Epilogue: Some days later:
"So, when were you going to tell me about finding the dagger, Xena?"
Hercules demanded of the warrior, as they walked off another
sumptuous supper of Alcmene's.
"Just about when I did. I was just waiting for you to start thinking
clearly again. In fact, I relied on Iolaus' judgment for that." She
answered.
"So he ratted me out, did he?" the demigod laughed.
"He said he could tell you still weren't ready. You were still
reacting, still furious by the time we got here and it would be best
to wait a few more days, or weeks or years . . ." Xena grinned as her
tall friend grimaced at the exaggeration. "Any case, he's known you
far longer than I, so I took him at his word. Shouldn't I have?"
"Yeah, I suppose. But that just leads me to another question. When
you decided to tell me, Iolaus wasn't in the courtyard with us. What
made you decide it was finally safe for me to know the weapon I
could use against Callisto, or Ares, or both if I was fast enough,
was in my mother's house under a mattress?"
"Hercules, you'd just then agreed to Artemis delivering our messages
to our mutual disadmiration society. You agreed it was a better plan.
Iolaus was watching your face, when he wasn't gawking at Artemis.
When I caught his eye, he nodded. That was our signal. He was sure
you were ready to make the right choice, the hard choice; not to
act on your anger, not to step any further down that road."
"Maybe the hardest choice I've made in a long time. But I did. I have
no desire to become what Ares' wants me to be, anymore than you do."
Hercules admitted, studying her intense, beautiful face. "But you
know exactly what I mean, don't you? You make it every day, don't
you, Xena?"
"Naw," she teased him to take the tension out of the air between
them. "Its more like once a week these days. And it's still blasted
hard. Without Gabrielle and a few other friends. . Like you." Xena
pummeled him on the arm and laughed ingenuously, obviously feeling
free of some burden she'd been carrying around.
"So, is this how it feels to be you, Xena?" Hercules smiled as he
asked the warrior, wanting so badly to brush his hand along her cheek
that he almost had to sit on his hands to stop the gesture. The time
had long passed for them, she'd told him, and he knew she was right.
But a sweet, sad ache remained behind. "Choosing all the time,
watching all the time for that one misstep?"
"No, more like watching all the time for that one missed step!"
Gabrielle laughed as she joined them. "Iolaus is sleeping like a well
fed hog, which hardly surprises me, considering how much of your
mother's roast pork he ate at supper. Y'know, you two walk awfully
fast. Fortunately, I've had lots of practice keeping up."
"Yes, I know, Gabrielle. But by this time, I know you don't think the
whole world should slow down to accommodate you." Xena joked with the
younger woman.
"No, I only think the world should provide more and softer places to
rest when my legs give out. That reminds me, Hercules, did Xena
bother to tell you about the time I nearly managed one of those flips
she does, without the staff in place, on my first try? It took her
300 tries to do the same thing, y'know, without the staff. Its quite
a story, really, with a great finish. You see, I had the whole move
broken down into its basic elements, and . . ."
Hercules and Xena waited patiently until Gabrielle closed her eyes as
usual when going into bard-mode. Then they exchanged glances, nodded
and strode away from their friend as fast as two pairs of long legs
could take them.
"How good did you say she was at catching up?" Hercules asked Xena
when he stopped long enough to take a deep breath.
"Pretty blasted good at it. She's had to be, to keep up with me, of
course." The warrior responded, looking over her shoulder to where
the bard still stood reciting. At this distance neither Hercules nor
Xena could see Gabrielle's expressions, but her eyes were closed, her
voice rose and fell dramatically, and her hands gesticulated as
eloquently as her words.
"Then we'd better get moving, hadn't we?"
"Give her another moment to really get into bard mode. After that
happens she won't move for an hour unless someone knocks her over.
She almost entrances herself." Xena smiled, then she whirled, hearing
an all too familiar whistle and an answering whinny. Before either
the warrior or her companion could move, a beautiful golden horse
came running from Alcmene's stables, directly to the bard. After
feeding Argo something she took out of her rucksack, Gabrielle swung
gracefully onto the palomino's back and urged the mare on to where
Xena and Hercules stood transfixed.
Smiling sunnily, the bard slid off Argo's bare back and handed a
piece of fruit to both the warrior woman who glowered darkly at her
and the demigod who was trying not to grin.
"Apples," Gabrielle nodded happily. "just nice, fresh pieces of apple.
Works like a charm. Oh, you'd better feed them to her right away. She
knows they're for her, don't you, girl?" Gabrielle stroked the mare's
velvety nose and seemed to be lost in thought for a moment.
"Now, where was I? Oh, yes, I very carefully calculated how the jump
spin works, broke down each element, figured the trajectory, the
height, everything. But I started on the wrong foot. . . "
Hercules laughed and sat down, waving one arm to indicate a place for
Xena beside him. With a shrug the warrior gave up the struggle,
hugged Argo's head and sat down to listen to an adventure that
Gabrielle somehow made sound new and fresh, even though they'd both
lived the words she spoke.
Another Beginning