****

It was decided the four would travel as far as Cyberus together - where there were warlord problems. Xena was anxious to get back in action and Hercules thought it a good idea to have the woman on her feet and doing good deeds again as quickly as possible. It would be a week long jaunt that was fraught with obstacles but few real dangers. A good time to think and mend.

The first night out Xena kept to herself and when Gabrielle tried to talk with her the answers were short, but without malice. "I promise, Gabrielle, I will answer all questions but give me a few days to get it straight in my head. Hercules helped me," The Warrior Princess glanced over at the night-time campfire to where Iolaus and Hercules sat, discussing something in hushed tones. "but I still need time."

She looked so tired and confused that Gabrielle couldn't be angry with her, "All right." she said and gave her friend a brief hug.

But before the girl could move away, Xena placed fingers under her chin and smiled, "You really are my best, dearest friend, Gabrielle. I don't know what I'd do without you."

The Amazon Princess smiled and, mirroring her friend's action to such a display of affection, she gave her an 'Oh, come on' look and warmly pulled away, tossing sticks on the campfire.

"Did you hear that?" Iolaus, suddenly stood. His body was in alert status.

"What did you hear?" Gabrielle stopped in mid toss and looked in the same direction as he.

"I'm not sure. Maybe nothing but I'm going to take a look."

"Do you want me to go with you?" Hercules asked.

"No," Iolaus eyes darted from one tree to the next, "It's probably nothing. I just want to be sure."

"Yell if you need us." Xena offered, some of her dry humor returning.

"Believe me, I will." he shot back.

Gabrielle watched him move off, to be swallowed by the darkness. Iolaus hadn't really talked to her much since the morning they awoke in each other's arms. It was a little awkward but also kind of nice. Perhaps she had revealed too much. Some men were like that. It was all very intriguing while the mystery remained but the minute a girl showed interest in something on-going it was a whole different story. But she really needed to talk with him and hoped the opportunity would arise before they parted.

****
Still not completely formed, she leaned her long, smooth back on a tree trunk and allowed her arms to folded themselves over an ample and hardly outfitted bosom, "Sweet-Cheeks, over here!" she called with that lilting party-girl tone in her perpetually young voice. "Right here, cute stuff!"

He stopped short when finally seeing her, "Aphrodite!" Iolaus exhaled in relief when spotting the pink spindle of god-light followed by the appearance of the beautiful Goddess of Love, "What are you doing here?" he asked and tried not to sound too terribly displeased to see her.

"Cool it," she piped, glancing over at the camp to make sure the others hadn't heard, "I'm here on business. For you."

"Me?"

"Sure, I know there's some bad karma going on right now with the death of Cyrene and all. Xena's not in too good of shape but she'll get through it with my big bro's help ... But I'm here for YOU - " she twinkled and stood straight, proud of her cleverness, "- and that cute little girl you've been mooning over, Gabrielle."

"Aphrodite ..."

"Now, don't pretend you don't have the hots for her because I've been watching you ever since you arrived in Amphib .. Amphi.... town." The Goddess of Love delicately stepped over a branch and stood in front of Iolaus, laying slender hands on her perfect hips, "Well, to be honest with you, it was Cupid that pointed you two out to me ... I always figured you had a 'soul-mate' thing going with her but didn't really care until my son gave me an idea. He said, 'Just think Mom, if Gabrielle and that Iolaus dude got together then they'd settle and she'd stop writing those stories about Xena's adventures -- and everyone would go back to looking at you as the A Number One Chick-Attraction in Greece -- not that leather clad fighting machine with a breast plate.'." Aphrodite cleared her throat, "Oh, I added that last part myself."

"Was that you talking in my head last night?"

"You got it -" she tittered, "But geez, what a hard head you are! All that worry about what's right and wrong ... You keep that up and you'll never connect with that girl! I mean, it'd be a shame seeing as how you are destined to be together and ..."

"What do you mean by 'soul-mate' and 'destined'? Isn't that kind of up to Gabrielle and me?"

"You're so sweet but completely out of the loop, Sunshine!" Aphrodite huffed just slightly and rolled her eyes in a 'I guess he's going to make me explain' gesture, "You see, about twenty five percent of the human population on Earth have soul mates ..." she thought a moment, "I think it's twenty five percent -- Could be up to thirty now. I don't usually keep the books myself and ..." She noted Iolaus' impatient stare and continued, "But anyway, some people do. It has nothing to do with that weird story she told you about humans having two heads and four legs - oh yuck! - but something to do with spiritualism. I'm not real sure myself. But the bottom line is that some people are meant to be together and you and Gabrielle are one of those couples. Now, it doesn't always happen. Somewhere along the line one will marry the wrong partner --"

"Like Gabrielle marrying Perdicus?"

"Yep. If he'd lived their life together would have been torture. She'd have a kid every year and he'd demand she stay home and raise the little rug-rats and she'd argue that she needed more from life and ten years later he'd run off with some pretty tavern girl and leave her high and dry."

Iolaus was astonished, "You know that for a fact?"

She shrugged, "Nah, but I've seen it happen."

"And what about me?"

"If you and Gabrielle don't get together?" She thought about it a moment, "You'd go off to the kingdom of Attica, hoping to reunite with Queen Niobe. But you'd find her totally different." Aphrodite's voice softened a little, "I know you loved her, Sweet Cheeks, but she wasn't for you. There is a lot of selfishness there. Believe me I know about selfishness!"

'I bet you do.' Iolaus almost said but somehow prevented the words from leaving his lips. "So now I know." He smiled and seemed satisfied, "All I need to do now is tell Gabrielle and we can go off and live happily ever after." he summed up. But how to tell Hercules ...

"I wish it were that easy." And she sounded genuinely apologetic, "You see, as much as I'd like for you to keep this memory of me I can't. It's in the rule book. I have to leave here and with me goes the memory of me being here -- especially since I let your destiny out of the bag."

"Then why did you come in the first place?!"

"Well, sometimes when I make an appearance a part of me stays with the person I visit. You may not know why you are thinking the things you are thinking but it will be a memory of me from me ... and maybe it'll stick with you." Aphrodite sighed and suddenly looked serious, "I know I sometimes seem a little superficial but I really like you two kids and want to see you make each other happy ..."

"I see." Iolaus had to smile, "And Gabrielle stops writing The Xena Scrolls?"

"That's a perk."

She faded from sight.

****

Their third night out Xena was ready. Hercules knew the story but the retelling would still be difficult for him. He accepted what she had to say the first time they discussed it, in the house of Cyrene, huddled together in a dark corner. He was wonderful and supportive and she didn't know how he could look at her and not see her for what she was.

Gabrielle, Iolaus and Hercules sat beside the campfire, the dark woods about them acting as another audience for the tale Xena was about to impart. The night sounds were nearly non-existent -- almost as if they too sensed something momentous was going to happen.

"She was so pale and near death --" Xena began, " -- when I entered her bedroom. I knew my worse fears were confirmed. My mother was dying and there was nothing I could do. I felt as if all my years as a warrior, sacking villages - like Amphipolis - and killing off their men ... It demanded retribution. My mother -- a lonely painful death. And I never really told her I loved her as deeply as any ocean on Earth." Xena stood and paced in front of her friends. "But Cyrene wasn't quite dead. She looked up at me with her pained eyes and said ....

************

"... Xena, I must tell you something." Cyrene croaked through parched lips.

The Warrior Princess search the small table beside her bed for a water cup but saw nothing. "Mother let me ..."

"No, I must tell you before it's too late." and the mature woman, wasting away from illness, lifted a weak hand and placed it on her daughter's leg, "Please sit down."

Xena did, obediently.

"Your father was a very handsome man, do you remember?"

"No .. Not really."

"He had lots of dark hair and eyes as bright as a clear blue sky."

"You always said I took after him ...."

Cyrene gulped, "You do." She closed her eyes, "But your two brothers --"

"Yes, they both looked like you."

"Xena," Her eyes opened and, staring directly at The Warrior Princess, Cyrene said very steadily, "I am not your birth mother."

There was utter silence for the count of thirty. She's delirious, Xena considered.

"Your father was off at war, paying his tribute to Ares, when a beautiful young woman came to his camp. As far as I know he'd always been faithful to me but this was wartime and she was just so enchanting he couldn't resist her charms -- and they slept together. She left him that very night and he continued with the business at hand. War was all consuming. After awhile - when he was finishing a campaign - she returned with a child. A lovely little girl with tuffs of dark hair and a smile that could melt crystal."

"Me?" Xena could feel her face grow red and tears stand in her eyes. "Mother, why did you wait until now to ...?"

"Sh." Cyrene gently shook her head, "There's more, my dear." She again closed her eyes, fighting a spasm of pain then continued, "At first this woman took you to Zeus, attempting to make him angry. She was always so jealous of his attention to Hercules - his human child. She wanted to make him feel as betrayed as she felt."

"My Mother was a goddess? One of Zeus's courtesans?"

"She kept you around Olympus for a year, never really looking at you, allowing others to take care of you - and hoping to flaunt her human affair. But it backfired because Zeus adored you. He loved having this energetic baby crawling about the palace and getting into mischief. She couldn't understand that, despite what she had done to him, Zeus loved human kind more than he loved her so a half human-half goddess child was a delight to him .... reminding him of Hercules, the only son he truly loved. Furious, she made a decree. She told him this female child will destroy the human race. Left to her own devices she would take over Greece and parts of Britannia, even the orient. She would be evil and warlike and Ares - her half-brother - would watch over her and see to it that Hebe, which is what she named you, became a menace on Earth. "Hebe, The Destroyer, they would call her ....you."

Cyrene saw the horror growing in Xena's eyes, "But when your father brought you to me and we saw how utterly sweet and innocent you were I knew I could change things -- I renamed you and made you believe you were my own. No one in Amphipolis knew you weren't born from me because we had been away .... And you did grow up good until Cortese sacked our village. Then I saw it start to happen and there was nothing I could do ..."

"What goddess is my mother, Mother?" Xena's voice shook, "Tell me. Who cursed me? Who ruined our lives?"

"Your mother is ...."

***

HERA. The Queen of the Gods.

Murderer of Hercules' family.

" .... Hera."

Hercules looked down at the ground. It wasn't easier hearing it a second time.

Anguished, Gabrielle raised a hand to her face and hid her eyes.

Iolaus stared at the impassive face of Xena in complete and silent shock.

"And the funny thing is ..." Xena continued in a daze, " ... there was a time when I thought Ares was my father. I suppose I should have known. His interest in me wasn't only geographical but physical. Gods intermingle all of the time. But fathers and daughters don't mix. Usually."

****

They moved onto Cyberus and when the warlords were dispatched and the city was safe, it was time to part.

"I can't leave her, Iolaus." Gabrielle leaned into the hunter-warrior, their bodies belly to belly, his and her foreheads touching. His arms were wrapped gently and lovingly around her. "Now, more than ever, Xena needs me. She has to purge this out of her system. Doing good is going to be an obsession with her and I have to be there to see that she doesn't over do it."

"She can be like that." he agreed, "And I can't really leave Hercules now, either. He's really torn. Can you imagine him discovering a woman he loves is also the blood-daughter of his worst enemy? No wonder Zeus didn't want to come to him personally about Xena ..."

" ... and why he thought Hercules needed to be here. I don't think anyone other than he could have calmed Xena and help her get through this ordeal." She leaned in closer to Iolaus and smiled, "Do you really think he loves her?"

"Oh, yeah."

The couple turned their heads to look over at Xena and Hercules, as they stood close - holding each other's hands - saying goodbye to each other. They were working through this event just fine but it still left a mark on both half-gods.

"And I always wondered why Xena, a mere human, was able to communicate with the gods so easily. Ares, Poseidon, Cupid, Hades and even Aphrodite seemed to come out of the woodwork at her call. Maybe they weren't even aware of why they were so accessible to Xena." A mild smile formed on Gabrielle's pert lips, "She's going to be rethinking a lot of her past. The choices she made weren't hers alone and that has to be sobering."

"And you'll catch her when she falls." Iolaus said affectionately.

"IF she falls." Gabrielle corrected. "By the way," she straightened from him and held Iolaus at arms length, "I realize that our separation also paves the way for YOU. I see many pretty females in your future, Iolaus, and I'm not going to fool myself into believing you won't take advantage of your single, uncommitted status."

He chuckled and veiled his eyes, "You're that sure, hunh?"

"You like women and they like you." she stated matter-of-factly. "Who knows, maybe some day we will both want to settle down ... and we'll find each other when the thought occurs to us."

He nodded slowly, thoughtfully. "That would be nice."

"Oh," It was her turn to recall something he once said to her, "it will be more than nice ..." and Gabrielle leaned forward, craning her neck to meet his tender lips with her own.

*

Somewhere a disembodied voice sang "YES!" and punched space and air with her delicate fists. "A home run!"

"I'd hardly say that, Mom." Another voice inserted, "They're leaving each other. This is so bogus."

"Cupid honey, the game isn't played out yet." she responded.

***

Mount Olympus quaked with her rage.



THE END
(Fiction written August of 1998)

I would like to go to: Part Two - "Interlude"