The demi-god waggled his hand from side to side, "Depends on how long Aphrodite’s spell lasts," he told her.

"What?" she demanded, then shook her head and said, "Never mind. Tell me when we’re out of this gods forsaken city!"

He gave her a rare smile and nodded his agreement moving back to the ships’s wheel, while Nebula began to issue the orders that would see ‘Wave Dancer’ cast off and making it’s way down the Tiber away from the city wharves. Hercules watched the competent Amazon crew members as they hauled in the cables that tied them to the dock and swarmed into the rigging to let fall the sail.

As the night breeze stirred life into the canvass, the big man, felt the ship begin to move and signaled the Amazons to use the thick mooring poles to push the vessel away from the wharves and out into the wide current of the river, where there would be enough way on the ship to turn and head down past the port of Ostia, twenty miles away, and out into the open sea.

He watched Iolaus scramble up the ratlines, as agile as a monkey, and guessed that his friend would have a wide smile plastered across his face as he fell back into the familiar routines of shipboard life. They rarely had the chance to spend time at sea and invariably, when they did, memories of their time spent with the Argonauts tended to flood back into their conscious thoughts. Hercules heeled the ship over and soon had the pirate vessel turned and headed away from Rome and back towards home.

"Nicely done," smirked a voice at his shoulder. "I still say you and Curly should give up the hero game and sail with me. There’s fun to be had and wealth to be made and not a care in the world to concern you."

"Being crucified as a pirate is something that I would care about," pointed out the big man as he turned the wheel amidships and righted the ship as it gathered speed and sailed gracefully along on the river current.

"Every venture needs a little risk .. it’s part of the fun," persisted Nebula. It was an ongoing game.

"Thanks .. but no thanks," returned Hercules firmly. "Sailing with you on the odd occasion is more than enough excitement for a peace loving man like me."

The pirate snorted derisively, "If you’re peace loving, I’d hate to find a man who hungered after a fight all the time."

He glanced up at the set of the sails and shifted the wheel slightly, "Well things happen."

"Don’t they just," breathed the woman as she moved across to the rail and checked their backwater to make sure that they weren’t being followed. "So what now? We’ve rescued the Amazon Queen and the Warrior Princess, erstwhile Destroyer of Nations, Warlord, pirate and all around homicidal maniac. What happens next?"

"She’s no longer those things, Nebula." The demi-god’s voice had dropped into a low warning register. "She left those things behind and works for the good of the ordinary people. She has rare abilities and I’m proud to call her my friend."

"Yeah, yeah! I’ve heard the publicity. I’ve also heard the Amazons talking about her. Wasn’t so long ago that she was looking to kill Gabrielle, was it? Can we really justify our actions in turning her loose on the world again?" she questioned.

Hercules took a deep breath, "As I understand it, the situation was pretty unique. I honestly think that Xena would kill herself before bringing harm to Gabrielle."

"But she didn’t, did she?" insisted the pirate. "She just rode into town, busted up the Amazons pretty good and rode out again dragging their queen behind her."

"Nebula, she was under Ares’ influence. You may have noticed that she attracts the attentions of the gods almost as much as ...."

"Almost as much as you do," she finished for him quietly. "Why is that Hercules? I mean most mortals run through their humdrum existence bowing to the right altars and never see a god in their life, although they might feel their influence. You I can understand .. family connections and all that. But why do the gods play with her life? What’s so special about her?"

Hercules was quiet for so long she didn’t think he’d answer her question. Finally he sighed and said quietly, "I don’t know, Nebula, and I’m sure that it’s something that she wishes didn’t happen. But she doesn’t have much say in the games that the gods play with her .. far less than I have, and Zeus knows that’s little enough. Maybe it’s her strength that attracts them. What she’s done in these last four years has been amazing. How easy can it have been for her to turn her back on the success that she was .. to face the very people that she once terrorized and offer them protection with little hope of gaining their acceptance or their gratitude?"

There was silence between them as they thought about the enigma of the Warrior Princess. A woman full of contradictions who lived her life by a code of honour that could be harsh and demanding, yet left her able to forge a close clique of diverse friends that would risk everything to help her .. knowing that she would do the same for them without a moments thought.

Nebula finally broke the silence, "How long have you been in love with her?"

The demi-god toyed with replying with a flip answer, but instead settled for the truth, "It seems like forever," he sighed. "But she needs other things in her life. She needs to atone for the past wrongs she’s committed, and she feels that it’s unfair to saddle other people with her burdens."

"What about Gabrielle?" asked the pirate genuinely interested.

Hercules smiled, "Have you ever tried to say ‘no’ to Gabrielle? Xena did everything she could to stop the girl from following after her .. short of hog tying her and leaving her. But the little bard has the tenacity of a terrier and the big bad Warrior Princess just couldn’t shake her. There’s a bond between those two. They share something that lovers never could. They would give anything and everything for the other without thought. It’s a rare kind of friendship that. Something to be wondered at .. something to be treasured."

He checked the wind once more before saying politely, but firmly, "Look. All of this is pretty personal. I really don’t want to talk about it anymore, okay?"

Nebula nodded her head in tacit agreement, surprised that she had gotten as much out of him as she had. She turned to contemplate the water of the river speeding smartly along under full sails as the wind cooperated with their hurried withdrawal from the seat of the Roman Empire. "We’ll be passing the docks at Ostia pretty soon .. you can see the lights just up ahead." she said after some time of quiet. "That’s where we’ll find trouble if there’s any to be found." she warned.

"It’s unlikely so soon. We should have at least until dawn before anyone can raise the alarm," replied Hercules with some confidence. "Unless something unforeseen happened back at Graccus’ after we left."

Nebula continued to study the fast approaching port and couldn’t see any sign of activity on the darkly shadowed ships moored there, "Looks like we might just get away with this," she muttered more to herself than the demi-god.

They slipped past the moorings with the only sounds heard being the distant merriment in some dockside tavern and the light gurgle of ‘Wave Dancer’s’ bow wave as she cut cleanly through the river water. The sea was close now, just past the guard towers at the mouth of the Tiber.

Nebula barked orders to Iolaus and the Amazons to trim the sails to reduce speed as they neared the towers. This part of the river required careful navigation .. especially in the dark, as a large sandbar lay just beneath the water’s surface and had been known to foul many unwary vessels.

Taking the wheel from Hercules, the pirate captain carefully noted the placement of the important landmarks, and turned the wheel a little to port to make certain that they gave the tricky obstacle a wide berth. Straightening the wheel, she held the ship firm heading for the river exit intending to pass closer to the watchtower on the left side of the channel. As they approached, they could hear shouting emanating from the tower and saw that torches were springing to life on both sides of the river.

"Have we got trouble?" asked Hercules softly.

Nebula shook her head a little, concentrating on her course, "Once we’re past the towers and out into the open sea they’ll have trouble trying to catch us. They won’t know what route we took .. even though they’ll know we’re heading back to Greece. It’d be like looking for a needle in a haystack."

Almost level with the watchtowers, they could almost smell freedom and the fresh scents of the Greek countryside, "It’ll be good to be home," acknowledged the demi-god, just as the ship ground firmly to a halt!