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by Vickey Brickle-Macky 11/10/2000

Part 3

 

        The first rays of the dawn were breaking when they arrived at the gate. Already the traffic way was crowded with budging carts, camels, sheep, oxen, and other animals as well as people both wanting to leave, and enter the city. In some ways it resembled an ever changing circus, and was just as noisy, colorful, and smelly as one. Gate duty was not one of the most favored posts of the Roman city guard. It was boring, repetitive, and sometimes downright dangerous. The men who manned it were generally not the brightest, or more personable either. They did it because they had to because there were worst posts than this to be assigned to.

        Before they had reached the gate, Eve had briefly stopped, and had gotten out a small scroll, pen, and sealing wax from one of her saddlebags, and from her waist pouch she had taken out a large ring which Virgil realized was an imperial seal. He was surprised she had kept such a thing. After she finished her writing, and she had sealed the scroll, she had looked up at him and grinned. "You never know when you might need it--like now. If I have what looks like official orders to leave Rome they can´t stop us. I am hoping that no one recognizes me in this outfit. And I´m hoping that they are looking for me wearing my usual uniform. Put your hood on and cover his head. The less details they have of us passing through the better," she told him putting the writing materials away and remounting her horse.

        "Yeah, I agree," Virgil told her as he made a hood for Areon out of a blanket and put his own cloak on. The boy looked up at him briefly with sad eyes and a touch of puzzlement when he put the blanket on his head, then turned to face forward once again, his little shoulders slumped from exhaustion of what he had been through the entire long night and day before. But he never said a word which was beginning to worry Virgil as Areon had said nothing since he saw his mother killed by one of the solders. He had tried not to let him see, but he had seen anyway. The boy´s sorrow was shooting through him in waves, but never did a single tear fall. Hopefully once they were away from Rome he could get the boy to open up and let his grief out.

        "Let´s do it," Eve told Virgil as she headed her horse forward, and began expertly to weave the black stallion through the maze of humanity, and livestock spread out across the broad avenue. Virgil followed closely behind, trying to keep up with her, afraid of being separated. Finally she reached the main gate and handed her orders to the ranking guard. He looked them over, shrugged slightly bored with all, and started to hand them back, then took a better look at her, and recognition began to grow in his eyes. Eve began to sweat now because it was clear the guard did know who she was. The question was did they have orders to detain her or not?

        "Ain´t you Livia?" the pockmarked guard asked, squinting against the glare of the rising sun to see her better.

        "Me, no sir!" she faked shocked surprise, and affecting a thick country accent. "No, I get´s that all the time, sir. Gets me a heap of trouble, it does looking like her I´m told. I´m from Tassily, down south. Me, and my man, and me son, we´ve been up her´ a´ visiting my brother. He´s in the third Legion due to be shipped out soon—to someplace I´d never heard of," Eve said sweetly speaking in a deep southern region accent. "As ya can see that´s our pass to go home. His commander said it was all up and legal and all. We needs to get home to start putting the fall harvest stuff in otherwise it´s going a way lean year," she said sounding distressed and worried.

        "Yeah, I knows how that goes. I used to farm myself. Need every bit to make through the year. All right, you´re free to pass. On your way now," the guard told her and handed her back her pass which they would need later on down the road.

        Eve smiled down at him genuinely relieved, "thank you, kind sir. We´ll be off now. Don´t work too hard," she said and quickly moved her horse forward with Virgil close behind. They kept their pace normal until they were sure that they were well out of sight of the gate, and then they sped up trying to put as much distance as they could between them, and Rome. At the first turn off they did and started their long overland journey back northward then east to Greece.

        They traveled most of the day stopping only long enough to take care of bodily needs, and to grab a quick bite of cold food and bread. For the most part Areon slept leaning against Virgil. The continual rocking motion of the horse lulling him to sleep. It seemed that the boy wanted to stay with him rather than Eve which she accepted for the moment. It was nearing dusk when Eve finally called a halt to their journey. They had made very good time on the two horses, but it was clear they were as tired as their riders. They cut off the road, and headed for a heavy thicket of woods she had spotted high up on a hill. With luck there was a stream where they could replenish their water supply and even clean up. She really hadn´t had a chance to do that yet since leaving the ship which seemed a long time ago with all the hurried events of the past days.

        The thicket and their high position on hill offered several advantages: screening shelter, so a fire could not be easily seen, and from where they were they could see the road in both directions for several leagues. They found a long abandoned campsite in the heart of the woods and decided to use it. Dismounting they found that they both were more saddle sore and stiff than they thought they´d be. The only one not aching too bad was Areon who looked around apprehensively, and went, and sat on a large log out of the grown ups way. Eve and Virgil took care of the horses, getting them watered at the stream then hobbling them so that they wouldn´t wander. Then they got their gear from the saddlebags and began setting up camp. Areon had sat the entire time on the log watching all the activity, sort of. It was hard to tell as his expression was more dazed than animated, and he showed no real interest in his surroundings like a normal boy would have. Even Eve noticed that too, and was highly concerned.

        Virgil tried to get him to help gather firewood. He did get up and help a little, but he´d just gather twigs and small pieces and then he would return to his seat on the log to sit and stare into nothingness once more. Virgil knew now with certainty that the boy was in deep shock from everything he had been through and witnessed, especially recently with the death of the woman he had known as his mother being the final blow to his fragile, young psyche.

        Virgil pulled Eve aside to tell her what he suspected. "Eve he´s in shock. He saw Dana get killed and he saw you take out all those men as well as the men at the inn. Dana told me that she told him just before she was killed that you were his real mother. He knows now except for who his father is because she didn´t know herself. He didn´t want to accept it, and she told him that he had to, and that from now on you would be taking care of him because you were his mom. She knew she was going to die soon, and that coming here was what the gods wanted her to do. That it was time for you to take your boy, she said." Virgil told her gently, waiting for her reaction.

        Eve sighed deeply and sat down on the ground by the fire with her knees up and rested her head between them as the tears she had been holding back began to fall. "Great, just great! I didn´t want him to know yet. Though I didn´t count on Dana dying like that either. She was a good woman, one of the best I have ever known. She was my midwife and helped deliver him. Me, just a spoiled kid of almost seventeen, alone in a strange country on my first campaign trying to prove myself that I was worthy of commanding a legion on my own, and not because I was daddy´s little warrior girl. I was five months along before I figured out I was pregnant, and then I got scared, and asked for the assignment to Gaul so no one would know. Luckily it was cold there, and I could keep bundled up under loose woolen tunics and furs so no one could see as my stomach got bigger and bigger. Somehow I managed to hide it from my commanders too. Except for Septo—he suspected and went out of his way to try and grab me and find out. He got that gash across his face one time he tried to rape me. The only one I could trust with my secret was Dana. She was my maid I had gotten from one of the villages we had taken. I would have died if it weren´t for her. As it was, I had Areon in a cave away from the camp. I didn´t want anyone to know. Dana had been making herself look fatter and fatter so that after the baby was born she could pass it off as her own as we had planned. I got to spend the first three months of his life with him, feeding and holding him, even though my commanders complained that a war camp was no place for a baby they didn´t dare fight me on it and Dana stayed with me. Then I got the recall order from my dad, and had to return home. I didn´t want to leave, but I had to. I knew Areon would be safer with Dana than with me, so I sent her home to her village with him. I also left standing orders that her village was never to be invaded or harmed. That lasted until I went off with Xena, I guess otherwise they wouldn´t have ended up in Rome the way they did," Eve explained pouring her story out to him.

        Virgil squatted down beside her balancing himself on the balls of his feet. "You did the best you could for him then but all these years she kept hoping you´d return and come claim him. She wanted him to know you, wanted you to know him again. He´s a gift Eve, a very precious gift. But he´s got a lot to work out as you do too. You were scaring the hell out me in Rome. You weren´t Eve any more you were Livia again, weren´t you?" he asked watching her.

        She nodded and then looked up at him embarrassed, her cheeks glowing red, "yes, I was Livia. I didn´t want to be, but I had to be to protect you all. As Eve I can´t. I´m nothing, not a warrior any more. It was almost like something bad, outside of myself was taking over me completely. I had the blood rage and all I wanted to do was kill, and hurt anyone in my way. It scared the hell out me. I felt like I was two different people when it was happening. The monster I had been and myself as I am now, and I couldn´t control it! Each time I had to fight or pretend to be Livia to get us out of town it grew worse. Do you hate me now for being her again?" she asked, her light eyes still wet from her tears.

        Virgil reached out a hand and smoothed back her hair from her face that had stuck to her tear stained face. "No, I don´t hate you, but I do worry about you. Somehow you need to find a way to control, not just suppress the Livia side of yourself as that is you too as much as you don´t want to acknowledge it. Livia does have her uses, but she doesn´t have to be the cold blooded creature you think she is," he told and she tried to believe him but couldn´t.

        "We´ll see, but what am I going to do about Areon? He hasn´t even moved since he sat down. He just sits there and stares," Eve told Virgil looking over at the boy who did not even seem to be aware of them now.

        Virgil looked too at the boy, even in the gathering dusk and light from the camp fire he looked pale, fragile despite his larger than normal size for his age. It was more of an attitude than anything that cried out that the child was like spun glass. Somehow they were going to have reach him and bring him back from where ever he had retreated to in his mind to cope with what had happened in his life. He recognized the signs as did Eve, but combating it was always difficult.

        Eve dried her tears on her cloak and got up from where she had been sitting and Virgil followed. "Do you want fresh or some of the mutton I got from Hassen for dinner?" she asked him as she took her cloak off while she squatted down by the fire to ready it for cooking.

        "The mutton will work. I´m too tired to scare up any rabbits or squirrels for dinner. Do we have enough?" he asked joining her.

        "Yeah, I made sure we had at least three days supplies and more. He´s good about that. I´ve shown up on his doorstep more than a few times and he´s always had what I needed without asking any questions. ‘Course I pay him well to keep his mouth shut too. But I like the old guy and he´s good with my horses. How did you like Haze?" she asked as she unwrapped the meat bundle and found some long pointed sticks to wrap the feet on to cook.

        "Great horse. It´s like he knows what you´re thinking, what you want to do. Is he yours?´ he asked.

        "One of my spares. Storm is my favorite and he won´t let anyone ride him but me. He´ll also defend me in combat situations. That horse is deadly if he knows I´m in danger. Ares gave me his sire as a present one year, and I rode him up to a couple of years ago when he got speared in battle. But luckily I got him bred to one of the desert horses that the nomads have and got Storm and Haze," she said conversationally, not really thinking of what she was saying.

        Virgil just sort of looked at her and at the horses after she said it. Ares evidently had been more than just a passing phase in her life, that was becoming quite clear. He hadn´t asked her before but he had to do know, "Did you love him?"

        Eve looked at him surprised, "what do you think? He was my entire world. And no mortal man has ever been able to measure up to him. All my victories for him, to make him proud of me and be worthy to be his Chosen in his eyes. But somehow I knew I was never quite good enough and there was always this shadow between us that had captured his soul and heart. He´d never tell me who had hurt him or why he couldn´t love me the way I loved him. I never knew until she came back that it was my mother--Xena. Once she came back I knew. I saw it in his eyes, the way he looked at her, mentioned her name even when he was mad at her and they were fighting to the death. Then when he kissed her I wanted to kill her right then and there. I knew I had lost him for forever. Then later when Xena was battling the gods, and she was distracted after Gabrielle had stabbed me, he appeared, and took out his sword, and was going to kill me. He apologized and said ‘it was nothing personal.´ Which hurt more. I never said a word to him, and just looked at him in disbelief and finally I did plead with him not to do it. It didn´t matter to him. I was nothing to him. I was to die and he was going to do it. He had his arm raised for the final blow when Xena saw him, and threw her chakhum at him. It hit his sword spoiling his aim then bounced off the wall, and cut his arm wounding him. He yelled in pain, and spun around to glare daggers at her, but she didn´t take the attack to him, so he vanished in a burst of light. He was ready to kill me without a second thought. The only reason he saved me and Gabrielle was to score points with her. He knew if we died he´d lose her completely. Even their last battle was over love, and though my mom won´t admit it, but she does love him otherwise he would have been dead, and not just injured, especially now that he´s a lowly mortal like the rest of us," Eve told Virgil, holding back her tears as best she could, pouring out what had really happened in his parent´s inn after he left.

        Virgil had sat down on the ground next to the fire just listening in almost disbelief to what she told him. At least here she was finally opening up about what had happened in that final battle most of which he had heard only Xena and Gabrielle´s sides of. Whenever it had been discussed she had remained in the background strangely silent, offering only an occasional comment or two to clarify points. The only thing he could say to her was to tell her truthfully, "I didn´t know all this, Eve. Does Xena know about how long you and Ares have been. .. ahh…together?" he asked trying to find a tactful way to phase what he want to say.

        She shook her head, "no, and I haven´t been able to tell her. I mention Ares and the two of them go ballistic on me or at least Xena does around Gabrielle. Alone mom refuses to discuss him period. So I gave up after awhile. Those two women have a real weird relationship. I always feel like I´m a third wheel or invading some sort of private party I don´t know the rules to. And the last time I saw him, he wouldn´t even acknowledge me except as Xena´s kid, and that I was off limits because of her. I couldn´t even get him to talk to me, nor would mom, or Gabrielle give me a chance to. It was like they were guarding me or something. I never got to say goodbye to him," she said looking into the fire remembering watching him ride off in the distance while she went with Xena and Gabrielle to go to Amphipolis to see if her grandmother was still alive.

        Virgil checked the meat which was almost done as Eve talked, and also kept an eye on Areon who had finally moved from sitting on the log to the ground and was leaning against it tiredly. At least the boy wasn´t trying to wander, or do anything to hurt himself which sometimes happened. All he did was sit and stare lost in whatever thoughts he might have. In a few minutes he was going to go check on him and see if he could get him to eat and maybe talk.

         As far as Areon was concerned, he was ignoring the grown ups´ conversation. He sensed they needed to talk and he had nothing he wanted to say to them. He was enjoying being out in the countryside away from the huge crowded city. This was more like he was used to, but these were not his woods or trees. Everything looked different in this far land from what he had always been used to. He had always wanted to see the world though not like this. There was just too much to take in and accept in too short of a time. Occasionally, he´d hear them mention names he recognized, or say something interesting, but most of what they were saying he knew was private and didn´t concern him.

        All he wanted was his mother back, who he knew now was dead. He was trying to accept it, but couldn´t. The image of the Roman solder running her through with a spear as she just stood there in the middle of the street, helpless, afraid to run away, was burned forever in his mind. He had tried to go help her, but Virgil had held him tight, and tried to keep him from watching his mom die and see how the woman warrior had killed all the men. He had never seen one person be able to kill so many people at once so quickly. This woman scared him, and yet his mother had told him that this warrior lady was his true mother, not her. He still didn´t believe it. Though his mother had never lied to him, so it must be true. Now for good or bad he was stuck with her, and he wasn´t even sure she wanted him. She had been nice to him, but there was a coolness, a great sadness and confusion to her, a something that made him keep his distance.

        The man, Virgil, on the other hand, had been great. He really liked him, and felt very safe with him. He reminded him of Tosh, his uncle who was younger than his mother, who used to play with him, and take him hunting and fishing sometimes. Thinking about his uncle, he wanted to go home, back to his village and have things the way they were before the solders came. But Tosh was dead too, killed, so he knew that that was not going to happen either. He was all alone now, stuck with these two strangers. His life was now literally in their hands. All he knew he was somewhere in the Roman empire and maybe heading towards some place called Greece. He had overheard that much. Where and how far this place was he was not sure. Though he had gotten the impression it was very far away, and they would be traveling a lot to get there. He also knew from what he had heard that they might be followed and people would be looking for them. Especially for the woman since she had killed the solders. He didn´t know what to call her as he heard her called both Eve and Livia. He would not call her mother as she was not that to him and never would be--that he vowed. He just couldn´t be her son, could he?

        Then there was all this talk about the War God, Ares? What did he have to do with her or him anyway? He did understand that the grown ups knew the god personally like he was a real person. That totally confused him as his gods never showed themselves. The druid priests had said they were real and in every living thing, but he had never could believe it. Nature just was. The world just was. The Gods were nothing but imagination and stories. There was no magic, it was all fake and lies as he had seen the truth of that watching the priests make the people of his village believe they had some sort of powers when it had only been tricks of light and slight of hand that he could do easily himself. He really could do things like fly, run like the wind with no trouble, jump as high as a tree, make flames appear, lift heavy things, and call animals to him and talk to them, but he never let anyone know. That was his secret, not even his mother had known he could do all that, nor did the priests, or least he thought so. He had been very careful to hide his abilities and usually he could sense anyone coming up on him even when he was asleep. Old Avandale had almost caught him once flying, but he had talked to him in his mind, and convinced him he was just seeing things. It had been a very close call, and he had been careful ever since. He had wanted to use his fire power to save his mother, but he had been afraid to let Virgil or the woman know what he could do. Then they would have been afraid of him and maybe left him alone in the city. He missed flying, being able to soar with the birds and see the world as they saw it. Maybe when they got where ever they were going he could fly again, but until then he knew he had to keep that to himself as well as his grief because he was a big boy now as his mom told him, and big boys didn´t cry—ever.

        He felt Virgil get up from where he had been sitting with the woman, and come his way. Politely he pulled his attention back to the man and way from his own thoughts. Virgil had brought him some meat on a stick. The smell reminded him that he was hungry and it had been a while since they had eaten.

        "Hi kid, how are doing?" Virgil asked, with a warm smile. "Are you hungry?" he asked hopefully holding the stick out which Areon took gratefully.

        "Yes, I am. Thank you, Virgil," Areon replied with a ghost of a smile of his own, trying to read the man´s thoughts which were mostly worry and concern about both him and the woman. "I will be okay. I am a big boy now—momma told me that. I must go on, she said," Areon told him.

        Virgil sighed, afraid that something like that was why the boy was so quiet and not letting his deep grief show. He hated parents that taught their kids to keep everything inside especially when they were so little. His dad had never let him keep it in. He thought it was a mistake. Joxer had kept his true feelings for Gabrielle for years to himself because he thought that was what a man was supposed to do. After her death he vowed he would never let himself do that again. When he did marry Meg and have children he let them express themselves, and be open with their feelings. As a result he had had happy children and a wonderful home life. Virgil could never recall his dad saying a really harsh word to anyone, or making them feel bad about themselves. In his mind one could be anything they wanted. They had to keep trying until they got it right.

        Virgil looked at the boy, "yeah, life does go on but even big boys can cry when they get hurt or something happens that makes them sad. When my dad died some months ago I cried, and I didn´t care who saw me. My dad was also my best friend, and even now I miss him, miss his jokes, his laughter, his zest for life, and I miss the way he used to hug me and make me know he cared. You just lost your mom, she was everything to you. It´s not good to hold all that sadness you feel inside. And right now you´re scare, afraid. You don´t really know us, and your mom was telling you things you don´t want to believe, can´t believe yet, am I right?" Virgil questioned gently as the boy listened and ate his dinner.

        Areon nodded slowly, surprised that the man did understand a little of what he was going through.

        "I know she told you that Eve was your real mother, she is," Virgil told him.

        "No, she´s not. She can´t be!" Areon protested angrily.

        "She is, Areon, really. Dana was just her maid, and helped bring you into the world. Eve was very young, just a girl when she had you, and she was afraid for you, and wanted you to have a normal life. That´s why she left you with Dana so that you would be safe. She was a warrior then, but now she´s not, and she wants to try to get to know you and for you to know her."

        "She´s still a warrior I saw what she did—how she killed those men. She scares me, Virgil. Mothers aren´t warriors. My mother wasn´t,´ he said with perfect ten year old logic.

        Virgil tried not to laugh as he knew a number of women who were both mothers and warriors. They would have gotten highly indignant to know that they couldn´t do both if they chose to. The Amazons that used to drop by and visit his dad used to bring their assorted offspring with them on their travels. Then there had been others too that he had met. "No, but Eve´s mother, Xena, is and I know a whole bunch of women warriors that have families back home where I come from," Virgil told him, though Areon looked slightly skeptical, he did believe him.

        "Didn´t Eve want me?" Areon had to ask, not understanding if he was her son how she could have left him.

        Virgil sighed, wishing Eve would come over and try to explain, but he knew she wasn´t sure what to say to the boy and at least he was talking to him. That was at least a start. "Yes, she did very much, but she was very young, and afraid too of her father and her father´s enemies since he is the Emperor of the Roman Empire. She was afraid someone who try and kill you to get to him or her. She told me that numerous times people tried to kill her when she was a child and she was always under constant guard growing up. She didn´t want that for you. She wanted you to have a happy childhood even if that meant she could never see you again," he told the boy and let that sink in.

        "What about my father? Who is he and where is he? Are you my father, Virgil?" Areon asked hopefully.

        Ohh boy, Virgil mentally sighed. This was the really tough question to answer as Eve did not want Areon knowing that Ares was his father. "No, I´m just a friend. I´ve only known Eve for a couple of months or so. And I would have been fourteen when you were born, so unhuh. As to who your dad is you´ll have to ask her as I don´t know except he´s some sort of mystery guy that she hasn´t seen in awhile," which wasn´t quite the truth, but close enough for the moment, and it let him off the hook and threw the ball back in Eve´s corner. He was going to let her be the one to tell him about his father.

        Areon was a little disappointed that Virgil didn´t know or wouldn´t say who his father was as he had gotten the strong image of a tall, muscled, dark haired, dark eyed, bearded, mainly angry man in a black leather outfit with a sword who somehow was able to vanish in a burst of blue light from both Virgil´s and Eve´s minds whenever the word ‘father´ in connection with him was mentioned. Also mixed in with this was the name ‘Ares´, which he also connected with the Olympian God of War, but he wasn´t sure as he was still not used to reading either of the adults minds yet. He was sure by the end of this trip that he would know the truth so for now he let the subject drop.

        "Okay, I guess. I´ll ask her, but not now," the boy finally replied, looking over to see Eve watching him as she ate her own dinner. "So now what? Are we going to where you live? Is a long way away?"

        Virgil nodded. "It´s pretty far. It will take us weeks at least, even if we get a boat, which we are thinking of doing. We want to get out of Roman territory as soon as we can."

        "Because of the solders?"

        "That and other things. You want any more to eat?" Virgil asked.

        Areon shook his head. "No, that´s all I want. Not too hungry. I do want to go to sleep though," he told him, and Virgil smiled.

        "You do. I get you a bedroll and fix you a bed. I plan on packing it in early myself. We want to leave before day break and get going before anyone can catch up with us just in case," he told Areon as he rose and went and found him some blankets to make a bed with and quickly set up a bed for the boy which as soon as it was ready he crawled into and let Virgil tuck him in and give him a reassuring pat.

        Eve just watched fascinated at how easy Virgil had taken to her son and cared for him. At least he had had children as well as younger brothers and sisters, so this was no big deal for him. Eve was not even sure how to begin. It had been one thing when he was a tiny baby to care for him, but now he was way bigger, and in a few short years he´d be a teenager and grown. She had missed so much of his short life already, and she was unsure what kind of mother she would be, or could be given that she wasn´t great on the getting close to people part yet. Loving and being loved in return were still new things for her, despite what she had felt for Ares and her father. With her mom and Gabrielle, she still didn´t feel quite love for them, it was more just plain acceptance that they were at least related. Her mother may love her whole heartedly, but Eve still wasn´t able to return the same feelings to her. This was something that was going to take awhile to work out and why she had declined following the two women around on their travels.

        The moon was beginning to rise in the distance. It was almost full, not quite. She got up and went to her pack and got some soap and towel out. At least the night was warm and the stream was not too deep. She really wanted a bath and to get some of the travel grim off of her. Virgil had vanished she noted when she turned around. Probably checking on the horses or doing something. She made sure that Areon was okay and sleeping and followed the well worn path to the stream. Once there she found a large rock and sat down and began striping off her boots then her weapons and armor laying them in easy reach as needed. Once naked she picked up the soap and walked down across the rocky bank and into the water. Once the water reached her knees she dove in and under enjoying the still warm water on top and the cooler layers deeper down. As she resurfaced and tossed her long wet hair out of her face, she heard Virgil´s voice directly behind her in the water.

        "See you had the same idea I had," he joked, amused that she hadn´t known he was there like she usually did.

        She spin around shocked, and surprised to see him treading water not five feet from her. "I thought you were at camp!" she said a little miffed that he hadn´t told her was there before this.

        "I got Areon asleep, checked the horses, checked around the camp to make sure our fire couldn´t be seen from the road and was coming to fill up the water jugs when I looked at the water and decided a swim was what I needed. You seem to be lost in thought when I saw you last so I said what the hey," he replied, not seeing any problem. "You still must have been thinking kind of hard as you never looked up and saw me so I thought it was okay," he added.

        "You still could have warned me. Hope you enjoyed the view," she said still angry.

        "Wasn´t too bad," he admitted and then quickly got out of range before she could hit him.

        Eve didn´t make a move to follow him as she didn´t know whether to be insulted or not, nor was she quite sure what he had meant by that. She liked Virgil, but he was a friend, her mother´s friend. So far there had been no problems as there had always been other people around as a buffer. Now it was just the two them, alone—which was an entirely different set up than they had ever been in before. She still couldn´t figure out how he actually felt about her. So far it had just been two people thrown together by circumstances because of their parents. She did have to admit he was very good looking, made her laugh, had wise consel, and was generally good company, and the few thoughts she had had along those lines she had quickly dismissed because of what had happened to his dad because of her. She could not envision him really wanting much to do with his father´s murderer. That he tolerated her company was surprising enough.

        "You mad at me for saying that?" he asked breaking her thoughts, and she had to look around to see where he was.

        "No, doesn´t bother me. I´m not that body shy, Couldn´t be when I was usually the only female with ten thousand guys sometimes. Being in the army from an early age does that to you," she told him finding a place where she could stand up easily as she began to soap her hair, and body while she ignored him for the most part.

        "Good as long as you aren´t mad. After you get through with the soap can I borrow it. I forgot to bring any?" he asked cautiously moving closer. "Need your back done?"

        She shrugged indifferently, "if you want," she told him and felt him swim up behind her. Without another thought she handed him the soap like she would have one of her bath attendants at the palace. Virgil lathered up his hands, and began washing her back. It felt good and made her tingle, and she began to melt into his easy motions as he massaged her back too working out the stiffness, and tenseness in them she didn´t even know she had. "That feels good," she had to admit to him. "Turn around, I´ll do yours," she offered.

        "Okay," he readily agreed, a little surprised, but not turning down her offer either. She turned around, and faced him, while he tried not to look down at her bare breasts. Before he could create complications for them both he obediently turned for her. He had had his back washed before, but never like this. It felt way too good. He was finding it difficult to stand up and be detached about it. Whatever she was doing was turning him on, and he was trying very hard to mantain control, and be a gentleman. "I think that´ll be enough," he told her finding it hard to talk. Virgil decided he needed a long swim in the cold water until he felt safe enough to come near her again, and before she could stop him he dived forward, and under to swim some distance away to regain his control, and reduce the swelling of certain portions of his anatomy.

        She was smiling to herself when he took off like he did as she was fully aware of what she had done. One part of her was disappointed that nothing had happened, and the other was sort of relieved that it hadn´t for now. For their present uncertain circumstances it was best that the status quo remain as it was. Starting a romance with your traveling companion was never a good idea, as it never lasted longer than the journey. She had grown to respect Virgil too much to treat him as a casual lover, and she had the feeling that if they started something he wasn´t going to let it be casual, or short term between the two of them if anything did develop. She quickly finished her bathing, and left the water grabbing her towel, and drying off. She was totally aware that he was watching her from where he was swimming in the middle of the moonlit stream. She wasn't going to let it bother her and this was the way she had usually handled bathing around guys--she just forgot they were there and usually it worked. Dried off she put on her shift, and underwear, and retrieved her armor and weapons.

        "You want me to leave the soap and the towel?" she asked looking up to see that he had finally moved closer to shore.

        "Yeah, I´ll bring them back. I be to camp in a couple of minutes," Virgil told her keeping his voice steady. For the moment he was letting what had happened drop as was she. He finally had realized that she had just been playing, and hadn´t been serious after all. Still he wasn´t sure what to really think or feel about Eve as a woman. He began to have an inkling of what his father had gone through traveling with Xena and Gabrielle over the years. Though they had been a trio while it was just him and Eve—it was not really the same. Gabrielle had always stuck close to Xena, and the few times it had just been his father and the amazon she had pointedly made sure that he stayed on his side of the camp fire, or he got hit upside the head with her ever present staff. She had loved him, and nursed him when he had been sick or hurt, held him when he was in pain, but never had he been able to get her to let her barriers down, and love him as a man--though it had been close on a few occasions.

        His father´s death was still too fresh in his mind, and that was a definite wall between them and always would be. He couldn´t allow himself to fall in love with her, or get too close because then that would be a slap in his father´s face. All he could ever be was a friend he decided firmly as he finally got out of the water, and dried off. He found his clothes, and put them on. Gathering up the soap, and towel he made his way back to camp. He checked the horses another time before he went into the camp. When he got there Eve was already wrapped in her cloak, and blankets, and looked like she was already asleep. If she was sleeping he wasn't going to wake her, further conversation could wait for another time. Going over to Areon he checked to make sure the boy was still sleeping and tucked his covers around him more to keep out the night chill. Lastly, he checked the fire, and added some more wood to it before he finally lay down in his own blankets and fell asleep without too much trouble.

Continued in Part 4

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