Xena could feel Gabrielle's eyes on her as they approached the Lake of Cyro. The bard's gaze felt heavy on her back, weighed by critical thought and analysis.

"What is it, Gabrielle?" Xena asked, not turning around. She let Argo move on her own accord, but not before requesting that the mare stay nearby. The brunette removed her armor and boots but kept on her dress, coming slowly to the water's edge. The lake was incredibly cold, only accessible by diving in, but Xena waited to do so to listen to what Gabrielle had to say.

"You're been acting strange since that first night we got here. What's wrong? You've got something on your mind, I can tell." Xena let out a silent breath, debating whether or not to tell her friend what had happened. It wasn't very big of a deal when she thought about it. It wasn't like she had accepted Ares' offer…

"That first night after you and I had fallen asleep, Ares came and talked to me."

"He did? Oh, gods… What did he want this time?"

"The rumors are true, about that army and Greece. Ares said it would take them about a month-and-a-half's time, but Greece is still in trouble."

"Okay, well, that's good to hear. Glad we can keep things positive."

"Right…"

"But what did he want, Xena?" Xena turned to Gabrielle, her eyes giving everything away.

"Guess," she said. The warrior watched Gabrielle figure out the details in her head with an unsurprising ease, and then she was met by a wide, grey-blue gaze.

"Please, please tell me you said no."

"I did say no… I said no but he wasn't convinced and neither am I."

"Xena-"

"No, Gabrielle, think about it. This is the biggest, badest thing this world has known. What is Greece's army going to do against it alone? Even if she could hold her own, Greece will eventually fall, and fall hard. Zeus knows what will happen to us then." Gabrielle was quiet, running options around in her head no doubt.

"When I said I would follow you into battle… I don't want to go back on that promise but this is Ares we're talking about. This isn't just any god. This isn't just any favor…" The blonde paused. "You can't let him help, Xena. You just can't." Xena sighed and turned away from Gabrielle, facing the water again. She looked over its surface, taking in its colour and movement. She thought back to when she and Gabrielle had had that discussion about killing a few years ago:

'See how the water ripples and churns?'

'Yeah, but eventually it will settle. It'll go back to being calm.'

'Yes, but that rock is still under there. It's a part of the lake now- It's forever changed…'

"Yeah, maybe you're right," Xena said smoothly, before diving beneath the lake's surface. Above her, the water rippled out in aggressive rings, shimmering out a few strides' lengths from where the warrior princess had gone in. It took a moment for the waters to still, and even longer than that for Xena to resurface. When she did, however, Gabrielle still had not moved from her spot on dry land. "Whatsamatter, Gabrielle? Afraid of getting wet?" Gabrielle smiled at the comment.

"No," she said. Xena smirked, swimming towards the edge of the lake where she could kneel in the dirk and still keep her chin above the water.

"Well…?"

"I don't know. I guess I changed my mind about wanting to swim." Xena looked up at Gabrielle, not amused.

"You what?"

"I'm sorry, Xena, I just… I don't want to swim anymore." Xena shook her head, getting to her feet, and strode easily out of the lake. Her lips pursed.

"Alright, fine," she said. "Forget that I'm soaked now for no good reason-"

"Oh, come on, Xena! I said I was sorry, alright?" With her back to Gabrielle, Xena's eyes lit up and her pursed lips curled into a wicked, teeth-exposing grin.

"Oh no, it's fine," she said, her voice falsified and breathy for emphasis. She turned quickly and rushed her companion, plucking the blonde from her stable position on the ground and into the air. By the time it was all over Gabrielle was in the lake, Xena standing at it's edge with her hands on her hips. Her smile still had not failed her. She watched her friend resurface frantically, gasping for air. "Ooops," the blue-eyed warrior said with a wry smile, and it only won her a glare from the bard in the lake.

" 'Ooops?' You call that an oops?" Xena laughed, walking slowly back into the water.

"Well, I had to get you in the lake some way, right?

"Wrong! I was just fine over there. You know, it's not fair that you can just use your super powers whenever it's convenient for you. There should be a limit-"

"Super powers? What super powers?" Xena was truly puzzled at this prospect.

"Super strength, super speed, super intelligence-"

"You mean like a god?" The raven-haired woman was toying with her companion now. Gabrielle only rolled her eyes.

"Sure, fine, whatever. But it doesn't matter anyway because, super powers or not, I'm going to KILL YOU!" Xena smirked at her friend's… enthusiasm, walking further into the lake towards the blonde. She raised a hand up to the bard's face, but immediately went rigid. She put her hand then instead on top of Gabrielle's head, pushing her down into the water.

"Get down, Gabrielle. Deep breath." Xena whispered, her eyes wide. She whipped around to find a small band of thugs, both male and females, at the shore of the lake. Their leader, a relatively clean-shaven man considering his occupation, knelt down in the dirt and sand, examining Xena's breastplate and backplate. He looked up when he saw her move.

"So… The great Warrior Princess Xena, when Greece is slowly being consumed by panic and pandemonium, goes to an insignificant lake in an insignificant city, not to find a way to defend her nation, but to go for a leisurely swim? Hardly living up to your legend, any three of them… Don't you think?" Xena's face was steely as she walked from the water to the dry ground, ignoring her hair dripping cold on her back. The leader of the band of thugs changed face, displaying a sort of smile that only a man of his kind could hone. "Well, it's good to know that at least one of the legends is true," he corrected, looking Xena up and down. He stood up and released her armor, letting it hit the ground. A young man and woman stepped forward, flanking their leader.

"Oh, really?" Xena asked. She took a few steps forward, carefully aware of her footing without looking at the ground, even a fraction, and smiled subtly. "So tell me, then- What about the other legends?" Before the thug leader could answer, Xena stomped on the hilt of her sword, sending it up cleverly into her hand, and she leapt into the air. "Aiy-Aiy-Aiy-Aiy sheeee! Follow me, kids!" The warrior woman landed behind the small group, purposefully drawing their attention away from the lake so that should Gabrielle surface soon, she'd go unnoticed and remain safe. Until then, however, the blue-eyed brunette put her focus into combat, taking care of the thugs like only she could. She blocked blade strikes all around her, sheathing her sword a few times in a couple of stomachs, and never ceased to move. The fight was nothing like fighting the Persian army in that barn when Gabrielle had been poisoned, but it wasn't a total breeze either. Still, Xena's skills were far superior to the thugs', and once she hacked, kicked, and punched her way through to the leader she finally started having some fun. The woman cartwheeled over to her right, delivering a kick to her opponent's face that knocked him off balance. He staggered back but recovered quickly, swiping his blade at a lightening-quick speed and won the honor of seeing Xena bleed a little. The warrior woman glanced at her wound, a decent slice on her arm, and then charged the man with slightly animated rage. Her eyes were wide and teeth bared, but the man was ready for her over-the-head strike with her sword and he blocked it. Xena came around with her blade and hit his side, cutting through his clothes to his skin, and then whipped around and gifted him with another matching wound. He doubled over but still tried to fight, and Xena of course had other plans. The woman kneed him in the chin on his way down, and on his way back up he was introduced to the end of a hard-driven fighting staff, and he fell to the ground, unconscious. Xena looked up, surprised only for a moment, before smiling slightly.

"I didn't like him very much either," Gabrielle said, and she cast her friend a smile that mirrored her own.

"There wasn't much to like," Xena said. Then she went over to collect her things. "Come on, let's go."

"But Xena, your arm." Xena glanced down at her arm again, getting a better look at the cut this time. It was a pretty good injury, she had to give her opponent credit for that, but it was nothing too serious."

"I'll be alright," she said. "It'll heal soon enough."

Xena and Gabrielle laid in a silence at the stable that night, the surrounding outdoor critters not even making background noise. It had been a long day, although Xena couldn't understand from where her fatigue came. There had only been one fight, and the rest of the day had been pretty laid back. Xena even got to hear a new story from Gabrielle in a tavern near the center of Cyro after dinner. Well, it was new to her and the other people who were listening, at least; the bard didn't review all of her stories with Xena, hardly any of them, actually. Xena turned to her.

"Gabrielle, you awake?"

"Yes. What is it?"

"That story that you told in the tavern today… Will you tell it again to me?"

"Sure… Yeah, um, okay. Uh… Once there was a little girl named Penelope. She lived in a simple but prosperous village along the southern edge of Greece with her family. Penelope had a pet dog, and whenever she and her pet were alone, she would sing to the dog. She was a very gifted singer, but never sang for anyone but her pet because she was shy. Just next to her village was a small town where her best friend, Augustus lived with his family. He played the lyre, a tradition among the men in his family, and he too had a gift for his practice. Almost every day, Augustus and Penelope would meet in the open fields that separated their towns and would play together, and after a little while they began to share their lives with each other, Penelope her singing and Augustus his lyre. They became very close, and as they grew older they fell in love. But one day, a great war came down upon southern Greece and their villages were destroyed. In fear, their families fled, settling in opposite ends of the earth, and Penelope and Augustus were separated. Neither of them knew where the other was, or if they had even survived, and over time they gave up hope of ever seeing each other again. Hope wasn't the only thing that they'd lost, though. Penelope eventually stopped singing, not having a reason to any more, and similarly Augustus abandoned his lyre. They became silent and withdrew into themselves, no longer having a passion for life…"

"You stopped in that same place in the tavern. Why? Xena asked. Gabrielle was silent for a long while, but Xena waited patiently or an answer.

"This was a dream I'd had a little while back. I woke up then and I can't get myself to write any more of it. I don't know what it is, but I can't get myself to finish. It's so strange." A silence fell over them again, Xena staring up at the ceiling of the stable. It was strange. It wasn't like Gabrielle to not finish a story, and it was even more unlike her to write one as dark as that. In the darkness, Xena narrowed her eyes, the gears in her head grinding together to find an answer. But it was in vain.

"Gabrielle?"

"Hrm?"

"Don't throw away the scroll you wrote that story on."