by Vickey Brickle-Macky 11/10/2000

Part 5

 

Sometime close to dawn Virgil woke up to find Eve wrapped around him, her head resting against his chest, one arm flung over his waist, the other rest against it, and a leg hooked around his. Her hair was brushing against his mouth. While he had one arm around her and the other around her waist. Once he realized how they were sleeping he woke instantly trying to figure out how they had ended up that way as well as how to carefully disengage himself without waking her.

        She moaned, and gave a contented sigh in her sleep, then snuggled in even tighter, her body molding itself to his even more than it had been to him, her hands playing across his bare chest. He shivered involuntarily. It felt good, almost too good. His body was already reacting to the nearest of her sensuous body, but his very conscious mind was screaming—no, no, no! He knew she was asleep, totally unaware of what she was doing. That much he could tell that by her steady breathing against his chest.

        He was becoming more unnerved than turned on. If it had been any other woman but her he might have let nature take it´s course—but this was Eve—and there was no way he was going to cross that line with her. She was friend and at the same time still an enemy and always would be for what she had done. He laid there for a few minutes contemplating what to do. One part of him was enjoying the closeness of her against him, the other was saying it was a very bad idea. Before he could figure out what to do she awoke with a start looked at where her hands were, and realized what she doing.

        "What?? Oh my gods," she sputtered, quickly disentangling herself from him and sat up both alarmed and acutely embarrassed. "Gods, I´m sorry Virgil," she managed to say flushing a bright red.

        He grinned, never seeing her quite so unnerved like this before. "It´s okay Eve, really. You were sound asleep. I was trying to figure out how I was going to move you when you woke up. No harm done," he reassured her. He was tempted to laugh but thought better of it. He did not want her to get totally pissed at him and mad for the rest of the day. Things were tense enough now just getting out of the Empire. Though he was still trying to figure out how as well as why they had ended up that way in their sleep. What unconscious motivations of hers as well as his own let it happen?

        Eve wasn´t quite convinced that it was that harmless, and was still trying to figure out how she had landed up in such and intimate position with him. That was not like her, though it was clear it had been her not him doing the snuggling. For the moment she was going to let the whole thing pass as further discussion would not make it better. "Yeah, right," she said fully awake now, pushing her dishelved mane out of her eyes. "We needed to get up anyway." She added quickly getting out of bed and starting to get dressed.

        He had wanted to talk about it, but it was clear she didn´t. Seeing that she was definitely not in a talking mood about anything, he got up and got dressed too, then he went over and woke Areon. The boy jumped up startled, but then relaxed when he saw it was only Virgil. He smiled and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Is it morning?" he asked looking towards the window and seeing it was just starting to be light.

        "Yeah, time to get up. We´ll grab something to eat from downstairs and I´ll get the horses ready. Your mother wants to get an early start," he told the boy and saw him frown at his calling Eve his mother, but he didn´t argue as before and got up.

        Eve had put on her spare tunic dress over her armor since the other one had too much blood on it to wear. Virgil had also put on a clean tunic too. Once they got on board a ship they could either clean them or toss them out. She already had her weaponry on was fastened her cloak on and looked over at them both. "You two ready?" she asked impatiently, gathering up the rest of their things and hurriedly stuffing them into their packs.

        "Yeah," Virgil said seeing that she was all business now and a little disappointed she didn´t at least say good morning to Areon. "Let´s go," he told her and motioned Areon to follow as they left the room and went downstairs. Eve took point with Areon following her then Virgil

        Virgil stopped long enough to get some cheese and bread from the innkeeper for Areon to eat since Eve was very impatient to get out of there. He had wanted to get some breakfast himself, maybe later he hoped. The three went across the courtyard and the adults quickly got the horses saddled up and ready to go. Within less than ten minutes they were on the road again and not a moment too soon as they looked back from their position on a hill a half a mile away to see that a troop of Roman solders on foot had arrived at the inn with the innkeeper´s wife leading the commander into the inn. They spurred their horses forward and raced down the road putting as much distance as they could between them and the inn. Ten miles further down they came to another short cut Eve knew about to cut through some heavy woods heading towards the higher hills they still had to travel across. On the other side of them was the sea coast. By mid day they had gained the crest of the highest hill and Virgil called a halt. Eve didn´t want to stop but he insisted for Areon´s sake and she gave in. Virgil picked out a small clearing that offered a good view of the valley they had just left, but still gave them cover in case their trail had been picked up.

        They dismounted and let their tired horses glaze while Virgil got out their food and water. He and Areon found a large tree and sat down to have their picnic. While they were doing that Eve did some quick scouting to see if they were being followed. So far the commander whom she had recognized as being one of hers at one time had not picked up their trail. She didn´t see any sign of the solders which meant they were safe for the moment. She hoped going through the woods would throw the trackers off. She came back looking calm which Virgil took for a good sign and handed her some food. She took it gratefully realizing that she was hungry after all. She sat down on the grassy ground next to them under the shade of the trees.

        She ate quickly while pondering their next move. Right now all of her energy was directed at getting them out of there, so she missed the sad looks Areon was giving her because she wasn´t really noticing him at all. Virgil had caught the boy´s looks at Eve, the only thing he could do was pat the boy reassuringly and hope Eve would eventually pay some attention to her son. She was still thinking like a military commander and not as a mother.

        "If I remember rightly there should be some fishing villages on the other side of this hill. We still doing all right on money?" she asked knowing that they had been spending some of their money on the trip.

        "We´ve got about a thousand and a half denars and some more gold left. We should be able to hire a ship with no problem," he reassured her, eating his lunch and making sure Areon was eating too. The boy was quiet, subdued today. He understood that there were solders following them and he was scared.

        "Are we going on a ship?" Areon perked up listening to the conversation.

        "Yeah, we´re going to see if we can get a ship and sail across to Greece. Once we get on the water it won´t take that long, maybe a couple of days or so depending on the weather," Virgil told him.

        "Then what? Where are we going after we get there?" the boy asked, because he had been worrying about what was going to be happening but had also been afraid to ask too.

        Virgil smiled at him. "We´re going to see if we can find Hercules. He´s a friend of your grandmother, Xena, and we need his help," he told the boy being truthful.

        "Hercules—wow!! For real? You know him?" Areon´s eyes lit up in excitement.

        He grinned, ruffling his hair. "Sort of. He used to stop in and visit my dad. My dad used help Hercules and Xena when he was a warrior. He and Iolaus live down by Thessily now and both have settled down since Hera´s not a problem anymore," he told them both noting Eve´s surprise. "Hercules brought the Celtic half-goddess, Morgana, and her daughter back from his last trip to her home. Iolaus got hooked up with one of the Amazons he knew and now they are farming and raising kids," he explained.

        "I´m sort of surprised. I thought they were still doing hero bits," Eve said, she hadn´t heard that.

        "Hercules does, but Iolaus doesn´t, He´s gotten too old to. Herc´s half god so he ages more slowly so he can still do some things. Though he rather just stay home with his family. Hera killed his first wife and kids and Ares was partly responsible for the second one´s demise. The only gods that visit are Aphrodite since Artemis got killed," he told her and she lowered her face in shame. She hadn´t killed the goddess but her mother had in defense of herself on Olympus.

        "You know all these gods?" the boy asked. "I´ve never seen a god before. Ours never came around that I could see though Areland used to tell me he talked them all the time. I never believed him because he used to fake he had powers to the people of our village. I wanted to show him, but I didn´t," Areon said, and realized he had almost slipped up and got real quiet, looking nervous now.

        "Show him what, Areon?" Eve asked curious now as to what he had wanted to say and didn´t.

        "Nothing, nothing at all," he said quickly, and changed the subject. "I´m through eating. I want to go before the solders come," he added.

        "Okay, sure," Virgil replied, puzzled too by what he had meant and why he suddenly shut up and wanted to leave.

        He got up and helped Eve to her feet and made sure that they had left no traces they had been there. They remounted their horses and got underway again. By late afternoon they had reached the base of the hills and were riding along the rock and sand surf. By dusk they had reached a small fishing village and they began inquiring who had a ship they could hire to take them and the horses to Greece as soon as possible. They were directed to a large trading vessel tied up at the sturdy docks. It had seen better days but it was serviceable from what they could see.

        "Ahoy?" Virgil called up to one of the sailors working on board. "Is your Captain around?"

        "Aye, he is. What´s you needs with him?" the tall tan man asked, looking Virgil, Eve, and the boy over as well as the two horses.

        "I want to see about passage for myself and my family to Greece along with the horses. I´ve got money, I can pay him well," Virgil told him and the man became interested seeing how well they were dressed along with how good the horses were.

        "Okay, I´ll be getting him," he told them and went on board and disappeared. In a couple of minutes he came back with an older, bearded colorfully dressed black man.

        "I´d be the captain. My mate here says you are wanting to go to Greece? How soon?" He asked looking them over too, especially Eve and the boy.

        "Tonight if possible. We´re on a mission to find Hercules," Virgil truthfully told him.

        "Hercules, huh? You know him?" the Captain asked amused, not really buying their story but he wasn´t the kind to ask too many questions either.

        "Yes, he was friends of my father and my wife´s mother too. I need to see him about a family matter. Can you do it?" Virgil asked, hoping he wouldn´t turn them down too like most of the ship owners had in town.

        "Aye, I can. I was getting ready to sail anyway over to Athens way tonight. But it´s going cost you about hundred dinars for the lot of you plus the horses. Though looking at them I don´t blame you. I wouldn´t want to leave them either. By the ways, my name is Seeclops, and who might´s you be," he asked getting down to business.

        "I´m Virgil, this is Eve, and this is our son Areon," Virgil said taking the outstretched hand of the captain and shaking it. The man´s name was familiar, but surely it couldn´t be the same man Xena had helped years ago? "Are you the Seeclops that was the Lost Mariner until Xena got Poseidon to lift his curse?" he had to ask.

        The man looked embarrassed and nodded, "Aye, I am. Think I´d have enough of sailing wouldn´t you, but after a couple of years on dry land I had to get back to water and do what I do best. So here I am.," he smiled, welcoming them aboard. "I´ll have my men help you get the horses on board. Luckily we were taking some horses and other livestock this trip so it won´t be a problem with extras."

        "Thanks, I appreciate this," Virgil said taking out his money pouch.

        Seeclops saw him and shook his head, refusing the money. "No, waits until we gets there. It´s bad luck when I get paid before hand," he told him and Virgil, put his money back a little surprised. Then the captain turned and began giving orders to his crew.

        Virgil took Areon´s hand and they walked up the plank leading Haze, while Eve kept hold of Storm who wasn´t liking the idea of the ship already. She kept tight hold on the horse and finally got him into the hold with Virgil´s and another sailors help after they had to blindfold the skittish black stallion. Finally the horses were settled and they followed one of the men to see where they were to bunk for the trip. The captain had managed to find them a cabin so they wouldn´t have to sleep on deck, though at this point none of them would have cared. With everyone settled the ship left the dock and none too soon as Eve saw the troop of solders come in from the village heading towards the dock. Fortunately the ship was already into the bay and the wind was beginning to catch in the unfurled sails.

        Seeclops noted the angry Roman solders on the dock, and glanced back to his new passengers leaning on the rails, and knew the two were connected, especially how they were watching them and looking relieved. Wisely he kept his mouth shut. He would ask questions later. He had no love from Romans as he put most of them as being lower than pirates. Something about the woman was bugging him, he wasn´t sure where he had seen her before, and there was something else about her too. The boy too reminded him of someone too. The man, he knew he didn´t know, and would give odds that the boy was not his. Though the woman was undeniably the child´s mother. They both had the most intense sky blue eyes, eyes that he had only seen on one other woman before—Xena.

        There was something else about her too that reminded him of the woman who gave him back his life. Years ago he had heard some mention of Xena having a daughter and the Gods of Greece being real upset about it that ended with Zeus and Hera being killed. Then he had heard about Xena and Gabrielle´s death and recently there had been rumors of them being alive again, and being seen in different areas of the known world after some major battle with the Olympians and Poseidon himself being one of the casualties.

        There was also some mention of her having a grown daughter now, the same child the gods had tried to killed having been saved, hidden, and raised by someone else in the Roman court. Most rumors he took with a grain of sand for them being just that—rumors. Looking at the young woman whose hood had fallen back so that the breeze was catching her long dark hair, he began to wonder if there might be some truth to them. The boy too he was puzzling about. Somehow the boy reminded him of Cupid as a child or at least the statues of the young god he had seen, and Seeclops couldn´t figure out why. Having had personal dealings with the Olympians for many years he began to wonder if the child was related to them as this was no normal child he could sense that clearly. It would be several days before they got to Athens more than enough time to find out if any of his suspicions were true. He was real curious of why and how Hercules was involved with them too.

        The further and further they got from the shores of the Roman Empire the safer Eve felt and began to smile and relax. She looked over to see Virgil and Areon enjoying the ride too. She had been a little surprised that Virgil had used their real names to the captain. Evidently this was another one of her mother´s old friends they had stumbled on to. That was both good and bad in her mind, as long as Virgil didn´t go telling the guy she was Xena´s daughter, though she knew she couldn´t stop him from doing it either, nor Areon either. Right now she just wanted to be plain Eve and not be in her mother´s shadow for once. Though she knew Virgil would not be able to resist telling tales of her mother to the sailors and to Areon to keep him amused while they were on board. If it happened she would just have to live with it she guessed.

        Virgil left Areon watching one of the sailors tie knots while he came over to see how Eve was doing. She at least had lost some of her tenseness and was appearing to be more relaxed now. Behind them in the West the sun was beginning to set on the water bathing everything in it´s reddish golden glow. He was struck by how beautiful she looked, the fading sunlight softening her features with golden highlights, the breeze blowing her hair and cloak around her. She looked more like a goddess than a mere mortal now. She had that same kind of presence as her mother did that set them apart from ordinary women. He found himself staring in awe and caught himself before she noticed as well. She wasn´t even aware of him until he spoke finally. "Well we´re safe now. Unless we get stopped by a Roman galley we should be home free and back to Greece in a couple of days."

        "Good," she said turning and facing him. "It´ll be strange going there again. Last time was with my legions," she told him not going into any details of why she had been there.

        He took the hint that was all he was going to get out of her for now and didn´t ask further. "From Athens we can then got to Thessily and see if we can find Hercules if that´s still what you want to do?" he asked, thinking he should have asked her before this.

        "I guess so. Part of me hates to bother him for a number of reasons because this is something I should be able to work out on my own. So far as we have seen, Areon seems like a normal child. Maybe I am over reacting and there´s nothing to worry about. At least I don´t have to worry about Ares popping in on me because he´s mortal now, and he´s too busy trying to either get my mother´s attention or get his godhood back. I shouldn´t have any problems with the other gods as they either hate my guts or are too scared to come near me now," she told him looking out across the waves of the sea and hoping she was right and there wouldn´t be any problems with the various gods that were left.

        "I had forgotten about the other gods. Yeah, you and your mother are not on their most popular list. I just worry that one of them might notice Areon as being related to them, and come and cause trouble for you as you don´t have the ability to kill gods," reminding her.

        "I know. That´s why I picked where Areon lived so carefully because the gods of that area rarely showed up. I checked around knowing what my child might be, and how local gods might feel having a foreign half godling on their doorstep. I learned very early on that one can never be too careful when dealing with gods of any area. The Olympians were not the first ones I´ve had to deal with," she told him and he saw she wouldn´t elaborate so he let it drop for now. She was a woman of many deep secrets that she had kept to herself for years, how many other things did she have hidden in her past that might spring up and cause problems at a later date? Somehow he almost afraid to find out.

        "Then if not to Hercules where then?" Virgil asked, still keeping an eye on Areon as was Eve for a change he noted.

        "I don´t know. Somewhere I don´t have to be Xena´s daughter, or no one knows me as Livia. Somewhere where I can just be me or find out who I am and not have to fight again. Somewhere I can have the chance to be Areon´s mother if he´ll let me be," she said with a touch of sadness in her voice.

        He cocked his head listening and understanding what she was saying. "That´s up to you and him both. Though finding a place like you describe is going to be hard, but not impossible—we´ll find it for you, I promise," Virgil reassured her and she smiled back at him.

        "I believe you will. You´re good man, Virgil, I never would have been able to do all this without you," she said thanking him, really looking a him, and seeing someone she wished she could have known under different circumstances. That he was there for her now was more than she even deserved. "I´m going to go to the cabin for a couple of minutes and change out of this armor. I don´t need it now, especially if I am supposed to be your wife. I don´t want the captain asking too many questions of what I needed armor for," she told him.

        "Good idea. Yeah, it would look pretty odd. So what do you want me to say about us?"

        "I dunno, just wing it, I guess. I´m too tired to sort it all out. I do know the captain has been watching me and Areon. I´ve caught him looking. I don´t think it´s about Livia, as I´ve never seen any of these men before and I would have remembered him even in a crowd. I think it´s about Xena and the Olympians as he did know them. I´d much rather he´d think of me as Xena´s than as I was. Besides, I know you, you like telling stories about your dad and his adventures," she told him with a smile.

        He looked a little sheepish, "yeah, I do and Areon likes them too. One day I hope to write them all down like Gabrielle´s been doing. The Joxer scrolls, that has a nice ring to it," he grinned.

        She smiled a little at the idea, though she was still remorseful for what she had done as that would always be unbridgeable chasm between the two of them that could never be crossed. "That sounds good from what I know of him he would have like that," she said uncomfortably, unable to meet his eyes and quickly changed the subject wanting to not talk about it further. "Let me go get out of this and I be back as soon as I change. You might find out when dinner is while I´m gone. I´m starved," Eve added as she pushed away from the rail to go below to go get changed.

        Virgil watched her leave, enjoying watching her pick her way across the deck, wishing things were different, but they weren´t and never would be he sighed. After she vanished below he went back over to where Areon was standing by himself since the sailor had gone to do something. The boy was looking over the rail watching some porpoises swim along side of the ship keeping steady company with it as it plowed through the sparkling waters. "Hi, how are you doing?" Virgil asked joining him.

        "Fine. This is fun. I like sailing. Jay showed me some really neat knots and he let me tie a couple, except I didn´t do them too great, but he told me it takes practice and to keep trying," he relayed happily. "Where did Eve go?" he asked having seen her leave.

        "Just down to change clothes. She wanted to take her armor off. She doesn´t need it here," Virgil explained.

        "Ohh, I guess not," the boy replied, looking relieved as already he was associating armor with her fighting and killing. "Maybe she´ll start talking to me now since she doesn´t have to fight all the time. Have you known her long, Virgil?"

        The question surprised him, but he recovered quickly. "Almost three months going on four now. I met her first in Rome as my dad, Xena, and Gabrielle and I had to come there to find her. She didn´t know us and it took a while to convince her that Xena was her mom," he explained.

        "And your dad died here?"

        "Yeah, it was a bad thing that happened, but he got to go out fighting, as a hero just like he always wanted to," Virgil told him, keeping the pain out of voice along with leaving Eve´s part in Joxer´s death out on purpose before he continued. "After he died I went away for a while on my own then joined up with Xena, Gabrielle and Eve after their battle with the gods. We traveled around together fighting bad guys and even battled some angels and demons too. We were bringing some ladies that a warlord in Africa had taken back to their homes when we found you. So it was good we came when we did. We were going to a different way to come back to Greece but this is working better. I´ll be glad to get back home and check on my mom and my brothers and sisters. I haven´t seen them in a long time now," he added.

        Areon nodded, happy that he had been found when he had otherwise he had no idea where he would be now. At least he had a family of sorts even though it was all strange and new to him. "I´ll never see my old one. I gotta forget about my old home now and get used to a new one. What´s it like where you live, Virgil?" the boy asked, still wondering what was going to become of himself and wondering if Virgil would let him stay with him. He still wasn´t too sure about his mother yet.

        "It´s pretty. There´s lots of trees and hills, and places to go fishing and hunting. There´s mountains nearby and sometimes I used to go climb them and explore the caves. My town is on one of the main routes to Athens so we get lots of travelers coming through and I used to listen to them and try to write down what they told me about the places they had been and the people they had seen so other people would know it too. My folk´s inn was a popular spot for people to stop in because dad would tell them stories too. I´m the oldest and I got three brothers, and three sisters all younger than me. My brother Kester is close to your age and my sister Dena is too. You´d fit right in. Before Xena showed up I did blacksmithing and some other things. I´ll be good to land for awhile after all this traveling," Virgil told him, giving him a smile.

        "Yeah, I´ve been traveling for a while too. Everything is so different now. I´m glad you´re my friend, Virgil. How come you and Eve don´t get together? You tell everyone you are," Areon asked looking at him.

        Virgil wasn´t quite sure how to answer that. "It´s complicated, Areon. Your mom and I are just friends and telling people we´re together makes them ask less questions. I like your mom, but I´m not in love with her—it wouldn´t work out," he told him, trying not to get the boy´s hopes up that he and Eve would get together for him.

        "Ohh," he said disappointed. "So you won´t be with us when we get our new home?" he asked, trying another tactic.

        "Maybe, don´t know. I´ll have to see what happens. It depends on Eve too. I´d like to be around for you, as I like you Areon, but I don´t know what´s going to be happening," Virgil told him truthfully and saw that the young boy was upset and hurt, but it was better to tell him now then later that he might not be around.

        Virgil didn´t know that Eve had been listening to the conversation between the two. Taking off her armor and weapons had not taken that long. She had changed quickly into a long simple blue dress and sandals and was back on deck when Virgil had started to explain why he and Eve didn´t get together to her son. One part of her wanted to agree fully with his logic of why but the other part of her was hurt that it was impossible—ever. Though why it did hurt she was trying to understand herself as she backed away unnoticed to flee for the other side of the ship before they became aware she was back. Right now she needed to be alone to sort out why she was upset and what to do about it if anything. She was beginning to find that she did have feelings for Virgil and it was bothering her. It did matter what he said and felt about her. Earlier after they made peace and a truce of sorts after Joxer´s death and Africa, she could have cared less for his opinions but the more she was around him the more his feelings did matter. Even Areon´s were also beginning to get to her. This was something she just wasn´t used to dealing with—feelings—caring, love, and the pain and hurt they could cause—not since she was a very little girl had she allowed herself to have any emotions. She was having to unlearn the habits and conditioning of a lifetime and what she was feeling was scaring her. One way she wished either Xena or Gabrielle were here to talk to about what was going on—then at the same time she didn´t think she could talk to them since it was Virgil. They were very protective about him and the idea of Virgil with her would not set well she felt. Maybe having any kind of relationship with him other than as a friend was impossible after all.

        She felt a presence behind her and turned carefully, guardedly, not feeling danger just her usual caution as was her habit of many years. It was the captain, Seeclops, approaching. Eve relaxed a little, and went back to looking over the sparkling sea as she was really not in the mood for questions or company.

        "I see you´re not with your family. Everything okay?" the captain asked coming up to join her.

        "Yeah, everything is fine," she replied not looking at him, trying to cut off further inquires.

        "I see," he replied not convinced in the slightest. What he had observed of the family group so far did not look that normal. There was guarded interaction, but not affection between the two adults. He did not believe they were married on any level, even fighting couples showed more spark than these two young people did. The man was involved with the boy and the boy stayed with the man, but the woman did little with the boy, and even looked unsure how to. There were many strains between the three, a feeling of newness that they had not been together long except the two adults, though it was clear the child was hers.

        Standing there close to her he was again struck with the sense of she was a warrior, who had served with the military even, a woman who had served with, and commanded men. She did move as a warrior, and one used to having her wishes obeyed, like at lot of the royalty he had dealt with. There was no way this was just a simple common woman. He noted too she had changed clothes, and had taken off her armor and heavy weaponry. The man had not been similar armed, except for the sword on his belt, but she had been armed to the teeth. Even now he doubted if she was weaponless. She trusted no one, and was not the type to allow anyone close. This was a hard one inside and out that had seen much and done much making her many years older than she actually was. He also sensed that changes to her world view and maybe her life had been forced on her recently and that it was those changes she was now wrestling with.

        "You and your husband from Greece?" Seeclops asked conversationally, intrigued now by her.

        "He is. I was born there but grew up in Rome," she answered carefully, not saying where Areon had been born since he hadn´t asked and saying he had been born in Gaul would only lead to questions she didn´t feel like answering.

        That explained her Roman accent which he had noted. "I noticed the Roman solders as we left, anything you wish to talk about?" he asked.

        "It was just a misunderstanding at an inn we were at. The innkeeper´s wife´s cousin tried to rob us and got killed and she got upset. The men had also tried to his son and did kill the stablemaster which made her husband more upset and he kicked her out. She said she´d get even so she must have talked to the solders and sent them after us," Eve explained truthfully, thought not that there were other solders looking for. Them for other reasons.

        "I see," said Seeclops. "If that was all to it then, no problem. How did your parents get to know Hercules? I met him and Iolaus ten years ago, great guys. And Xena was wonderful, I owe my life back due to her and Gabrielle. She was willing to give up everything to rescue Gabrielle who we had fished out of the ocean because of a storm. I didn´t want her to get trapped on board like everyone else but she came anyway and figured out how to lift Poseidon´s curse. With Athena dead now I´m not sure whether I still am immortal, but that´s okay. Living forever isn´t such a great think after a couple of centuries anyway," he smiled grimly.

        "Virgil´s father was Joxer that used to travel with Xena," she sighed answering him, knowing that she wasn´t going to get out of telling him. "my mother is Xena," she said quietly, still reluctant to have it known.

        "That explains why you look familiar to me. I had my suspicion´s you were. You look like her. It was your eyes. Never saw eyes like that anywhere else. So you´re her daughter, amazing," he said wanting to hug her, but seeing she wasn´t the hugging type, so he didn´t. "I heard she died and then just came back recently, some kind of sleeping potion so that she and Gabrielle slept for twenty five years, is that true?" he asked wondering about the rumors he had heard.

        Eve nodded. "Supposedly they drank some potion with Death´s tears in it to fool the gods into thinking they were dead because the gods were after them because of some prophecy about my birth. They were supposed to wake up after a couple days when everything blew over, but Ares had taken them to an ice cave on a mountain to bury them, so days became years. They got out only because of a rock slide knocking a hole in the roof and melting Xena´s ice casket. They woke up to find years had passed and I was already grown. Then they began looking for me, which they did eventually," Eve told him, keeping it simple.

        "Amazing," he said having to problem believing the tale. That was typical Xena. "So how´s your mom and Gabrielle doing. I see they´re not with you," he inquired.

        "They´re somewhere in Africa, I heard. They stayed behind when we went to rescue Gabrielle´s niece from a man called Gurkhan who had her in his harem. We brought the other girls from the harem to Rome to arrange transportation for them to get to their homes. We´ll be meeting up with them in about a month or so when they get back to Greece," she told him neutrally, really not wanting to say too much more. She was already being to dread the idea of meeting her mother again.

        Seeclops sensed there was more to the story but figured he´d find out more from her husband and maybe the boy too. "Is good to know they´re alive and doing all right. To sleep for all those years must have been really strange. I was stuck on my ship, but I at least got caught up periodically with news and events when new people came aboard," he told her, and could see she did understand. "Over the years my children had children, then they had children and so on…. Everyone I had known was long gone when I was finally free. I have a new wife and almost grown sons now, but still I miss my first wife and children," he added with a sigh looking over the sea he knew so very well. "Well, enough talking. It´s about time for supper to be served I would be honored if you and your family could join me in my cabin in a about twenty minutes," he invited.

        Eve turned and nodded, "we´d be glad to join you. I´ll go tell them and we´ll join you shortly." Relieved that she didn´t have to answer any more questions for the moment. From here on she´d let Virgil do the talking.

         "Good, I look forward to seeing you," Seeclops had with a smile and slight bow to her as he left to go talk with the navigator and other members of his crew.

        Alone again, Eve sighed glad that was over with. So the captain knew now and thankfully hadn´t made a big deal out of her being Xena´s daughter. She was finding her mother´s fans increasing hard to live with. Though that was better than her own reputation was. She was preferring smiles over drawn swords and fear in people´s eyes. Somehow her mother had lived down her warlord years, maybe she could live down her "Bitch of Rome" ones and create a positive image for herself as she had. It was just to going to take lots of time, and good acts. Though that was still the part that was eluding her as she didn´t know where and how to begin. She wondered still if there was any goodness inside her like everyone claimed she had. She hadn´t been corrupted by the portal to hell at her grandmother´s like Xena and everyone else had only because of the newness of her redemption was still on her. Now she wasn´t sure because she had killed again. She felt like she had lost that glow and inner guiding spiritual strength she had had. At this point in time she needed guidance badly before she messed up with her son and Virgil too.

        Standing still at the rail overlooking the waves Eve looked heavenward clasping her hands together in prayer, she asked, "Michael, angels, Eli, whomever-- if you can help me, show me what I must do to redeem myself, to wash away the blood I have had to shed to protect us as well as the blood I shed in years gone past. Help me to learn to love as I don´t know how. I want to love them both, but I can´t as I am not worthy of their love. Show me what I must do to be a mother to Areon, how to guide him, and be the type of person he can be proud of. I know I have no right to ask but if there is any way to smooth things out with Virgil show me how. I can´t erase what I did to his father, but I don´t want to lose him from my life either. He and Areon are the best things that have happened to me, and I think I love them, but I´m not sure what love is yet. So please if you hear me if there is any way to help me, please do. Thank you," she prayed, tears falling down her face from the sheer intensity of her emotions entering her once cold heart. Somehow she felt a lightness to her being that hadn´t been present before. A promise that everything would be really all right and that things would work out the way they were supposed to.

        She now felt much better. Not like she had when she had had the vision, and at the river, but she knew someone had heard her. She still wasn´t home free but it was a start, a beginning of a new path for her, abet a very unknown one, where she would begin to feel emotions long dead buried. She hoped she would be strong enough to endure the trials she knew she would have to face for she knew for every thing that one was granted there were always prices to be paid in sorrows and hardships. A balance of sorts. Whatever was going to happen next she was going to let her inner guidance and heart lead her on to what she needed to do.

        Drying her tears with a corner of her cloak she went in search of Virgil and Areon to tell them that the captain wanted them to join him for supper.

continued in Part 6