Rating: PG
Summary: Remember 'The Fourteenth Year'? Well, it comes after that.

Part Four in the Miracle Child Series
Otherwise Entitled, the 'If I Didn't Want It to Happen, It Didn't Happen' Series

"JOXER?"

Hades nodded. "That's what she said."

It looked like he and Athena were alone, but of course that couldn't be trusted. Every god on Olympus was probably listening to their conversation.

"She was positive it wasn't Jace? They all looked alike, you know."

"Positive. I had her fully interrogated. She saw them all -- Xena, Gabrielle -- and the child."

Athena's lips formed the name, but didn't speak it. "Rouse everyone. Everyone. Let no immortal sleep until she's found. Xena outwitted me, but it's caught up with her. They're not escaping me again."

Hades nodded, inwardly groaning. An all-out search meant an influx of deaths, mass casualties on an unimagined scale, and more work for him. "I'll alert the Council."

He left her. She paced the room for a time, furious and dangerous. Only once in her whole long life had she known fear, and she had lashed out with every resource at her disposal to destroy the thing that frightened her.

But the child wasn't dead.

Eve lived. And her very life shook the pillars of Olympus.

"Ares?"

"You rang?"

He had draped himself insolently across her throne -- purely a symbolic gesture, since the throne was not designed for draping oneself across and he looked uncomfortable.

When she didn't say anything, he asked, "Has word reached my divine ear that Eve lives after all?"

"Did you know?"

Silence.

"Yes. I knew. I helped arrange it." He stood up and paced to the nearest window, hands resting on his sword hilt.

"Traitor."

"I am loyal only to myself. You know that."

"She'll kill you."

"She'll kill you first; that's all I want."

Athena shook her head, a gesture she knew he could see whether he was facing her or not. "I will kill her first. Her, and her mother, and her grandmother, and her uncles and aunts, and her precious long-lost cousin. The name of Eve will be erased from history."

"You can't do that."

"Watch me."

"Oh, I intend to. I'll sell tickets."

Athena brushed any remnants of Ares' repugnant self off of her throne and sat down in it. "So where are they now?"

"Got me. Anticipating this conversation, I've deliberately lost track of them. They could be anywhere." He conjured up a small brown bird, held it carefully in his rough hands for a moment, then threw it out the window to let it flutter towards the valley. "Happy hunting."

And then he was gone.

Athena allowed herself seventeen point four seconds of fuming. Then she went to the window and looked down a the little brown speck of the elusive sparrow making its bid for freedom.

She put her hands on the windowsill and breathed deep, then blew in a slow gentle stream. As her divine breath hit the outside air, a snowy owl burst into existence and flapped frantically to find its balance. A whole stream of them followed, like bubbles, screaming and scratching at each other to find a flyable bit of air.

The first pulled its wings into a killing dive and dispatched the little sparrow with one crushing grip of its talons.

"Find her," the goddess whispered to them as they whirled and swirled around her window. "Fly where I cannot. Be my eyes. Save my kingdom."

They were already scattering to the four winds, gliding on silent wings, with her orders embedded in their simple owl minds.

The one with the sparrow clutched in its foot took a few hours to eat it and sleep off the meal before flying off into the west.

Joxer fell over.

Gabrielle rolled her eyes and Xena stepped over him. "Come on, Buckethead, we're late."

"Mo-THER!" Eve chided, in a way that could not be reciprocated since her name had only one syllable. "You okay, Joxer?"

"Yea-ep," he answered, trying to be jovial despite the bruise on his knee, as Eleni helped him up. "No sweat. I'm good."

"Good, because Centaurs don't like waiting," Ephiny put in. The eight of them -- Gabrielle, Ephiny, Eve, Xenan, Xena, Joxer, and Eleni -- were on their way to a dinner hosted by the captains of Centaurs and Men, in honor of the princess's fifteenth birthday. Between Gabrielle's fussing over her appearance, Joxer losing Ephiny's ceremonial mask, and the children being involved in a game of hide and seek at the wrong time, they were fantastically late. But if they ran to make up time, they'd arrive sweaty and disheveled, and that would not make a good impression. So they had settled for walking quickly.

Ephiny and Gabrielle were in full ceremonial dress, even wearing their heavy and unpleasant wooden masks, bedecked in feathers that made Joxer sneeze occasionally. The two girls were dressed up, too, in traditional Greek dresses, despite their protests. Eve argued that since she was the princess, wouldn't it be appropriate for her to come in Amazon clothes like her aunts? But Xena had put her foot down about her daughter's attire.

"No bare shoulders, midriffs, or knees until you are sixteen," was the unquestionable command. "You will not learn to use a sword. You will wear shoes at all times. And you will be inside the palisade by sunset every night. I've let you grow up like a Hordegirl, and it's about time I started being responsible."

Between Xena being responsible, Gabrielle insisting on giving the girls a 'modern' education, and Ephiny's insistence that they know every tidbit of the incredibly complex Amazon legal system, the year that Eve and Eleni had spent in the village had been the most structured of their lives. They were working from sunup to sundown, training and studying and working, and had begun to show characteristic signs of teenage rebellion.

Joxer had come to their rescue. He was the one who taught them how to sew hooks into the inner layer of sleeves to make them detachable, how to tie a knot in a shirt to shorten it, and where to walk to make the soles of feet tough. He was also the one who would sneak over the palisade with them on some nights, and would spend the evening with them running barefoot through the woods, practicing with swords, teaching the best Greek curse words, and eating stolen chicken. Amarice usually covered for them as far as the chicken was concerned -- she was really much more sympathetic to the girls than she pretended to be.

He waited a few seconds for the sting in his knee to go away, and the whole company resumed their quick walking towards the river.

"We should get this trail cleared off," Eve suggested, flexing her royal muscles. "It's really overgrown."

"And give the armies of Men a clear path to our village," Ephiny added. "Great idea."

Eleni stuck her tongue out at Ephiny's back, and Eve giggled. Her mother glanced back at her, and both girls quickly presented straight faces.

Then Joxer cracked up, and Gabrielle resigned herself to being extraordinarily late.

The diplomatic dinner was lovely. The humans sat on high stools with backs and armrests, and the centaurs lay their horse bodies down with their man-torsos sitting up straight, so everyone was more or less even. Everyone sat around a large wooden table and talked and laughed, leaders at peace since Xena, Gabrielle, and Ephiny had opened a dialogue between the two nations so many years ago.

It went as occasions of that sort tended to go. Xenan was offered a place in the Centaur army, which he said he'd think about. Joxer got teased about being the only human male in the Amazon Village. Eve and Eleni were presented with long lines of symbolic birthday gifts, including a sword for the princess and a longbow for her cousin, and Xena got herself talked into riding with one of their patrols to look at what might be warlords' raiding parties along their southeast border. They finally went home in the twilight, reaching the village long after dark, and packed the children straight off to bed.

Joxer stayed with the girls for a time, until his gentle tuneless humming put them to sleep, then wished them happy birthdays and went out to the palisade where Xena kept silent watch. He climbed up to sit beside her.

"One more year," Xena said as he sat down. Greetings were unnecessary between them after so many years. "One more year before she is sixteen. Then the real trouble starts."

Joxer shifted uncomfortably on the wall. "I dunno. I've been feeling weird lately, like... like there's always someone watching me. Like something's coming."

She nodded. "I feel it, too. But it's a long way off yet. Enough time for the girls to finish their training here, learn the sword. Eve will need it when the time comes."

"We should have started them sooner."

"Never teach children to use a sword. They'll be old enough soon."

"I think they're old enough now."

"You thought that when Eve was eight."

Joxer pouted.

"Relax," she told him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We have a year to get ready. We'll be ready. Nothing is going to happen to Eve."

"Let's hope," Joxer answered. He got up and stretched. "I'm knocking off. G'night."

When Joxer left them, Eve and Eleni lay stayed quiet for several seconds before propping themselves up on their elbows to talk in whispers.

"That boy was looking at you again. The captain's cousin." Eleni said this with a grin that couldn't be seen in the dark.

Eve giggled and covered her mouth with her bearskin blanket to block the sound. "Was he really? I was looking at my hands the whole time. I was so embarrassed..."

"He kept looking at you and then looking at something else to pretend he wasn't. He didn't notice me watching him. It was a riot." Eleni could hear the embarrassment in her cousin's voice and pressed her advantage. "It would be a great move politically, you know... a member of the Captain's family and the Queen's Heir..."

Eve threw a pillow at her. "He wasn't looking that close!"

Eleni grinned. "I don't know how you'd know... you said you weren't watching."

"I wasn't!"

"Liar!"

"Shhhh!" The two girls were giggling uncontrollably now. "Joxer'll hear us!"

This terrifying threat got them quieter... sort of... for a while. They had to pause the conversation when their uncle went to bed, but when he was contentedly snoring they resumed in a more serious vein.

"D'you think your mom will let us start training with swords now that we're fifteen?" Eleni asked. She didn't know her birthday, and so had quietly adopted Eve's. She was also unsure of her own age, but fifteen was as good as any.

"I hope so. All the other girls here have been working for months. And I don't think I'll do much good fighting gods with a practice staff. Swords seem a lot more... ceremonial."

Eleni nodded. "Official, kinda."

"Yeah, kinda. None of Gabrielle's stories end with Mother drawing her mighty practice staff and saving the day."

"Or her bow, either." Eleni rubbed her cheek against the sleek wood of the new bow she'd been given for her birthday.

"That's because she can't hit the broad side of a centaur with a bow. But the Ulysses story ends with a mighty bow."

"I thought it was a crossbow."

"No, it was a longbow. It was before crossbows were invented."

"Couldn't be, because your mother was there and she says her father had a crossbow when she was small."

"Huh," said Eve. She got out of bed and slunk silently to Joxer's bed, where she gave him a gentle shake. "Joxer, what did Ulysses have? Was it a crossbow or a longbow?"

"Uhnghh..." said Joxer. "Ulysses? Turnnto a pig."

"Joxer!"

"Yeah!" He sat up, body alert and ready for danger but mind nowhere near awake. "What? What?"

"Did Ulysses have a crossbow or a longbow?"

Blink. "Longbow. Yeah. Sent us date wine for your birthday."

"Thanks." She kissed him on the cheek. "Go to sleep."

He did so, muttering absently. Eleni giggled. "Listen. He's dreaming about Gabrielle again."

Eve covered her mouth with both hands to keep in her laughter, for the name 'Gabrielle' was quite recognizable now that she was listening for it. She leaned over her uncle again. "Joxer? Is Aunt Gabby pretty?"

"Uhh... like an angel... " he sang incoherently. "...in the sunlight in her hair..."

Eleni buried her head in her pillows and shook.

"Does she have pretty eyes?"

He sighed and sort of snored at the same time. "Did I ever tell you... my heart... world in your eyes..."

"It's... it's the Joxer and Gabrielle Sleeptalking Love Medley!" Eleni managed to say, in a sort of announcer-type voice, with choking added.

"Do you want to kiiiiiiss her?"

"Do you want to maaaaary her?" Eleni added.

Gabrielle entered the hut.

Eve turned around and stared like a deer in headlights. Eleni flopped like a rag doll and pretended she was asleep... though not very well. Both had to hold their breaths to keep from snickering.

Gabrielle was very calm. "E's" (they were often called 'E's'), "Go to sleep."

"'Night!" said Eve brightly, jumping back into bed. She pulled the covers over her head and laughed in deep gasping almost-silent breaths until she was worn out.

Xena sat on the palisade for several hours, thinking. She had plenty to think about. The air was cold and the sky was clear, which helped her a great deal with her mental focus. She had plans to make -- plans for the next couple of weeks and her warlord-hunt, plans for the next few months, finishing her girls' training, and plans for next year.

Eve would be sixteen -- a woman in her own right. And then Ares' spell would no longer protect her from Athena and her cohorts. In all fairness to him, it had worked perfectly thus far... and he had stayed far away from them since Eve's 12th birthday, when the charm had been bestowed. She hadn't felt his icy presence for years, except occasionally on Eve, sometimes, when she looked up to study the sky.

Yes, that cold burn on her spine, the painful numbness from something unbearable, either excitement or fear...

Xena...

Get out of my head and come talk to me like a human being.

I can't. I don't know where you are and I don't want to know. But listen to me: Athena knows you're alive. Be on your guard, and get Eve ready. It may take time, but she'll find you. Be careful.

What? But... your spell...

...Is no longer effective. It means she is ready.

But she's only a child!

She is your child. Athena has owls out hunting for you. Snowy owls.

Snowy owls. All right.

The night warmed, and the gooseflesh melted off her arms. Xena climbed down from the palisade and went to bed.

Morning found Xena washing her face with ice-cold water straight from the well. The cold shock normally helped her think. It didn't this time.

Her family dragged themselves out of bed at last. They were all late sleepers, especially the girls whose growing bodies craved food, rest, and any other resource they could acquire. They went to scrounge up breakfast, and Gabrielle went to talk with Xena.

"Do you want to take Nyian to go warlord-hunting? I know you're worried about Argo's leg."

"I'm not going."

Gabrielle blinked. "But you said last night..."

"Ares spoke to me last night." Xena kept her voice low, glancing around to keep from being overheard. "Athena knows."

Gabrielle gasped, so quietly that only Xena, who knew it was coming, could have heard it. She took a second for it to settle in, then said, "What are we going to do?"

Xena almost smiled. Good old Gabrielle. "We are going to start teaching Eve the sword. We are going to keep an eye on her every second. And we are going to shoot every snowy owl on Amazon lands."

Gabrielle nodded. "I'll have Joxer..." She looked around. "Where is Joxer?"

Joxer was still asleep. The women reentered their hut, and Gabrielle hit him with her staff. "Wake up, Joxer!"

He snorted, started, and lunged up. "Huh? Huh?" There were red circles under his eyes and his face was ashen. Gabrielle hesitantly touched his skin -- it was cold and clammy. She withdrew her hand in what was almost disgust.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

He took a few deep breaths. "Yeah. Whew. Nightmare."

"Well, get up. You need to stay with Eve today."

"Huh?" Joxer generally followed Gabrielle around, her self-appointed bodyguard and therapist.

"I'm going to ask Amarice to start the girls on sword combat today," Xena explained. "I'd like to have you there with them. I have other places to be."

He nodded. "Sure. Fine. Give me five minutes."

The five minutes were given, breakfast was eaten, and the family scattered to their various errands. Gabrielle went off to do queen stuff, Xena rode off on some mysterious errand of her own, and Joxer followed the girls to their training.

Amarice had been brought fully up-to-speed on the situation, and had been enlisted to guard Eve with her life. She was in charge of combat training for the teenage girls about to receive the rites of adulthood, and all the girls in the village absolutely worshipped her.

"All right; everybody warmed up?" she asked as she jogged onto the training grounds, feigning that Xena's news hadn't drained her of any optimism or energy she had. The trainees had, of course, warmed up on their own, and they now stood at attention with staffs at ready. The oldest girls had their weapons of preference bound to their backs -- strong, beautiful new tools or heirlooms from their mothers or grandmothers.

Amarice could see Eleni's eyes flicking to the bow of the girl just in front of her, longingly. Her new bow was languishing in her hut, and she wanted it. If Eve felt the same way about the sword she had been given, she didn't show it.

"E's," she snapped sternly, and instantly had the full attention of both girls. "You turned fifteen yesterday."

"Yes, ma'am," they answered in unison. They both knew Amarice loved them dearly, and they loved her ironic sense of humor and shy smile, but right now she was training mistress and had to be shown the respect of a drill sergeant.

"You both received weapons in honor of the occasion, am I right?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Then what are you doing standing there with those staffs? You've got One Year to turn from noodle-legged trainees into the best women warriors in the world, and believe me, you need every second of work you can get. Run get your new toys. Move!"

Both grinning, they were off and running before the third "Yes, ma'am" could even get out of their mouths. Joxer and Amarice exchanged glances and grins.

The E's were entrusted to the tutelage of the older girls, who took them under their wings and showed them how it was done. Amarice remained with the others, working staff drills, but she kept an eye on her nieces and Joxer kept two. Eve's nights playing hooky from sleep seemed to have paid off, because she was already as good as her uncle and her fellows were impressed.

Joxer sat under a tree to watch them, still smiling, and listened absently to the chant of, "Okay, try it again. One, two, three, and advance, good, now block, two, three . . . good job, Eve!" and the rhythmic zwick-thwup of Eleni's arrows flying with those of the other Amazon archers, their laughs when someone's shot went wild. But another part of his mind wasn't listening. It was trying to remember his nightmare, because Gabrielle said that things were less frightening if you faced them. He personally thought things were less frightening if you didn't encounter them, but out of consideration for her he tried to seek out the dream. It had had something to do with --

A branch above him creaked, and he looked up. A large snowy owl blinked back at him.

Later, he would freely admit that he had screamed like a dying rabbit at that moment. Everyone turned to look at him, and he remembered hearing Eve screaming "Eleni! Eleni, shoot it!" Then another zwick-thwup, rather wetter-sounding on impact than the straw targets, and the owl fell dead at his feet with Eleni's arrow straight through its skull.

Before anyone could react, Eve ran up and decapitated the owl corpse with one vicious swing of her sword, burying the blade an inch in the ground.

When Joxer looked up at her, very surprised, she whispered apologetically, "I dreamed about owls last night."

He nodded. "So did I."

Conclusion >>>