Xena blinked, then her expression softened and she tenderly stroked her youngest daughter's hair. A tear ran down her cheek
as a sigh trembled through her.
At the tremble, Eve looked up and saw the tear. She too blinked as she felt her own eyes fill and touched Xena's wet cheek
and whispered, "Oh, mother. Don't cry. Ari will be all right. You'll see…"
"Oh, Eve…" the warrior princess whispered brokenly. "Look at her. How can she be all right, with the things she has
endured … because I was weak…"
"Mother," the prophetess smiled through her own tears. "None of us can foresee what harm our simplest actions may cause,
all we can do is try to make them right when we discover them, and we will all help Ari. With you and Gabrielle, and me to
show her Eli's love, she will come around; you'll see."
Xena hugged her daughter fiercely. "Thank you, honey," But inside she thought, “By the gods, Eve, I hope you're right, but I
just don't know if Ari or anyone could be made whole again after enduring such horror,” she silently thought.
Unaware of her mother's uncertain thoughts, Eve, once known as Livia, the Bitch of Rome, laid her head back on the
comforting lap and closed her eyes listening to Gabrielle's song. In the darkness behind her eyelids, images of horrible things
she would rather not have seen strayed into her mind and she concentrated upon the song and Eli's love with all of her being.
Ari felt herself drifting into the realm of dreams as the constant whispers swirled incoherently within her head. At one point,
she thought she heard Eve's sanctimonious whispers, but was unable to fully understand everything the prophet was thinking.
Rather than dwell on her sister's ramblings, the dark child dived deeper into the dream images filling her unconscious mind.
Each time she felt the dreams turning into a nightmare, the soft touch of her mother's hand would soothe her brows and the
strange lullaby would rise in the air. As the words from a song she had never heard before reached her senses, she snuggled
down deeper into the warm embrace. A part of the girl knew that something was different, that this person who comforted her
did not feel like her mother. Yet another part didn't want to contemplate it. Rather, she only wanted to enjoy the feelings of
warmth and protection that she had not felt since she was a babe.
Sins of the Mother
