“But… but….” Their daughter shook her head as she turned away, the frustration clearly evident on her face.
“Does anyone want to catch me up on exactly what Ari did this time?” the warrior princess released a sigh as she sat
down on a log.
“Xena, Ari apologized to Eve already,” Gabrielle offered.
“But mother, you saw her! She’s just a bird repeating what you want her to say! She doesn’t understand that it’s
wrong!” Eve’s voice rose in pitch.
“What exactly did she do?” Xena unconsciously ran her fingers through her damp hair as she mentally prepared herself
for the worse.
“She read my personal scroll! Something that I consider private, she took it and was reading it and she doesn’t even
understand why it’s wrong to do that!” Eve’s voice was laced with frustration.
When she understood the complaint, Xena fought hard to keep a smile from her face. When she caught her lover’s gaze,
she noticed Gabrielle’s slight smile as she averted her eyes away from their youngest daughter. Although Eve had not said
so, both mothers could tell exactly what Ari had been reading. In an attempt to keep her humor in check, the matriarch
lowered her gaze as she placed her hand in front of her mouth, concealing the slight smile that tugged at her lips. After an
audible sigh, she looked back up at their daughter.
“Eve, if your mother had a talk with Ari, I’m sure your sister understands not to read your scrolls anymore… although I’m
certain they were probably good reading,” Xena allowed her smile to break free as she turned away from the girl.
“MOTHER!” Eve gasped.
“What honey? Do you think you’re the only one who writes about secret sexual longings for perhaps, a certain person?”
the warrior asked. “Why, even your mother has been known to write quite a few of those… what did you call them
again, honey? Toss the plots out?”
“Xena!” Her spouse looked up sharply, a smile crossing her lips as a blush fell over her face. “For your information I do
not write TPO’s! I prefer to call them erotica,” her soulmate’s outrage was quickly replaced by a smile.
“Mother!” Eve echoed Gabrielle’s protest, but when the news registered, she glanced at her blonde mother with a look of
shock. “MOTHER?”
“Awe, sweetheart, you know you write good TPO’s,” Xena winked her lover then smiled at her daughter, “she does!”
“Xena! I don’t think that’s anything to announce,” the storyteller negatively shook her head as she reached over to swat
the warrior’s upper thigh.
“Hey!” Xena yelped, then smiled at her youngest daughter. “Your mother writes some pretty good stuff, I’ve got to tell
you! Why, long before you were even born, before your mother and I first got together, I’d have to find a cold stream
just to sit in after reading some of her stuff!” She chuckled.
“Xena, you weren’t supposed to know about those!” Gabrielle exclaimed with a shocked expression.
“Honey, I’m sorry, but you left one out once and I couldn’t help but read it, after that day, well… what can I say? It’s not
like I was able to have any release at that time, so I would read your umm… more private scrolls, when you were away,”
the tall woman offered apologetically. “And boy, were they good!”
“Mother!” Eve turned a shade of red as she glanced from Xena, to Gabrielle.
With a slight chuckle, the warrior shook her head as she reached over and tenderly tickled her lover’s ribs, which elicited
slight giggles from the woman as she tried to wiggle away. “Eve, your mother writes the best! That’s probably where you
get it from,” the warrior offered as she stopped her assault of her lover.
“You know, mothers, there are just some images that I don’t need to have,” Eve balked at the conversation, a look of
utter disgust crossing her features.
“Honey, I’m sorry if it upsets your sensibilities, but your mother and I do share a very active and healthy sex life. Which is
part of the reason I don’t write as many of those stories as I used to,” Gabrielle smiled as she winked up at Xena. “Why
write when I can simply live!” She exclaimed as she moved toward her soulmate and nestled in between the warrior’s
legs. At their closeness, the dark haired woman wrapped her arms around the Amazon’s shoulders and laid a soft kiss on
the top of her head.
“So, want to fill us in on this certain person you were writing about?” Xena asked Eve as the warm body of her love
nestled against her front.
At her question, the prophet blushed as she glanced into the fire. With the widest smile Xena had ever seen on her
daughter, Eve looked up at them. She released a visible sigh as she wrapped her arms around herself and gazed back into
the flames of the fire. As she began to speak of a young man she had met in Chin, her face lit up. Her eyes took on a far
away gaze as she explained how he made her feel, how his laugh would send a team of horses through her stomach, and
how just the simple sight of his eyes could send her palms sweating. When she leaned back and closed her eyes, she
smiled then stopped herself short when she realized to whom she was speaking to.
“He sounds very nice, sweetheart,” Xena smiled at her daughter realizing for the first time that Eve was no longer a child,
no longer just a young woman with a very powerful gift. For the first time, she saw her daughter as a mature young
woman on the verge of motherhood.
“You must miss him terribly,” Gabrielle empathized, her voice solemn.
“Yes, I do, and I’m sure he’s worried about me. Hopefully the scroll I sent to him from Aunt Lila’s home will reach him.
Everything happened so quickly when I was abducted, I don’t want him to worry,” she slightly smiled, a quiver in her
voice and a slight tear in her eyes.
“When we get to Amphipolis, I’ll see about reaching some of my contacts. Maybe they can get a message to him as
well,” the warrior offered with a slight smile. When she glanced out at the dark forest, she frowned knowing that a lot of
time had passed since Ari left for her bath.
“Are you going to go check on her, or should I?” her soulmate seemed to have read her mind.
“I’ll go see what’s keeping our girl,” Xena patted her lover’s shoulder, then stood and left her family to their quiet
conversations.
~~~~~~
In hopes of escaping the oppressiveness around her, Ari made her way down the trail. The dark child felt a part of herself
going numb as she walked toward the stream. When she reached the waters edge, she stood for a few minutes and
stared down at the flowing creek. She knew when she was looking at Eve’s scroll that it was wrong. Despite this, she
had gone against her instinct and looked at her sister’s personal belongings, and this made her sister angry with her, and
her mother disappointed in her. The girl might have been able to live with Eve’s wrath, but when she saw the look of
displeasure in her bard mother’s expression, it tore at something within her heart.
With a sigh, Ari moved near a tree by the stream and sat leaning against the large thick trunk. As her mind wandered over
the recent events, she pulled her knees up, wrapping her arms around her legs as she rested her chin on her knees. She
watched the flowing water as her mind ran over a myriad of thoughts.
Just like reading Eve’s scroll, Ari knew that her dark longings were wrong. Even though a part of her warned of the
evilness of it, her body craved for Alti’s touch. True, what she had experienced with Virgil seemed to not only push the
numbness away; it sated her needs for a short time. But now that she could no longer share even that with him, she found
her thoughts continually drifting back to the sorceress’ touch, and this made her ashamed. The dark child knew that what
she shared with mage was very wrong. She understood that what Alti had done was evil, in yet, a part of her longed for it
again. The girl’s body longed to be held and touched. She longed to feel the pleasures that the woman’s touch had
brought, and this made Ari feel even more ashamed at her own weakness.
Remembering her mother’s conversation when they were at Aunt Lila’s home, she thought over the notion of how children
were born. Although she didn’t fully understand how Eve came about, what settled in the girl’s mind was the concept that
Gabrielle had been present at Eve’s birth. Not only was the storyteller present, but also she and Xena both fought for Eve’
s life. With this thought, the girl sighed as she closed her eyes to the familiar sensations that raged through her soul. Ever
since she was little she always knew that her birth mother never wanted her. Alti had even shown her the images of when
she was born. The dark child could never get the scene of her mother turning her face away when an older woman tried
to place the infant in the new mother’s arms.
