He had initially thought to follow Sorrow, for he was fairly certain where she was headed, but refrained from doing so if only to save himself a little trouble. Ares imagined that she had most likely gone to hide amongst the pitiful humans for whom she cared so much, and trying to find her amid that riffraff was not an action he wanted to initiate, especially if a little patience might save him a lot of fruitless searching. He ultimately suspected that she must be wanting to get to the nearest Temple of Poseidon, and that was at the port city of Iolkos, on the Gulf of Volos, a two-day’s journey from the base of Mount Olympus. Ares figured that it would take Sorrow at least that much time to reach the city, and he knew just where to look for her in between.

If he could just contain his anger and impatience long enough to wait her out.

Forcing himself to sit down on his cold, marble throne, Ares tried to quiet his sense of indignity but could not silence the raging thoughts that kept running through his mind until finally he could no longer contain it.

"HOW DARE SHE REFUSE ME?" he bellowed, his voice echoing and reverberating off the various statues and weapon-covered walls. "I AM ARES, GOD OF WAR!"

"Yadda, yadda, yadda," answered back a sarcastic, feminine, disembodied voice from somewhere to the left of his dais. Ares threw a glare toward the site where his sister finally materialized in a shower of pink and white stars.

"Go away, Aphrodite!" Ares pointed an angry finger toward the exit.

"No can do, bro," the scantily-clad, blonde goddess replied most seriously.

"Look, I don’t come interfering in your affairs - "

"Ex-squeeze me?" she squealed contemptuously. "You’re totally messing around in my realm of expertise this time, Ares, and I’m not any happier about it than the Fates are!"

"Oh? And I suppose you’re also going to tell me she has a different destiny, right?"

"That’s exactly what I’m going to tell you," Aphrodite replied without sympathy. "The Fates and I have worked quite closely on Sorrow’s destiny, and you’re seriously not a part of it, Ares!"

Ares burst into mocking laughter, "Like that has ever stopped me before?!"

Aphrodite frowned, "We’re not talking about a human here, Ares - Sorrow is a goddess. You can’t just go and change her destiny to suit your whims, no matter what Hera wanted!"

"And what if I want it?" Ares growled lowly.

"You want a wife?" Aphrodite’s voice was rife with disbelief. "No way!"

Ares smiled at her ferally, "Yes way!"

"Oh, come on, Ares - get off it!" she wailed. "You know darn well that you didn’t care whether Sorrow married you or not until she told you no, and now you only want to force this to teach the Fates a lesson."

"Perhaps," Ares smirked cryptically. "Then again, perhaps I have . . . other . . . plans?"

Aphrodite felt her blood run cold when she contemplated his meaning, knowing that nothing good could come from forcing a union between the God of War and the Goddess of Lamentation. Finally, she demanded to know, "What sort of plans?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but I’m thinking Sorrow would be a good mother for my children - "

"Your children!?" Aphrodite echoed in disgust. "You just want her to give birth? Ares, you can’t be serious! Besides, you already have dozens of children!"

"They’re all half-human!" Ares unexpectedly raged. "Not a one of them is worth the trouble it took to conceive them!"

Hearing his excuse caused something to click in the normally air-headed goddess’ head, and she interjected suspiciously, "Wait a minute - I think I’ve finally got this figured out! You’re still mad about Hope and that son of yours - the Destroyer? Am I right?"

"I had great plans for that boy!" Ares grumbled.

"Yeah, well, so did his big, bad granddaddy, Dahak!" she gently reminded. "Come on, bro, you know that was a really bad move on your part - "

"As everyone keeps reminding me!"

"And why shouldn’t we? You were practically giving Dahak what he needed to destroy all of us - you included!"

"That still does not excuse the fact that I lost a son who had great potential!" Ares thundered.

"Well, don’t blame me, Ares, and don’t take it out on Sorrow, okay? If you want to blame someone, blame your Warrior Babe. She’s responsible for his death - why aren’t you punishing her?"

"Xena?" Ares mused, barely glancing at Aphrodite sideways. "Let’s just say that I’ve got plans for her, as well. But first, I want my bride as promised!"

"Oh, you’re so being unfair about this!" Aphrodite stomped her slippered foot petulantly.

"Life isn’t fair, dear sister!" Ares smirked insolently. "The fact is, Mother wanted Sorrow as my wife, and I made a vow to never disappoint Mother!"

"Okay, fine!" Aphrodite spat, her hands planting themselves firmly on her shapely hips in unhappy indignance. "You do what you think you’ve got to do, but you just remember - the rest of the Pantheon will hear about this!"

"Well, go on then!" Ares waved her off. "Run home and cry to the Pantheon!"

Aphrodite fumed, but said no more to her bellicose brother, choosing instead to wave her right arm before her in a circular motion as she willed herself somewhere else. She evaporated in a closing burst of pastel sparkles, and was gone.

Once she was out of his presence, Ares frowned in irritation, for it was all becoming more complicated than he had anticipated. What should have been an easily-accomplished task had been thwarted by the most unlikely of sources, and now he was taking flack from Aphrodite. It all just about infuriated him.

He growled under his breath, "Great. Now all I need is for Hercules to butt in, as well, and I’ll have myself a real fiasco!"

The setting sun had the three travelers racing to make it to the next village, for lodgings went quickly once darkness set in, and both Iolaus and Hercules agreed that Sorrow was far too delicate to sleep out in the wilds. She argued without success that she was a goddess, and sleeping on the cold, hard ground would not hurt her, but the two heroes would not even consider it, although their reasons for having her sleep indoors were quite different.

Hercules took the lead, with Iolaus and Sorrow following at a short distance behind him. He was still dissatisfied with Sorrow’s vague explanation of her presence, and could not help but be suspicious of her motives. In spite of all he knew about her, he could not dispel the worry that nagged at him.

In reality, it had surprised him greatly to see Sorrow deliver such expert damage on her assailants, for he and Iolaus hadn’t really taught her consistently enough to make her such a skilled fighter. He had to assume that the clever little girl - now a grown goddess - had remembered their training and had practiced on her own. However, it also surprised him because of the kind of goddess she had been born to be. Sorrow wasn’t the type to want to deliver such damage!

Hercules understood she had an awful task - going from mourner to mourner, feeling every bit of their unhappiness and weeping the sweet tears that became the most delicate and exquisite of pearls. So many times in his own life, he had felt her unobtrusive presence, and it had always comforted him greatly to know that at least one of his relatives on Olympus truly knew how he felt and understood the awesome and empty space that was left in his heart by the deaths of Deianera, his children, and Serena. He truly did not need to hear her voice to prove her sympathy, for he had seen the proof of it in the pearl tears she had left behind and in her eyes each time he looked at her.

Which was why he did not trust her explanation now. The same cousin, whose beatific face could so effortlessly reflect so much sadness and truth, now seemed to be wearing a mask of uneasiness and falsehood, and he did not know what to do to convince Sorrow that she could confide in him.

Iolaus, on the other hand, was of no mind to question his new companion’s motives. He shuffled along at her side, eagerly talking and trying to raise the occasional smile from the sad goddess, for he knew she was still not comfortable with Hercules’ accusations. Iolaus could not explain his strong attraction to this daughter of Poseidon, or why he so adamantly trusted her, but he did believe her and was completely drawn to her beauty. However, her outer appearance was not the only attraction for Iolaus.

He had been attracted to many women, and goddesses, in his life, and so rarely had the attraction been sustained for very long. There was always another pretty face just waiting around the next corner to take his fancy. Not so with Sorrow. They had passed at least a dozen pretty ladies that day as they traveled, and not one could pull his attention away from the sweet face that peeked shyly at him from beneath the black hood of her cloak. No, he was definitely smitten with Sorrow.

The young goddess, on the other hand, while being pleased with Iolaus’ attentions, was not enthused by the scrutiny she was intermittently receiving from her cousin. She wanted greatly to tell him the truth, so Hercules would cease watching her every move, but she did not want to burden him with this awesome task she had to undertake. It would not help Hercules to know that Ares might show up at any time, and she needed the luxury of the fact that Ares normally avoided Hercules at all costs. And besides, she had every intention of parting their company as soon as they reached Iolkos. She had no desire to cause either of them harm, and especially not Iolaus.

Sorrow was glad for her concealing cloak and its hood, for she had been blushing deeply most of the afternoon. It flattered her immensely to see the adoration that was building in the blue eyes of the man she had idolized since childhood, and it truly moved her to see that he was not being subtle in the least in his displays of devotion. For the first time, she could actually understand what it was that her cousins liked so much about being worshipped, and if she had owned their vanity, she might have been able to absorb it easily. However, this was Iolaus making a fool of himself for her benefit, and she could hardly reflect on how it made her feel to sense his adoration overpowering the sadness she always felt first when meeting humans. Even more powerful was a gradually growing sense of extreme joy that came to her from him each time he turned to look at her. It was all very flattering, and her heart raced each time she felt it.

However, it made her quite uneasy when she felt something else beginning to grow within Iolaus’ heart, and she was almost afraid of what that might be. She was in no position to be getting attached to a human like this, and she silently berated herself for encouraging his attentions, and just before they reached the edge of the village, she begged, "Please, Iolaus - you’re making me blush!"

Iolaus’s face fell immediately, "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable!"

"I know," she smiled from beneath her hood, suddenly sorry that she had erased the smile from his face. "I’m just not used to it - I’m so rarely seen by human eyes."

"I understand," Iolaus smiled half-heartedly, his disappointment overly tangible to her. "I guess it is hard to deal with so much sadness, much less having to put up with all of my crazy emotions all in one day!"

"Oh, no, please don’t think that," she begged, truly sorry that she had spoken. "I merely meant that I’m not used to so much attention - I’m afraid I’m rather on the shy side at times."

Iolaus’ smile reemerged, and she felt another surge of happiness replace his disappointment as he asked, "How about we just walk along quietly for awhile, then?"

"That would be nice, Iolaus," she replied happily. "Thank you."

The gates to the village now loomed up ahead, and Hercules felt relief that they still had some time to find an inn before the sun completely left the sky, and he turned to his companions, "Looks like we’ve made good time today. What say we find ourselves a place to stay for the night and get something to eat?"

"Eat?" Sorrow smiled in surprise. "Oh, I’d love to try that!"

"You’ve never eaten?" Iolaus exclaimed. "I thought all gods and goddesses liked to eat!"

Hercules grinned, "Well, they don’t necessarily need to eat."

"No, we don’t, but some do anyway. But I’d like to try it...and wine, too!" Sorrow enthused.

"Well, okay," Hercules nodded in amusement. "Let’s go find us a place then!"

Sorrow pulled her hood down farther over her face as they entered the village, but was immediately enamored with the sights, sounds and smells of the place. So many people - many she knew from past experience - were busily finishing up their work and preparing to go to their homes, and she was so excited to see them all doing something other than mourning their losses. And everything they were doing was also a source of fascination to her. Some were merchants, with wares to sell. Others were butchers or farmers with produce. Still more were last-minute shoppers picking up bread and other items for the evening meal. They all had so many things on their minds, but all seemed to be rather happy in spite of the sadness that was always present in the hearts and souls of all humans she encountered.

Hercules turned a corner, and when she followed him around it, she laid eyes on a stall where weapons were laid out on display for sale. The owner of the stall was beginning to gather his inventory for the night, but Sorrow could not stop herself from grabbing a carved quarterstaff that leaned against the edge of the booth. "Gabrielle, Queen of the Amazons, uses a quarterstaff!" she proclaimed as she held it proudly in her pearlescent hands.

"You know Gabby?" Iolaus questioned, then answered himself, "Of course you’d know Gabby! I guess you probably know everyone!"

"Yes, I’m afraid so," Sorrow replied. "But, I must confess that I have only encountered her a few times in my experience - never for long enough to really get to know her! But I certainly admire her - it takes great courage to become Artemis’ chosen!"

"You admire Gabrielle?" Hercules asked, surprised by the praise Xena’s young friend was receiving from the young goddess.

"Oh, yes!" Sorrow affirmed as she tested out the balance of the staff. "If I didn’t already have a purpose in this world, I’d volunteer to become an Amazon!" She twirled the staff about once more before carefully leaning it against the stall where she found it, saying, "Well, I have no money to purchase weapons today."

No sooner had she let go of the quarterstaff, Iolaus took hold of it. "You’re going to need this if you’re going to be hanging around here, Sorrow," he said as he dug into his pocket for the few dinars it would take to buy the staff for her.

"But, Iolaus - !" she tried to protest, but Hercules intervened, adding a few dinars of his own.

"Iolaus is right - you’re not used to this world yet, and you’ll need a means of protection. You do know how to use a staff, right?"

Sorrow blushed, recalling the hours Iolaus spent sparring with her so long ago, and nodded, "Of course I do. How could I ever possibly forget?"

Iolaus beamed with pride at Sorrow, for he also remembered the time they spent together, him playing trainer to the little blue-haired girl. Then, he had taken her on to train mainly out of lack of anything else to do while Hercules visited his godly relatives, but Sorrow had willingly followed him everywhere he would lead her, and no matter what he had dared her to try, she had attempted boldly. She had proven herself as a worthy student to him then, and she was proving to be everything he had hoped for when he was training her.

It also made him color up, too, when he recalled how devotedly and trustingly Sorrow had followed him then, choosing his company over that of even Hercules, and making him feel every bit the hero he wanted to be at that time, and had become since. So, it was with great pride that Iolaus accepted Hercules’ contribution, paid for the intricately-carved staff, and presented it to Sorrow.

"Use it only in self-defense," he advised with great sincerity, his tone saying far more than his simple words meant.

"I will, Iolaus," she answered softly. "Thank you both for this."

"Our pleasure, Cousin!" Hercules patted her comfortingly on the shoulder, then took note of the darkening sky. "Maybe now would be a good time to find us a place to stay, don’t you think?"

"I’m all for that!" Iolaus agreed heartily, and Sorrow echoed, "Me, too!"