Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Blue Eyes, White Horse, and a Chakram

===[x]

Chapter 26: Movement

Present…

"No, I forbid it!" the fire rose up in anger. "You are not strong enough yet."

Alti spun to face the fire that represented her father. "I am stronger than ever, and she is weak. Now is the time to strike. I have not failed yet."

"Yes you have. It is time to lick your wounds and regroup."

"No, I will go myself. I will choke the life of Xena with my bare hands…"

"If you try, you will fail. You cannot win, not yet," the fire coaxed, pulling its heat back to a simmer.

The action confused the shamaness enough to make her pause. "What more is there, Father? Have I not done everything you've asked of me? Why not let me have this. I yearn for her blood. I know it will complete my transformation."

"You don't understand. I see it now. This is not about you being strong enough, or ready enough to kill Xena, it's about the right time for her to die."

"Now is the right time. You don't know her like I do," Alti argued.

"No child, you don't' know her like I do. Rest now. You will know when the time is right."

Alti groaned, but let the argument rest. Her father was right; she'd seen it and she knew it wasn't yet Xena's time to die…yet. But all of her plans hadn't been thwarted. She had other goals, and an agent that needed to be punished. For now she'd concentrate on that. For now, Xena could wait.

-X-

Xena opened her eyes. Taking a moment, as she always did to take in her surroundings, she realized that she was still in the Healer's Collegium. It was early. The sun had not yet come up. She took a moment to test her body, realizing that for the first time since she had woken up from the accident her head was clear. She still had a dull ache of a headache, but it was much more manageable now. Her body ached though. She yearned to get up out of bed and move about.

Looking down, she could see the young blonde, that was as usual, wrapped around her body. She smiled at Gabrielle, even though the bard was asleep, she could still feel the love and affection though her touch. Xena gently brushed the hair away and landed a soft kiss to Gabrielle's forehead.

Now for the hard part, she thought, I have to get up. It took more time that it usually did, but through a little patience, the warrior was able to unwrap the bard and get out of the bed, without waking her. More than once she was hit with a wave of nausea as her body tried to adjust and allow her to move. It had been several days since she had walked. The stiff muscles and the after effects of the mage shock were still taking their toll.

Next she debated on what to do. She wanted desperately to get out. Go for a walk or maybe a run with Kaylin. She also thought about the bard and how upset she'd be if she took off. Of course there was another problem that she soon discovered which made her debate a moot point. She was dressed in only a shift, her leathers were nowhere to be found, and she didn't see her weapons around either.

Xena sighed. Well at least she could stretch and move around a bit, it felt good to do so, even if she couldn't go far. Glancing at the bard, she knew that it would probably be a while before she woke up, and realizing that she'd soon have to put her warrior mask on, she decided to settle in and give her mind a workout instead of her body.

:Kaylin?: Xena projected.

:Good morning, Chosen: Kaylin promptly sent back. :Seems like you are feeling better, out of bed I see.:

:Yes, feels good to stretch:

:I bet, you had us all worried there for a while. You know we almost lost you.:

Xena grimaced. :Sorry about that, I already got a lecture from Gabrielle:

:I'll spare you mine, then: Kaylin replied with a hint of jest in her voice.

Xena returned a mix of mental thanks and jest before projecting, :So, Kaylin, I hear that we found out some details about the accidents:

:Yes, quite a bit of information actually. There seems to be no link between the accidents physically. That is to say that they all seemed like accidents. The king tripping, two Heralds were killed in a rock slide, one was killed while breaking up a bar fight, one was attacked by a bear and killed, two drowned, the two that were most recently killed, it was deemed an accident when they were trying to attune a Heart-stone and the power got over loaded. The others were similar, all seemed to be unfortunate accidents:

Xena gave a mental nod, as Kaylin continued.

:We did find a disturbing connection, though: Kaylin paused for a moment, then continued. It seems that all of the Heralds killed have had some degree of Mage Gift.:

:Like I do: It wasn't a question, but a statement. It had now become clear that the 'accident' she had been injured in was much more than that. Xena's eyes narrowed as she fought her rage down. She could have been killed. Gabrielle could have been killed. It was just pure luck that they had escaped. It was now clear that there was something out there hunting Heralds, particularly the ones with the Mage Gift.

===[x]

"What are you doing out of bed?" Gabrielle asked, bringing Xena out of her mental contemplations.

Xena answered her with a smile, and then climbing back into bed, gathered her close before replying, "I needed to stretch."

Gabrielle wasn't about to complain, enjoying the warrior's comfort and closeness. She smiled, and asked, "Feeling better?"

"Much."

"Good," Gabrielle replied as they shared a kiss.

"I want to get up and dressed, we have things to do today," Xena said.

Gabrielle sighed, she had hoped to coax Xena into one more day of rest, but figured that she'd want to get up and moving and knew it was useless to argue.

"Ok," the bard answered, "but only if you promise me that you'll take it easy."

The warrior sighed, "Ok, I promise." Getting a nod from the bard, she continued. "Now where are my leathers and weapons?"

"Your leathers were damaged in the fire. There is actually not much left of them. I don't understand how you managed to escape being burned after the shape they were in."

"My shields, they heal my skin when it burns."

Gabrielle looked at Xena, blinking in surprise. "They heal you?"

"Yeah, I don't really understand it. I know I burned myself when I was playing with the FireStarting Gift the other day. Once I laid on the shield though, the burn was gone."

"That explains why you weren't burnt then. Everyone seemed to be perplexed at that."

"It must be. I don't remember putting them up, but I must have. Everything happened so fast."

Gabrielle nodded. "I'm glad. That explosion, it was huge. I thought for sure that I'd lost you. You were dark to me, Xena…"

"I'm sorry," the warrior replied.

"I should be used to you doing stuff like that by now," Gabrielle half joked. "I'm being silly."

"No, you're right. I should be more careful. Especially here in Valdemar, it's so different. I will, I will try to be more careful."

The bard nodded, accepting the apology and the promise.

"Well I guess that means I'll have to find a new set of leathers."

"Actually, I already commissioned a new set for you. They should be ready today."

Xena couldn't help the smile, "You're too good to me."

"I know," the bard teased. "Your armor is ok though, I cleaned it for you. You boots managed to escape relatively unscathed as well. And I'll get your weapons. I didn't want them too close, if you weren't," she paused, gently continuing, "yourself when you woke up."

Xena nodded again, understanding the bard's concern. "Thank you," she replied.

After a little digging, Gabrielle had managed to scrape together a tunic and some leggings for Xena that fit her reasonably well. Gabrielle had donned the grey robe that she had become accustom to over the last week. She had suggested the trainee-style uniform robe to Xena, but the warrior had refused, arguing that it wasn't her style and would only get in the way when she fought.

Together they left the Healers Collegium, and as luck would have it only had to threaten bodily harm to one healer that seemed to take offence to Xena leaving. He seemed to think that she needed more rest. The rest of the opposition scattered when Xena gave the healer in her way an icy state and told him to "Move." After it was made clear that Xena was leaving, she did however take a moment to thank them taking such good care of her.

===[x]

Xena and Gabrielle's first stop was breakfast. They were met with several greetings and a general sense of awe. The story had gotten around about the accident, and even though details weren't given officially, the rumors and stories had already made their rounds. Xena sighed inwardly, knowing that people were looking at her differently now. She just did what she always did. She knew that she had special skills, and used those skills to help people. She saw someone in trouble, and just acted. She wasn't a hero, and didn't deserve other people to look at her in that light.

The duo found their way to an empty table. The bard as usual had filled her plate while Xena knowing that she hadn't had anything solid for several days took it easy with a small meal of porridge and some tea.

They were soon joined by Garret who commented, "I'm glad to see you both out and about again. And that you, Xena are doing better. We were all worried about you."

Xena, who had donned her warrior mask merely shrugged and replied, "I've had worse. I'm hard to kill."

Garret nodded, not quite getting the silent joke that had earned the warrior a glare from Gabrielle.

"I want to set up a meeting today," he stated.

"Yes," agreed Xena, "You, Me, Gabrielle, Jorlyn, Kerith, Samuel, and any other Heralds with a Mage Gift. And that Herald record keeper, Mariah."

Garret looking a bit surprised by the warrior's bluntness, nodded again, "I was thinking along those same lines, going to be a big group though. And all things considered, I think it should be a secure location."

Xena nodded, confirming, "Yes."

Garret got that faraway look that told them he was talking to Tevin, and then refocused.

"The Heart-Stone room, in one candle mark," he decided.

"Heart-Stone?" Xena asked.

"Heart-Stone is where the key to Valdemar's power is kept." Gabrielle answered.

The warrior looked at the bard with a bit of surprise. Gabrielle shrugged. "I had time to ask a lot of questions when you were unconscious."

Xena nodded, "Good, you can fill me in." Then she turned and addressed Garret with a nod, "In one candlemark."