Chapter 35
Hercules's POV
We arrived at my mother and stepfather's house in Corinth several days early for the Solstice Holiday. We greeted Mother, and Jason. There were hugs and foods. Iphicles still had a city-state to run. It was over a bout a week until the Solstice. 8 Days to be exact. We had arrived just in time for the noon meal, Mother was fussing over both of us. With Iolaus Mother gone and his grandmother younger than him, he lapped up the attention. Of course he'd been just dreadful since we'd left the Amazon village. I could tell he missed Lyssa. He'd had many romances since his wife died and he never moped around after leaving them. He was pining for Lyssa. After our meal was served when I was helping mother with the dishes. Jason brought out a scroll.
"Oh, Iolaus this came for you two days ago. To Iolaus of Corinth in the care of Alcmene." Jason said, handing him the scroll.
"Thank you Jason. I wonder who sent it. There aren't many people who would know to send it here….." Iolaus mused.
"The Messenger said it was from the Telaquire Amazon tribe and he had to bring another one to the Corinth tribe as well….." Mother said.
"Well, that narrows the possibilities. It's either Xena, Gabrielle…..or….." I looked over at Iolaus who had opened the scroll, and was looking both overjoyed and sick at the same time. "Iolaus?" He handed me the scroll. "Do you want me to read it?" he nodded. "Greetings Iolaus, it is Lyssa the time we spent together meant a great deal to me, you are the most caring and passionate man I have ever had the honor of knowing, our time together actually meant more than you can imagine. I am with child, your child. Queen Gabrielle says that when the spring comes I can settle with the Corinth tribe to be closer to you. I am planning on doing so. What happens after that is your decision. The Corinth tribe will care and protect me and my children as I will care for and protect the tribe. But that is just one option, I am not opposed to taking a more traditional Greek route if that is what you want. I do not want to pressure you, I know you have innocents to protect being a warrior myself I understand and support you in that endeavor but cannot live without you in my life, and I want you in my children's lives. Not just the child I carry, but in Dora's, and in whatever children are to come in the future. Dora's father to put it plainly was not worth an Amazon's time, or any woman for that matter. He felt because he bedded me he owned me body and soul. The tribe had to step in, and convince him otherwise. But you I would gladly give myself to you, because I trust you, any other man I simply could not, especially after an experience like that. I have been thinking of you even before I found out I was pregnant and considered finding you again. To be honest it gave me the push I needed to get in touch with you, but don't think for a candle drip that it is the only reason I want to be with you because it is not. I will start for Corinth after the first thaw, I will be escorted by some of the warriors Amazon or not a pregnant woman would be a target. I will see you then. With Love, Lyssa."
"What do I do Hercules?" Iolaus asked, his voice thick with emotion.
"You prepare for them Iolaus." My Mother said. "I happen to know that the Corinth tribe allows it's warriors to live off the tribal lands and still be a member of the tribe, you get a house and prepare, I believe we have some land near the tribal lands don't we Jason?"
"Yes. It isn't much. The land that comes with the house is mostly woods, it would be a Hunter's paradise, the perfect place for an Amazon to settle, the house is small, and needs work, The barn is in excellent shape, there's a stream, and it's less than a 3 hour walk from Amazon lands, part of the woods actually borders their lands. Which is why we can never get anyone to rent the house. And The Amazons aren't interested in buying the land….."
"Thank you, Jason, Alcmene this means so much to me."
"Think nothing of it." Jason said smiling. He really was a dear friend, so much like the mythological version of his ancestor. Not that he hadn't been on his share of journeys himself, I even went on a few, we had our own version of the Argonauts, just none that had been written or told stories about. Of course my 12 labors were, and some of his adventures were confused for adventures his great-grandfather took, it didn't seem fair. Then again Some of Perseus and my adventures were confused as well. And there was even one version of my story where I murdered my own family. I wanted to beat someone when I heard that not that I did of course. I'm glad Iolaus is getting another chance at a family he had a wife and son once, a long time ago he married her right out of school. His wife and son got sick with a fever when the babe was less than a month old and they both died. He never recovered, she was his first love. But I never saw him look at her or any woman the way he looks at Lyssa.
"I can't believe they'll be here in just four months." Iolaus said, I need to get the house ready. And get toys and clothes for Dora, and a crib for the baby, we need horses. Dora's Only three….she'll start school in the Amazon village at six I think. But…."
"Iolaus, I've never seen you like this before." I said.
"I love her Herc, I think about her all the time, every minute I haven't thought about whatever innocent we were saving, I was thinking of her. I want to be married to her, I want to raise not only our child together, but her Dora, and whatever other children come our way. I've had a lot of loves in my Hercules, but I've never loved any of them the way I loved Lyssa. Without her I feel incomplete."
"That's how I still feel about Serena." I said softly I loved Deiandra with all my heart and still did, but she didn't complete me as Serena had.
Aphrodite appears "I'll find you someone else, Big Brother I promise, I found you Dienandra, and she brought you happiness. You'd still be with her if it weren't for Horse face Hera."
I couldn't help my smile. "She know you call her that?"
"Of course, she so needs to exfoliate. As for you Blondie, Lyssa is your soul mate your other half, that's why she's so different. You were relatively easy to match, Not like my sweet pea and the warrior babe. Soul mates or not they fought it harder than anyone I've ever tried to match, stubborn fools. If it weren't for Zoe working with me, they never would have gotten together. Lyssa and you are meant to be she can feel it…."
"The baby you didn't interfere….." Iolaus asked.
"No Need, dumpling. You two did that all on your own. I asked the fates if it was going to be a boy or a girl, they asked me to mind my own business can you believe that! I'd Ask Aunt Hestia but she's surprisingly tight-lipped about that sort of thing. Maybe Arte knows after all she's the Goddess of Amazon births. If she knows anything she'll avoid the Question and it's a girl, if she doesn't know anything she tell me so, and it's a Boy, and she won't have anything to do with it."
"That's surprisingly thought out, Aphrodite." I said.
"Athena isn't the only one with brains." She said hotly. Got to go. Hephie and I are going on a 15th or is it 16th honeymoon." She disappeared.
My mother smiled. "Why don't you tell us about your young lady, Iolaus."
Iolaus began talking to about a grin lighting up his face.
Ali's POV
I wake up in the middle of night and cant get back to sleep. I wet and scared, I wake up crying. I look to Zowie, She fast asleep. I know if call she wake up. But she don't like dark. I okay in dark 'cept I cant hear. I stand and get up. I stand on floor. "Come Nellie. Take me Mommy." She lets me hold onto her necklace and takes me to Mommy and Mama's room, She stops right in front of Mama and Mommy and She barks. Mama and Mommy sit up.
Xena's POV
"Ali, Baby, why's wrong?" I ask the coin firmly in my hand so she could hear me in the dark.
"Bad dream." Ali said crying. "Really, really bad."
I Picked her up. "Thank you, Nellie, Good dog." I scratch behind her ears. I pull her into my lap, and feel the heaviness and dampness of her diaper. Gabrielle brushes the tears out of Ali's eyes. I handed Gabrielle the coin.
"What's wrong Ali? What was your dream about?" Gabrielle said.
"Monstas, Big bad bird Monstas eated me and Zowie you and Mommy didn't save us." She sounded angry at us. She explained the dream. And it sounded eerily family. Then I remembered that one of the stories Gabrielle told her a few days ago was our adventure with Prometheus I glared at Gabrielle who looked sheepishly at me. Zoe loved hearing about our adventures and so did Ali but Gabrielle sometimes forgot to edit for little ears, at least when it came to action and violence, which is why despite the absence of lascivious acts in her stories kept us in Gold coins no matter how less than reputable the inns where she told them were. When we were staying with Mom when Zoe first arrived more than once Zoe ended up sleeping between us.
"Ali, Baby girl." Gabrielle lifted her chin. "That was just a dream, Mommy and I will always save you and Zoe."
She started cuddling into me. I held out my hand Gabrielle handed me the coin. "Alright, Baby, it's time for to get you washed up and into a new diaper."
We filled the baby bath with warm water and washed Ali up. She was changed into a clean diaper and night shift. She was on Gabrielle's hip. Nellie was follow obediently, Kallen was asleep by the hearth he wasn't as protective and serving as Nellie was. At least inside the house, inside the house he was off-duty. Nellie was never off-duty.
"I sleep with you." Ali said in a tone that left no argument. She was holding tightly to Gabrielle's neck. This time I was holding the coin.
"Of course you can stay with us, Baby. You can stay with us, as every time you wake up in the middle of the night." I said. Just as we were getting her to sleep. Zoe was screaming bloody murder in the other room. Ali can hear her sister's voice so that woke her and terrified her. She clung to Gabrielle, so I went to the girls room grabbing weapons on the way. Zoe was locked in a nightmare. She was fighting something. The front door was opened and guards entered.
"Xena?" A guard asked.
"Nightmares."
"The Queen?"
"Consoling the baby, it's been a rough night."
"That doesn't look like a normal nightmare Xena."
"I know. I may have to enter her dreamscape."
"You know how?"
"I was taught how. I can't change her dreamscape but I access it, mostly through meditation. It isn't without risk which is why it isn't something to be taken lightly. So, before I try that….." I took the pitcher of water and sprinkled some on her head. She shot up.
"Mommy!" she whined. She looked at the guard. I picked her up and she molded into my body and hid her head in my neck, she was shaking and covered in sweat. She started crying and sobbing, soon she made herself sick all over herself, the front of my night shift, her bed, and the floor. Vanessa the guard was watching.
"I'll give you privacy." In the end the girls with both re-bathed and all four of us slept in our bed. Well, Gabrielle, and Ali slept. Zoe refused to. I kept trying to get to sleep. She wouldn't allow herself to sleep. Every time she would close her eyes and start to drift out she would wake up, terrified. I eventually carried her to the rocking chair near the hearth in the main room, and sang to her until she fell asleep. It seemed staying in the chair with me holding her tightly was the only thing keeping her asleep. Whatever nightmare she had, it had thoroughly terrified her. Gabrielle and Ali found us in the morning.
"Have you been there all night?" Gabrielle asked.
"She wouldn't sleep otherwise." I whispered.
"That's odd for her. I mean when it's not storming even if she has a nightmare, or needs to sleep between us she goes right back to sleep."
"I know. This dream, she looked tortured as she slept. She was covered sweat, she whimpered, cried. I considered entering her dreamscape."
"Xena we agreed….after the mystics. I know we both remembered how, but…."
"She was in agony I could see it on her face, Gabrielle. You would have considered it as well."
"How did you break it?"
"She threw water on my head." Zoe said sleepily.
"Well I tried shaking and calling to you Little one." I said amused. "it worked."
She cuddled deeper onto my arms. And breathed in. "Mommy."
She had been calling me Mom for almost a Month, with very few slips. "Little one was your dream about?"
"I don't remember much, crippling pain, blood and burning flesh, deafening screams." Every Amazon child who'd ever been in the village when a funeral took place knew what burning flesh smelt like. It was a smell of loss of course, of mourning but not necessarily destruction and war like it was in villages. Mortals die, and not all of them die in painful violent ways. There was nothing inherently upsetting about the smell of burning flesh to an Amazon. Or Blood for that matter every girl had been hunting at one point but mixing both scents together, with the sound of deafening screams, and the crippling pain well that isn't a good sign for anyone. Zoe was now holding onto me for dear life. Way too tightly.
"Little one, we need to get breakfast settled, so I need to get the wood. You have to let me go." She whimpered and held me tighter. "Well you need to use the latrine, So I'll walk you out there and get the wood while you're busy okay?"
She nodded. She wasn't happy about it.
Gabrielle's POV
Today's Solstice and Zoe is still too terrified to be more than a pace from Xena or myself. Both girls have slept the last five nights with between us, and Ali has regressed to the point of needing her diapers during the day. She hasn't regressed completely She can still tell us most of the time when she needs to go, and thankfully her problem only seems to be wetting. But she's wet herself several times in the last few days. Zoe doesn't seem to care that it's Solstice. She had presents for everyone already and insisted we give them out, but didn't feel like going to any of the festivals. In fact she seems terrified too, every time we try to get her to leave the hut for anything other than the latrine she starts panicking and has trouble breathing. She still hasn't remembered anything more about her dream then she told us the first night but it seemed to have a horrible effect on her. She seems almost broken. Ali though despite needing to sleep with us at night, and her needing diapers has moved on perfectly. She senses something is wrong with her sister and keeps trying and failing to cheer her up. She's looking forward to the holiday She seems to be sneaking pieces of the Nut bread I keep baking. I've put in the corner for twice already for that. It would be more but those are the only times I've caught her. She has my taste for the sweet treat and my wife's many skills. Ephiny entered, Eponin is a type of bed with wheels that Zoe and Laria designed. It's basically just a flat piece of wood with wheels, she has many pillows propping her up. Three were built for the Healer's use and Ephiny being Regent 'borrowed one' a week and half ago when they were finally completed because Eponin was driving her mad. Ali ran over to Ephiny.
"Aunt Effy, Aunt eppy….." She threw herself on the bed and Ephiny caught her.
"Ali, you can't jump on Aunt Eppy like that. There's a tiny
baby inside her, and you could hurt the baby." Ephiny cuddled her as she gently scolded.
"Sorry aunt Eppy."' She pouted.
"It's okay, Ali you can sit with me if you're gentle." Eponin said quietly. Ephiny put Ali on Eponin's side, and she cuddled into her. Sometimes I couldn't believe the rest of known world thought of us as cold hearted warriors. We were warriors but we were also very soft and gentle when it came to our families. Of course that meant that you also had a village full of mother hens.
"Is that the dolly I gave you?" Eponin said.
"Yea, Aunt Eppy I take real good care of her. I name her Tansy."
"I know…." They wheeled Eponin in closer to the main room she was situated in between the bench and longue area and the hearth and eating area. "Where's Zoe?"
"Right here, Aunt Ep" Zoe entered she still looked pale, put there was a small genuine smile on her lips. And her voice didn't sound broken or lost, even if it was uncommonly subdued for any little girl of ours. "Happy Solstice. I need to apologize, I figured something out a few days ago. And I should have….."
"What's wrong Zoe?" Ephiny asked.
"You're not having one baby, you're having two, Identical twins. Well except for a birth mark they'll both have on their left Jaw. One will be a waxing crescent moon, the other heart."
"Two babies?"
"Terrieus and Neoma. Neoma will be a warrior fierce, proud the best warrior our tribe has ever seen Aunt Eponin and Mommy combined, Terreius though a fine warrior in her own right cares more about why people do things and helping them then fighting them she will be our greatest peace maker. The twins, Ali, Callie, Phoebe, Taryn and Me, along with warriors from other tribes will be the ones to strengthen our people, to reunite the nation and turn us into one people again."
Eponin held her hands over her womb. "Are you sure?"
"I know what I know, Auntie. Everything else is fuzzy, except right before we go on our quest to reunite they'll be a great tragedy, It won't happen for a long time. I'll be older than Mommy, in my 30s, and whatever happens it will be act then, reunite then, or be wiped out."
A/N: Solstice isn't over yet, this is just the beginning. Revelations aside we still have some warm family moments coming, as well as the births of two babies coming. And a Surprise.