Disclaimers 1: Ephiny, Solari, Terreis, Melosa, Epinon and Velasca all 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 takes place about six months after the events of Amazon Chronicles Part 4 - The Secrets Of Sunset, but before the events depicted in the episode 'The Quest'.

Posted: December 1999

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Warning: This story is sub-text 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.

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Avator, forever thinking of you.

The Amazon village was unusually quiet, with only faint murmurs rippling through the assembled women as they stared at the solitary figure in the middle of the square. Velasca for her part found the attention directed towards her amusing. She knew that many of the tribe resented her for her behaviour towards the Queen and the Princess before she had departed, but she also knew that there was a group who shared her ideals and beliefs and who would be her strongest allies if the need arose.

A deathly hush fell over the crowd as Melosa moved towards the raised area before her royal chambers, her eyes never straying from her adoptive daughter. More movement as Eponin and Solari dropped from the battlements and made their way through the other Amazons, neither of the Royal Guards attempted to veil their expressions of disgust as they passed the unwelcome visitor. Reaching the raised platform they flanked Melosa on either side and waited for the Queen to address their estranged Amazon sister.

"Why have you returned Velasca?" The Queen asked in a clear but demanding tone.

"I heard about Terreis…" Velasca began only to be cut off by Melosa.

"You cared nothing for Terreis, do not pretend that you did." Melosa hissed.

"I was merely going to ask if she had passed on her Rite of Caste." Velasca continued. There was no remorse or sadness in her voice for the death of her aunt, but there had never been any love lost between the two.

"She did, and that is all you need to know." Melosa could tell that Velasca was not satisfied, that she was already trying to work through the possible choices. The Queen felt a measure of satisfaction knowing that Velasca could never hope to find the right answer.

Damn you Melosa. She began to run names through her head, quickly evaluating and then discarding each. Her first thoughts were Eponin and Solari, but as she looked towards the two dark haired women that accompanied her mother on the platform she noticed that they both still wore the gauntlets that identified them as Royal Guards. Then she remembered that she had seen someone standing outside the Princess's royal chambers. She threw a glance in the direction of the hut and her eyes found… Ephiny. Ephiny returned her glare in kind, which almost distracted her from the other person stood with her. But only almost, her gaze dropped and found a child wrapped around the blonde Amazon's leg, a male child, a male Centaur child.

Her lip curled into a snarl at the sight, her anger and loss of faith in the dying Amazon nation fully realised. She had heard that a peace had been forged with the disgusting beasts, that they worked together against common enemies and now they lived together. Any honour that she still held to the codes and practices of the Amazons was finally broken, now was the time for her to take command and restore the Amazons to their rightful place, to the fierce warrior nation they had once been.

Snapping her head back to face Melosa, a feral smile graced her features, "I seek an audience with her majesty. A private audience." The last comment was thrown towards the royal guards, conveying her message that they were not welcome.

Without a word Melosa turned and entered her chambers leaving the door open for Velasca to follow, she did, but not before she received a warning glare from Eponin on her way passed the Queen's Guard. The door was closed and the Amazon nation waited.

* * *

Solari was moving before the door had finished closing. She ploughed her way through the milling Amazons, without any thought as to who she was pushing aside she just knew that she had to get to Ephiny.

The blonde woman stood stone still on the veranda of their home, Xenan clutching at her leg his head buried behind his mother's hip. Ephiny's arm curled around her young son's trembling shoulders, it seemed that without really knowing it he was all too aware of the hatred that Velasca carried towards Centaurs.

Stopping at the foot of the steps Solari took in the scene before her. The fear in Ephiny's eyes spoke volumes of what they could expect if Velasca made her visit permanent. They both knew that Velasca was an Amazon of the traditional school of thought and that she would rather return to the 'old ways'; those 'old ways' did not include Xenan.

"She wouldn't dare." Solari said as she began to ascend the steps, "As long as Melosa is Queen she won't let anything happen to you or Xenan."

"As long as Melosa is Queen." Ephiny said, the uncertainty of the future evident in the words that she spoke.

Solari was now stood before the mother and son; she reached out a hand and tangled it in Xenan's blonde, curly hair - so much like Ephiny's. "Then I swear that I won't let anything happen to you or Xenan." She then slipped her other arm around Ephiny and pulled the shaking woman closer, "I promise." She whispered as she pressed her lips against Ephiny's brow.

* * *

They say that you never eat with an enemy. A meal had been prepared and laid out upon the table between Melosa and Velasca but it remained untouched. Neither woman hungry, nor wishing to share the experience with the other. No words had passed between the mother and daughter since they had entered the hut but once the serving women had left Velasca had begun to lose patience with the Queen of the Amazons.

"So, who does have the Rite of Caste?" Velasca asked again.

"That is none of your concern, you are no longer a part of this tribe." Melosa warned her.

"I still retain all of my Amazon Rites and position, so I believe that it is my concern." Velasca retaliated, she knew that Melosa could not deny the statement. She had walked away from the tribe three summers before when Melosa had named Terreis as her heir. She had not been dismissed, exiled or otherwise discharged she had simply walked away of her own choice and now she chose to return. "Who has the Rite of Caste?" She leant across the table, bringing her face closer to Melosa, "Who is the new Amazon Princess?"

"Her name is Gabrielle." Melosa conceded. She could see Velasca trying to place the name and not succeeding. "She was not one of us."

"She was not born of our tribe?" Velasca questioned.

"She was not born of an Amazon." Replied Melosa, almost amused at the off balance look upon her daughter's face.

"You allowed the Rite of Caste to be given to an outsider?" The shock and disbelief at the blatant disrespect of the Amazon custom was quickly fuelling her anger.

"I allowed nothing. It was Terreis who chose to give her the Rite and she chose wisely." It was a dig and Melosa knew it. She wanted Velasca to know that Melosa still held to her decision that made Terreis her heir, and that she believed in her sister's choice of bestowing the Rite upon Gabrielle.

"An Amazon not born of Amazon blood." Her decision was made. "I demand the Royal Challenge."

* * *

Soft fingers crept around her sides, tickling her ribs as they moved to completely encircle her waist. When they did Solari found herself being pulled back and a soft body being pressed against the length of her back. She bit into her lower lip trying to contain the tiny gasps that wanted to escape as Terreis placed gentle kisses and bites upon her shoulder and neck. The kisses grew more hungry moving around her throat as strong hands urged her onto her back, she was powerless to resist as she always was to this woman. As soon as she surrendered Terreis was crawling on top of her body, powerful thighs pinning her hips to the bed, fingers tracing along her arms to her wrists and imprisoning them above her head against the mattress. Lips immediately captured hers, a kiss full of both hunger and passion. Terreis's hips began to move sensuously against Solari's abdomen, as her mouth began its descent along the smooth neck and over her chest, quickly reaching her breasts.

No longer able to hold the gasps back Solari cried out as she watched Terreis and Terreis watched her. The look of unbridled desire in her lover's eyes caused her to smile against the soft skin of Solari's breasts. As Terreis continued to move against her Solari could feel herself fast approaching the edge and she knew that Terreis was not far behind.

She moved her lips back up Solaris's body, finally reaching an ear, "Close your eyes Baby." She whispered and Solari did so, never able to deny her lover anything. She could feel Terreis's movements becoming more fevered her breathing more rapid, as her own was.

"Now open them." Solari was aware of the sultriness of the voice that whispered these words to her and aware that it was not Terreis's voice that said them. Her climax swept through her, her back arched up from the bed, her wrists were released and her lover's hands were holding her head. As commanded her eyes opened and fixed on the intense hazel gaze barely two inches away from her - Ephiny.

Ephiny was straddled across her hips, both of their bodies covered in a thin layer of perspiration, the evidence of their lovemaking. The blonde woman continued to hold Solari's head, relishing the shuddering after-effects of Solari's orgasm, letting the tremors soothe both of them.

"Oh gods…" Solari gasped as she came back to the waking world. She had become so used to Terreis visiting her in her dreams that she could even distinguish them as such, but this one had felt so real. Her body was still covered in a faint layer of sweat, still pulsed with the arousal of sex and her left wrist was still pinned to the mattress by Ephiny.

She watched Ephiny for a moment; the other woman was still peacefully sleeping, blissfully unaware of what had happened in Solari's unconscious mind. She heaved a sigh of relief and carefully pried Ephiny's fingers from her wrist and placed the hand down on her side of the bed.

She climbed out of bed and stripped out of her sweat soaked sleeping shift, she quickly slipped on a pair of trousers and a baggy tunic and ducked out of the hut. The night was mild, and quickly cooled her heated skin. She could not shake the thought of her and Ephiny making love, she needed a distraction.

* * *

Eponin caught herself watching the door to the Queen's hut for the tenth time and for the tenth time she forced her attention back to sharpening her sword. If she had to wait any longer she was going to storm right in on Velasca's little 'private audience', or sharpen her sword down to nothing. She needed a distraction.

"Hey Ep." Solari said as she dropped down onto the wall next to the Queen's Guard.

"Hey yourself." Eponin answered as she placed the tip of her sword in the ground, grateful that she would not have to make a trip to the blacksmiths sooner than expected. She turned her attention to her friend and noticed the flushed cheeks and the preoccupied expression. "What you doing up?"

"Huh?" Solari murmured before she finally registered the question, "Oh… um… can't sleep."

"Bad dream?" Eponin queried. She knew all about the dreams that woke Solari in tears.

"No. Good dream. I think." Solari thought about that for a moment, "I was having sex."

"And?" Eponin urged with an amused chuckle.

"With Ephiny." Solari finished.

"And?"

"And she's my best friend… And she was Terreis's best friend… And…"

"And you're in love with her." Eponin almost laughed at the shocked expression that Solari threw in her direction. "Oh come on Sol, it's obvious."

Solari was about to say something, anything to deny the statement, but she was interrupted.

"What are you guys talking about?" Ephiny yawned as she joined them on the wall. She raked her fingers through her wild blonde hair, trying to bring some order to it - she failed.

"Nothing." Solari snapped unable to look at Ephiny, but shooting Eponin a look that said she had better agree.

"Nothing." Eponin repeated with a shrug of her shoulders.

They sat for a few moments in total silence, watching a group of Amazons who stood around a fire in the square. They were undoubtedly some of Velasca's followers, waiting for her to leave the Queen's hut. Solari and Ephiny noticed that the Queen's Guard was having a difficult time sitting still.

"For Artemis sake they've been in there forever." Eponin snapped as she stood up and began pacing.

As if on cue the door to the hut was practically ripped off of its hinges as Velasca exited the chamber. "Get out of my way." She screamed at the two guards that Eponin had stationed outside and pushed passed them when they failed to move in time. She swept down the steps and across the square to where the other Amazons awaited her.

As soon as the group left the square Eponin, Solari and Ephiny were heading towards the Queen's quarters. They found Melosa stood by her desk, palms resting on the surface.

Eponin was afraid to ask but she had to, "What happened?"

Slowly Melosa turned to her visitors. "Velasca has issued me the Royal Challenge. She wants my Throne."

"But she can't." Eponin began.

"Yes she can. I may have named Terreis as my heir, but Velasca was always a princess of the Nation. She still has her Rites, and she can still challenge me." She faced three stunned faces, "I suggest we all get some sleep, the Challenge takes place tomorrow at dawn."

Ephiny and Solari quietly left the Queen's hut, but Eponin made no move to go anywhere. She remained where she was, her gaze fixed on Melosa and Melosa's on her. "Your majesty… Melosa… I…"

Eponin was not aware that Melosa had closed the distance between them until the Queen's fingertips rested upon her lips. "Don't. Don't say what I think you're going to say, because if you do then it means you think I'm not coming back tomorrow."

The Guards gaze fell to the floor, but a warm hand drew her attention again, "Give me a reason to come back Eponin."

Slowly Eponin nodded and then turned to walk away. She reached the door before she felt hands grasp her shoulders and a body press against her. Lips pressed against her skin between her shoulder blades, all the breath left her body as it melted against that kiss. Breathless words reached her ears, "Come to me before dawn."

Eponin turned her head and pressed her lips to the hand on her right shoulder, "I'll be here my Queen." Then she was gone.

Melosa closed the door after her, tears spilling from her eyes. Something was not right; she could feel it in her very soul.

Continued In Part 6

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