Gabrielle glanced back and found Jadxea following, and chatting with, a young Amazon not much older than her. She chastized herself for not telling her daughter about herself sooner. But had she ever reaally planned on telling her?
The young princess had gone into the hut before her, to announce her, she'd said. Really, she was making sure that her queen would even consider seeing her, as the princess doubted she would. Gabrielle debated whether or not to be upset about the lack of respect shown to a high queen. There was no reason for it, ultimately. She had intended to abandon the title years ago. It was just a convenience, a safe haven, now. It meant little to her anymore.
The deerskin door wasa pulled aside, and the young princess stood inside with an untrusting, defiant face. "The queen will see you." The declaration wasa forced through gritted teeth.
Gabrielle smirked, knowing that the Amazon would be mortified once it was revealled that she wasn't lying. Disrespect to a queen was never tolerated, no matter your rank. Still, she wasn't sure if she should insist on punishment for the young princess. Gabrielle stepped carefully into the hut, barely hearing a cry escape from her child before the deerskin hide waas released behind her, blocking out the world.
"Well... it is you," a voice emerged from the darkness of the hut. "I never thought I'd see Queen Gabrielle again."
Gabrielle smiled. "Neither did I." Her eyes had enough time to adjust to the lack of light just as the queen stepped close to her. Gabrielle's smile broadened at the sweet blonde woman, no taller than herself. "Cyane."
Cyane immediately embraced Gabrielle fiercely. "I was so sure, we were all sure, that we'd never see you again."
Gabrielle tensed ever-so-slightly in her arms and crried on. "So, you're high queen now?"
Cyane finally released her, her beaming face taking in every inch of her friend, her sister. "Oh, no. We all care for the tribe. I just happened to be the only one on the counsel who actually believed you might have come back to us."
"Nothing is permenant," Gabrielle took a step back, catching a glimpse of fear and awe in the young princess' face behind Cyane.
It was as if Cyane had never heard her. An arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her into the extension on the back of the hut. "Where have you been? No one is going to believe you're actually alive! Larya, put together some food for Queen Gabrielle! You must be starving. We'll have to have a celebration for your return. Larya, don't gape at her, go and get some bread and fruit! Tell me where you've been!"
Gabrielle emerged back into daylight, the sun at it's highest point, dressed in the beads and feathers denoting a queen. She had resisted the privilage at first, but remembered the distrust in the Amazons' eyes when she was without the markings. The necklace hung heavy around her neck, the weight of it something of a comfort. It was a reminder of a simpler time; a time that she needed only to wait a few moments before she could turn and find Xena riding Argo into the village.
Gabrielle adjusted the engraved armband and tossed her elaborately braided hair off of her shoulders. The Amazons scattered through the village were whispering, pointing and staring. She took a deep breath and began scanning the faces for her daughter, or someone who would know where she was taken.
She finally found a lanky, dark little girl, perched on a barrel, her leg bandaged, captivated by the battle in front of her. Two young women, obviously still in training, were sparring with staffs. They were going fairly slow and methodically for their ability, as if they were marking it out. Suddenly, the Amazon closest to Jadxea turned to her. The girl, with all her enthusiasm, hopped off the barrel, and the Amazon tossed her the staff.
Gabrielle immediately charged at them, and the entire village seemed to part down the center for her. "Jadxea! Jadxea!" She reached them just as the girl had squared off with the Amazon. The two young women immediately dropped to their knees at the sight of her, their heads bent in respect.
Jadxea was frozen, staff at the ready, surveying all of the grown women who had dropped to their knees at the sound of her mother's enraged voice, and all those farther away who had stopped and dropped their heads in respect. Her eyes finally made it back to her mother who was clad in beautiful, elaborate deerskin; designs and emblems that she'd never seen before, but obviously meant something.
Gabrielle seized the staff from the little girl's hands, "What were you thinking?"
Jadxea only gaped at her mother. Something was so different about her. She knew her mother to be strong enough to command an audience, she knew she'd once been a travelling bard. But this was a power that she'd never seen before. The strongest women Jadxea had ever seen simply fell at her mother's feet without question. She was compelled to do the same.
When Jadxea seemed unable to answer, Gabrielle bi-passed her completely and began glaring at the two Amazons. "Who's idea was this?"
The woman to her left barely lifted her head to speak. "Apologies, my queen."
"Stand up," Gabrielle commanded. "Both of you."
Jadxea watched, shocked and amazed when both women did as she bid, their eyes ever lowered.
"How did this begin?" Gabrielle demanded of the woman on her left.
"The little princess requested a demonstration. I offered the lesson, my queen," the young woman's voice shook.
"Let me make two things very clear, and I want both of you to let this spread through the tribe. My daughter does not fight. Ever. And while she is Amazon by birth, she does not carry my rite of caste, and should only be seen as a sister in the tribe. Am I clear?"
"Yes, my queen," the women mumbled simultaneously.
"You," Gabrielle turned to the one on her left, "you cared for Jadxea on the journey. I'd like to thank you." She held out her hand to the woman who tentatively raised her eyes to meet the Queen of the Amazons'.
The young woman gripped Gabrielle's forearm near the elbow in a gesture of trust. She was swallowing hard out of fear and excitement.
"What's your name?" Gabrielle asked, a little gentler now.
"Terreis," the young Amazon answered timidly.
A look of suprise passed across Gabrielle's face, but she quickly replaced it with a smile. "A good name. I was given my rite of caste by a Terreis... many years ago."
Terreis beamed, blushing lightly. "I know."
"Terreis, would you be kind enough to find Jadxea appropriate clothing? Something that will help her blend into the tribe better than her Egyptian wraps?"
"Certainly, my queen!" Terreis lowered her head quickly, and then sprinted through the village.
Gabrielle put an arm around Jadxea and led her away from the village center, watching the young Amazons trying not to let their curious eyes roam. They ducked into a vacant hut, and as soon as they were out of sight, Gabrielle heard the square begin to bussel with whispers and excitement. She found their packs that had already been delivered to the hut, and pulled her abandoned sais out, strapping them back into her boots. She glanced at Jadxea, who was stock-still in front of the entrance. "Since when were you so quiet?" Gabrielle found bread and cheese left for them, and set it on the little table in the corner. "Xea... you should eat."
But the child was frozen, trying desperately to regain her tongue. She couldn't move if she'd wanted to. An overload of information had been dumped onto her, and processing it was taking up all of her focus.
Gabrielle sighed and took the girl's shoulders, steering her and depositing her at the table. She placed herself on the opposite side and caught her child's eyes. "Just ask."
Jadxea opened her mouth, but closed it. Where to begin in this myriad of secrets? She reached a tentative hand up and broke off a piece of bread. It was in her mouth before she ever organized her thoughts. She swallowed the soft bread. "You're a queen."
"An Amazon queen, yes. And I have been for many, many years. Long before you were born." Gabrielle observed her daughter to gage her reactions.
"But you were a bard. You said you were a bard," Jadxea shook her head as if everything would then fall into place.
"I was. I never lied to you. I was never required to stay with the tribe. I travelled. It's how I became an Amazon in the first place."
"So... I'm an Amazon princess," Jadxea was starting to see a fairytale emerge from her life.
"No," Gabrielle's tone clamped down on that starry-eyed look. "You remember me telling you about Eve?"
"That I should think of her as my sister." It was clear that Jadxea never knew why this was.
"Yes. Eve took my rite of caste soon after she was born. She is an Amazon princess. the tribe will see you as a sister, but you won't take my place when I'm gone." Gabrielle explained methodically and precisely.
"Is... is Eve your daaughter? The one you had before me?"
Gabrielle immediately tensed and watched Jadxea closely. "Who told you that?"
"Terreis," Jadxea was almost afraid to speak now. "She said that you had a daughter once before."
Gabrielle hesitated. She didn't expect to encounter this question, and it was much too complicated and painful to tackle today. But there were to be no more lies of secrets now. "Eve is not my daughter by birth, but I helped bring her into the world. I would comfort her when she cried. I adopted her in a sense. I loved her as I love you." Gabrielle looked away, seeing an angelic baby's face, crowned with golden hair, in her mind. "The child I had before you... is dead. i don't talk about her. I try not to think about her."
"What was her name?" Jadxea's level blue eyes searched her mother's face.
"I just said," Gabrielle left the table swiftly, grabbing her pack, "I don't talk about her."
"She's my sister!" Jadxea argued, angry now that her mother was denying her this answer. "I want to know!"
She's not your sister, Jadxea!" Gabrielle yelled at her, unable to stop the violent passion errupting in her. "Just stop! If you want a sister to cling to, I'll tell you about Eve again! Pick anyone in this tribe, they are your sisters! She..." a breath for control, "she was not your sister."
Jadxea looked away, angry and hurt. She heard Gabrielle sit on the bed and open her pack. Jadxeaa glanced back quickly at her, but turned her focus to her food again. She wanted one more question answered before she decided never to speak to her mother again.
In a nearly silent voice, Jadxea said, "You tried to kill yourself."
There was a pause thaat was almost audible. Gabrielle dropped her elbows onto her knees and let her forehead rest against her palms. "I thought about it," she finally admitted. "It would have been so easy. But then... I thought of... your father. And someone else; a man who had shown me a way of life, of love, a long time ago. I couldn't bear the thought of dishonoring either of their memories by simply giving up. So... I went to a spot in the woods near here, and I tore my clothes and left them scattered in a path to the cliffs. I made it seem as if I jumped, or was attacked and pushed. I really didn't care which. I killed Gabrielle, Queen of the Amazons, Battling Bard of Potedia..." her voice choked in her throat for a moment and Jadxea nearly turned to look at her. "I went far away. I went to Egypt," Gabrielle breathed heavily. "I never wanted to face Greece... these people, any of it ever again."
There was quiet for a moment as the words seemed to sink into the room and cling to the walls. The stillness was unsettling, but neither mother or daughter flinched from it.
Precisely and slowly, Jadxea turned from her food and faced her mother. "So... why are we here?"
"Because," Gabrielle looked up and smiled at her child with tears in her eyes, "I need to find an old friend."
She hated that feeling. It was dread, like a rock in the pit of her stomach. She often had the feeling when she thought of going back to her homeland. But now she was actually doing it and the feeling was becoming unbearable.
Eve reached down and pulled a bit of bread out of her saddlebag. It wasa dry and bland, but she was hoping it would settle her stomach. The horse she rode trudged lazily forward, but she didn't push him. The terrain was new to him and, although she wasa on a mission, she was in no hurry to get to her destination.
Greece was different than Rome; seemingly untouched... beautiful. Even still, being so close to the place she grew up, the person she used to be... it unsettled her. She imagined hundreds of angry farmers and artisans emerging from the surrounding foliage, accusing her of murder.
Eve chewed the bread but it made her feel worse. She hadn't eaten breakfast so she forced herself to swallow, but it was all she could manage. Her one remaining comfort in this land that was now foreign to her, wasa the Amazon village, not far from where she now stopped her horse to water him.
The Amazons had forgiven and taken her back into their tribe many years ago, before she went far East. But that was many years ago. She just hoped there were a few Amazons still among the village who remembered her. Or at least remembered her mother.
The wind blew, and Eve readjusted her sarri on her shoulder, securing it as best she could. But as she tilted her head, she swore she heard a woman call out to her.
"Eve!" the wind sang.
"Mother?" Eve called out and circled, examining her surroundings.
She had only recieved the news of her mother's death five years ago, although the young monk from Japa had insisted that the great Xena: Warrior Princess had been dead at least five years before then. Eve had mourned for a year. She considered finding Gabrielle... how devistated she must have been. The love her mother and Gabrielle shared had been the strongest and purest Eve had ever seen. It nearly surpassed the love she and her mother themselves had shared. But, Eve had decided to leave Gabrielle alone. Something inside her warned that her 'Aunt Gabrielle' would be in heavy mourning, and in no condition to see the flesh and blood reminder of Xena.
For all Eve knew, Gabrielle could be in heaven herself by now. It wouldn't suprise her if the poor woman had taken her own life. Eve couldn't imagine Gabrielle without Xena by her side. How could Gabrielle be expected to? Eve hoped that she would somehow know if Gabrielle had left the world; if she lost her only living link to her family. But, she hadn't known when her mother died, so it was unlikely that the universe would oblige for Gabrielle.
Eve listened hard, but the wind had quieted and the voice was gone. She took the horse's reins and led him away from the river and back onto the path.
She would reach the Amazon village by nightfall at the latest.