Elissa knew it was time to continue her journey to the Orient. Her sisters deserved to go home and she wanted to see her tribe again. It saddened her to think about taking her mother's place, but she knew it was time. Shaking her head to clear the maudlin thoughts, large mountains came into view. They were breathtaking. This tiny island seemed more majestic than the large continent that she just left. Elissa only hoped that her sisters were well and that she could find them quickly.
Walking along the narrow streets to a teahouse Elissa slipped inside. She bowed to the shop's owner. Hesitantly, Elissa asked about the missing Amazons. The ship's captain told her this was the best place to get information. The woman told her about a village further down the coast where several girls were sold to a rich family. She wasn't happy to hear that they were little more than slaves, but not surprised. Elissa thanked the woman then set off once again on her journey.
Xena and Gabrielle journeyed toward Jappa. Xena wondered if the gods were laughing at her from Tartarus. Each place they raced after Gabrielle's daughter led to a ghost from her past. She took the opportunity to right the wrongs the old Xena left in her wake. Thankfully, Gabrielle understood and forgave her every sin, but Xena wondered if this time she might be asking too much.
"I need to tell you some things about last time that I was in Jappa."
Gabrielle stopped her before she could continue. "Xena, I love you, but I can't do this right now." She pulled a cloak tighter around her body. The illusion of her daughter kept slipping through her fingers. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't catch her. Gabrielle wondered if she would ever catch her, if she would ever get a chance to know her daughter.
Strong arms wrapped around her from behind, a dark head leaned down next to a blonde one. As if she read her thoughts, Xena reassured her. "You'll get to know her. She'll fight it and make your life a living hell along the way, but it will happen. We made good time. Elissa shouldn't be too far ahead of this time. Maybe if we help her find the rest of the missing Amazons, it will give you an opportunity to get to know each other."
"Do you mean it?" Bright green eyes shining with hope looked into sparkling blue ones.
"Of course I do, Elissa doesn't know Jappa like I do. The people don't accept strangers, especially women at face value. She won't have an easy time getting anyone to talk to her."
Gabrielle turned back to look at the beautiful island. She hid a smile at the idea of her self-sufficient daughter having trouble getting around Jappa. She knew Elissa was on a serious quest to retrieve the Amazons taken from the campsite, but hoped the journey might lead to an opportunity for them to grow closer.
When they stepped on shore a monk walked up to Xena and bowed. He held a beautiful sword in his hand, which he offered to her. "Greetings, Warrior Princess, Akemi welcomes you once more to the land of her forefathers."
Xena is stunned. "You've seen Akemi?"
"She saved me when an evil spirit took the soul of a brother monk that I traveled with. I ran in fear. Akemi told me that you were the only person who could kill the Lord of the Dark Land. She said that a warrior from far away would save us, that fire and ice would meet to quench vengeance's rage."
"Xena, let's go find your friend, let's help Akemi?"
"That's impossible, Gabrielle."
"I don't understand. He said that she sent this sword for you and that some demon is killing people."
"We can't find Akemi because she's a ghost. I killed her."
Gabrielle grabbed the Warrior Princess' arm. "Tell me the real story and we'll know where to go from there. Elissa is important but innocent people are dying and we need to stop it."
Xena recounted how she bought a kidnapped Akemi. She returned her for the ransom, but along the way started caring for the little girl. Xena even went so far as to teach her the pinch. Akemi's father was a horrible man who killed his wife and children. Akemi only escaped because she was kidnapped. She used the pinch to kill her father, then herself, asked Xena to remove her head, and take her ashes to a sacred shrine in Higuchi.
Elissa trudged furiously along the coastline towards the town where she hoped to find her sister Amazons. Jappa men didn't recognize females as warriors. She couldn't get the information she needed from the landowners or businessmen. Only women or monks would speak to her. No one recognized her as a warrior. The Samurai way could not be understood by a female mind. The Orient was a beautiful, graceful and garish creature all at once. Elissa realized that she would have to use brains not brawn.
An old monk took pity on her and gave her a place to stay. It was the perfect place to look for her sisters, centrally located to the mountain paths, small fishing towns and larger plantations. Lao Pan was an eighty-year-old Buddhist monk. He spent each evening in his gardens doing intricate martial arts movements. Elissa watched him intrigued. The movements were slow and precise. He told her, it was called Tai Chi. It teaches awareness of one's own balance and what affects it, awareness of the same in others, an appreciation of the practical value in one's ability to moderate extremes of behavior and attitude at both mental and physical levels, and how this applies to effective self-defense principles.
Elissa went out each day looking for her missing tribe members. She returned each evening to learn Tai Chi from Lao Pan. They became close friends learning about each other's worlds.
Xena and Gabrielle approached Akemi's home town of Higuchi. Her beautiful home brought back memories that Xena would rather leave buried along with the dead. They settled into the house with the young monks help. He showed them where he saw Akemi's ghost then left them to continue his journey.
Gabrielle wasn't sure how she felt about talking to a ghost. This was someone that Xena cared enough about the teach the pinch. She felt stupid but she was jealous of a ghost.
Xena stepped beside Gabrielle taking her hands, she laid them on the pulse points of her neck. "Can you feel my life flowing underneath?"
"Yes?" Gabrielle's breath escaped in a soft sigh.
Strong hands forced slender fingers to apply pressure. The Warrior Princess crumpled at her lover's feet. "I wanted you to know that I love you with everything I have, with everything I am." She gasped as blood trickled from her nose.
Gabrielle released the pinch gathering Xena in her arms. "Don't you ever do that to me again. We share every day together. I love you and need you more than I need to know anything else, even your stupid pinch."
Elissa knocked on a door. She waited patiently for someone to answer, hoping to learn something about her sisters. Lao Pan knew the right people to talk to for the latest gossip. Unfortunately, Amazons didn't adjust well to the cultural differences. Each time Elissa found a lead, she arrived in time to find the girls gone. They were sold repeatedly from town to town. Elissa hoped their spirits would remain intact until she could free them.
A tiny bird-like woman answered the door. She bowed opening the door allowing Elissa to enter the house. "Come, this way, you take her with you. My master say he kill her when he returns. Hurry, hurry." The woman scuttled, as fast as her bound feet would allow, through the house to the back gardens.
There tied to a tree was a medium-sized woman. She was bare from the waist up. There were lashes marking her back from a whip. An angry growl escaped Elissa's lips causing the old woman to run back into the house.
The Amazon Queen approached the woman. She knew it wasn't one of her tribeswomen, but it didn't matter. This woman was her responsibility now. Placing a hand under a bowed chin, Elissa lifted her head. She thought she'd never seen more expressive blue eyes in her life. They were so large they seemed to drown out the rest of the woman's features. Taking a step back, provided the perspective needed to admire the finely sculpted cheekbones, high patrician nose and full plump lips. It was an interesting face that held an aris"ctr"ratic air about it.
"What's your name?" Elissa cut the ropes, catching the woman before she hit the ground.
"Cassandra."
"I'm Elissa, although I wasn't searching for you, it seems that I found you. Let's get you out of here before the owner comes back. I'm not leaving yet, but when I do I will help you get back to your home."
"I don't have a home anymore. Everything I had is gone, my home, my family, all of it is gone. They deterred it all and sold me."
"When I find my sister Amazons, we will return to Syria. If you want to return with us, you can, if not I will help you find a place to live."
Cassandra looked at her rescuer. This strange blonde woman with large green eyes. "Why would you help me? You don't even know me?"
Elissa walked over to pull a cloth from a table. She brought it back to wrap around Cassandra. "You were put in my path for a reason. Someday, I will tell you the Amazon's history, but right now we need to get you out of here." She put an arm around her new friend helping her from the garden. They walked back to Lao Pan's home. Elissa wondered what her two friends would think of each other. Somehow she thought they would like each other. A tiny voice told her that Cassandra was important, not only to the tribe, but to her as well.
Elissa was right about Lao Pan and Cassandra, they were instant friends. They talked for hours about healing herbs and understanding the significance of dreams. Elissa didn't share with them her own power for prophetic dreams. She wasn't certain why, but to her it was a private thing that she always shared with her mother. Lysippe had been on her mind a lot lately; maybe it was because her mission was concluding, she wasn't certain. She did know that she missed her mother's love and guidance more each day.
Cassandra found Elissa sitting under a tree, lost in thought. The Amazon fascinated her with her beauty and strength. She wondered what she would have done in her place, if Methos had taken her captive. Something told Cassandra that the Four Horsemen would have been short a couple of heads by the time she was through with them.
Never opening her eyes, Elissa asked. "Did you need something?"
Cassandra jumped when the quiet voice took her by surprise. "I wanted to ask if you needed anything. You haven't eaten all day."
"I'm fasting. Tonight, I will try to reach my sisters in their dreams. I'm afraid if I don't find them soon that they will be lost to me."
"May I ask you a question, or do you want me to leave you alone?"
"No, you may join me if you want." Elissa looked up at the voluptuous ash blonde.
"Why do you work so hard to get them back? You are a long way from your homeland, and don't know how long it will take you to find the ones you seek. What happens if you don't find them?"
"I search for them because they are my responsibility. I vowed not to return to my homeland as long as my sisters languished in slavery. We are a tribe, but Amazons are more than that; we share a blood bond. It holds us together through all adversity. Our tribe never leaves a warrior behind, dead or alive."
Cassandra took in the soft words. She had never heard of a tribe that fought others, even for their dead. "You would fight for my dead body if I were an Amazon?"
"Yes. We will allow no one to dishonor our sisters, most especially our dead." The former captive stood up to leave Elissa to her preparations. "Cassandra." The other woman stopped in her tracks. "I would fight for you."
Some part of Cassandra that had died during her captivity began to flower back to life. She saw Elissa close her large, emerald eyes in meditation and walked back to the house. Her steps were lighter than they had been in years.
Elissa slowed her breathing allowing her mind to clear. She had several hours to go before she would be ready to contact her sisters. She invoked her mother's spirit to guide her so that her journey will be successful. She felt a warm breeze surround her and knew that her mother was near.
"Rest easy, my child. You will find what you seek, but there will be a price."
"Mother, is that you?" Elissa tried to open her eyes, but found that she couldn't.
"Yes, my daughter. I don't have much time; the veil is thick surrounding this isle."
"What must I do to find my sisters?"
"A Shadow Lord hovers over a city to the north. You must go and help fight him in order to save your sisters' souls." The soft breeze caressed Elissa's cheek and ruffled her hair.
"Mother, don't go. I miss you. Please, don't leave me." Tears raced down her cheeks, as the wounds on her heart burst open once more. Elissa felt as if she was losing Lysippe all over again. The hatred she felt for Gabrielle and Xena burned brighter than ever in that moment.