Usual disclaimers apply.

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Chapter 40

Steeling myself, I walked shoulder to shoulder with Mama out of the queen's hut. We walked towards the center of the village and I was amazed by how quiet it was while we made our way there. It wasn't until we reached the platform that I understood the silence.

The center of the village, including the platform, had been taken over by deities from Olympus. Shaking my head at the show, I looked up at Mama. Her eyes mirrored mine and I searched the faces for any that might be familiar. It wasn't until I felt Rory come up behind me that I started. Turning around to face her I hugged her close. "It's okay, Rory."

"No, Sam, it's not going to be okay," Rory whispered.

"It is." I looked down at her and smirked. "No matter what, you are my best friend, Rhys or Rory. That will not change."

Taking a deep breath, Rory nodded and I turned back to the gods gathered there. "Which part of don't bother me wasn't clear?" I asked.

"It was clear, Child of the gods," a deep voice responded. "I am Kratos and I wish to vie for Athena's place."

"And why should I do anything other than throw a fireball at you?" I asked. "I made it clear that you were not to bother the village."

"You made it clear not to bother the village on your birthday or after until you returned. It is not yet your birthday." Kratos moved closer still and his dark eyes held mine before moving to Mama without a blink. "So you are Ares favorite?"

"My name is Xena," Mama said simply. "And Ares is not my concern right now."

"Of course not," Kratos replied. "I would think that we would have your attention. We want the child to make her decision now."

"Leave her alone!" Rory stepped forward and glared at Kratos. "You may be the personification of power, but you have no business here, Kratos."

"Ah yes," Kratos stepped forward again. "The confused one." Turning to those around him he smirked and elicited the same response.

"She's not confused," Ephiny stepped forward this time. "I believe Sam asked you a question."

"And who are you to speak to me?" A tall, rail thin goddess with hair blonde white hair stepped forward.

"She's my mother," Rory replied as Zivah and Eponin moved to flank Ephiny.

"Of course she is," the female goddess spoke again. "I am Eos, Goddess of the Dawn, and I wish to be Athena's successor."

Sighing heavily, I looked up at Mama and noticed her slight nod. "Does everyone here want to vie for Athena's place?" I asked.

A rumbling of agreement surrounded me and I nodded. "So be it." I waved my hand and knocked a dozen gods from the stage. "Move," I intoned as I moved to the stage not at all surprised when Mama and our entourage followed us. I was just about to speak when Mom ran through the crowd and stood beside Mama on the stage.

"About time you got here," Mama said.

"I knew you wouldn't let Sam start without me," Mom countered.

"Have you made a decision?" Eos asked with a glower.

"I have." Closing my eyes and steadying my breathing I finally opened them and looked around me. "I have decided that in the year I become a full warrior I will choose Athena's successor. During the time between then and now, you will be tasked with various obstacles befitting your status and must pass them in order to be deemed worthy."

"That's not fair!" Kratos's dark eyes blazed and he moved towards me once more. "You told us that you would choose on your sixteenth birthday."

"As you pointed out, I am not yet sixteen." I held a fireball in my hand and waited until there was complete silence once more. "Since you chose to bother me before my sixteenth birthday, and disregard my wishes, then I am changing my plans for choosing whom will take Athena's place. I want none of you to bother me, my family, or anyone important to me. That includes all from this village, my family in Amphipolis, my family in Potidaea and the centaur village where my cousin lives."

"You heard our daughter," Mom announced. "Get out of our village and stay out."

"You can't tell us what to do!" a voice called out.

"Xena," Mom looked up into Mama's face and the slightest of communication happened during the exchange.

"Anything for you, my bard," Mama replied holding up her palms and throwing two fireballs skyward. "Next time I won't miss!" Mama announced. "Leave now."

"You wouldn't kill us," another voice called.

"Try me," Mama countered easily.

The crowd parted, and I whistled at the god who walked towards us. His skin was the color of cinnamon and his hair jet black to match his coal eyes. He was taller than Mama by about five inches and his mere presence seemed to make the other gods cower. "I am Ganymede."

Mama nodded and looked him up and down, "Ganymede?"

"The cupbearer of the gods," his voice was a low rumble. "Who better to take Athena's place than the one who knows them all so well?"

"Who indeed?" Mama mumbled. "Sam?"

Taking a deep breath I moved forward and stopped in front of Ganymede. "I've made my decision, Ganymede. You chose to not respect my wishes and decided that because I am just a mortal you could force me into choosing before I was ready." Stepping back I looked into his face and did my best impression of Mom when she was angry. "I may only be a mortal, but I have the powers of the gods. Do not make me use them."

"Use them?" He stepped towards me and looked down with a glare on his face. "I am immortal, you are not."

"I can kill gods. And I sure as hell can try to kill an immortal. And if that doesn't work you can spend eternity licking some awful wounds from the fire I'll send your way." Holding up my hand I focused my thoughts and watched as my hand began to glow. "Care to see how much damage I can do to your skin?"

The glare lessoned and he suddenly smiled at me, "I think not, Child of the gods. I believe that your point has been made as has been ours. We are not happy, but I am no fool."

"Good to know," Mom's voice came from beside me. "You all need to listen to my daughter once more. I think that she will be giving you something that you are waiting for before you leave. Sam." Mama nodded to me and I stepped forward.

"In the time that you will wait until I choose Athena's successor, I have tasks for all of you to complete. First, you must solve a puzzle for me. It will take wisdom to solve the puzzle and you will have to use knowledge and reason to solve the puzzle."

"Puzzle?" Ganymede asked.

I nodded, "Mama?"

Mama put her arm around me and squeezed my shoulders before speaking. "Sam has thought of this long and hard and after much discussion with her mother and me she thinks she found one that may take some work from all of you."

"Surely a puzzle created by a child will not cause us grief," Kratos intoned.

"Probably not," I shrugged. "But why don't you hear me out first?" Smirking at the mumbles through the crowd of gods I took a deep breath. "Each of you will receive a puzzle," I began. "These puzzles will be different and yet will be alike in many ways. You will be tasked to solve the puzzle you are given without help from anyone. They will not be as easy as you think, for some of them will have over a thousand pieces or parts. You will have to find the solution of the puzzle and then answer the riddle that will appear once the puzzle is solved."

"And where do we get these puzzles?"

"Ptah." The confusion came in waves from the gods and I pushed on. "I wanted an impartial god to create these puzzles for you. Who better than the Egyptian God of Craftsmen? He will be happy to give each of you a puzzle when you visit Thebes." I held up my hand. "You need not worry about retribution for entering Egypt, just be sure that you retrieve the item you seek and return to Greece quickly. I will not be held accountable if you decide to get into a pissing match with an Egyptian god."

"Any other demands, child of the gods?" Ganymede asked.

I nodded. "Secondly, I wish for you to think of something you could contribute to the Earth. To my tribe, if you were to take over Athena's place. Athena gave us the olive tree. What will you give us?"

"And make no mistake," Mom's voice rose above the din. "Whatever you decide to contribute will be nothing that could harm my village. Artemis will approve each creation before it is allowed on our lands." She held up her hands at the protests. "She will be fair, but I will not allow danger willingly onto Amazon lands –any Amazon lands."

"What else?" a voice called.

"And finally," I paused for effect. "I wish for you to defend your reasons that you should replace Athena. I want well thought out ideas that can be backed up with what you have done to prove your assertions. It is only those who do these tasks well that I will even consider to replace Athena."

"You demand that we follow these demands?" a voice called.

"I do." I looked at the woman who had stepped forward. "And who are you to challenge me on this?

"Nemesis."

"Great, just what we need," Mom interrupted. "The one goddess who thinks that retribution is her only job."

"It is my job," Nemesis huffed. "And I do it quite well. What happens if we don't pass these challenges the child has set for us?"

"Then you don't get to be in the competition for Athena's place," I answered.

"Wonderful." Nemesis turned to Ganymede and placed her hand on his arm. Her pale hand standing out on his dark skin. "Let's get to this shall we, Immortal One? After all, I know that Athena would have approved these tasks," Looking at me once more, her hazel eyes narrowed. "If I didn't know for certain that your three favorite goddess couldn't interfere I'd swear you'd had help think of this."

"I don't need help in ways to annoy the gods," I countered. "I get that naturally from my mothers."

Huffing once more Nemesis disappeared in a puff of smoke while the other gods finally followed her lead. Soon our village was empty of the Olympians and there was a visible release of tension in the village.

"That was fun," Mama quipped as Mom turned to the stage and faced our fellow sisters. "My sisters, I thank you for keeping your heads and being here to help us if needed." Mom paused and raised her hands in the air, "You need not be worried about them anymore. They have been set upon tasks and will not be back to bother us until the year Sam achieves full warrior status."

Cheers went up in the crowd and Mama moved to put her arm around Mom. "I told you that Amazons will use any excuse to party."

Rolling her eyes, Mom turned around and hugged Mama. It was a pose I was familiar with after years of seeing it. Mom fitting so well under Mama's chin while Mama rested her chin on the top of Mom's head. They conveyed so much to each other in that position and though no words were spoken, I was amazed by all they said to one another in that moment.

Turning away, I pulled Daria into a hug. "I am in awe of my parents," I whispered.

"Me too." Daria stepped back and looked briefly at my mothers. "I want us to be like that one day."

"Looking into her eyes, I smiled softly. "Someday we will."

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