"Look, Hercules," Ares finally pronounced acidly, "what I'm up to is really none of your business, so I'll thank you kindly to stay out of it."

"Oh, come on, Ares," Hercules wailed in false disappointment, yet grinned with great humor. "It's been such a long time since I've interfered in your affairs!"

"A long time!?" Ares sputtered indignantly. "What do you call stopping that land war in Thessaly last week!?"

"That was your doings?" Herc asked innocently, his eyes wide with supposed ignorance. "Gee, I'm terribly sorry, Big Brother! I truly didn't realize that was one of your projects!"

"Like that would have mattered to you!" Ares spat. "And, for your information, I'm merely looking for something that belongs to me, although I'm having a mighty difficult time finding it."

"Well, maybe It doesn't want to be found?" the demi-god ventured, trying to appear humorous, but actually meaning it most seriously.

"Well, that's fairly obvious, now isn't it?" Ares sneered unhappily. "But, I will not give up until I find her - "

"Her?" Hercules quickly echoed. "Who's her?"

Ares shook his finger at him, "Uh, uh, uh, no more - you know too much as it is, dear brother, and I really don't have the time to waste arguing with you. So, goodbye, Hercules!"

"Happy hunting!" Herc waved at his seething relative just before Ares disappeared in a flash of light.

It was always fun baiting Ares, but this verbal skirmish had left Hercules worried. His warrior brother was obviously looking for a female, and Sorrow was the only goddess in the building, or in the area, for that matter. It was too much coincidence to be arbitrary fate, and it caused him great concern that if Ares was seeking Sorrow, he was getting awfully close to finding her. However, it also explained to him what Sorrow had been hiding from them all day.

Hercules waited a few minutes longer in the bar to be absolutely sure that Ares was truly gone before racing to the rooms where Iolaus and Sorrow were both supposed to be, but quickly saw that they were gone.

"Thank the gods he got her out of here!" he said to himself in relief, noting the open window in Sorrow's room and the two sets of clear footprints leading out into the woods. He could only pray that Iolaus had gotten her away safely, as he was certain Ares would be vigilant in his search for her. He sighed deeply, knowing he had a long night ahead of him, and was just about to jump out the window to follow them when Aphrodite's accompanying shower of sparkles interrupted his plan.

"Hey, little bro," the blonde goddess hailed him with uncharacteristic seriousness as she appeared. "We've got a real situation on our hands here, and you've got to help me keep it on line!"

"So, you're involved in this, too, Aphrodite? Why am I not surprised?"

"Hey, this is really my business this time, Big Guy!" she insisted emphatically. "I've got serious deals riding on the outcome of this situation, and you're just the guy to make sure it gets taken care of without Ares' interference!"

Hercules looked at the window impatiently, realizing that he was losing time for following his companions, but instead took a deep breath, "Okay, Aphrodite, let's hear the whole story, and don't leave anything out this time, please?"

"Do I ever?" Aphrodite feigned insult. Hercules gave her a knowing look, and she relented, "Okay, okay, so I'm not always straight with you. But, this time, I'm totally in the right!"

Aphrodite launched into her tale of Sorrow's destiny, as selected by Lachesis and herself prior to the birth of the blue-haired goddess. She didn't say exactly what it was that she and the middle Fate had chosen for the unborn girl, but she assured Hercules that when the offer was made by Hera to have her son joined with Sorrow when she grew up, both Lachesis and Poseidon summarily dismissed it in favor of what had already been determined for their child.

"And Ares is not part of her ultimate destiny, Herc," Aphrodite summarized at last. "If anything, he's a big no-no when it comes to her!"

"Why's that?" Hercules interjected, wanting all details before acting on this situation.

"It's complicated, bro, but it has to do with that Destroyer son of his that your friend Xena put out of business," Aphrodite explained seriously - more serious than he'd ever seen her before. "I think he wants to start a whole new breed of bad kids, and he wants Sorrow to be their mother!"

"What?" Hercules' brow frowned in deep concern. "What do you mean?"

"I think Hera planned on him spawning a brood of full-blooded gods that have their father's lust for war and their mother's knack for sadness," Aphrodite replied sarcastically. "The sad thing is, I know that Ares is supposed to father four little bad boys, but I don't think the Fates wanted Sorrow to be their mother."

"Can Ares just change a goddess' destiny to suit himself like that?"

"Well, he can certainly try," she admitted. "We all can, but we're not supposed to - we're as much at the mercy of the Fates as humans are at times, and Ares knows he's going against them by doing this. But, Hera wanted it, and he was just as afraid of old Hag Face as the rest of us!"

"And what about her father, Poseidon?" Hercules continued on. "What does he think?"

"That's the thing, Bro," she said grimly as she moved closer to him. "Poseidon hasn't a clue what's going on - that's why it's so important that you help Sorrow get to Iolkos."

"Why don't you just go find Poseidon and tell him yourself? That would be the easiest solution to this matter!"

"And risk getting Ares in a bigger snit than he already is? No way!" Aphrodite shook her head so emphatically that her platinum curls bobbed. "But there's nothing to stop you from helping her, Herc - so, you see, it's very, very important that you and Iolaus get her to Poseidon's temple tomorrow!"

"Why?" Hercules eyed Aphrodite suspiciously. "I know what you said about the children, but what do you specifically have to gain from stopping Ares?"

"Hey, I'm the Goddess of Love!" she proclaimed proudly. "I have a vested interest in whomever she ends up in love with, you know - and besides, I sorta promised her mother I'd see to it that her daughter got through this safely."

Hercules stood and judged his sister for a good few moments before finally agreeing, "All right, then, I'll do what I can to see that Sorrow gets to Iolkos safely."

"Oooh, you're such a sweetie!" Aphrodite gushed, hugging her muscle-bound brother lovingly. "I just knew I could count on you!"

"Well, hopefully I can keep my promise - but, I can't do that if I can't find her," he admitted as he pulled himself free of her embrace. "She and Iolaus took off when Ares showed up. I'm pretty sure they're hiding out in the woods til he's gone."

"Then, get after it, big guy!" Aphrodite urged before waving her hand before herself. "Be sure and yell if you need me!" echoed through the room as she dematerialized.

Hercules watched her go and shook his head in wonder. As much truth as she had told him before she left, he was fairly certain that Aphrodite had probably left out some pretty important details, but he had learned to expect that long ago. He could trust one thing, though: Aphrodite had her own personal interest at stake somehow, and it was very like her to intervene on her own behalf. Nothing new there.

However, he knew that she was telling the truth about Ares' future progeny. All the gods were aware of the four sons Ares was destined to produce - sons who would make the likes of Strife and Discord look like amateurs, and they would rule by their father's side in the generations to come. But, if what Aphrodite said was true, then Sorrow was not destined to give birth to these sons of war, and Ares' attempts to change the young goddess' fate were actually an effort to make these future gods much worse than originally planned by Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Hercules recognized easily that he had to stop his brother's manipulations before he created a problem no one could stop.

Aphrodite had also been pretty adamant that Sorrow be allowed to pursue her true destiny - a destiny the Goddess of Love herself helped to determine. What that destiny was, or who it was, would have to remain a mystery until Sorrow carried out her own true purpose, and Hercules was the first to agree that the young goddess deserved the right to discover that destiny unhindered by the machinations of her family.

To ensure that she got to do just that, Hercules leapt out the window and began his delayed pursuit of his traveling companions.

It should have been hard to track Sorrow's footsteps in the darkness of the woods, but the unusual brightness of the full moon shining down through the trees aided Iolaus' efforts almost like magic. The effort on the goddess Artemis' part, whether deliberate or not, was most helpful in keeping him close on Sorrow's trail through the somewhat thick vegetation. At length, he became so engrossed with following her path that he could not see her lurking in the shadows just ahead.

Sorrow had been aware that she was being followed for quite some time. She'd heard footsteps in the distance behind her, and had she not been so overwhelmed with her own fear, she might have been able to sense who it was behind her. Since she temporarily could not, she at first hoped it was just a coincidental traveler sharing her trail. To her dismay, whoever it was doggedly pursued her for miles through the brush despite all her attempts to lose them, which only made her even more frightened than before. She tried everything from changing directions to backtracking in order to shake whomever it was from her trail, all to no avail. The person following her was obviously a masterful tracker, and she soon realized that there was no way to lose them.

So, preparing for self-defense, Sorrow stepped out of the path and moved behind a wide tree to hide and wait for her follower to catch up. Taking deep breaths, Sorrow held up her new quarterstaff in nervous readiness.

Iolaus was still marveling at his amazing progress when he neared the tree. He was truly awed by his sudden ability to pick up on the subtlest of clues that would have eluded the best of hunters, and he was at a loss to explain his newfound expertise. He was completely distracted with pondering the possibilities when he finally caught up to where Sorrow waited to attack, and Iolaus unknowingly stepped into the darkness beside her.

"HIYAH!" Sorrow yelled out as she swung the quarterstaff and struck him square in the middle, catching him completely off-guard and knocking him flat to the ground. Unable to recognize her victim in the darkness, she held the end of the staff threateningly to his throat and growled, "Move, and you're a dead man!"

"Sorrow!" Iolaus choked, having had the wind knocked out of him when he hit the ground. "It's me - Iolaus!"

"Iolaus!? Oh no!" Sorrow cried out in dismay when she heard his voice and realized what she had done. She immediately tossed away the staff and fell to her knees on the ground beside him, her hands reaching out to check his mid-section for possible injuries. "I'm so sorry, Iolaus - did I hurt you? Did I crack a rib or something?" she asked frantically as her fingers slipped across his chest.

"Sorrow, it's okay - I'm fine!" Iolaus said quickly, catching her hands up into his own to stop her almost-provocative inspection.

"Are you sure?" Sorrow questioned as she helped him to sit up. "I think I hit you pretty hard!"

Iolaus had to stop her from resuming her tantalizing triage again, this time by capturing her wrists before she could touch him, and he begged, "Please, Sorrow, I promise I'm fine - you didn't hurt me . . . well, not much, anyway."

"Whatever I did, I will fix it!" Sorrow pleaded, certain that she had insulted the friend she had held in such high esteem for so long. "I promise!"

"Really, Sorrow, there's nothing to fix," he insisted, then asked with great concern, "Why did you run from the inn?"

Even in the faint light, Iolaus saw a strange pall come over Sorrow's face, and she pulled out of his grasp, stammering, "I - I had to go - . . ."

Iolaus reached out and stopped her from moving away, "Don't you trust me, Sorrow?"

Sorrow laughed under her breath, "It's not you I'm worried about!"

"Is it Ares?" he ventured quickly, hoping she wouldn't close up and choose not to confide in him. She fell silent, unable to tell him the truth, so he saved her the torment. "He's looking for you to make you his wife, isn't he?"

Sorrow's jaw dropped in shock as she heard the truth from his lips, and her face reflected the question that she was momentarily unable to ask - how could he possibly know this?

"I overheard a discussion at your birth celebration," Iolaus explained. "When I overheard Hercules talking to Ares just before I discovered that you were gone, it only took me a few minutes to put the pieces together, but I finally remembered what Hera wanted to do. It didn't take much more thought to realize that Ares was there to collect you for the wedding."

"Oh, Iolaus, how could Aunt Hera have wanted me to marry someone like him?" she asked rhetorically, her eyes turning toward the direction of the inn as though she expected the God of War to step out of the woods at any moment. "He frightens me, Iolaus . . . you know what he's done!"

Iolaus gently touched her arm, "Yeah, you know I do."

Sorrow turned her eyes back to Iolaus, and now a strangely defiant light burned in them as she declared, "I have wept an ocean of tears because of him! How can Ares expect me to want to be his wife, or to even love him, when he, himself, will not learn to love?"

"Which is exactly why you need to quit running and let me and Hercules help you," Iolaus persuaded. "I swear to you, Sorrow, that we will do whatever we can to make sure you get to your father's temple safely, but you're going to have to trust us first."

"Oh, I do trust you, Iolaus!" Sorrow quickly assured, her voice reflecting the depth of her sincerity. "It's just that, well, at first I didn't know how to tell you the truth, and then I was afraid you wouldn't help me if you knew the truth . . . and knew that I'd basically lied to you."

"Come on, Sorrow, you know us better than that," Iolaus argued gently. "Neither one of us wants to see you married to Ares against your will - "

"Speaking of whom," interrupted Hercules' voice from a few trees away. He had tracked them as easily as Iolaus had tracked Sorrow with the same newfound skill, which Hercules knew could have only come from his sister, Artemis. Her help came as quite a surprise, considering his current persona non grata status on Olympus. Now he was standing nearby, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed, leisurely grinning at the scene he'd come up on.

"Hercules!" both uttered in surprise as their heads jerked toward the direction of the demi-god. Iolaus and Sorrow immediately scrambled to their feet like children who'd been caught doing something naughty, and Hercules truly wanted to laugh at them, for they had both been doing a great job of suppressing their feelings for the other, and yet he could still see it so plainly. However, he had no time to enjoy their budding romance now.

"Sorrow," he said sternly, now smiling without humor, "we need to have a little talk."

Sorrow glanced at Iolaus, then smiled weakly at her cousin, knowing Hercules would not be nearly so easy to apologize to, nor as easy to persuade. She also knew that he would not be so willing to accept her word at face value as Iolaus had, and so she mentally prepared herself for the coming scolding that she was certain she was due.

"How can I possibly explain that which I don't understand myself?" Sorrow's opening statement hung between the three of them unhappily as the two heroes sat waiting to hear and contemplate her words. They were seated close together on a log before a small fire, for they had resigned themselves to sleeping in the wild after all, and the time had come for her confession.

Seeing her confused inability to start the tale, Hercules advised, "Start from the beginning and go from there."

Sorrow looked to Iolaus for support, and found his entire being to be emanating an incredible trust that completely assured her that even if Hercules didn't believe her, Iolaus would, and he would live up to his every promise regardless of what the demi-god thought. Secure in Iolaus' support, she took a deep breath and began anew.

"As far as I knew, today was supposed to be like any other day," she shrugged in misunderstanding. "I was out early, comforting the wives of the men who fell in yesterday's battle in Thrace, when I heard my mother calling to me. When I returned to the Hall of Fates, Ares was there, demanding that I leave with him and become his wife. My mother and her sisters kept insisting that I had 'another destiny', but Ares wouldn't accept that. And so, when my mother intimated to me that I should run to my father, I must confess that I did not hesitate. I immediately came down to earth to hide while I made my way to Iolkos, and I was making good progress until I encountered the roadblock. That's when I met up with you two, and, well, you know what has happened ever since then. I know you both promised to help me, but I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to back out now. Ares has already almost found me once, and I'm afraid I'll never reach my father's temple before he does find me."

Hercules nodded slowly, taking in what Sorrow was saying and mulling it over. He opened his mouth to speak, but he had no chance to express his judgment before Iolaus launched his defense.

"She's not lying about Ares, Herc," he said anxiously. "I remembered earlier that I had overheard the discussion of Sorrow's fate at her birth celebration, and if I remember correctly, Hera did suggest that Sorrow be promised to Ares, but her mother and father refused."

"Actually, Aphrodite was kind enough to fill me in on that part just a little while ago, and I'm not surprised. This isn't the first time Ares has interfered with the Fates, and now he's trying to force the issue," Hercules noted grimly, thinking of the many ways his brother had caused trouble for his own benefit in the past, and knowing he had to stop him this time, no matter what. He was just about to express that thought when Sorrow suddenly appeared before him on her knees.

"Please, Hercules," she begged. "I'm so sorry I lied to you both - I swear, I was only trying to spare you the trouble of dealing with my problems, and I promise you that I had every intention of parting company with you before it became dangerous. But now I know that I truly am not prepared to deal with Ares alone, and I know that I have no right to ask it, but I must beg your forgiveness and ask your help, Hercules, . . . and yours, Iolaus."

"You've always had my support, Sorrow," Iolaus answered quickly and solidly, causing Hercules to stifle yet another amused grin as he spoke also.

"Sorrow, there's nothing to forgive," he said gently as he took her tiny, opalescent hands into his large, brown ones. "And even if there was, we're family. It may not seem so at times, but family means everything to me - well, except maybe Ares."

Sorrow laughed spontaneously, and the two friends smiled in relief. Poor Sorrow had been frightened beyond anything she had ever experienced in her life, and they were glad to see that she was still able to laugh, even during such a serious moment as this. If they could only resolve this situation for her, they would have felt far more sure of her happiness, but for the moment, she was completely secure in her trust of the two heroes, and they each had every intention of protecting her to the bitter end.

Especially Iolaus.