By Eptalk

After Martman turned to Eppie to try and explain how wonderful Xena and Gabrielle's relationship was and offer her understanding of the true meaning of love, Ephiny began eating her meal. Eppie was a little stunned for a moment as the child grabbed her meat in her hand and ate like an animal tearing into the belly of another.

Calmly, Eppie nodded to Ephiny to watch as she took her bowie knife and cut the meat into bite sized pieces and ate a piece of meat by using a utensil from the table.Ephiny looked curious as before in the hut and in a mimic fashion used a utensil to eat her remaining portions of food.

"Ephiny, you'll understand better what Martman has told you as you clear your mind of your own bitterness. What first drove Xena to fighting and acts of carnage was the bitterness she had for the attack of her home and loss of her brother. The pure hate grew inside of her all that time until she was beaten badly in a gauntlet by her own men," Eppie explained.

"Xena beat?" asked Ephiny in surprise. "Xena wouldn't let anyone beat her. She'd take their head off!"

Eppie paused to hand Ephiny a cloth to wipe her mouth and continued to explain, "she is a very strong warrior Ephiny, no doubt about that. But Xena is a mortal as all of us here are and she has needs of companionship just like any of us. Gabrielle and Xena both are the best of one another just like Martman told you."

As Ephiny held the cloth like she was thinking what she was to do with it, Eppie told her, "No one should go through life alone dear child. Through good, bad or times of loss like you have suffered, we all have need of someone to share ourselves with emotionally."

Ephiny swiped her mouth rather roughly at last and toss'd the cloth and the utensil on the table as she finished her meal, leaving not a bite on her plate.

She stood up suddenly as if she were angry and said, "Well, I don't need anybody! I can get by just fine on my own."

Ephiny walked away briskly from Eppie and Martman and headed into the woods surrounding the camp. She failed to tell anyone where she was going or why she left the company of those wanting to offer her their friendship.

Eppie gave a sigh of disappointment as Martman had done earlier when his efforts seemed to fail in getting Ephiny's understanding.

"Should we follow her?" Eppie asked Martman who shrugged his shoulders. She and Martman remained quiet as they finished their meal and went to join some other tribe members who arrived with news of Xena and Gabrielle returning to camp soon.

By Shsway

Shsway looked thoughtfully at the little wolf, now leaving the bone and trying to get at the food on her plate. It seemed to have an anxious little spirit, as it bounced from her boot laces to her black cape, which it tugged at with vigor. The scout smiled, as the pup's interesting blue-gray eyes lifted to look at her. With a small whine it suddenly pounced into her arms and buried it's head in her shirt.

The dark-haired woman giggled. "You know, I kind of like you too. Other than my horse I never cared much for pets, but...I can't help but find you insufferably cute."

For his part, the pup seemed to be listening and understanding her words. "Rrrrrr," he playfully growled. He was rewarded with a firm and gentle hand threading through his fur and rubbing the back of his ears. He seemed to sigh, and laid down right in Shsway's lap to rest.

"Well well, this looks like the start of a beautiful relationship..." Pixie teased as she looked over the scout's shoulder. "Are we keeping the little scamp then"

Shsway smiled. "Yeah, I think he's getting attached to me. Wouldn't want to break his little heart."

"Sure," LA agreed, rolling her eyes. "What he needs now is a name. What'll it be?"

Brown eyes lowered in thought. He has a fighter's heart, she decided, I really am starting to believe he will be a formidable companion when he gets older. What sort of name would suit such a one? She quietly chuckled. Gods, his howls will awaken Zeus in Olympus, as well as the entire amazon village... And then, it came to her, and she smiled.

"I'm going to name him Griffin," she stated proudly to Pixie and LA. "His heart seems both fierce and courageous. And as his namesake, a hound of Zeus, strong and brave."

Pixie twisted her lip to the right, then nodded in agreement. "I think it's a fine name. He may be quite useful, as well as loyal, Maicin."

Shsway quietly lifted the sleeping pup and placed him gently back in his basket."I must go thank the chieftain, these people for their beautiful gifts..." she felt her arm being tugged back.

"They know already that you like their offerings Shs, they could see it in your eyes. Not to mention a jaw dropped so far down to the ground, we might have needed the healer to come and pick it up." LA smirked at her.

"Besides," the celtic princess added, "they are showing you how grateful THEY are. They consider it a great honor to bestow these gifts, THEIR thanks upon you. You've earned much respect in this camp tonight."

Shsway looked at her boots in uncomfortable embarrassment, then shyly glanced back up at her friends. "OK, then...I guess I'd better just enjoy the rest of the party, right?"

"Exactly," LA grinned. "Eat up and relax, day will be upon us soon."

~*~

As the festivities quieted down at dawn's approach, the red-orange sun peeked over the horizon. Past lush green forest and dark shadows, it brought warmth to the Celt camp, where most had gone to their tents to sleep, and their guests from the amazon village had sought slumber in the long, soft grass. Shsway awoke to find herself laying with her head on her right arm, her body draped along side Griffin, stretched out to her left.

As brown eyes became focused, she noticed Ephfan and Nike still laying on the rug in a contented stupor. She smiled and looked around, but couldn't see where her other friends had gotten to. She realized she needed to get home, Alaya would probably be sick with worry, not yet knowing the outcome of the test. She gingerly got up and stretched, her ribs still sore but the pain less annoying. She carefully tucked her new daggers into her boots, the silver handles glowing in the first light of day. She placed the sword in its new place on her back, since she had left her regular sword at home.

Finally, she neatly folded up her black ceremonial cloak, placing it into Griffin's abandoned basket. She put on the new wolf-skin cloak and reveled in it's warmth and softness. Ahhh, little pup. I should feel guilty wearing this around you, but...eh. It was hunted down with skill, and your fate will not be the same. She smiled as her little friend's eyes began to open.

"Arrrrrrr?" he questioned.

"Yeah, Griff. We're going home now. Don't need an angry, albeit cute blonde on my case."

Griffin barked and ran up ahead of his mistress, quite prepared for the journey. Shsway chuckled. "OK, I can see you're ready. Let's go."

The scout easily covered a good amount of ground, refreshed from her sleep and not too hazy with the drink. She mentally congratulated herself for taking it easy on the mead, thought she wished she had not sent Mirage home. She sighed. Oh well, walking for a change won't kill me. Besides, Griffin will never be able to keep up if I go tree hopping.

By Ephfan

The peace and quiet of the early morning was broken by two amazons bursting into the tent. The young pair looked at their sleeping sisters and got wicked smiles on their faces. They were miffed they had missed the celebration and were going to really enjoy waking this group up.

In the loudest voices they could muster they said "All right, everybody get up and get going!"
Considering a whisper would have been deafening to Nike and Ephfan - this volume was not at all appreciated.

Ephfan thought "If I could move this tribe would be short two members".

Since the others had only recently gone to sleep they were none too thrilled at the invasion either. Nike was getting ready to toss a couple of daggers their way and they hastily explained their mission.

"We have received word that the Queen and the Warrior Princess are making their way to the village and they are traveling with a small band of Amazons not from our village. There is to be a meeting where Queen Gabrielle will make an important announcement. Everyone is to return to there immediately." With that they got the Hades out before they lost any body parts.

It took awhile but eventually everyone was able to become mobile enough to get started. Pixie and LA were walking quietly holding hands and simply enjoying nature and each other.

Nightsong and Nike were a little bit ahead of the group - every so often bits of their conversation would drift back. After she heard "well yeah, once you starting sweating the leather sticks together, but that's the whole point...."

Ephfan decided she really didn't want to hear anymore. She was walking with Lyco. Lyco had given her some herbs that had done wonders for her hangover and as far as Ephfan was concerned she was ok.

Later, after quick baths at the village, they were gathered in the center of the village awaiting the incoming group. They had found Shsway and her new honey - and of course Griffin. He was already acting as guardian, trying to pounce on anyone who came near the pair.

Things settled down when Gabrielle and Xena strolled in, both wearing big grins. Gab held up her hands and said "I have very exciting news. On our way back here from Amphipolis, Cyrene says hi to everyone by the way, we encountered a group of Amazons. We discovered they are from a Southern tribe that was nearly wiped out when a flood ravaged their village. They had heard of us and were coming here in hopes of joining our tribe. They were pretty sure they would be allowed to since one of their surviving members is a sister to one of ours. I couldn't imagine who had a sister I didn't know about and trust me, was I shocked when I found out who it was. Talk about keeping secrets! So may I present to you Katryn, sister of our dear Queen Ephiny."

Suddenly there was a blond woman standing besides Xena. Nike, who had known the queen's regent, simply stared with her mouth open. "My gods, if I didn't know better I'd swear that was the Queen herself. That one really did have a twin Eph!"

Ephfan couldn't answer as the cheers went up around her. All she could do was stare open-mouthed at the woman. Without realizing she was speaking out loud she said "that is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. I'm gonna marry her."

The others turned to look at her in surprise, they had never known her to be interested in anyone. This was certainly going to be fun to watch.

By Nightsong

Nightsong was surprised at the news that Ephiny had a twin sister, and was equally amused at her claim that she was going to marry her. But she was distracted by Shsway's new love. The blonde seemed familiar, but when she looked at her, it was like looking at a mirage.

"Magic." Nightsong thought, "Some sort of camouflage spell. I wonder why she would have something like that on her?"

Nightsong had never seen this amazon up close or paid her much attention until today. She had the sneaking suspicion that her lack of observation was part of the spell as well. Nightsong narrowed her eyes in suspicion and vowed to practice her seidhr magic to discover why this woman was hiding her identity, and what lay behind that mask of magic.

"For your sake, my little hawk, I hope she poses no threat."

By Pixie

Pixie was so tired, LA knew and gently tried to encourage her. Soon she would return to the hidden cave, it's true reason for being set up was so that the druid Elders would be able to see for themselves the curse that she carried.

Pain from her arm combined with exhaustion made it very close to the surface. She had returned to the village only by the soft touch of her still angry lover. The introduction of the new amazons and Ephfan's outburst had helped to keep her mind active.

She stayed away from Lyco and Nightsong afraid of the response of the thing.

Slipping away Pixie and LA headed toward the lake.

"Isn't there another way?" LA asked as she gently embraced her trembling mate.

"No m'ionuin. My arm is shattered and the Elders need to see what I carry. I'll be safe and come morning I will return whole and healthy to you." Pixie kissed LA tenderly then left without looking back.

~~~~~

The sun was rising, the morning mist swirled around the lake. Pixie stripped absent mindly and dove into the chill water. After swimming out to the center, she floated.

The Elder she had sought to meet had been there last night. But instead of helping she had only added confusion to an already overwhelmed mind.

"You will return to the place of your birth alone. Your wolf will lose her place by losing you to the evil that hunts your family. And you will lose your place to the lost child. But there is hope...there will be one who will be drawn to you from a distance. She will draw you from the darkness and she will not stop until she knows the truth."

Returning to shore she wrapped her cloak around her and began crying. She would lose her most beloved LA before the curse would be broken.......

By Eptalk

Wonder where Craig is, Eppie thought as the camp was busied from the Queen and her champion's return not to mention the surprising announcement of Ephiny's sister. This was exciting news Eppie wanted to share with the young girl who's mother had proudly given her the namesake of Ephiny.

Eppie looked all around camp only to discover, Ephiny was hiding or still in the woods where she wandered after Martman and she tried to explain the wonderful example of love and caring that Xena and Gabrielle represent.

All the camp members enjoyed celebration of being united once again and rather quickly became involved in the events of their own daily living. Eppie had lost touch during her southern travels and found so many unfamiliar faces a matter of concern. Re-joining the tribe however was wonderful and Eppie still had hopes that she and Martman could offer their friendship to Ephiny. Just where in camp could such a small girl hide herself for more than a moon?

After completely searching camp, Eppie spent little time in her hut before taking her boomerang from the wall, clipping it to her belt and finding Martman for them to go and find the child.

By Ephfan

Ephfan was only slightly aware that their group had disbanded and headed off in different directions. She had eyes for only one person, Katryn. She approached the Queen and her champion. Bowing respectfully before Gabrielle she said "May I have the honor of showing our honored guest around the village?".

Xena, blue eyes sparkling with barely controlled laughter said "ooooooooooo, I think Eph's got a crush." Poking her in the ribs and whispering "behave yourself"

Gabrielle turned to Ephfan. "Warrior you are a wonderful choice to show our new sister the village." and then with a wink added "don't forget the lake, I hear it's really cold - you might need it."

Not knowing she could blush that much, she found herself heading to Kat's hut. When she answered her knock, Eph found she could barely get the words out to explain why she was there.

"I've, uhhhh, been given the uhhh, the honor of escorting you, ummmm, escorting you on a tour Katryn."

"Oh good, that saves me the trouble of asking Gabrielle for you." Kat smiled at her.

Later, Ephfan reflected that she didn't realize it was possible to stop breathing and have to have a gorgeous woman remind you to do it.

As they walked she realized that Kat had a way of making a person relaxed. She was easy to talk to and Eph found herself relating her life story. Including the story of how she had loved once and then lost her, vowing never to fall again.

At that Katryn stopped and looked her right in the eyes "never say never tiger, that's a very long time."

"Did you know right away that you were in love?" she asked as they continued walking. "No, we were friends for a long time before it became more."

"So, you don't believe in love at first sight?" Kat asked with a sideways glance.

Ephfan took a moment before answering to decide if she was brave enough to be honest. "Oh come on, you can charge into battle without a bit of fear and you can't do this?" she said to herself.

Gathering all her courage, and with a quick prayer to Aphrodite, she said "Love at first sight? No, I don't believe in it. Well not until today that is."

"Good answer amazon" Kat said with a wink. After walking in silence for a bit they came to the lake. The sun was setting and they decided to sit and watch it.

"So how is it nobody knew that our brave regent had a twin?"

Kat got a far away look on her face and began the story. "When we were born our father insisted that he should be allowed to raise one of us. Since I was the younger he wanted me. It turned out that after our mother became pregnant she found out that he did little more than drink. She refused to let him take one of us. When she found out that he was coming with a band of ten other men to take me she gave me to the fastest scout in the nation and told her to run like Hermes to her sister's village in the south. When my father arrived she told him I had gotten very sick and died. He didn't believe it so she told him to search the village. Even after he couldn't find me he still thought she was lying. He told her that if he ever found out I was alive he would kill her, Ephiny and me as punishment. So I was never able to come back here and Ephiny was never allowed to tell anyone about her twin. Our mother made sure we knew about each other and we were able to see each other occasionally as we grew up. By the time our mother died I was a leader in my village and didn't feel I could come here. Ephiny of course couldn't leave to join me either. She was planning to make the announcement at a celebration.

Even though our father was still alive we figured that if he came we'd gladly put an arrow through his heart and be done with it. I was just ready to come here for the party when word reached me that she had been killed. To this day I live with the pain of knowing my sister died and I wasn't there with her at the end. After that I had no desire to ever see this place. If the flood hadn't come I wouldn't have ever seen this place again. But I didn't know where else to go, so here I am."

She smiled at Ephfan as she took her hand "I'm very glad I'm here. And by the way, I've always believed in love at first sight."