By Mike Ciani
In a dark foreboding forest glade stood a rather quickly built but yet efficient set of huts. A large hut stood at the center of the makeshift village. It was decorated with various spiritual symbols that a shamaness such as Alti would need or use.
The remainig huts were built in a circle with Alti's at the center. Night had settled over the small village and most of the renegade Amazons were asleep in their huts. Alti had a few remain as guards that would take turns watching for intruders or thieves.
One thing Alti wanted in her village was total control and isolation from the outside. Very few but the incredibly brave or the really stupid would enter such a ominous forest glade that the village was built in anyhow.
In a small hut, a lone woman was lying on the bedroll on the ground. She was used to sleeping that way as she had done for so many nights after Cirra was burned to the ground.
Sleep, Callisto thought, "Funny, it's something I haven't needed while I was a god, but now things are simple again aren't they?"
Still she couldn't get to sleep on this night. Things bothered Callisto quite a bit. She thought over and over again about how the torture would never end for her. She would continually have to live with her pain of losing her family so long ago.
Death couldn't even give her the escape she desired. Callisto thought how Xena was right when she told Callisto that her pain had killed her a long time ago, while Xena was going to live with hers.
Hummmpph, "Xena", she said aloud with disgust. "All her fault I have this pain to begin with.", Callisto whispered while rocking back and forth.
Callisto's thoughts now turned to the woman who brought her back to life. "Alti", Callisto mused, "maybe I can use the ugly old hag for something after all."
That in Callisto's mind was the only reason for joining up with the evil witch in the first place. Callisto knew that she would have to be more careful this time, not like while she was with Hope.
She placed a lot of trust in Hope only to be betrayed by the little burnt-crisp creep. Callisto even considered herself to be a replacement mother for Hope, because Gabrielle wouldn't be one for her. Then she went and turned her back on her to have a child with that pathetic excuse for a god, Ares.
Callisto simply despised the war god. His lovemaking...well...wasn't exactly the highlight of Callisto's life. She nearly barfed all over him when she pretended to be interested in Ares so she could secure that Hind's Blood pendant.
Alti wouldn't make a fool out of her like Hope did, Callisto resolved. Alti filled Callisto in on what her plan for getting Xena's power was and who it involved. Callisto figured she'd go along with it for the time being, but she didn't tell Alti that her desire for revenge on Xena had almost vanished. She knew that revenge wasn't going to erase the pain for her or bring back her family.
However, Callisto was still obsessed with the Warrior Princess, now for other reasons in her mind. A defeated Xena might be one that she could possess.
And although she had lost her desire for revenge, Callisto no longer wanted death either as that would surely send her to Tartarus or even worse back to Dahak's realm where she was trapped after Xena stabbed her with the Hind's Blood. Having to listen to the bragging of that fool evil-god was even worse than listening to Joxer sing his moronic song.
When Hercules defeated Dahak, a gateway opened up and with that she was able to escape. Callisto mused to herself that she would have to thank Hercules for unwittingly helping her escape. Callisto muttered, "Maybe I'll give him a nice surprise someday soon. Hehehehehe..."
So many thoughts ran through Callisto's mind, usually all at once, that she couldn't get to sleep this night.
One thing really confused and irked Callisto however, and that was the presence of the young Amazon priestess, Olya.
She couldn't quite figure out while Olya would hang around such a power-crazed snake like Alti. She saw something in the young girl that didn't quite fit into Alti's little picture.
Callisto saw a lot of anger in the young girl but didn't see an evil streak, such as the one Alti possessed.
About an hour passed and Callisto was still wide awake with her thoughts keeping her company. All of a sudden the silence of the village was broken by a whimpering and muttering coming from the hut next to Callisto's.
Callisto picked up a dagger and went to the next hut, Olya's hut, to see what the problem was. She got there and saw nothing but the young priestess on her bedroll apparently a victim of a bad dream.
The girl was moving slightly while mumbling, "Mother...where's Gabrielle...Xena...that damned witch...why did you kill her Xena...my mother was good...why did you leave me mother..."
Callisto stared at the young girl and finally understood what happened to make Olya so angry. "The good Xena went crazy and killed her mother, just like she did to mine.", Callisto said out loud.
The sound of her voice woke the young priestess out of her nightmare. She was sweating profusely as Olya quickly scanned her hut for the source of the voice she heard. Her eyes focused on a woman standing in the doorway. Olya shouted, "Mother...is that you?"
Callisto quickly left the hut and went back to her own. Callisto didn't know what to say to the young girl.
One part of her told herself why should I care about that kid. So Xena killed her mom, she killed mine too. No one ever gave me any sympathy or opened up their hearts to me, so why should I.
Another part, while smaller and usually supressed in Callisto's personality, came through and said, well maybe if someone had shown you some love then you wouldn't be what you are today.
With that thought, a single tear ran down Callisto's cheek...