Epilogue

Xena clasped her hand firmly around the black leather bracer that Ankh wore. She felt Ankh's strong clasp against her own. Her fingers were wrapped around Callisto's bracer in a gesture of friendship. Just when she thought nothing could be more twisted, she was wrong.

"I cannot say how much I owe you both. Thank you again. Ten thousand fortunes is too few to repay you for all you have done." Ankh said again, reaching for Gabrielle with her other hand.

"Ankh, you may not be able to say how much, but I think you are going for a record as to how many times." Gabrielle laughed at the dark haired, silver-eyed woman's umpteenth thank you and praise.

"She has too. Her life depends on finding people who can haul her backside out of a sling." Dhomb interjected playfully, tightening the straps on the saddles.

From high above, a lone figure sat on a tree branch. "In the dark night of my soul I once held a shooting star. How then could I know that it would leave an aching scar?" Callisto whispered to the woman below her who was now settled in the saddle of a dark brown horse.

Unseen on the branch above her, Aphrodite shook her head. She of all the Gods had been the most surprised by the love that developed from beneath the geas of the strange woman with silver eyes and the mad tortured woman child that was Callisto. Yet, she could do nothing when the judgement came from the other Gods. Hecate's interference with the continuum had been dealt with. Ares had smirked when he pointed out that with the enthrallment broken there was little if any control left in Callisto. How long do you think this love thing will keep her under control he sneered. Still - there was something about the brutal young godling's tenderness around Ankh that gave the Goddess of love some hope for her immortal soul. Unfortunately, the memories of her brief respite from her suffering were fading beneath the on slaught that the woman she had been had cultivated for so long.

Ankh paused, her rebuttal vanishing from her mind as she looked up to the treetops, scanning the forested shadows. There was nothing there, but she couldn't shake the feeling that Callisto was out there. She was completely healed, physically at least. And the scar of her geas had faded into her flesh like some ghost of her folly. Ankh could still not sleep through the night. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Callisto - just out of reach - moving away. Warning her. She sighed softly to herself and patted the horses neck absently.

"Good luck to you both. If we can't find our way home, perhaps we'll run into one another again? If you ever need our aid, just holler. One place or another, we'll be right there." Dhomb said to the tall warrior and the sweet young woman whose company he had grown accustomed to after several days together.

Watching the two riders trot off down the road, Gabrielle turned to Xena.

"Was that all a dream? Did Callisto really fall in love?"

"Not a dream at all. You taught me about the power of love and the cycle of hate. Maybe, just maybe, the cycle has been altered enough for Callisto to choose." Xena murmured as she leaned down to kiss the bard. -

Fini -Obviously - this was after MI but before AN or Sacrifice. Let us hope that Callisto finally did find the peace she deserved. And maybe, just maybe, when Ankh found her way back to where she belonged - she found a way to bring Callisto with her ;-)A few notes, some of Gabrielle's speeches in earlier chapters were inspired by Rilke. The CD for Brigid Bodun is self-titled.