Xena had had every intention of leaving at daybreak for the farm. She had been gone three days and needed to make sure Gabrielle and the children were faring well. They hadn't had much in the way of provisions when she left. She had planned on fishing or hunting on her way back. But Lysa took a turn for the worse overnight and Xena felt wrong leaving when Marta could use the extra pair of hands.
At noon Xena stood stirring a pot of porridge when Mikal bolted into the shrine turned hospital. He had been running, he was out of breath. He grabbed his side and bent over double trying to calm his breathing enough to speak. He was pointing northward.
"I told you to take it easy, Mikal! You've just gotten over this sickness yourself, now what's got you so upset?" Marta stood from where she had been treating Lysa and walked toward the young man.
"Trouble, trouble to the north, fire, not far," he managed to get out.
The spoon Xena had been stirring with clanged to the floor. She was out of the door before Mikal or Marta even saw her moving. Her trained eyes scanned the horizon.
By the gods! If it wasn't the farm it was very close to it. Xena had to go, now! She whistled for Argo and called her vocally for good measure.
Marta and Mikal had followed her out when they realized that she had ran out of the temple.
Xena looked at the older woman, "I'm sorry, I can't stay, my best friend, my niece and nephews they may be in danger. I have to leave right now."
Argo came charging to Xena's side.
"I'll get your things," Mikal offered, "and I'm going with you."
"You most certainly are not! And this is not up for negotiation! Marta needs all the help she can get here, you hear me."
Mikal nodded solemnly.
"Good, now can you help finish lunch?"
"Yes, yes I will," the boy acquiesced.
"And Mikal, I will be back. As soon as I know everything is okay there, I will come back and help you with the tavern like I promised."
He smiled and shook Xena's hand, "I'll look after things here, you take care of your family."
"Thanks," she replied then nickered at Argo to follow her into town.
She stopped only long enough to gather Argo's saddle and her packs that she had moved to tavern's small stable. When she picked up her wine skin, she noticed that it had been refilled. She was thankful for Mikal's sweet gesture. He must have filled it before bed the night before when she had told him of her intent to leave at daybreak.
Xena hurriedly saddled Argo and slung her pack's across the mare's back. As she vaulted onto Argo's back she glanced at the smoke rising in the north. With a kick of the heels she urged the horse into a gallop.
She kept Argo running at a frenetic pace, they could rest when they got to the farm. She stopped for nothing. Xena avoided the lengthier trail that she had taken into Amphipolis, instead taking the more direct route through the wilderness. Argo leapt over fallen logs, sloshed through mountain streams, and dodged the occasional boulder. Xena didn't even stop for the two bandits who mistakenly thought they were going to rob her of her horse and gods know what else. An accurately placed kick to the jaw sent one sprawling to the ground while the other fell on his ass when he ducked to keep from having his head lopped off by Xena's chakram. The thugs never even broke Argo's stride.
Xena kept a watchful eye on the horizon the whole ride. She was thankful when the smoke dissipated. Whatever had been on fire had been brought under control! Still, Xena pushed Argo forward. She would not be satisfied until she saw that Gabrielle and the children were safe.
The acrid smell of smoke grew stronger the closer Xena came to the old cottage. She was elated when she could hear voices before she came over the rise that looked over the farmhouse.
"Another hotspot over here!" Malkus yelled to the others. Xena's heart sank when she saw where Malkus pointed. The farmhouse should have been there but it in it's place was a smoldering heap. Greba ran with a bucket of water and doused the spot that Malkus had indicated with water. It hissed and another plume of smoke rose into the air.
Xena pulled Argo to a halt. Memories to ashes. She couldn't stop the tears. Gabrielle tossed another bucket of water onto the burnt mess. Iason followed closely behind the bard lugging another pail. Kallias and Daria worked together pulling the next bucket up from the well. Malkus ran to retrieve it from them. Xena swiped her tears away and urged Argo down the hill to help them finish putting out the hotspots.
An hour later Xena sat on Greba's front porch with a devastated Iason. He was covered in soot from head toe and the skin of his face was reddened from having gone near the fire trying to put it out. His shoulders were slumped. He hung his head in defeat, he couldn't look Xena in the eye. She had trusted him with the flint and he had misused it and ended up burning down her grandparents' home. He had never felt so ashamed in his entire life.
Xena knew that it was good that the boy was taking responsibility for starting the fire but she was afraid his guilt was going to kill him. When she noticed the burn on his left hand, she realized that he had carried those buckets and tried to put out the fire even though he had suffered a very serious burn. She needed to get it cleaned and get some salve on it or risk infection.
"Iason, it's okay, we can rebuild, eventually. Right now, I need to look at that hand."
"No, I deserve it," he jerked the hand away as Xena tried to tend to it.
"Now you listen here! I am not sure what happened but it's over and no one is hurt, no one but you that is. Now, I am not gonna let you sit here and suffer or feel sorry for yourself for that matter. Let me look at your hand."
Xena's tone frightened him a little and he reluctantly gave her his hand. He wondered why she didn't hate him.
"I'm sorry," it was barely audible, he choked back tears as he apologized.
"As I said, nothing that can't be rebuilt, house doesn't make a home, the people do."
"Yeah, but you must've had good memories here."
Xena tightened her jaw and tried to control her emotions. She did indeed have wonderful memories of the farm, of her grandparents, her brothers, and more recently of Gabrielle and Ares.
"I did. And I still have those memories even the fire can't take those away. And, as I said the important thing is that everyone got out safely and that you guys were able to get the flames under control before they spread to Greba's farm."
"I guess, I mean I am glad that everyone is okay, I just feel so bad."
"That's normal."
"I mean I feel bad about why it happened. You trusted me and that should have mattered more than me being upset with Gabrielle."
"You were upset? With Gabrielle?"
Iason nodded but still refused to look at Xena. He was digging a hole in the yard with the toe of his boot.
"You gonna tell me why you were mad at her?" Xena asked.
"She wanted me to do woman's work. When she gave me those rags to clean. I felt humiliated I wanted a more important job, a more manly job. I didn't know they had oil on them when I lit them. I didn't expect them to burn that fast " He stated but his cheeks flushed with shame.
Well, Xena thought, the flash from the oil explained the severity of the burn on his hand. He must have been standing right next to the house for it to have gone up in flames.
"I should have just taken them down to the stream and washed them like Gabrielle asked but I just didn't understand why she told me to do it instead of Kallias."
"I see. You have a real problem with that don't you? Who put that crap in your head anyway? Work is work and as long as we work together to get the job done, it shouldn't matter who does what task."
"I know, it's just that the other boys used to make fun of me for hanging the wash when Mother was pregnant."
"Sounds to me like you were already more of a man than those boys who teased you. You knew your mother needed your help. Look, I know it's hard when people tease you. . ."
"I bet you were never teased."
"Oh really, you see a lot of tall girls in your village?" Xena raised and eyebrow and grinned.
"No," he finally looked up at Xena who was still holding his hand.
"When I was about your age, I hit a real growth spurt. I was taller than all the boys in Amphipolis, They used to call me Amaxena! I hated it. Later, I learned that the joke was actually on them. The Amazons are wonderful people, well most of them but Velasca is a story for another day. Now come on, let's go inside and see if Greba has some ointment for that burn." Xena helped Iason up by his other hand and gave him a warm hug of forgiveness.
Greba and Malkus insisted that they stay with them for the night. Xena agreed since she didn't want to travel overnight with the children if she didn't have to. Xena deliverd the dreadful news about Amphipolis and told Iason and Kallias that their grandfather had not survived the plague. Iason wept, Kallias seemed saddened but having never met the man was not as affected by the news as her brother had been. Still, Xena guessed that being orphaned twice in the space of a week carried its own kind of suffering.
After they tucked the children into the pallet that Greba had thrown together for them, Xena asked Gabrielle to meet her in the stable.
"You okay?" Gabrielle asked as she brushed Xena's cheek tenderly.
Xena took Gabrielle's hand, pressed her lips to the spot where the thumb and the forefinger met and then pulled her friend into a deep embrace. There in the safety of Gabrielle's arms, Xena let herself cry.
"So much death, I'm all that's left now. Lyceus, Mother, Toris."
"I know, I know," Gabrielle rubbed Xena's back soothingly, "but you're not all that's left, you know. You have Eve and these children Xena, they are Toris's."
"About that, Gabrielle," Xena broke the embrace and walked over to Argo. "I want to talk to you about something."
"Okay," Gabrielle sensed apprehension in Xena's voice.
Xena pulled her bedroll from her pack and spread it out on the hay. She sat down and patted for Gabrielle to do the same. Gabrielle complied. Xena began unlacing her boots.
"I want to keep the children, all of them, even Daria, I haven't figured out all of the details yet. I thought we'd be able to stay at the farm and maybe one day we can rebuild there but it's not serviceable right now."
"Xena, are you saying that you want to settle down?"
"I am but I'll understand if that's not something you're ready for. If you need to keep travelling then you can go with my blessing but this, this, is something I have to do."
"You're taking them to Amphipolis aren't you? You're going home."
"I'm going home," when Xena said it she realized just how accurate the statement was. She was going home.
The next morning, Iason, Kallias, and Daria said their goodbye's to Amyntas. Xena had let the infant stay with Greba and Malkus until she could get things settled in Amphipolis. She promised Greba that it would take no longer than a month. Xena didn't want to leave him at all but Gabrielle had reminded her that Greba's breast milk was much better for him than the goat's milk they had been giving him. Xena worried briefly about taking the other kids into the town just recovering from the plague but she had faith in Marta's estimation of the disease's course. If Marta was right, then no one in town was contagious anymore. Lysa had been the last to contract the disease and Xena was not showing any signs of contagion after spending nearly three days at the hospice. In the end, the benefit outweighed the risks. They could use the extra hands to rebuild Amphipolis and the children needed to start feeling settled so they could regain some semblance of normalcy.
The trip to Amphipolis took longer with the children and Gabrielle in tow but they made it to town by early evening. Xena asked Gabrielle and the kids to wait at the perimeter of the village while she checked with Marta that no new outbreaks had occurred.
Twenty minutes later, Xena returned with Mikal who had a sack of apples slung over his right shoulder. He offered Gabrielle one of the waterskins he carried in his left, the other he handed to Iason. Xena carried a torch in her left hand, the sun was setting, it would be dark soon.
"You sure about this? We're not supposed to go in there!" Mikal warned.
"Oh, I'm sure," Xena answered.
"But the magistrates," Mikal protested.
"The magistrates are dead, and besides it's not in use. And it's the only place that I am sure is free of contamination. No one's gone in there for years because of the ban."
"Xena what are you talking about?" Gabrielle felt like she was only getting half of the conversation between Mikal and Xena.
"Our new home, Gabrielle," Xena pointed the torch toward the only stone building in town. Even in the twilight, Gabrielle could make out the gaping hole in the side of the temple.
"The temple of Ares? Xena, have you lost your mind?"
"Not at all, it's perfect for our needs. It'll only take a day to patch that hole with Mikal and Iason helping. Now let's go kids," Xena said enthusiastically as she led the way to the temple. She turned and smiled radiantly at Gabrielle before hoisting Daria up with her free hand.
Gabrielle followed behind the group. She eyed Xena warily. Just what had her friend meant when she had said she was "going home"?