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These pages were last updated: August 29, 1997
ŠAugust 1997
The following is a bit of alternative fiction based on certain characters from the Xenaverse. It is not meant to infringe on anyone else's rights. If you don't agree or disapprove, please go read something else.
The hut was a simple structure, sort of square with a rounded top, but the path leading to the hut was intricately designed with colorful stones and edged with flowers. Two large clay pots, one filled with a well developed green plant Xena recognized as an herb and the other with fresh rain water, guarded the entryway. To Xena the whole place felt incredibly serene, as if it were untouched by any outside adversity. It seemed to her, though she knew it was impossible, that the plant bowed in greeting and that the water splashed against the pot with a sweet echo. She looked for whatever might have fallen to cause the noise, but there was nothing that she could see. The door opened just as she was about knock. The warrior princess was greeted by a middle sized woman with a shock of curly bronde hair, sparkling green eyes, and a wide smile. She was currently in the process of wiping wet hands on her apron. Her soft alto greeted Xena with, "Come in, Come in. I've been expecting you."
Iovene smiled pleasantly at Xena, noting the way the light of life mixed in the warrior, speaking of a dark past and and interesting future. The dowser watched as the warrior stepped carefully, quite respectfully, into the abode. The dowser's eyelids half closed thoughtfully as she observed the blue eyed woman and the grace with which she moved. Iovene thought Xena was a powerful one that was sure. She had such a strong root to her. No doubt the Queen's consort would influence many a time and a generation. Ach, but it wasn't her job to seer today. Xena had questions.
The dowser invited Xena to sit on one of the unadorned chairs. Xena sat easily, her legs tapping into the earth as a warrior's must, her body speaking of fluid robust strength. Iovene took the other chair and sat in front of the woman, managing to sit very primly in her apron and the Amazon's standard dress. She spoke before Xena could open her mouth. Her hands moved expressively as she talked, "Tomorrow I go to Anipe, one of the smaller villages to the north. Their well ran dry and they fear that there will not be another. But your bonded will be there and I will seek their aid to call the water forth. Perhaps we will not even have to dowse, though it would be a good experience for them."
Xena leaned forward, her forearm resting on her thigh, her mouth hung open to speak. The dowser spoke as if she'd already asked the next question. "The energy of the world is open to you now, if you wish to see it." Iovene looked thoughtful, "You know, that will be useful for your blonde sister. If she would learn to follow the ley lines, she'd never be lost again." She reached over to the nearby table, grabbed a scroll and quill, and wrote something down, then she grinned at Xena, "So I don't forget to tell her." Xena's forearm switched sides, this time she pointed.
"There's danger in any gift of the Gods, of course. It could be misused I suppose, but is that really your intention?" the dowser looked resolutely at Xena and shook her head, "No, *you* understand power. Your learning may be in the balance, I think, in seeing the value of the light, the dark, and the inbetween and choosing wisely, choosing all in love. The corners will learn to wield their gifts both softly and savagely. It must be so, or what is the worth of the gift. But you must learn the lessons of the elements. Water wins with persistance, Fire through agility. The earth moves in different ways than the stream. The air can be like a lover's kiss, so gentle you hardly notice it and forget about it or frenzied. Your bodies will attune to this, perhaps even favor one kind of walking over another, though all ways are at your command. I can guide a little in what I understand, but I don't know everything."
Xena's gaze looked reflective, as she remembered how much time she and Gabrielle spent in the dark caved springs of Conera. Earth and water. She also thought of the time she lit the candle and the flame of the stick burned down. It had seemed to her that it licked her hand and had been painless. Fire. And how many times lately had it seemed that she was on the right side of the wind when hunting. Air. Such little things, nothing really to point at, but there they were.
Her mind turned to serious matters as she considered Iovene's words. The implication was that these gentle experiences were not the only things that were possible. She closed her eyes. If she'd been a warlord and had these rings, Oh, she could think of scary uses for something that controlled the elements.
She prepared to speak, as Iovene waited in silence, but as her vocal cords began their first tremor Iovene was already responding to the thought forms floating in the air. "There are some things you must understand," she began kindly, "this is not necessarily about power in the rings. They represent what you are. It would be better to say that you are the foci or perhaps. . ." The dowser tapped her teeth in thought, then tried a different tact, "Look, this isn't something unique. Anyone can tap energy. You're just more," She exhaled, "prone to it than you used to be. Like all things there is some energy in the rings themselves. Perhaps if another held them, they might be able to use them, but it wouldn't be quite the same. You can call without the rings, though I wouldn't go without them. They are the symbol of the corners of the nation now. They shouldn't be lost." The dowser looked stern, "Moreover, this is Not about Controlling the elements. You may summon, you may ask, you may bargain, you may cooperate, and the many inbetweens, but there is true danger in coercion. It would behoove you to avoid it."
Xena closed her mouth again and sat back. In a way, that took a great deal of worry off of her mind. Though she knew that if she were a warlord she would think her way around the problem. Probably if she were of the mind, she'd just capture one of the women and . . .Iovene interrupted her thoughts, moving on to a different tangent.
"Warrior Princess?" Xena raised her eyebrows in question, "Would you like me to take a message to your bonded?" Xena grinned and nodded. Then she had another thought and started to ask, but Iovene was on top of that question as well. "Oh, I didn't always do this. My lover was one of those truly silent types whose voice never touched the world. I just learned to read the air. I try not to do it too much in public. It spooks the neighbors. I figured you wouldn't mind." Xena nodded in understanding and grinned and received a heartfelt smile in return. Well it certainly made conversation easy.
Iovene grabbed an empty scroll and passed it to Xena, who looked thoughtful for a moment. Then the warrior stood up, walked to the table and grabbed the quill. The sound of the quill making its marks filled the air. When she was finished, she rolled the scroll and sealed it, then handed it to Iovene. This time she got a word in, speaking the thought as she felt it, "Safe travels, Iovene."
The dowser nodded and blushed a little, as she felt the full impact of Xena's smile. Oh, how the energy swirled around the warrior. It was very very attractive. Iovene could understand why so many followed her. She bowed and led the warrior out, bidding her farewell. Then in a moment of weakness, she watched the way the beautiful dark woman's hips moved as the Xena walked away. But Iovene didn't chide herself too much, it was a natural reaction and she was human after all. She sighed in the missing of her silent Amazon, two years dead from an arrow to the chest, and the dowser touched the space above her own heart. The Queen was a fortunate woman indeed. Iovene turned and lovingly caressed the plant by the door. The plant sung its silent green song in empathy.
Xenite Temple | Fan Fiction Site | Home Page
These pages were last updated: August 29, 1997
ŠAugust 1997