Chapter 4:

            "What happened out in the barroom?" Lila asked her daughter as she was sitting down in the kitchen of the inn. Gabrielle noticed how the room was set up just like her mother's kitchen and even smelled the same way. For a few moments she thought about the fact that she would never be able to ride up to her old home again and go into that kitchen. It belonged to another family now. Lila had sold it. But she decided even though she was oldest and in a legal sense the proper inheritor of the farm, Lila had long ago taken over that role and those rights. She could not and would never think to take that right away from her. She had given all that up when she left with Xena. She had disowned herself. And the sale of her old home was not her decision. In fact if Ares hadn't hidden them in that ice cave, neither she nor Xena would be alive today. The life of adventure they led would have killed them a long time ago as it had already been close to or had done many times. Sarah's description of the fighting in the taproom drew her slowly back to reality.

"I am sorry I didn't see you fight Aunt Gabrielle, I ran out back to call for Pavlos… The militia as soon as I saw the mercenary hit the romans. We didn't even know that you were here", she commented and smiled at her aunt, the look taking years of her face.

"It's alright, Sarah. I was here looking for you two, so at least some good has come of that pointless fight out there", she said and looked at her barely dark haired sister. Suddenly the last of the heat of battle drained out of her and she felt a searing pain in her left palm. "If you don't mind I would like to have some wine and a rag and some clean cloth that you won't miss", she asked with her left hand still clenched at her side.

"Why?" Lila asked curiously, while she rummaged around for a clean rag, and Sarah got a bottle of wine from a shelf over the kitchen stove.

Lila handed her a rag. "I need it to bandage my palm. I scratched it catching a dagger", she explained in a dry common place tone, as she had done that a couple of times before not even thinking that her description of such actions and her casual mentioning of wound surprised her family. She leaned over the table with the wine drenched rag and carefully cleaned the wood, wincing slightly as she felt the familiar burn of the wine in her wound. She saw a long thin piece of white linen being lain down besides her hand. "Thank you", she said and smiled as she professionally set about tying it around her palm. She made a tight knot on the back of her hand, but gave the bandage enough slack in it to allow her freedom of movement. "At least it didn't need to be stitched together this time", she mused and tested her hand so that she could gauge how much less she could depend on it the next few days. At least her body had begun healing faster. Xena had been right; it was all just a question of treating it well, training it hard and maybe a little natural ability. Of course she couldn't rival Xena's abilities, but then again there were no race between them. She had grown past that and now it no longer mattered.

"If father or mother had heard of you taking part in a barroom brawl like this, they would never have believed it", Lila commented, as Sarah walked away to be with the man that was obviously her boyfriend or betrothed. Gabrielle focused on her sister.

"I guess you're right. But I couldn't very well let the romans kill a man just because of a petty insult", she idly commented not thinking about the many experiences and decisions in her life that Lila couldn't know about.

"It's not that it's…" Lila paused and took a breath. "Why don't we find something else to talk about? We should not be fighting when you're home. It happens so rarely", Lila said with regret.

"Lila…" Gabrielle said with a sigh and hugged her sister.

Lila freed herself from the hug and went over to sit down by the hearth. "Are you staying at the Inn?" She asked and gestured towards the 1st floor where she had a room.

"Yeah, I have a room and a horse in your stables. I hope you give some kind of family friendly price to people planning on staying a while", she asked and saw a flicker of happiness in the eyes of her now older sister.

"Of course, you won't be paying anything for your stay. We make enough money. I would never let you pay me anyway", Lila said with some of the spirit Gabrielle remembered from the past coming forth in her eyes.

Still her code of honor wouldn't let her stay here and leech on her family's good fortune. "At least let me help out around here. I could tell stories and keep the peace while I stay", she offered. Lila looked at her then smiled and nodded.

"So how long time will you be staying? Or should I ask how long will it take Xena to get here?" Lila asked with a lot of bitterness and jealousy in her voice. For a few moments Gabrielle was amazed that her sister still nursed that yellow eyed jealousy in her soul, but those thoughts were washed away by the intense pain of remembering Xena as well as her dead and headless body outlined by lightning in the rain. The sadness churning in her soul spilled forth into her face and eyes. Subconsciously her right hand drifted down to rest on the chakram now gracing her side with its presence.

"Xena won't be coming to get me ever again. She is dead", her voice was tight and a little hoarse as she spoke those hated words. Too many times she felt had she been pushed to tell the horrendous story of Xena's demise recently. She felt that she had neither the strength nor inclination to do that again on a day that should have been much happier.

Lila looked at her. For second Gabrielle perceived indecision in there, and then pity tinged them. She forced herself not to think of the other emotions that her sister probably had felt at those words.

"So are you here to stay?" She asked with a shaking voice, like she gave words to an old and secret wish of her soul.

Gabrielle looked at her sister. For a moment she listened to her own heart as she asked the very same thing of it. And all she got back was an intense feeling of unhappiness and unending emptiness. She didn't feel like staying here. Nor did she feel like staying anywhere. Poteidaia had never offered her more than emptiness.

That emptiness that had been filled with Xena, when they had met in the woods not far from here, and which was now only filled with the ringing echoes of the intense love she felt for her fallen warrior, was what drove her to go on. She had vowed at Xena's death to become her replacement and in secret hoped that this would allow her to continually be close to the spirit of her love and keep that void inside her filled enough to continue on day by day. "No", she said with finality and turned away from her sister so that she wouldn't see the tears coming from her eyes.

Lila remained silent for a time. "I don't understand you anymore", she said with intense bitterness in her voice and wandered away. Gabrielle heard the almost soundless steps of her niece walking up to stand behind her.

"I don't understand you either. Mother always said that you were only on the road because Xena was there. If Xena weren't around, you would never have left home, she used to say, when I was little and thought you were… dead. Do you think us to be beneath you? Are you too good for us normal people?" Sarah said with her voice raised in anger and put a hand on her shoulder to draw her around.

Gabrielle turned and looked the taller woman right in the eye. "No that was never been an issue. Lila should have remembered that. We have discussed it twice. I didn't leave because of Xena, but because I didn't belong in Poteidaia. No one here would ever allow me to be the person I felt I was meant to be. I had dreams pulling at me. I wanted to make more of myself than just a farmer's wife".

Gabrielle drew Sarah with her and sat down at a table with her niece in tow. "I was always an outsider here in Poteidaia. I was loved by some, but I was never apart of the group. I stood out even when I was little. I didn't just say yes and follow the commands of my parents or anyone else for that matter. I had great dreams for my self. I was a dreamer. I forced your grandparents to let me learn to read and write. I sought out passing bards and philosophers. I studied everything I could find. I was always looking for something and then one day the cause of my longing came to our little town. You must understand Sarah that much more than friendship bound Xena and me. We share a bond stretching back through time into the ancient past and forward into the future. Our souls are bound by bonds of love stronger than any god or dark destiny. Each time we are born again our souls yearn and search for each other. We go through life unfulfilled until we come together and when we come together we can never ever truly be taken apart without causing each other almost unbearable anguish. We were each other's home. Now that she is gone I feel lost and homeless. I have nothing against Poteidaia, but it is not my home anymore. It really never was more than the place where I grew up and where my family made their home. My home is… was Xena". She explained putting all her sincerity and belief in her eyes and voice.

Sarah looked at her with amazement. "But where can you go from here?" She asked her voice falling to a mere whisper.

"I have asked myself that. I have all of the world open for me to travel. And I believe that I will always be able to visit Eve in Amphipolis, the amazons up north or you here. But I won't have a home for a long time to come", Gabrielle explained with the infinite sadness that was the deciding factor in her life right now clearly audible in her voice. Gabrielle rose slowly and smiled wanly at her niece. "I guess we should call it a night. Maybe I can make Lila understand in the morning", she explained and walked away.

Sarah sat a long while in the candlelit kitchen and looked out the open window at the large garden hidden behind the inn. A gentle wind rustled the leaves of the tree out there, but she barely noticed as she contemplated the enigma that was her beautiful aunt.

Next morning Gabrielle started the day by taking a long hot bath. She chose to wear the more subdued brown leathers reminiscent of those destroyed by her demonic possession last year in Amphipolis. She had made them together with Eve during her stay at the hospice. Their lack of ornaments and expensive jewelry would allow her to more easily blend in with the people of village.

She took stock over her possessions and was reminded of her old friend Meleager as he had dictated his last will to her. She felt a lot like him, all her worldly memories and possessions was in the collection of bags lying on the floor besides her bed. Some things bore symbols of the high north, some had obviously been made in Chin, some things were of simple Greek make, while only a little of Egypt and Rome remained in her possession. The mainstays of her belongings however were from her adopted people and nationality. She looked and felt like an amazon. The only thing she had taken with her from Japan now rested safely in a sarcophagus in Amphipolis. A soft knock on her door tore her from her musings.

"Gabby are you up?" Lila's voice called out through the wooden door.

"Yeah", she answered while an easy smile danced on her lips. She hoped that she could avoid too many heavy conversations like the one's she had lead last night. She unhinged the door and allowed her sister to come inside. To her surprise the smiling dark haired woman bore a large tray with a breakfast for two measured in the portion common in her family.

"Sarah suggested that we needed to get reacquainted and I remembered that you were almost always hungry so I thought we could…" Gabrielle smiled and led the older woman to sit down on her bed.

"Well, your bed sheet will probably get crumbs on it, but you won't find me complaining. I wonder what the innkeeper will say though", she quipped. Lila smiled at the remark and took up a knife to cut the freshly baked bread.

They ate a while in silence, when suddenly Lila said: "Gabrielle. I don't feel like I know you anymore. You're so different from when I last saw you and even then I didn't understand the huge changes in you. But I would very much like to. I need to".

Gabrielle looked at her for a while and decided to approach the telling of her past slowly. "How many of my scrolls have you heard stories from?" Gabrielle asked.

"I've heard a few of them told here, but they're all focused on Xena. I want to know what you did, how you ended up here like you are now. I know a little of what happened to you, I've sporadic stories, but I never got the details. You never had the time on your visits or in your messages to fill me in. Couldn't you start at the…" Again Gabrielle interrupted her and said: "At the beginning". She laughed and nodded to her sister. "We'll have to take large parts of the story in general terms, but I think if we start now we'll be finished some time tomorrow. Are you sure you want to sacrifice all that time?" Lila nodded and said: "Sarah will take care of business. Most of the time she is actually better at it than me anyway".

"Alright let's get started then". Gabrielle said and drank a large portion of the milk in her cup. She started from the very beginning telling of what happened the first days as she followed Xena, she told in broad terms of their first adventures together only going in detail a few important places like how she had become an amazon princess. She told of her first encounter with Joxer and Callisto. She explained her temporary death in the Mitoan Thessallian war. She focused on how she had learned to fight with a staff instead of a sword and of the need for someone to stand up from the greater good. Then she told of her second year with Xena. She explained her marriage with Perdicus, Callisto's return and death. She told of Xena's death, her crowning as amazon queen, Xena's return and their fight against Velasca and Callisto. She told about the type of heroic routine their life settled into until their deepening love for each other peaked after their battle against the Horde. As the afternoon unraveled she finally reached the darkest part of their journey as she lost her blood innocence, had the daughter of an evil god, lied to Xena then betrayed her on their first trip to China. She told in excruciating detail of how Callisto and Hope conspired to kill Solan and how she had poisoned Hope. She told of the rift between them and their hatred which lead them to Illusia and reconciliation. She told of Xena's amazing stand against the Persians at Tripolis, her decision to let Crassus die in Rome and their further travels until their hopeless stand against Dahak and his mad cult lead by her own daughter. She told slowly about her sacrifice and skipped over the part where she tricked her own grandson and daughter to their deaths as Lila had been around for that part and knew that story. She then began telling the story about her increasing fighting ability and confusion about it and leading men into battle against the romans. Then she told about her looking for her way as they traveled through India, she told of her possession by Tataka, about their discovery of their shared destiny and being soul mates throughout all time. With love she told of Eli and the blissful path he had tried to guide her on. She explained her choice of Eli's path of love and the pain and complete failure that had brought her and Xena. Then she told the cold hard story of the romans going up against the amazons and her capture by Brutus. she told slowly of her change of heart seeing Xena's fall from her own chakram and of going up against the legionnaires and killing so many of them. After shuddering she went on to tell of their crucifixion and dying on the cross side by side.

However just as she was about to get to the part about their resurrection Sarah burst into the room. "Marauders are attacking the outlying farms. Pavlos and his patrol just came back. A few of his men have been killed. Dareios and the rest of the militia have just left to stop them before more people lose their lives. The people are gathering in the square to discuss it now", she explained and ran back out of the room. Gabrielle checked the position of her sai and the chakram, while she followed.

Lila, who had remained silent for the most of the day, only looked after her daughter and sister, while slowly traversing the stairs. She was lost in thought over the many details of her sister's amazing life that she had never been aware of. Gabrielle had killed a woman before she had turned 22. She had been married to Perdicus, who everyone in the village believed had died in Troy. Gabrielle was the queen of an amazon tribe and was in many ways her complete opposite in terms of experiences in life. Her sister had lived a life of adventure, which she knew included being frozen in ice for 25 years. Still she had not gotten to the truth about her new nature, yet she was sure much closer. Her last stories had revealed a great deal more than Lila had expected. She still didn't understand how her merciful and goodhearted sister, who had cried, when she had heard of strangers dying, when she was young, could have turned into the beautiful but potentially lethal warrior walking in her place today. Surely it was the fault of Xena or at least that was what she had to believe.

The crowd gathered in the square was a lot bigger than Gabrielle had expected but she didn't show much of a reaction as she saw the beaten militia men sitting around the water fountain nursing their wounds. She also noticed quite unexpectedly a large division amongst the people around the square. They were split in two large groups distinct in both behavior and clothing. One half was made up of the merchants and artisans, the other of the farmers and poorer folk coming from further away or the few dark passages of the village. Still they didn't seem to mix much. Understandably Lila and Sarah seemed to fit amongst the farmers, who all most likely were old friends and acquaintances. She remained amongst the few strangers still in town, so she after a little careful consideration decided to remain standing alone and silent as a neutral party, while Pavlos carefully explained the situation to the concerned villagers.

"There has been an attack from outside the valley. We were on patrol when we saw a farmstead on fire. We rode down and were met with the sight of a slaughter. A large band of marauding warriors in expensive armors and high quality weapons were raiding the farmstead, when we came upon them. Before we could flee from the numerically and better equipped enemy they attacked us. I chose to flee and bring the bad news back to my commander. The village has lost two brave men to these marauders already, but Dareios and his men bravely rode out to stop the advancing army a while ago", he explained, while Sarah dressed a gash from what to her trained eye looked like a knife, however Gabrielle's thoughts were on Ares and his fortunate warning, which had brought her to Poteidaia before it could be destroyed.

Suddenly a man called out over the square in a commanding voice: "Listen. I suggest we prepare the town for the wounded soldiers that will surely come back from Dareios' foolish counterattack and prepare ourselves for the coming attack. You and I will all be called to make sacrifices in the coming days, so I will start by hiring as many mercenaries for the protection of Poteidaia as I can and I will do so immediately". The dark haired man with thick grey streaks in his hair and beard was helped down by two younger men, who like him wore really expensive clothing and jewelry.

"Don't be foolish Nikodemos we won't allow you to hire your own private army and take over the parts of the valley that you haven't bought yet", the familiar and bitter sounding voice of her sister rang out over the square. "Dareios is a veteran Spartan warrior and a great leader. We must allow him to what we all hired him to do, before we panic and bring in dangerous outside help. Besides we can also defend ourselves or need I remind you all of the heroism of this town as we helped Meleager in his battle to save or that the Gabrielle the Battling Bard comes from here", her sister yelled and made an unconscious gesture towards Gabrielle. A few eyes dashed in her direction but no one seemed to have made the connection just yet.

"I have no interest in taking over this valley. I am a trader not a ruler. However that Gabrielle that you always speak of is just a long dead peasant girl, who traveled with a great warrior. I have heard of her pathetic exploits. She caused more trouble than she ever stopped. I would rather have the help of that pathetic fool from her fanciful stories called Joxer than a small Poteidaian girl, who stumbled into a royal title and could cause more trouble in a week than most of us do in our entire lives. I will send out messengers for the mercenaries immediately", the man her sister had called Nikodemos said and spat on the ground in challenge. Gabrielle smiled self-consciously he wasn't entirely wrong, nor entirely right. At least she had gotten it right as she got older. Now her abilities would have to make do unless she wanted her ancestral home destroyed.

"Hah you're a fool Nikodemos", a familiar voice called out. Gabrielle recognized the farmer whose life she had saved the day before.

"Just because you bought the land you farm back from me today, you can't go around insulting me like that", Nikodemos cried out in anger and his guards stepped forward threateningly.

"I was only bringing something to your attention. For it seems that rumor hasn't traveled very far today. Yesterday a few of you noticed an amazon warrior in town, and some few of you even learned that she calls our innkeeper sister by this morning, but none of you seem to have remembered that Lila only has one sister and that is Gabrielle the Battling Bard. Her", he said and pointed towards her. Gabrielle felt hundreds of eyes turning to look in her direction. For a second she felt like ducking for cover and running away, but all her times with the amazons and performing in front of hostile crowds came back to her and her self-confidence reasserted itself.

"Are you supposed to be Gabrielle the Battling Bard of Poteidaia?" Nikodemos asked and let his gaze dance over the young and muscled form of the blond bard.

"Yeah and I sure won't allow my hometown to be raided if I can do anything about it? I will help you defeat your enemy!" She claimed and put all her belief and strength of conviction into her voice.