Legal Disclaimer: I don't own the characters in this story that appear in the hit syndicated TV show, Xena: Warrior Princess, such as Xena, Gabrielle, Eve, Virgil, etc. I do own, however the characters that do not appear in the series, such as Little Cyrene and Lydia.
Other Disclaimers:
Sex: No
Violence: Yup
Potty Mouth: Uh huh
Subtext: Oh no! It's two women in love... WITH EACH OTHER! The horror!! Jeez, people, lighten up.
Author's Note: This is a companion piece to my previous story, Youthful Intuition. And, just in case it's confusing, Little Cyrene narrates parts of this story.
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Life's Lessons
by Mystik
~ July 21st, 2001 ~
Lesson 1: Have a Little Faith
Hello there! My name is Little Cyrene... but you can call me Cyrene. I'm the daughter of not only Gabrielle, Battling Bard of Potidea, but also of Xena: Warrior Princess of Amphipolis. Don't understand how I could have two mothers and no father?
Neither do I.
Anyway, here's my story... or the part I'm going to tell you for that matter.
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"Cyrene!" called Eve from her bedroom.
A dark head jerked up in the study, where Cyrene was sleeping on her Latin scrolls. She wiped a bit of saliva from her lips and yawned, stretching out very cat-like in her fluffy chair. After thoroughly stretching out the muscles in her little body, the girl groggily skipped off to her sister's room.
"What?" she asked as she waltz in.
She found a sigh that didn't make her happy. It was that Eve's boyfriend, Taius, was sitting on the bed with her. He was a soft-spoken man, but kept himself in good shape in case a fighting situation came up. With ash-blonde hair and fiery green eyes, he was the kind to make heads turn. Almost every time Cyrene came to visit he would give her presents and was always as nice as could be to the girl.
Cyrene hated him. She hated his gifts, his jokes, his smile, his niceness...
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But most of all, I hated the fact that he was always with Eve. She spent almost every waking... and, come to think of it, sleeping hour with him.
I may be seven, but I'm not stupid. His lame excuses for going into the bedroom with Eve every night haven't fooled me since I was six.
And I know it's wrong to hate him, but I have bouts of jealously more than worthy of my mothers. My eyes may not be green, but I can be the green-eyed monster when I want to...
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"Cyrene," repeated Eve, a hint of impatience in her tone signaling she had been trying to get the girl's attention for some time now.
"Huh? What?" said the girl, shaking her head to clear her thoughts.
"We have a surprise for you and-"
"Please say you're not pregnant or engaged!" blurted Cyrene before she could stop herself.
Taius looked a bit hurt while Eve looked just plain shocked. "No, I'm not pregnant or engaged. Where did you get an idea like that?" demanded Eve, her shock quickly giving way to anger.
Cyrene looked down at her toes in shame. "Sorry..."
Eve shook her head and said, "Anyway, I was going to tell you that Mother and Mom are bringing an Amazon, her husband, and her baby to see you."
That made the girl's ears perk up. "A real Amazon?" She reveled in the thought of meeting a true Amazon for the first time, not just her mom.
"Yep, a real Amazon," confirmed Eve with a smile. It was hard for her to stay mad at the girl for more than a few moments.
"And a real baby?" The only thing that excited Cyrene more than Amazons were babies...as long as Taius wasn't the father of it.
"A real baby," confirmed Eve once again. Lucky Amazon...
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Quick explanation: Mother is Xena and Mom is Gabrielle. Just to let you know so there's not mass confusion.
Anyway, I spent a few days preparing for the arrival of my mothers and their guests... you know, cleaning up my room, washing my hair, getting some war-paint ready...
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Xena gave Eve a wide, somewhat forced smile as she approached her eldest daughter's house. She inwardly sighed, noting how close her daughter and Taius were standing.
Gabrielle, on the other hand, quickly dismounted and embraced both Eve and Taius. "So good to see you two again! Sorry for being gone so long!" said the bard as she pulled away from Eve.
"No, it's fine. It's always great to spend time with Cyrene," said Eve with a grin. "And why didn't you come and drop her off yourself instead of sending her with Aphrodite?"
"Ah, that's my fault," interrupted a petite young woman perched atop a... zebra? She dismounted her... zebra and shook hands with Eve. "Hi, I'm Lydia. Your mothers talk about nothing but you."
Eve chuckled. "I don't doubt it. You're the Amazon who beat up Mother, right? Niiiice job. She had it coming," replied Eve with a wink.
Lydia laughed and said, "That was ten years ago. I was an overly-confident, hyperactive, hormonal teenager."
"That about sums it up," grunted Xena
Lydia ignored the older warrior and continued, "Well, I was having birthing problems with this little guy here," she motioned to the baby strapped to her chest, "so Stone asked Aphrodite to get Xena for us. She popped in five minutes later." Another wink, this time directed at the handsome blonde man sitting next to her on his horse.
Eve squealed with delight at the baby and begged to hold him; a plead that Lydia gave in to at the look on Eve's face.
Meanwhile, Little Cyrene poked her head from the house and called, "Mother! Mommy! You're home!"
Xena dismounted and caught the charging girl with a laugh. "Good to see you, too, Squirt!" said the warrior. "Did you have a good time?"
"Yup! Eve took me to see some Ja-pa-ne-se sword dudes! They were really cool, too! The only part I didn't like was Taius," exclaimed the girl, the last part whispered in her mother's ear.
Gabrielle snatched her daughter from Xena's arms and placed kisses all over Cyrene's face. "There's my baby!" She began towards the house with Xena following behind. "Mmm, you're so big! You must've grown three inches in the last few weeks!"
Stone and Taius just grunted their `hello's' and joined Eve and Lydia. True manly fashion.
"He's so cute! And he looks just like you, Stone!" squealed Eve as she cradled the infant in the crook of her arm.
The small baby's bright blue eyes fluttered open and he stared up at Eve in sleepy confusion. His tiny face then scrunched up into a tight knot and he began to wail and scream.
Startled, Eve quickly handed the baby to Lydia.
"Oh, it's okay baby. Shhh, don't cry. Mama's here," crooned Lydia, kissing Junior's downy head. He calmed down at his mother's soft touch and sniffled tearfully. "He's had a rough trip. I better feed him so he'll go back to sleep."
The ex-Amazon and her husband ventured into the house.
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Now, the only thing that makes my sister feel unwanted is a crying baby. She absolutely loves kids. If there's a new baby in the village, you can't expect her to be home at a decent hour. But whenever it cries while she's holding it she gives it back to its mother as if the babe were on fire.
So it was a big setback on Eve's mood when Junior woke up, looked at her, and cried his heart out. But anyway, inside the house Mom, Mother, and I were discussing the forbidden subject... Taius.
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"I still don't like him," said Xena and Cyrene in perfect unison.
Gabrielle shook her head with a heavy sigh. "You two have been saying that since Eve announced she liked him."
"The moment she announced she thought he was `the one'," corrected Xena bitterly, thinking about her anger at the dinner table that night. Ooh, how she had sliced up the trees outside after that.
"She's thirty-five, Xena, I think she's capable of making her own choices about her love life," argued Gabrielle, tapping her foot impatiently.
"Thirty-five's too young," muttered Xena.
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Big mistake.
See, because the universe has a rude sense of humor, if you take away the twenty-six years of Mom's life that was wasted, she's younger than Eve by almost a year. Eve is thirty-five and Mom is thirty-four. So you can probably see why Mom would get mad at Mother's statement.
I know it's just plain wrong that Mom is younger than Eve, but I know for a fact that nothing is right when you're around Mother and Mom. You know that, dontcha? I'm not even going to go into what they said, but half the words I didn't understand so what's the point?
Anyway, they blew up at each other for a few minutes, then kissed and made up like they always do. I hate the mush, so I wandered into the kitchen to find something more mischievous to do...
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Lydia popped a strawberry-filled pastry into her mouth with a deep sigh. "This makes it so hard to keep up fighting form," she mumbled through the sugary substance.
"What?" asked Eve with a tiny grin as she sipped some honey tea.
The ex-Amazon wiped her mouth. "I got Junior here hooked on strawberries... because that's all I ever ate while I was pregnant. Just strawberries covered in sugar. Poor Stone had to ride three hours to the nearest town every day to get them for me. So now, unless I eat strawberries, Junior gets all fussy and goes through `strawberry withdrawal'."
Eve chuckled a bit, stealing a glance at the tiny bundle contently nestled against Lydia's chest.
"How does Junior know that you ate strawberries?" asked Cyrene curiously as she appeared from the kitchen.
Lydia choked on some juice while Eve just stared at her little sister for what seemed like a small eternity. While the petite woman wiped her mouth, a smile tugging at her lips, Eve contemplated an answer.
"Ah... um... well sweetie..." Eve stumbled over her words. "See..." She shot Lydia a desperate look.
Lydia grinned and interrupted, "It's a mother/child thing. No one really understands so it's impossible to explain. Shall we say...a mystery?"
Cyrene scratched her head in confusion. "Um... riiiight." She slowly tromped outside to think about it.
Lydia winked at Eve. "Varia always says, `If you can't explain it to them... confuse em.'"
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I said I wasn't stupid, but I never said I was that smart.
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Cyrene wandered down a dirt road, quietly humming to herself and kicking up dust as she walked. Soon the girl came to a rickety old bridge and stared at it for a moment.
The wind gently rocked it back and forth, causing an unnerving creaking sound as the wood moved. The planks of wood were dark and looked rotted and week. Suspended by scraggily ropes, the bridge hung over two hundred feet in the air over a ravine. At the ravine floor your could just make out a small stream and a few sparse trees or bushes.
Having never come this far before in her explorations, Cyrene didn't know what to make of the situation. Surely traveling merchants and traders had to cross it to reach the next village... right?
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Had I had the sense at that age, I would've glanced about fifty feet west of my position and saw a newly built, incredibly sturdy bridge.
But of course, I never said anything thing about having common sense, did I? So, little did I know, my first life lesson was about to be learned.
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Cyrene stepped onto the bridge timidly. The wood groaned and creaked under her weight, but didn't give way other than a few spraying splinters. Feeling a sudden burst of confidence, she jogged across the next yard or so.
Then it happened.
CRACK! The girl's foot broke through the next plank, causing her to fall headlong onto the bridge. It snapped under the impact, causing her to slide to the middle of the bridge along the ropes. Using the instincts she had inherited from her mother, her hand shot out and grabbed the nearest rope. She held on for dear life.
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Now, you're probably thinking that this is where Mother and Mom swoop in to save me from impending doom.
...
Let me just say that you could call this story a `fractured Xena tale'...
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"HELP!" called Cyrene for the umpteenth time in the last hour. The sun was setting on the horizon; soon she would be all alone in the dark. Hanging two hundred feet in the air on a rope barely supporting her weight.
The young girl's fingers were slipping. Her arms were going to snap. Her legs, which she had somehow managed to rap around the rope, were about to break in half.
Oh, how she wished she had never gotten onto the cursed bridge!
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Meanwhile, Xena and Gabrielle were on a desperate search for their daughter. They had asked all around town but no one had seen her. Lydia and Eve said she had gone out to play no more than two hours ago.
Xena, perched atop Argo III, checked the reins and saddlebags. Argo II was too tired and old to run for long distances. It was a risk for her to take such an ill-trained filly, but she had no choice.
Gabrielle came trotting out of the barn riding Neferiti's son, Rallius. Half-zebra and half-stallion, the horse was a majestic sight. Powerful muscles rippled under beautiful fur. With brown-and-white-striped hindquarters and the rest midnight black, the only horses that could ever rival him would be the three Argos.
Argo III, on the other hand, was in direct contrast to the stallion. Sugary-white with the occasional gray spatter, her tail and main were storm cloud gray. She was relatively small, but packed more power than any mare of her size.
They looked good together... much like Xena and Gabrielle.
"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" called Eve from the house.
Xena looked at the sky worriedly as a strong wind began to pick up. "Yeah, we'll be fine. Just make sure no one comes after us!" replied the warrior above the howling wind.
Eve hugged herself to block out the cold. This situation was just itching to become a total disaster. "Alright, be careful Mother, Mom!"
The two women nodded and galloped off to find their missing daughter.
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Little Cyrene looked up as rain began to pelt her face like cold knives. The wind blew the water droplets right into her little body, almost blowing her off the bridge.
Alas, with one strong gust the bridge ropes snapped and down, down she went...
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I can read your mind! You're thinking that I'm gonna go `splat' at the bottom and Mother and Mom are going to find some heroic way to bring me back to life.
WRONGO!
Just wait and see before you make any assumptions...
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Xena pulled Argo to a halt, cringing as the mare's hooves slid a few feet forward in the slippery mud. She turned to her wife, who was blankly staring at the road ahead of them. "We'll find her, Gabrielle," comforted the warrior, squeezing her soul mate's shoulder.
"I won't rest until she's in my arms, Xena. I want my baby," said the bard with a ragged sob. Xena rubbed her back until the bard regained herself, then they took off once again into the darkness.
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Cyrene screamed as her half of the bridge slammed into the ravine wall, accompanied by the sickening crack of her bones breaking from the impact. Her grip loosened and the rope slipped, causing her to fall no more than ten feet before she hit something hard.
Wavering on the edge of unconsciousness, the girl realized that she was lying on a ledge of some sort with a protective overhang. Summoning the last of her strength, she crawled into the tiny shelter, away from the howling storm, and collapsed in a puddle of cold water.
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Blue eyes fluttered open and Cyrene coughed a few times. Not two seconds later she felt the immense pounding in her temples; the throbbing pain in her entire body. It hurt when she breathed, and there was blood speckles all over the floor in front of her face.
NOT GOOD.
Raising her head to assess her injuries, the girl noticed the trickle of blood down her cheekbone. She gingerly touched a hand to her head, feeling the warm blood caking her scalp.
DEFINITELY NOT GOOD.
"Sweet pea," whispered a soft voice.
"Who--who's there?" called Cyrene weakly.
"I don't have much time. Apollo will hear," said the disembodied voice quietly.
"Apollo... wha?" The voice sounded comforting... and strangely familiar.
A shimmering figure dressed in pink silk appeared before her. "Don't be scared. I'm a friend of your mothers'."
Cyrene whimpered in pain, her eyes welling up with hot tears.
"Don't cry, Sweet Pea. I'm Aphrodite and I've come to help you," whispered the goddess with a reassuring smile. "But if Apollo catches me I won't be able to help you."
The girl sobbed and curled up into a fetal position, shivering uncontrollably. A soft hand reached out and stroked her cheek, making Cyrene flinch back in momentary surprise.
"I can't heal you, but I can help with the pain." The blonde goddess waved her hands above Cyrene's shivering body and the girl gasped with relief as the pain dissipated. "It'll wear off in awhile, but it'll be long enough for you to rest a bit."
"Don't leave me here alone," pleaded the girl, grasping Aphrodite's silky soft hand and sobbing some more.
The Goddess of Love was moved by the look of compassion in small child's baby blue eyes. She placed her hand over Cyrene's and smiled. "Apollo, current king of the gods, forbids me to take you someplace safe, but nothing says I can't help keep you company." With a wave of her hand, a viewing portal showing Xena and Gabrielle opened. "Just watch and know that someone will find you. Everything's gonna be just fine. Have a little faith in your mothers. They won't let you down."
"APHRODITE!" boomed a deep voice, accompanied by the flash of lightning and rolling thunder.
"Gotta go, Sweet Pea. Hothead of the Sun's got a temper the size of Olympus," said the goddess before disappearing in a flash of golden sparkles.
Cyrene looked into the viewing portal, feeling just how weak her body had become from the loss of blood and a concussion. Though she felt no pain, she had almost no control over her muscles. So she just lay there trying to prepare herself for however long it would take for someone to rescue her...
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"Xena!" called Gabrielle in alarm.
The warrior was trying to get Argo under control. The young mare tossed her head and stomped her hooves, backing up towards the forest. Xena tried in vain to calm the white horse, but lightning flashed and a tree not three feet from them burst into flames. Argo threw Xena and galloped off into the night. Xena pummeled into a tree headfirst.
"No! Xena!" screamed Gabrielle, dismounting Rallius. She ran over to her wife and cradled the unconscious warrior's head in her lap. Turning to her stallion, she yelled above the storm, "Rallius, go get me some long branches, please."
The great horse nodded and galloped off, perfectly understanding just how severe the situation had become.
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At this point, I was once again wavering on the edge of consciousness and seeing Mother go down like that didn't help any. I mean, she and Mom were out in the middle of this horrible storm trying to find me. That meant it was my fault... or so I thought at the time...
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Cyrene's pain was slowly returning to her, starting at an uncomfortable dull and building from there. How long had it been since she had seen her mother get thrown? Surely about an hour. The girl refused to look into the portal anymore for fear something else would happen.
Only the pitter-patter of the rain and her throbbing pain kept Little Cyrene company. That and her thoughts of how she would make this up to her mother and mom.
Suddenly, she found hope again.
"Cyrene!" called a familiar voice, echoing against the ravine walls. "Cyrene, where are you, sweetie?"
The girl looked into the portal and saw her mom and Eve leaning over the edge of the ravine, soaked to the bone from the rain. Her mother lay on a litter just a few feet behind them, awake and listening for any indication of her daughter's whereabouts.
Summoning her strength, the girl called back, "I'm here, Mom! Mom, help me!"
Gabrielle heard the faint call for help and gasped. "My baby... my baby's down there..." she whispered, a lump forming in her throat.
"Where are you, Cyrene?" yelled Eve, placing a comforting hand on Gabrielle's shoulder.
Cyrene groaned as the portal faded away. She was on her own now. "I'm on a ledge, Eve!" called the girl. She did some quick calculations. "About forty feet below you!"
Gabrielle laid down on her stomach in the mud so that she could safely look down the ravine wall. Sure enough, no more than forty feet down was a small ledge where she could just make out the shape of a tiny hand protruding from an overhang. She turned to Eve. "You have to do it."
Eve, who had rushed out into the rain when Argo had turned up with no rider, shook her head furiously. "No! I can't! "
"Yes you can! The gods know I'll choke if I do it and your mother needs someone to help with her head and arm injuries, anyway! You're the only one who can get her!" She took Eve by the shoulders and gently shook her.
"What if I can't? I can stand heights, but couldn't we wait until Lydia and the rest get here..."
Xena grunted to get their attention. "Eve, your sister may be dying and you're wasting your time arguing with us. Just go down there and get her. Have a little faith."
Eve gulped and nodded her head. "Okay."
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Cyrene looked up weakly as some rocks came tumbling down onto the ledge. Crawling out of the safety of the overhang, she glanced up and saw Eve scaling the ravine wall towards her. Her heart leapt with joy. "Eve! Eve, help me please!" she cried, feeling a sudden wave of dizziness from the effort.
Eve swallowed the lump in her throat and continued down the rock face.
Gabrielle glanced behind her as the sound of approaching horses reached her ears. "Lydia, Stone, Taius, help me! Lydia, tend to Xena. Stone and Taius, I need you to be holding the rope in case anything goes wrong!" ordered the bard.
The three nodded and performed their commands without a word.
Eve clenched the rope wrapped around her tightly, causing her knuckles to go white. She didn't have a fear of heights, rock climbing, or the occasional hero-duty... but she was scared stiff of losing her one and only sister. Just ten more feet and she'd get the girl...
Just ten more feet...
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Lydia ripped some cloth into strips and began wrapping it around Xena's fractured right arm. "How's the squirt?" asked the ex-Amazon as she grabbed the older warrior's scabbard and sword and used it in the splint.
"She's fine for the moment," said Xena through clenched teeth.
"Good. Junior needs a playmate and I don't plan on having anymore children for the moment," mused Lydia as she quickly and efficiently tied the splint, then began dressing the older warrior's head wound.
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Eve finally dropped onto the ledge and quickly enveloped a sobbing child. She stroked the girl's soft hair and kissed her forehead comfortingly. "It's okay, Cyrene. I've got you now and you're going to be just fine. Come on, let's go." She wrapped some of the rope around her sister and pulled on it three times.
At the top, Stone, Taius, Lydia, and Gabrielle began tugging on the rope. Their combined muscle power pulled the rope up quickly and almost effortlessly. Soon Eve and her sister when in the home stretch; just a few more feet to go.
But the cosmos refused to let Cyrene get out that easily.
The rope abruptly snapped, sending the four adults flying back. In a flash, Taius was back on his feet and chasing the rope. He dove after the end and caught it just before Eve and Cyrene were lost for good. Stone grabbed his legs and pulled all three to safety.
"Oh my gods, my baby," cried Gabrielle, running over and pulling a crying Cyrene into her arms. "Don't you ever scare me like that again. Never do that again," she whispered, kissing the girl's forehead.
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So, it just goes to show that all I needed to do was have a little faith in my family; my friends... and I got out of it all right. Few broken bones, bit of a punctured lung, something of a concussion, but otherwise it was our faith that got me out of there alive and in one piece.
My first life lesson: have a little faith.
Other Disclaimers:
Sex: No
Violence: Yup
Potty Mouth: Uh huh
Subtext: Oh no! It's two women in love... WITH EACH OTHER! The horror!! Jeez, people, lighten up.
Author's Note: This is a companion piece to my previous story, Youthful Intuition. And, just in case it's confusing, Little Cyrene narrates parts of this story.
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Life's Lessons
by Mystik
~ July 21st, 2001 ~
Lesson 1: Have a Little Faith
Hello there! My name is Little Cyrene... but you can call me Cyrene. I'm the daughter of not only Gabrielle, Battling Bard of Potidea, but also of Xena: Warrior Princess of Amphipolis. Don't understand how I could have two mothers and no father?
Neither do I.
Anyway, here's my story... or the part I'm going to tell you for that matter.
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"Cyrene!" called Eve from her bedroom.
A dark head jerked up in the study, where Cyrene was sleeping on her Latin scrolls. She wiped a bit of saliva from her lips and yawned, stretching out very cat-like in her fluffy chair. After thoroughly stretching out the muscles in her little body, the girl groggily skipped off to her sister's room.
"What?" she asked as she waltz in.
She found a sigh that didn't make her happy. It was that Eve's boyfriend, Taius, was sitting on the bed with her. He was a soft-spoken man, but kept himself in good shape in case a fighting situation came up. With ash-blonde hair and fiery green eyes, he was the kind to make heads turn. Almost every time Cyrene came to visit he would give her presents and was always as nice as could be to the girl.
Cyrene hated him. She hated his gifts, his jokes, his smile, his niceness...
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But most of all, I hated the fact that he was always with Eve. She spent almost every waking... and, come to think of it, sleeping hour with him.
I may be seven, but I'm not stupid. His lame excuses for going into the bedroom with Eve every night haven't fooled me since I was six.
And I know it's wrong to hate him, but I have bouts of jealously more than worthy of my mothers. My eyes may not be green, but I can be the green-eyed monster when I want to...
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"Cyrene," repeated Eve, a hint of impatience in her tone signaling she had been trying to get the girl's attention for some time now.
"Huh? What?" said the girl, shaking her head to clear her thoughts.
"We have a surprise for you and-"
"Please say you're not pregnant or engaged!" blurted Cyrene before she could stop herself.
Taius looked a bit hurt while Eve looked just plain shocked. "No, I'm not pregnant or engaged. Where did you get an idea like that?" demanded Eve, her shock quickly giving way to anger.
Cyrene looked down at her toes in shame. "Sorry..."
Eve shook her head and said, "Anyway, I was going to tell you that Mother and Mom are bringing an Amazon, her husband, and her baby to see you."
That made the girl's ears perk up. "A real Amazon?" She reveled in the thought of meeting a true Amazon for the first time, not just her mom.
"Yep, a real Amazon," confirmed Eve with a smile. It was hard for her to stay mad at the girl for more than a few moments.
"And a real baby?" The only thing that excited Cyrene more than Amazons were babies...as long as Taius wasn't the father of it.
"A real baby," confirmed Eve once again. Lucky Amazon...
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Quick explanation: Mother is Xena and Mom is Gabrielle. Just to let you know so there's not mass confusion.
Anyway, I spent a few days preparing for the arrival of my mothers and their guests... you know, cleaning up my room, washing my hair, getting some war-paint ready...
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Xena gave Eve a wide, somewhat forced smile as she approached her eldest daughter's house. She inwardly sighed, noting how close her daughter and Taius were standing.
Gabrielle, on the other hand, quickly dismounted and embraced both Eve and Taius. "So good to see you two again! Sorry for being gone so long!" said the bard as she pulled away from Eve.
"No, it's fine. It's always great to spend time with Cyrene," said Eve with a grin. "And why didn't you come and drop her off yourself instead of sending her with Aphrodite?"
"Ah, that's my fault," interrupted a petite young woman perched atop a... zebra? She dismounted her... zebra and shook hands with Eve. "Hi, I'm Lydia. Your mothers talk about nothing but you."
Eve chuckled. "I don't doubt it. You're the Amazon who beat up Mother, right? Niiiice job. She had it coming," replied Eve with a wink.
Lydia laughed and said, "That was ten years ago. I was an overly-confident, hyperactive, hormonal teenager."
"That about sums it up," grunted Xena
Lydia ignored the older warrior and continued, "Well, I was having birthing problems with this little guy here," she motioned to the baby strapped to her chest, "so Stone asked Aphrodite to get Xena for us. She popped in five minutes later." Another wink, this time directed at the handsome blonde man sitting next to her on his horse.
Eve squealed with delight at the baby and begged to hold him; a plead that Lydia gave in to at the look on Eve's face.
Meanwhile, Little Cyrene poked her head from the house and called, "Mother! Mommy! You're home!"
Xena dismounted and caught the charging girl with a laugh. "Good to see you, too, Squirt!" said the warrior. "Did you have a good time?"
"Yup! Eve took me to see some Ja-pa-ne-se sword dudes! They were really cool, too! The only part I didn't like was Taius," exclaimed the girl, the last part whispered in her mother's ear.
Gabrielle snatched her daughter from Xena's arms and placed kisses all over Cyrene's face. "There's my baby!" She began towards the house with Xena following behind. "Mmm, you're so big! You must've grown three inches in the last few weeks!"
Stone and Taius just grunted their `hello's' and joined Eve and Lydia. True manly fashion.
"He's so cute! And he looks just like you, Stone!" squealed Eve as she cradled the infant in the crook of her arm.
The small baby's bright blue eyes fluttered open and he stared up at Eve in sleepy confusion. His tiny face then scrunched up into a tight knot and he began to wail and scream.
Startled, Eve quickly handed the baby to Lydia.
"Oh, it's okay baby. Shhh, don't cry. Mama's here," crooned Lydia, kissing Junior's downy head. He calmed down at his mother's soft touch and sniffled tearfully. "He's had a rough trip. I better feed him so he'll go back to sleep."
The ex-Amazon and her husband ventured into the house.
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Now, the only thing that makes my sister feel unwanted is a crying baby. She absolutely loves kids. If there's a new baby in the village, you can't expect her to be home at a decent hour. But whenever it cries while she's holding it she gives it back to its mother as if the babe were on fire.
So it was a big setback on Eve's mood when Junior woke up, looked at her, and cried his heart out. But anyway, inside the house Mom, Mother, and I were discussing the forbidden subject... Taius.
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"I still don't like him," said Xena and Cyrene in perfect unison.
Gabrielle shook her head with a heavy sigh. "You two have been saying that since Eve announced she liked him."
"The moment she announced she thought he was `the one'," corrected Xena bitterly, thinking about her anger at the dinner table that night. Ooh, how she had sliced up the trees outside after that.
"She's thirty-five, Xena, I think she's capable of making her own choices about her love life," argued Gabrielle, tapping her foot impatiently.
"Thirty-five's too young," muttered Xena.
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Big mistake.
See, because the universe has a rude sense of humor, if you take away the twenty-six years of Mom's life that was wasted, she's younger than Eve by almost a year. Eve is thirty-five and Mom is thirty-four. So you can probably see why Mom would get mad at Mother's statement.
I know it's just plain wrong that Mom is younger than Eve, but I know for a fact that nothing is right when you're around Mother and Mom. You know that, dontcha? I'm not even going to go into what they said, but half the words I didn't understand so what's the point?
Anyway, they blew up at each other for a few minutes, then kissed and made up like they always do. I hate the mush, so I wandered into the kitchen to find something more mischievous to do...
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Lydia popped a strawberry-filled pastry into her mouth with a deep sigh. "This makes it so hard to keep up fighting form," she mumbled through the sugary substance.
"What?" asked Eve with a tiny grin as she sipped some honey tea.
The ex-Amazon wiped her mouth. "I got Junior here hooked on strawberries... because that's all I ever ate while I was pregnant. Just strawberries covered in sugar. Poor Stone had to ride three hours to the nearest town every day to get them for me. So now, unless I eat strawberries, Junior gets all fussy and goes through `strawberry withdrawal'."
Eve chuckled a bit, stealing a glance at the tiny bundle contently nestled against Lydia's chest.
"How does Junior know that you ate strawberries?" asked Cyrene curiously as she appeared from the kitchen.
Lydia choked on some juice while Eve just stared at her little sister for what seemed like a small eternity. While the petite woman wiped her mouth, a smile tugging at her lips, Eve contemplated an answer.
"Ah... um... well sweetie..." Eve stumbled over her words. "See..." She shot Lydia a desperate look.
Lydia grinned and interrupted, "It's a mother/child thing. No one really understands so it's impossible to explain. Shall we say...a mystery?"
Cyrene scratched her head in confusion. "Um... riiiight." She slowly tromped outside to think about it.
Lydia winked at Eve. "Varia always says, `If you can't explain it to them... confuse em.'"
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I said I wasn't stupid, but I never said I was that smart.
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Cyrene wandered down a dirt road, quietly humming to herself and kicking up dust as she walked. Soon the girl came to a rickety old bridge and stared at it for a moment.
The wind gently rocked it back and forth, causing an unnerving creaking sound as the wood moved. The planks of wood were dark and looked rotted and week. Suspended by scraggily ropes, the bridge hung over two hundred feet in the air over a ravine. At the ravine floor your could just make out a small stream and a few sparse trees or bushes.
Having never come this far before in her explorations, Cyrene didn't know what to make of the situation. Surely traveling merchants and traders had to cross it to reach the next village... right?
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Had I had the sense at that age, I would've glanced about fifty feet west of my position and saw a newly built, incredibly sturdy bridge.
But of course, I never said anything thing about having common sense, did I? So, little did I know, my first life lesson was about to be learned.
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Cyrene stepped onto the bridge timidly. The wood groaned and creaked under her weight, but didn't give way other than a few spraying splinters. Feeling a sudden burst of confidence, she jogged across the next yard or so.
Then it happened.
CRACK! The girl's foot broke through the next plank, causing her to fall headlong onto the bridge. It snapped under the impact, causing her to slide to the middle of the bridge along the ropes. Using the instincts she had inherited from her mother, her hand shot out and grabbed the nearest rope. She held on for dear life.
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Now, you're probably thinking that this is where Mother and Mom swoop in to save me from impending doom.
...
Let me just say that you could call this story a `fractured Xena tale'...
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"HELP!" called Cyrene for the umpteenth time in the last hour. The sun was setting on the horizon; soon she would be all alone in the dark. Hanging two hundred feet in the air on a rope barely supporting her weight.
The young girl's fingers were slipping. Her arms were going to snap. Her legs, which she had somehow managed to rap around the rope, were about to break in half.
Oh, how she wished she had never gotten onto the cursed bridge!
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Meanwhile, Xena and Gabrielle were on a desperate search for their daughter. They had asked all around town but no one had seen her. Lydia and Eve said she had gone out to play no more than two hours ago.
Xena, perched atop Argo III, checked the reins and saddlebags. Argo II was too tired and old to run for long distances. It was a risk for her to take such an ill-trained filly, but she had no choice.
Gabrielle came trotting out of the barn riding Neferiti's son, Rallius. Half-zebra and half-stallion, the horse was a majestic sight. Powerful muscles rippled under beautiful fur. With brown-and-white-striped hindquarters and the rest midnight black, the only horses that could ever rival him would be the three Argos.
Argo III, on the other hand, was in direct contrast to the stallion. Sugary-white with the occasional gray spatter, her tail and main were storm cloud gray. She was relatively small, but packed more power than any mare of her size.
They looked good together... much like Xena and Gabrielle.
"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" called Eve from the house.
Xena looked at the sky worriedly as a strong wind began to pick up. "Yeah, we'll be fine. Just make sure no one comes after us!" replied the warrior above the howling wind.
Eve hugged herself to block out the cold. This situation was just itching to become a total disaster. "Alright, be careful Mother, Mom!"
The two women nodded and galloped off to find their missing daughter.
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Little Cyrene looked up as rain began to pelt her face like cold knives. The wind blew the water droplets right into her little body, almost blowing her off the bridge.
Alas, with one strong gust the bridge ropes snapped and down, down she went...
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I can read your mind! You're thinking that I'm gonna go `splat' at the bottom and Mother and Mom are going to find some heroic way to bring me back to life.
WRONGO!
Just wait and see before you make any assumptions...
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Xena pulled Argo to a halt, cringing as the mare's hooves slid a few feet forward in the slippery mud. She turned to her wife, who was blankly staring at the road ahead of them. "We'll find her, Gabrielle," comforted the warrior, squeezing her soul mate's shoulder.
"I won't rest until she's in my arms, Xena. I want my baby," said the bard with a ragged sob. Xena rubbed her back until the bard regained herself, then they took off once again into the darkness.
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Cyrene screamed as her half of the bridge slammed into the ravine wall, accompanied by the sickening crack of her bones breaking from the impact. Her grip loosened and the rope slipped, causing her to fall no more than ten feet before she hit something hard.
Wavering on the edge of unconsciousness, the girl realized that she was lying on a ledge of some sort with a protective overhang. Summoning the last of her strength, she crawled into the tiny shelter, away from the howling storm, and collapsed in a puddle of cold water.
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Blue eyes fluttered open and Cyrene coughed a few times. Not two seconds later she felt the immense pounding in her temples; the throbbing pain in her entire body. It hurt when she breathed, and there was blood speckles all over the floor in front of her face.
NOT GOOD.
Raising her head to assess her injuries, the girl noticed the trickle of blood down her cheekbone. She gingerly touched a hand to her head, feeling the warm blood caking her scalp.
DEFINITELY NOT GOOD.
"Sweet pea," whispered a soft voice.
"Who--who's there?" called Cyrene weakly.
"I don't have much time. Apollo will hear," said the disembodied voice quietly.
"Apollo... wha?" The voice sounded comforting... and strangely familiar.
A shimmering figure dressed in pink silk appeared before her. "Don't be scared. I'm a friend of your mothers'."
Cyrene whimpered in pain, her eyes welling up with hot tears.
"Don't cry, Sweet Pea. I'm Aphrodite and I've come to help you," whispered the goddess with a reassuring smile. "But if Apollo catches me I won't be able to help you."
The girl sobbed and curled up into a fetal position, shivering uncontrollably. A soft hand reached out and stroked her cheek, making Cyrene flinch back in momentary surprise.
"I can't heal you, but I can help with the pain." The blonde goddess waved her hands above Cyrene's shivering body and the girl gasped with relief as the pain dissipated. "It'll wear off in awhile, but it'll be long enough for you to rest a bit."
"Don't leave me here alone," pleaded the girl, grasping Aphrodite's silky soft hand and sobbing some more.
The Goddess of Love was moved by the look of compassion in small child's baby blue eyes. She placed her hand over Cyrene's and smiled. "Apollo, current king of the gods, forbids me to take you someplace safe, but nothing says I can't help keep you company." With a wave of her hand, a viewing portal showing Xena and Gabrielle opened. "Just watch and know that someone will find you. Everything's gonna be just fine. Have a little faith in your mothers. They won't let you down."
"APHRODITE!" boomed a deep voice, accompanied by the flash of lightning and rolling thunder.
"Gotta go, Sweet Pea. Hothead of the Sun's got a temper the size of Olympus," said the goddess before disappearing in a flash of golden sparkles.
Cyrene looked into the viewing portal, feeling just how weak her body had become from the loss of blood and a concussion. Though she felt no pain, she had almost no control over her muscles. So she just lay there trying to prepare herself for however long it would take for someone to rescue her...
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"Xena!" called Gabrielle in alarm.
The warrior was trying to get Argo under control. The young mare tossed her head and stomped her hooves, backing up towards the forest. Xena tried in vain to calm the white horse, but lightning flashed and a tree not three feet from them burst into flames. Argo threw Xena and galloped off into the night. Xena pummeled into a tree headfirst.
"No! Xena!" screamed Gabrielle, dismounting Rallius. She ran over to her wife and cradled the unconscious warrior's head in her lap. Turning to her stallion, she yelled above the storm, "Rallius, go get me some long branches, please."
The great horse nodded and galloped off, perfectly understanding just how severe the situation had become.
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At this point, I was once again wavering on the edge of consciousness and seeing Mother go down like that didn't help any. I mean, she and Mom were out in the middle of this horrible storm trying to find me. That meant it was my fault... or so I thought at the time...
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Cyrene's pain was slowly returning to her, starting at an uncomfortable dull and building from there. How long had it been since she had seen her mother get thrown? Surely about an hour. The girl refused to look into the portal anymore for fear something else would happen.
Only the pitter-patter of the rain and her throbbing pain kept Little Cyrene company. That and her thoughts of how she would make this up to her mother and mom.
Suddenly, she found hope again.
"Cyrene!" called a familiar voice, echoing against the ravine walls. "Cyrene, where are you, sweetie?"
The girl looked into the portal and saw her mom and Eve leaning over the edge of the ravine, soaked to the bone from the rain. Her mother lay on a litter just a few feet behind them, awake and listening for any indication of her daughter's whereabouts.
Summoning her strength, the girl called back, "I'm here, Mom! Mom, help me!"
Gabrielle heard the faint call for help and gasped. "My baby... my baby's down there..." she whispered, a lump forming in her throat.
"Where are you, Cyrene?" yelled Eve, placing a comforting hand on Gabrielle's shoulder.
Cyrene groaned as the portal faded away. She was on her own now. "I'm on a ledge, Eve!" called the girl. She did some quick calculations. "About forty feet below you!"
Gabrielle laid down on her stomach in the mud so that she could safely look down the ravine wall. Sure enough, no more than forty feet down was a small ledge where she could just make out the shape of a tiny hand protruding from an overhang. She turned to Eve. "You have to do it."
Eve, who had rushed out into the rain when Argo had turned up with no rider, shook her head furiously. "No! I can't! "
"Yes you can! The gods know I'll choke if I do it and your mother needs someone to help with her head and arm injuries, anyway! You're the only one who can get her!" She took Eve by the shoulders and gently shook her.
"What if I can't? I can stand heights, but couldn't we wait until Lydia and the rest get here..."
Xena grunted to get their attention. "Eve, your sister may be dying and you're wasting your time arguing with us. Just go down there and get her. Have a little faith."
Eve gulped and nodded her head. "Okay."
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Cyrene looked up weakly as some rocks came tumbling down onto the ledge. Crawling out of the safety of the overhang, she glanced up and saw Eve scaling the ravine wall towards her. Her heart leapt with joy. "Eve! Eve, help me please!" she cried, feeling a sudden wave of dizziness from the effort.
Eve swallowed the lump in her throat and continued down the rock face.
Gabrielle glanced behind her as the sound of approaching horses reached her ears. "Lydia, Stone, Taius, help me! Lydia, tend to Xena. Stone and Taius, I need you to be holding the rope in case anything goes wrong!" ordered the bard.
The three nodded and performed their commands without a word.
Eve clenched the rope wrapped around her tightly, causing her knuckles to go white. She didn't have a fear of heights, rock climbing, or the occasional hero-duty... but she was scared stiff of losing her one and only sister. Just ten more feet and she'd get the girl...
Just ten more feet...
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Lydia ripped some cloth into strips and began wrapping it around Xena's fractured right arm. "How's the squirt?" asked the ex-Amazon as she grabbed the older warrior's scabbard and sword and used it in the splint.
"She's fine for the moment," said Xena through clenched teeth.
"Good. Junior needs a playmate and I don't plan on having anymore children for the moment," mused Lydia as she quickly and efficiently tied the splint, then began dressing the older warrior's head wound.
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Eve finally dropped onto the ledge and quickly enveloped a sobbing child. She stroked the girl's soft hair and kissed her forehead comfortingly. "It's okay, Cyrene. I've got you now and you're going to be just fine. Come on, let's go." She wrapped some of the rope around her sister and pulled on it three times.
At the top, Stone, Taius, Lydia, and Gabrielle began tugging on the rope. Their combined muscle power pulled the rope up quickly and almost effortlessly. Soon Eve and her sister when in the home stretch; just a few more feet to go.
But the cosmos refused to let Cyrene get out that easily.
The rope abruptly snapped, sending the four adults flying back. In a flash, Taius was back on his feet and chasing the rope. He dove after the end and caught it just before Eve and Cyrene were lost for good. Stone grabbed his legs and pulled all three to safety.
"Oh my gods, my baby," cried Gabrielle, running over and pulling a crying Cyrene into her arms. "Don't you ever scare me like that again. Never do that again," she whispered, kissing the girl's forehead.
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So, it just goes to show that all I needed to do was have a little faith in my family; my friends... and I got out of it all right. Few broken bones, bit of a punctured lung, something of a concussion, but otherwise it was our faith that got me out of there alive and in one piece.
My first life lesson: have a little faith.