait to entertain herself with whatever victim it was that they shoved into the ring with her. Gabrielle was fun, but there was only so much Callisto could do with her before being threatened by the guards.
“Your turn.” the guard from that morning grunted, opening the door to the cell. Unlike with most prisons, they didn’t use restraints or chains. Anyone that tried to escape from The Canyon was as good as dead because of the archers that they had constantly keeping guard from above and the amount of guards that they kept in the actual canyon.
“Watch closely, little bard. You’ll be joining in on the fun soon enough.” Callisto told Gabrielle before exiting the cell, leaving the bard to wonder just what kind of people ran this place. Even worse, what kind of people actually paid to come see the prisoners fight? She shook her head, not wanting to contemplate those thoughts. The ones that replaced them weren’t welcome either, but it seemed unpleasant thoughts were the only ones that would visit her that night.
Callisto had said that she would be fighting soon. She didn’t want to, though. She wasn’t like the people here. She couldn’t stand the thought of killing another person.
‘Yeah, that’s why you killed Perdicas.’ she mentally scoffed at herself. She had been telling herself, and everyone else, for the last two weeks that killing Perdicas had been different from murder, but it wasn’t getting through to anyone. Including herself. ‘There had to be another way to get Nexa away from him without shoving that knife into his side.’ she thought as she watched Callisto fight, her forehead pressing against the bars. Although she wouldn’t consider what Callisto was doing fighting. It looked more like the willowy blonde woman was merely playing with her opponent. It quickly became apparent that she had become bored playing with him, however, when she shoved her sword through the man’s gut.
Gabrielle looked away, unable to watch the blood drain into the ground of the canyon. She could feel the small amount of food that she had had to eat that morning threatening to rise up out of her stomach. It took a few moments for her to suppress the nausea that she was feeling. Once she finally composed herself, she looked back down where the fight had taken place.
The guards had circled Callisto, their crossbows trained on her just in case she tried anything. Although Gabrielle couldn’t see very well from her position, she could have sworn she saw the willowy blonde snap her teeth at one of the soldiers before dropping her weapons and raising her hands up innocently. Once they had her cooperation, the guards led her back up to her cell, although no one dared to try and throw her in like they did with the rest of the prisoners.
“Enjoy the show, little bard?” she asked once the guards were gone. “I sure enjoyed putting it on.” she remarked with a chuckle.
“You really are insane.” Gabrielle told her, not bothering to give an obvious answer to a stupid question.
“I try.” Callisto said before winking at the blonde and heading back to her corner, leaving Gabrielle to her thoughts once more.