Disclaimers: All the characters (with the exception of Quinn and Shonrha) were created and are owned by Renaissance Productions for MCA/Universal. I'm just using them for my own devious purposes.

Violence: The is some violence with swords and stuff. Hey, when you play with sharp edges, someone's bound to get hurt. That's just the way it is.

Sex: Some hinted at between two women and written as romantically as I could. If you don't like that, don't read this. And don't bitch about it to me either, you're no one I wanna know. (Ironically though, it's not between who you would expect.)

Character Alert: This is the first fan fiction story I ever wrote utilizing the Xenaverse and it was not a Xena story. Oh yeah, she and Gabrielle appear and have an role, but this story is not about them. It is a Callisto story. I wasn't gonna post it because of that but I managed to find a site for it. It was a Callisto tale because I find Callisto more intriguing than the heroines. But anyway, if you are not a Callisto fan, you probably won't enjoy this. But I could be wrong.

An Immortal's Redemption

by

G. L. Dartt

I

The sun shone brightly in the mid-morning sky as Quinn made her way through the underbrush to the dirt path running along the riverbank. Her horse, a dark sorrel mare named Dana, whickered as her hoofs emerged from the clinging grasses to the freedom of the trail and Quinn smiled.

"Just a little farther," she promised out loud to her steed, slapping the animal affectionately on the neck.

Quinn was a small, compact woman with defined muscles that rippled beneath dusky brown skin. She sat easy in her saddle with an air of long experience, dressed in a cream colored tunic and brown buckskin leggings. Leather braces and the large sword strapped to her back indicated her warrior status in a land full of them. Her eyes, dark emerald green, gave further evidence; eyes that could transform into icy chips of jade at a seconds notice. At the moment, however, they were the soft color of spring, the emerald of grass and trees. She was returning home and it pleased her that her journey had been a fairly uneventful one.

At least until now.

From ahead, just over the ridge, the sound of hoof beats and the creaking of a wagon alerted her. Frowning, she reached up and loosened her sword within the sheath. She lived out this way because it was isolated and desolate. It was a hard trail and the rumblings of a nearby mostly dormant volcano kept even the most adventurous seeking other routes. She didn't know if she'd like who might be approaching. Then she crested the hill and released her grip on the hilt with a resigned sigh.

I should've known, she thought in disgust.

"Ho, Quinn," Daludas greeted her cheerfully as he saw her. A chubby man who's appearance belied his mercenary nature, he was a merchant who lived in a nearby town and was in the habit of purchasing the artifacts she had discovered over the years in the ruins next to the volcano. He must have decided to take out the middle man so to speak and go right to the source. Judging from the smile on his face, his trip had been successful.

She grinned suddenly. She had pretty much picked clean what had been there over the years. If he had indeed found something, it must have taken some doing. More power to him.

"Ho, yourself, Dal," she returned, reining her mount to a halt as he reached her. She dismounted, glancing at the tarp covered mound in the rear of the wagon drawn by the snow white mule. "Couldn't wait for my next trip to town?"

He grinned back affably. "Nothing personal," he said, though his eyes were suddenly uneasy as he snuck a peek at her weapon. He knew she was not the type one wanted to cross.

"None taken," she said and grinned inwardly as she saw the tenseness leave his gaze. "Find anything interesting?"

An odd expression crossed his jovial features and he spared her a rueful grin. "You didn't leave too much," he said grudgingly. He gestured to the rear of his wagon. "I did find something on the edge of the Hades Lake."

Quinn frowned as he went back to flip the tarp off his discovery. Hades Lake was an area near the ruins where the lava flow spread out in a smoking desolate field that slowly crept to a halt as the molten rock hardened and solidified. It was not the sort of place one expected to find anything interesting. Unless one liked pumice.

Her breath caught in her throat as he drew back the covering to reveal a large chunk of rock. It was man sized and furthermore, was shaped like a human, though formless in features. It was a unique sort of formation. She had never seen anything like it. It lay on its side with what appeared to be arms outstretched and legs bent in a crouched position. The head was an almost smooth ball on a rocky torso.

"Well," she said, somewhat at a lost for words. "What in the Seven Levels of the Great Beyond is that?"

"Good question," he laughed. "Don't know why I picked it up except I didn't want to go back empty-handed. Never would have found it at all except I got lost when I started for home."

Another odd expression altered his features once more. "There was another one, too," he added. "But it was way out in the middle. I couldn't reach it. I don't know if it'll maintain it's shape until it gets to the edge."

"I'm amazed this did," she said, examining the statue-like form. "Or even that the lava would take this shape in the first place."

"It is unusual, isn't it?" he said with satisfaction as if her words had helped him. "Maybe worth quite a bit."

She shot him a sharp look. "You're going to sell it?"

He shrugged. "That's what I do." He spread his arms in a gesture of humility that she did not believe for an instant. "I have to make a little something on this trip."

"How much?" she inquired, idly laying a hand on the perforated rock. It was abnormally warm, almost as if the heat from its molten origin was still trapped within. It gave her an extremely unusual feeling, a tenuous, uneasy sense. She looked up to see Daludas gazing at her strangely. "What?" she said with a touch of irritation.

"Why do you ask?" he queried in obvious confusion. He leaned against the wooden side of the wagon, his brow furrowed as he stared at her. "You can't possibly be interested in buying this?"

"Why not," she retorted, stung by his apparent appraisal.

"What would you do with it?"

"Maybe I'll stick in the corner as a weapons rack," she said icily. "How much?"

The disbelieving grin disappeared as he gaged her seriousness. All of a sudden, those eyes had taken on a distinct jade tone. He named a price, purposely making it high. No one was more surprised than he when she dug into the pouch at her belt and counted out the amount without question. Stunned, not only at the fact that she would buy the hunk of rock but that she had the money as well, he didn't speak much as he helped her build a travrois out of the materials he had in the wagon in order to drag it behind her horse. He was still bemused as he watched her and her burden disappear over the hill towards the mountain. Shaking his head, he mounted the wagon, slapped the mule on the rump and headed for home.

***

Quinn raised the chisel and pressed the end gently against the rock. She couldn't explain even to herself why she had wanted this oddly shaped piece of lava but as soon as she laid eyes on it, she felt a strange compulsion, not only to have it, but to chip away at the stone.

"Hell of a time to find out I'm a sculptor," she muttered out loud as she worked.

The humanoid form stood upright in a back room of her abode. The unassuming hut made of rotting wood and straw viewed by any passing traveler actually concealed a back entrance to a spacious cave, its main entrance leading to a concealed valley on the other side of the mountains which contained a waterfall and attractive pool. The large interior of the cave was her real living space, shaped and worked on over the years until it suited her. This room normally contained her winter's supply of wood. Now, the rock took center stage and the flakes of lava fell to mingle with the wood chips and sawdust. She had started this early in the morning, just after her breakfast, and finally she had an inch deep hole excavated in the pumice.

A gentle tap and a sliver of rock fell away to reveal flesh.

"Ah," she said with sudden understanding, standing back and looking at the skin that had impossibly appeared. Now, things became somewhat clearer. With a crooked grin, she went back to chipping away at the stone; this time without the compulsion which had originally driven her. The thread of mental coercion was repulsed as soon as she recognized the external influence, clamping down on the tenuous probe and crushing it within her mind. Now it was her curiosity that led her on. After all, it wasn't every day that one found an immortal trapped in a rock.

***

It took another day before Quinn had uncovered the blond features of the being trapped in the hardened lava and loosened the pumice around the chin enough in order for the other to move her jaw.

"Release me!" were the first imperious words to issue from the mouth.

Quinn ceased her work and looked at her. "I thought that was what I was doing," she said dryly. She crossed her arms and gazed at the trapped figure with a quizzical eyebrow. "And just who might I be releasing?"

"I am the Goddess, Callisto." The brown eyes snapped with anger and ...madness?

Quinn laughed, a short bark of irony. "And what might you be Goddess of?" She gestured at the statue before her. "Pigeons?"

"I'll destroy you." Callisto responded.

"Before or after I let you out?" Quinn pointed out with amusement.

There was silence as Callisto seemed to suddenly evaluate her position. Her features softened and she looked pleadingly at the dark woman before her. A more insincere transformation to benevolence Quinn had never witnessed. "I reward those who serve me," Callisto offered in a wheedling tone.

"And why should I serve you?" Quinn asked, quite reasonably she thought though the rage that twisted the other's features showed that Callisto was not in agreement with that assessment.

"I am a Goddess," she ranted.

"Yes, I heard you the first time," she smiled. "In truth, at the moment, you're really more of a lawn ornament."

Quinn went over and sat on the stool, leaning back comfortably as she gazed at her new acquisition. This was actually proving to be quite enjoyable. Why, the entertainment value alone created by this sudden development promised to provide her money's worth. She propped an elbow on her knee and rested her chin on her hand.

"So," she said as she observed Callisto. "If you are a goddess, why don't you just get out yourself?" There was a ringing silence as Callisto glared balefully at her.

"No, let me guess," Quinn added. "Somehow, that ambrosia you ate just isn't doing the trick anymore."

The expression that appeared then pulled another chuckle from Quinn. She shook her head. Mortals had such faith in that stuff. "Ambrosia only bestows powers for a short time. The Olympians certainly don't want a lot of mortals turned gods running around. So all it really does on a permanent basis is bring the dead back to life and it does provide immortality, not that I would recommend it."

"What are you going to do?" The reply was sullen with none of the former imperiousness.

Quinn smiled gently as she contemplated the figure before her. It had been so long since she had been faced with a decent challenge.

"I'll tell you what," she said. "I'll get you out of there in return for your story."

"My what?" The dark eyes glared at her without comprehension.

"Your story," Quinn elaborated. "Who are you, where are you from, how did you get into this mess, that sort of thing."

"Why do you want to know that?" Callisto was hesitant, searching for a motive and unable to find one.

"I'm bored," Quinn offered. "And it will give us something to do while I extract you from there. Besides, looking at you, I know it has to be just fascinating."

There was a pause as Callisto regarded her with confusion and suspicion. "It could take a long time," she muttered finally with a deep wariness.

Quinn smiled again.

"That's okay," she said, picking up her chisel and approaching the immortal. "I don't think you'll be going anywhere for a while."

***

Over the next two weeks as Quinn welded her chisel, Callisto told her tale, of the Warlord named Xena who had attacked her village and destroyed her family, of her trail of vengeance and adventure and of her gaining of immortality. There was no doubt that it was not willingly shared nor was it without it's share of biased editing. But Quinn was very good at this and Callisto ended up telling more than she realized to her rescuer. Things like how it was before Xena came and her life changed. Or the way her sister had always looked up to her when they were growing up. And in the telling, certain of the wounds in her soul were lanced and drained of their poison. These wounds slowly began to heal without Callisto really being aware of it.

But Quinn was aware and it became part of the challenge to herself to see just how much soul repair she could manage before Callisto was freed. Not that Callisto was an easy patient.

It was mid-afternoon and Quinn stepped back with a smile of satisfaction as Callisto stretched and shook out her right arm, the remains of the pumice falling away as dust.

"There now, " she said, handing Callisto the chisel. "You'll be able to help and it will go a great deal faster." She turned to the table that had been set up with other implements.

Callisto's blow was swift and without mercy, thrusting the chisel into Quinn's side and ripping up in a brutal seeking of the heart. Quinn was pushed away with the force of the blow and she staggered back, falling over the stool.

"Or maybe I'll just finish this myself," Callisto said with savage glee.

Quinn looked down at her side in stunned disbelief.

"This is one of my favorite tunics," she howled in outrage. She plucked out the chisel and angrily got to her feet, examining the shredded cloth that revealed torn flesh beneath already healing itself by the time she finished standing. "Look at this, I'll never be able to mend it."

She glared at Callisto with a fury that faded almost immediately as she got a look at the other's expression. Then, she couldn't help herself, she started to laugh, finally having to sit down, tears coming to her eyes. And every time she had managed to regain her composure, she took another look at Callisto and broke up once more. After a long time, the mirth subsided and Quinn was able to regain her feet once more.

"You're immortal," Callisto stated flatly as she observed her. Clearly she did not share the other's amusement.

"What, the getting by on two hours of sleep a night for two weeks wasn't your first clue?" Quinn grinned infuriatingly at her. "Besides, who else would dare release you?" She sobered suddenly. "No, I take that back. There are enough unscrupulous mortals around foolish enough to believe they could control you once free." She spared a moment to appraise the slender blond. "You really are a most anti-social type, aren't you," she said with an almost affection. The sentiment was not reciprocated as Callisto regarded her much as she would have regarded a poisonous snake prior to her first death.

"What do you intend to do now?" she asked in a ragged voice. "Do you think you can control me?"

"I don't want to control you," Quinn said calmly. "I want you to learn to control yourself."

"And why should I do that?" Callisto asked acidly.

"Because it's time," came the cryptic answer.

Callisto took the chisel that Quinn handed her once more with an uneasy wariness, hardly believing that the other would arm her again. The confusion generated stayed her hand.

"I'm going to finish getting you out of there," Quinn said. "Unless you really want to do it all yourself. It should only take a few months. Doing your own back may be a bit difficult."

There was a long pause as the blond looked at her. Bewilderment and dismay waged a war for control. Finally, Callisto nodded, a short, sharp jerk of her head that was almost too swift to be seen. "I would like some help," she admitted grudgingly.

"Are you going to stick anything in me anymore?"

"I...I promise not to attack you." The "while I'm still trapped" was unspoken but both women accepted it as fact. What bothered Callisto the most was that Quinn did not seem to care.

"Good," Quinn said as she began to work at the stone encasing Callisto once more.

"I'd have hated to have to amputate your arms so I could finish this."

***

It took another three weeks before the grimy nude form of Callisto stood freed in the woodshed, impatiently shaking the last of the pumice from her legs. All her armor and weapons had been incinerated instantly in the volcano, lacking the immortal properties of the flesh beneath. The much cooler temperature of her body had turned the lava next to her skin solid and she has found herself encased for what appeared to be eternity. The return to freedom was intoxicating.

Quinn watched her from the doorway, leaning casually against the frame, arms crossed and a quizzical eyebrow raised as she regarded her. Callisto met her gaze challengingly.

The light haired woman had been alternately confused, bemused, infuriated and frightened during the time she was being released from the rocky prison. Frightened because as Quinn had patiently listened to her talk without judgement or condemnation, skillful questions prompting her to examine herself, Callisto had began experiencing things; things unfamiliar in their long absence.

Callisto had started to feel once again. Fully and completely with the entire gamut of emotions.

It was not something she wanted or truly comprehended. How could merely talking as Quinn listened with an occasional gentle comment cause her to feel such things again? And how had the immortal managed to get her to reveal so much? Oh, the rage, the hatred, they were familiar allies and she spoke of her obsession with Xena easily. But the memories of laughter and joy from before her mother and sister's death? The way she felt when her sister was born? How she had felt when her father had died in a farming accident? Those were memories she had not intended to talk about and in fact had thought were long forgotten. She was still was not sure how Quinn had drawn them out of her.

And there was how it had been when her mother had appeared to her in Tartarus. Callisto was still not sure how that had come up but it had affected more than she hoped she let on. More than she had realized even at the time it had happened.

"What now?" The tone was surly.

"A bath would probably do some good," Quinn offered unflatteringly as she tossed her a garment to put on. "You've gotten pretty ripe." Silently, Callisto pulled the robe over her shoulders. With a sardonic grin, Quinn gestured for Callisto to follow and turned her back without seeing if the other complied.

The dusky-skinned woman led Callisto through the main living area of the cave and out to another room where a pool steamed slightly from underground hot springs that fed it. She still did not turn when Callisto appropriated a sword left casually out on a table without even wondering at such good fortune. However, she did calmly sidestep as Callisto launched herself at her with murderous intent. Callisto flew past her and, unable to halt her momentum, plunged into the pool with a mighty splash.

"You know, you'll ruin the blade if you keep getting it wet," Quinn commented as Callisto thrashed around choking and sputtering from her unexpected dip.

"Damn you, this ends now," Callisto snarled as she crawled out of the pool. Just what it was that had to end, even she wasn't sure, but she attacked with a snarl of blood rage. She knew Quinn was also immortal, but she had every intention of dismembering the smaller unarmed female.

It turned out to be a prospect easier contemplated than accomplished.

Callisto had never really battled another immortal for very long before. One reason or another had terminated such encounters. But Quinn did not fight like anyone she had ever attacked in her short, but eventful existence. Unlike Velasca and Aries who fought with a reckless violence to match her own or even Xena who fought with a feral smile of pleasure in the challenge, Quinn fought without expression, calm, serene, disturbingly at peace if such a thing were possible in the middle of a fight. Nor did she do anything beyond defend herself. But the ease in which she countered every blow Callisto struck, no matter that the blond warrior had a sword and the other did not, was most disturbing. The battle raged throughout the house and into the fields and forest outside, Callisto using everything within her grasp and drawing on every skill known to her.

Neither woman could tire and Callisto was totally unable to break down Quinn's invulnerable wall of defensive moves. Not once did the smaller woman strike back at her or show any emotion beyond mild amusement from time to time. And Quinn never stopped talking, prodding at Callisto, slipping pointed questions here and there as if they were her weapons, which, in a way, they were.

The sun hung low in the sky the next day before the sheer monotony caused Callisto to stand down, sword tip resting on the ground as it dangled from a hand slippery with sweat from her exertions. Her chest heaved as she stared at Quinn with eyes rimmed in white much like a terrified horse.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?!!" The scream was ripped from a throat raw from emotion long suppressed.

"What do you want?" Quinn responded, still countering.

Callisto merely stood there, dumbfounded and the other woman sighed.

"Callisto, it's time you realized what being immortal is," she explained in a tone designed to sooth. The female still had a wild expression but Quinn wanted her to truly listen. Everything hinged on this moment. She could only do so much. Callisto had to do the rest, to accept help. "You are going to live forever, barring dismemberment or being struck by lightning. It can be an eternity of happiness. Or one of horror. You must decide. You've been given a second chance, Callisto."

"What if I like how I live?" But the tone was uncertain, the face bleak.

"It's not living, Callisto," Quinn said. She put all of her conviction in her tone. "All you're doing, all you've done since the time your mother and sister died, is exist. Exist for revenge, exist for rage, exist for hatred. This obsession with Xena controls your existence, controls your every thought. It's time to end it. Not for her sake, not for anyone else's sake, not even for your mother's sake, but for your own. It's time to start living. Because, as an immortal, that's all you have. Life everlasting. Why not begin now?"

There was a space of timelessness as Callisto stood on the edge of both sides, then finally she dropped her sword. "I don't know how," she said in a whisper. "I don't know any other way."

Quinn eyed her intently. "I can teach you." she said. "If you let me."

"Why?" Callisto clenched her fists. "Why do you want to help me?"

"Why not?" Quinn replied easily. She reached out and put her hand on the trembling arm. "It's a dirty job but someone has to do it."

***

And thus began the redemption of Callisto that in truth, had actually begun when the lost little girl looked at her mother in Tartarus and was told that she was loved and always would be. One of the greatest tragedies in Callisto's life, as well as for those she ran into later, was that no one had ever reached out and really tried to help the traumatized girl. The death of her family had been just the beginning. The lack of love or caring in her life, the struggle of trying to absorb the grief and terror all by herself had done more to twist the woman named Callisto than any one trauma, no matter how horrible, possibly could. Xena had been a handy focus for hatred she felt for the whole world; a hatred that consumed her until the girl named Callisto had been buried and only the like-named monster remained.

Reaching past the monster required the gifts only the experience of centuries could accomplish. It wasn't easy, not for Callisto or for Quinn. More than once, physical battles raged in addition to the emotional ones and Quinn had required all her ability to keep damage from being inflicted not only on herself, but on Callisto as well. But neither woman gave up on the task and slowly, by allowing herself to listen to Quinn and follow her gentle suggestions, Callisto felt better, more at peace with herself. It had been so long since she had felt anything good, these feelings were almost addictive.

So it was without much objection that she attempted to follow Quinn's many requests, even when they didn't make sense.

"I'm not hungry," Callisto offered helpfully as she watched the older immortal cook from where she sat at the table in the kitchen area of the cave.

"Of course you're not," Quinn responded readily. "We don't get hungry. We don't require food. We absorb our physical energy from the sun."

She spooned some of the stew into a dish and placed it in front of Callisto, then got some for herself and took a seat opposite Callisto. She snagged a large piece of bread and with great relish, dug into her supper.

Frowning, Callisto looked down at her bowl, the odor of the thick, savory juices wafting in her nostrils. It did smell very good, she admitted to herself. But she still wasn't hungry and was unsure of what to do next. Quinn looked up from her meal and motioned with her utensil.

"We still have taste buds," Quinn informed her. "And good food is one of the great pleasures of life, especially with our senses. Not to mention an important social interaction. Just try some."

Hesitantly, Callisto picked up her spoon and tentatively tasted it.

She gasped as the flavors seemed to overwhelm her senses. She had not eaten since being killed in quicksand. Well, not counting that apple from the tree of life which she expected to taste incredible and hadn't really appreciated at the time. She still wasn't sure how long she had been trapped in the lava pit. And even long before, she ate for sustenance and little else. Now she discovered how her senses had been heightened, how sweet and salty and sour could mingle and combine and produce something else. Slowly, she finished her bowl, lingering over each morsel, letting each particle melt in her mouth before swallowing. She finally looked up to see Quinn who had long since finished, observing her with gentle amusement, sipping at a goblet full of wine.

"It was so good," Callisto blurted.

"I'm a good cook. I've had plenty of time to learn," Quinn admitted matter-of-factly. "So you see, Callisto, there are other perks to being immortal besides being quick to heal."

Callisto's eyes followed Quinn who got up with a smile, taking her wine into the living area surrounding a large central fireplace. Callisto had revealed everything about herself under the other's skilled probing but Quinn had revealed little in return. Callisto sensed that the dark female had been immortal for a long time, just from the hints that were dropped and from the way the other woman conducted herself. The was a stillness about Quinn, like mountains and rocks, timeless and steady. It was a trait Callisto envied.

The blond placed her dishes in a basin to soak and joined Quinn on the large cushions scattered about a thick, furred rug. The flames made a warm flicker over the room as they settled onto the fur, talking on inconsequential things now and again, but mostly sitting in quiet enjoyment of each other's company. Outside, a late winter storm raged. Though the thick walls of the cave kept little sound from reaching them for the most part, occasionally there was a particularly violent crash of thunder that made Callisto flinch, and she would be embarrassed, especially when Quinn noticed. Though Callisto had never been less physically vulnerable in her existence, she had never felt more exposed.

"I never liked lightning storms when I was a child," she muttered reluctantly in explanation.

"And you shouldn't now," Quinn said dryly. "A lightning bolt is one of the very few things that can destroy us if the conditions are right."

"Oh," Callisto filed that away and glanced at the other covertly from the corner of her eye. "Why didn't you show me before how good it was to eat?"

"You weren't ready," Quinn responded, her high cheekbones glowing a warm brown in the firelight. She stretched lazily. "Your senses have been heightened so much that you could easily be overwhelmed. I hate to see you spend a week or so in gluttony for example. Or a decade or two. You'll find that a little now and again is better than just indulging. It keeps the sensation fresh. One of the worst things about immortality is the tedium."

"So there'll be other new experiences?"

Quinn hesitated in mid stretch and looked thoughtful. An odd smile played over her face then and she rose to her feet, noting that it was time for bed. An hour or so of REM sleep a night was necessary to maintain their emotional stability. It was a habit she enforced with Callisto.

She smiled at the slender woman reclining on the cushions and to both's surprise, reached down, drawing a gentle finger along the line of Callisto's jaw.

"Well, just imagine what making love will be like now?" she said. She winked at her and added over her shoulder, "Sleep well, child."

She headed for her bedroom, leaving a speechless Callisto behind to contemplate her words.

***

It was a contemplation that occupied a good deal of her time now that the subject had been broached. The truth was, Callisto had never made love. One could certainly not give the term to those encounters in the beginning when she first set out on her path of vengeance. She had required training and her body had been the only thing she could use to barter in return for lessons and weapons. That's when she first learned not to cry. Crying only excited some of her early 'teachers'. But that was business and something she tried not to think about. And of course, she had thrown herself into carnal experiences with Aries thinking that a god would somehow be...better, but that had been when she had inhabited Xena's body. Pain had been deliberately sought more so than pleasure; they had almost seemed one in the same. It had been a victory to incite the war god into the brutal sex play that left marks on the warrior princess's body. That hadn't been lovemaking either. It was more a battle of wills.

Now she wondered about what she had only heard in the most passing of ways. About tenderness and gentleness and the closeness of sharing. She had believed that love was a trick played on humans to get them to reproduce. Now she found the whole idea of love one that consumed her thoughts. And increasingly, those thoughts included Quinn. She found herself gazing at the other woman when she thought it wouldn't be noticed. Watching. And wondering.

Quinn was not unaware of Callisto's sudden interest. Nor was she immune to the emotional vibrations emanating from the young immortal. She was not happy with herself at all. She knew she had initiated the situation by her words and it was something that she regretted, for Callisto's sake if not her own. Callisto was particularly vulnerable right now and it would not be wise to indulge her own desires at the young woman's expense.

It had just been so long.

Quinn had loved a few times over the centuries. And she had lost. It was a uniquely cruel experience to go on while those cared about grew old and died. The other immortals she had met were, for the most part, jaded and wallowed in delusions of grandeur. It was a lonely existence. Then along came Callisto, freshly immortal, a new being that wanted to seize eternal life with passion and desire but not knowing how. Still reachable and able to be taught. But so wounded and engulfed in darkness.

Quinn could not help herself. How could she not try to help this child? She didn't want Callisto to have to go through the hard, painful, immensely time consuming lessons required for achieving peace. Not to mention all the innocents who would also suffer if a twisted, heartless immortal and immoral Callisto was unleashed on the world.

However, she had not anticipated being attracted to the girl. Let alone falling in love.

Quinn sat cross-legged in the sun, absorbing the rays into her center, breathing deeply in the cool spring air that tasted of freshness and growing things. Still, she was unable to achieve her normal sense of peace, too acutely aware of Callisto in the corral, brushing down her horse.

Getting the ex-warlord to interact with the animals on a more giving level had been one of the earliest lessons and now the blond was communicating well with the beasts. Quinn had given her a black gelding which Callisto had named Fox. And with him, slowly she was becoming aware that all living things had a connection.

Sighing, Quinn opened her eyes and allowed them to linger on the blond woman. Dressed in a simple tunic and soft deerskin leggings, Callisto looked very young, a paradoxical impression that made her heart catch. It would be so easy to give into the feelings inspired. But it felt wrong. Callisto had spent her life, and death, answering to the hatred inspired by Xena. It was a dependance born of fire and revenge. She worried that Callisto developing a love for Quinn was merely just transferring the dependance. Callisto had to learn to stand alone before she could truly stand beside her.

She sighed as Callisto finished with her horse, patted him briefly on the neck, and vaulted the corral fence, walking with a leggy stride towards her. The most profound difference Quinn noted in the young woman over the months she had known her was the gradual relaxation in her movements and gestures. No longer acting as if she was on a knife's edge with the abrupt jitteriness that colored both word and action, she seemed finally to be achieving a calmness within. Quinn wondered how fragile it was.

Gracefully, Callisto sank down beside her and looked at the older woman. "I've been thinking," she offered.

"Hmm, I'll have to watch my limbs," Quinn responded, regretted it instantly as she saw the brief flash of hurt that crossed Callisto's face. She really was very young. "I'm sorry, Callisto. It was a bad joke."

Callisto shrugged. "I guess I deserved it."

"No, you didn't," Quinn said, resting her hand on the other's arm. "I know you've worked very hard at changing. I guess that's my quirk. When I know someone, I like to tease them."

Callisto essayed a smile. "Mother was like that. She teased me and my sister all the time." She put her hand on top of Quinn's, not noticing her wince at being compared to her mother, marveling of the contrast of light skin on dark. "That's what I've been thinking about." She grew serious. "I think I should leave."

"Leave?" Quinn removed her hand, being careful to make it casual and endeavoring to keep the dismay that washed through her from her features.

"It's easy to be at peace here," Callisto said slowly, searching for the right words. "I need to see how I react out there."

"In the real world?" Quinn asked.

Callisto nodded. "Exactly," she went on. "This...all this," she gestured at the cave which had become her sanctuary, the waterfall which plunged into a cool, blue pool surrounded by greenery and flowers, the lush meadow which spread over most of the rest of the tiny valley. "You. Sometimes it's like a dream. One I'll wake up from and find myself back in the lava pit. Back to who I was."

"So what did you have in mind?"

Callisto faltered. "Um, I guess I could go find Xena," she said after a moment. "She should know that I don't hate her anymore."

"You don't?"

Quinn was looking at her closely, eyebrow raised skeptically. Callisto couldn't look at her.

"If I've decided to reform..." her voice trailed off. She essayed a glance from beneath shyly lowered brows. "I'm supposed to forgive her. Aren't I?"

Quinn smiled gently. "Callisto, forgiveness is not done for the person who hurt you, it's done for you," she offered in a quiet voice. "It doesn't mean you forget the transgression against you, or condone it or even accept the reasons for which it was done. Nor does it mean you have to like the person who hurt you. I mean, why should you, they hurt you after all. What it does mean is you accept that what has happened is in the past, that no matter what you do, it cannot be undone. And that it's time to move on. In fact, I still sense a great deal of rage there."

"At Xena."

"Not really," Quinn disagreed slowly. She paused and searched for the right words. Callisto frowned as she saw the pensive look. She knew that Quinn was about to tell her something she probably wouldn't want to hear but needed to none the less.

"She's only an obvious target for your rage," Quinn offered gently. "The truth is, your anger runs so much deeper than this Xena. You are angry at so many, at the rest of the world for going on as if nothing had happened which is the true reason you destroyed villages. You're angry at your mother for leaving you alone which is why you tried so hard to get out of Tartarus. You are even angry at your sister for not following you when you tried to lead her out which is why you are so angry at this Gabrielle who reminds you of her innocence. The way she follows and looks up to Xena is how your sister used to follow and look up to you."

She looked intently at the young woman. "But mostly you are angry at yourself. You hate yourself because you lived and the people you loved didn't. Perhaps before you can forgive Xena, maybe you should try to forgive Callisto."

Callisto was absolutely still. Quinn always knew that those were the most crucial moments, when something cut deep into yet another wound in the young woman's psyche. It was always a risk. Would it make the wound deeper? Or would it lance the scar, drawing out the poison, and beginning the healing process?

Finally Callisto bent forward, covering her eyes with her palms and Quinn heaved a silent sigh of relief. She would have preferred tears but tears were not something Callisto allowed herself. Carefully she reached out and put a hand on the bowed head, stroking the blond hair lightly.

"It will take time," she soothed. "You don't have to accept everything at once. But I do think getting back to the real world is a good idea."

Callisto raised her head and looked at her, dark eyes stormy with grief and confusion but she kept her features carefully controlled. "What do you suggest I do?" she asked evenly.

"What do you want to do? Do you really want to leave here? Do you wish to go out on your own? Or is this something you only think you should do?" Quinn kept the questions in a calm, objective tone.

Callisto took her time, thought for long moments, debating whether to be honest or say what she thought Quinn wanted to hear. In the end, she followed the advice Quinn was always drilling into her, be true to one's self. She shook her head. "No, I don't want to leave here. And I don't want to leave you," she admitted, apprehensive about what that admission might promote. "I just..I'm afraid that I am only fooling myself, that I haven't really changed at all."

"I don't want you to leave either," Quinn allowed reluctantly and tried not to notice how the disturbed expression immediately disappeared to be replaced by a glow that lit up Callisto's whole face. "But you can take it in small steps. There's a town at the foot of the mountain where I buy supplies, what little I need, every so often. I usually go down this time of year. Come with me, get used to people again. This time without trying to kill them."

This time Callisto smiled in wry agreement, accepting the teasing in the spirit it was offered. "Do you...um."

"Pay?" Quinn laughed. "Yes, I do, very well. I find it makes life much easier not to have bill collectors after you."

"What do you do for money?"

"Well, that's the thing about being immortal and not really needing to eat," Quinn said. "Money becomes the easiest thing in the world to accumulate and the most difficult thing in the world to get rid of. The more you have, the more you seem to pick up here and there. Especially if you don't really need it. That's what that big chest in the spare room is for."

Callisto uncoiled, rising to her feet. She reached down a helping hand and Quinn allowed herself to be hauled upright. "When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow morning," Quinn said. "It's a few days ride. I hope you have no objection to spending a few nights outside. It still gets cold this time of year."

"I don't mind," Callisto said as they headed for the cave.

Especially since horses needed rest which meant those nights would be spent camping beneath the stars. Although it couldn't kill them, immortals did feel the cold and sharing body heat just happened to be one of the more pleasant ways to ward off a chill.

***

Well, it was pleasant enough, though not exactly in the manner Callisto anticipated. Quinn did not object when Callisto found reasons for joining her in her bedroll but she easily kept anything further from happening and the young blond was never sure exactly how. Either they'd end up talking or sleeping or just watching the stars. The older woman kept deflecting as opposed to rejecting every advance Callisto made. It was almost as if Quinn was oblivious to her feelings and simply didn't get it when she made passes.

Of course, Callisto knew better than that. Quinn wasn't oblivious of anything and the older woman knew Callisto better than she knew herself. If Callisto had ever gotten the impression, just one time, that Quinn wasn't interested in her, then it would be simple. It would hurt, but it would be simple. This wasn't simple because Callisto kept sensing that Quinn was just as attracted to her as she was to the dark-skinned woman. She just couldn't figure out why Quinn was holding back. And so far, she lacked the courage to ask flat out.

Their destination appeared below as they topped the next rise and Callisto dragged her thoughts back to the present, the black gelding moving easily beneath her as she rode beside Quinn on the sorrel mare. She took a deep breath as they began the final descent, the small town spread out before them in the valley. It was pretty unimpressive as towns went, just a small collection of structures with a small market square, an inn and a tavern which drew all the farmers from miles around. She and her army had razed more than one just like it to the ground. The place did seem to have a lot of through traffic however and their arrival stirred little interest beyond the merchants who smelled new customers.

They dismounted before the stable and Quinn handed a small bag to Callisto. The jingle of coins within made her stash it quickly in her belt. "I'll see to the horses," the smaller woman told her. "You make the arrangements at the inn and meet me in the market."

Callisto nodded and handed her reins over to Quinn, watching as she disappeared into the stables, leading their horses. Then, squaring her shoulders, she walked slowly to the inn down the street. She felt as if every eye was on her, as if everyone knew the dreaded Callisto was in town and hidden hands were reaching for weapons. Pure foolishness, she knew. She doubted anyone even recognized her. This hamlet was on the far side of the mountains from the Amazons, the Centaurs, and the area where Xena was best known. Where Callisto had spent most of her time pillaging and plundering. Still, it was difficult to maintain her casualness, to keep her hand off her sword and walk as if she were just another traveler passing through.

She shook her head to herself as she hesitated at the door of the inn. She suddenly realized that she had lived most of her life like this, on the knife edge, not trusting anything or anyone. That's what Xena had done to her. No, she forced herself through the easy answer that had always satisfied her before. What her obsession with Xena had done to her. Just walking through town was this horrible adventure. Now that Quinn had become her world....Callisto froze utterly.

Now she knew why Quinn was keeping her at arms length. The older immortal was afraid Callisto was merely obsessed with her now rather than with Xena. Callisto examined this thought from all sides, convinced that this must be the reason Quinn had been so remote. Was Quinn right? Was this merely another obsession?

A couple brushed by her, breaking her train of thought. With a mental shake and armed with this new insight, she entered the inn with a renewed sense of purpose. She would have to think on this further. Now, she had a task to perform.

She looked around the common room with a hint of challenge. No one met it. They were all in their own pursuits, busy with their own lives. Beyond the fact that she was an attractive woman carrying a sword, there was little interest in her. The inn keeper was a large man with greasy hair and a belly hanging low but his apron was mostly clean and the room was relatively tidy which boded well for the accommodations. He was easy going, named a high price but was bargained down easily and promised to meet her extra requests.

She left the inn feeling much better about things and strode to the market place with a lighter step. She found Quinn leaning against a stall haggling with the merchant over a dagger with an intricately forged handle. The two looked up as she joined them and Quinn smiled broadly, slapping the fellow on the shoulder. Callisto felt a brief stab of jealousy. Up until now, she'd had the other woman all to herself. Now they were in the larger scheme of things and it was clear this fellow knew Quinn and they were friends.

"Callisto, I want you to meet Daludas," she introduced. "He's the guy I bought you from."

Callisto raised a delicate eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Daludas was looking at the woman oddly. "What are you talking about?" he said.

"Oh, you remember that big hunk of rock you sold me an a most exorbitant price? Well I opened it up and she fell out."

Daludas eyed the slender blond disbelievingly. "You're kidding," he said.

Callisto shrugged, going along with the joke. "I was like the hidden surprise you get in the cakes at Mid-summer's festival," she said modestly, confounding him and delighting Quinn with her unexpected humor.

"Why is it I've never gotten the better of the deal with you," he grumbled at the dark woman when he finally stopped being astounded and was taking Quinn's money for the dagger.

"You haven't been alive long enough," Quinn responded.

He snorted, believing she was putting him on as she always did. But still, he wondered as he watched the two women walk away and a speculative look lit his eyes. He wondered if that other statue was still in the lava field. And if it had become retrievable.

"What was that about?" Callisto asked as they made their way to another stall displaying bolts of cloth and various accessories. It was next to a stall full of leather goods and run by the same merchant and his wife who was a seamstress of some repute in the area.

Quinn smiled at the shopkeeper who nodded in recognition and looked over the wares before her, fingering a piece of blue silk. "Daludas is the guy who found you in the lava field," she said. "He was going to sell you as a curiosity piece. Fortunately I ran into him first and made him an offer. Fortunately for him," she added touching her side absently.

And me. Callisto remembered the chisel as well and winced. Shaking her head slightly, she pushed those unwanted memories away and tried to concentrate on what Quinn was doing. The other woman seemed to be stocking up on fabric and Callisto was surprised when Quinn held up a green piece of cloth against her chest.

"Yes, I think that will do," Quinn said as she studied the contrast between the emerald brocade and Callisto's blond hair and brown eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting you some tunics made up," came the ready response. "You're a little big for mine, you keep splitting the seams. Besides, you need some in your own colors. So stand still while they measure you."

Bemused, Callisto raised her arms obediently as the seamstress began fussing over her with a tape and some pins. And barely wondered that she would do so without more objection.

***

"I can't believe you got me all this stuff," Callisto said as she dumped all her new possessions on the bed in their room at the inn. They had spent most of the day in the market and enjoyed a wonderful repast in the tavern below. Quinn had showered her with things, including a special present. Callisto held up the dagger so that the jewels glinted in the candlelight. She still was surprised and tremendously pleased with the gift.

"You needed the supplies. You came out of that volcano as naked as the day you were born." Quinn replied calmly, looking over the room, eyes narrowed as she saw the candles lit all over the furniture, the fresh flowers on the window sill. She'd bet that this was not the normal accommodations..

'It was a rebirth, wasn't it?" Callisto said thoughtfully, admiring the green tunic. "I guess that's what made it time for me to start over."

"Something like that," Quinn agreed in a distracted tone. She frowned as she saw the double bed. She really should not have let Callisto arrange their room. It was getting progressively harder and harder to share sleep time without revealing herself. Even when she tried going to sleep when Callisto did, she inevitably woke up with the other snuggled against her in the bedroll.

She was pleased to see what waited near the fireplace however. Though they didn't get tired, they were grimy from their time on the road and as arranged, a large tub full of steaming water, scented with a pleasantly light oil waited by the hearth where a small fire burned cheerfully.

"Who gets to go first?" Quinn asked as she tossed the rest of their packs in a corner.

"We could go together?" Callisto offered promptly.

"You go first," Quinn decided with a sardonic grin. She tried very hard to keep it light between them even though Callisto's flirting was getting more overt. She wondered if Callisto knew how obvious she was getting.

"Okay," Callisto said agreeably and began stripping off her clothes without hesitation.

Carefully, Quinn averted her eyes and scooped up the discarded apparel, putting it in Callisto's pack. She tried to ignore the sounds of Callisto getting in the tub behind her, the deep sighs of pleasure as the blond settled into the water.

"This is really heavenly," Callisto murmured as a Quinn finally turned around.

"Good," Quinn offered as she walked past, intending to poke at the fire. Too close as it turned out. Caught totally off guard, Quinn was pulled into the tub before she knew it. Sputtering, she surfaced and glared at Callisto who was looking back with an expectant expression.

"I suppose you think that was funny?"

"Actually, yes," Callisto giggled. "And just think, it saved you from having to wash your clothes."

"Oh, ha, ha," Quinn said resignedly. She peeled off her soaked garments, wrung them out as best she could and flipped them over the fireplace mantle to dry. Then she sunk back into the tub, trying to ignore how very close and very naked Callisto was or how the brown eyes glowed deeply dark as they gazed steadily at her.

"Need your back scrubbed?"

Callisto's voice was husky and before Quinn quite knew what was happening, the other was wrapped around her, hands linked behind her neck.

"I thought one had to be behind me to wash my back," she objected reasonably, though reason was exhibiting a decided preference for flying right out the window at this point.

"It's more fun this way," Callisto replied before using the tip of her tongue to wantonly explore Quinn's right ear.

"Nor do I think that's the best way to get my ears clean."

With carefully concealed regret, she reached back and grasped Callisto's wrists, gently pulling the slim arms from around her neck and pushing her back. Taking a deep breath, she looked into the steady eyes filled with such devotion that the older immortal was startled into forgetting what she was going to say, all the reasoned argument against this that she had been about to offer.

"Please, don't push me away," Callisto said softly. She did not try to reach out to Quinn again but her expression was intently serious. "I want you, Quinn. I have for a long time. And I know you're worried that this is some sort of gratitude being mixed up with becoming dependant on you. But it isn't. You've taught me to know myself. I know how I feel. I don't know if it's love. I've never been in love before. But I don't know what else to call it. If you don't want me, tell me, and I'll leave you alone. That's how much I care. Your happiness means more than mine. But let it be because you don't feel the same way, not because you're trying to protect me."

Quinn breathed deep, closing her eyes, shaken at how the young blond had cut right to the heart of the matter. It seemed that Callisto had learned her lessons too well. Or perhaps Quinn had not learned her own well enough. Maybe it was time to stop fighting the inevitable. To stop pretending to herself that she could somehow control this emotion.

"I don't want to push you away," she admitted finally. She opened her eyes to take in that

elven young face which lit up heartbreakingly at her words. "I want you as close as you can get to me."

Moving very slowly, almost as if she were afraid that this moment would somehow disappear like a soap bubble, Callisto reached up and cupped Quinn's face in trembling palms, water streaming down her wrists. Leaning forward, she pressed her lips to Quinn's with careful gentleness. Quinn closed her eyes once more, sliding her arms about that slender body and drawing her against her, delighting in the feel of the smooth, slippery skin against hers, wondering at the trembling she felt.

She was surprised when the blond withdrew her mouth, reluctantly but with determination.

"Um," Callisto began hesitantly. "I'm not sure I know how..." She trailed off uncertainly.

Quinn was profoundly surprised. "You're saying you're a virgin?"

"Not exactly," Callisto explained, trying to find the words. "It's just that before.....I'm kind of...rough," She grimaced. "I don't want to hurt you. But I don't know any other way."

Quinn considered that for a moment, contemplating just what that meant and not comforted by the images. Callisto had hinted at her earliest encounters, including the ones with Aries in Xena's body. They had been lessons in brutality rather than in sharing pleasure though Quinn had never made any judgement calls on them to Callisto. Of course, now she realized just how they had affected her in every way.

She pulled her close once more, gently with affection rather than desire, kissing her sweetly on her forehead. "Callisto, can you pretend this is your very first time?" she asked.

Callisto held her tightly. "I can try," she said shyly. "I really want to try."

"That's all I can ask," Quinn allowed. She ran her hands gently over Callisto's back, stroking her sides with a light pressure. "Will you trust me to teach you this?"

"I trust you in everything," Callisto whispered as she slid her hands down the strong arms holding her. She pressed herself against Quinn, relaxing within the loving embrace, delighting in the way Quinn softly and ever so tenderly kissed her. With total acceptance and joy, she surrendered her whole being to the other woman.

***

Callisto idly watched the glow of the embers grow dim in the early dawn from where she lay on the big double bed. Encircled by Quinn's arms, her side resting against her lover's breasts and stomach, head resting on the supportive shoulder, the cozy blankets covering them, she felt warm and sated. Beneath her cheek, she could feel the slow, steady throb of Quinn's heart and realized that she had never felt so contented or loved. Not even as a child.

It had been everything Quinn had promised and more. The older immortal had been infinitely patient with her, guiding her tenderly in how to express her passion, holding her back when she needed it, letting her loose when she didn't think she could stand it anymore. Callisto learned how softness could be more powerful than strength, how restraint enhanced and increased the pleasure, where the barest of touches could leave her helpless and unable to do more than simply shudder and cry out helplessly in response.

She didn't think a mere mortal could have survived it. The explosions of ecstacy, the fiery incandescence of desire that wiped everything from her mind, the sheer dizzying delight of being with someone she loved and loved her in return, the heady joyful power of causing Quinn to cry out in pleasure in response to her own newly learned caresses. Even now she was acutely aware of every nerve ending singing in the sensation of afterglow. The scent of Quinn's body intoxicated her so that she could scarcely breathe less she lose it from her lungs, and the other's skin seemed to glow with an inner heat that consumed her utterly.

She raised her head and pressed gentle lips against the smooth brown flesh beneath her, tasting the salt sweetness of their lovemaking. "Quinn?" She savored the name on her tongue even as she savored the taste of the skin.

"Hmm?" The reply was drowsy and comfortable.

"Thank you."

There was a pause as the intrigued Quinn forced herself to draw back from sleep.

"For what?" Quinn stroked the long blond hair, hand gentle on the side of young woman's cheek and neck.

"For releasing me from the lava. For teaching me. For never giving up on me even when I had already given up on myself." Callisto felt her eyes stinging and didn't know why. "For loving me."

The strong arms tightened about her and she felt gentle lips on the top of her head.

"My pleasure." Quinn's laugh was low and warm. "And I do mean pleasure."

There was a pause, then she added thoughtfully. "I will admit, there was a time when I didn't know if I could break through the walls you had put up. You let me through, Callisto. I couldn't have reached you otherwise. You were ready to be helped whether you knew it or not. It was something you needed and wanted deep down."

Callisto considered that for a few minutes. "Maybe," she allowed after a while. "I know that before we went after Valesca, I make Xena go to a village and tell the story to all the villagers gathered in the center square of her attacking my home and killing my family."

"And?" Quinn prompted. This was an anecdote she hadn't heard before. For some reason, she had a feeling it was significant.

"Nobody cared," Callisto said in a small voice. " I could see it in their faces. It didn't mean anything to them. She told the whole story just the way I wanted her to and everybody just walked away. Nobody remembered my village and nobody cared. Only me. And nobody cared about me." She sniffed slightly, surprised at the thickness in her throat. She was unaware of the tears sliding down her face. She took a deep breath. "Later, around the fire, Gabrielle and I played Truth or Dare and she asked me if I had felt anything when Xena told her story."

"What did you do? Truth or Dare?"

"I cheated," Callisto laughed bitterly. "Of course."

"Of course," Quinn agreed, gratified to feel the moisture spreading on her chest.

"I picked Truth, but I lied," Callisto explained. "I said I hadn't felt anything."

"But you had?"

Callisto was silent for a moment, a bleak expression on her face. "I felt helpless," she admitted finally. "I think I finally understood a little about being immortal. About how it would be to go on and on forever while everything I knew was forgotten. I felt so scared, too. No matter what I did to Xena, it wouldn't make any difference. Not to my family, not to anybody else. Not to me." Then she had to stop speaking as the unexpected sobs finally managed to work their way loose from a chest suddenly too tight to contain them.

Shaking, she turned and buried her face into Quinn's neck as the other woman held her tightly, muttering soothingly. Callisto didn't know how long she cried. Only that Quinn never let her go the entire time, whispered words encouraging her to give into this release of grief and pain, the warmth and love surrounding her and giving her shelter from the storm raging within.

When she finished she felt strangely clean and refreshed, almost as if all her sins had been washed away. It wouldn't be that easy, she knew. It would be a long time before she could totally free herself from the monster she had created. But, with Quinn's support and love as the guide, at least now, she could begin trying.

And finally, she realized what forgiveness was. She started by forgiving herself for being alive. And being happy about it.

***

Callisto blew a drop of sweat from the end of her nose and hefted the axe above her head once more. With a mighty swing, she brought it down, cleaving the hunk of wood cleanly in two, each piece falling to either side of the chopping block. She wasn't conscious of the smile on her face as she worked but she did know she felt incredibly good, the day was beautiful and of course, she was totally and completely in love. She picked out another piece of wood from the pile and set it up on the block, pausing to look over in the corral where Quinn had a mare on a long lead and was schooling the animal in her paces. She admired the play of muscles on her lover's shoulders and biceps, rippling smoothly beneath the smooth brown skin.

Her lover. She savored the word. The reality. Ever since their return from the village a month earlier, Callisto had immersed herself in the feelings and sensations that she had denied herself for so long. She could hardly believe that there was a time when she had wanted no part of love. But then, the Callisto of those times was becoming a memory. And it couldn't happen fast enough.

She split a few more logs, and smiled as she saw Quinn release the mare and leave the correl, heading towards her. Suddenly the smile faded and she felt a chill, almost as if the sun had gone behind a cloud though in fact, it was as bright as ever.

"I see you feel him," Quinn said as she reached her. "He's coming over the ridge." She took the axe from her hand and studied her face. "I know I really haven't touched on those lessons yet but, tell me what you feel. Relax, close your eyes and concentrate on all your senses."

Obediently, Callisto closed her eyes and forced herself to relax. After a moment, she opened her eyes and looked wonderingly at the older immortal. "It's a man," she blurted. "He's very afraid and worried about something. He wants you."

"Very good," Quinn responded, obviously pleased. "You're quite a natural at this."

"At what?" Callisto said. "How did I know that."

"I told you, our senses are greatly enhanced," Quinn told her. "If you really paid attention to what you're feeling and hearing and smelling, you can pick up things from a very great distance."

Just then, a rider crested the ridge and plunged recklessly down the other side, spurring his horse down the difficult trail with abandon and galloping across the field, raising a cloud of dust as he reined to a stop. He practically fell off the foaming, heaving steed and Quinn had to catch him, supporting him until he regained his feet.

"Callisto, cool down the animal," she instructed in the sort of tone the other had learned not to argue with. So even though Callisto was desperately curious as to what this was about, she took the reins without complaint and began to walk the hard ridden horse around, carefully cooling it down, letting it drink a little from the pool now and then as she strained her ears to hear what was being said. Finally the horse recovered its wind though it was clear it was much too exhausted to be ridden anywhere for days.

Callisto turned it out with the others in the corral, her new found compassion for animals making her wonder what news was so important that the poor creature had been pushed this hard. The look on Quinn's face when she returned to the cave indicated that it had been important indeed. It hadn't been good news either. She found the dark woman grimly making a pack and laying out her weapons. The man was sitting at the table, drinking water from a jug in long draughts. Clearly he had pushed himself as hard as he had his mount.

"What is it?" Callisto asked.

"An old enemy I thought long destroyed," Quinn said shortly, pulling on leathers and armor, sheathing a sword with an intricately carved handle on her back and secreting daggers about her person. In a pouch attached to her belt, she added several, oddly star-shaped metal objects and in another pouch, she placed some strange round orbs. "I have to go take care of her."

Callisto smiled. Old enemies? This was more like it and more her specialty. "I'll get the horses ready."

Quinn looked up. "No, you'll stay here," she said flatly.

"What?" Callisto couldn't decide whether to be hurt, furious or confused. She settled on equal parts of all three. "I'm going with you."

"No." Quinn ceased her preparations long enough to take Callisto into her arms, ignoring how stiff the slender blond was. "Callisto, I can spend hours explaining why you can't come but I don't have the time nor do I suspect it would convince you in the end anyway. You'll just have to trust me on this. Just trust me, all right?"

Callisto turned her head away, not wanting to accept this but how could she fight. She trusted Quinn with her very existence. There were plenty of times in the past where she hadn't liked what Quinn had demanded of her, but it had always worked out in the end. She just had to believe this time. But she didn't have to like it.

"I'll stay," she said finally. "Can you at least tell me what's going on?"

Gratefully, Quinn kissed her and returned to her preparations. "There's a village on the coast, Kaválla, I think it's called, which has been terrorized by a sorceress for the past few months. Let's just say that from the description and how she operates that there's a very good chance this is an immortal I encountered some centuries ago," Quinn related as she picked up the pack and slung it over her shoulder. She continued to talk as she went outside to saddle her mare, Callisto following and trying to help where she could.

"I had hoped we had made an end of her, but I guess she's found her way back. Pay attention, child. If you want to destroy an immortal, go with lightning. I thought I had deposited her head far enough away from her body to keep her from putting herself together. I was wrong. The only good thing is if she's merely terrorizing one village and only working at night, it hasn't been too long since she regained her power. She moved in on the local warlord who has a castle on a small island off the coast. No doubt she made all the inhabitants her followers just as she wants to make all of humanity her slaves. Her followers do not think, they do not feel, they simply do her bidding. Their minds, their souls are gone. They're walking dead. When she is not actively directing them, they wander around in packs at random destroying and consuming anything that thinks."

"I don't think I'd like living like that very much," Callisto frowned.

"That's not something we'd have to worry about. A special fate is reserved for immortals. She'd have us hunted down and our life force sucked from our flesh. She would feed on us as delicacies. She deals with forces darker than Tartarus, more powerful than Hades. Six people I cared about helped me the last time we tangled and at the end, I was the only one left." Her eyes were the hardest green Callisto had ever witnessed, glacial chips of jade that were edged with memory. "I think Hethacus got here in time. I have to assume that. Otherwise there's no point to even trying." Her expression was merciless, her features set hard and unforgiving. Callisto had never seen her like this. Her stare seemed to bore right through her almost as if she didn't see her at all. "I don't want you to come, Callisto. You're not anywhere near being able to handle her. And I don't want to be restrained by having to protect you as well as myself. I have to be free to go against her with no distractions."

Callisto liked this less and less as Quinn had spoken, but she had given her word. Quinn put a lot of stock in one's word. Quinn began to saddle a second horse. "What's that for?"

"For Hethacus," Quinn explained.

"He's going with you?" Callisto was outraged.

Quinn spared her a smile. "No, he's going back to his family and he won't be able to do it today if he waits for his own mount to recover," she said. "Besides, as a mortal, he'd have no chance against Shonrha. She'd sense him the second he got within two miles of the island. Just as you sensed him coming over the ridge."

"What about you?" Callisto asked.

Quinn shook her head. "An immortal can't sense another when the other doesn't want to be sensed," she said. "That's what all those search games we've been playing are for. The 'silent running', the 'playing dead', all those tricks I taught you about stilling your heartbeat, your breathing and your mind? It masks our presence from each other."

"So let me help," Callisto insisted one last time.

"Knowing you're here and safe, that's all the help I need," Quinn said. She looked up as Hethacus joined them and silently mounted the horse. He nodded respectfully as them and rode away over the ridge. Quinn turned back to Callisto and brought her to her in a fierce embrace. "I love you, Callisto. Don't ever forget that."

Callisto felt a chill and she hugged the other back tightly. "Please, be careful," she whispered. She drew back and looked the other in the eyes. "How long am I supposed to wait?"

"Kaválla is two days east," Quinn said confidently. "Allowing a day to check out the lay of the land, it shouldn't take more than a week before my return."

"You'd better be here," Callisto said. She refused to cry. This was all happening so fast that she didn't know how to act. She didn't ask what she was supposed to do if Quinn did not return in the promised week. She knew, but as long as she didn't ask, then Quinn couldn't make her promise not to come after her. She watched dry eyed as her love mounted the sorrel mare and spurred Dana towards the ridge.

At the top, Quinn reined in her mount, turned back briefly and raised a hand in farewell. Callisto waved back, her heart going still inside her. Her eyes were cold as the figure disappeared behind the crest and slowly she turned and walked back to the cave.

***

The darkness was absolute.

With her sight useless, the ex-warlord known as Xena found her other senses were heightened to an almost unbearable level. The incessant dripping of moisture running from the walls was a constant companion as was the unrelenting ache in her battered body. Mercifully, she could no longer feel her arms which had gone numb from where they were chained to the wall above her. Blood dried in streaks down to her shoulders, wrists abraded from bearing most of her weight. Below her dangling feet, vermin rustled among filthy straw and occasionally dared a nip at the boots. Beyond the door, she could hear the soft breathing of the two creatures who guarded her. Once a day they would feed her a little bread and spurt water at her from a bag. She would have to raise her face, mouth opened wide to catch what drink she could which she did without hesitation. She knew she had to stay alive.

For Gabrielle.

The pain of her wounds and the extreme discomfort of her position was borne without complaint. This wasn't the first time she'd been in a bad position. Granted, she couldn't quite remember a worse one at the moment, but that didn't matter. She had to come through now. Somewhere, Gabrielle waited for her.

She hoped that the bard was not being held in the same manner. She didn't dare think about the bard not being held at all. About her not needing to be imprisoned because she was no longer alive.

She should never have let Gabrielle come along. When she and the bard had arrived in Kaválla and heard the story of the sorceress which had been horrific in it's telling, she should have realized it was too much for them to tackle. She could have gotten help. Sent for Hercules or something. She was a fool. Had she become so arrogant in her abilities that she was over reaching herself? Or was it just that with Gabrielle at her side, she felt she could meet and defeat any challenge?

The ironic part is that they hadn't even gotten to the sorceress. All they found were these mindless creatures which used to be human that kept coming and coming without fear or any sense of self-preservation, falling soundless beneath her sword in bloody heaps . What if she was to be turned into one? What if Gabrielle had already been? Xena knew what she would do. She would kill the thing that had been her friend, the one person she loved above all. Then she'd thrust the sword into herself. No hesitation.

Furiously she clamped down on the speculation that raced through her mind. It was better to concentrate on her own hurts. Idly, she wondered if her arms had become dislocated from bearing her weight so long. They really was taking no chances with her escaping. She supposed she ought to be flattered. She just wondered why the sorceress had not been down to see her and gloat.

The sudden commotion outside made her jerk painfully against the chains. She strained against her bonds, head raised as she tried to discover what was happening. She knew it was not time for her feeding. A flame appeared in the doorway and she winced at the light that pierced the darkness, throwing wild shadows against the walls and sending nameless things scuttling for cover. Two figures dragged a third between them into the cell, shackling a battered woman apparently too dazed to fight to the wall to Xena's right. Two other creatures carried the torches to light their work.. It was hard to see what was happening in the flickering of the flame and she had to blink tears away from eyes stung by the brightness.

"Leave the torches." The words were spoken in a strangely flat tone and surprisingly, since they had come from the prisoner, the creatures actually did so, fixing the two torches in the appropriate holders, then left.

Xena studied the other curiously. The woman was dark-skinned, small and compact yet well muscled. Despite the rips and mussed appearance, she seemed unharmed. That added to the way she had commanded the creatures to leave the torches made Xena very wary.

"Who are you?" she asked after a pause of silent contemplation on both their parts.

The woman sighed. "The biggest fool in existence," she responded. "I walked right into the trap she set for me. My name is Quinn," she added after a self-castigating pause. "Shonrha and I go way back. Way, way back. And you are?"

"Xena," the warrior princess said shortly.

Quinn raised an eyebrow with interest. "Indeed. Small world," she said in an odd tone.

"Who is Shonrha?" Xena asked quizzically.

"Shonrha is our gracious host," Quinn explained. "An immortal with a propensity for causing the worst kind of misery for your kind."

"My kind?"

"Mortals," Quinn explained.

Xena blinked. "Are you saying you're immortal?"

Quinn shrugged. "Not that it does me much good at the moment."

"They can't kill you," Xena pointed out.

"You think? There are ways of destroying immortals," Quinn said laconically. "Shonrha knows all of them. Probably because I've tried them all on her at one time or another. Besides, even if she didn't have plans for me, as I am sure she does, I'm not very good at locks. My only option is to stand here until the wall falls down. Not an appealing prospect."

"If you could make them leave the torches, why didn't you just make them let you go?" Xena asked as she looked at the small woman with a great deal more wariness.

Quinn laughed without humor. "Shonrha instructed them to imprison me," she said. "She did not mentioned torches at all. One thing about mindless drones, they will do pretty much anything an immortal tells them as long as it doesn't override their mistress's wishes. If she had instructed them to leave us in the dark, then we'd still be in the dark."

Xena thought about what she had discovered. "You came alone?" she asked, trying to get a new sense of strategy.

Quinn nodded. Her expression was suddenly bleak. "That's the only thing that makes this bearable," she said. "I convinced the person I love to stay behind. At least I know she's safe."

Xena closed her eyes, bowing her head.

If only she could say that.

***

Callisto didn't quite give Quinn the week requested. Five days later, she saddled Fox and rode away without looking back at the first home she had known since that horrible flame filled day so long ago. Down in the town, she had the seamstress make up an outfit, different from the tunics that she had come to favor with Quinn. Fully decked out in the leathers so similar to the ones she had worn before they were destroyed in the lava pit, she headed for Kaválla.

This town was one she had been in before though she had never bothered finding out its name, a place she knew and was known. In the stables she found Quinn's sorrel mare tied next to a uncomfortably familiar palomino. No one challenged her as she strode about, gleaning information from various townspeople. It was a fearful and furtive town. The doors were barred at sundown and tales of slaughtered animals and missing travelers kept the bravest huddled behind them. So fearful that they considered the return of Callisto to be the much lesser of two evils.

She acquired the use of a boat easily, trading in on her reputation and rowed to the island, immortal endurance and strength conquering the wind stirred chop and ominous clouds heralding the approach of an oncoming storm. The looming presence of the castle on the bluff overlooking the beach cast a long shadow as she dragged the small row boat up onto the rocks beyond the high tide mark. A small sailboat was already moored in the sheltered cove. Callisto gazed up at the cliff face, her face disturbingly animated.

I'm enjoying this, she thought, pulling a pack full of supplies from the boat. She shook out the climbing gear and put the knapsack on her back. She adjusted her sword to make room for the ropes. I guess there's still a dark side here inside. It's nice to know that I can unleash it. From what Quinn and the townspeople had said, anything she'd run into would be better off dead anyway.

Then it was all seriousness as she crawled up the sheer cliff, scaled the castle wall and perched on the top, looking down into the courtyard. It was empty, the late afternoon light illuminating most of the cobblestones. The doorways were ominously shadowed and dark however.

A real dark hole, Callisto thought as she dropped into the courtyard.

She drew her sword, the rasp of steel on leather loud in the silence. There were no birds, no comforting buzz of insects, just the icy breath of wind that beat against the turrets. She dropped the backpack unobtrusively in a corner where wall met battlement and silently she moved into the inky depths of the castle. The first floor was deserted of the humans who had lived here though there was plenty of evidence of struggle amongst the rich and lavish furnishings heavy with dust and neglect. There were no corpses. Those who had survived had been turned into the mindless followers of Shonrha. The dead consumed by them later.

Down in the cellars, she came across the new addition to the structure, a circular staircase that descended down into blackness, the walls honeycombed with off-shooting tunnels. An sickly sweet odor of decay wafted up from the depths on an icy breeze and a black moisture oozed from the walls that she did not care to get too close to.

Quinn, she thought as she started down into the black pit, carrying a torch she liberated from her knapsack, it's a good thing I love you cause that's the only thing that's getting me to go down there. She did not acknowledge the gleeful smile that appeared as the first wave of creatures raced towards her from the depths.

***

Xena.

It was like a mantra that helped her maintain the tattered remains of her sanity. Xena would come for her. She believed that implicitly. She didn't dare not to. If she considered even for a second that Xena might not be able to save her. That she might even be....

"No!"

She spoke out loud just to hear her voice. She didn't know how long she had been in this cell, chained to the wall in complete darkness. She had a stone platform to lay on, and in the corner, just reachable, was a rusted metal pot for her natural functions.

She sat on the platform, arms wrapped about her knees. She spent the time sleeping and writing tales in her head. She thought that this would make a great story. If she ever got out.

"When, Gabrielle, when," she told herself furiously. If only she had not been left so utterly alone. It almost made her long for those prisons where a dirty guard with broken teeth leered at her and uttered obscene threats. These creatures...

She stifled a sob at the back of her throat. "I'm getting a little bored waiting here, Xena," she whispered.

She tried desperately not to think of the last time she had seen her, the dark-haired warrior fighting with magnificent prowess until she was overwhelmed by the seemingly endless numbers of mindless zombies that boiled out of the castle as if they had kicked over a monstrous anthill. A blow from one of those zombies relieved her of sight though not before her horror filled eyes saw Xena going down beneath the horde. She had woke up here in the darkness. The never-ending, soul-sucking darkness. Even when they came once a day to empty the pot and give her the bare minimum amount of bread and water to keep her alive, they did so quietly and without light.

For what reason they kept her living, she didn't know. She didn't think she wanted to know. The first few times, she had cowered in the corner. She wondered how they were able to see so well in the perpetual night. There was no hesitation in their movements and when she had finally gathered up the courage to leap on one, it had backhanded her the length of the chain and continued on as if there had been no interruption at all. She never tried it again. Now when they came, she barely moved. They certainly didn't seem to notice her.

A sound made her raise her head. Breathless, she turned her head to the side, mouth slightly open as she tried to identify it. The muted noise of scuffling. Then...a voice. A female voice!

She leaped to her feet, stumbling as the chain brought her up short. On her hands and knees, she tried hard to slow her pounding heart as it thundered in her ears. There was more noise of conflict, a combination of thuds and thumps and an unmistakable curse in an indistinct tone. Then finally, the sound of the fight faded and for what seemed an eternity, silence returned.

Gabrielle's breath came in broken sobs as she waited, eyes straining to penetrate the inky blackness. Then, a scratching at the door, the lifting of the bar and the creak of protesting hinges.

The light from the torch stabbed through her head and she had to turn away, shielding her eyes with a raised hand even as her heart thrilled inside.

"Xena," she cried as she lurched to her feet, arms outstretched.

"Sorry to disappoint, Gabrielle, " came the voice who's familiarity made her reel back in horror.

"Callisto," she hissed in terror, striking out blindly only to be twirled and her wrists trapped by a gentle but unrelenting hand.

"Easy, Gabrielle," Callisto said as she held her immobile from behind, her lips pressed against the bard's ear, her free hand holding the torch away from their faces. "I know this is hard for you to believe. I know I'd have trouble if our places were reversed. But I'm not here to hurt you. I am here to help you. And if we're going to get Quinn and Xena out too, we don't have time for this."

For a long moment, Gabrielle shuddered in her arms, then finally, she nodded, having little choice in the matter. Carefully, Callisto released her and stepped back. She handed Gabrielle the torch and bent down to examine the chain binding the bard's ankle. Blinking back the tears streaming from her eyes, Gabrielle watched in wonder as the slender warrior used a dagger to pry open the metal clamp.

"Do you know where Xena's being held?" Callisto asked, looking up inquiringly as she worked. Finally she broke the band, freeing the bard,.

Gabrielle looked back at her, marveling at what she suddenly saw in those features, the calm expression, the steadiness in soft brown eyes that had always seemed wild with madness and hatred. What had happened to their long-time enemy?

"Gabrielle," Callisto prodded impatiently. "Xena?"

The fear rose once more. "Gods, I don't know," the bard said, struggling to keep her voice steady. "I was unconscious when I was put in here. I saw her go down...and I..." Her throat seemed to close.

Callisto sighed and closed her eyes, breathing steadily and easily as Gabrielle watched in bewilderment. She had so many questions but knew that this was not the time. Her heart fluttered as the terror at what might have happened to Xena threatened to overwhelm her.

Callisto opened one eye and frowned in irritation. "Gabrielle, I can't do this if you don't settle down," she said.

"Do what?"

"Find Quinn and Xena," she said.

"Who's Quinn?"

"Just be quiet and try to think of Xena, how you feel about her," Callisto said with forced patience.

"What do you mean, how I feel about her?" Gabrielle was not comfortable with where this was going."

"Zeus Bones, think about puppies, then," Callisto said. "Just please, calm down."

"I'll try," the bard said tearfully. She did try. Xena had taught her how to calm herself in preparation for a fight. She wasn't very good at it but she gave it her best effort.

Apparently it was good enough. This time when Callisto opened her eyes, she wore an expression of satisfaction. "Got her," she said. "She's a level below us and over to the north."

"How do you know this?" Gabrielle said perplexed.

Callisto smiled at her and for a second, the old, smug arrogance flashed through. "I have many talents. I'm surprised you don't remember."

"I remember too well," Gabrielle responded acidly.

Callisto opened her mouth to reply, and with a visible effort, restrained herself and drew her sword. "C'mon," she said. "I didn't come here to reminisce about old times. I came to get Quinn. You two owe me for helping fight Valesca. I'm calling that in. You have to help me find Quinn. I can't sense her."

"Who is Quinn?" Gabrielle asked once more, exasperated.

Callisto's face underwent an unbelievable metamorphosis. "She's everything," she said softly. The 'to me' was not added but then, it didn't need to be. Gabrielle could read it easily enough in the loving expression that had suddenly appeared on the blond's elven features. Shaking her head in total amazement, she followed the blond out the door.

Hang on Xena, she thought. I'm coming to save you. And you'll never believe who's coming with me.

***

Xena, who had little else to do but hang on, or at least hang from her manacles, studied the woman hanging to her right on the other wall, the torch fixed to the corner between them still burning though it wouldn't last much longer. They had been together for three days now and she knew little more about Quinn than when she had first been imprisoned here. Of course, Xena was not an easy conversationalist. And when Xena did start a conversation, Quinn had a habit of turning it back on the warrior princess. Usually with personal questions which Xena often chose not to answer. It made for a lot of long periods of silence.

The creatures continued to feed and water the warrior princess but they did not give the dark skinned woman any. But then, as an immortal, she wouldn't need any. Xena just couldn't figure out why they were keeping them alive.

"I wonder why they're keeping us alive," she mused aloud this time.

Quinn looked up from where she had been studying the vermin that scurried about the floor. "You have a companion?" she asked as if already knowing the answer. "One with blood innocence and a pure soul?"

Xena narrowed her eyes. That was as perfect a description of Gabrielle as she had heard. "Yes," she answered slowly. She hadn't mentioned the bard before, mostly because she hadn't wanted to think about Gabrielle's possible fate. "Why?"

"Because tonight is the Quo'to phese," Quinn explained. "The Night of Terrors. And on this night, if Shonrha can drink the blood of a brave warrior and eat the heart of a blood innocent who are bound together with love and destiny, unlimited power shall be hers. I suspect the head of an immortal is just for desert."

"So Gabrielle's still alive." Xena's eyes glowed with a hope she had thought lost. Then her face darkened. If only she could escape but she had never been rendered so utterly helpless before. And in such a simple manner.

"Most likely," Quinn agreed, returning to her contemplation of the rats on the floor and of one in particular.

"Have you found some way to escape?" Xena queried after a long pause, trying to figure out why Quinn was so intent on the rat who had gone motionless under her gaze.

"Not exactly," Quinn answered absently. "I'm trying to convince my friend here to crawl up and tear out your throat." She looked up and met the suddenly icy blue eyes. "It's nothing personal," she offered. "If you die prior to the ceremony, Shonrha will be stymied for another hundred years, lacking the warrior part of the equation. I know you don't agree but believe me, it would be best for all concerned. Right now, she still defeatable. After the ceremony, she'll be omnipotent."

Xena thought about that for a moment, not liking it but realizing it was probably something she would have thought of had positions been reversed. And if she were capable of talking to rats.

"Will it?" she asked shortly, without fear.

Quinn bowed her head briefly with respect at the tall woman's consideration of the option and of her bravery in acceptance of it. "Unfortunately, I am unable to convince it that you are believable prey," she said. "Apparently you're way too big and still too lively to take a hunk out of."

"Too bad," Xena said dryly.

There was a sudden thump from outside and they both looked up in trepidation. Was it already time? Then the door exploded inwards as the bloodied remains of a creature hurdled through it. The next figure through did so in a series of flips that ended in the center of the room where she crouched, sword at ready as the leather clad woman waited her next opponent. When none was forthcoming, she straightened and looked over at Xena, brown eyes framed by long blond hair that flowed wild about fine, elegant features.

"Oh, Xena," Callisto crooned. "How I've missed you."

Xena was totally disgusted now. Just when she thought the day couldn't get any worse, it did.

Callisto strutted over, arrogance radiating from every pore, her lips curled in a smile of pure evil. She sheathed her sword on her back, drawing a dagger from her other wristband in a smooth easy motion. She rested the tip lightly against the warrior princess's throat, almost caressingly, as she leaned against the wall beside the dangling woman.

"How I've dreamed of this moment," she purred. "To have the great Xena, helpless and bound beneath my blade." She lingered over the moment. "Funny," she said finally as Xena swallowed beneath the point that pricked her neck. "I finally get what I want only to find I no longer want it. I always was kind of fickle." She lowered the blade and smiled sunnily at Xena who was warily regarding her.

"If we're quite done amusing ourselves?" Quinn broke in acidly.

Callisto turned her attention to the other and real fury twisted her mouth, reaching out an arm to point with the blade.

"You," she said coldly, biting off each word. "I am still mad at."

Quinn was taken aback as Callisto leaped over and pressed the flat of the blade against the dark skin of her lover's neck. Though an inch or so shorter than Callisto, the manacles raised the smaller woman so that they were at eye level. Callisto's eyes did not make that pleasant, dark and stormy, full of anger and hurt.

"Indeed?" Quinn managed against the dagger.

"Don't you ever leave me behind again." The tone was very clear as to what was expected. An ultimatum had never been delivered so intently.

"My word on it," Quinn responded dryly with a half smile. "Where ever I go, you'll be at my side."

Callisto lowered the blade and with the other hand, grasped the back of Quinn's head. With deliberate intent, she brought her lips to hers, kissing her passionately, drinking her in deeply as a woman parched and dry would the cool clear waters of a forest spring. Quinn returned the emotion, thinking she had made her peace with never seeing the young immortal again and finding to her dismay that she had not even been close.

Xena, who had been watching this with bemusement and oddly enough, a little envy finally cleared her throat impatiently. "If we could get on with this?"

Reluctantly, the other two parted and Callisto rapidly unlocked Quinn's ankle and wrist manacles with the key she had liberated from somewhere. She caught the smaller woman as she fell forward, supporting her lovingly until Quinn had shaken some feeling back into her limbs and was able to stand on her own. Then the leather clad warrior turned to Xena, hesitating and looking impishly back at Quinn who was stretching uncomfortably.

"Do I have to let her go?" she asked imploringly.

Quinn, her hands propped against the small of her back as she leaned backwards, trying to get the kinks out, winced visibly and looked back at her. "That's sort of what being reformed is all about," she explained patiently. "Not reformed; you torture the hapless prisoner. Reformed, you ride heroically to the rescue."

"Can't I do both? You know, sort of torture her, then rescue her?" Callisto insisted peevishly.

"'Fraid not," Quinn informed her.

"I'd like to know who makes up these rules," Callisto grumbled as she unlocked Xena's restraints, stepping neatly aside as the warrior princess slumped to the ground. Pins and needles attacked with a vengeance as the blood rushed back into her arms and legs, and Xena muffled a groan as she lay on the stone. "Is this going to take long?" Callisto queried impatiently.

"Shut up," Xena returned, finally managing to get to her hands and knees.

"Isn't there supposed to be a little gratitude somewhere here?" Callisto asked in an injured tone. "First I help save your little bard from Valesca, which got me dumped in a lava flow, then I rescue you and all I get is grief. I don't think this hero stuff is all is cracked up to be."

Xena shook her head trying to clear the cobwebs as she crawled to her feet, using the chains hanging from the wall to assist her since it was obvious Callisto wasn't. She looked at Quinn.

"Gabrielle," she said. "We have to get her out."

"Already taken care of," Callisto told her smugly. "I released her before I came here."

"Then where is she?" Xena attempted not to wring the other's neck.

Callisto frowned, apparently trying to remember just where it was she had misplaced the bard. "Oh yeah," she said finally, enlightenment dawning on her face. "I locked her in the armory."

***

"Damn you Callisto," Gabrielle spat, using her staff to batter at the heavy wooden door barring her way.

The door had been less of a barrier and more of an ally before. Gabrielle remembered how they had skulked through the various tunnels, checking each door before finding this one which had turned out to be an armory of sorts. The bard had been delighted to find her staff leaning negligently in a corner. A set of keys hung from a hook on the wall which Callisto immediately took and stuffed in her belt. Xena's armor and weapons disturbingly had been laid out as if in some formal ritual on a table in the center of the room. Another pile of armor and weapons had drawn Callisto's attention and her face had tightened as she picked up the belt with all its pouches.

Then the attack came.

The displacement of bodies through air was their only warning but it was enough and they whirled to meet it. Gabrielle saw Callisto let the blood rage rise in her, letting it take over her actions as she hacked and slashed at the three foes. The fight had taken place in an eerie quiet, with no sound other than sword meeting flesh and grunts of effort. The followers of Shonrha lacked the minds to even scream when injured. They fought until they died and they died quickly under the skill of the blond woman.

At least their silence prevented any warning from being uttered, the bard mused as she scooped up the torch which had fallen to the floor. But unfortunately, it prevented them from taking a prisoner and getting directions to where Xena and this Quinn might be. She didn't have much faith in Callisto at the best of times and now it seemed even that the blond was a little unsure of her directions.

They stepped back out in the corridor to see ten more rushing towards them. That's when Callisto had raised her foot to Gabrielle's butt and shoved her back into the armory, slamming the door behind her.

"You'll be safe there," the blond had yelled and the bard's blood had run chill when she heard the unmistakable sound of the bolt outside being thrown. The sound of a fierce battle raged outside before it faded in the distance leaving an oppressive silence.

That had been awhile ago and the bard was beginning to think that she had been better off alone in her own cell as opposed to being stuck in this room full of weapons and armor and three bodies that were not the most genial of companions. She had dragged them to a corner out of the way and tried to ignore the odor.

"I swear, when I get out of here I'm going to pull that blond mop out by the roots," she muttered furiously, pacing back and forth, swinging her staff with agitation.

The noise in the corridor made her jerk around and she stared at the door uneasily.

"Callisto?" she ventured hesitantly in a low voice. She heard hands fumbling at the bolt and she had the sudden mental image of those creatures pouring through in that horrible, eerie silence. She quailed, her staff feeling way too fragile in her hands. She darted a glance at the table, eyes lighting on Xena's sword.

She didn't waste time debating over whether she should or shouldn't and how this affected her vow of not taking a life. She had no intention of being taken by those soulless beings again. She hefted the sword gingerly in both hands and as the door began to swing open, she howled and lunged at the figure entering.

Callisto sidestepped with a muffled oath, the bard plunging past her to bounce off the wall and spin, her momentum propelling her helplessly, the blade swinging a deadly swathe as it cut through the air. Xena and Quinn both leaped back to avoid being gutted, then the warrior princess stepped forward and grabbed the sword arm of the bard, halting the hellbent for destruction suicide charge.

"Gabrielle," Xena said sternly. "It's us."

"Xena!" Gabrielle leaped into the arms of her friend, the sword dropping from nerveless fingers. Both Quinn and Callisto winced as the blade clattered to the stone floor, sparks flying as more than one nick appeared. Xena did not, hugging the bard to her fiercely, wishing she could greet the redhead the same way Callisto had Quinn. Except without the knife.

"See what I mean about gratitude," Callisto pointed out to Quinn as the two reunited. "I rescue her, she tries to cut me open. Xena, who's just along for the ride gets hugged."

"I hugged you," Quinn reminded her as she eagerly went to where her armor and weapons lay on a bench against the far wall. She flashed a smile over her shoulder at the blond. "What more do you want?"

Callisto considered that a moment. "I can think of several things off hand," she offered.

"Oh, my hero will get that too," Quinn promised as she pulled on her leathers, re-donning her weapons with satisfaction. She sobered as she studied Callisto closely. "Shonrha can't sense you," she stated.

"You told me that immortals couldn't sense others who didn't want to be," Callisto noted. She moved closer as Xena and Gabrielle entered, the warrior princess retrieving her armor and weapons gladly. She added in a lower tone, "What happened to you? How did she capture you?"

Quinn shook her head. "That's what I'd like to know. Shonrha, when sending me off to the cell, gave the impression that she could now sense immortals," she said. "Now I think she was playing me for a fool. She sure doesn't know that I'm free or we'd be snowed under by now. And I can't believe you'd have gotten this far if she knew you were here. And that's no disrespect intended for your abilities."

"I was attacked a few times," Callisto said. "I think I ran into a group of at least six every level."

"Yeah, but that was just random," Quinn said. "They were without direction, coming across you by accident. Believe me, she's got dozens of followers roaming about this place."

"What about them?" Callisto nodded as Xena replaced her armor and weapons, attaching her chakram to her waist with an air of satisfaction. "Can't she tell they're loose?"

"Oh yeah, but as long as they continue to descend towards her, she'll be happy," Quinn said. "It'll save her from having to track them down for the ceremony." She put her hand on Callisto's arm. "However, I'm going to stack the deck by putting in a ringer. I've taught you how to sense mortals. Now I'm going to teach you how to make yourself appear mortal to immortal senses. Only I don't want you to do it until we actually get to her."

"All right," Callisto agreed readily. "But why?"

"You'll understand when the time comes," Quinn said. "Now listen." With quiet intensity, she explained to Callisto how to fool Shonrha into thinking she was mortal. By the time she had finished, Xena and Gabrielle had gotten themselves together and had joined them.

"What's the plan?" Gabrielle asked, looking at Xena.

The warrior princess opened her mouth, hesitated, and looked to Quinn. "This is more your area," she allowed graciously. "What should we do? I need to know more about this sacrifice."

"Sacrifice?" Gabrielle looked anxiously at her friend.

Putting all their information together, they had soon brought each other up to speed.

"So how do we destroy her if she's immortal?" Xena asked when they were done.

"I don't think we have to reveal that," Callisto nudged Quinn, looking at the warrior princess with suspicion. "How to kill immortals is not really what she needs to know."

Xena frowned. "If I really wanted you dead..." she began.

"Actually, you did," Callisto reminded her acidly. "Remember the quicksand?"

Xena bristled and stepped forward, brows lowered as she faced her long time enemy, hand resting significantly on her chakram. "Do you really want to do this now?" she said, eyes saying that the warrior princess was more than willing if Callisto was.

"Not now," Quinn interrupted. She reached out and put her hand on the blond's bare abdomen, fingers spread wide as she kept Callisto from offering any more challenge to the other woman. "The ceremony has to be performed by midnight and if we don't get a move on, Shonrha will come for them. We don't have too many advantages as it is. Only you and the fact that Shonrha will be so amused at two mortals playing right into her hands that she won't notice us until hopefully it's too late."

Callisto nodded grudgingly and Quinn turned to Xena. "Shonrha is not like anything you have ever faced," she warned her. "She's not even immortal in the same way that Callisto is. She's not human and never has been. Her reactions are not what you can predict."

Xena nodded, accepting the other's experience. "What do we have to do?"

"We just have to get close enough to separate her head from her body," Quinn explained. "The only problem is that it must be done by a sword dipped in the blood of an innocent."

As one, the other three turned to look at Gabrielle.

"Now wait a minute," the red-head objected, stepping back with her hands raised. "I've been married."

"She's not referring to your sex life," Callisto said condescendingly. "She's talking about your blood innocence. And you're the only one we've got. Xena and I sure don't qualify."

Xena held up a threatening hand. "We're not sacrificing Gabrielle," she said angrily.

Quinn forestalled a lengthy argument. Her sword whipped out and sliced a gash across Gabrielle's chest before even Xena could move. Though not deep, it bled profusely and satisfactorily over the blade. Quinn totally ignored the commotion she had engineered; Gabrielle's cry of shock and pain, Xena's muffled oath and grabbing at her chakrum, Callisto drawing her sword and stepping protectively in front of Quinn.

"That'll do," she said, holding it up to study the crimson staining the blade, letting it flow down to cover as much of the surface as possible. She frowned as she noticed the others frozen in antagonism, blinking at the tableau before her. "Is this necessary?" she queried with forced patience.

"Don't do that again," Xena growled as she held a cloth against the wound in her friend's chest, calming only when she saw that it was indeed, harmless. It had already stopped bleeding and would probably even heal without scarring.

"Hopefully I won't have to," Quinn responded without apology as they left the armory.

Xena grumbled under her breath and restrained herself from smacking the other woman in the head.

***

They made their way out of the tunnels and back to the staircase that grew more dangerous and less stable the further down they traveled. Centipedes and scorpions scuttled beneath their feet and large, hairy spiders crawled over the walls, webs draping and clinging unpleasantly as they passed.

"You take me such wonderful places," Callisto whispered as she hefted the torch and a glint of her teeth appeared in the flickering light.

Quinn grunted. "Wait until you see where I take you on our anniversary."

Xena and Gabrielle looked at them with varying degrees of confusion and curiosity but neither added anything to the conversation. All of them felt less inclined to speak the further down they went, cautiously peering in each off shooting tunnel before passing it.

They ran into more roving bands of creatures as they descended but there weren't any containing large enough numbers to give the three seasoned warriors and the bard competent with a staff any trouble. The gangs grew fewer the farther down they descended. Finally they reached the end of the staircase. Before them was an ornately carved entrance to a forbidding hall. Along the walls, stomach-turning depictions of slaughter and torture greeted their entrance. Callisto slipped a glance over her shoulder at Xena who followed grim-faced.

"And you thought I was bad," she offered.

Xena did not respond and Callisto lapsed into silence. The atmosphere was oppressive, the air thick with menace and the temperature had been steadily dropping as they had descended. Now their breaths showed frosty in the air and Gabrielle shivered uncontrollably. Finally they reached another door. It was made of metal and engraved with more of the obscene scenes. None of them tried to get a close look but they saw enough to realize that a lot of the figures depicted were not even human.

Quinn motioned the others back and carefully opened the door. The blast of heat that rolled through the door almost knocked them back and they entered warily. The room was filled with fire, torches and candles that dripped from every spare inch of space. The flickering and swaying of the flames confused the eyes rather than illuminated and created odd shadows that seemed almost alive. Quinn held up a hand and they halted. With voice but a breath, she leaned back to Callisto.

"About how long until midnight?" she whispered. Callisto shook her head, indicating that she had lost track of time and Quinn nodded, indicating that it was time for Callisto to emanate mortal vibes. They all moved forward quietly. At the far end of the room, a large dias with a platform stained red from countless sacrifices dominated. Before it was a pit filled with some gelatinous material. And cushioned on the jelly, fast asleep, was Shonrha.

Xena's hand whipped out to clamp over Gabrielle's mouth, stifling the gasp of terror she had been about to utter. Sapphire eyes, dark with unspoken horror rose to meet the bright emerald eyes of Quinn who nodded in return. Now she knew why Quinn had told her what she had. Shonrha was indeed not human.

Covered in greyish scales and a greenish metallic chiton, the being sported four, spindly arms with clawed six-fingered hands. The torso melded into a thick tail with spikes at the end. The face was humanoid but that was as close as it got, with a boney brow over slitted-pupil eyes that had suddenly flew open to take in the four staring down at it.

Instantly Quinn swung down the sword with a muted curse at having waited so long only to have it caught between two of the clawed appendages. The other two limbs were busy blocking blows by Xena and Callisto. Only Gabrielle managed to strike her target not that the being took any notice of the staff which rebounded off her hide without leaving a mark. Quinn and Xena managed to wrench their swords away but Callisto found hers ripped from her grip and turned on her, slicing down her chest to her abdomen and across her thigh in a mortal wound. She stumbled back and fell as the leg temporarily gave way beneath her.

Gabrielle swung her staff furiously to little effect as Xena and Quinn scored hits on the creature that healed as soon as they struck. Then Shonrha was rising from the pit to her full ten foot height, her arms snaking out to snag her three attackers by their necks in grips of steel, raising them off the ground to dangle helplessly.

"T'ra'quinn'teque," she hissed, eyelids flicking sideways rather than up and down. She drew Quinn closer, obscene head cocked to the side as she studied the dark woman. "So glad you found time to drop in without me having to track you down. I'd have hated for you to miss my ascension to omnipotence. And such delectable treats you bring me. So nice of you to make sure they arrived in time for the ceremony."

"Why don't you stay dead?" Quinn wheezed through the grip. "You certainly aren't getting any smarter, monster." She pitched her sword back to Callisto who was flipping through the air from the rear. "You lost track of which were the mortals and which weren't."

Callisto who snagged the sword in mid-flip swung viscously at the being, cleaving through its neck with a meaty clunk. Shonrha who had indeed confused the blond as a mortal who would not get up from the fatal blow struck watched her body fly to one side even as her head flew the other. The decapitated body thrashed, tossing the three heroines away and began groping about the pit for its head. All around them, the room began to rumble and shake.

Quinn rolled to her feet and leaped for the pit. "Get the head," she screamed. The floor jerked beneath her and she changed direction to help Gabrielle as she saw Xena snatch the head just as the monster was about to grasp it. "Let's get out of here. With her control focused on keeping the link to her body, this whole place will probably come down."

Fighting hard to keep their balance, they ran for the exit as the headless body lurched horribly after them. Dust billowed in the air, choking them as they tore down the corridor to the staircase, dodging the rocks and crumbling earth. The ascent was a nightmare of thunderous crashing and roaring reverberations as they ran for their lives, or at least, Xena's and Gabrielle's lives; not that Quinn and Callisto would have appreciated being buried alive. They had to fight for every level gained, Shonrha's followers converging at their mistress's command but the shaking was more of a detriment to the mindless creatures who were so intent on maintaining their feet, they lacked little resistance to three skillfully wielded swords.

There was one moment however, when they did think all was lost. Shonrha's body in hot pursuit managed to grab Xena who had been bringing up the rear. With an oath, she tossed the head to Quinn and turned back to engage the thing, the stairs crumbling beneath their feet even as she battled. A sudden heave sent them both over the side and only the desperate lunge by Callisto snagging Xena's arm kept the Warrior Princess from following the pin-wheeling body into the collapsing depths, Gabrielle's shrill scream managing to rise above the noise to ring in their ears.

Xena and Callisto shared a brief stare as the blond helped the taller woman to her feet, then they continued their desperate scramble for the surface. It was only the fact that the structure was collapsing from the bottom up that allowed the thinnest margin of victory as they reached the castle cellars and with a final violent jolt they tumbled to the floor as the hole they exited filled with an explosion of earth.

They lay there panting as the rumblings slowly died away to a peaceful quiet. Gabrielle slowly rolled over and froze as she found herself looking into the eyes of the bloodless head. She jerked as the eyelids flickered.

"Sssooo, you think you've won, mortal?" it hissed at her.

And Gabrielle screamed.

***

Xena tugged the tattered mattress from one of the bedrooms on the second floor and carried it downstairs into a smaller room where a fire burned merrily in the large stone hearth. It was dusty from neglect, but it would provide an adequate bed for the night. Though there were plenty of sleeping chambers, neither she nor Gabrielle felt like taking any this night. It felt too much like being in an oversized tomb and they tended to congregate in this small cozy room off the main kitchen. It was with unspoken agreement that they would sleep here as well.

The storm which had finally arrived made it impossible for them to attempt the crossing back to the mainland. They had been halfway down the cliff when they saw the winds whipping up the seas with nature's fury. They had no choice but to return to hold up in the castle for the duration. Not that it was all bad. The castle was still structurally sound, providing good protection from the elements and they had managed to get some fish from a local creek before the rain got too heavy. That along with what they could harvest from abandoned fields on the way back promised a satisfying repast.

Nor was it necessarily inconvenient as Xena discovered when she saw Quinn perched on the railing of the balcony gleefully pointing out the looming dark clouds filling the skies. The disembodied head Quinn had impaled on a metal pike did not seem properly appreciative.

"That's what you get for being such a rotten host, Shonrha, old girl," the cool dark female was saying. "And forgive me for not making the same mistake twice but even though your body is buried pretty good, I think I'm going to make sure this time. We're going to stick you on the roof and if a bolt of lightning doesn't get you tonight, we'll just keep trying until one does."

Xena made a mental note to tell Quinn about the flying parchment trick if the lightning did not cooperate this night. She tossed the mattress onto the floor with the others before the fireplace, looking up as the head let loose a spew of invective. Quinn had hefted up the pike and was heading for the upper reaches of the castle, smiling cheerfully at her enemy.

"Where's Gabrielle?" Xena asked as Quinn passed her.

The dark woman paused and motioned towards the other room with her free hand. "I think she's with Callisto," she said and continued on her way, returning her attention to the head.

"Your problem, egg sucker, is that you never knew when to stay in your hole."

The macabre conversation faded as Quinn carried her hate filled burden up the staircase to the turret heights and Xena moved to the kitchen where she heard the bard in conversation with her greatest enemy.

Ex-enemy, she reminded herself as she hesitated in the doorway. She didn't intend to eavesdrop, she was just not completely comfortable with the whole idea of Gabrielle being left alone with Callisto.

She glanced in to see Callisto and Gabrielle cleaning salmon on the battered old wooden table that was propped up in one corner by a rusted sword. Callisto was clearly less than enamored with her job but she dutifully fileted the pink flesh under the bard's direction.

"I don't know why I'm doing this," she was saying. "I don't even need to eat anymore, you know."

"I don't think that's an advantage," Gabrielle returned as she wrapped the filets in aromatic herbs salvaged from the kitchens. She looked up at Callisto. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Is this another Truth or Dare thing?" the blond responded a bit sourly as she scrapped the guts into a bucket and wiped her hands on a rag. "The last one went so swimmingly."

"Are you sorry you killed Perdicus?"

Xena's breath caught in throat, hand drifting to her chakrum as Callisto paused in her motions.

"Does it matter?" she answered finally, looking at Gabrielle without expression. "Could I ever be sorry enough? And would it bring him back or change anything?"

"I guess not," Gabrielle admitted huskily. She studied the fish without seeing it. "But I thought you were sorry anyway," she added. "That's why I forgave you."

Callisto gazed at her for a long moment and the features that were kept so under control softened. "That does matter to me," she admitted. "Thank you." There was another pause. "Gabrielle, it wasn't personal. It was always Xena I was trying to hurt. Anyone that got in my way was destroyed. Or used to get to her. Hurting you made her hurt much worse than anything I could do to her directly. You were a means to an end. I know that is no comfort, but it's the only explanation I can give for why I killed him. I wasn't sorry for doing it at the time and being sorry now seems so inadequate. But for what it's worth, I am sorry."

Gabrielle nodded and both stared at the table for long moments.

"My turn," Callisto said finally.

Apprehensively, Gabrielle and Xena both waited for the question.

"Why did you marry him?"

Gabrielle blinked. "I loved him," she answered immediately.

"I thought you loved Xena?" Callisto looked at her seriously.

"I did. I do." Gabrielle was suddenly uncomfortable. She didn't even notice that Callisto was taking more than her fair share of turns.

"Then how could you leave her?" Callisto took in the open mouth of Gabrielle who seemed to be having difficulty finding something to say. She shrugged and casually went back to her knife, reaching for the last fish, slicing open the white underbelly. "All I know is that I could never leave Quinn. And I thought you felt the same way about Xena that I feel about her."

"I don't think I want to play anymore," Gabrielle said after a moment.

Callisto grinned suddenly. "You started it," she reminded her. "What's the matter, Gabrielle? You know, you can always pick Dare instead."

"And what would be my Dare?"

Callisto thought a moment. "I don't know," she offered finally. "Maybe that's something you should figure out." She flashed her another imprudent grin and finished fileting the salmon as Gabrielle kept silent, apparently considering this.

Xena decided that perhaps it was time for a change of subject, and clearing her throat, entered the kitchen. For some reason, she got the impression from the look Callisto shot her that the other had known she had been there all along.

"How's the meal coming," she asked, carefully not meeting Callisto's steady evaluation.

"Almost ready to put on the fire," Gabrielle answered, seeming relieved at the interruption.

"Well," Callisto said, standing up and smiling knowingly. "Time I found Quinn and see what she's doing."

"She's up in the turret," Xena informed her. "She's hoping to draw a lightning bolt to strike Shonrha's head."

"Ooohh, what fun," Callisto responded. "Never got to see an immortal fry before."

She brushed by Xena with a little more contact than was necessary and disappeared out the door leaving Xena to look sardonically at Gabrielle.

"Why am I having a hard time believing this switch to benevolence?" she asked.

Gabrielle gathered up the filets and vegetables, placing them in a pan. "I think you have always brought out the worst in her," she said thoughtfully. "It can't be easy to hate someone all your life and then suddenly have to stop."

"Do you think she's really changed?" Xena asked her seriously.

The bard reached out and put a hand on Xena's arm. "She saved your life today," she reminded her. "For that, I at least, am grateful. And as for the rest, it took time for you to change completely. You're still changing now. Maybe you should just give her the benefit of the doubt. If I can forgive her, Xena, then surely you can as well."

"Okay," Xena agreed reluctantly. "But I'm going to sleep with one eye open as long as she's around."

***

Quinn finished securing the pike to the battlement, the cold drops of rain driving into her face and hair. Lightning flashed against the dark mass boiling above the castle and the dark-skinned woman spared a final snarl for the immortal perched on the metal spike.

"For Dantas, Marcius, Corta, Nuvida, Truvik and Berela," she said, rhyming off the names of the six who had previously died those centuries before to bring an end to Shonrha. "May they rest in peace now."

"They tasted sweet as will you and the new meat you have taken as your own," Shonrha hissed. "Do you think I shall ever truly be gone?"

"Not even you can survive a couple million volts of electricity," Quinn said coldly. "You don't belong on this planet. You never did."

"Neither do you, T'ra'quinn'teque," the creature reminded.

"Yeah, but I can pass," Quinn said. "I'm even genetically compatible. As human as they are. And I care what happens to them. You just wanted to eat them. Or dominate them. Or both."

"That is all they are good for, useless vermin."

"You'll never learn, shipmate," Quinn said. "But you will die. Finally. Try to do it with honor." She hesitated before entering the protection of the turret.

"How did you know the first time I arrived? How did you detect me? I know it isn't because you can sense me."

Shonrha bared her teeth in a horrible simulation of a smile. "There's a radiation detector on all the entrances. Even after all this time, the level of radiation in your body is still much higher than the vermin. I got them from the ship, navigator. Don't you want to know how? I know you thought it far beyond reach. Return me to my body and I'll lead you to it."

Quinn stood in shock, unaware of the wind buffeting her frame. Then with a visible effort, she shook her head. "No," she said. "I'm not going to play this game. It doesn't matter. It's been too long and my life is here." She looked at the engineer with pity. "You could have lived here too. You just couldn't accept that. Rest in peace. Or should I say, pieces."

She drew the door shut behind her, making sure it was sealed against the elements. She turned, startled as she made out the figure of Callisto sitting on the top step. She hesitated as she wondered if the young female had heard any of her conversation with Shonrha, determined that she had not and smiled in greeting before going over to join her.

"So what are you up to?" she asked as she sat down beside the slender woman, resting her back against the wall.

Callisto shrugged. "Oh you know, spreading joy and light and general confusion about where ever I go."

"I thought you told me that was the irritating bard's job?"

"Well, she's kind of busy at the moment so I thought I do it for her."

"I see."

Callisto leaned against her and Quinn slipped her arm around her waist, drawing the elegant head down to her shoulder. Callisto sighed and snuggled closer, her arms slipping around her lover in a warm embrace. They sat in companionable silence for a long time, listening to the pounding of the rain against the roof and just enjoying being in each other's company.

Finally Callisto raised her head and gazed into Quinn's sea-green eyes.

"Is it always going to be like this?" she asked.

"What? Long periods of tedium broken up by brief spurts of terror and disaster?"

"No, you and me," she said. "Always there for each other and when it's all over, we can sit and listen to the rain?"

Quinn thought for a moment, then nodded. "Okay," she said. "But I can't always guarantee the rain."

Callisto apparently accepted this, and with a smile of contentment, snuggled back into her arms.

"After all," Quinn added, tightening her hold and resting her lips against the soft strands of blond hair. "There's a really big world out there to discover."

"And we've got all of eternity to do it in."

The End

Those of you who have read Enemy Mine and Enemy Ours will note that certain elements in those stories were taken from this one and Unicorn. Since I never intended to post these Quinn/Callisto stories, I figured, why waste perfectly good scenes or ideas. *g* I'm also embarrassed to admit that these are clearly what is commonly referred to as 'Mary Sue' stories, incorporating a character I used way back in the eighties when I wrote fan fic for apas. But hey, this and Unicorn was my first attempt at writing fan fic in a long, long time so they are probably not as well done as they could have been. Any comments on this or any of my work is gratefully and must humbly accepted at: