Xena, Gabrielle, Joxer, Hope, Eve, and the 
Fates all belong to Renpics, no infringement 
intended. This story contains references to 
two women being soulmates, and deeply loving 
eachother, though it does not pass the 
boundaries of what is already established in 
the show.

Setting: A missing adventure within 'Motherhood'. 
A few days after the showdown at Mount Olympus, 
the morning of and prior to the very last scene.

Soul's Forgiveness
By Darshann (XluvsG)


Morning light streams into the small cramped 
room. Dust sparkles in the shaft of light, 
slowly shifting in the air current. We stay 
in rooms so infrequently, I always startle 
when I awake in one. I pause a moment before 
I know where we are this time...

Still in Rome, recovering from this mess 
with Eve and still sorting out this foreign 
world. Eve is staying in another room down 
the hall. A flash of anger flickers across 
my soul as I recall the most awful deed of 
our once loving daughter. Joxer... His last 
words etched in my memory. Disbelief still 
outweighs the pain. For all of this... will 
our life ever be normal? 

Usually, I'm the last one to wake, but this 
morning dreams are not welcome. Eve, Hope and 
Joxer have been haunting my nights since that 
fateful day. I haven't told Xena, her burden 
is enough without adding my pain.

Her arm is draped across me and I gently 
move out from under it, trying not to wake 
her. I slide out of the bed and turn to look 
down at her sleeping form. I wonder if her 
dreams have been as haunted. She sure sleeps 
well enough. At least her daughter lives... 
She has a chance to make it right. 

A pang of anger and then guilt tug at my 
insides. How long shall I carry this? Can I 
ever truly forgive her for Hope? We never 
talk of it, it is too deep, too raw. 
Especially now. 

Hope was never forgiven. I sometimes wonder 
what might have been, had I kept her. Had I 
raised her. How much of her demon was due to 
being abandoned? I will never know.

I touch Xena's cheek. Still amazed after all 
this time that I have her in my life. This 
incredible, beautiful, intense being who 
loves... me. The look on her face is so gentle,
raven hair fanning out behind her. It is hard 
to believe at moments like this that we ever 
betrayed each other so deeply. First Hope, 
then Loa Ma and Meng Tien... then Solan and 
all that came with his death. 

How did we ever survive that time? Forgiveness 
came so swiftly after the Elysian Fields, but 
did it really? Or did we simply agree to move 
on and pretend to forget. Wanting so desperately 
to hold on to our love, that we both willingly 
buried our wounds deep underground. Did those 
wounds ever really heal, or are they simply 
lying in wait. Ready to devour us whole, the 
next time we stand at the edge of a cliff?

I shake my head, tears threatening to escape, 
pushing away the image. Xena and I standing 
on a cliff filled with rage and hate. I will 
not think about that. No, it is done and 
past. There is enough now, without returning 
to those old dead wounds.

I'll go out and find breakfast. It will be 
better to deal with Eve on a full stomach. 
Assuming I can eat the way I feel lately. 

Xena now seems to think Eve is reborn, that 
she scratched the surface with the help of 
Eli. Then the water ceremony broke through. 
I'm not so sure. I sigh. Wondering if the 
Furies are still whispering in my ear. I 
shake my head clear of these thoughts. I 
have to give her a chance, she seems 
reformed...

I tuck my sias into their places in my boots 
and slip silently from the room. 

Walking down the hall, Xena's words from the 
the night before we found a despairing Eve in 
the desert tug at my soul. "I think I can 
bring her back. How can I give up on her... 
she's my daughter. I couldn't kill 
her when I tried. I have to give her a 
chance, I have to try." 

I had smiled and placed my fingers on her 
cheeks, touching the hot tears streaming from 
her eyes. Masking the hell burning deep in my 
heart. Wondering where those tears were for 
my child. This faith in my same judgement. 
Trying to push away the anger screaming to be 
let loose.

It wasn't fair. 

A hot burning at the back of my throat rises 
into my eyes as they blur with wetness. She 
killed Joxer, and she is forgiven. Joxer... 
Joxer. He was such a silly man... but he 
loved me with all he was... even when I was 
awful to him. I'll never forget the look on 
his face when he tried to save me from Xena 
just after Solan... I hope he has found his 
peace now. What a mess this is, our family, 
our life. It used to be so simple.

"Hey!"

I jump slightly as I realize I have been 
standing still in the center of the village 
street. An impatient driver is holding his 
horses back, glaring at me to get out of his 
way. I blush slightly and scurry to the side 
of the avenue. How did I get out here? I 
don't remember leaving the inn... 

I spot a small temple just across from me. A 
Temple to the Fates. Perhaps... No they never 
summon me, it is always Xena they want. I 
must have been so lost in thought that I just 
walked out without realizing what I was 
doing. 

Still, the compulsion to enter is too 
strong to ignore. All thoughts of breakfast 
have left me. I stare at the thick, heavy wooden 
doors. Invisible hands pulling me closer and 
closer. Would they appear to just me? Can they
answer any of my questions? What 
are my questions?

I find myself at the threshold, not remembering 
moving forward. I push the doors open. They 
creak as if they haven't been opened in many 
seasons. 

Dust swirls in dark clouds inside. Stepping 
into the darkness, I stand still, breathing 
in the musty aroma.  My heart pounds against 
my chest and I chide myself for the fear 
creeping up my spine. They're not even gods, 
Gabrielle, and how many gods have you faced? 
I laugh, and it echoes off the unseen walls, 
reverberating in a sinister manner. It 
reminds me of something. Something deep 
down... 

"Do you know why you have come?" A bodiless 
voice seems to brush at my ear, causing me to
jump. 

I whirl around squinting into the dark for 
the source of the voice, but see nothing. 
"Hello?" The echo returns, stabbing into my 
heart. An image of Xena and myself in a 
disembodied hall, angry, singing... echos 
that hurt. "Who are you?"

"I think you know, child." An older voice 
than the first, scratchy and strong.

"One of the Fates?" My voice trembles, 
barely believing, and yet certain.

"Do you feel the thread twisting?" A 
different voice, this one younger, higher. 

"What?" My insides churn in confusion.

"Ask us your questions, it is not everyday we 
allow a mortal to ask of their fate." The older 
voice grates against me in it's impatience.

"I don't know...." The urgency of this moment 
silences me. I can't push them, I know this. 
I can't let this slip away. My stomach flutters. 
My body recalling the similar feel of free 
falling through the air. Tumbling from the cliff 
side by side with Xena to our deaths. My inner 
voice was screaming. Screaming I had made a 
terrible mistake. Everything was so wrong... 
Something... 

"Something to do with Eve and Hope, Xena and I. 
I... don't know what. I feel something is wrong."

"She has felt it." The young voice breaks 
into my words, excited. Excited? That's alarming. 
Immortals are rarely excited about mortals 
unless it means very bad news to the mortal.

"Yes, this one is gifted with the sight, 
though it has only been grazed up to this 
day." The older voice mumbles in a raspy 
whisper.

"Shall we show her the line of her Fate?" The 
young voice asks the other two. 

I know it best to keep silent, but my blood 
thrums in my ears at the question. I thought 
my fear in battle could never be topped... 
but this... I don't know if I wish to know.. 
the very last time we talked to the fates, 
they told Xena she had to die... The true 
meaning behind their words wasn't much better.

"She will not understand it." The first 
voice, the voice of a woman my age, speaks 
with sureness. It is she who seems the 
leader, if there is one among them. Though 
she seems to talk the least.

"It has never been done before. It could 
change many things..." The older voice, 
filled with wisdom, croaks her doubts, but is 
cut off by the first voice.

"But it has been twisted in an unnatural way
by the gods interference. We have seen all the 
threads are turning in response. It must be 
done. Only she can fix what has been broken.
She needs a chance to see what their meddling
has caused her to miss."

Silence. I feel a sweaty clamminess spreading 
under my arm pits. I wonder how long I have 
been here. How long before Xena wakes and 
realizes I'm gone? How long before she comes 
searching? I almost wish she would burst in 
that door. Her steely gaze assuring me of her 
safety. Taking me away from this... or doing 
this with me. I feel so half full when she 
isn't by my side.

"Gabrielle." The leaders voice shocks me out 
of my musings. "Come forward. Hold out your right 
hand." 

Almost as if another is controlling 
my body I stick out my hand and step 
forward into the pitch black.

My skin goes cold and I feel the air shift 
around me. Then I see a swirling light 
permeating the dark. A long spiral shimmers 
and streams toward me. It stabs through my 
center causing me to inhale sharply, but 
there is no pain. 

I look down at the thin stream of light. Tiny 
sparkles swirling in a transparent line that 
seems to enter my body. So like the morning
shafts of light in our bedroom. I can imagine 
it swirling inside and through me.. I look 
behind myself and find the stream exiting and 
continuing behind me and on into the darkness. 
I can not see the beginning. I look forward...
or the ending.

"What... what, is this?" My voice filled with awe.

A soft light fills the space to my side and 
three women stand before me. One no more than 
a child, one a young woman, one an old crone. 
The child steps forward and turns her hooded 
face upwards to stare into my eyes. "This is 
your life thread. Your past..." She waves her 
hand toward the stream behind me. "Your 
present." She touches the stream where it 
passes through me. "Your future." She waves 
at the stream as it travels forward into the 
spinning spiral in the darkness.

"The future is already spun? I thought it was 
woven in the present moment. I don't 
understand."

The young woman steps forward. "It is woven 
in different ways at different times. The 
future is not yet set, but it has been 
woven... for it stems from your past and your 
present. It may still be changed. This is why 
you are here."

"To change my future?" My stomach daces in a 
most unpleasant manner.

"The twist, let us show her the twist." The 
child grabs my hand. I feel a jolt of energy 
as she pulls me from the stream of light. 
Emptiness fills me, my heart flies up to my 
throat, but I can only stumble after her. 

We only go a few steps, then she turns me 
around to look back at my own life thread. 
Where I had stood the thread looks strange, 
jagged. Perhaps it is only because it is the 
present. Where the rest is what was and what 
will be...

"Do you see?" I shake my head. "The place 
where it seems to curl upon itself? Do you 
see?" I slowly nod.

"What is it?" I whisper.

"That is what is wrong... you and the gods 
have twisted your thread. It becomes 
weaker now as you move forward. That is what
you feel."

"How did it happen?"

"We do not know, completely. The unnatural 
extensions of your life is a part, but only 
you can truly answer that question."

"Come. Touch it. See what you see." The crone 
nudges me back to the stream and gestures for 
me to lay my hand on the twist in the light.

I stretch my hand forward and watch my 
fingers dip into the band of shimmering 
light. A warmth sharp and strong at the 
same time drenches and fills me.

A flash covers my eyes. 

I am standing in Livia's tent speaking to 
this women who is filled with rage at being 
abandoned, she turns on me not wanting our 
love, a flash, I stand arms bound... Livia 
raises her sword to kill me rage and coldness
in her eyes, so like Hope... Joxer runs 
forward, Livia turns and thrusts her sword 
into him. A flash. Xena saying Eve can change,
my words echoed back. Xena holds Eve just after 
the battle on Mount Olympus. Then a flash. Hope 
is lying in my arms, an infant. Love filling 
every corner of my soul, Xena screaming at me to 
let her kill my child. A flash. Sending Hope 
down the river. A flash. The long months of 
lying, betrayal, secrets... A flash... Solan... 
A flash. The poison. Hope dead in my arms. A 
flash. I run at Xena tumbling us over the cliff. 
Fury blinding me. A flash. We scream at each 
other in a hallway filled with echoes... My 
heart breaking all over again. A flash. I pull 
Xena through the falling water and she goes to 
Solan, embracing him... A flash. I stand in a 
barn, Hope dying in the arms of my demon 
grandchild. My heart telling me to go to her, 
but Xena's hand stops me... A flash. Again I 
am in Livia's tent... 

The image flickers out. 

I stare at my hand still enveloped in the 
stream of my life and then jerk it back a sob 
catching in my throat, still reeling from what
I have seen... what I have known all along.

"What did you see?" The Fates asking in unison.

"Eve... Hope.... They are the same and yet 
Xena sees them as so different." Deep down 
despair wells up from somewhere long ago
capped.

"Yes." They whisper.

"But I can not go back and change what has 
happened. Does this mean Eve is also evil? Or 
that Hope was also good?" I shudder at either 
prospect.

"Child, these are only your feelings, your 
perceptions. Not the way of things." Tears 
stream from my eyes. Frustration screaming in
my ears. 

"We must show her." The young voice breaks in.

"No, it is too much for one mortal to know."
The elder angrily remarks.

"She will not understand otherwise." The leader
gently states.

The three scowl at each other, seemingly 
still in conversation, though I hear nothing.
Arms wildly gesticulatiing. The elder clearly 
the dissenting opinion. Finally, it seems a 
decision is reached. The crone scowls off into 
the dark. The young woman and child come forward. 

The child speaks. "Close your eyes and take our 
hands." I feel one come to each side of me 
and then the shock as they both slide a hand 
into one of mine. Though my eyes are closed 
it seems the floor leaves my feet, my heart 
flutters and a strange euphoric sensation 
explodes in my chest. Then my feet touch the 
ground, a rough terrain of some kind. 

"Look." The voices intertwine in my ears and I
snap open my eyes.

We are in the forests of Britannia, it is 
dark all around. Familiarity sends tremors 
through my soul. My stomach churns. The two Fates 
point to the left and I follow their fingers. 
The faint light of a fire in the distance. I 
feel my breath catch, my heart drags to a 
stop. This night. The night after I let her 
go. The first lie.

I see Xena sleeping on the ground by the 
banked fire. Then I have the strangest 
sensation as I watch myself walk through the 
trees and stop to stare down at the woman I 
have only just betrayed. And I see it. That 
first moment of hate, resentment and pain 
mixed with love and fear. Then I lie down on 
the ground where I had been only moments 
before and close my eyes to all the turmoil, 
sleep somehow taking me into it's grasp.

The Fates still stand by me. "Watch." They 
wipe their hands over my vision and when my 
eyes clear, I see the threads of Fate of both 
myself and Xena. I trace it stretching out 
behind our sleeping forms... dipping and 
turning,but always together. Sometimes touching,
sometimes intertwined. Then as the threads travel
into now, each spread out from the other, in an 
ever widening arc. Then suddenly the threads turn
back in sharply. Almost unnaturally. Just meeting,
then binding together in a knot. They then travel
forward together until some moment not very far
into the past where they separate slightly. Only
barely widening at a gentle pace. Slow but steady. 

The streams run past me and I stare at what must 
be the present. They are a foot apart. They waver
back and forth gently, sometimes closer, sometimes
further... but the trend is widening the distance
between the streams. 

I look up at the two Fates. Their eyes burn. 
They both nod solemnly and then point into 
the direction of the future. I turn my head 
feeling sick. The lines begin to sharply part 
and then even out at a two foot distance. But 
even further in the distance they continue to 
part, going off in two directions.

"So our time together is ending?"

"No."

"Your time together stretches across many 
many lives."

"It is your feelings that you see."

"So we will stop loving each other." My voice 
breaks, tears rising up into my eyes.

Their eyes burn. "You can not stop what is, 
but you can stop showing what is there
and then each will believe the other's 
feelings gone."

"I would never stop showing Xena how I feel." 
I bite my lip, certain of this, determined to keep 
this promise. Yet knowing I am already guilty 
of hiding my feelings from Xena.

"It can be hard to see past so much that has 
not been left behind." I shift under their
pointed gaze, knowing both see right into me.

I shake my head, not understanding.

"We have shown you the moment in this life, 
where it began. Your first mutual betrayal.." 
The young women stops and the child 
continues.  

"In each life together it has happened in 
much the same way. Only it has left behind an 
essence with each passing."

"So with each life it becomes harder to see." 
The young women interjects. "And so the gods 
tried to fix it for you." She gestures at the 
unnatural seeming knot in our two threads. 
The Elysian fields flash through my head.

"So you did not learn." The child softly 
whispers.

"Someday, you will forget what now seems 
impossible to forget." The words begin to run 
together. Overwhelming, I stop hearing where one
voice stops and the other continues. 

"But first she will."

"She has not the faith in love you have. Hers 
will be the first to crumble."

I shake my head, unable to believe Xena could 
ever forget she loves me.

"Let us show you."

They grab my hands and the flash comes again. 
The world drifting from my vision. I feel the 
earth fall from my feet. This time my eyes 
are open and I see that it has simply 
disappeared. Then a new vision shimmers into 
place and as it comes into focus, my feet 
touch ground. 

A strange fabric texture. Like a furry rug, 
but it stretches from one wall of what seems 
like a room to the other wall. The walls are 
a light color as if a bleached wood, but the 
texture is not like any wood I have seen. 
Smooth, seamless. Strange boxes sit against 
the walls, each more bizarre then the next. 
Flameless lights shine out from a few in the
Form of Arabic numerals. Writing painted in 
glossy letters over many other boxes. Letters 

I don't know. Everything is so shiny and smooth.

The door behind me opens and a fearful voice 
fills the room. "What did you want to talk about?"

A woman about my size, dark blonde hair, 
enters wearing clothes so strange, I wonder 
for a moment if she is a god. But then she 
passes through me as she enters the room. And 
I know.

This is me. Far, far into the future. I can 
feel it immediately. The pain and sorrow roll 
off me in waves. It seems I am teetering on 
the cliff again, only this time, I am wishing 
to fall off. Tired. So tired of all the pain. 
Wanting something I can't have.

Another women enters close after me. This one 
tall and with bushy dark hair. She too walks 
through me. Xena. But when I feel her, I want 
to die. Empty of trust. Her fire has gone 
out, her spirit dead. A wall surrounds her 
heart. Only a shadow of her former self. A 
makeshift puppet, the strings held by no one. 
So lost.

This future Xena stands awkwardly in the 
center of the room, staring at her hands. " I 
think... we should take a break."

The future me sways slightly and quickly sits 
down. "Why?" I can see myself crumbling 
inwards. Screams trapped in my throat. I am 
powerless, now... and ... then.

This Xena closes her eyes in annoyance. 
"You are still in love with me. I told you I 
don't feel that way toward you." 

I feel the words slam into me, now ... and 
... then. Disbelief and nausea spider through 
my torso as I feel with horror that deep 
inside this future Xena, she is gaining strength
from my destruction. I stare in horror at this...
this... Disgust fills me, rage roaring inside my
ears. I expect myself to run at her as I did on a 
cliff so long ago....

"But you said we could be friends...?" My anger 
deflates in disbelief. I am even more shocked
at the shattered being that I have become. I am 
begging for her friendship as if it was my only 
hold on life. Pitiful. My heart sinks. What?

"Look, maybe if you can get over me, maybe in 
six months. Maybe when you have a girlfriend. 
I don't know. I just don't like how this 
feels." I stare open-mouthed at what we have 
become. How?

The haunted eyes of my future self rise up to 
stare at the future Xena, tears streaming 
down my face. I can hear it silently 
screaming in my head. 'I hate you. I love 
you. I can't lose you.'

The future Xena's face becomes hard with 
anger and she looks away. "I have to go. Take 
care of yourself. Goodbye." She turns and 
heads for the door, walking through me. Then 
I feel it. She does still love me, but it is 
so far under all the fear and anger and 
mistrust, it is dull and dusty. Dead.. 
almost.

"How did we get here?" I whisper to the Fates 
standing silently at my side.

"You continued on the path started in that 
wood so long ago."

"The path you are walking right now."

"There is something you continue to repeat, 
life after life. Something that is pushing 
away exactly what you are trying to keep 
close."

"How can I know what it is that I have done 
wrong? Even you don't know."

"What is the common thread, child?" The crone 
appears next to the other two.

I try to mesh the two visions together, but 
they are so far apart. So different. "I..." I 
shake my head in frustration.

"One more and then she must return." the 
crone croaks at the other two. 

They nod and I know this is my last chance at 
understanding. The three each touch my 
forehead, blocking my vision, which I know is 
swirling away. The furry fabric is replaced 
with the feel of bonds wrapped around my 
feet. 

I try to look around but I can't see. I begin 
to panic as I realize my entire body is 
bound, my eyes covered with a thin gauze.

The Fates whisper in my ears. "This is a past
life. You must be inside yourself for this one.
It will be very hard, but you won't be able to 
change anything that has happened here."

"Be strong, Gabrielle." The younger voice 
sweeps out of the nothingness."You must find 
your answer here or the future will remain."

I feel a hard stone surface under my body. I 
try to shift, but can't move. A darkness 
comes down over my eyes, blocking out the dim 
light momentarily. 

"I want you to see this." A gravely voice 
rakes over me. Then the darkness comes away, 
taking the gauze with it. I see up into the 
face of a man. Dark and angry.

His eyes are hard, full of hate. The planes 
of his face, sharp and angular. He grins at 
me showing off-white teeth between thin lips. 
The smile fills his eyes with a dull fire. 
Xena.

He steps back and I see behind him a crowd of 
people all seated and watching. It is our 
whole.... following. Some ancient religion. 
The memories of this life flood into me. 
Visions of my self, innocent and full of 
love. Eager to share this light I have found 
in myself, to show others how to feel it as 
well. 

And this man, Xena, is the religious leader 
of this clan. I am a threat, or he sees it 
that I am. I had begun to say things that 
were different and they had listened, until 
he said I was dangerous. Angering the gods. 
My beliefs wrong. My feelings wrong. 

To appease the gods, to show the others my 
error, I must be sacrificed. And they believe 
him. For I had gone silently. My words 
silenced. I believed him too. I lie here now, 
beaten. Certain this man is righteous. 
Grateful for being murdered so that our 
people will be safe. 

The twisted dagger rises in his hands above 
my body. And I know what is about to happen. 
A voice screams out from the crowd and I know 
instantly it is Lila. And I can do nothing to 
stop her pain. She is being held back, unable 
to save me. Tears soak my face and a sob fills
my throat. The emotions pounding through my 
soul threaten to overwhelm me, but I know I 
must focus.

I bite down and shut out all the sounds and 
look into the eyes of this man, this Xena of 
the past. I look deep inside. Seeing his 
thoughts. His fear of me and my gentle power, 
his fear of his inadequacy as a religious 
leader, his confusion over not understanding 
me. And from the distance of another life I am
able to feel compassion, understanding, and 
the earth shattering certainty that I WAS 
RIGHT, and he knew it. 

Shock dislodges something. Xena had been 
wrong. Such a simple idea, but the 
ramifications, are dazzling.

Xena had been wrong about how to deal with 
Hope and I had let her silence me. I had let 
her take away my power in exchange for hers. 
And I had never talked about it again, afraid 
she wouldn't listen, that it would re-open 
the wound and rip us apart. So I had shoved 
it so deep down it had grown into a monster 
of it's own. Something that would come 
between us someday. In fact it already had 
begun. And the Furies had used it against us.

It was time we talked. Time I took back my 
power and forgave her for being wrong.

"I understand now." The man that was Xena 
hesitates and then I feel the Fates touch me, 
though he doesn't see. He grimaces and the 
knife plunges towards me, but just as it is 
about to stab into my heart a flash fills my 
vision.

The feel of the cold stone floor of the 
temple materializes under my boots. I find 
myself back in the dark musty place, alone. 

The Fates have gone back to their weaving... 
and I must return to my task. I head to the 
door and push out into the sunlight. 

I peer  up at the sky, wondering how long I 
have been away. Strange, it must have been 
hours, but it seems only a few minutes may 
have passed. I rush out into the street and 
head back to the Inn. 

I open the door  to our room expecting Xena 
to be awake, but she is still softly snoring 
where I left her. I enter quietly and place 
the bread and milk from downstairs on the 
little table. I cross over to Xena and sit 
down on the bed next to her. So many things 
are different, so many things the same.

Her eyes gently flicker open, the brilliant 
blue blazing up at me. I smile automatically, 
love filling my heart. "Good morning, 
beautiful."

"Mmmmm, is it really?" She mumbles still half 
asleep.

"Yes, it is. Why don't you eat something and 
then I need to tell you a story."

Xena rolls out of bed and pads over to the 
table, sitting down to munch on the bread. "I 
didn't think you were barding anymore. Least, 
you haven't for a while."

"Yes, well I need to change that. I do miss 
'being the bard to your warrior'." 

"I miss your stories. Boy, I never thought I'd 
say THAT!" She laughs and looks at me. "So what 
is the story?"

"Well, it is about two mothers and two 
daughters. A story of hate and betrayal, love 
and forgiveness. But mostly, Xena, it is 
about us... our family."

Xena has stopped chewing and is staring at 
me. Her eyes wide, not believing I have 
lifted the taboo on any talk regarding Hope.

"Xena, we have to talk about her. If we are 
going to be a family with Eve, we have to 
remember Hope."

Xena swallows the bread in her mouth and 
looks at me, tears in her eyes. "Yes, you are 
right."

"Xena, I do not know what would have happened 
with Hope, had we kept her. Maybe she was 
beyond the power of our love, but I never had 
the chance to try. I should have stood up to 
you, instead of running and lying. I loved 
her just as you love Eve. Perhaps, what we 
both did is what made her what she became. 
Perhaps, if I had insisted we keep her, given 
her love, maybe just like you, just like 
Eve..."

I take a deep breath.

"Eve, may not be able to leave behind all of
her dark ways, but we can be there to help 
her. We can't make up for what she has already
lost, but we can love her from this moment on. 
But Xena, it will only work if we are a team. 
With Hope, I kept trying to help her, you kept 
trying to kill her... so we ended up..."

"Apart." The word leaps from Xena's mouth. 
Her eyes lock with mine and I see her lip 
trembling. "And Hope never had a chance 
without both of us."

I blink at the further revelation I had not 
even seen. "Yes."

"I'm sorry Gabrielle, I never stopped to
understand how it must have felt until now. 
Even when Eve was born... I... That must have
hurt you so much. I never knew... I never 
should have tried to kill her, expected you 
to later. I'm not sure what the answer was, 
but that wasn't it."

"I... I was so afraid to tell you. You have 
been in such agony lately.... I have been so 
angry at you. At Eve. Because she killed 
Joxer, and she gets a second chance, when 
Hope -" My voice breaks as Xena rushes 
forward and throws her arms around me, 
pulling me to her.

Both of us cry, our shoulders slick with 
salt, before Xena's lips brush me forehead. 
"I was wrong, Gabrielle. I should have tried 
to understand what you where going through 
with Hope. I was so busy being sure I was 
battling an evil, I never considered she was 
your child. And you loved her. For no other 
reason, I should have loved her too." 

Xena shifts away from me and looks into my 
eyes. "Can you ever forgive me? I mean , I 
don't blame you if..."

A smile breaks across my face, like sunshine 
through a rainy sky, and I brush a tear off 
Xena's face. "I already have... I already 
have. Can you ever forgive me for betraying 
you?"

"For betraying me? You were just protecting 
your child. Lashing out at the big oaff who 
made you float her down the river instead of 
seeing that she was asking you the impossible. 
And the other day with Eve was the Furies not 
you."

"What about Loa Ma?"

"Mmmm, well, I think you were jealous and 
probably still in shock over Hope. I think 
we each have had our share of mistakes, 
Gabrielle. In the end you saw your mistake 
and made it up to me.... I have already 
forgiven you for those things.... perhaps I 
felt I deserved them."

I roll my eyes and shake my head. She starts 
to laugh."Alright, alright, enough of the ex-
warlord martyr-dom. You're forgiven, free and 
clear, you have been for a long time."

"Really?"

"Really."

Feeling lighter, as if the world had just 
Lifted from my shoulders. "So you wanna finish
breakfast? Should we go wake up Eve?"

"Yeah, but you know, this bread could sure 
use some butter." She squints at the bread and
turns a lopsided grin on me.

"You are getting a little skinny there, 
Warrior Princess."

"Yeah? Well, I wouldn't talk missy of the 
bare mid drift!" Xena reaches over and digs 
her fingers into my sides in just the right 
way so that I can't help but let out a peal 
of uncontrollable laughter. It feels so good 
to laugh again. We really need to remember to 
talk more often. 

Course right now, I gotta figure out how to 
get this warrior off of me, before I wet 
myself.... or maybe that wouldn't be such a 
bad way to spend a morning.

Soon a warrior and bard find themselves 
rolling on the floor laughing uncontrollably, 
not seeing three figures standing, or rather 
floating on one side of the room.

"I told you she could do it." The youngest 
one smiles to herself.

"Yes, it seems to have untwisted for the most 
part." The leader nods in approval.

"There is still..." The older one grumbles.

"They will work that out in time. She only 
needed to realize her own power. You see? 
Look at the threads. There." The leader 
points into the swirling spirals of the 
couple's future.

The threads begin to weave closer together, 
slowly curving into one another until they 
merge, then traveling on as one pulsating 
glow for as far as they can see into the 
future, before it disappears into the 
spinning light.



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