Kismet?
Chapter 2
Impatiently Gabrielle waited as Serena swam in the lake outside the temple of the Fates.
She had watched as the girl, with sure strong strokes had crossed back and forth across its
surface. The afternoon sun was dipping towards the horizon blazing the sky with a fiery
beauty, that had not she been so despondent she could have written an entire tale on it.
Finally Serena emerged from the water, her shift clinging to her, a smile on her face.
Once again the feeling of familiarity with this girl she had just met flared. "Can we go
now?" She asked impatiently.
"Soon. Tell me why you went to the Fate's temple. It will help me understand what I
need to explain to your friend."
"Three months ago, my friend and I went to Britannia," Gabrielle began. This time she
spared herself nothing. "I had a child while there - a daughter, I named her Hope. My
friend recognized the evil in her and urged me to kill her. Oh I knew so much better, she
could overcome her dark side, she was not a demon, Xena," so lost in her memories
Gabrielle didn't hear Serena's sharp intake of breath, "urged me to kill her, but I ran. I put
Hope in a basket and sent her down the river praying that she would be safe. Two days
ago I found her again. She looked like she was about ten or twelve. Callisto threatened
the children, to protect Hope I sent her into the hut with Solon, Xena's son. My daughter
killed her son. That is what happened. I don't know how I ended up here, but I thought
the Fates would switch me for Solon. Instead I got you."
Serena had remained silent, listening to the bard as she talked. "Gabrielle... You went to
Britannia three months ago, but two days ago Hope was ten?" Gabrielle nodded. "You
weren't pregnant when you went?" Another nod. "Oh Gods... Hope is a demon, she has to
be. If she is then... she is not nor was she ever your daughter. You were merely the
vessel that brought her into this world. As for swapping you for Solon - that's impossible,
for some reason Atropos cut Solon's thread. She doesn't cut threads unnecessarily, it's not
her style."
Rising she went to the now crying bard. She gathered her into her arms, much as a
mother would a child. "Is there somewhere you can go? I have to find Xena, before she
turns her grief to violence."
"Y-y-yes, I can go to the Amazon's."
"Good, Go to them they will help you."
They separated as Serena bent to pick up her clothes Gabrielle saw the scar on her back
and gasped.
"It doesn't hurt, it just looks ugly."
"How?"
"A battle a few months ago. My mother, father and I were helping one of my Uncle. I
wasn't paying attention and got an ax in the back. Poor man, I don't think he realized who
he had attacked, and he didn't live long enough to know either. When my mother and
father and his family put someone on their 'better-off-dead' list - they tend to be that way
quickly."
"Who is your family?"
"Another time, now go. I don't have much time to find Xena."
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