Lissia's Xena/Ares Fan Fiction
I appear behind
Ares and cup my hands to yell, “Hey Xena!
You’re starting to look like your horse!” Ares turns wide-eyed to stare at me and Xena
throws her Chakram. He reaches out and
grabs it before it hits me and turns to throw it back to Xena, but she’s
already riding back towards us. “She
looks mad,” I say softly, a hint of
sarcasm in my voice. Xena stops her
horse and dismounts, then pushes past Ares and advances on me. When she sees me, she stops dead in her
tracks, a look of shock on her face,
“Lissia?” She asks, clearly
confused. I smile, “The one and only,” I
say with a sarcastic curtsy. She wraps
me in a tight hug, “It’s been too long.”
I pull away and look at Ares, “What happened on Olympus? It’s a mess.
I swear, I leave for a little while and everything goes hay-wire.” Ares glares at me, I’m beginning to think
he’s mad at me, “A little while? I
haven’t seen or heard from you in ten years!”
I guess he is mad, “Sorry, I didn’t like that Livia chick. I also didn’t like the fact that you didn’t
believe me when I said Xena was alive.”
I glance over at Xena, “Looks like I was right. Now what happened on Olympus?” Xena looks away from me, an expression of
guilt on her face. I look at Ares expectantly,
but before he can say anything, Gabrielle leads me into the house, “I’ll
explain.” Both Xena and Ares shoot her a
grateful look.
Inside, Gabrielle is telling me all about the Twilight and Eve. In return I tell her about me. I’m really not interested in this conversation though, so I listen in on the one between Xena and Ares. Xena’s saying, “So, Lissia thought I was alive?” Ares nods, “Yeah, she never doubted it. Lissia and I haven’t talked much sense your death. Not all of that was her fault. I secluded myself for the first nine or ten years. As she puts it, I was brooding. Then I saw Livia and she reminded me of you. I started watching her and then I got involved with her and then, after many arguments, Lissia left Olympus. This is the first time I’ve seen her in thirteen years.” Xena nods, “She knew didn’t she? She knew that Livia was Eve, didn’t she?” I walk out of the door and sit down between them, “I knew.” Ares shoots me an evil look and Xena rests a hand over mine. “Ares, I couldn’t tell you. I didn’t want Athena or anyone else to find out. Frankly, I didn’t know how you would react to it or what you would do. I always thought that if you believed Xena was alive, we could all sit down and work things out. Childish dreaming, I guess.” Xena’s smiling at me, “Thank you Lissia. Thanks for keeping my secret safe.” She stands up and extends her hand to Ares. He takes it and stands up, immediately releasing her hand. I laugh a little, not very long ago he wouldn’t have dreamed of letting go of that hand. She smiles at him, probably thinking something very similar, but says, “It looks like Gabrielle and I will be staying here another night. It’s getting dark, we’d better go inside.” I nod, “It’s going to rain.” Ares moans, “Lissia, you’re sleeping between me and the bard. I’m not getting groped again,” he says, walking into the house, a small dog trailing behind him. I raise an eyebrow at Xena and she smiles, “We had an interesting night last night,” she says following Ares into the house. I laugh at the mental image of those three in a bed, then follow Xena into the house.
Inside, Gabrielle is cooking something in the fireplace. Xena and Ares sit by a table that looks like it’s about to fall down and start to talk about me. And they think I don’t know that they’re talking about me. I can’t help but laugh. Gabrielle is giving them a wary look. I walk over to her and sit down, “Cute, isn’t it?” I ask, glancing at them. “Not what I was thinking,” she replies. I laugh, “You never saw them before. It’s amazing she only got pregnant once.” Gabrielle’s eyes shoot open, “What?” She yells. Xena and Ares turn to look at us. Noticing my mistake, I smile and put my hand over the girls mouth, “We’ll be right back,” I say, backing her into the back bedroom. Gabrielle jerks away from me, “What do you mean, pregnant? Wait you’re talking about Solon, right?” I shake my head and sit on the bed, “No, I’m talking about their daughter. After Xena’s fling with Borias and her trip to the Norse lands, she returned to Greece and had Solon. Her and Ares got real hot and heavy, if you know what I mean. Three weeks later out pops a baby girl. Xena sent her off with a Shepherdess that was there when she gave birth. She’s thirty-two now and Ares still doesn’t know anything about her. I made sure her powers wouldn’t develop so he wouldn’t notice her. I didn’t want him to find out unless Xena told him. Look, Xena doesn’t know that I know and obviously she didn’t want you to know either. Let’s keep this between us.” Gabrielle nods and walks out of the room ahead of me. She goes over to the fire and I can tell she’s uncomfortable. I walk into the room and Xena gives me an expectant look. “Bad joke,” I say lightly. She looks skeptical, but shrugs it off, then looks at Gabrielle, who’s giving her and Ares a curious look. “Gabrielle, you look like you’ve seen a ghost. Are you okay?” She asks. Gabrielle nods franticly, “Yeah, I’m fine. Like she said, it was a bad joke.” I smile, the bard is a very bad liar and Xena knows it. She points at me and motions to the back room, “We’re going to talk,” she says threateningly. I give her a fake smile and walk into the room with her. She shuts the door and freezes me with an evil glare, “What were you talking about? More importantly, what did you tell Gabrielle?” I give her an innocent look and plop onto the bed, “We were just gossiping.” She gives me a doubtful look, “About what?” I sigh, “You and Ares, of course. Your little friend is picking up on the emotions that are flittering around you two. You know, when he lost his God Hood, you lost your prime excuse. You two could be together now, you could be a family.” She shoots me a looks that’s angry, threatening, and startled all at once. I rush out of the room and run to sit by Ares. He gives me a questioning look and I shrug innocently. Xena comes into the room giving me a dirty look. She sits down across from me and picks at the food Gabrielle’s placed on the table. She kicks me under the table, “We’re going to finish that talk.” I smile uneasily and scoot closer to Ares. He glances over at me, “What did I miss?” “Nothing,” Xena shoots at him. He raises an eyebrow and backs away from the table, grabbing Gabrielle’s arm as he goes, “Gabrielle, you and I need to leave so that these two can work out their little problem.” She nods at him and they both walk into the back room. I shoot Ares a pleading look when he turns around, but he only shrugs and shuts the door.
Xena glares at me, “What do you know?” I look away from her and decide to take the sarcastic approach, “Lot’s of things.” She tosses a dagger at me and I dodge it, “No. Why do you think there’s any family type thing between me and Ares?” I shrug and speak quietly, “Because you’re in love with each other.” She glares at me, “Lissia, you’re hiding something,” she says. “Just like you’re hiding something from Ares,” I shoot back at her. “What are you talking about? What am I supposed to do? Go up to him and say, ‘Oh by the way, Ares, I’m in love with you, but it’ll never work between us.’ Lissia, I really don’t think that’s the best thing to do,” she says quietly, as if she’s afraid he’s going to hear her. “He knows that already Xena,” I say pointedly. Her eyes widen in realization and pain spreads across her features, her worse nightmare has come true, “How?” I shrug, “I’ve always known. Don’t worry, no one else does and I haven’t told her anything. She’s searching for her real family though.” Xena looks into the fire, thoughtfully, “What’s she like?” I smile, happy to know she’s not mad at me, “Beautiful, headstrong, amazing in battle, and pure. She’s never killed. I’m her patron deity and you know I don’t approve of killing. I’ve kept her powers from manifesting themselves. Her name’s Lyla. She’s-.” Xena cuts me off gently, “Thirty-two.” I nod and put an arm around her as sadness sparkles in her eyes, Gabrielle walks into the room, “Is everything alright?” I nod, “Yeah, we’re fine. We’ll be in to go to bed in a few minutes.” She looks at Xena sadly, then walks into the other room and shuts the door.
Xena and I walk into the room a little while later. It’s deadly silent. As our eyes land on the bed, we both smile. Ares is curled up on one side of the bed, directly on the edge. Gabrielle is on the other side of the bed, sprawled out a little. Xena laughs a little, “Looks like we’re stuck in the middle. I watch as she crawls into the bed, careful not to move too much. She lies down closer to Ares than to Gabrielle. I crawl into the bed after her and lie down next to Gabrielle. Ares wakes up and rolls over. He looks at Xena, concern in his eyes, “Are you okay?” He asks gently. She smiles, “I’m fine. I’m just not about to sleep that close to Gabrielle.” I shriek as Gabrielle tosses on arm over me and they both snicker. Xena rolls over to face me and Ares moves closer to her. I feel her stiffen as he reaches an arm over. She relaxes when he nudges me. I nudge him back, “I’m fine Ares,” I say gently. He begins to move his arm away, but I grab it and force it back over Xena. She gives me a dirty look, but doesn’t move away from him. She gives me a secretive smile after a few minutes and mouths, “Thank you,” to me. I nod slightly, then jump as the bard, moves a puts a hand over my face. Xena laughs a little, then relaxes. Soon, she is asleep and Ares is leaning over her carefully, “Lissia, what’s wrong with Xena?” He asks, true concern in his voice. “I told her something she didn’t want to hear. She just needs to be comforted right now. Don’t try anything stupid and maybe she’ll tell you the big secret,” I say. He gives me an odd look, then lies back down and pulls Xena closer to him. I’m thinking that I should go to sleep. Not that I need to sleep, but it might be nice.
I guess I finally did fall asleep, because when I wake up, the sun is beating down on me. I sit up and notice that everyone else is still asleep. Everyone except for the dog. The dog, Horace I believe is his name, is laying over our feet and giving me a pleading look. It’s just a thought, but I think he’s hungry. As I move slowly off the bed, the dog jumps off and heads to the bedroom door. I go into the kitchen and give him last nights left overs. I walk back into the bedroom and kneel down by Gabrielle. I gently shake her and her eyes open lazily, “What?” I shush her, then urge her to get up. She stands and stretches, then looks over at Xena who is curled up in Ares’ arms, sound asleep. A look of dismay crosses her face. I, personally, think they look adorable. Obviously, she doesn’t quite agree. We walk into the kitchen, me pushing Gabrielle from the bedroom. I start a fire and she begins to collect some stuff for breakfast. As she sets some stuff on the table, she looks over at me, “What happened last night? I know what you and her talked about, but why is she curled up in his arms?” I don’t think she approves. I shrug, “Maybe because she was upset last night. Or maybe it’s because she loves him. Or maybe it’s a little of both.” She stares at me, slightly annoyed, “You’re deluded.” I look at her offended, then smile as Xena walks into the room. She sits at the table, avoiding eye contact with Gabrielle. I smile, “I’ll go wake up the baby.” As I leave, I can feel the tension in the room heighten. I smile and kneel by Ares, shaking him gently, “Hey you, wake up, Xena’s naked.” He looks at me, half asleep, “Huh?” I laugh, “Never mind. But Gabrielle does have breakfast ready.” He nods and slowly sits up. He looks down at the bed, then up at me, “Is Xena mad at me?” I shake my head, smiling, “No, but the bard seems irritated. I don’t think she likes you and Xena any closer together than necessary.” He nods, “Yeah, she’s never liked me all that much.” I smile sarcastically, “Oh really? And here I was thinking you and her used to be the best of friends.” He laughs and shoves me a little. We return to the kitchen and eat breakfast in silence. I hope the rest of the day isn’t this quiet. It’s very unnerving.
We go outside in silence. The tension in the air is starting to get to me, but anything I say is going to make things worse. Xena sits on the porch, sharpening her sword with Gabrielle sitting close by. Ares is lounging under a tree, absently making designs in the dirt with his sword. I decide to teach the dog how to fetch. He doesn’t really seem to be understanding the concept. I look over at Xena, who is now talking with Gabrielle quietly. I start listening in as Gabrielle asks, “Xena, are you alright?” Xena nods, absently, “I’m fine,” she says shortly. Gabrielle looks skeptical, “Then what’s going on between you and Ares? Xena, when I woke up, not only were you still asleep, but you were curled up in his arms,” she says with a hint of exasperation in her voice. Xena looks down at her sword, a slight blush caressing her cheeks and says nothing. The bard continues to talk, “Lissia thinks you’re in love with him.” Xena shoots me a dirty look and I move my gaze to the dog who’s now chewing on the ball I had been throwing for him. She looks back at Gabrielle, “Look, I’m trying to work things out in my mind, right now. All I know is, last night I felt safe and for a while I thought that everything was going to work out just fine. I don’t know anymore. And having Lissia around, well, that changes things for me. She brings back a lot of memories for me and most of them include her and Ares and they’re nice memories. I had a lot of good times with those two in the old days. With her suddenly popping up and Ares mortal, it’s like there’s some force telling me that things are going to change between me and them again.” Xena glances over at Ares to see him staring straight at her. They both look away quickly and I burst into laughter, getting the evil eye from them both. I stop laughing and go back to playing with the dog. Gabrielle looks at Xena, “Are you going to tell him?” She pries, a little wary of Xena’s reaction. I hold my breath as Xena shrugs, hoping she will tell him, but she says, “No, I don’t think so. I think it would cause more problems.” Gabrielle nods, deep in thought, “Xena,” she says quietly. I smile, she wants Xena to tell him! She continues, “Maybe you should tell him. After all, he is her father.” Xena looks surprised, “I never thought I’d see the day that you would stand up for him. But, maybe you have a point. Maybe he should know.” She shakes her head in frustration, “I’ll think about it.” Seeing that their conversation isn’t going to get very interesting, I go over to sit down by Ares, “She’s missed you,” I say softly. He looks at Xena and laughs lightly, pain flowing through the laughter, “I doubt that.” “No, I mean she misses the way you two used to be. She wants it back, wants you back. She loves you, but you already know that.” He rolls his eyes at me, “Lissia, don’t start with that again.” I slam my fist into the tree, making it shake, “Why don’t you ever believe me? Seriously, have I ever led you in the wrong direction before? I was right when I said Xena was alive, I was right about Livia, and I’m right about this! And if things work out the way I want them to, you’ll know soon enough,” I say stubbornly. “Know what?” Xena asks, standing above us. I smile at her innocently, “I didn’t tell him anything he didn’t already know. The rest is up to you,” I say, irritably as I get up and walk into the barn.
I go into the barn, mindlessly grooming Argo as I watch the conversation unfolding between Xena and Ares. Ares laughs as Xena sits down, examining the dent I left in the tree. “Lissia?” She asks, pointing at it. He nods, “Yeah, I think she’s losing her mind. She usually doesn’t get violent.” Xena nods, knowing that’s not entirely true, “Maybe she’s tired of knowing everything and having no one believe her.” He stares at her oddly, “So are you saying that she’s always right?” She shrugs, absently, “I’ve never seen her be wrong about anything. And it’s becoming quite obvious that nothing can be kept from her.” I laugh loudly, glad that I’m not near them. “So, what happened between you three last night? I feel like I missed something,” Ares says, eyeing Xena carefully. She looks away, uneasily, “She just surprised me with her never ending knowledge.” “It’s not knowledge,” Ares says, “She’s just observant and in touch with every living thing.” I smile, he knows me very well, better than I thought he did. He’s staring at Xena, concern in his eyes, “It must not have been good. Gabrielle seemed irritated and you were pretty upset, a little shaken up, really. Did something happen to Eve?” Xena laughs bitterly, “No, not Eve. It’s just, I didn’t think anyone knew about something and she proved me very wrong. It was a bit of a shock,” she says, starting to get uncomfortable with the conversation. “What was it?” He asks gently. She looks at him, something similar to fear in her gaze, then stands up and shakes her head, “I can’t,” she says, her voice shaky. She walks towards the barn, towards me and I know that this is going to be very hard for her.
Xena slips into the barn and slides down the wall slowly. I sit down by her and put my hand over hers gently. She looks up at me and for a moment I see tears, but she blinks them away quickly, “I can’t do it Lissia, I can’t tell him. I want to, I’ve always wanted to, but I can’t.” I rub her hand gently, “Xena, if you want him to know, you have to be the one to tell him. That’s your job.” She nods slowly, “Drop hints. I’ll search for a way to tell him. I’m going fishing, have Gabrielle join me.” I nod and disappear.
I reappear next to the bard, “Gabrielle, Xena wants you to go fishing with her. I’m going to talk to Ares.” She grabs my arm roughly, “You can’t-.” I cut her off, “I’m not. But, he’s real confused right now and Xena wants me to drop a few hints. Go,” I say, urging her off the porch. Ares watches me as I walk towards him, “You women are really confusing, you know that, right?” He asks sarcastically. I smile and lean on the tree, “She wants to tell you,” I say. “Tell me what? This big secret you were talking about last night? You know, it can’t be all that bad. It’s not like she’s pregnant.” his face falls and he looks up at me, “Is she?” I smile and shake my head, “No, not anymore.” He raises an eyebrow, “What? She’s gotten pregnant sense coming back?” I shake my head, smiling, “No.” He nods in realization, “You’re talking about Eve.” I shake my head again, “No, not Eve.” “Solon?” He questions. “No, not him either. Try again,” I say, enjoying his confusion. He looks irritated, “Well, she doesn’t have any other kids so what in Tarturus are you talking about?” I laugh hysterically, “Wrong again.” His eyes open widely, “Who?” He asks. He’s mad, I can see death playing in his gaze. I shake my head, “That’s not for me to say.” He looks at me, angry, “Where?” It’s an innocent enough question, so I answer, “Greece.” He nods, “When?” I shrug, “A long time ago,” I answer. He stares at me, “You’re not being very helpful. Alright, I’ll play you’re little game. I’m going to guess names and you’re going to nod your head if I’m right.” I shake my head, I’m not playing this game, it will take all day and I’ll get bored, “No.” He looks frustrated, then thoughtful, “Was there a child? Or did she lose it?” Now he’s thinking, “There was a child, a baby girl,” I answer. He thinks for a moment, “Gabrielle didn’t know about her so Xena obviously sent the child away. She had her while she was ‘evil,’ didn’t she?” He really is starting to think about this. I say nothing in reply to his question. “Was it after Lyceus died?” I laugh, “Duh!” He rolls his eyes, “Good point. Does the father know?” I shake my head, “No.” He thinks for a moment, “Does Xena know who the father is?” I laugh hysterically, unable to talk or breathe. I slide down the tree with tears flowing onto my cheeks, “Yes, she knows,” I finally manage to choke out. I continue to laugh and roll on the ground until he stands up. I get a hold of myself and follow his gaze to the forest. Xena and Gabrielle are returning with a few strings of fish. As Xena passes us, Ares grabs her wrist, “We need to talk,” he says seriously. She nods and hands the fish to me. I take Gabrielle by the arm and lead her inside. Laughter is still leaking through my lips.
Once inside, Gabrielle starts working on the fish and I take to eavesdropping on the conversation going on outside. Ares asks, “Who?” She stares at him, unsure of what he means exactly and not wanting to say any more than necessary. He adds more to the question, “Who is the father of your daughter?” Xena gasps, then recovers her cool, “Eve’s father is-.” “No,” he says, “Not Eve’s father.” Xena looks down and I’m wondering if I told him too much. “So,” she says, “Lissia told you a little about Lyla, my other daughter.” Xena laughs a little, bitterness in her tone, “She’s thirty-two and she knows nothing about me or her father for that matter.” Ares nods, “You don’t want to talk about this. It’s okay, I don’t need to know.” She sits down heavily and he sits next to her, a thoughtful look on his face, “Thirty-two years? That was after you went to the Norse lands. That was when we were...together.” He looks at her in shock, not yet fully accepting the thoughts going through his head. He shakes his head, setting the thought aside, convinced it can’t be true, “Which one of your generals was it? Theodurus? Estrogon? Darphus?” I can’t help but laugh and Gabrielle gives me a questioning look. I shrug and wait for Xena’s reply. She’s staring at the ground, refusing to look at him when she says, “No, not one of my generals, Ares.” He stares at her, fully accepting the truth. She glances up at him and seeing his surprised look, she nods, “Yes. Now you know the truth.” He smiles, “We have a daughter? How in Tarturus did I miss it? Xena shakes her head, “It was three weeks, Ares. And after Solon, it was easy for me to hide another pregnancy.” He shakes his head, clearly irritated with himself, “I should have known. I should have sensed it,” he says softly. She puts a hand on his bare shoulder, but quickly removes it, “I didn’t want you to know,” she says, her voice shaky. I know that she doesn’t want him to see her cry, so I walk out the door, “Fish is done,” I yell. Xena rushes past me, happy for an excuse to leave. Ares lingers behind, still digesting the news. I walk to him, “Hey, you okay?” He nods, smiling, “Yeah, I’m fine,” he says softly. He glances away, then looks back at me beaming, “I have a daughter. Xena and I have a daughter!” He’s really excited over this. He wraps me in a tight hug, lifting me off the ground. He drops me when we hear laughter in the air. We both turn to see a woman walking up the road. “Who’s the bimbo?” I ask quietly. Ares sighs and rushes into the house, “Have fun,” he shouts from the door.
The woman walks up to me, “You’re defiantly not a slave girl. Are you his girlfriend?” I hoot with laughter, “Slave girl?” She nods, “Yeah, the blonde and the darker one. They’re his spoiled slave girls.” I laugh and nod in understanding, “I see. No, I’m not one of his slave girls and neither are they. They’re friends and I’m his little cousin, Lissia.” She smiles and extends her hand, “Greba,” she says with a smile that’s far too fake. I look her up and down, “You don’t know who he is, do you?” She stares at me confused and I smile softly, “He’s Ares, the now mortal God of War. The other two are Xena and Gabrielle.” Her eyes widen in recognition and she breaks into girly giggles. I’m annoyed with her and walk towards the house, “Go home Greba. He’s way out of your league.” As I close the door I smile, “Neighbor lady is really annoying. Don’t worry, I took care of her.” I look over the table, “Where’s Xena?” Gabrielle points to the back door, “She’s out back.” I nod and walk out the door.
I find Xena walking through the trees on the edge of the property. “Hey, are you okay?” I ask as I walk up to her. She doesn’t say anything, so I start to ramble, “Ares seems excited. He picked me up like I was a child. It was very surprising. Greba came by and-.” Her annoyed look tells me not to continue, so I change the subject, “We should tell Lyla next.” She lashes out and hits me in the stomach with her arm. I double over in shock, “Alright, maybe not. But, let’s go back inside. You and Ares need to find a way to be comfortable around one another again and Gabrielle could use a lesson too.” Xena nods, “Sorry about that,” she says motioning at my stomach. I nod and put a hand on her back, “I’m fine. Let’s go,” I say, pushing her into the house.
We walk into the house and freeze in shock. Gabrielle and Ares are sitting by the fire, laughing lightly. Xena walks past them and grabs her sword. She spins and points it at Ares, “Outside, now,” she orders before walking out the front door. He nods and follows her. I grab his arm as he passes me, “Have fun,” I say, shoving his sword into his hand. He looks at it, then back at me and smiles. After he leaves, Gabrielle and I crowd the window to watch them.
Xena stands in a clear patch, holding her sword out, “Lissia doesn’t think we’re comfortable with each other.” Ares advances on her and strikes testingly, “I’m plenty comfortable,” he says as she parries the light blow. Xena smiles and strikes out with a rough jab, “I am too, or so I thought.” He parries her blow and strikes out again, giving her a questioning look. She runs at him and flips over his head, “Well, Lissia doesn’t think I am and she’s never wrong. So I must be uncomfortable.” He spins and knocks her feet out from under her, pointing his sword at her neck, “Maybe this is the one time she’s wrong.” She swings a leg out and kicks his sword from his hand, “That must be it,” she says, standing up. She points her sword at his chest and forces him into a tree, “Looks like I win,” she says playfully. He raises an eyebrow and grabs her wrist, forcing her to drop her sword. He pulls her close, until there’s only a breath between them, “You always win,” he says, passionately kissing her. I stand in awe as she responds with like passion. I hear the bard gasp and then the front door is slamming shut behind her. I disappear and reappear in front of her. I grab her arm and disappear again. A few seconds later, we reappear by the fire in the house. I shoot her a dirty look as I return to the window, “Don’t do that again, I could have missed something.” I turn back to the window in time to see them pull apart. They both look surprised and a little confused. Xena recovers first and collects their swords. She tosses Ares’ to him with a smile. He gives her a devilish grin,” One in a billion, huh?” Her eyes flash and then she smiles, “Don’t read into things too much. It was just a kiss,” she says, strolling back to the house. He watches her go for a minute, the jogs to catch up with her. “Come now Xena, let’s not lie,” he says, putting a hand behind her and causing her to jump a little. Murder plays in her eyes, but when she looks at him, it melts away. She playfully hits his chest with the back of her hand. They both laugh a little and keep walking.
They walk into the house smiling. I look them over and notice how incredibly close they are to one another. “So, you worked everything out,” I ask, knocking Xena hard with my hip. She bumps into Ares and they both send me a dirty look. I smile innocently, “Well, did you?” She looks irritated, then replies, “There was nothing to work out, other than the kinks in my back. We’re fine with one another.” Gabrielle grumbles, “Obviously,” from beside the fire. A blush spreads over Xena’s face and I giggle until Ares jabs me in the ribs. Xena grabs his arm gently, “Go for a walk, Gabrielle and I need to talk,” she says quietly. Louder, she adds, “I would tell Lissia to go with you, but she’s just going to eavesdrop anyway.” As she glares at me, I pretend to be preoccupied by something on the ceiling. Ares nods, gives her arm a gentle squeeze, then walks out the door, with Horace following close behind him. I sit down next to the bard and Xena sits across from us. I raise my hand, “Oh teacher! Can I be the mediator in this little rift?” Xena starts to say something to me, when Gabrielle yells, “Xena, what is wrong with you? Are you actually falling for Ares?” “No,” Xena says far too quickly. I nod yes and she throws a dagger at me. I snatch it from the air and smile at her triumphantly. Xena rolls her eyes, then turns to her friend, “Gabrielle, it’s just, well... I don’t know. But I’m not falling for him,” she says, defensively. I laugh, “Well, that’s true.” They both turn to me, surprised and I continue, “She fell a long time ago, she just hasn’t managed to get back up yet.” Xena fingers her Chakram and I raise my hands in defeat, “Fine, I won’t say a word, but you both know that I’m right.” Xena glares at me, but Gabrielle is nodding, “She’s right.” Xena looks at her unbelievingly. Gabrielle continues, “You did fall for him a long time ago. You fell hard enough to have a child with him. So you might have gotten over it before, but now it’s all being shoved back in your face. I understand, you have that urge to be a real family. I know that some of your old feelings for him are resurfacing because of Lissia, but Xena, you have to remember who he is.” Xena’s eyes flash, a touch of anger in them and I smile widely. I can’t help but to but in at this point, “And who is he, Gabrielle?” She stares at me and doesn’t reply. “Gabrielle,” Xena says, “He isn’t that bad. He did save our lives.” Gabrielle grits her teeth, “I was only an afterthought,” she mutters. “I wonder why,” I shoot back at her. Xena stands up between us, “Enough,” she says harshly. I hate it when she uses that commanding voice with me. I see the irritation in her eyes and can feel it coming off her in waves. I move back, but Gabrielle stands up to face her, “You can’t love him!” Xena looks defensive, she never has liked the word can’t, “I never said that I loved him! But, if I did, why couldn’t I?” Gabrielle’s eyes widen and she looks very upset, no pissed is more of the word, “Xena! You just can’t! He’s, he’s Ares! He was an Olympian!” I look at her, offended and stand up, “Hey, that’s starting to get personal, girly. After all he is my cousin and I am an Olympian. And I happen to think that Xena and I know him a bit better than you do,” I say harshly. Xena looks from her to me, then storms out of the house, letting the door slam shut behind her. I watch as Ares grabs her arm, “Are you okay?” He asks. She jerks away, “Fine. You deal with those two. I give up,” she says, taking a swing at a nearby tree. He glares at the house and I swear it’s aimed directly at me. As he stalks to the house, I turn to Gabrielle, “Now you’ve done it,” I say, sitting down with a thud.
Ares walks in and glares at me as the dog licks my face, “What did you do?” He asks, stressing each word in turn. I point at the bard, who’s standing defiantly by the table, “It was her,” I say. “Xena said it was both of you. And by the way she’s going after that tree, I would say that she’s really mad at you two,” he says. Gabrielle grumbles something obscure under her breath and heads to the door. Ares grabs her arm roughly and jerks her back, “Oh no you don’t. You’re not going anywhere until I find out what’s wrong with Xena.” She jerks away from him violently, “Xena’s lost her mind and it’s all this twits fault,” she says pointing at me. I look offended, I am not a twit, but I remain quiet. Ares looks at me expectantly, “Well, what did you do?” I stare at him unbelievingly, “I didn’t do anything! All High and Mighty here,” I say motioning to Gabrielle, “Is trying to tell Xena how to live her life. And she’s throwing this huge fit because Xena’s in love with you. Frankly, if I were Xena, I would be a little irritated too,” I finish hotly. He rolls his eyes, “Well, it doesn’t matter because she doesn’t love me.” I stare at him, shocked, “Yes, she does,” I reply knowingly. “No, she doesn’t,” Ares and Gabrielle shout at me together. They shoot each other dirty looks as I prepare to reply. “Yes, I do,” a voice says from the door. We all turn to see Xena leaning on the door frame. I smile and point at her, “See? I told you so!” She gives me a discouraging look and I shrug, a little put down. Gabrielle growls in frustration and Ares walks up to Xena, “I’m sorry, I think I’m hallucinating. Must be a mortal thing.” She shakes her head and kisses him passionately. My eyes widen and I smile brightly, “Yes,” I shout, sending small fireworks into the air. Gabrielle stares at them disgusted, “I can not believe this.” I walk over to her, “Well, you’d better start to because it looks like they’re starting to grow on each other a little. I look over at the two as Xena pulls away, leaving Ares in complete shock. When he sees her smiling brightly, he smiles back. And now, even Gabrielle has stopped complaining and looks like she might accept them. For a few seconds I think that everything will be fine, then a horrible tingle goes up my spine. “Oh no,” I whisper. Ares walks over to me and puts an arm around me, concerned, “Lissia, what’s wrong? You’re as white as a ghost.” I pull away from him and take a few steps back, I have to leave, ‘I’ll be back soon,” I say, disappearing.
I appear in my temple outside of Thrace. Lying on my alter steps, bleedings and unconscious, is Lyla. I prop her head up in my lap and holding her close I disappear. Back at the house, I appear, holding Lyla, “Pick her up,” I order, “And be careful.” Ares scoops her up and carries her to the bed, “Who is she?” He asks, laying her down carefully. Xena comes up beside him and looks the girl over, “What happened to her?” I look at the girl, her arms and legs are covered in deep wounds, she has a gash on her head that’s still pouring blood, and more blood is coming through the holes in her leather. I sigh, “Xena, Ares, this is Lyla, your daughter. And until she wakes up, I’m not going to know what happened to her.” Xena’s features jolt harshly, anger and fear spreading through them. Ares face goes straight to a look of concern. Xena takes charge, “Get her armor and boots off,” she says, pulling the arm bands off of her. I crawl onto the bed and sit above Lyla’s head, “Don’t touch her,” I order, “I’ve kept this from her long enough. She’ll die without it now.” Ares nods in understanding and pulls Xena off, shooting Gabrielle a warning look. I put my hands on Lyla’s head and a thick light spreads over her body as I unleash her Demi powers. Her bleeding slows and her breathing returns to normal. I smile and stumble off the bed. Amazingly, Gabrielle catches me and steadies me. Ares gives me a concerned look. I smile weakly, “I’m fine, just a little drained. Give me a few minutes.” He nods and props Lyla up as Xena and Gabrielle undo her armor and leather to expose a soaked shift that used to be white, but is now blood red. I can feel my stomach turn and I walk out of the room to get rags and a bucket of warm water. Ares rushes from the room and grabs my arm, “Get in there, now,” he orders. I watch him go outside and take a few deep breaths. I brace myself as I walk into the room.
Inside, Xena is applying pressure points left and right, but to little avail. “Lissia, I need some more hands over here,” she yells. I rush over and look at the blood covering her and Gabrielle. I’ve never dealt well with blood. Xena grabs my hands and presses them down on a bloody rag, “Hold that there,” she orders, “We have to stop the bleeding.” Gabrielle is doing likewise with a cut on Lyla’s abs. I can feel my stomach rise into my mouth as Xena moves rapidly over the girl, trying to bandage some cuts and press on others. I blink the tears from my eyes, “Xena, is she going to..” I let myself trail off. Xena looks at me and shakes her head, “No, I just got her back, I’m not letting her go.” I nod and bite my lips together. Gabrielle reaches for the bucket of water and the rags, but she can’t get to it without moving her hands away from the cut she’s pressing on. I transport the bucket over to her and she nods gravely at me. Ares rushes into the room, more rags in his hands. He starts to clean a few of the cuts on her legs that are gushing blood. “It hit an artery,” I shout out. He presses down harder on it and I can see the fear in his eyes. Sweat trickles down his face and for a minute I think it’s tears instead of sweat. He doesn’t both to wipe it off, but let’s it drip off of him. Xena looks at me, “We need more help,” she says. I nod, “Can you handle things without me for a few minutes?” She nods and Ares ushers me out of the door. I have a few favors to call in.
I transport myself to a hospice just on the inner edge of Sparta. My soldiers have protected this hospice for a very long time. I walk in, covered in blood and several people rush over, not recognizing me. The head doctor runs to me, “Lissia?” She asks quietly. I nod, “It’s not mine, but I need some help. How many can you spare? And how much of your supplies can you bring with?” Trila, the head doctor replies, “I’ll go and so will Marta, don’t worry she’s good. We’ll grab all we can, Goddess Lissia.” I nod and dance from one foot to the other as they collect two baskets full of different items. I grab the two women and disappear.
We all arrive just outside of the door, “Xena, I’m back,” I say rushing in. The two doctors follow me in and gasp as their eyes land on Lyla. Trila stands shocked, “By the Gods, is that Lyla?” I nod quickly and push her into the room, “Yes, now help. We can’t lose her.” Gabrielle looks up at me, blood covering her face, “Lissia, you’re a Goddess, can’t you do something?” I look away from her and focus on stopping a large gash on her leg from bleeding. Ares turns to Gabrielle, never letting pressure off of the girl’s other leg, “Lissia can’t heal. Zeus’ one limit was that she would never be able heal anyone. Even when he died, nothing changed.” Xena lets Marta move into the group to work on the girl’s head, gently, stopping the bleeding and sewing the cut shut. She sponges the area, then moves onto one of the cuts on the girl’s cheeks. Tears are falling from my eyes as I watch the rags soak up the blood. Xena shouts, “We need more water and rags.” I nod and focus all my energy on making those things appear and in a few minutes they are laying on a nearby table. She smiles at me gratefully. I look from her to Ares and see how much pain they are in. I look down at Lyla and begin to shake. Ares grabs my arm, “Don’t black out on us now,” he says, releasing me. I nod, then an idea hits me, “Are any of the other Gods left alive?” Ares looks thoughtful, “Apollo abandoned us. Aphrodite might still be around.” Xena shakes her head, “I told her to get out of there before I killed Athena.” I shake my head and begin to yell, “Aphrodite! Aphrodite! We need you!” There’s a sparkle of pink light in the far corner of the room and I smile. Aphrodite looks around the room, then looks at Lyla, “Oh no, it’s Lyla,” she says, rushing over. Ares looks over at her, “Was I the only God on Olympus who didn’t know about this situation?” Aphrodite looks confused, “I don’t know about that. You’re the one who trained Lissia, I thought you had to know who her Chosen was.” Ares and Xena both turn to stare at me in shock. I shrug, the change the subject, “Aphrodite, can you help us heal her.” The Goddess of Love shakes her head, “I can’t heal without Athena’s blessing.” Xena whips around to stare at her, “Athena’s dead, you know that!” Aphrodite grimaces, “I know. Look, I can help on a few of the minor injuries. After I get those out of the way, maybe you’ll be able to focus on the larger cuts.” Xena looks grateful, “Do it, Aphrodite, I don’t know how much time she has.” Aphrodite adopts a serious look and puts her hands over Lyla. I shout out, “Everyone off.” Everyone in the room moves away from the body and Ares moves up to stand behind Aphrodite. A few seconds later Aphrodite has fallen into his arms, exhausted from healing the minor cuts. Xena looks down at Lyla, none too happy, then goes back to work on a cut on her upper chest, just below her neck. Ares helps Aphrodite sit in a chair, then returns to the girl’s leg, “Xena, it’s still bleeding.” She nudges him aside a little and applies a pressure point just above the gash. The blood slows a little, then stop altogether. “Get that sewn up, now,” she orders, pushing Trila in that general direction. I look over to where Aphrodite had been sitting to see that she was no longer there. She was working beside Gabrielle, cleaning a deep gash just below Lyla’s elbow. “Done,” Trilla shouts out and moves onto a smaller cut which she holds a rag on. Xena moves over to the leg and releases the pressure point. She grabs Trila’s arm, “Hold something on that, it’s going to start bleeding again,” she says. Trila nods and holds the rag on the cut she had just sewn together. I look over the situation, then hear a gasp from the door, “By all the Holy Gods on Mount Olympus!” We all turn to see Greba in the doorway. Aphrodite laughs, “There’s not very many up there anymore.” I grab Greba and push her into the room, “See this cut, put that rag on it and hold it down hard,” I order. She nods, fear in her eyes and I notice that a thunderbolt had appeared in my other hand as I spoke to her. I look away, guilty, I hadn’t meant to get so carried away. Xena smiles in reassurance and I see that the cut on Lyla’s arm she had been working on was no longer bleeding and was sewn up. “Move Trila,” she orders gently. Trila nods and moves to look at the cut I’m pressing on. She adds another rag, then sponges at a smaller cut that rests almost under my elbow. Frustrated with the cut I’m working on, I glance around to make sure no ones watching and apply a pressure point to the leg. I smile in satisfaction. Looks like Xena’s lessons finally kicked in. I look over at her and see that the sewn cut on Lyla’s other leg is no longer bleeding. She’s working on another cut now, on the girl’s outer thigh. I look down at the cut I had been working on and start to sponge it. “I thought you weren’t going to use those,” Xena says, without looking at me. I shrug and sew the cut up, “This is important.” I watch as Aphrodite moves from one sewn cut to another, placing her hand lightly on them, “What are you doing Dite?” She smiles, “All I can do. I’m getting rid of infection.” Xena smiles and Ares sighs. I release the cut from the pressure point and apply pressure with a clean rag to it. Blood gradually seeps through the rag and I toss it aside, grabbing a new rag. This rag stops the bleeding and I smile. I survey our situation as I press on another cut, this one not as deep, but quite large, as it wraps around her leg. Greba and Gabrielle are working on several cuts on Lyla’s right arm. Xena is on the left arm, working franticly with the one last cut that is left bleeding there. Aphrodite is moving around us, butting in to get to the cuts. Ares is sewing a cut on Lyla’s stomach and I almost cry when I see the struggle he’s having keeping his composure. Trila and Marta are working across from him on Lyla’s right side, standing just next to Greba and Gabrielle. I’m left working on her left leg. I feel something brush against me and I look down to see Horace. He looks as frantic as the rest of us. I look over Lyla’s body and realize that we’re going to be able to save her. The cuts on her head are sewn up and the bleeding has fully stopped there. Most of the cuts on her arms and legs are sewn or are being looked at. Her abs are covered in blood. I look at the blankets and see that blood is flowing out from under her. I replace the blood filled sheets with clean with a flick of my wrist. Xena stares over at me, then notices that blood is soaking it’s way through the new sheets. She curses under her breath, “Alright people, we have to hurry. She has a massive wound on her back.” Greba is running out of the room, taking blood filled rags and dirty water with her. She returns quickly and sets clean items on the table. Aphrodite comes up beside me and as she stares at Lyla’s leg, I notice that the cut I was working on is gradually getting better. By the time she looks away, her face starch white, the cut is gone. I smile over at her, grateful. She nods and moves to help Ares with a cut on the girl’s abs. He’s placing a hand on Lyla’s chest lightly, “Her ribs are broken.” Xena nods, “I know, but they didn’t puncture her lungs. Maybe the Gods were with us on that one,” she says, bitterly. We all laugh slightly, then she moves away from the body. She turns to me, “Can you do it?” I’m exhausted, but I nod, “Yes, everyone move back. Gabrielle get ready to rest her head to one side so that she can still breathe. I stare at the girl and slowly she rises off the bed and as she returns to the bed, clean sheets on it, she flips over so that we can work on her back. Seeing the massive cut going from between her shoulder blades all the way down to her hips, I turn away. I rush from the room and puke. Taking in a few gasps of clean air, I slide to the floor. Aphrodite comes out and sits beside me, “Come on Lissia, this isn’t over yet. She needs you.” I nod and begin to stand, but I fall back down. She grabs me before I can fully hit the floor, then she lowers me down, “Xena and Ares have been a little upset over this, more so than the rest of us. What’s going on?” I sigh, “Lyla is their daughter,” I say getting up and rushing back to the room. Everyone is rushing around. Xena, Ares, Gabrielle, and Trila are holding rags down on the cut. Marta and Greba are getting clean rags for them. Aphrodite and I come in and begin to do what we can. Aphrodite focuses on the cut, trying her hardest to heal it. I replace rags and sheets and water whenever it’s needed. I move to the left side of the bed and add my own strength to the rag holding. The blood continues to soak through. I look around and can’t believe that it has only been fifteen minutes sense this all began. Xena smiles when the rags aren’t soaking up as much blood. Aphrodite falls backwards, to the floor, unconscious from her attempts to heal the cut. We remove the rags and I rush form the room again to puke. I walk back in, still feeling green and move Aphrodite to a chair in the kitchen. Greba has fallen against the back wall. Trila and Marta are exhausted and I wave a hand over them, sending them back to the hospice. I wave a hand over Greba and she’s back at home. Ares comes to stand by me and we both watch as Xena and Gabrielle work from one end of the cut to the other, sewing it together. As Xena finishes a section, Ares rushes over with a damp sponge and begins to clean the sewn flash as it oozes. I go over to Gabrielle and begin to clean the puckering and oozing wound behind her as she sews on. I feel my stomach rising again, but I fight it back. A few minutes later we all move away and I lift her off the bed. The dirty sheets are replaced with clean ones as I flip her back over. Xena reexamines the cuts and nods in grim satisfaction. “All we can do is watch her and hope that infection doesn’t set it,” she says. Ares walks from the room and we hear him collapse on the porch. I start after him, but to my surprise Gabrielle is already on her way out. I look to Xena, who’s staring at me questioningly. I shrug, I don’t have the energy to eavesdrop on them. “Lissia,” Xena says, “Can you fight off any infections.” I’m very unsure of weather I can or not, but I nod, “I can try.” Aphrodite comes in, seemingly refreshed, “I’ll do it,” she says, then adds, “At least until I get exhausted again.” I smile at her and walk out to sit on the porch by Ares and Gabrielle.
Xena comes out a few minutes later and collapses next to us. We each stare from one to the other. I notice the blood covering them and know that it’s on me as well. There faces are white and ashen and I know I look the same. Gabrielle is the only one that doesn’t have tear streaks on her cheeks. The grime covering our bodies is starting to stiffen. Xena gets up and offers her hand to Ares, “If we can all act mature, I think it’s a good idea if we bathed. There’s a small stream around back,” she eyes Ares as she says this. He nods, exhausted, “Mature..okay,” he says a little dazed. Gabrielle too seems dazed. We walk around back, all stumbling slightly and catching each other as we go. We reach the stream and using what little strength I have left and make clean clothes and towels appear next to it. We all strip off the crusty clothes and leave them in a smelly heap by a tree. Sitting in the water, I watch as all of the blood and dirt flow from our bodies and head downstream. We all work with as much energy as we can to get all the blood off of our skin, out from under our nails, and out of our hair. We get desperate to get it off and begin to use both sand and rocks. I stare at Ares, jealous of his short hair. He already has the blood out of it. He comes up behind me and starts to separate the blood from my hair gently, “I always told you there were benefits to having short hair,” he says. Xena glances over at him, “You never told me that.” She’s able to get the blood from her hair easily, she’s done it several times. Gabrielle too doesn’t seem to have too much of a problem with it. Finally we’re all free of blood and we get out of the stream and wrap ourselves in the towels. Ares finishes well before we’re even close and walks to the house, “I’m going to go check on Aphrodite and Lyla.” We all smile at him, thankfully. We were all worried about her. Of course without him here we don’t have to worry about keeping ourselves decent. Personally I don’t care and Xena seems to have only minor problems with it. Gabrielle, on the other hand, is quite uncomfortable being naked with him around. I pull my hair back and tie it in place with a piece of leather. Xena does likewise. We both stare at Gabrielle in envy, she doesn’t have to do that. Gabrielle looks me and Xena over, “Go back to the house, I’ll take care of food,” she says, urging us to the house. Xena smiles and tries to run back to the house, but stumbles a little. I reach out and catch her, but we both end up on the ground. I laugh a little and get up, offering her a hand, only to find that she’d already stood up. We lean into each other and walk back to the house on our shaky legs. I’m a Goddess and still I’m exhausted and shaky, what gives?
Inside, Aphrodite is sitting on the bed, her arms spread over Lyla. Ares is sitting on the left side of Lyla, holding her hand gently. Xena moves to her right side and grabs her hand gently. I sit at Lyla’s feet and spread my arms over her, focusing on killing any infection that even threatens to touch her. I look over Lyla’s body and notice that some of the cuts are heeled. I look at Aphrodite and see the look of pure concentration on her face. Splitting my attention, I feed her a little of my strength. She gulps at it, grateful and I feel myself getting light headed. I break the connection with her and move to a nearby chair.
I guess I passed out because when I look around the room, Aphrodite is no longer there and Xena and Ares are eating. Ares rushes over to me, “Gabrielle has fish in the other room. Are you okay?” I nod and begin to feel sick to my stomach, “Yeah. You know how you told me to never let another God feed off of me?” He nods. I continue, “I wish I had listened,” I say, rubbing my head, surprised by the pain. I am a God right? To test the theory I cut my arm and am satisfied when no blood pores from my veins. Ares smiles at me, “Go eat,” he says. I nod and get up, shaking. I begin to fall to the floor, but he catches me and helps me into the other room. Gabrielle rushes to us and takes me from him. I realize that I am putting my full weight on them. I try to stand, but I can’t. Gabrielle sits me down by the fire and sets a plate down next to me. I smile at her gratefully, “Ares isn’t that bad, is he?” I ask as sarcastically as I can manage. She smiles, “No, he isn’t.” As I eat the fish, I can feel the strength return to me. I smile and stretch, amazed when my back pops loudly. I look around and see Aphrodite lying on a pile of blankets nearby. “She passed out about an hour after you did,” Gabrielle informs me. “How long was I out?” I ask. “Only a few hours,” she says. I nod, amazed that it had been that long. I stand up and she smiles up at me, “You’re glowing,” she informs me. I smile, feeling one hundred percent better, “Good, now I can really help Lyla.”
I run into the room and sit on the bed, resting her head on my lap. I look from Ares to Xena and then to Gabrielle who’s standing in the doorway. I nod, knowing that what I’m going to do is right, “Alright, don’t touch her,” I say. Ares looks at me and sees the determination in my eyes. Before I can place my hand on Lyla’s head, he grabs it, “We need you on Olympus,” he says. I smile, “I don’t plan on leaving. I’m going to feed her my strength. If I pass out, don’t let me fall on her.” He looks at me, obviously unhappy with my idea. Xena looks me over, “Are you sure?” I glare at her, my own version of her ‘look’ and she nods in understanding. Ares releases my hand, but moves to stand by Xena. I smile and place my hands on Lyla’s head, opening myself to her. I bite back a scream as I feel her pain and Ares must have noticed because I feel his arms wrap around me from behind. I open my eyes slightly and see that Gabrielle is standing by Xena, both chewing on their lower lips. I look at my waist and I see Ares’ arms around me, holding me upright. I go back to focusing on Lyla and reel as my strength is sucked up by her needy body. I gasp and fall back into Ares’ arms as her eyes pop open and a blood curling scream comes from her mouth. Xena reaches out and holds the girl down as she tries to move. Gabrielle stares in disbelief at the cuts, they look like they’ve been healing for several days now. Aphrodite runs into the room and grabs me from Ares. She helps me to a chair and I sit in it heavily, amazed to be conscious. I hold my head in my hands, feeling it spin around several times. Then Aphrodite is there, letting me gain strength off of her. I look up gratefully, then walk over to Lyla and sit by her head so that she can see me. “Lissia,” she says quietly. I put a finger over her lips, “Shh. Use that strength to get better and let me tell you a story.” Before I continue I look to both Xena and Ares, letting them know in a glance what I’m about to do. They sit down on the bed on Lyla’s left side, but she doesn’t notice them. Xena nods slightly and I begin my story, “Lyla, you’ve heard of Xena, right?” She nods slowly, “Ares was obsessed with her.” I nod and shush her again, then search for the best words. The truth is, I’ve always been very blunt with things and I am having a hard time polishing this one up. “Lyla, I told you about Xena’s old days and her relationship with my cousin, Ares.” She nods slightly and I continue, “Well, I left something out. In secret, Xena gave birth to a child. I was the only one who knew about this and she didn’t know that I knew until yesterday. That baby, that girl, is half God. I made sure that her powers wouldn’t manifest themselves. I recently had to go back on that. Of course recently a few more people have found out about the child, including her father. Lyla, that child would be dead now if it weren’t for me returning what God Hood she was entitled to, to her. Do you understand what I’m saying?” She shakes her head and I’m a little disappointed. Time to be blunt. “Lyla, you are that child.” Her eyes widen and dart around the room. Her eyes finally fall on Xena and Ares, both of which now have tears running down their cheeks. She smiles up at them and then passes out. Aphrodite grabs Gabrielle by the arm and ushers her out. I stay with Xena and Ares as they both stare down at their daughter, a strong sense of hope and fear mixed in their gazes.
We stay like that until morning, none of us sleeping as we watch Lyla. I don’t know how she could sleep with us staring at her all night. As the sun rises, I move over to Xena and Ares. They’re both exhausted, but determined to stay by their daughters side. “Go, get some sleep,” I order. They both shake their heads and I place a hand on their shoulders, “Gabrielle, Aphrodite, and I will watch her. You two need to rest.” Ares looks up at me and I jump back a little, his eyes are rimmed red and dark circles surround them. I look into Xena’s face and see the same thing. I urge them up and help them into the kitchen, where we’ve set up a stack of blankets to use as a bed. Aphrodite and Gabrielle slip into the bedroom with their breakfast. I give both Xena and Ares a plate of food, but it goes untouched as they collapse onto the blankets. I stare down at them and smile lightly as they curl into each other. I return to the bedroom with a plate of food, I might not need to eat, but I like it, and sit down by Lyla’s head. I run my hands through her hair gently, then examine her wounds. They hadn’t healed much overnight, but they looked a lot better. Carefully I lift her up and stare at the stitches lining her back. For a second I prepare for my breakfast to spew from my mouth, but then I swallow hard and replace the sheets with clean ones. They weren’t real bloody, but there was a little blood and some ooze on them. As I lie her back on the bed, Gabrielle sits down opposite of me. Aphrodite comes up beside her and sits down. Horace comes up to me and I let him lick my plate. Then I pick him up and lie him over Lyla’s feet. He lies there and finally falls asleep. I look over to Aphrodite, “How is she doing?” I’m prepared for the worst. Aphrodite smiles, “Better than her parents, at least she’s getting some rest.” I look at her, anger in my eyes, but she puts a hand up and continues before I can say a word, “Don’t worry Lis. She’s alright. She’s fighting off infections on her own and her wounds are healing quickly. Actually, we need to remove the stitches from most of them. The one I’m worried about is the one on her back. It’s still not looking too good.” I nod and buckets of water appear beside the bed. There are a few rags and sponges and several strips to use as bandages. There are also three very small daggers that look almost like nail files. We start removing the stitches, cleaning the cuts, and bandaging them. We do this for well over two hours, being very careful not to wake Lyla or cause any unneeded pain. Finally I slip into a chair, slightly exhausted. Gabrielle looks over at me, “What about the one on her back?” I shake my head, “Not now. We need to give that one a bit more time.” Aphrodite snaps her fingers and the medical stuff is gone and our hands are clean. I smile at her gratefully. I creep over to the door and crack it open enough to see that Xena and Ares are still very much asleep. I smile and nod at the others to let them know. We all sit down on the floor and rest our heads on the bed, near Lyla, so that we will wake if she does.
A little while later I feel movement next to me and I sit up. Lyla is moving a little, trying to stretch out. I put a hand on her, “Don’t push it too much,” I say quietly. She stares at me, “So, I’m part God?” I nod, “Yes, you are. I don’t know what that will mean for you, but without it, you would have died yesterday.” I know better than to ask about what happened, she’ll tell me when she’s ready to. She nods slowly and looks down at herself, amazed to see her own battered body. She holds out her arms and looks them over, then runs a hand over her face and feels the bandages there. I can tell she’s about to cry, “Don’t worry. They should heal over very well. You had the best team working on you.” She looks at me, “Who?” I smile, “Well, Xena and Ares to start with. There was me and Aphrodite and Gabrielle, Xena’s friend. I brought two people from a hospice to help you. And Ares neighbor, Greba came over to help too.” Horace wines a little and I laugh, “And Horace here, kept your feet warm.” She smiles and scoots closer to me, urging the dog to come up to her. He does and she rests a hand on his soft fur. She looks around again and sighs. “What’s wrong?” I ask. She looks away, “I’m hungry. But don’t you dare try to cook for me.” I laugh loudly and Gabrielle and Aphrodite spring awake. They give me a questioning look, then notice Lyla. I look at Gabrielle, “Hey, you think you could make her some broth without waking up the parents?” She nods and walks into the kitchen very carefully. Aphrodite moves over to sit closer to Lyla and moves the girl’s hair off her face, “Hey there. How do you feel?” Lyla smiles up at Aphrodite, they’d only met a few times, but they always got on real well with one another. “I’m alright,” she says, then continues, “I hurt all over, though.” She tries to sit up and ends up screaming. Gabrielle, Xena and Ares rush into the room as Aphrodite and I help her lie back down. “She’s alright. We need to get those ribs in place though,” I tell them. She moans dramatically, “Let me eat and pass out first.” Ares laughs and leans over to Xena, “She sounds like you.” Lyla looks up at them and slowly motions for them to come over. They walk over and kneel down by her. She looks at them and smiles, “I knew I would find you,” she says quietly. They smile and I can see that they’re both biting back tears. Gabrielle comes back in, I hadn’t noticed that she had left, with a bowl of broth. I move to prop Lyla’s head up. Xena spoons some of it into her mouth and Aphrodite makes what misses disappear before it ever touches her body. Ares and Gabrielle watch her intently. Lyla finishes the broth and some of the color has returned to her face. Gabrielle hands Xena a cup with a herbal mixture in it. I tilt Lyla’s head up a bit more and receive a dirty look from Ares when she grimaces against the pain. It would be worse if she started choking. Lyla reaches out and takes the cup from Xena, smells the mixture and slowly drinks it. Once again, Aphrodite catches all the droplets before they touch her. Gabrielle looks her over, “Do you want to try to keep down a roll?” Lyla shakes her head and this causes her to grimace again, “No, but thank you. I think I want to sleep now.” I scoot out from under her head and Ares and Xena help lower her fully onto the bed. Horace moves up and lays down close to her. We all stand watching her. She smiles, “I’ll be fine. When I’m fully out of it, set my ribs.” Xena nods and runs a hand over her daughter’s cheek, “We’ll let you rest,” she says, motioning for us to all leave. Aphrodite runs a hand through her hair gently, “We’ll be right in the other room if you need anything.” Lyla smiles at her and nods slightly. Gabrielle smiles down at her, then follows Aphrodite out of the room. Ares, Xena and I stare down at her, none of us moving towards the door. Lyla smiles, “Go, I’ll be fine.” I smile and kiss her forehead. I wait by the door as Xena and Ares squeeze her hands gently and then walk towards me. They walk past me, into the kitchen and I close the door quietly. They all stare at me quietly, worried expressions on their faces. I smile, “At least Horace is with her.” They all laugh a little.
A few minutes later, Gabrielle and Aphrodite are cooking food in the fire place, quietly arguing over the best way to make stew. Ares, Xena and I are sitting on the porch. Ares looks over at me and I know the big question is coming, “Why am I still mortal?” I blush profusely and Xena turns, wondering the same thing. I look away, “Well, I told you, Olympus is a mess. I couldn’t exactly find any ambrosia and then things kept happening so I couldn’t leave to search the place. Anyway, it scares me up there. It’s dark and smelly and Artemis and Athena are still there, dead and rotting.” Ares smiles at this and Xena sits giggling. “After dinner, I’ll go up with you and we can look together,” she offers. I smile, then add, “Better make that after we set your daughters ribs.” Xena winces, knowing how painful it will be. Almost naturally, Ares puts a hand over hers and squeezes it gently. Aphrodite walks out of the house, “Dinner’s ready,” she says. She notices Ares’ hand over Xena’s and winks at me. I smile back and we all walk into the house. We eat in silence, not a one of us looking forward to what we have to do next. After dinner, Xena looks over at me, “Think you can work with the pressure points again?” I nod silently and bite my lips together lightly. She starts dishing out orders, “Aphrodite, be ready to wrap her ribs up after we set them. Gabrielle, Ares, Lissia and I will need help getting them to stay in place after we set them. We have to get them all in place before we can wrap them up and we have to be quick about it.” Everyone nods and we walk into the bedroom.
I pick up Horace and set him on the floor, getting a low growl from him. I shoot him a look and he runs from the room, tail tucked. Gabrielle stands next to me on one side of Lyla, Xena and Ares are across from us. Aphrodite waits behind them until she’s needed. Xena nods at me and we both strike down on Lyla, hitting the points dead on. Quickly we get the ribs in place, having Gabrielle and Ares hold them there. I lift Lyla up carefully and slowly and Aphrodite wraps the bandage around her tightly. I set her back down and Xena and I take the pressure points off of the girl. We run our hands over the bandages and smile in satisfaction. I replace the sheets again and Xena pulls a blanket over the girl. Why didn’t we think of that earlier? We all stare down at Lyla, amazed that she is still asleep. Horace pokes his head in and Ares scoops him up, placing him on the bed by Lyla, “Keep her safe, boy,” he says quietly. Xena and I share a secret smile and then she walks over to me, “Are you ready to go?” Reluctantly I nod, “Ready as I’ll ever be.” She turns to Ares as he moves to join us and she shakes her head, “Stay with Lyla.” He’s about to argue, but looking down at the battered girl he nods. Xena turns to look at Gabrielle and Aphrodite. Aphrodite hugs her tightly, “You two are so cute,” she whispers, then pulls away and adds louder, “Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on her. We’ll probably finish taking the stitches out.” Xena puts a hand out, “Don’t touch the one on her back, it needs more time.” They all nod and I grab Xena’s hand. In a flash of light we’re gone.
We arrive on Olympus and the smell of death invades our nostrils. I jerk back and consider leaving, but Xena looks determined to find what we came to find. “We’ll stick together,” she says. I nod and begin to walk down a hall. She follows and grabs my arm lightly, “Where are we going?” She asks. Her voice echoes in the empty hall and shivers go down my spine. She looks around uncomfortably. I answer her, “Athena used to keep a stash of ambrosia in her room.” She nods and smiles at some of the tapestries we pass. Most of which I’m scowling at. She stops in front of a tapestry of the whole family, “Where are you?” I burn the tapestry, “Not there.” Zeus didn’t want me to be part of the tapestry. That little d-. Xena cuts into my thoughts, “Found it.” I smile and grab the fleshy fruit that’s in her hand, “Yes!” I hand it back to her and grab her hand, “Let’s go, “ I say quickly. She smiles and we disappear.
Where we are when the light fades, I don’t know. But I glance around and quickly see that it’s not where we need to be. Xena gives me an odd glare and I shrug, “I’m a little distracted. You know, the excitement and all.” She laughs and we disappear again, this time arriving inside of the farm house. Ares stands up when we arrive, “Find it?” He asks. I’m about to answer when Xena says, “No luck. Lissia was right, it really is a mess up there.” He looks upset, but shrugs it off, “Oh well. It was worth a try.” She smiles and walks over to him and slips something, what I know to be the ambrosia, into his hand. His eyes light up and she motions for him to step outside. I give her a questioning look and she motions me over to the far corner of the room, “Let’s surprise Gabrielle.” I smile and watch as Ares walks back into the room. The changes are minimal at most, but I can notice and Aphrodite can notice. Xena can feel the power coming off of him and she smiles. Gabrielle notices nothing, she’s sitting by the fire, digging through a stack of spices, “Where is that damn witch hazel?” She mutters. Ares sits down next to her and makes it appear in his hand, “Is this what you’re looking for?” She absently takes it from him, “Thanks,” she says, looking it over, then adding it to something in a pot. “Where was it?” She asks. “In a field,” he replies honestly. She stares up at him and finds him playing with a fireball. Her eyes widen and she falls back onto her butt with a loud thud. Xena, Aphrodite, Ares, and I start to laugh and soon Gabrielle joins in.
Later in the night, after Gabrielle has gone to bed and we’ve forced Lyla to drink some more herbal stuff, Aphrodite leaves us, claiming, “I’m starting to smell funny.” Ares and Xena are sitting by Lyla’s bed, staring down at her when I walk into the bedroom. Poor girl. “Leave her alone and come to bed.” They turn to look at me and then nod. Slowly they walk out of the room. Ares looks down at the blankets on the floor and shakes his head, “No more,” he says, making a large, cushy bed appear. He picks Gabrielle up and sets her on one side of the bed. I lie down by the girl and hope that she keeps her hands to herself. Xena lies down, facing me and Ares lies down behind her putting an arm around her tightly. She sighs contently and I know that my job here is done. My goal had been to get Xena to tell Ares about Lyla. Then I wanted them to get along. Then I wanted them to tell Lyla. Then I wanted to save Lyla. Now, well, after my goals have grown so much, I can’t see anywhere else for them to go. Everything seems to be perfect. Ares and Xena are very much together and he’s a God again. Gabrielle is comfortable with the situation and is actually starting to like him. Lyla knows about them and more importantly, she’s alive. I smile and cuddle into the bed, knowing that this will be my last night on the farm.
In the morning I say my good byes to Xena, Ares and Gabrielle. I walk into the bedroom and hug Lyla, who’s doing much better. She’s able to sit up with help and only a little pain. Before I can leave, she grabs my arm, “I was looking for my parents. It was slavers,” she says quietly. I smile at her and hug her again, “Well, no one does that to my Chosen. I think I need to teach them a lesson. Uh, don’t tell your parents, I want to take care of it my way.” She smiles and I smile back. I now have a new goal, a new mission. Those slavers will pay dearly for what they did. But, that’s my business and no one else’s.
Inside, Gabrielle is telling me all about the Twilight and Eve. In return I tell her about me. I’m really not interested in this conversation though, so I listen in on the one between Xena and Ares. Xena’s saying, “So, Lissia thought I was alive?” Ares nods, “Yeah, she never doubted it. Lissia and I haven’t talked much sense your death. Not all of that was her fault. I secluded myself for the first nine or ten years. As she puts it, I was brooding. Then I saw Livia and she reminded me of you. I started watching her and then I got involved with her and then, after many arguments, Lissia left Olympus. This is the first time I’ve seen her in thirteen years.” Xena nods, “She knew didn’t she? She knew that Livia was Eve, didn’t she?” I walk out of the door and sit down between them, “I knew.” Ares shoots me an evil look and Xena rests a hand over mine. “Ares, I couldn’t tell you. I didn’t want Athena or anyone else to find out. Frankly, I didn’t know how you would react to it or what you would do. I always thought that if you believed Xena was alive, we could all sit down and work things out. Childish dreaming, I guess.” Xena’s smiling at me, “Thank you Lissia. Thanks for keeping my secret safe.” She stands up and extends her hand to Ares. He takes it and stands up, immediately releasing her hand. I laugh a little, not very long ago he wouldn’t have dreamed of letting go of that hand. She smiles at him, probably thinking something very similar, but says, “It looks like Gabrielle and I will be staying here another night. It’s getting dark, we’d better go inside.” I nod, “It’s going to rain.” Ares moans, “Lissia, you’re sleeping between me and the bard. I’m not getting groped again,” he says, walking into the house, a small dog trailing behind him. I raise an eyebrow at Xena and she smiles, “We had an interesting night last night,” she says following Ares into the house. I laugh at the mental image of those three in a bed, then follow Xena into the house.
Inside, Gabrielle is cooking something in the fireplace. Xena and Ares sit by a table that looks like it’s about to fall down and start to talk about me. And they think I don’t know that they’re talking about me. I can’t help but laugh. Gabrielle is giving them a wary look. I walk over to her and sit down, “Cute, isn’t it?” I ask, glancing at them. “Not what I was thinking,” she replies. I laugh, “You never saw them before. It’s amazing she only got pregnant once.” Gabrielle’s eyes shoot open, “What?” She yells. Xena and Ares turn to look at us. Noticing my mistake, I smile and put my hand over the girls mouth, “We’ll be right back,” I say, backing her into the back bedroom. Gabrielle jerks away from me, “What do you mean, pregnant? Wait you’re talking about Solon, right?” I shake my head and sit on the bed, “No, I’m talking about their daughter. After Xena’s fling with Borias and her trip to the Norse lands, she returned to Greece and had Solon. Her and Ares got real hot and heavy, if you know what I mean. Three weeks later out pops a baby girl. Xena sent her off with a Shepherdess that was there when she gave birth. She’s thirty-two now and Ares still doesn’t know anything about her. I made sure her powers wouldn’t develop so he wouldn’t notice her. I didn’t want him to find out unless Xena told him. Look, Xena doesn’t know that I know and obviously she didn’t want you to know either. Let’s keep this between us.” Gabrielle nods and walks out of the room ahead of me. She goes over to the fire and I can tell she’s uncomfortable. I walk into the room and Xena gives me an expectant look. “Bad joke,” I say lightly. She looks skeptical, but shrugs it off, then looks at Gabrielle, who’s giving her and Ares a curious look. “Gabrielle, you look like you’ve seen a ghost. Are you okay?” She asks. Gabrielle nods franticly, “Yeah, I’m fine. Like she said, it was a bad joke.” I smile, the bard is a very bad liar and Xena knows it. She points at me and motions to the back room, “We’re going to talk,” she says threateningly. I give her a fake smile and walk into the room with her. She shuts the door and freezes me with an evil glare, “What were you talking about? More importantly, what did you tell Gabrielle?” I give her an innocent look and plop onto the bed, “We were just gossiping.” She gives me a doubtful look, “About what?” I sigh, “You and Ares, of course. Your little friend is picking up on the emotions that are flittering around you two. You know, when he lost his God Hood, you lost your prime excuse. You two could be together now, you could be a family.” She shoots me a looks that’s angry, threatening, and startled all at once. I rush out of the room and run to sit by Ares. He gives me a questioning look and I shrug innocently. Xena comes into the room giving me a dirty look. She sits down across from me and picks at the food Gabrielle’s placed on the table. She kicks me under the table, “We’re going to finish that talk.” I smile uneasily and scoot closer to Ares. He glances over at me, “What did I miss?” “Nothing,” Xena shoots at him. He raises an eyebrow and backs away from the table, grabbing Gabrielle’s arm as he goes, “Gabrielle, you and I need to leave so that these two can work out their little problem.” She nods at him and they both walk into the back room. I shoot Ares a pleading look when he turns around, but he only shrugs and shuts the door.
Xena glares at me, “What do you know?” I look away from her and decide to take the sarcastic approach, “Lot’s of things.” She tosses a dagger at me and I dodge it, “No. Why do you think there’s any family type thing between me and Ares?” I shrug and speak quietly, “Because you’re in love with each other.” She glares at me, “Lissia, you’re hiding something,” she says. “Just like you’re hiding something from Ares,” I shoot back at her. “What are you talking about? What am I supposed to do? Go up to him and say, ‘Oh by the way, Ares, I’m in love with you, but it’ll never work between us.’ Lissia, I really don’t think that’s the best thing to do,” she says quietly, as if she’s afraid he’s going to hear her. “He knows that already Xena,” I say pointedly. Her eyes widen in realization and pain spreads across her features, her worse nightmare has come true, “How?” I shrug, “I’ve always known. Don’t worry, no one else does and I haven’t told her anything. She’s searching for her real family though.” Xena looks into the fire, thoughtfully, “What’s she like?” I smile, happy to know she’s not mad at me, “Beautiful, headstrong, amazing in battle, and pure. She’s never killed. I’m her patron deity and you know I don’t approve of killing. I’ve kept her powers from manifesting themselves. Her name’s Lyla. She’s-.” Xena cuts me off gently, “Thirty-two.” I nod and put an arm around her as sadness sparkles in her eyes, Gabrielle walks into the room, “Is everything alright?” I nod, “Yeah, we’re fine. We’ll be in to go to bed in a few minutes.” She looks at Xena sadly, then walks into the other room and shuts the door.
Xena and I walk into the room a little while later. It’s deadly silent. As our eyes land on the bed, we both smile. Ares is curled up on one side of the bed, directly on the edge. Gabrielle is on the other side of the bed, sprawled out a little. Xena laughs a little, “Looks like we’re stuck in the middle. I watch as she crawls into the bed, careful not to move too much. She lies down closer to Ares than to Gabrielle. I crawl into the bed after her and lie down next to Gabrielle. Ares wakes up and rolls over. He looks at Xena, concern in his eyes, “Are you okay?” He asks gently. She smiles, “I’m fine. I’m just not about to sleep that close to Gabrielle.” I shriek as Gabrielle tosses on arm over me and they both snicker. Xena rolls over to face me and Ares moves closer to her. I feel her stiffen as he reaches an arm over. She relaxes when he nudges me. I nudge him back, “I’m fine Ares,” I say gently. He begins to move his arm away, but I grab it and force it back over Xena. She gives me a dirty look, but doesn’t move away from him. She gives me a secretive smile after a few minutes and mouths, “Thank you,” to me. I nod slightly, then jump as the bard, moves a puts a hand over my face. Xena laughs a little, then relaxes. Soon, she is asleep and Ares is leaning over her carefully, “Lissia, what’s wrong with Xena?” He asks, true concern in his voice. “I told her something she didn’t want to hear. She just needs to be comforted right now. Don’t try anything stupid and maybe she’ll tell you the big secret,” I say. He gives me an odd look, then lies back down and pulls Xena closer to him. I’m thinking that I should go to sleep. Not that I need to sleep, but it might be nice.
I guess I finally did fall asleep, because when I wake up, the sun is beating down on me. I sit up and notice that everyone else is still asleep. Everyone except for the dog. The dog, Horace I believe is his name, is laying over our feet and giving me a pleading look. It’s just a thought, but I think he’s hungry. As I move slowly off the bed, the dog jumps off and heads to the bedroom door. I go into the kitchen and give him last nights left overs. I walk back into the bedroom and kneel down by Gabrielle. I gently shake her and her eyes open lazily, “What?” I shush her, then urge her to get up. She stands and stretches, then looks over at Xena who is curled up in Ares’ arms, sound asleep. A look of dismay crosses her face. I, personally, think they look adorable. Obviously, she doesn’t quite agree. We walk into the kitchen, me pushing Gabrielle from the bedroom. I start a fire and she begins to collect some stuff for breakfast. As she sets some stuff on the table, she looks over at me, “What happened last night? I know what you and her talked about, but why is she curled up in his arms?” I don’t think she approves. I shrug, “Maybe because she was upset last night. Or maybe it’s because she loves him. Or maybe it’s a little of both.” She stares at me, slightly annoyed, “You’re deluded.” I look at her offended, then smile as Xena walks into the room. She sits at the table, avoiding eye contact with Gabrielle. I smile, “I’ll go wake up the baby.” As I leave, I can feel the tension in the room heighten. I smile and kneel by Ares, shaking him gently, “Hey you, wake up, Xena’s naked.” He looks at me, half asleep, “Huh?” I laugh, “Never mind. But Gabrielle does have breakfast ready.” He nods and slowly sits up. He looks down at the bed, then up at me, “Is Xena mad at me?” I shake my head, smiling, “No, but the bard seems irritated. I don’t think she likes you and Xena any closer together than necessary.” He nods, “Yeah, she’s never liked me all that much.” I smile sarcastically, “Oh really? And here I was thinking you and her used to be the best of friends.” He laughs and shoves me a little. We return to the kitchen and eat breakfast in silence. I hope the rest of the day isn’t this quiet. It’s very unnerving.
We go outside in silence. The tension in the air is starting to get to me, but anything I say is going to make things worse. Xena sits on the porch, sharpening her sword with Gabrielle sitting close by. Ares is lounging under a tree, absently making designs in the dirt with his sword. I decide to teach the dog how to fetch. He doesn’t really seem to be understanding the concept. I look over at Xena, who is now talking with Gabrielle quietly. I start listening in as Gabrielle asks, “Xena, are you alright?” Xena nods, absently, “I’m fine,” she says shortly. Gabrielle looks skeptical, “Then what’s going on between you and Ares? Xena, when I woke up, not only were you still asleep, but you were curled up in his arms,” she says with a hint of exasperation in her voice. Xena looks down at her sword, a slight blush caressing her cheeks and says nothing. The bard continues to talk, “Lissia thinks you’re in love with him.” Xena shoots me a dirty look and I move my gaze to the dog who’s now chewing on the ball I had been throwing for him. She looks back at Gabrielle, “Look, I’m trying to work things out in my mind, right now. All I know is, last night I felt safe and for a while I thought that everything was going to work out just fine. I don’t know anymore. And having Lissia around, well, that changes things for me. She brings back a lot of memories for me and most of them include her and Ares and they’re nice memories. I had a lot of good times with those two in the old days. With her suddenly popping up and Ares mortal, it’s like there’s some force telling me that things are going to change between me and them again.” Xena glances over at Ares to see him staring straight at her. They both look away quickly and I burst into laughter, getting the evil eye from them both. I stop laughing and go back to playing with the dog. Gabrielle looks at Xena, “Are you going to tell him?” She pries, a little wary of Xena’s reaction. I hold my breath as Xena shrugs, hoping she will tell him, but she says, “No, I don’t think so. I think it would cause more problems.” Gabrielle nods, deep in thought, “Xena,” she says quietly. I smile, she wants Xena to tell him! She continues, “Maybe you should tell him. After all, he is her father.” Xena looks surprised, “I never thought I’d see the day that you would stand up for him. But, maybe you have a point. Maybe he should know.” She shakes her head in frustration, “I’ll think about it.” Seeing that their conversation isn’t going to get very interesting, I go over to sit down by Ares, “She’s missed you,” I say softly. He looks at Xena and laughs lightly, pain flowing through the laughter, “I doubt that.” “No, I mean she misses the way you two used to be. She wants it back, wants you back. She loves you, but you already know that.” He rolls his eyes at me, “Lissia, don’t start with that again.” I slam my fist into the tree, making it shake, “Why don’t you ever believe me? Seriously, have I ever led you in the wrong direction before? I was right when I said Xena was alive, I was right about Livia, and I’m right about this! And if things work out the way I want them to, you’ll know soon enough,” I say stubbornly. “Know what?” Xena asks, standing above us. I smile at her innocently, “I didn’t tell him anything he didn’t already know. The rest is up to you,” I say, irritably as I get up and walk into the barn.
I go into the barn, mindlessly grooming Argo as I watch the conversation unfolding between Xena and Ares. Ares laughs as Xena sits down, examining the dent I left in the tree. “Lissia?” She asks, pointing at it. He nods, “Yeah, I think she’s losing her mind. She usually doesn’t get violent.” Xena nods, knowing that’s not entirely true, “Maybe she’s tired of knowing everything and having no one believe her.” He stares at her oddly, “So are you saying that she’s always right?” She shrugs, absently, “I’ve never seen her be wrong about anything. And it’s becoming quite obvious that nothing can be kept from her.” I laugh loudly, glad that I’m not near them. “So, what happened between you three last night? I feel like I missed something,” Ares says, eyeing Xena carefully. She looks away, uneasily, “She just surprised me with her never ending knowledge.” “It’s not knowledge,” Ares says, “She’s just observant and in touch with every living thing.” I smile, he knows me very well, better than I thought he did. He’s staring at Xena, concern in his eyes, “It must not have been good. Gabrielle seemed irritated and you were pretty upset, a little shaken up, really. Did something happen to Eve?” Xena laughs bitterly, “No, not Eve. It’s just, I didn’t think anyone knew about something and she proved me very wrong. It was a bit of a shock,” she says, starting to get uncomfortable with the conversation. “What was it?” He asks gently. She looks at him, something similar to fear in her gaze, then stands up and shakes her head, “I can’t,” she says, her voice shaky. She walks towards the barn, towards me and I know that this is going to be very hard for her.
Xena slips into the barn and slides down the wall slowly. I sit down by her and put my hand over hers gently. She looks up at me and for a moment I see tears, but she blinks them away quickly, “I can’t do it Lissia, I can’t tell him. I want to, I’ve always wanted to, but I can’t.” I rub her hand gently, “Xena, if you want him to know, you have to be the one to tell him. That’s your job.” She nods slowly, “Drop hints. I’ll search for a way to tell him. I’m going fishing, have Gabrielle join me.” I nod and disappear.
I reappear next to the bard, “Gabrielle, Xena wants you to go fishing with her. I’m going to talk to Ares.” She grabs my arm roughly, “You can’t-.” I cut her off, “I’m not. But, he’s real confused right now and Xena wants me to drop a few hints. Go,” I say, urging her off the porch. Ares watches me as I walk towards him, “You women are really confusing, you know that, right?” He asks sarcastically. I smile and lean on the tree, “She wants to tell you,” I say. “Tell me what? This big secret you were talking about last night? You know, it can’t be all that bad. It’s not like she’s pregnant.” his face falls and he looks up at me, “Is she?” I smile and shake my head, “No, not anymore.” He raises an eyebrow, “What? She’s gotten pregnant sense coming back?” I shake my head, smiling, “No.” He nods in realization, “You’re talking about Eve.” I shake my head again, “No, not Eve.” “Solon?” He questions. “No, not him either. Try again,” I say, enjoying his confusion. He looks irritated, “Well, she doesn’t have any other kids so what in Tarturus are you talking about?” I laugh hysterically, “Wrong again.” His eyes open widely, “Who?” He asks. He’s mad, I can see death playing in his gaze. I shake my head, “That’s not for me to say.” He looks at me, angry, “Where?” It’s an innocent enough question, so I answer, “Greece.” He nods, “When?” I shrug, “A long time ago,” I answer. He stares at me, “You’re not being very helpful. Alright, I’ll play you’re little game. I’m going to guess names and you’re going to nod your head if I’m right.” I shake my head, I’m not playing this game, it will take all day and I’ll get bored, “No.” He looks frustrated, then thoughtful, “Was there a child? Or did she lose it?” Now he’s thinking, “There was a child, a baby girl,” I answer. He thinks for a moment, “Gabrielle didn’t know about her so Xena obviously sent the child away. She had her while she was ‘evil,’ didn’t she?” He really is starting to think about this. I say nothing in reply to his question. “Was it after Lyceus died?” I laugh, “Duh!” He rolls his eyes, “Good point. Does the father know?” I shake my head, “No.” He thinks for a moment, “Does Xena know who the father is?” I laugh hysterically, unable to talk or breathe. I slide down the tree with tears flowing onto my cheeks, “Yes, she knows,” I finally manage to choke out. I continue to laugh and roll on the ground until he stands up. I get a hold of myself and follow his gaze to the forest. Xena and Gabrielle are returning with a few strings of fish. As Xena passes us, Ares grabs her wrist, “We need to talk,” he says seriously. She nods and hands the fish to me. I take Gabrielle by the arm and lead her inside. Laughter is still leaking through my lips.
Once inside, Gabrielle starts working on the fish and I take to eavesdropping on the conversation going on outside. Ares asks, “Who?” She stares at him, unsure of what he means exactly and not wanting to say any more than necessary. He adds more to the question, “Who is the father of your daughter?” Xena gasps, then recovers her cool, “Eve’s father is-.” “No,” he says, “Not Eve’s father.” Xena looks down and I’m wondering if I told him too much. “So,” she says, “Lissia told you a little about Lyla, my other daughter.” Xena laughs a little, bitterness in her tone, “She’s thirty-two and she knows nothing about me or her father for that matter.” Ares nods, “You don’t want to talk about this. It’s okay, I don’t need to know.” She sits down heavily and he sits next to her, a thoughtful look on his face, “Thirty-two years? That was after you went to the Norse lands. That was when we were...together.” He looks at her in shock, not yet fully accepting the thoughts going through his head. He shakes his head, setting the thought aside, convinced it can’t be true, “Which one of your generals was it? Theodurus? Estrogon? Darphus?” I can’t help but laugh and Gabrielle gives me a questioning look. I shrug and wait for Xena’s reply. She’s staring at the ground, refusing to look at him when she says, “No, not one of my generals, Ares.” He stares at her, fully accepting the truth. She glances up at him and seeing his surprised look, she nods, “Yes. Now you know the truth.” He smiles, “We have a daughter? How in Tarturus did I miss it? Xena shakes her head, “It was three weeks, Ares. And after Solon, it was easy for me to hide another pregnancy.” He shakes his head, clearly irritated with himself, “I should have known. I should have sensed it,” he says softly. She puts a hand on his bare shoulder, but quickly removes it, “I didn’t want you to know,” she says, her voice shaky. I know that she doesn’t want him to see her cry, so I walk out the door, “Fish is done,” I yell. Xena rushes past me, happy for an excuse to leave. Ares lingers behind, still digesting the news. I walk to him, “Hey, you okay?” He nods, smiling, “Yeah, I’m fine,” he says softly. He glances away, then looks back at me beaming, “I have a daughter. Xena and I have a daughter!” He’s really excited over this. He wraps me in a tight hug, lifting me off the ground. He drops me when we hear laughter in the air. We both turn to see a woman walking up the road. “Who’s the bimbo?” I ask quietly. Ares sighs and rushes into the house, “Have fun,” he shouts from the door.
The woman walks up to me, “You’re defiantly not a slave girl. Are you his girlfriend?” I hoot with laughter, “Slave girl?” She nods, “Yeah, the blonde and the darker one. They’re his spoiled slave girls.” I laugh and nod in understanding, “I see. No, I’m not one of his slave girls and neither are they. They’re friends and I’m his little cousin, Lissia.” She smiles and extends her hand, “Greba,” she says with a smile that’s far too fake. I look her up and down, “You don’t know who he is, do you?” She stares at me confused and I smile softly, “He’s Ares, the now mortal God of War. The other two are Xena and Gabrielle.” Her eyes widen in recognition and she breaks into girly giggles. I’m annoyed with her and walk towards the house, “Go home Greba. He’s way out of your league.” As I close the door I smile, “Neighbor lady is really annoying. Don’t worry, I took care of her.” I look over the table, “Where’s Xena?” Gabrielle points to the back door, “She’s out back.” I nod and walk out the door.
I find Xena walking through the trees on the edge of the property. “Hey, are you okay?” I ask as I walk up to her. She doesn’t say anything, so I start to ramble, “Ares seems excited. He picked me up like I was a child. It was very surprising. Greba came by and-.” Her annoyed look tells me not to continue, so I change the subject, “We should tell Lyla next.” She lashes out and hits me in the stomach with her arm. I double over in shock, “Alright, maybe not. But, let’s go back inside. You and Ares need to find a way to be comfortable around one another again and Gabrielle could use a lesson too.” Xena nods, “Sorry about that,” she says motioning at my stomach. I nod and put a hand on her back, “I’m fine. Let’s go,” I say, pushing her into the house.
We walk into the house and freeze in shock. Gabrielle and Ares are sitting by the fire, laughing lightly. Xena walks past them and grabs her sword. She spins and points it at Ares, “Outside, now,” she orders before walking out the front door. He nods and follows her. I grab his arm as he passes me, “Have fun,” I say, shoving his sword into his hand. He looks at it, then back at me and smiles. After he leaves, Gabrielle and I crowd the window to watch them.
Xena stands in a clear patch, holding her sword out, “Lissia doesn’t think we’re comfortable with each other.” Ares advances on her and strikes testingly, “I’m plenty comfortable,” he says as she parries the light blow. Xena smiles and strikes out with a rough jab, “I am too, or so I thought.” He parries her blow and strikes out again, giving her a questioning look. She runs at him and flips over his head, “Well, Lissia doesn’t think I am and she’s never wrong. So I must be uncomfortable.” He spins and knocks her feet out from under her, pointing his sword at her neck, “Maybe this is the one time she’s wrong.” She swings a leg out and kicks his sword from his hand, “That must be it,” she says, standing up. She points her sword at his chest and forces him into a tree, “Looks like I win,” she says playfully. He raises an eyebrow and grabs her wrist, forcing her to drop her sword. He pulls her close, until there’s only a breath between them, “You always win,” he says, passionately kissing her. I stand in awe as she responds with like passion. I hear the bard gasp and then the front door is slamming shut behind her. I disappear and reappear in front of her. I grab her arm and disappear again. A few seconds later, we reappear by the fire in the house. I shoot her a dirty look as I return to the window, “Don’t do that again, I could have missed something.” I turn back to the window in time to see them pull apart. They both look surprised and a little confused. Xena recovers first and collects their swords. She tosses Ares’ to him with a smile. He gives her a devilish grin,” One in a billion, huh?” Her eyes flash and then she smiles, “Don’t read into things too much. It was just a kiss,” she says, strolling back to the house. He watches her go for a minute, the jogs to catch up with her. “Come now Xena, let’s not lie,” he says, putting a hand behind her and causing her to jump a little. Murder plays in her eyes, but when she looks at him, it melts away. She playfully hits his chest with the back of her hand. They both laugh a little and keep walking.
They walk into the house smiling. I look them over and notice how incredibly close they are to one another. “So, you worked everything out,” I ask, knocking Xena hard with my hip. She bumps into Ares and they both send me a dirty look. I smile innocently, “Well, did you?” She looks irritated, then replies, “There was nothing to work out, other than the kinks in my back. We’re fine with one another.” Gabrielle grumbles, “Obviously,” from beside the fire. A blush spreads over Xena’s face and I giggle until Ares jabs me in the ribs. Xena grabs his arm gently, “Go for a walk, Gabrielle and I need to talk,” she says quietly. Louder, she adds, “I would tell Lissia to go with you, but she’s just going to eavesdrop anyway.” As she glares at me, I pretend to be preoccupied by something on the ceiling. Ares nods, gives her arm a gentle squeeze, then walks out the door, with Horace following close behind him. I sit down next to the bard and Xena sits across from us. I raise my hand, “Oh teacher! Can I be the mediator in this little rift?” Xena starts to say something to me, when Gabrielle yells, “Xena, what is wrong with you? Are you actually falling for Ares?” “No,” Xena says far too quickly. I nod yes and she throws a dagger at me. I snatch it from the air and smile at her triumphantly. Xena rolls her eyes, then turns to her friend, “Gabrielle, it’s just, well... I don’t know. But I’m not falling for him,” she says, defensively. I laugh, “Well, that’s true.” They both turn to me, surprised and I continue, “She fell a long time ago, she just hasn’t managed to get back up yet.” Xena fingers her Chakram and I raise my hands in defeat, “Fine, I won’t say a word, but you both know that I’m right.” Xena glares at me, but Gabrielle is nodding, “She’s right.” Xena looks at her unbelievingly. Gabrielle continues, “You did fall for him a long time ago. You fell hard enough to have a child with him. So you might have gotten over it before, but now it’s all being shoved back in your face. I understand, you have that urge to be a real family. I know that some of your old feelings for him are resurfacing because of Lissia, but Xena, you have to remember who he is.” Xena’s eyes flash, a touch of anger in them and I smile widely. I can’t help but to but in at this point, “And who is he, Gabrielle?” She stares at me and doesn’t reply. “Gabrielle,” Xena says, “He isn’t that bad. He did save our lives.” Gabrielle grits her teeth, “I was only an afterthought,” she mutters. “I wonder why,” I shoot back at her. Xena stands up between us, “Enough,” she says harshly. I hate it when she uses that commanding voice with me. I see the irritation in her eyes and can feel it coming off her in waves. I move back, but Gabrielle stands up to face her, “You can’t love him!” Xena looks defensive, she never has liked the word can’t, “I never said that I loved him! But, if I did, why couldn’t I?” Gabrielle’s eyes widen and she looks very upset, no pissed is more of the word, “Xena! You just can’t! He’s, he’s Ares! He was an Olympian!” I look at her, offended and stand up, “Hey, that’s starting to get personal, girly. After all he is my cousin and I am an Olympian. And I happen to think that Xena and I know him a bit better than you do,” I say harshly. Xena looks from her to me, then storms out of the house, letting the door slam shut behind her. I watch as Ares grabs her arm, “Are you okay?” He asks. She jerks away, “Fine. You deal with those two. I give up,” she says, taking a swing at a nearby tree. He glares at the house and I swear it’s aimed directly at me. As he stalks to the house, I turn to Gabrielle, “Now you’ve done it,” I say, sitting down with a thud.
Ares walks in and glares at me as the dog licks my face, “What did you do?” He asks, stressing each word in turn. I point at the bard, who’s standing defiantly by the table, “It was her,” I say. “Xena said it was both of you. And by the way she’s going after that tree, I would say that she’s really mad at you two,” he says. Gabrielle grumbles something obscure under her breath and heads to the door. Ares grabs her arm roughly and jerks her back, “Oh no you don’t. You’re not going anywhere until I find out what’s wrong with Xena.” She jerks away from him violently, “Xena’s lost her mind and it’s all this twits fault,” she says pointing at me. I look offended, I am not a twit, but I remain quiet. Ares looks at me expectantly, “Well, what did you do?” I stare at him unbelievingly, “I didn’t do anything! All High and Mighty here,” I say motioning to Gabrielle, “Is trying to tell Xena how to live her life. And she’s throwing this huge fit because Xena’s in love with you. Frankly, if I were Xena, I would be a little irritated too,” I finish hotly. He rolls his eyes, “Well, it doesn’t matter because she doesn’t love me.” I stare at him, shocked, “Yes, she does,” I reply knowingly. “No, she doesn’t,” Ares and Gabrielle shout at me together. They shoot each other dirty looks as I prepare to reply. “Yes, I do,” a voice says from the door. We all turn to see Xena leaning on the door frame. I smile and point at her, “See? I told you so!” She gives me a discouraging look and I shrug, a little put down. Gabrielle growls in frustration and Ares walks up to Xena, “I’m sorry, I think I’m hallucinating. Must be a mortal thing.” She shakes her head and kisses him passionately. My eyes widen and I smile brightly, “Yes,” I shout, sending small fireworks into the air. Gabrielle stares at them disgusted, “I can not believe this.” I walk over to her, “Well, you’d better start to because it looks like they’re starting to grow on each other a little. I look over at the two as Xena pulls away, leaving Ares in complete shock. When he sees her smiling brightly, he smiles back. And now, even Gabrielle has stopped complaining and looks like she might accept them. For a few seconds I think that everything will be fine, then a horrible tingle goes up my spine. “Oh no,” I whisper. Ares walks over to me and puts an arm around me, concerned, “Lissia, what’s wrong? You’re as white as a ghost.” I pull away from him and take a few steps back, I have to leave, ‘I’ll be back soon,” I say, disappearing.
I appear in my temple outside of Thrace. Lying on my alter steps, bleedings and unconscious, is Lyla. I prop her head up in my lap and holding her close I disappear. Back at the house, I appear, holding Lyla, “Pick her up,” I order, “And be careful.” Ares scoops her up and carries her to the bed, “Who is she?” He asks, laying her down carefully. Xena comes up beside him and looks the girl over, “What happened to her?” I look at the girl, her arms and legs are covered in deep wounds, she has a gash on her head that’s still pouring blood, and more blood is coming through the holes in her leather. I sigh, “Xena, Ares, this is Lyla, your daughter. And until she wakes up, I’m not going to know what happened to her.” Xena’s features jolt harshly, anger and fear spreading through them. Ares face goes straight to a look of concern. Xena takes charge, “Get her armor and boots off,” she says, pulling the arm bands off of her. I crawl onto the bed and sit above Lyla’s head, “Don’t touch her,” I order, “I’ve kept this from her long enough. She’ll die without it now.” Ares nods in understanding and pulls Xena off, shooting Gabrielle a warning look. I put my hands on Lyla’s head and a thick light spreads over her body as I unleash her Demi powers. Her bleeding slows and her breathing returns to normal. I smile and stumble off the bed. Amazingly, Gabrielle catches me and steadies me. Ares gives me a concerned look. I smile weakly, “I’m fine, just a little drained. Give me a few minutes.” He nods and props Lyla up as Xena and Gabrielle undo her armor and leather to expose a soaked shift that used to be white, but is now blood red. I can feel my stomach turn and I walk out of the room to get rags and a bucket of warm water. Ares rushes from the room and grabs my arm, “Get in there, now,” he orders. I watch him go outside and take a few deep breaths. I brace myself as I walk into the room.
Inside, Xena is applying pressure points left and right, but to little avail. “Lissia, I need some more hands over here,” she yells. I rush over and look at the blood covering her and Gabrielle. I’ve never dealt well with blood. Xena grabs my hands and presses them down on a bloody rag, “Hold that there,” she orders, “We have to stop the bleeding.” Gabrielle is doing likewise with a cut on Lyla’s abs. I can feel my stomach rise into my mouth as Xena moves rapidly over the girl, trying to bandage some cuts and press on others. I blink the tears from my eyes, “Xena, is she going to..” I let myself trail off. Xena looks at me and shakes her head, “No, I just got her back, I’m not letting her go.” I nod and bite my lips together. Gabrielle reaches for the bucket of water and the rags, but she can’t get to it without moving her hands away from the cut she’s pressing on. I transport the bucket over to her and she nods gravely at me. Ares rushes into the room, more rags in his hands. He starts to clean a few of the cuts on her legs that are gushing blood. “It hit an artery,” I shout out. He presses down harder on it and I can see the fear in his eyes. Sweat trickles down his face and for a minute I think it’s tears instead of sweat. He doesn’t both to wipe it off, but let’s it drip off of him. Xena looks at me, “We need more help,” she says. I nod, “Can you handle things without me for a few minutes?” She nods and Ares ushers me out of the door. I have a few favors to call in.
I transport myself to a hospice just on the inner edge of Sparta. My soldiers have protected this hospice for a very long time. I walk in, covered in blood and several people rush over, not recognizing me. The head doctor runs to me, “Lissia?” She asks quietly. I nod, “It’s not mine, but I need some help. How many can you spare? And how much of your supplies can you bring with?” Trila, the head doctor replies, “I’ll go and so will Marta, don’t worry she’s good. We’ll grab all we can, Goddess Lissia.” I nod and dance from one foot to the other as they collect two baskets full of different items. I grab the two women and disappear.
We all arrive just outside of the door, “Xena, I’m back,” I say rushing in. The two doctors follow me in and gasp as their eyes land on Lyla. Trila stands shocked, “By the Gods, is that Lyla?” I nod quickly and push her into the room, “Yes, now help. We can’t lose her.” Gabrielle looks up at me, blood covering her face, “Lissia, you’re a Goddess, can’t you do something?” I look away from her and focus on stopping a large gash on her leg from bleeding. Ares turns to Gabrielle, never letting pressure off of the girl’s other leg, “Lissia can’t heal. Zeus’ one limit was that she would never be able heal anyone. Even when he died, nothing changed.” Xena lets Marta move into the group to work on the girl’s head, gently, stopping the bleeding and sewing the cut shut. She sponges the area, then moves onto one of the cuts on the girl’s cheeks. Tears are falling from my eyes as I watch the rags soak up the blood. Xena shouts, “We need more water and rags.” I nod and focus all my energy on making those things appear and in a few minutes they are laying on a nearby table. She smiles at me gratefully. I look from her to Ares and see how much pain they are in. I look down at Lyla and begin to shake. Ares grabs my arm, “Don’t black out on us now,” he says, releasing me. I nod, then an idea hits me, “Are any of the other Gods left alive?” Ares looks thoughtful, “Apollo abandoned us. Aphrodite might still be around.” Xena shakes her head, “I told her to get out of there before I killed Athena.” I shake my head and begin to yell, “Aphrodite! Aphrodite! We need you!” There’s a sparkle of pink light in the far corner of the room and I smile. Aphrodite looks around the room, then looks at Lyla, “Oh no, it’s Lyla,” she says, rushing over. Ares looks over at her, “Was I the only God on Olympus who didn’t know about this situation?” Aphrodite looks confused, “I don’t know about that. You’re the one who trained Lissia, I thought you had to know who her Chosen was.” Ares and Xena both turn to stare at me in shock. I shrug, the change the subject, “Aphrodite, can you help us heal her.” The Goddess of Love shakes her head, “I can’t heal without Athena’s blessing.” Xena whips around to stare at her, “Athena’s dead, you know that!” Aphrodite grimaces, “I know. Look, I can help on a few of the minor injuries. After I get those out of the way, maybe you’ll be able to focus on the larger cuts.” Xena looks grateful, “Do it, Aphrodite, I don’t know how much time she has.” Aphrodite adopts a serious look and puts her hands over Lyla. I shout out, “Everyone off.” Everyone in the room moves away from the body and Ares moves up to stand behind Aphrodite. A few seconds later Aphrodite has fallen into his arms, exhausted from healing the minor cuts. Xena looks down at Lyla, none too happy, then goes back to work on a cut on her upper chest, just below her neck. Ares helps Aphrodite sit in a chair, then returns to the girl’s leg, “Xena, it’s still bleeding.” She nudges him aside a little and applies a pressure point just above the gash. The blood slows a little, then stop altogether. “Get that sewn up, now,” she orders, pushing Trila in that general direction. I look over to where Aphrodite had been sitting to see that she was no longer there. She was working beside Gabrielle, cleaning a deep gash just below Lyla’s elbow. “Done,” Trilla shouts out and moves onto a smaller cut which she holds a rag on. Xena moves over to the leg and releases the pressure point. She grabs Trila’s arm, “Hold something on that, it’s going to start bleeding again,” she says. Trila nods and holds the rag on the cut she had just sewn together. I look over the situation, then hear a gasp from the door, “By all the Holy Gods on Mount Olympus!” We all turn to see Greba in the doorway. Aphrodite laughs, “There’s not very many up there anymore.” I grab Greba and push her into the room, “See this cut, put that rag on it and hold it down hard,” I order. She nods, fear in her eyes and I notice that a thunderbolt had appeared in my other hand as I spoke to her. I look away, guilty, I hadn’t meant to get so carried away. Xena smiles in reassurance and I see that the cut on Lyla’s arm she had been working on was no longer bleeding and was sewn up. “Move Trila,” she orders gently. Trila nods and moves to look at the cut I’m pressing on. She adds another rag, then sponges at a smaller cut that rests almost under my elbow. Frustrated with the cut I’m working on, I glance around to make sure no ones watching and apply a pressure point to the leg. I smile in satisfaction. Looks like Xena’s lessons finally kicked in. I look over at her and see that the sewn cut on Lyla’s other leg is no longer bleeding. She’s working on another cut now, on the girl’s outer thigh. I look down at the cut I had been working on and start to sponge it. “I thought you weren’t going to use those,” Xena says, without looking at me. I shrug and sew the cut up, “This is important.” I watch as Aphrodite moves from one sewn cut to another, placing her hand lightly on them, “What are you doing Dite?” She smiles, “All I can do. I’m getting rid of infection.” Xena smiles and Ares sighs. I release the cut from the pressure point and apply pressure with a clean rag to it. Blood gradually seeps through the rag and I toss it aside, grabbing a new rag. This rag stops the bleeding and I smile. I survey our situation as I press on another cut, this one not as deep, but quite large, as it wraps around her leg. Greba and Gabrielle are working on several cuts on Lyla’s right arm. Xena is on the left arm, working franticly with the one last cut that is left bleeding there. Aphrodite is moving around us, butting in to get to the cuts. Ares is sewing a cut on Lyla’s stomach and I almost cry when I see the struggle he’s having keeping his composure. Trila and Marta are working across from him on Lyla’s right side, standing just next to Greba and Gabrielle. I’m left working on her left leg. I feel something brush against me and I look down to see Horace. He looks as frantic as the rest of us. I look over Lyla’s body and realize that we’re going to be able to save her. The cuts on her head are sewn up and the bleeding has fully stopped there. Most of the cuts on her arms and legs are sewn or are being looked at. Her abs are covered in blood. I look at the blankets and see that blood is flowing out from under her. I replace the blood filled sheets with clean with a flick of my wrist. Xena stares over at me, then notices that blood is soaking it’s way through the new sheets. She curses under her breath, “Alright people, we have to hurry. She has a massive wound on her back.” Greba is running out of the room, taking blood filled rags and dirty water with her. She returns quickly and sets clean items on the table. Aphrodite comes up beside me and as she stares at Lyla’s leg, I notice that the cut I was working on is gradually getting better. By the time she looks away, her face starch white, the cut is gone. I smile over at her, grateful. She nods and moves to help Ares with a cut on the girl’s abs. He’s placing a hand on Lyla’s chest lightly, “Her ribs are broken.” Xena nods, “I know, but they didn’t puncture her lungs. Maybe the Gods were with us on that one,” she says, bitterly. We all laugh slightly, then she moves away from the body. She turns to me, “Can you do it?” I’m exhausted, but I nod, “Yes, everyone move back. Gabrielle get ready to rest her head to one side so that she can still breathe. I stare at the girl and slowly she rises off the bed and as she returns to the bed, clean sheets on it, she flips over so that we can work on her back. Seeing the massive cut going from between her shoulder blades all the way down to her hips, I turn away. I rush from the room and puke. Taking in a few gasps of clean air, I slide to the floor. Aphrodite comes out and sits beside me, “Come on Lissia, this isn’t over yet. She needs you.” I nod and begin to stand, but I fall back down. She grabs me before I can fully hit the floor, then she lowers me down, “Xena and Ares have been a little upset over this, more so than the rest of us. What’s going on?” I sigh, “Lyla is their daughter,” I say getting up and rushing back to the room. Everyone is rushing around. Xena, Ares, Gabrielle, and Trila are holding rags down on the cut. Marta and Greba are getting clean rags for them. Aphrodite and I come in and begin to do what we can. Aphrodite focuses on the cut, trying her hardest to heal it. I replace rags and sheets and water whenever it’s needed. I move to the left side of the bed and add my own strength to the rag holding. The blood continues to soak through. I look around and can’t believe that it has only been fifteen minutes sense this all began. Xena smiles when the rags aren’t soaking up as much blood. Aphrodite falls backwards, to the floor, unconscious from her attempts to heal the cut. We remove the rags and I rush form the room again to puke. I walk back in, still feeling green and move Aphrodite to a chair in the kitchen. Greba has fallen against the back wall. Trila and Marta are exhausted and I wave a hand over them, sending them back to the hospice. I wave a hand over Greba and she’s back at home. Ares comes to stand by me and we both watch as Xena and Gabrielle work from one end of the cut to the other, sewing it together. As Xena finishes a section, Ares rushes over with a damp sponge and begins to clean the sewn flash as it oozes. I go over to Gabrielle and begin to clean the puckering and oozing wound behind her as she sews on. I feel my stomach rising again, but I fight it back. A few minutes later we all move away and I lift her off the bed. The dirty sheets are replaced with clean ones as I flip her back over. Xena reexamines the cuts and nods in grim satisfaction. “All we can do is watch her and hope that infection doesn’t set it,” she says. Ares walks from the room and we hear him collapse on the porch. I start after him, but to my surprise Gabrielle is already on her way out. I look to Xena, who’s staring at me questioningly. I shrug, I don’t have the energy to eavesdrop on them. “Lissia,” Xena says, “Can you fight off any infections.” I’m very unsure of weather I can or not, but I nod, “I can try.” Aphrodite comes in, seemingly refreshed, “I’ll do it,” she says, then adds, “At least until I get exhausted again.” I smile at her and walk out to sit on the porch by Ares and Gabrielle.
Xena comes out a few minutes later and collapses next to us. We each stare from one to the other. I notice the blood covering them and know that it’s on me as well. There faces are white and ashen and I know I look the same. Gabrielle is the only one that doesn’t have tear streaks on her cheeks. The grime covering our bodies is starting to stiffen. Xena gets up and offers her hand to Ares, “If we can all act mature, I think it’s a good idea if we bathed. There’s a small stream around back,” she eyes Ares as she says this. He nods, exhausted, “Mature..okay,” he says a little dazed. Gabrielle too seems dazed. We walk around back, all stumbling slightly and catching each other as we go. We reach the stream and using what little strength I have left and make clean clothes and towels appear next to it. We all strip off the crusty clothes and leave them in a smelly heap by a tree. Sitting in the water, I watch as all of the blood and dirt flow from our bodies and head downstream. We all work with as much energy as we can to get all the blood off of our skin, out from under our nails, and out of our hair. We get desperate to get it off and begin to use both sand and rocks. I stare at Ares, jealous of his short hair. He already has the blood out of it. He comes up behind me and starts to separate the blood from my hair gently, “I always told you there were benefits to having short hair,” he says. Xena glances over at him, “You never told me that.” She’s able to get the blood from her hair easily, she’s done it several times. Gabrielle too doesn’t seem to have too much of a problem with it. Finally we’re all free of blood and we get out of the stream and wrap ourselves in the towels. Ares finishes well before we’re even close and walks to the house, “I’m going to go check on Aphrodite and Lyla.” We all smile at him, thankfully. We were all worried about her. Of course without him here we don’t have to worry about keeping ourselves decent. Personally I don’t care and Xena seems to have only minor problems with it. Gabrielle, on the other hand, is quite uncomfortable being naked with him around. I pull my hair back and tie it in place with a piece of leather. Xena does likewise. We both stare at Gabrielle in envy, she doesn’t have to do that. Gabrielle looks me and Xena over, “Go back to the house, I’ll take care of food,” she says, urging us to the house. Xena smiles and tries to run back to the house, but stumbles a little. I reach out and catch her, but we both end up on the ground. I laugh a little and get up, offering her a hand, only to find that she’d already stood up. We lean into each other and walk back to the house on our shaky legs. I’m a Goddess and still I’m exhausted and shaky, what gives?
Inside, Aphrodite is sitting on the bed, her arms spread over Lyla. Ares is sitting on the left side of Lyla, holding her hand gently. Xena moves to her right side and grabs her hand gently. I sit at Lyla’s feet and spread my arms over her, focusing on killing any infection that even threatens to touch her. I look over Lyla’s body and notice that some of the cuts are heeled. I look at Aphrodite and see the look of pure concentration on her face. Splitting my attention, I feed her a little of my strength. She gulps at it, grateful and I feel myself getting light headed. I break the connection with her and move to a nearby chair.
I guess I passed out because when I look around the room, Aphrodite is no longer there and Xena and Ares are eating. Ares rushes over to me, “Gabrielle has fish in the other room. Are you okay?” I nod and begin to feel sick to my stomach, “Yeah. You know how you told me to never let another God feed off of me?” He nods. I continue, “I wish I had listened,” I say, rubbing my head, surprised by the pain. I am a God right? To test the theory I cut my arm and am satisfied when no blood pores from my veins. Ares smiles at me, “Go eat,” he says. I nod and get up, shaking. I begin to fall to the floor, but he catches me and helps me into the other room. Gabrielle rushes to us and takes me from him. I realize that I am putting my full weight on them. I try to stand, but I can’t. Gabrielle sits me down by the fire and sets a plate down next to me. I smile at her gratefully, “Ares isn’t that bad, is he?” I ask as sarcastically as I can manage. She smiles, “No, he isn’t.” As I eat the fish, I can feel the strength return to me. I smile and stretch, amazed when my back pops loudly. I look around and see Aphrodite lying on a pile of blankets nearby. “She passed out about an hour after you did,” Gabrielle informs me. “How long was I out?” I ask. “Only a few hours,” she says. I nod, amazed that it had been that long. I stand up and she smiles up at me, “You’re glowing,” she informs me. I smile, feeling one hundred percent better, “Good, now I can really help Lyla.”
I run into the room and sit on the bed, resting her head on my lap. I look from Ares to Xena and then to Gabrielle who’s standing in the doorway. I nod, knowing that what I’m going to do is right, “Alright, don’t touch her,” I say. Ares looks at me and sees the determination in my eyes. Before I can place my hand on Lyla’s head, he grabs it, “We need you on Olympus,” he says. I smile, “I don’t plan on leaving. I’m going to feed her my strength. If I pass out, don’t let me fall on her.” He looks at me, obviously unhappy with my idea. Xena looks me over, “Are you sure?” I glare at her, my own version of her ‘look’ and she nods in understanding. Ares releases my hand, but moves to stand by Xena. I smile and place my hands on Lyla’s head, opening myself to her. I bite back a scream as I feel her pain and Ares must have noticed because I feel his arms wrap around me from behind. I open my eyes slightly and see that Gabrielle is standing by Xena, both chewing on their lower lips. I look at my waist and I see Ares’ arms around me, holding me upright. I go back to focusing on Lyla and reel as my strength is sucked up by her needy body. I gasp and fall back into Ares’ arms as her eyes pop open and a blood curling scream comes from her mouth. Xena reaches out and holds the girl down as she tries to move. Gabrielle stares in disbelief at the cuts, they look like they’ve been healing for several days now. Aphrodite runs into the room and grabs me from Ares. She helps me to a chair and I sit in it heavily, amazed to be conscious. I hold my head in my hands, feeling it spin around several times. Then Aphrodite is there, letting me gain strength off of her. I look up gratefully, then walk over to Lyla and sit by her head so that she can see me. “Lissia,” she says quietly. I put a finger over her lips, “Shh. Use that strength to get better and let me tell you a story.” Before I continue I look to both Xena and Ares, letting them know in a glance what I’m about to do. They sit down on the bed on Lyla’s left side, but she doesn’t notice them. Xena nods slightly and I begin my story, “Lyla, you’ve heard of Xena, right?” She nods slowly, “Ares was obsessed with her.” I nod and shush her again, then search for the best words. The truth is, I’ve always been very blunt with things and I am having a hard time polishing this one up. “Lyla, I told you about Xena’s old days and her relationship with my cousin, Ares.” She nods slightly and I continue, “Well, I left something out. In secret, Xena gave birth to a child. I was the only one who knew about this and she didn’t know that I knew until yesterday. That baby, that girl, is half God. I made sure that her powers wouldn’t manifest themselves. I recently had to go back on that. Of course recently a few more people have found out about the child, including her father. Lyla, that child would be dead now if it weren’t for me returning what God Hood she was entitled to, to her. Do you understand what I’m saying?” She shakes her head and I’m a little disappointed. Time to be blunt. “Lyla, you are that child.” Her eyes widen and dart around the room. Her eyes finally fall on Xena and Ares, both of which now have tears running down their cheeks. She smiles up at them and then passes out. Aphrodite grabs Gabrielle by the arm and ushers her out. I stay with Xena and Ares as they both stare down at their daughter, a strong sense of hope and fear mixed in their gazes.
We stay like that until morning, none of us sleeping as we watch Lyla. I don’t know how she could sleep with us staring at her all night. As the sun rises, I move over to Xena and Ares. They’re both exhausted, but determined to stay by their daughters side. “Go, get some sleep,” I order. They both shake their heads and I place a hand on their shoulders, “Gabrielle, Aphrodite, and I will watch her. You two need to rest.” Ares looks up at me and I jump back a little, his eyes are rimmed red and dark circles surround them. I look into Xena’s face and see the same thing. I urge them up and help them into the kitchen, where we’ve set up a stack of blankets to use as a bed. Aphrodite and Gabrielle slip into the bedroom with their breakfast. I give both Xena and Ares a plate of food, but it goes untouched as they collapse onto the blankets. I stare down at them and smile lightly as they curl into each other. I return to the bedroom with a plate of food, I might not need to eat, but I like it, and sit down by Lyla’s head. I run my hands through her hair gently, then examine her wounds. They hadn’t healed much overnight, but they looked a lot better. Carefully I lift her up and stare at the stitches lining her back. For a second I prepare for my breakfast to spew from my mouth, but then I swallow hard and replace the sheets with clean ones. They weren’t real bloody, but there was a little blood and some ooze on them. As I lie her back on the bed, Gabrielle sits down opposite of me. Aphrodite comes up beside her and sits down. Horace comes up to me and I let him lick my plate. Then I pick him up and lie him over Lyla’s feet. He lies there and finally falls asleep. I look over to Aphrodite, “How is she doing?” I’m prepared for the worst. Aphrodite smiles, “Better than her parents, at least she’s getting some rest.” I look at her, anger in my eyes, but she puts a hand up and continues before I can say a word, “Don’t worry Lis. She’s alright. She’s fighting off infections on her own and her wounds are healing quickly. Actually, we need to remove the stitches from most of them. The one I’m worried about is the one on her back. It’s still not looking too good.” I nod and buckets of water appear beside the bed. There are a few rags and sponges and several strips to use as bandages. There are also three very small daggers that look almost like nail files. We start removing the stitches, cleaning the cuts, and bandaging them. We do this for well over two hours, being very careful not to wake Lyla or cause any unneeded pain. Finally I slip into a chair, slightly exhausted. Gabrielle looks over at me, “What about the one on her back?” I shake my head, “Not now. We need to give that one a bit more time.” Aphrodite snaps her fingers and the medical stuff is gone and our hands are clean. I smile at her gratefully. I creep over to the door and crack it open enough to see that Xena and Ares are still very much asleep. I smile and nod at the others to let them know. We all sit down on the floor and rest our heads on the bed, near Lyla, so that we will wake if she does.
A little while later I feel movement next to me and I sit up. Lyla is moving a little, trying to stretch out. I put a hand on her, “Don’t push it too much,” I say quietly. She stares at me, “So, I’m part God?” I nod, “Yes, you are. I don’t know what that will mean for you, but without it, you would have died yesterday.” I know better than to ask about what happened, she’ll tell me when she’s ready to. She nods slowly and looks down at herself, amazed to see her own battered body. She holds out her arms and looks them over, then runs a hand over her face and feels the bandages there. I can tell she’s about to cry, “Don’t worry. They should heal over very well. You had the best team working on you.” She looks at me, “Who?” I smile, “Well, Xena and Ares to start with. There was me and Aphrodite and Gabrielle, Xena’s friend. I brought two people from a hospice to help you. And Ares neighbor, Greba came over to help too.” Horace wines a little and I laugh, “And Horace here, kept your feet warm.” She smiles and scoots closer to me, urging the dog to come up to her. He does and she rests a hand on his soft fur. She looks around again and sighs. “What’s wrong?” I ask. She looks away, “I’m hungry. But don’t you dare try to cook for me.” I laugh loudly and Gabrielle and Aphrodite spring awake. They give me a questioning look, then notice Lyla. I look at Gabrielle, “Hey, you think you could make her some broth without waking up the parents?” She nods and walks into the kitchen very carefully. Aphrodite moves over to sit closer to Lyla and moves the girl’s hair off her face, “Hey there. How do you feel?” Lyla smiles up at Aphrodite, they’d only met a few times, but they always got on real well with one another. “I’m alright,” she says, then continues, “I hurt all over, though.” She tries to sit up and ends up screaming. Gabrielle, Xena and Ares rush into the room as Aphrodite and I help her lie back down. “She’s alright. We need to get those ribs in place though,” I tell them. She moans dramatically, “Let me eat and pass out first.” Ares laughs and leans over to Xena, “She sounds like you.” Lyla looks up at them and slowly motions for them to come over. They walk over and kneel down by her. She looks at them and smiles, “I knew I would find you,” she says quietly. They smile and I can see that they’re both biting back tears. Gabrielle comes back in, I hadn’t noticed that she had left, with a bowl of broth. I move to prop Lyla’s head up. Xena spoons some of it into her mouth and Aphrodite makes what misses disappear before it ever touches her body. Ares and Gabrielle watch her intently. Lyla finishes the broth and some of the color has returned to her face. Gabrielle hands Xena a cup with a herbal mixture in it. I tilt Lyla’s head up a bit more and receive a dirty look from Ares when she grimaces against the pain. It would be worse if she started choking. Lyla reaches out and takes the cup from Xena, smells the mixture and slowly drinks it. Once again, Aphrodite catches all the droplets before they touch her. Gabrielle looks her over, “Do you want to try to keep down a roll?” Lyla shakes her head and this causes her to grimace again, “No, but thank you. I think I want to sleep now.” I scoot out from under her head and Ares and Xena help lower her fully onto the bed. Horace moves up and lays down close to her. We all stand watching her. She smiles, “I’ll be fine. When I’m fully out of it, set my ribs.” Xena nods and runs a hand over her daughter’s cheek, “We’ll let you rest,” she says, motioning for us to all leave. Aphrodite runs a hand through her hair gently, “We’ll be right in the other room if you need anything.” Lyla smiles at her and nods slightly. Gabrielle smiles down at her, then follows Aphrodite out of the room. Ares, Xena and I stare down at her, none of us moving towards the door. Lyla smiles, “Go, I’ll be fine.” I smile and kiss her forehead. I wait by the door as Xena and Ares squeeze her hands gently and then walk towards me. They walk past me, into the kitchen and I close the door quietly. They all stare at me quietly, worried expressions on their faces. I smile, “At least Horace is with her.” They all laugh a little.
A few minutes later, Gabrielle and Aphrodite are cooking food in the fire place, quietly arguing over the best way to make stew. Ares, Xena and I are sitting on the porch. Ares looks over at me and I know the big question is coming, “Why am I still mortal?” I blush profusely and Xena turns, wondering the same thing. I look away, “Well, I told you, Olympus is a mess. I couldn’t exactly find any ambrosia and then things kept happening so I couldn’t leave to search the place. Anyway, it scares me up there. It’s dark and smelly and Artemis and Athena are still there, dead and rotting.” Ares smiles at this and Xena sits giggling. “After dinner, I’ll go up with you and we can look together,” she offers. I smile, then add, “Better make that after we set your daughters ribs.” Xena winces, knowing how painful it will be. Almost naturally, Ares puts a hand over hers and squeezes it gently. Aphrodite walks out of the house, “Dinner’s ready,” she says. She notices Ares’ hand over Xena’s and winks at me. I smile back and we all walk into the house. We eat in silence, not a one of us looking forward to what we have to do next. After dinner, Xena looks over at me, “Think you can work with the pressure points again?” I nod silently and bite my lips together lightly. She starts dishing out orders, “Aphrodite, be ready to wrap her ribs up after we set them. Gabrielle, Ares, Lissia and I will need help getting them to stay in place after we set them. We have to get them all in place before we can wrap them up and we have to be quick about it.” Everyone nods and we walk into the bedroom.
I pick up Horace and set him on the floor, getting a low growl from him. I shoot him a look and he runs from the room, tail tucked. Gabrielle stands next to me on one side of Lyla, Xena and Ares are across from us. Aphrodite waits behind them until she’s needed. Xena nods at me and we both strike down on Lyla, hitting the points dead on. Quickly we get the ribs in place, having Gabrielle and Ares hold them there. I lift Lyla up carefully and slowly and Aphrodite wraps the bandage around her tightly. I set her back down and Xena and I take the pressure points off of the girl. We run our hands over the bandages and smile in satisfaction. I replace the sheets again and Xena pulls a blanket over the girl. Why didn’t we think of that earlier? We all stare down at Lyla, amazed that she is still asleep. Horace pokes his head in and Ares scoops him up, placing him on the bed by Lyla, “Keep her safe, boy,” he says quietly. Xena and I share a secret smile and then she walks over to me, “Are you ready to go?” Reluctantly I nod, “Ready as I’ll ever be.” She turns to Ares as he moves to join us and she shakes her head, “Stay with Lyla.” He’s about to argue, but looking down at the battered girl he nods. Xena turns to look at Gabrielle and Aphrodite. Aphrodite hugs her tightly, “You two are so cute,” she whispers, then pulls away and adds louder, “Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on her. We’ll probably finish taking the stitches out.” Xena puts a hand out, “Don’t touch the one on her back, it needs more time.” They all nod and I grab Xena’s hand. In a flash of light we’re gone.
We arrive on Olympus and the smell of death invades our nostrils. I jerk back and consider leaving, but Xena looks determined to find what we came to find. “We’ll stick together,” she says. I nod and begin to walk down a hall. She follows and grabs my arm lightly, “Where are we going?” She asks. Her voice echoes in the empty hall and shivers go down my spine. She looks around uncomfortably. I answer her, “Athena used to keep a stash of ambrosia in her room.” She nods and smiles at some of the tapestries we pass. Most of which I’m scowling at. She stops in front of a tapestry of the whole family, “Where are you?” I burn the tapestry, “Not there.” Zeus didn’t want me to be part of the tapestry. That little d-. Xena cuts into my thoughts, “Found it.” I smile and grab the fleshy fruit that’s in her hand, “Yes!” I hand it back to her and grab her hand, “Let’s go, “ I say quickly. She smiles and we disappear.
Where we are when the light fades, I don’t know. But I glance around and quickly see that it’s not where we need to be. Xena gives me an odd glare and I shrug, “I’m a little distracted. You know, the excitement and all.” She laughs and we disappear again, this time arriving inside of the farm house. Ares stands up when we arrive, “Find it?” He asks. I’m about to answer when Xena says, “No luck. Lissia was right, it really is a mess up there.” He looks upset, but shrugs it off, “Oh well. It was worth a try.” She smiles and walks over to him and slips something, what I know to be the ambrosia, into his hand. His eyes light up and she motions for him to step outside. I give her a questioning look and she motions me over to the far corner of the room, “Let’s surprise Gabrielle.” I smile and watch as Ares walks back into the room. The changes are minimal at most, but I can notice and Aphrodite can notice. Xena can feel the power coming off of him and she smiles. Gabrielle notices nothing, she’s sitting by the fire, digging through a stack of spices, “Where is that damn witch hazel?” She mutters. Ares sits down next to her and makes it appear in his hand, “Is this what you’re looking for?” She absently takes it from him, “Thanks,” she says, looking it over, then adding it to something in a pot. “Where was it?” She asks. “In a field,” he replies honestly. She stares up at him and finds him playing with a fireball. Her eyes widen and she falls back onto her butt with a loud thud. Xena, Aphrodite, Ares, and I start to laugh and soon Gabrielle joins in.
Later in the night, after Gabrielle has gone to bed and we’ve forced Lyla to drink some more herbal stuff, Aphrodite leaves us, claiming, “I’m starting to smell funny.” Ares and Xena are sitting by Lyla’s bed, staring down at her when I walk into the bedroom. Poor girl. “Leave her alone and come to bed.” They turn to look at me and then nod. Slowly they walk out of the room. Ares looks down at the blankets on the floor and shakes his head, “No more,” he says, making a large, cushy bed appear. He picks Gabrielle up and sets her on one side of the bed. I lie down by the girl and hope that she keeps her hands to herself. Xena lies down, facing me and Ares lies down behind her putting an arm around her tightly. She sighs contently and I know that my job here is done. My goal had been to get Xena to tell Ares about Lyla. Then I wanted them to get along. Then I wanted them to tell Lyla. Then I wanted to save Lyla. Now, well, after my goals have grown so much, I can’t see anywhere else for them to go. Everything seems to be perfect. Ares and Xena are very much together and he’s a God again. Gabrielle is comfortable with the situation and is actually starting to like him. Lyla knows about them and more importantly, she’s alive. I smile and cuddle into the bed, knowing that this will be my last night on the farm.
In the morning I say my good byes to Xena, Ares and Gabrielle. I walk into the bedroom and hug Lyla, who’s doing much better. She’s able to sit up with help and only a little pain. Before I can leave, she grabs my arm, “I was looking for my parents. It was slavers,” she says quietly. I smile at her and hug her again, “Well, no one does that to my Chosen. I think I need to teach them a lesson. Uh, don’t tell your parents, I want to take care of it my way.” She smiles and I smile back. I now have a new goal, a new mission. Those slavers will pay dearly for what they did. But, that’s my business and no one else’s.