Gabrielle kneeled before the dark lord of the dead. "Place us together, Hades. We lived these last few years doing the good battles."
Hades opened two stone doorways. One to his right glorified a view of Elysian Fields while the left stank of a grilling death passage in a mist of ominous darkness. "Choose your fate."
Xena shouted, "Don't, it's a trick, Gabrielle!"
Racing to Xena's side, Gabrielle hugged away her fears. "Tell me, what to do."
"We wait." Xena smiled at Hades. "Lovely place you have here."
"You shall suffer, Xena!" Irked, Hades cast them into the stale abyss of blackness.
Hand in hand, they fell into a muggy perilous nothingness. Though, shrills of tormented regioned echos, both know they carried something better than death's terror.
Watching Gabrielle regain her sunfast smile, Xena shouted, "Shame his darkness. Tell me your latest stories. We have all eternity to make more, my friend."
Hades gnarly yelled,"Is this your choice?"
Gabrielle chuckled. "We won't make our own hell,here, Hades! With our combined wills, imagination can color some fanciful distractions!"
"Not in my domain!"
Rejoined in their bodies thudding on the shale stage, Xena and Gabrielle raced to Tasha lying on the ground. Her eyes barely opened as she half-smiled pointing to a firm flattened stomach.
"My baby left. He's up there, somewhere." Tasha grabbed Xena's hand. "I thought I saw you die. God, it was awful!"
Xena nodded no to Gabrielle. "You've been seeing a lot of strange things, New York. Relax, I've arranged for you to take a nice long vacation."
Tasha groaned. "Delphi, again?"
"Not this time!" Xena helped her to stand. "You won't need to travel that far.
"Thank God."
Returning to Antigone's throne, Xena leaned Tasha into the arms of Antigone's finest guards, leaving for a moment to a double-door on the left. After a few loud garbled comments with Antigone, Xena returned leading a procession.
Tasha watched Antigone walked from the side chamber. "Lauren Bacall? Geepers, I'm living in the cast of thousands."
"You are the Wizard." Antigone towered pompously over Tasha.
"I'm Xena's friend and proud of it." She glared up. "Where the hell do you get off, Lady?"
Gabrielle shook Tasha's arm. "Just calm down, you're overwraught. Don't make a scene."
Tasha pushed her away. "No, I heard about your prissy city where people walk-alike and talk-alike and praise the lives of fancy Magicians! Get real! You claim your an honorable ruler. How? You send for Xena, your blood, then toss her out of your fancy-smancy palace, like a sack of manure, when all your personal needs are filled. How could you steal such a sweet kid like Gabby? You insult them both and still have the guts to ask for favors? "
Xena pulled Gabrielle aside, whispering, "Tasha doesn't need your help. Let her get it out of her system."
Seeing Xena smiling, Tasha pulled from the guards. "What's next, toots? Are you going to spit on her again or make amends? She's your granddaughter for Christ's sake!"
Antigone politely smiled rubbing her chin.
"Where I'm from, we do hospitality better. We take Ex-Lax when we need to alleviate a situations like yours. Various folks express free ideas. Multiple religions strive to live in harmony. Of course, we're an advanced civilization, there. But, how can you ban creeds recognizing the gods? If someone wants to kowtow to them yahoos, let him. Where I'm from, we believe everyone has a fundamental right to make a perfect ass of his/herself. It's part of the fun to being human!" Tasha noticed Antigone's guards cocooning around her. "I. Well,I. I've shared enough, today. Let's go Xena."
Antigone gently bowed her head, smiling as her guards grabbed Tasha's arms. "Not just yet, little Wizard! Hospitality does begin at home. Welcome to mine! It seems you're overdo for long holiday, a complete change of pace. My compassionate granddaughter asked me to overlook your recovery. At first, I refused."
Tasha yanked but the guards held firm. "Xena, this isn't funny!"
Antigone waived to Xena and Gabrielle heading for the door. "Though, you're talk has certainly swayed my decision. Yes, Penumbra will provide a wonderful teaching environment for you, Wizard. I'll see to that, personally."
"I don't need you, Antigone. Gabby?"
Antigone nodded to her scribes preparing parchment orders. "Granted, we don't have any unwed mothers here. Perhaps, Penumbra should pride itself on that tolerance to start. Over time, we'll learn so much from each other. Starting with your dress."
"Xena, what did you do?"
Xena chuckled at the door. "Just look on it, as a challenge, New York. No one has ever escaped the walls of Penumbra prison!"
"You'll pay for this, Xena!" Tasha spit as the guards dragged her away. "I trusted you!"
"There, there, Tasha. Such mannerisms need improvement." Antigone winked to Xena. "I'm in full accord with my grandchild. No one will ever escape my dominion! Eros be with you, Xena."
"Battle on, Antigone!" Xena walked a reluctant Gabrielle out a side passage to the sea. "She'll be okay."
"When will we come back?" Gabrielle refused to enter Sophia's boat. "You won't be leaving her. Will you?"
Xena's cat eyes grinned as she nudged Gabrielle into the boat. "Eventually. Right now, we have duties in Athens. Tasha takes good care of herself. Remember?"
"Does an orphan have any other choice?" Gabrielle glanced out over the water. "Maybe your right."
Xena listened to children's laughter echoing from festive homes surrounding a prosperous city. Seeing warriors helping fisherman haul hulking nets over the edge of the boats, she pictured Gabrielle returning to add proud new scrolls into the grand Bard's golden libraries of Penumbra. Why did Cyrene leave such tranquility? Xena imagined a willful confrontation with Antigone many years ago. She vowed never to ask her curiousities, quick to stir sorrow in her mother's eyes. Afterall, she suffered enough of her own regrets. In Xena's younger years, she raised her only for profit, plundering, and playful destruction.
Looking back at the castle, Xena thought of seven months ago. It was a moonlit night with Tasha bathing a long trek from her former tree home. Xena realized that was Apollo's affair! How many more mangled loves would Tasha distract from a happy courtship with poor Hercules?
Xena tapped Gabrielle's shoulder. "What if we did leave her with Antigone?"
Gabrielle chuckled. "That wouldn't be fair to either of them!"
"It's certainly something to consider."
Gabrielle searched the skies for hints of Ionus. "Leave me out of it! Leave me out of it. I want some turkey, just take me home!"
XENA STORY INDEX