Disclaimers 1: Ephiny, Solari, Eponin and Melosa belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal. No infringement is intended and no profit will be made.
Disclaimers 2: This set of stories are all mine although they do revolve around particular episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess. (For these stories Xena and Gabrielle have taken the supporting roles, no disrespect to the characters what-so-ever, but I felt like playing with the Amazons for a while.)
Authors Notes: This story is set about six months after 'Making Amends', but before the events of the second season episode 'The Quest'. This installment is a way to bring everyone up to speed before I plunge our favourite Amazons into Chaos.
Posted: November 1999
Thanks: To Masque's Posse, they know who they are.
Warning: This story is subtext friendly. If this type of material offends you, or you are underage, or it is illegal where you live then the exit is the way you came in.
Any mail or comments: masque@talonthorne.co.uk
Visit the web-site: www.talonthorne.co.uk
Avator, forever thinking of you.
The sun was beginning its descent in the western sky; the dying rays splashing across the darkening blue, painting it in shades of red, orange and purple. The sight was breathtakingly beautiful. Eponin could think of only one thing more beautiful - Melosa.
From her position on the northern battlements Eponin need only turn her head to have a full view of the Amazon village that sprawled before her. As day turned into night so too did the village; torches were being lit through the encampment and many women were gathering around campfires to share food, drink and stories, often challenging one another to a tournament of skill or strength. Not many had dared to challenge Eponin; she was easily the strongest amongst the tribe and she was also the most skilled in fighting and the use of weapons. Since attaining the rank of Queen's Guard her reputation as the best warrior in the village had been proved, now she had to coax the other Amazons into sparring with her.
She had fought long and hard to become the Queen's Guard, she had wanted it ever since she had first started her warrior training, ever since she had first seen… She barely remembered a time when she had not loved Melosa, from the moment that she had met the then Amazon Princess she had been drawn to the older girl…
Her mother had been an Amazon before she had fallen in love and moved away from the tribe. But even her warrior nature had not been able to help the village when they had been attacked; a warlord named Cortese was sweeping through the countryside destroying any village in his way. The blood shed had finally ended in a town called Amphipolis where Cortese and his men got more than they bargained for against a group of rebellious villagers led by a brother and sister named Lyceus and Xena.
As the daughter of ex-amazon Eponin had been taught to use weapons from a young age and was determined to stand her ground against the soldiers that were tearing her village apart. She took down a fair few of the men before a rider had knocked her to the ground, lying helpless in the dirt she could only look up as the horse reared up, knowing that she would be trampled to death beneath the horses hooves.
Resigned to her death the last thing she expected was to be pushed aside, out from dangers way. She was tumbling into a ditch by the roadside but she was not alone, someone else was falling with her. Strong arms wrapped around her body and did not release her until their bodies reached the bottom of the ditch.
As she lay on her back Eponin desperately pulled air into her winded lungs and kept her eyes closed as she allowed the fear to subside. Finally she opened her eyes to look upon her savior. A girl not more than four years older than herself looked down at her from her position, lying on top of Eponin. She had the most beautiful dark eyes that Eponin had ever seen and her dark, curly hair fell down in ringlets about her face, some of it's softness touching Eponin's cheek.
After a moment the other girl shifted her weight from Eponin and sat up. Eponin took in the stranger's body; she was wearing armour and carried two pieces of wood with intricate carving upon them. She had never seen an amazon before but she knew that she was seeing one right then.
"You saved my life." Eponin whispered, too nervous to speak any louder. "One day, I'll do the same for you."
She had only been a child but she had kept her vow. She had joined the Amazon within days; she had trained as a warrior and then challenged her way through the ranks to finally become the Queens Guard. Over time that child's crush had developed and now the woman had fallen deeply in love with Melosa, even though that love was unrequited, for Eponin it was enough to serve her Queen.
There were times, on the nights that she would spend alone, that her thoughts would stray to Melosa. Only then would she allow herself to think of the Queen as a lover would, she would lose herself in what it would be like to lay with the other woman, to know her body, to know her soul. But Eponin knew that it would never be.
Her wondering gaze found Melosa as it always did. The Queen was standing by the communal bathing hut, she was leaning against an upright wooden pillar, a mug of ale was cradled in her hand and she simply watched a group of Amazons as they sat around a campfire singing drinking songs and enjoying one another's company.
She took the opportunity to watch the woman she loved. A nearby torch sent a gentle flicker across Melosa's tanned skin and brought out the hints of dark red in her other wise chestnut brown hair. More beautiful than the sunset. She had shared her bed with a number of lovers, so many had held her body but none had held her heart, not like Melosa did.
* * *
The moments just before dusk were always Solari's favourite. As day passed over into night she thanked Artemis that she had been granted the gift of another day. It reminded her that she was still alive and that she had a life worth living. For a while she had dreaded the onset of night, cursing the moon goddess for bringing the darkness that also brought the loss and pain as she returned to her home alone.
It had been almost a year since the death of Terreis and she still acknowledged the emptiness inside that longed to be touched and held by her lover. But time was making it easier - time and Ephiny. Together they had dealt with their loss and their pain and somewhere in the middle of it all Ephiny had found a place in the heart that Solari had thought long dead.
Sometimes it felt strange. Admittedly the intensity of the circumstances that had thrown the two of them together had helped to forge the new found friendship that they shared, but Solari felt that it was more than that. They had grown up together, trained together yet they had never really known each other until now. The strange part was that it had taken Terreis's death to bring them together.
Since Ephiny's return to the Amazon village almost six moons previously the two of them had been practically inseparable and now lived together. Amazons being Amazons had talked and rumours had circulated immediately that the two of them were lovers. Ridiculous.
Or was it? Every rumour was supposed to have some truth.
Solari turned from her position on the western battlements and gazed across the Amazon village to their home. Ephiny sat on the steps outside the cabin, watching Xenan as he chased moths.
She thought about what the truth was. She loved Ephiny that much was certain. But was it as a best friend or a sister or a lover,
Solari had always loved cooking, especially for someone that she cared about. The table was set, candles were lit and she guided the blindfolded woman to her chair and helped her to seat herself.
"Can I look yet?" Ephiny moaned.
Solari looked at the beseeching expression upon her friend's face and could not but her through any more torture; "Okay you can look." Solari untied the blindfold and let it fall, watching Ephiny's features soften into a smile of pure delight. "Happy Birthday Ephiny." She draped her arms around Ephiny's shoulders and hugged her.
"Solari…" Ephiny was lost for words, she reached up and grasped the forearms that were curled around her neck, "Thank you… it's beautiful."
They began the meal that Solari had carefully planned for the last moon. Enjoying the food and the company, they smiled often, neither one of them had been that happy for a long time.
Solari was still lost in her thoughts, When did you go to that much trouble for anyone other than Terreis?
She remembered Ephiny as a very intense child; she was nearly always scowling, as though she was at odds with the rest of the world. Though she had always kept pretty much to herself she was a good Amazon, and loyal to the sisterhood of warriors. The passed year they had learnt so much about one another and Solari discovered that she very much liked the woman that Ephiny had become. She was a wonderful and valued friend. Now she was discovering that there was something more in her feelings for Ephiny, something that she was afraid to put a name to.
Best friend? Sister? Lover? Once it had all seemed to clear cut and defined but now the boundaries were becoming very blurred and Solari no longer had the answer.
* * *
As the last rays of sunlight were slipping behind the horizon Ephiny looked towards the western sky catching a familiar silhouette in the dying glow of Helios. Even though she could not distinguish any features she knew that Solari was watching her, watching over her and Xenan as she had every day since she had arrived back in the village. She often wondered what her life would be like if Solari had not been in it.
Ephiny still awoke in the middle of the night screaming when her dreams had been plagued by the images of Phantes death at the hands of the Mitoans. She hated herself for not being able to protect her mate and relived her guilt every time the nightmares came. She had often been pulled from these bad dreams by the comfort of Solari's arms. The dark haired woman would hold her close until her tears stopped and she fell to slumber again.
Then there was Xenan. At first many of the Amazons had not liked the idea of a Centaur being in the village and a male child at that. But Solari had adamantly stood by her and supported her struggle for acceptance of herself and her son. She had taken to the young Centaur immediately and Xenan turned to her almost as much as his own mother.
The sun finally disappeared behind the landscape and revealed Solari. Ephiny had been right, she was watching them. As the darkness covered the village Xenan stopped chasing a moth and looked to where the sun had gone. His face lit up when he saw Solari looking at him.
"Aunt Sari." He called and waved excitedly at her.
Ephiny smiled. Her young sons developing vocabulary had not quite got the grasp of saying Solari, and Eponin was Epin. He hand managed Xena because it was so like his own name, but Ephiny could not wait to see Gabrielle's face when her son called her Gabble - even Melosa had laughed at that one.
She saw the smile that edged Solari's lips as she waved back. No. Ephiny did not want to know what her life would be like without Solari in it.
Or was there another reason that she did not want Solari to leave? One she was not ready to admit to. A reason that had something to do with how she had felt on her birthday?
After the meal was finished and cleared away they had settled on the rug in front of the fire. There was still plenty of wine left in the skin and they intended to finish it. They shared memories and traded stories about growing up and secrets that they had never told anyone else.
By dawn the wine was exhausted and so were they. Wearily they headed for the bedroom where she had proceeded to collapse on the bed, too tired and to drunk to undress she just lay there staring at the ceiling. Solari sat next to her and reached over, ruffling her already ruffled hair.
"Thank you for tonight." She whispered.
"You're welcome." Solari smiled.
"No one has ever done anything like that for me." Ephiny confessed. As she watched Solari she had an overwhelming urge to touch the other woman, she placed her hand upon Solari's cheek. As soon as she made contact with the warm skin she had an overwhelming urge to kiss the other woman…
It never happened. Ephiny was still sober enough to know that it was a bad idea, that it would only complicate things. But why did I want to kiss her? To say thank you? Or to say something else?
The thought of the two of them becoming lovers scared her. The thought of letting someone that close and the thought of losing them was something that she never wanted to go through again.
But in her heart Ephiny knew the truth - Solari had already got that close.
* * *
Melosa enjoyed evenings in the village, it was a chance for her to unwind after a long day of negotiations, peace treaties and a hundred other things that required her attention. She liked to observe her Amazons from a distance, no matter how often she told them to treat her like just another warrior they could never quite see beyond her title. It was only at this distance that she could see them as women, relaxing and laughing together as friends and not just comrades. As much as she enjoyed it she also felt a wave of loneliness that she could not be comfortable amongst them, that she would always be set apart from them.
Terreis had been the only one who had spoken her mind before the Queen, the only one who would tell her when she was being unreasonable and the only one who could hit her and get away with it. She missed her little sister, more than anyone knew.
Her closest friend these days seemed to be Eponin, her Royal Guard, but how much of that was friendship and how much of it was duty? She suspected that it was just duty, but once long ago it could have been more…
She had been the Amazon Princess when her mother had led them into battle against Cortese in a neighbouring village. Her mother had answered the request of an old friend and gathered her best warriors to drive the raiding soldiers away.
It was the first time that Melosa had seen fighting, real fighting. She moved through the men, defending and attacking when necessary with her chosen weapon - Chobos.
A young girl with a staff caught her attention. She was not one of them, not an Amazon yet she fought with a passion that was worthy of the female warriors. She watched in awe as the girl took on one soldier after another, her awe turned to horror as a rider on horseback knocked the girl to the ground. Thinking nothing of her own safety Melosa lunged for the girl, pushing both of them out from under the powerful beast.
Finally they lay at the bottom of a ditch catching their breath. Soft eyes had regarded her and Melosa had felt a calling on such a deep level that she had no idea what it meant; then a gentle voice had vowed to one day save her life in return.
Melosa had been secretly overjoyed when Eponin had joined them, she thought that Eponin had felt that same calling as she had. But as Eponin dedicated herself to her training Melosa began to have doubts and instead she believed that Eponin had joined the Amazons as though to pay back her debt.
Or so it had seemed.
When Melosa had ascended to the Throne, and Eponin had become her Royal Guard, she had been too involved with border disputes and avoiding all out war with the Centaurs to give a second thought to her feelings for Eponin. But with the demise of Krykus's men and the peace treaty with the Centaurs in place Melosa had a lot more time on her hands, time where she had got to know Eponin a little better.
She had learnt what drove the warrior, what fascinated the woman. What made her laugh and what made her nervous. The only thing she did not know was the answer to the question posed so long ago, when two girls had met in the middle of battle; Do you feel the calling as I do?
Melosa raised her eyes to meet Eponin's, she knew that they had been watching her for some time, Do you Eponin?
* * *
As Melosa had turned her gaze upon Eponin, Eponin had once again become the child who had looked into those eyes and lost her heart. She tore her eyes from the Amazon Queen and looked out over the woodland, aware that Melosa was watching her.
As her focus returned her vision caught sight of movement on the edge of the trees. Her bow was drawn instantly and she tracked the figure until they came into the open. Even in the growing darkness Eponin recognised the elegant walk and the head held high in arrogance.
"Velasca."
* * * * *
Well there you have it. Hope you enjoyed it. Now reply to it.