Chapter Three

When the bell to the Magic Shop rang, Anya looked up expectantly, but when she saw it was only Buffy, Dawn, Willow and Tara, she knew there weren't going to be any cash sales.

Giles, on the other hand, had a look of panic.

"What is it?" he asked. "Some new demon or – or . . . ."

"Relax, Giles," Buffy reassured him. "We're just here for some normal research. Nothing demonic."

"Oh." He sounded almost disappointed. "Research on what, exactly?"

"How far back do the Watchers' diaries go?"

"Oh, at least six hundred years. The Council has extensive Watchers archives. Were you wanting some specific information?"

"What we wanted was some information about a woman who lived about two thousand years ago."

"Maybe a Slayer," Dawn said.

"Well, certainly there were Slayers back then, but their Watchers were either illiterate, or never bothered to write down anything. I suppose they never had any reason to. It wasn't until the Watcher's Council was formed in the late 1300s did the first diaries appear."

"We're not really sure she WAS a Slayer, but Tara and I, have been reading some ancient writings about a woman named Xena who had some very unusual skills and abilities."

Giles was silent for a few seconds, thinking.

"You really haven't given me much to go on. Do you know anything else about her?"

"She carried her sword in a scabbard strapped to her back."

"That is rather unusual, but it still isn't . . . ."

"She used a Chakram."

"Now that rather rings a bell, but I can't quite place it."

"It's a weapon, some kind of throwing disk."

"Yes! I do believe I have heard if it!"

Giles went to a locked cabinet, unlocked and opened it and began looking at the titles of the books. After a minute of searching, he took a large, heavy one out and handed it to Willow, who was closest to him. She would have dropped it if Tara hadn't helped her with it.

"Look through that one," Giles instructed, then began looking at more titles. He took out an even larger one, so heavy he grunted slightly, and handed it to Buffy. "That one too. And this one."

Buffy took the second book as well, then shaking her head, set them on the table. Dawn opened up one and Buffy took the other. Giles joined them with a fourth tome, and the four of them began leafing through the books, looking for the word 'Chakram.'

"Didn't the people who wrote these things ever hear of an index?" Dawn complained.

"Wouldn't have done much good unless they numbered the pages," Willow said.

No more was said for over half an hour. They all looked up when the bell on the door rang. It was Xander.

"Just what I was looking forward to after a hard day at the site," he complained to Anya. "Researching some demon, apocalypse or evil thing!"

"It's not any of that," she told him. "They're looking for some kind of throwing disk some Greek woman used to kill things with. They've been at it for a while now. I think they're scaring away the customers, but I can't make them stop."

"I found it!" Dawn suddenly yelled out. Then she was more subdued. "I think I found it. But it's spelled S-h-a-k-e-r-a-m in this book."

Giles took the book from her and began to read where she was pointing.

"Yes, I do believe you're right. And there is a reference to the woman who wielded it. She isn't named, but is only known as a warrior princess."

"That's what the scrolls called her!" Willow said. "Xena, the Warrior Princess! Is there any mention of her friend? She was the one who wrote the scrolls. Her name was Gabrielle."

"No, nothing specific. Just a passing mention of an Amazon queen. Was there anything about that in the scrolls?"

"No, but we've only read a few of them."

"I know this sounds a little disparaging," Tara said, "but why is it we've found Xena's name in Greek, Roman and Egyptian writings in the library, and you have, basically, nothing?"

"Because I don't keep books on ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian histories unless they pertain to vampiric or demonic beings."

"Oh, of course," Tara said, a bit embarrassed.

"Then I guess we're pretty much at a standstill," Buffy said. "And I really wanted to find out more about her."

"Well," Anya said, "you could always go back, you know, to meet her."

"And just how would I do that? I don't exactly own a time machine."

"Magic. Willow could do it. Even Tara probably could. It's not that hard. You just have to know the right spell."

"Uh, I'm not sure if that's such a good idea," Giles interjected. "Time travel can cause paradoxes, inconsistencies, and potential history-altering . . . ."

"Oh, poo!" Anya contradicted. "It's done all the time. Anything you do has already been done. You can't change anything."

"So, if I go back in time and kill a thousand people, then it was supposed to happen?" Buffy asked.

"Pretty much."

"But what if she goes back a second time and stops herself and those thousand people don't die?" Dawn asked.

"Then they were never meant to be dead in the first place."

"Anya, how can you be so sure of this?" Giles asked.

"Giles, if being a Vengeance Demon for over a thousand years taught me anything at all, it was that with the right spell you an do almost anything, including creating temporal folds."

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