Usual Disclaimers Apply.

Chapter 64

"Where do we go from here indeed?" Mama sighed deeply and kissed the top of my head. "You stay here. Your mom and I will be right back." Motioning to Mom she waited until Mom joined her and I watched as they walked to the farthest wall of the temple and began to talk in low whispers. Shutting out their voices I turned all my attention to the goddess in front of me.

"So, ladies, how are we this evening?" I asked as Artemis merely shook her head and finally moved toward me with a clean cloth she produced thin air. She then proceeded to gently wipe my face and hands down. Snapping her fingers, I felt the cut above my eye heal and I sighed as the bruises also healed.

"Thank you, Artemis." I tested my arms and legs by standing and walking around the room slowly and realized I no longer hurt so badly. Turning to face her I addressed her again, "Why?"

Smiling slightly, she shook her head, "Because you are young, Samina. You have much to learn and I believe my lesson has been imparted. Your mothers' lessons will be imparted as well, and I do not want them to be lessened because you are feeling the aftereffects of your decisions."

Sighing I nodded. "Well, thanks anyway."

"You are welcome." She replied. "I must go and take care of something right now. Tell your mothers that I will be back shortly. I still need to speak with Gabrielle."

I nodded and watched as she disappeared with no fanfare. "You're too quiet, Auntie."

Walking to me my goddess mother pulled me into a tight hug and sat with me on the couch where I had been sitting with Mama. "What's going on with you, my little warrior bard?" She asked.

"You know I don't do well growing up." I put my head on her shoulder and tried to get comfortable but couldn't. Closing my eyes, I suddenly felt different and when I opened them, I gave Aphrodite a huge hug. I was now wearing my sweatpants and a t-shirt with my favorite socks and tennis shoes. "You rock!"

"I know." I was given the best smile before the blonde dropped a kiss to the top of my head. "I still want to know what was in that head of yours today.

"I just wanted to know when it suddenly became okay to do all these dangerous things and it was okay. Why was it suddenly okay to call out a foreign god, or beat the crap out of another student? Nobody has said anything about me beating up those mercenaries it's all about taking on the men in the bar. Why, Auntie?"

Her answer was cut off when Mama approached us. "You look comfy." She commented; her eyebrow raised.

"I am." I confirmed.

Aphrodite snapped her fingers and changed Mama into a similar outfit causing Mama to shake her head. "Thanks, Aphrodite. Now that you have helped on that front, I have a favor to ask."

"You're asking me for a favor?" Auntie stood and felt Mama's forehead. "You don't feel feverish so I guess you must be okay, but I'm still going to check on you. "What do you need, my warrior mommy?"

"Could you zap Sam and me home? I'd like to be in my office in the basement."

Auntie nodded and turned to hug me tightly. "I think you're going to get what you've expected all along my, warrior bard." She whispered in my ear. Before I could answer I found myself in our basement standing in the space that Mama had made into her office. So, like the one from the barn from the future.

"It's the chakram incident all over again." I quipped.

"Not quite, but close." Mama agreed leading me into the office. Looking around I could almost smell the horses in their stalls outside the door and hear the restlessness of the hooves as Mama took me to task. Shaking the thoughts from my head I sat on the small couch in the slightly bigger room than she'd had in the future and waited for the lecture I knew that I had coming. I just wondered why both of my mothers weren't here to deliver it to me.

Leaning into Mama as she sat next to me, I relaxed fully as her arm wrapped around me and she kissed the top of my head. "You do realize that you are in a very large amount of trouble?"

"About damn time." I thought.

"What was that?" Mama asked.

"I said that out loud?" I asked quietly.

"You did." Mama's voice was low but demanding. "So, what does that mean, little one?"

I sighed and tried to lean into her further, "It means that it's about time you noticed I'm not a full, adult warrior yet. It means that it's about time you start acting like my parents again, not some crazy Amazons who think it's a good idea to hand out feathers to kids that do stupid, crazy stuff. Hell, it's about time notice me again. As Sam. Not as the queen's heir."

"What do you mean, little one?" Mama's voice was so low I almost didn't hear her question.

"It means that I still don't understand why I didn't get called out for doing all this crazy shit lately and instead got rewarded."
"I thought that your mom and I explained that, Sam."

"You did," I admitted. It didn't make sense then and it doesn't make sense now."

Mom wiped her hand down her face and sighed. "Sam, you made an adult decision in calling out that god in Amphipolis. You did it away from the village. You had a backup plan. You knew exactly what you would do if it went south. That's different than just getting mad at a god and calling him out without any thought."

"You mean like I did with Ares when I was younger? When I was fed up with certain things? I just called him out with no thought for the danger or the consequences of what could happen to me or anyone else?"

"Exactly." Mama agreed.

"And wiping the ground with Kyra?" I asked. "Since when is its good form to beat up a fellow Amazon?"

"Since your weapons master asked you to do so," Mama began. "You know Eponin would never have asked you to do such a thing if there had been an alternative. Kyra was going to have her fight with you one way or another and better to have it in a safe environment where it could be monitored."

"I wouldn't have killed her!" I protested.

"It wasn't you that Ep was worried about, little one. She was worried that Kyra wouldn't quit unless you severely hurt her to the point that she couldn't move any more. Nobody wanted that to happen."

"So, the fact that I agreed to Aunt Eponin's terms showed my maturity in the fact that I knew Kyra would have ended up being hurt so much worse if I'd allowed her to confront me on her own."

Mama nodded and I sighed wing off and poor judgement on your part. Not to mention letting your heavily. "And then men in the bar?"

"Oh, that was just to let mom and me know you were mad with us."

"And the mercenaries on the road, Mama? What were they?"

"You working for the greater good, little one. And I am so proud of you for that." Mama pulled me close to her and gave me a kiss to my cheek. "However, as proud as I am for that, I am greatly disappointed in you for the bar. You knew that was wrong the minute that you did it. Yet you decided to do it anyway. Tell me why."

"It's like you said, I was mad at you and Mom and I really wanted to beat something up. I figured that if I chose people who were volunteering to get their asses beat wouldn't be as bad as me just going around and picking a fight just because I could."

Shaking her head Mama's icy eyes turned to look at me. "I suppose that is a valid point, but should you have been beating random people up at all, Sam?"

"Not according to you or Mom." I finally acknowledged. "According to what I felt, yes."

"And what were you feeling, Sam?" Mama pressed.

"Anger, confusion, distrust, fear…" I stopped and looked at her. "The feather ceremony will be here soon. We have Grace and the twins getting older. You and Mom haven't said a word about birthdays and that always bothers me."

"You don't have to worry about birthdays." Mama hugged me close. "They are covered, Sam. I promise." Finally shifting on the bench Mama stood and looked down at me. "So tell me, Samina, why are we here today."

"Because I screwed up." I answered quietly watching as Mama pulled her straight-backed chair into the middle of the area.

Sitting down on the chair, Mama had me stand up and motioned for me to come towards her. Slowly complying I found myself in front of her very quickly. "Tell me how you screwed up, Sam."

"I started a bar fight," I began. "And even though I won each fight, I shouldn't have done it." I looked into Mama's eyes as she took my hands into hers. "I understand about the other decisions now, Mama. And I should have tried to talk to you again instead of taking off and letting my anger control me." Sighing heavily, I gave a halfhearted smile. "At least nobody's car had to die this time." I quipped only to find myself over Mama's lap rather quickly after sharing this piece of wisdom.

I didn't have time to think about my position before Mama's sword hand began to come down on my backside. Feeling the heat begin to build I tried to remain stoic but knew that wouldn't last long especially once Mama removed my pants and then continued to drive her point home with a strip of leather tack on my now panty covered bottom. Squirming on her lap I began to lose all pretenses of being a six-teen year old Amazon warrior in training and reverted to being nothing more than the daughter of my mothers'. A daughter who had a mother than knew how to turn my ass into a target that hated being a target. Damn bar fight. What the hell was I thinking?

Feeling Mama stop I began to relax and hoped that she felt her wisdom had been imparted. I should have known better. Feeling my underwear being taken from me I groaned and turned my teary face towards Mama, "Can't we be done?" I begged. "I know I've learned my lesson. No more bar fights."

"I think we have just a little more to take care of before we can consider this matter taken care of, little one." Mama's voice was quiet, but I knew that tone and I knew better than to continue my pleas for leniency.

Feeling Mama's hand on my now bare backside once more I braced myself on the chair leg and gasped as her sword hand warmed my backside once again. As the protests and yells flew from my lips Mama was stoic and then I felt her stop for a fast minute. Wondering what was next I gasped when I felt the wood from the hairbrush run along my hot flesh.

"Now, Mama, there's no need to be rash…." I started when the first crack of the brush came down on my backside without so much as a warning.

Yelping and hollering I tried to escape the brush anyway I knew how, but Mama had no trouble keeping me on her lap right where she wanted me while she dispensed the justice from the hairbrush that she felt was needed in this case.

Finally feeling I had been given the correct amount of correction Mama slowly pulled my undies and pants up again and then pulled me onto her lap gently. I barely fit due to my height but it was nice to be snuggled in her lap. Laying my head on her shoulder I closed my eyes and enjoyed the closeness as she wiped my face with her handkerchief.

"You gonna live?" Mama asked quietly brushing back my hair from my face.

"I might," I sniffed. "But I think my butt has seen better days."

"I imagine that it has." Moving me to my feet, Mama moved us to the small couch and sat down allowing me to snuggle into her side and become comfortable once more. "So, going to tell me what this has really been about?"

Snapping my head up I looked into her eyes and shook my head in shock. "Since when did you get so good at the sensitive chats?"

"Since you've been born," she quipped. "And since I know your mom is going to be occupied with Artemis for a long while."

I winced. "Yeah, I'm betting slapping the goddess wasn't one of her smarter moves."

Mama chuckled. "I'd take you up on that wager," Mama grinned. "Provided your mom never found out I took the bet in the first place."

Wrapping my arms around Mama I laid my head on her shoulders. "I hate all the change coming again. I think I just needed to be assured that no matter what I was still your little one."

I heard and felt the deep sigh before kissed the top of my head. "Out of all our kids, Sam, you have hated change the most. When you were three you told Gabrielle in no uncertain terms that her idea of you sleeping in a bed were crazy and wanted to know where she got such an idea. At five, I was informed that saddles were just a gimmick and you could ride bareback for the rest of your life."

I chuckled as my warrior mother did the same. "Oh, and let's not forget the year you turned eight. You refused to get new shoes until we found the exact same pair in the size you had grown into. Your mom and I bought two pairs in that size and another a size up, just in case."

"I loved those purple high tops!" I protested. "They were the coolest shoes ever!"

"The point is, little one," Mama continued. "You hate change and everything it represents. The only problem is that things are constantly changing. Sometimes you just need to be reminded that within the change some things still remain the same."

"I guess so." I agree. "Doesn't mean that I enjoy the reminder." I grumbled. "And I know my ass doesn't enjoy it."

"Then tell your ass to find another way to be reminded of these things." Mama teased.

"I'll try." Being tugged to my feet by my now standing mother I sighed and groaned as I heard the footsteps of my sisters overhead followed by Eve's voice coming down the stairwell.

"Are you two ever going to join us? Auntie and Auntie Hessie are babysitting. There's pizza and chocolate cake if you can get your butts up here! We're starving. Hurry up and bust her ass already!"

Looking up slightly at Mama I gave her a questioning look. Taking a deep breath Mama nodded slightly. "Don't kill her, I'm on my way, that's all the head start you have."

"Thanks, Mama!" Giving her a kiss on the cheek I took off at a dead run and was up the stairs and after a now running Eve before my little sister even had a chance to know what hit her.

***XENA***BARD***XENA***BARD***XENA***BARD***XENA

Yes, I know the wait has been long but there is finally an update. I hope you all enjoy it.

Here's hoping the next one will be here much faster than this one.

Please let me know if you found it worth the wait.

For those in the U.S. Happy Fourth of July! To those elsewhere- enjoy the Sam update…LOL

Kik

Oh and to the reviewer who suggested I turn Sam over to someone else… to quote Dite "As if"… I have a set story in mind with at least two more "Books" in this series. I would never allow anyone else to take my vision that way. I care about Sam way too much. Not to mention I already know how Sam is going to end.