By Shadow
Feedback – Hell yes! Shadowlander1@gmx.net
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“Oh,
isn’t THAT just great!” The guardian of
time and space sneered as she watched the events play out before her from one
of the more troublesome realities. “Infinite number of possibilities and this
is
the
universe that gives me the most trouble,” she grumbled to herself, erasing the
scenes with a wave of her hand. “They just HAD to be gifted with curiosity,
couldn't be content with worshipping rocks... no they have to question
EVERYTHING!” She continued, pacing the massive hall of her celestial palace,
“next thing you know the ungrateful rug rats are going to be sticking their
noses into my business. I can see them
now, sling-shooting themselves around the sun in starships trying to travel
backward in time and wanting to visit parallel universes.”
“They
aren’t that bad, Eon”, an amused voice said with a laugh bringing the agitated
guardian out of her ramblings on the inconsiderateness of the human race.
"Oh
really?" Eon replied, stopping in her restless prowling to give her quest
a disbelieving look. It wasn't often
the guardian got visitors to her palace at the heart of the space/time
continuum. Usually some deity or other wanting a favour in the form of bending
the rules on no time traveling or reality hopping, granted she had been known
to bend her own rules a bit when the cause was worthy enough. Like that Ebenezer fellow and young Timothy,
both mortals benefited greatly from a little time travel and a peek into
another reality. However just because
she let one or two deities get away with breeching her wards between time and
space; didn’t mean she was going to let all of them do it, there was a reason
the wards where there in the first place.
Still that didn’t stop the occasional visit from one of the older
entities that, like her, existed outside of time and space. “Need I remind you
how you are remembered?”
Aphrodite
leaned back in her chair as her laughter filled the massive hall, “Eon, I have
never cared what my own family thought of me much less the human race. They grew beyond us, as it should be... but
that does not mean I stopped caring for them.” She said, growing serious after
a moment, “none of us have”, she added quietly, remembering the various times
throughout the history of man where she feared the most of their survival.
“I
don’t doubt that,” Eon agreed, knowing exactly what the Goddess of Love was
remembering. It wasn't all that hard to
figure out really, after all Aphrodite has only cried exactly four times since
the dawn of man; the last time being during what the mortals of Earth called
World War II. “But I can’t keep bending the rules, not even for you. The ‘quick’ fixes are not enough, I am going
to have to address the problem at its root source once and for all.”
“Daddy
won’t like it.”
“Oh
yeah like I’ve cared what ‘Junior’ has ever thought,” Eon grunted, using her
pet name for the King of the Olympians. “Although I doubt he is going to notice
what I'm doing; not if he’s up to his old tricks of enlightening every female
that has struck his fancy.”
“Okay...
none of the other gods are going to approve.
You are not allowed to mess with the internal workings of a reality,”
Aphrodite amended with an amused smirk, “it keeps you from being too powerful.”
“Yeah
like I want those crazy rug rats of yours making up legends about me and
demanding things. You know there is a
reason I live out in the middle of nowhere.... I’m not a people person.”
“You’re
not even a person... you are an entity no one has ever heard of, although why
you are constantly being called ‘Father Time’ is beyond me”, the Goddess
countered with a laugh enjoying the rare times she ever found a good enough
excuse to spend time with the guardian.
“You’ve
been hanging out with Athena in that Library of hers again, haven’t you?” Eon
asked, with an amused smirk, out of all the deities she has ever had to deal
with, Aphrodite got on her nerves the least. It probably had something to do
with the Goddess’ total disregard for what others thought of her. “Okay, so the others may put up a fuss if I
intervene personally”, she said, after a moment returning to the task at hand.
“Fine... I’ll just barrow a chapter from the ‘Mount Olympus Rulebook for
Interacting with Mortals’... I’ll appoint champions.”
“Uh
oh.”
“What? It worked for your family over the
centuries... sort of,” Eon questioned at her quest started to rub her temples
warily.
“Why
do I get the impression you're only doing this to annoy Daddy?”
“Because
a vast wisdom lays behind that beautiful face of yours and that damnable
half-brother of yours needs to be taken down a peg or two,” came the reply,
filled with mischief. “Besides I don’t want to be bothered with this problem
again, I do have other matters to attend to. Chaos and Tapestry have hundreds
of new universes to create and I have to be there or nothing will get done.”
“Okay,
okay I'll take your word for it,” Aphrodite said, admitting defeat knowing that
Eon was still a bit peeved at the God of War for his one little experiment with
a very unstable “ultimate weapon” some ten billion years ago and was just
waiting for her revenge. “So... who do you have in mind?”
“Well
since I do want this matter to end once and for all and I do have another little
‘hiccup’ in time that has been annoying me... I’m going to kill two birds with
one stone, so-to-speak.” Eon said with a secretive smile. “A family reunion is
in order I think, you’re little girl is coming home Aphrodite and she’s staying
this time.”
Sunnydale, California
Fall 1998 -
“Willow Rosenberg: research girl extraordinaire and novice witch...computer geek and wannabe spell-caster is more like it,” the young redhead grumbled as she trudged home in the early morning hours after another all-nighter at the Library researching the latest demon threat to the hellmouth. “Great,” she groaned about halfway into her walk home as it started to rain. ‘Maybe I should have accepted that ride from Giles after all,’ she berated herself picking up her pace. ‘But no I just had to prove that I could take care of myself,’ she said to herself, ‘stupid Faith and her sneering. She’s just jealous because I can use a computer and read three other books at once.’ A growl from somewhere behind her brought her out of her silent ramblings on dark-haired Slayers and their bad-girl attitudes. “Thank you, my life was growing kind of boring”, she said casting a quick glance skyward before turning to face the source of the growl, one hand reaching for her trusty stake that Buffy made her carry everywhere. And found herself faced with three fast approaching vampires in full game face.
Letting
her backpack drop to the sidewalk, she gripped her wet stake in one hand and
tried to remember everything she had learned over the summer while acting as
the substitute slayer while Buffy was off trying to find herself after that
whole mess with Angelus and the Hellmouth nearly opening and destroying the
world. Only to stop slacked jawed as
the lunging vampires suddenly froze, after a moment she also noticed that the
rain had stopped too... in mid fall.
Everything just stopped... everything except for her, because she could
still feel her pounding heart trying to beat itself out of her chest. “Oh this
can’t be good.”
“Really? It can’t?” a voice calmly said, as a figure
stepped out of the shadows, “you wanted to be lunch for the undead?” Taking one
look at the huge being coming toward her, she did that only thing she could
think of, she plunged her stake into its chest. “Ouch!” the creature grunted
after a moment pulling out the stake, “was that really necessary little
bit?” It questioned in a shocked voice,
handing the stake back to her and rubbing its chest dejectedly.
“Oh
sorry,” Willow replied, after a moment taking back the stake absent-mindedly,
“reflex... er, what are you?”
“Oh
forgive me, I am Alexiares guardian of divine justice,” the creature introduced
itself with a little bow.
“Guardian
of divine justice”, Willow repeated, taking the time to get a good look at the
being standing in front of her. He was
big, standing at a good 6’ 8” give or take a few inches, with a little black
goat-tee covering his chin and gray skin... or was that fur? It was kind of hard to tell, but it was his
eyes that captured her attention the most, they were sky blue and seemed to
glow from within from some internal power source.
“Not
many humans know of me,” he said with a wide grin, “I sort of help out the more
established gods and goddesses of justice around the world.” He finished in a
stage whisper, a secretive look in his eyes.
“So
you?” she questioned waving a finger around the general area.
“Stop
time? Oh no I’m not responsible for
this, messing with time is ‘so’ not my department... I’m just here to escort
you to someone who really wants to talk to you.”
“Talk
to me? Why?”
“Not
sure... Eon didn’t tell me, just said it was really important that she got to
talk to you... before you became a happy meal for the three stooges of the
vampire world over there,” he said, jerking a thumb in the direction of the
frozen vampires. “You know most vampires do have the sense to get in out of the
rain... or is that sun? I can never
keep that one straight, again not my department, but I can assure you that
these particular vampires will not be sneaking up on you after you talk to
Eon.” He finished, his eyes glowing briefly, “it is time for their final
judgment, they are very disappointing as demons, you know?”
“Okay”,
Willow said with a shake of her head, taking his offered arm, interested in
seeing what was going to happen next, silently wondering if she had not, in
fact, fallen asleep in the Library and was dreaming all of this. Giving the young redhead an encouraging
smile, the two disappear in a flash of light.
***********************
“Easy”,
Alexiares said steadying Willow after the two appeared in a flash of light.
“W-where
are we?” Willow questioned taking a look around herself in awe. The two had
appeared on a terrace of some kind, a very large and imposing palace looming
over them on one side, around them was space, an endless sea of stars and
comets and just everything.
“The
crossroads of time and space... and well just everything. Nothing anywhere happens without Eon first
knowing about it,” Alexiares said proudly with a chuckle, suddenly remembering
that Willow was seeing all of this through the eyes of a mortal and was a bit
overwhelmed by something that was pretty normal for him. “Hey... don't worry
about it, nothing bad is going to happen to you... Eon just wants to talk to
you”, he assured her, “oh good they are here.”
Looking
in the direction he had indicated with a nod of his head, Willow watched as
three women approached them from the direction of the palace. “Ladies may I
present Willow Rosenberg,” he said formally, “Willow, the one wearing the ‘Byte
Me’ t-shirt is Tapestry, the guardian of all that is, was, or ever will
be. She also acts as the guardian of
order, next to her in all the leather is Chaos, the guardian of change, and
finally this is Eon, the guardian of time and space... and the owner of this
place.”
“Nice
to met you kiddo,” Chaos said with a sultry smile, a small ball of energy
glowing faintly in one hand, “hey, do me a favour... say bang.”
“Huh?”
“Amuse
her”, Alexiares said with a laugh.
“Okay...
bang! Willow said a bit hesitantly as she watched Chaos throw the little ball
of energy into the air toward a small patch of nothingness she had not seen
before. Only to jump back in surprise
as the ball exploded in an array of light and colour, adding a new patch of
stars to the sea.
“Yes!”
Chaos cowed merrily, a bright goofy looking grin plastered firmly across her
face as she admired her work. “I love
starting things off with a bang.”
“Er...
what just happened?”
“Nothing
much... you just helped create a new universe is all”, Alexiares couldn't help
but say with a grin of his own.
“You
have to pardon my sister... little things amuse her,” Tapestry said with grin
giving the young mortal a wink.
“Hey! You’re just mad because you didn’t think of
it ol’ orderly and boring one.”
“I
couldn’t of been an only child,” Eon groaned with a shake of her head, “you
have to forgive my sisters, we do not get many visitors...and they do tend to
get overexcited when they are creating.”
“Oh
that’s fine... I get the same way when Giles' let me look at his ‘forbidden’
magic books”; Willow said trying to get into the swing of things. ‘Face it
Rosenberg, you couldn’t live on the edge even if Buffy was there giving
pointers.’
“Hey,
don’t think things about yourself like that,” Tapestry admonished, “we can read
your thoughts little one, comes in handy every now and then in our line of
work. However, as the immortal bard
once penned ‘to thy own self be true’... if you’re not a live-on-the-edge type
person, don’t worry about it... you have less of a chance of falling off and
breaking something.” She finished with
a smile.
“Hate
to interrupt... but we got to get back to work,” Chaos said, eager to begin the
long process of change and evolution in the newly created universe circling
serenely above them, she really loved this part.
“Of
course, Willow if you’ll come with me, I can tell you why I sent for you,” Eon
offered leading the young redhead into the palace.
“Eon
is really going to stir things up... isn’t she?” Alexiares asked watching the two enter the palace.
“Oh
yeah she is... isn’t it great?” Chaos replied, with that goofy grin of hers
plastered firmly in place.
***************************
“Can
I ask you a question?” Willow said following the guardian down a long corridor
lined with doors.
“Sure”
“Where
do all of those doors go to?” She asked, with an arched eyebrow, they all
couldn’t be leading to more rooms the place was huge enough from what she had
already seen.
“Oh
those... they lead to various realities, all of the doors here do...they are
the portals I use to help maintain my wards.
Even I don’t know where most of them lead too, not all realities need as
much maintenance as others do.”
“Your
wards?”
“The
barriers between alternate universes and time itself... can’t have everything running
together, things would be more confusing then they already are in most places,”
Eon explained with a grin, knowing that a longer more detailed explanation
could wait for another time... they had other matters to attend to at the
moment. “To be on the safe side, don’t go opening any doors, all the 'safe'
rooms are door less.” She advised with a bigger grin as the two walked into the
main hall, where Eon tended to conduct most of her business with her rare
visitors.
Looking
around the largest room she had ever seen, Willow noticed that two other people
were also in the room, a blonde woman in a pinkish near see-through dress
sitting in a low-backed chair with a tall dark-haired man standing behind her,
one hand resting comfortably on the woman’s shoulder. “Good you two made it...
how was the trip? Instantaneous?” Eon
asked, trying out those “people skills” Athena had told her about once.
“Eon...
now is not the time for you to practice being social,” Hephaestus said lowly
trying to remain calm for his beloved mate’s sake. All he wanted to do was get
this whole mess over with so he could get back to his forge and doting on his
daughter... after fifteen thousand yeas he was certain he had a lot of doting
to make up for.
“Heph,
has anyone ever told you that you take things way too serious?” Eon questioned
playfully before turning to the redhead next too her. “Willow, I would like for
you too met Aphrodite and Hephaestus, they have waited a very long time to see
you again.”
“Again?”
Willow questioned, confusion clearly written on her face, a faint stirring in
the back of her mind telling her that she should know the two, that they were
very important to her.
“Let
me tell you a very old story not known to many mortals. It is a story only told by the gods to
remember the strength and power of love,” Eon began with a wave of her hand
creating two chair, signaling Willow to take one while she took the other.
“About, oh I think, fifteen thousand years ago, give or take a few centuries,
there was this goddess who had became very jealous of Aphrodite over
there. So much in fact that she played
a trick on the Goddess of Love, she cursed her to never be able to give birth
to a daughter. As curses go that isn't
too bad”, she said choosing to ignore the growl from Hephaestus. “She got away
with it too, no one knew of her tampering until one day on Mount Olympus she
happened to be eavesdropping on Hephaestus and Aphrodite who were off in a
secluded spot talking about having a daughter after having so many boys.
As
you can imagine the vengeful goddess was having a grand time laughing her head
off over the whole matter, unfortunately in all her merriment she forgot that
she wasn’t alone on Mount Olympus.
While she was gloating, Demeter, Goddess of the Harvest, who happened to
be passing by, over heard her. Demeter
was outraged over the whole thing and immediately told her brother, Zeus, the
King of the Gods, of the goddess’s cruel joke.
When called before the other gods the vengeful goddess refused to remove
the curse... not even the threat of being thrown into Tartarus for all time
would get her to relent. Zeus had no
choice, the goddess had defied his command so down to Hades’ realm she went
until she would remove it. Hephaestus
and Aphrodite were devastated, all of their hopes and dreams it seemed rested
on the actions of a jealous goddess.”
“In
his grief the God of the Forge locked himself away in his beloved volcano forge
were he poured his grief and his love for the beautiful Aphrodite into a
sculpture. You see he was not going to
allow the goddess to have the last laugh, he was too proud for that and his
love too strong. Upon completion he
took the sculpture back to Mount Olympus where he proudly displayed it for all the
gods to see. It was a statue of mother
and child, made of the purest marble in the entire known world. It was Aphrodite holding the child that they
would never have thanks to one vengeful act.
When the Goddess of Love herself got to see the sculpture it is said she
was so over come by its beauty that she cried... not something Aphrodite is
ever known for mind you. When her tears
touched the marble infant, her love for her husband, and his for her, broke the
curse where once was a stone child was now a living one.”
“Wow.”
“Wow
indeed,” Eon said with a smile, “in honour of Demeter who discovered the curse,
the happy parents named the child Sito, it means ‘giver of grain’ it was the
time of the harvest on earth you see.
Although
the child does go by a different name now, she is called Willow.”
“Me?”
Willow questioned, eyes wide in disbelief, “no, no... I’m not the goddess
type. I can’t be a god... I’m short and
unpopular and... and I’m Willow.”
“And
what exactly is wrong with being Willow?
And you are most definitely a god... even if you did get screwed out of
your godhood,” Eon questioned even as Hephaestus growled in outrage, to think
his little girl had such a negative opinion of herself.
“I
got screwed out of my godhood?
Why? If I was born from two gods
shouldn’t I be one too?" Willow questioned, her analytical mind kicking in
as the words penetrated her thoughts.
“Well
normally yes... however there is this little snot of a goddess who has nothing
better to do then making people's lives difficult. She pointed out that since you weren't exactly conceived by the
normal standards you weren’t technically a full-blooded god. Zeus was forced to agree with her...
however, Athena did counter with the whole ‘being able to earn your godhood’
that would take care of that little problem. Which you were well on your way to
doing, before someone started screwing with my wards,” Eon explained.
At
Willow's confused look, “Ten thousand years ago, a demon tried to invade your
world. He was stopped by seven warriors, most of them Amazons, who had been
assembled to fight along side the Warrior Princess... or at least he would have
been if someone hadn’t tried to alter the outcome. You were to be one of the warriors... adding your considerable
magical talent to the group. However,
someone wanted the demon to invade and hopefully overthrow the gods
themselves. In order for that to happen
the seven warriors had to be broken up... you and another warrior were both
thrown into the future.”
“But
why? It doesn’t make any sense, why
allow a demon that isn’t supposed to be invading a world to invade? And more importantly... who would gain the
most by such an act?”
“Those
are three very good questions. I wish I
could answer all of them for you. As it
is I can only answer the first two... the why is simple. The throne of Mount
Olympus itself, it is a very tempting prize among the gods. As for allowing the demon to invade... it
makes a very good diversion while you are trying to seize thrones. As for who would gain the most... that list
is almost as long as my palace. Since
it is technically an internal matter, I can’t intervene and look for the
culprit myself. However, since nothing
was done to stop the little twit that caused this mess in the first place, it
has become my problem. You see in order
to get you and the other warrior out of the way, my time wards had to be
breached, while Zeus did make a quick fix... it was not a complete repair and
won’t be as long as you and the other warrior continue to exist outside of your
proper time period.”
“So
we got to go back... and you want us to look into this for you since you
can’t. Search for the ‘twit’
responsible and stop them once and for all,” Willow said, absently shaking her
head as she worked over the problem in her mind.
“Yes...
and I want that demon stopped too... he’s really beginning to get on my
nerves,” Eon agreed.
“Why
am I the only one here, right now?” the redhead asked after a moment.
“Well
I did want to speak to you privately first... you do have a right to know about
your godhood and why... when I do send you back, you are going to probably run
into all of your brothers who have been dying to spoil their little
sister," Eon said after a moment. “Just because you are working on the
godhood thing, doesn’t mean you are cut off from all of your family, and I do
believe that Cupid wants to have a long talk to you about your love life, or
more to the point, lack thereof.”
“C-cupid?”
Willow stammered turning red at the thought of the God of Love having a long
talk about her love life.
“Yeah
Cupid... God of Love and over protective big brother... no one is going to be
good enough for you, just so you know that ahead of time,” Eon advised with a
grin. “Not that your father over there is going to be any better,” she smirked,
tossing the God of the Forge an amused look before turning back to the redhead.
“If
you don’t mind Eon, I will be the judge of who is and isn’t good enough for my
daughter,” Hephaestus all but growled,
even as Aphrodite covered his hand on her shoulder with one of her own,
silently calming her husband. The look
on the Goddess’ face clearly saying that she would be the one handling that
sort of thing; it was her job after all.
“Might
as well get used to this kiddo... You are about to enter into the wildest
family on Mount Olympus, they thrive on being strange.”
“We
like to think of it as being ‘eccentric’,” Aphrodite cut in with a little pout,
a naughty little grin shining in her eyes, as she regarded her daughter.
“Besides have you seen the rest of the family up there? Bores, total bores.”
She said in a dismissing voice.
“This
from the Goddess that actually flashed a group of warriors in front of her
half-brother no less,” Eon commented dryly.
“It
stopped the fighting didn’t it?” Aphrodite defended with mock outrage.
“And
traumatized you poor half brother in the process... Hercules doesn’t want to
see you naked, you know. Unlike some
other gods, he KNOWS what Hephaestus would do to him for looking,” Eon replied,
with a sly wink to Willow.
“You
know for a guardian who isn’t supposed to be messing with the internal
operations of a universe, you certainly know what is going on in one,”
Aphrodite commented, arching one eyebrow.
“Please,
like I have nothing better to do when watch Junior share himself with every
female that walks, staggers, or crawls past him with a good set of legs.” Eon began only to be interrupted by a small
portal opening not far from the little group, followed closely by a body sailing
out of it and into the nearest wall with a loud thud. “Xena...was that really necessary,” she asked as another figure
stepped through the open portal.
“Eon,”
the Warrior Princess growled, her ice blue eyes flashing with barely contained
anger.
“You
were expecting Father Time?” Eon questioned with a smirk, settling herself
deeper into her chair, totally unconcerned about the newcomer’s obvious
irritation.
“Whatever
it is... NO,” Xena growled noting the presence of the young redhead and the
other two gods. ‘Great, just great...
this is all I need, getting mixed up with something involving Aphrodite and
Hephaestus,’
she chastised herself.
“Even
if it involves Gabrielle?” The reaction
was immediate as the warrior launched herself at the guardian, only to have her
intended victim disappear on her. “Will you calm down already, old, tall and
grumpy
one! I’m trying to stop anything bad
from happening to that bard of yours,” Eon said, appearing behind the warrior.
“Halt!
Nobody move!” Alexiares growled appearing in the hall in a flash of his own
light. “Oh its only you Xena,” he said, after a moment sheathing his sword,
once he saw who was the cause of all the commotion. Noting the figure slowly
picking himself up off the floor by the wall, “Do you really have to throw
Lawless around EVERY time you see him?" he asked, with a jerk of his thumb
toward the figure.
“Yes,”
Xena deadpanned, arching one dark eyebrow at the guardian of divine justice,
silently daring him to do something about it. “What do you want Eon?” She
demanded, deciding that fighting with Alexiares would pretty much be a waste of
time, he wasn’t above just teleporting her into a remote prison somewhere and
just leaving her there for several days.
“I
need a favour.”
“I
don’t work for the gods!” Xena growled taking a menacing step forward.
“For
the last time... I am not a god!” Eon growled right back.
“Really? Why not?” Willow's voice cut in before Xena
could.
Turning
to the redhead, Eon let out a tired sigh, “By being called a god, it implies
that I am worshiped... which I am not.
That is the only thing that differs between Aphrodite and myself... well
that and I don’t own any transparent dresses.”
“I
can help you with that,” Aphrodite offered sweetly.
“Dite,”
Hephaestus said in warning, gently squeezing her shoulder, having no desire to
fight with Xena at the moment. “Xena... please, hear Eon out before you make
any decisions,” the God of the Forge asked, staring the mortal straight in the
eye. He really had nothing against the
Warrior Princess in general, although she did nearly sack his forge once
looking for some weapon Hermes had hidden there from a minor prince with delusions
of godhood. Thankfully the drug-induced
haze that stupid prince had put her under to get her to attack his forge in the
first place did wear off before she did too much damage. And she had proved helpful in repairing the
damage, even spending a fortnight helping out before returning to her path of
destruction, but he felt Ares had more to do with her decision to leave then
anything else.
“Out
with it,” Xena growled after a moment, righting Eon’s recently vacated seat
with one foot and sitting down, a look of eternal boredom written clearly on
her face.
“Someone
has been screwing with time... they’ve been moving warriors around and doing
their damnedest to ensure you remain a complete nut,” Eon said, after conjuring
herself a new chair. “And you were too a nut there for several years, so don't
try to deny that," she added with a smirk. “Willow here is one of the
warriors that were moved... she is supposed to be one of Gabrielle’s closest
friends. Between the two of them, they
should be keeping you busy for the next thousand years or so.”
“No,
no... me and trouble are not friends.
We rarely get along with one another and I certainly won’t be getting
other people into trouble too,” Willow said, well on her way into full babble
mode.
Turning
to the young redhead, Xena found herself smiling a bit, as she looked into
honest green eyes that reminded her so much of her own bard’s. “You’re a warrior?” Xena questioned after a
moment, noting the almost self-conscious way the young girl seemed to hold
herself, and yetcshe also saw a hint of something else. Something she usually saw looking into her
bard's eyes, a subtle almost quiet strength that seemed to pulsate from within
putting people at a natural ease.
“N-no
no, I’m just Willow,” she said shifting a bit uncomfortably under that other
woman’s direct gaze. ‘And I thought
facing Angelus was scary,’ she thought, almost in disbelief, practically
feeling the barely restrained explosive energy that seemed to come off the tall
dark woman in waves. ‘This lady could scare the Master.’ Only to be distracted by a snicker from Eon,
who seemed to be on the verge of rolling on the floor with laughter. “Huh?” Willow questioned, as Xena gave the
guardian the ‘look’, which was kind of like resolve face but only scarier.
“Sorry
private thought... and Xena has scared him once or twice... or at least she
will,” Eon said with a secretive grin.
“Eon...
if you don’t mind! Why are we
here?” Xena questioned, remembered the
last time the guardian has something equally as strange to her and not long
afterward she was up to her ears in little blue things that kept repeating the
same word and singing! She couldn't get
that damn ‘la-la’ song out of her head for nearly an entire moon.
“Spoilsport,”
Eon said sticking her tongue out at the Warrior Princess, mischief shining
clear in her eyes. After a moment she
sobered, grinning wildly at her guests, “Okay... here’s the deal. Willow over there is Heph and Dite’s little
girl... ask Gabrielle, she should know the story, so should Herc if you want to
hear the longer version of ‘As the Hourglass Turns.’ In a nutshell Willow got
screwed out of her godhood, which is no big deal, she could still get it
back. However, in doing so... you
nearly got screwed out of your redemption.
Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to ensure that you and Gabrielle
have a rather violent falling out and aren’t there for one another when the
time comes. I want the little bastard
responsible for both events and I can’t trust Zeus to do it for me. He had his chance to fix this mess and he
did a half-assed job, so now I’m calling in the big guns... which would be you
two, to fix it. Questions? Comments?”
She explained sitting back in her chair to wait the fallout.
Taking
a deep breathe, Willow raised her hand tentatively, “You said that there were
two of us that got thrown into the future... who is the other one?” she asked,
unsure if she liked the smile that crossed the guardian’s face at the question.
“You
have to understand Willow that the other warrior that got thrown into the
future is not exactly the same person you now know. The future has been a bit unkind to her... in her proper time,
she is a most remarkable warrior, one of the few beings of the ancient world
that could ever give Xena here a run for her dinars.”
“Oh
no... you can’t be serious... that is evil and wrong... and just evil,” Willow
said, shaking her head as she put two and two together and was coming up with
nothing but trouble. “She hates me!”
"Now
I wouldn't say that kiddo... lusts after you and wants to get you naked in the
nearest closet yes, “but she does not hate you,” Eon replied.
“N-naked? Me? Faith? Closet?” Willow said, her eyes
widening in terror with each word. “N-no, no those are bad, bad thoughts... bad
Eon,” she chastised the guardian, shaking a finger at her, “Me... Faith naked
together is bad.”
“If
you can help her out in the confidence department I’m sure Aphrodite would be
more then willing to make sure that Gabrielle doesn’t fall in love with that
sword-swallower in that traveling acrobatic troupe that is going on a tour of
Eastern Gaul,” Eon said in a stage whisper to Xena.
“I’ll
see what I can do”, Xena replied, wondering at the wave of jealously she felt
at the thought of some two-bit sword-swallower even looking at her bard, ‘I got
his sword right here,’ she thought murderously.
“So
with that settled... lets get this show on the road. Xena, I do believe you have a little unfinished business with the
Amazons at the moment. I will let you
get back to that... and go a little easy on the
Amazons
will you? You are going to need them a
little later. And Willow I will let you
get home, I believe that there are a few books you want to collect. And be a
dear and put on the clothes waiting for you. Bright orange overalls really
don't blend in all that well in ancient Greece,” Eon said, with a clap her
hands sending both mortals back to where they had came from.
*************************
Xena
looked up as her traveling companion came stumbling into camp, her small arms
full of firewood, a stray tree root causing the young girl to trip and lose
control of her precious cargo. “Interesting method of gathering firewood,” Xena
commented dryly, her mind wondering over the strange visit she just made to
Eon's palace. While she wasn’t quite
sure what Eon needed her for, she know that it had to be important if Eon was
asking favours from anyone, let alone a mortal. Then something occurred to her, “Gabrielle, do you know any tales
about Aphrodite and Hephaestus having a daughter?” she asked, once the bard had
staked the wood by the fire.
“Huh? Oh you mean the tale of Sito... its very
old, not many know of it, in fact many think that it’s complete fiction,"
the bard said, looking up a bit surprised; Xena almost never asked for a story.
“Well as I recall it is a story told by the gods to remember the strength and
power of love,” she began slipping into what the Warrior Princess liked to call
her “bard” mode.