The Sister's Tale

Sure, the whole I-have-feelings-for-you-ok thing kind of clued her into the situation. But she didn’t really believe him, seeing he sort of took it back just afterwards. And yeah, when he actually declared his love straight out, she wondered what was going on there. And when he followed that up by sacrificing his immortality for her, that really made her suspect that maybe, for once, he wasn’t playing a game.

But she didn’t really get it, not then.

Nope, the first time Xena realised that Ares actually loved her was when she was directing him to the nearest village after the whole destruction of Olympus thing.

She hadn’t got her horse back yet, and so she had to walk him to the crossroads and explain to him about following signs.

“OK, so this says Simonus is south, right? And Irine is north, ok?”

“OK. So which is better, south or north?”

“South is warmer than north.”

“OK. So we go south.”

“But then there’s more warlords that way.”

“Great, so we go south.”

Xena finally heard what he said then. “Um – Ares? I’m showing you the signs so you can go the village on your own. I mean . . . you don’t want to hang around with us forever –“

That’s when she got the whole love thing. He looked at her, then he looked away.

“Oh, OK.”

That was the first time she saw his mortal face kind of crumple a bit, before recovering itself. It was the first time she had to stand there and wait while he walked away from her. It seemed to take a long time.

I suppose you’re wondering when exactly the next thing happened; that Xena realised she had a thing for him.

Wow, that took a lot longer.

Sure, after the rough-and-tumble in Amphipolis she’d thought of him a bit differently than the way she had before. And more frequently, too.

And then when she kissed him after their fight on the mountain, kissed him knowing that he was in love with her, something kind of shuddered inside her, before running fast right out of there.

But she still didn’t get it, not then, not for ages.

It was in a tavern, just a few miles from her old haunts – which isn’t a bad way to describe Amphipolis, now I think if it – when she heard what was going on with Gasgar and the price on Ares’ head.

She nearly forgot to take the pinch off the guy who told her.

It was the weirdest thing. Gabrielle had to grab her arm and remind her about the guy choking in her hands, then lead her out of the place. When she finally got on her horse, she rode out of there as though the horde was after her. Which they weren’t, because they were still throwing up out of sheer mortal terror.

But that wasn’t when she got it.

No, it was when she rode up and saw Ares out the front of the farmhouse with his dog, lying back in the sun, an expression on his face which was - well, a lot closer to peace than she’d ever imagined seeing there. And in her place, too, a place she’d given him. Something warm started up in her stomach at the thought of it, and then he looked up at her and the feeling in the stomach was more like a punch. She loved him. Wow. After everything he’d done. Wow. After all the times she’d told him it would never ever happen, and had believed it, too. Wow. She loved him.

Xena nearly fell off her horse.

After that she didn’t even dare kiss him, even as a joke. And she rode out of there faster than the night before. And she told Gabrielle she was sick and she had to go to bed early that night, and she did. But she didn’t sleep, not one moment, not the entire night. I know.

I bet you’re wondering now when he realised that she liked him, and she realised that it was all right if he knew that she liked him, and when they –

It took them a really, really long time.

When Xena went to the farm to take him to the Norselands, Ares got kind of suspicious. She’d never had any problems looking at him directly before, but now her eyes kind of skittered over his face, and turned away, so that she was always looking at a chair, or a wall, or her own hands instead.

That seemed sort of weird to Ares.

Then she always seemed to be adjusting his vest, or brushing down his clothes, or flicking spiders off his shoulders – and then jumping, and moving about an armslength away. That really seemed weird.

But it was when they locked eyes on that hill outside Valhalla and just couldn’t stop looking at one another, and she had tears in hers, that he knew. She loved him. It explained the spiders, anyway.

So he headed off that night and told her that he knew, and she punched him in the face, and he went off and didn’t go back. Not for a whole hour, anyway.

So was that the first time they –

Well, I don’t know the rest of the story. Not exactly. See, by then big bro had his powers back, and he switched off my Xena-view. I guess there’s something a bit gross about your sister spying on your private moments, even if she does happen to be the goddess of love.

So I like completely left them alone after that.

Well, kind of. After all, Gabby is one of my closest friends, right? So if we have a bit of gossip now and then – and she tells me that Xena didn’t wake up next to her that night, or the night after –

And that she’s smiling now more than Gab’s ever seen her, and making plans that don’t involve travelling to far off places she knew ten – er – thirty-six years ago . . .

What's a sister to do, apart from tease her brother mercilessly, check out the latest fashions in white, and carefully watch the waistlines of certain warrior princesses?

That's my story, anyway.

...h.o.m.e...
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