Chapter 10: Orientation
The halls of Valhalla were stirring with activity. Word was received that a new hero was arriving. For that matter, a new Valkyrie as well. Gabrielle couldn't help but admit to herself that being a Valkyrie had its perks. The heroes in the hall murmured in discussion.
"Gabrielle." Beowulf called to her. She turned to look at Beowulf's soul as they entered the hall. "Thank you. I did not know you were a Valkyrie."
Her lips twitched with a half smile. She wanted to spare him the details of what just had occurred and she was eager confront Odin. "You're welcome. If you'll excuse me, I have an appointment I have to go to."
She surveyed the hall as she passed. The walls were lined with spears, standing side by side; it was as if the the spears were actually the walls. Her eyes wandered to the ceiling and found that it was constructed amazingly with a variety of shields. The glimmer of the bronze and other metallic materials shone brightly, as if they were not affected by rust or other staining element. This was indeed a hall for heroes and warriors. The décor matched its inhabitants and embodied the environment of victorious battle.
Filing past the heroes now engulfing Beowulf in brotherhood handshakes, the newly anointed Valkyrie headed back to her Pegasus. Her mind was on one track; that was to get her real Xena back. She returned to the mouth of the burial mound, where Brunhilda waited for her return.
"Gabrielle." Brunhilda began.
Gabrielle quickly dismounted her steed and pulled Brunhilda by the hand to her Pegasus. By the silence, Brunhilda had guessed that jig was up.
"For someone who was so set on keeping me safe the last time I was in these lands, you seem to have changed. You deceived me. You allowed me to think you were Xena. Now I'm a Valkyrie. Is this what you were trying to accomplish?" the blond questioned without looking back at the question's recipient.
"I had no idea that was what Odin was planning. He just told me that it was a mission to save you from dying." Brunhilda answered, hoping it would soften the woman's anger at her role in Gabrielle's current Valkyrie state.
Gabrielle tensed wondering if it was the truth. She'd have to settle Brunhilda's sincerity once she confronted Odin.
"Why did you let me do it?" Gabrielle questioned as she guided the pegasus on its return trip to Asgard. Brunhilda thought through the myriad of things that she had let Gabrielle do. Deciding that silence may be the safest course of action, she closed her mouth and waited for Gabrielle to initiate and clarify what she was referring to.
Gabrielle sighed in disgust. "If I knew it was you, I wouldn't have um..tied you up and um.." the blond attempted to go into specifics, but hoped Brunhilda would pick up on the subject and spare her the embarrassment.
"I-uh-I'm sorry about that. I was just so caught up in the heat of the moment." Brunhilda said as she she turned to look away from the blond. At the moment, yes Brunhilda was caught in the heat, but she knew she should stop it. The only problem is, how do you stop something that you desire from happening. She reasoned to herself that it wouldn't hurt anybody, but it obviously did. Brunhilda sat in silence, hoping that the return to Asgard would be quick. Being removed from this situation would be a welcome relief and a source of heartbreak as well. Her time with Gabrielle only served to make her fall deeper under the spell of this honorable beauteous woman.
Approaching the throne room that Brunhilda had led her to, Gabrielle took in a deep breath before facing Odin. Her initial dislike for becoming a Valkyrie was beginning to wane slightly. She felt great. She felt numb, powerful, and like she had boundless energy. However, she knew that when she would be employed with actual tasks of being a Valkyrie, her discontent would return.
Pushing the heavy double doors open, she gracefully entered the room. Expecting her appearance, Odin stood up from his throne.
"Gabrielle. Welcome to your new home." Odin greeted, stretching his hands out before him in demonstration of the vast halls. She surveyed the room searching for Xena. When Odin noticed this, he began to explain.
"Looking for Xena?" Odin queried.
"You very well know I am. Where is she? You promised me her in full." Gabrielle demanded.
"Now calm down, she'll be here shortly, I have some things I want to discuss with you." Odin began.
"No! I have a few things I'd like to talk to you about." Gabrielle interrupted, ensuring her concerns were addressed first.
She glanced back at Brunhilda, and Odin noticing the glance, took action.
"Brunhilda, will you give us a moment. summon Xena, she is in the falcon room." Odin instructed. Brunhilda nodded her head and left to the falcon room.
"You have no honor!" Gabrielle insulted the Norse god.
Odin growled at the comment. "I do what I have to do to save my kingdom. Tell me Gabrielle, there was never a time you deceived someone for the greater good?" Odin responded, hitting a vulnerable spot in her self confidence.
"You could have just asked me." Gabrielle commented bitterly.
"You could have said no." The god wisely answered.
"And Brunhilda?" Gabrielle questioned. Anticipating the question of who had inhabited her soul mates body for the past sun ups was a sore subject that Odin knew she would bring up.
"I told her that you were going to be murdered. That we needed to get you away from Egypt. That is all. She did not know of my other plans." Odin clarified.
Unsure of what to do with the information, she retorted with the first thing that came to mind.
"I was going to die?" Gabrielle timidly questioned. Her voice softening at the revelation. Odin nodded in confirmation.
"If you continue as weapons master and covert operations for the palace, you will be murdered in a years time." Odin said.
With this information Gabrielle didn't know how to feel. Did she care if she died? No. In fact she much rather welcomed a warriors death and return to Xena, than this servitude she would soon be embarking on. Now was not the time to dwell however.
"Enough questions. Here is the deal. I send you to a battle. Sometimes I tell you who to take, sometimes I send you to find me the worthy ones yourself. You are immortal for so as you long as you obey me. Between assignments, you can come and go as you please." Odin announced.
Gabrielle's eye twitched in response to the shared info and she asked the question she was most concerned with.
"You will release Xena. And why is she even here? I asked the Greek gods and they didn't even know where she was. How the hades did she end up here?" the words just spurted forth from her mouth.
All the unanswered questions were weighing heavy in her mind and she was ready to get to the bottom of them all.
"I am a god Gabrielle, I do have connections you know. When I heard of her location, I bartered to retrieve her." Odin answered.
"How dare you treat her like goods to be bartered and traded for!" the blond growled through gritted teeth.
"And what? You'd rather her sit in nothingness in some other unknown domain you have no access to? Is that what you want? Japa is only a summons away, we can always return her to her pitiful existence in Japa's limbo." the Norse god threatened in attempt to quiet her protests.
Gabrielle considered the alternative. Fuming, but logic winning out, she found that maybe it wasn't such a bad thing after all that Odin had found Xena. She would never had known that Xena was lost in some limbo in the Japa afterlife, perhaps suffering. Limbo didn't sound like a happy place. As she comprehended the relevant information, maybe what had happened would be worth her sacrifice. If Odin kept true to his promises, she and Xena would be together again. Her thoughts were paused as she heard a set of footsteps pad toward the throne room from outside the double doors. The creak of the door filled the room as Brunhilda in Xena's body entered. Shortly behind her, the ghost she had longed for for years, stood by a replica of her own body. "Seriously, Gods need to stop using me as a mold. I'm tired of seeing my double. They say everyone has a look-a-like, but this is getting ridiculous." Xena stated, pointing a thumb in the direction of the body Brunhilda inhabited, trying to make light of the situation. Gabrielle was the first to spot Xena. Xena was as she was when she had said goodbye on the ship ride to Egypt. A visage that seemed whole and tangible; until you touched her.
"Xena!" Gabrielle rushed to the two identical images that had just entered the room.
"Gabrielle!" Xena also replied, finally seeing Gabrielle, rushing her steps to meet the blond halfway. Upon reaching the apparition of her love, Gabrielle stopped.
"Are you okay?" Gabrielle asked, looking into her soul mates eyes, in attempt to discern her well being.
A soft sad smile formed on Xena's spirit face. "Yeah. I'm sorry." her spirit form prevented her from taking up the shorter woman in an embrace.
"It's my fault that it got this far. If I didn't coach Brunhilda, you would have never thought that it was me." Xena said, looking straight into the jade eyes inspecting her.
"What did he offer you?" Gabrielle asked.
"He told me that you were going to be murdered. He offered to let me talk with you through Brunhilda, for the last of your life. If you decided to become a Valkyrie he'd put me into the body that he had made. I didn't want to do it, I refused. I know you don't want to be a judge and executioner, but when you were in your room and you had the chakram to your throat, I couldn't let you kill yourself." She casted her eyes down at the shame of her role in the scheme.
Gabrielle closed her eyes tight at the memory in the room. She was filled with desperation and frustration with the manipulation. It was true that she had wanted to end her life at that moment. As selfish as it sounded, at that moment she was tired of waiting to be reunited. The fact that life seemed to be mocking her by giving her Xena, but not her Xena had been the last straw. Gabrielle mirrored Xena's downcast eyes, feeling that she had disappointed Xena with her weakness and that it had led them all on this road. Gabrielle turned to Odin. She wasn't going to let this opportunity go to waste.
"Put her in her body." Gabrielle demanded of the norse god.
Odin chuckled at her demands. "I will put Xena soul into the body I have created, but Brunhilda is staying in there too." Odin snidely responded.
"What!" all three women exclaimed.
**Author's note: Thanks for reviews on the previous chapter Korkyra, Silvermoonlight, Jelpy1, thewrook, Jitka, and Phineas Redux :).**