Chapter Three: Rememberances

Callisto spent much of the next week in the fortress while she recovered from her brief stint of death. Despite Hades' disdain for the idea, Zeus had insisted she be treated as an honoured guest of Hades' house, and afforded all due courtesy befitting one of such status. She had not complained, especially given that Hades had ensured her chambers possessed a particularly fine view of Tartarus and at what passed for night in the Underworld, its dull red glow reached even her window, making it difficult to sleep. When she did manage to surrender to it, her rest was fitful and plagued by nightmares of which she could remember little upon waking, save for the haunting images of flames and her own wicked grin.

More than once, when her nights were particularly restless, she would find herself wandering the ramparts of the fortress and gazing down across the cavern floor to distant Elysium and its everlasting summer. Her mind would drift during those long watches of the night, back down through the years to what seemed like the equally endless summer of her childhood. She remembered Alazar the traveling merchant from a distant land, and the time she and her sister had stolen one of the strange fruits he sold to those wealthy enough to afford them. They had hidden in the apple grove just outside town, pulling faces at the strange bitter skin and sour taste of the fruit inside. Their mother had found them of course. She always seemed to know where to look for them whenever they were getting into trouble. Callisto's punishment had been to fetch and carry for Aledus, the village blacksmith, for a week. She remembered that time well, watching him work swords for Alazar's hired guards. She remembered the stink of the forge and the heat of the fire, the white hot glow of steel and the ringing doom of Aledus' hammer. Every day she had heard it, that heavy crash of metal upon metal. Then at the end of the week that same clash of metal upon metal had been punctuated by the screams of the dying and despairing as Xena's army had thundered through the village. She tried to turn her thoughts to other, happier memories, but the downward spiral had begun and each time she tried, the memory turned bitter and cruel, coursing through her veins like wild fire.

She stopped visiting the ramparts after that.

Her days were largely filled with little save for exercise and attempting to recover her former strength. She would spend hours jogging the corridors and as the days wore on and her stamina increased, she began practicing her flips and acrobatics. On one occasion, Hades found her performing a one handed handstand atop a column of six chairs she had balanced on top of one another. She had flashed him a wink as she vaulted out of the handstand and performed a double somersault before she lighted gently upon the cobbled floor. Hades had merely headed for the door shaking his head.

"Just clear up when you're done," he said, and with that was gone.

She didn't see him again for days afterward.

In truth she did not see many people about the fortress. Hades' servants would come to her in her chambers to bring her food and tend to any other needs she might have, but in her wanderings around the the long corridors and vast empty halls she was amazed by how deserted the place seemed. She rarely bumped in to servants during her meanderings and when she did they would often hurry in the opposite direction, clearly trying to avoid her.

It was one day toward the end of her stay that the girl came to her chambers. She arrived in the early evening carrying a steaming a bowl of water and hot towels. The first Callisto knew of her arrival was a polite cough at the door. She turned and regarded the girl levelly, trying to hide her surprise at the girl's appearence. She was a pretty little thing, petite and strawberry blonde. Her head was down turned, keeping her eyes averted from Callisto's.

"Yes?" Callisto said expectantly.

"I..." the girl began, then stopped, licked her lips nervously and started again.

"I am here to wash your feet mistress," she said.

Callisto looked her up and down. No doubt about it. The girl resembled Gabrielle. The hair was the biggest similarity but the girl's figure was also remarkably close to Xena's pet bard.

"Did Hades send you to me?" she asked.

The girl gave the slightest of nods and the water in the bowl she was holding rippled as the girl's hands shook.

"He said you would require my services,"

Callisto's lip curled. So Hades thought he could play games with her did he? Well he wasn't the only one with skills at manipulation. She slid languidly into the rooms single chair and hooked one leg over the other, her foot dangling in the air. Slowly she began to rotate it from the ankle down.

"Well come along then," she said. "We don't want that water to go cold now do we?"

Obediently the girl shuffled over to her then knelt by Callisto's outstretched foot. She dipped the towel in the scalding hot water without so much as a flinch. Callisto eyed the girl's hands. There wasn't so much as a burn or even blemish to be seen.

"You're one of Hades' honoured dead aren't you deary." Callisto said.

The girl shook her head as she rang out the towel until it was merely damp and no longer soaking wet.

"Not honoured mistress," the girl said. "Only dead."

"Then why do you serve in Hades' fortress?" Callisto asked. "I thought only the honoured were permitted here."

"The Lord Hades took pity on me mistress," the girl replied. "I was killed in an attack on my village, but the rest of my family survived. I was alone and weeping after I was cast from Charon's boat and standing at the gates of the Underworld. My Lord took me in his chariot and brought me here. I have served him well ever since."

"How magnanimous of him," Callisto jeered.

The girl's shoulders began to tremble and she sobbed quietly as she continued to rinse Callisto's feet, her eyes always on the floor.

"Tell me something," Callisto continued. "Is it a full afterlife you have here? This eternal servitude he has placed upon you? Do you think it kind? Merciful?"

"What would you know of mercy?" the girl snapped sharply, her humility finally breaking.

"So you do have a spine after all," Callisto said. "So then my dear, what unfortunate thing delivered you into Hades' tender mercies?"

The girl razed her head now, her tear streaked face blazing with a hatred so fierce Callisto was taken aback by it.

"You did!" the girl snarled and leaped to her feet tipping the bowl over and sending scalding hot water cascading over Callisto's foot. Callisto hissed in pain as the girl ran for the door in tears. She flung it wide and there, hand raised to knock was Hades, his cloak wrapped all about him like some living shadow. His eyes narrowed at the scene before him and he dropped his hand to the girl's shoulder.

"Easy child," he said. "Tell me what happened here?"

The girl lowered her gaze to the floor tiles again and shook her head.

"Please my Lord, I have tarried here long enough. I have other chores I must be about."

Hades eyes flicked to Callisto and then back to the girl. He gave her shoulder an affectionate squeeze.

"You have my leave to go," He said.

"Thank you my Lord." The girl said and hurried off out of view.

Hades turned back to glare at Callisto darkly. She simply leaned back in her chair, her pose defiant.

"Nice girl," she said, trying hard not to let the shock of what had just taken place show. "Lots of zest."

Hades stepped fully into the room, closing the door behind him as he went.

"Her name was Eve before you sent her to me," he said.

Callisto rolled her eyes.

"Alright then," she shot back. "I'll indulge you in your petty little emotional manipulation. Who was she?"

"No one important," Hades replied. "Just a farmer's daughter who had the misfortune to have been sent to market by her mother the day your army streamed through it. Her bad luck didn't end their though. You took an instant dislike to her. It was the colour of her hair that did it, for obvious reasons. Just another victim Callisto, like so many others you have sent to me."

For the first time facing Hades, Callisto couldn't think of anything to say.

"Her parents grieve for her, as you once grieved for yours and as all grieve for their loved ones," Hades continued. "You do not have the monopoly on loss Callisto. You never did, and your pain is no greater than theirs. You are nothing special, just some twisted, broken, black hearted creature who my brother seems to have taken a perverse fascination with."

There was a time when his words would have been nothing to her, but now they struck hard, each one twisting in her gut like the knife that had killed her.

"Then why am I here?" she asked.

"Because like you, I owe a debt that I can never fully repay. Mine is to my brother, and for that reason I tolerate you in my home."

He produced a package of waxed paper from the folds of his cloak and tossed it onto her bed before turning and making for the door.

"Your time here is done," he said as he opened it. "You leave tomorrow at first light."

With that he stepped through the door and closed it silently behind him.

Callisto sat for a moment longer, still dumbfounded by what had taken place. The hate in that girls face... the fire in her eyes... She felt a shudder run up her spine, and that strange pang in her stomach she had first felt after awakening here. The girl would never have peace. Her entire time in the Underworld would be spent in service to Hades, and all because of her blonde hair.

Callisto sniffed and got to her feet, crossing distractedly to the package. Carefully, as if handling a live adder, she reached out and began to tear open the paper. What lay before her was neither a particularly surprising nor welcome sight. Lying there on the bed, in the center of the ruined remains of the paper, was her old leather battle gear, apparently none the worse for wear despite its journey into the Underworld with her.

"A champion of the gods," she muttered bitterly to herself.

Without thinking, she reached down and scooped the outfit off the bed, tossing it unceremoniously to the floor and clambering on to the matress before blowing out the candle on the end table. The whole room was immediately plunged into darkness save for the dull red glow of Tartarus at the window.

She tucked her knees up to her stomach and wrapped her arms tightly around them, rocking herself gently back and forth as she tried to hold back that same creeping feeling in her stomach. As her eyes grew accustomed to the dimness, she could still make out her battle gear where it lay in a heap on the floor. She wanted to look away but could not. It seemed to stare back at her, stark and taunting in the dim half light.

Unable to stop herself any longer, she let out a choked sob. Her shoulders shook and she sniffed quietly as more tears came. She lay there for a long time, alone and weeping in the dark.

The next morning Zeus was standing at the edge of the Underworld, a thin veil of mist rolling in from the Styx and giving everything a hazy indistinct look. The edge of the Underworld was ultimately, like much of Hades' domain, somewhat stark and lifeless. It took the form of a flat rocky plateau raised some hundred meters above the Styx which gurgled and bubbled ominously below. Its putrid waters filled the air with an unpleasant odour that made Zeus' godly senses ache for the cleanliness of Olympus. A simple dirt track wound its way off into the mist, a highway to Hades' realm proper. Running in the opposite direction toward the Styx, it slanted into a downward slope until it came to the bottom of the hundred meter drop and finished at a ruined archway that lead out onto an ancient dock of moldering wood.

Below him, Zeus could hear Charon, the irascible old boatman charged with delivering the souls of the dead into Hades' grasp. He was muttering and cursing as he tied his boat to the moorings. Zeus did his best to ignore the muffled griping of Charon and his latest cargo of souls as the truth of their situation began to dawn on them. He could hear muttered protests, wailing of despair and in some cases even quiet resolve as Charon began to herd them up the slope and onto the highway.

In the distance he heard the sudden crack of a whip and the braying of horses. They were on their way. He had not been back to see Callisto in the week since she had been salvaged from her near brush with complete destruction. That did not mean that he had not been watching however. He had seen her gradually growing despair and the strange manner in which she was attempting to deal with it. Even with all that she had done, all the horror she had inflicted upon those around her throughout her life, he still managed to feel a stab of pity for her. Despite Hades' protestations to the contrary the previous night, hers had not been an easy life. She had ever been a tool of others, never truly free but always enslaved to the whims of those who would use her for their own causes. And here he was, about to bind her to him and send her into the world on a labour he was unsure she would survive, neither physically nor spiritually.

He gave resigned sigh.

If only things could be different. If only he could truly offer her the peace she desired, and not simply dangle it in front of her like a worm on a hook. His need was too great however, and as happened to great people, sacrifices for the greater good were now being demanded of him.

He straightened at the clinking sound of copper coins behind him as Charon shuffled up next to him.

The deformed old creature leaned heavily on his barge pole and cast Zeus an appraising look. Unlike many of the other Olympians, Zeus had always liked Charon. His lack of deference and protocol always made for entertaining conversation. He was singularly unimpressed with the opulence of Olympus and its denizens, preferring instead to keep to his boat and his fetid river.

"So where are they?" he said brusquely. "I have a schedule to keep to down here and I'm already behind. Some weird religious sacrifice in Carthage dumped an extra hundred souls on my dock this morning. The Fates never even told me they were coming. Last thing I need is for Hades to be taking the scenic route if I'm gonna reach my quota at the end of the day."

Zeus felt a chill run down his spine at that. Their enemies were already moving. He just hoped the boundaries would hold that little bit longer. Long enough for Callisto to do what had to be done.

"I'm sure they are just taking in the sights," he replied, doing his best not to show his worry. Charon may have been vile and uncouth but he was also shrewd and incredibly dangerous in his own morbid way.

"Callisto seemed quite taken with Elysium," he continued, trying to sound conversational.

Charon snorted at that.

"Hades will never let her near it," he said.

Zeus gave a non committal shrug.

"Never say never."

Charon gave another derisive snort.

"The broad probably just wants to watch the place burn," he grunted. "I remember the first time I brought her here. She actually spat in my face. Did I never tell you that story before?"

"I believe I dimly recall it," Zeus lied

"Yeah well, never thought I'd see the day I was ferrying her back out of here."

Zeus nodded in agreement.

"These are strange days indeed," he said.

"You're telling me," Charon said with a nod. "When Hades brought her to the far dock in person earlier this week I nearly had a heart attack. She was all deathly pale and looked to be on the verge of death. Never thought a boat ride with her would be so quiet."

Zeus remembered her appearance all too well. He too had been surprised by how pale and apparently frail she had been. He had never imagined that her near death and subsequent resurrection would take quite so much of a toll on her. In truth he had not wanted to leave her recumbent for so long, but having seen the state of her he had felt he had no other choice.

"I believe she had a brief spot of death, but now she's doing much better," he said trying to force a note of levity into his voice.

Charon gave a deep croaking laugh.

"That girl's been dead more times'n a cat on its ninth life," he said. "Daresay I'll be ferrying her back this way before too long."

"Would that that is unnecessary," said Zeus, turning back to gaze into the mist.

"Soft spot for her 'eh?" Charon chuckled but Zeus ignored him.

The loud whinnying of horses was almost on top of them now. As if on cue, a huge chariot decorated with Hades' signature bronze serpents burst through the mists. Inside it stood Hades and Callisto. The huge pitch black horses that pulled the chariot reared up, snorting wildly, their front hooves raking at the air as Hades reined them in.

Zeus took a step forward, raising his hand in greeting as he did so.

"Good morning!" he said cheerfully as the two of them dismounted.

"Morning certainly," Hades said, patting one of his steeds on the neck as he passed it. The animal's agitated stamping and snorting stopped almost immediately at Hades' touch. Instead the horse now stood calm and still.

"I don't know whether one could call it good or not though," Hades continued, casting a glance back over his shoulder toward Callisto.

Zeus followed his gaze. The warrior woman looked much improved from their previous meeting. She was clad all in her old warrior gear, and much of the colour had returned to her skin. Her thick blonde hair that had before been so limp and lifeless had regained much of its wild untamed character. He was amazed at how much it added to her, and likewise, how much it took away in its absence. She still did not appear to be fully recovered though. Her eyes still carried that vaguely haunted look he had seen in them upon her first awakening and dark shadows still hung beneath them, mute testimony to her lack of sleep.

He had found himself wondering much about what she had experienced in that brief time between the Hind's Blood dagger ending her life and Hades managing to save her soul as it had plunged toward oblivion. So far the answers he had come up with were less than satisfactory.

"And how are you today my dear?" he said as she stepped up to him.

"Your brother likes to make an entrance," she said simply and then glanced at Charon.

"And you look as disgusting as always," she said.

Charon's knuckles tightened around his barge pole.

"Be careful missy," he sneered at her. "The river's wide and the current's fast. I'd hate to see you go overboard. Chances are we'd never see or hear from you again."

Callisto flashed him a toothy smile.

"Well I'm sure my dear Hades here would dive in to save me. He really is very fond of me you know."

Zeus looked over to Hades, who simply rolled his eyes and ignored her.

"Well come on then, if you truly are comin'" Charon muttered as he turned and shuffled off back down the slope toward the waiting boat.

Zeus and Callisto fell into step behind him, Callisto wrinkling her nose against some pungent odour as they walked.

"I forgot not to get downwind of him," she grunted, motioning toward Charon.

Zeus only smiled.

"He's not so bad," he said.

Callisto glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

"You don't have to share the ferry with him," she said, and the two of them continued on in silence for a time.

"So what's the plan then?" she asked as they began to near the bottom of the slope. "Any hydras for me to slay? Golden fleeces to find? Labours for me toil in service of?"

Zeus shook his head.

"Nothing so grandiose my dear," he replied. "With the natural order of things skewed so severely toward chaos, the land is being plunged into turmoil. Your task is merely to restore order in whatever way you can. Tilt the scales back toward balance if you will."

Callisto frowned at him.

"Don't take me for a fool old man," she said as they stepped onto the dock. "I know you and Hades have not told me everything. I remember the shadow in the feast hall, and it was more than just the weird natural order, mumbo jumbo, hoo haa that you are trying to make it out to be."

She drew up next to Charon's ferry, a dark foreboding thing seemingly constructed from the same terminally rotting wood as the dock, and turned to Zeus.

"There's something else going on out there isn't there," she said and nodded back in the direction of the Underworld. "Something none of you are telling me about."

Zeus shot her is best look of wounded pride and honest 'I don't know what you're talking about' expression. After spending so long married to Hera he had almost got it down pat.

"My dear Callisto, I have absolutely no idea what you mean," he said as innocently as he could manage.

"Be that way then," she said as she clambered down into the ferry.

Charon wasted no time, pushing off with his pole almost immediately and beginning to steer them out into bubbling waters of the Styx.

"But remember this!" she called to him as the distance between them grew greater. "If I die on this little errand of yours, and you don't send me to Elysium, I'm going to be calling you a deal welsher as they throw me into Tartarus!"

Zeus smiled.

"Be safe Callisto," he called back to her, "and try to stay out of trouble!"

She planted her hands on her hips in mock outrage.

"Hey!" she shouted over the water, "This is me we're talking about here!"

Zeus laughed and cupped a hand to his mouth as she began to approach the edge of earshot.

"Precisely my concern!" he yelled.

Callisto cocked her head to the side and stuck her tongue out at him. Then she, the ferry and Charon became lost in the mists that drifted lazily over the surface of the Styx.

He heard footsteps at his back and turned to find Hades coming up behind him. The Lord of the Underworld drew level with him and folded his arms across his chest, his gaze following Callisto's path into the mist.

"You were awfully hard on her brother," Zeus said.

"I said to her only what needed to be said," Hades replied and then turned to face Zeus. "Why didn't you tell her about the enemies we face, or the dangers she will encounter?"

"Because this is Callisto we're talking about here," Zeus said. "She needs time to find her feet, her own way through all of this. It is she who needs to make the choice to fight, not you or I."

"You are placing a lot of faith in her," was all Hades said in reply.

"That is because it is all I have to give," said Zeus. "Don't you have any faith left my brother?"

Hades said nothing. He simply turned and strode off back up the dock and into the gathering shadows.