Chapter 2C
As Sarah made her way over to the tent Eve caught up with her.
“Hey.” Eve said.
“Hey, did you get everything squared away with Varia?” Sarah asked, still not sure what the two might have been discussing.
“Um yeah, everything’s fine.” The messenger said solemnly.
Sarah noticed the tone. “Have you always been this bad at lying?” She asked.
“What are you talking about?” Eve asked, knowing already she’d been caught.
“Well you look like your dog died and your best friend ran off with your wife. Add a little whiskey and banjo playing to the mix and you’ve got yourself a country song.” Sarah said.
Eve sighed. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Sarah stopped in her tracks and crossed her arms.
“What are you doing?” Eve asked.
“Waiting for you to stop being bullheaded and tell me what’s going on.” She said.
“Ugghhh. You are so annoying sometimes!” The messenger growled at her. “Look, things are just complicated with Varia right now, that’s all.”
“Complicated how?” Sarah asked.
“Complicated in the way that I killed someone very dear to her and she wants to talk about it.” Eve said.
“So talk about it. Don’t you think you owe that to her?” Sarah asked.
“Can you even try, just for a second, to put yourself in my position?” Eve said, moving closer. “I have some pretty damn strong feelings for her that I can’t possibly act on because in the back of her mind she’s always going to know that I’m a monster.”
“But you’re not a monster anymore, Eve.” Sarah said. “The things you did in the past are tormenting you. That doesn’t happen to monsters; they don’t have regrets.”
“You don’t understand; every time I’m near her I feel such…” She sighed. “Such longing and despair.”
“Yet you’re the one who suggested we stay a little longer to help them out with their problem. The good must somehow be overpowering the bad. Either that or you’re way more masochistic than I had imagined.” Sarah said.
“That was when I thought that the tension between us was still there because she hated me.” Eve said, shaking her head and ignoring the joke at the end of Sarah’s comments. “Now it’s different.”
“How’s it different?” Sarah asked.
“I think she was coming on to me.” Eve said. “She thought that you and I might have been together and she seemed unhappy about it. Then when she found out it wasn’t true she seemed relieved.”
“God, I’m so confused.” Sarah said, adjusting the hat on her head. “Shouldn’t you be happy about that?”
“No!” Eve persisted. “She deserves to hate me, and I deserve her hatred. I can’t even imagine how tortured she would be if she fell in love with someone who had done such terrible things to her family.”
“Eve, let me know if I’m wrong here, but isn’t one of Eli’s big platforms all about forgiveness?” Sarah asked.
Eve just stood there and looked at her for a second. She knew Sarah was right, but it still didn’t change the way she felt.
“Not for me.” She told the time traveler. “Now, please, just drop it. We have more important things to do and I just don’t feel like dealing with this right now.”
Sarah looked at her and decided she’d been through enough. The subject was tabled for the time being and with a nod they both headed toward the lesson tent to meet the historian.
What they didn’t expect to see was a very tall black man teaching the Amazon children. Both of them stared on in awe.
“Don’t these crazy bitches kill men if they come in the camp?” Sarah whispered to Eve as to not interrupt the lesson.
“They used to.” Eve said; just as confused as Sarah.
They looked on at the scene. The man at the head of a class of nearly twenty pre-pubescent Amazons spoke slowly and with purpose. Sarah placed him around twenty five years of age. He had a sturdy frame and sometimes spoke with his hands. At the moment he seemed to be teaching about Socrates.
“So, you can see Socrates’ problem was that he was an intelligent idiot. He was constantly asking all of his students to broaden their minds and think outside the box when, in the end, his unwavering devotion to a state that hated him would cause his mortal undoing.” He paced as she spoke and looked mostly at the floor before asking for questions. “Now we don’t have much time left and I think I’ve covered just about everything for the day, so does anyone have any questions?”
A dark haired, spunky looking Amazon on the right side of the room raised her hand and stood to address the teacher. She was grinning mischievously as she paused to figure out how she was going to ask the question she’d formed. A group of girls around her were snickering softly.
“Master Anthony.” She started.
“Yes, Pyra, go ahead.” He addressed her.
“Are you a virgin?” She asked.
As soon as the last word of the sentence exited her mouth nearly the entire class burst into uncontrollable giggles, as did Sarah who received a soft slap from Eve. They waited to see how the instructor would handle the situation. He simply stood there for a few seconds contemplating his next move and right when he opened his mouth to speak he was interrupted by a student from the left side of the room.
“Pyra, you’re as dumb as a Cyclops. Of course he’s not a virgin.” Said the lithe looking brunette who was standing strong, hands balled up in fists on the table. Everyone’s attention, including the instructor’s, on her.
“First of all, Master Anthony studied in Egypt!” She said, and Anthony decided to let her continue just to see what might come next.
“Second of all,” She said putting one of her fists in the air with two fingers sticking out. “Master Anthony is a tall, black man!”
Sarah’s jaw hit the ground and Eve’s eyes seemed like they were going to pop out of her head, but the instructor remained calm, still waiting to see how this was going to end.
“And third…” She said raising a third finger and putting emphasis on her next words. “Master Anthony studied in Egypt!”
She then slammed her fist down on the table as if she’d just proven her point even though two of her examples were exactly the same. The entire class was silent and Sarah now had a hand over her mouth to fight the laughter that was just dying to get out. After a few seconds the room shifted their attention to the instructor, without a clue as to how he would address these claims. Anthony simply smiled and stood up.
“You know…” He paused briefly to look around the room. “I think we’re done for the day. Why don’t you guys go harass the weapons instructor, now?”
As the girls shuffled quickly out of the room to attend their favorite class of the day, Sarah and Eve moved in to speak with the teacher.
“Um, hi.” Sarah said to him as he was gathering his scrolls.
“Hello.” He said, looking up. “Can I help you with something?”
“I hope so.” Sarah said. “My name is Sarah, and this is Eve, daughter of Xena and Gabrielle.”
“Oh, wow, I’ve read about you.” He said to Eve, and she hung her head in shame. “I’m kind of Amazed you’ve come back to camp after all that has happened with you trying to kill the Amazons, then the Amazons trying to kill you.”
“You know, that’s funny. We were just talking about how weird it was for you to be in the camp being that the Amazons aren’t too fond of living with men.” Sarah said hastily. She was starting to realize that she was becoming a lot more protective of Eve than she ever thought she would.
“Yeah, neither one of us are exactly characters that fit in around here, huh?” He said before smiling and offering up his hand to both of them. “My name is Anthony and I’m a runaway from Egypt. The Amazons took me in because I saved the life of one of their sisters.”
Eve took the offered hand and issued a genuine greeting as she clasped the forearm. “It’s nice to meet you Anthony. I’d love to hear the whole story at some point during our stay.”
He nodded then looked over to Sarah who did the same. “Same here.”
“Well I assume that that’s not the only reason you came to see me, unless you wanted to know more about Socrates that is.” He said, getting to the point.
“No, actually it isn’t.” Sarah said. “We were told that you were in charge of keeping up the Amazonian historical scrolls and were hoping you could help us find some information on a green stone given to the Amazons by Xena over 25 years ago. It was supposed to be hidden and kept safe.”
“Hmm.” He said, truly interested in the task. “What was the stone’s purpose?”
“Uhhh. Don’t know.” Sarah said, hoping he could still find it without that much information being divulged. “It was pretty big though. About the size of the palm of your hand, green in color, and she would have brought it here on a visit without Queen Gabrielle. Is that enough information to get you started?”
“I’m not sure.” He said, the wheels already turning in his head. “I haven’t read a lot of the scrolls from that far back, especially if they didn’t have to do with some sort of conflict, but I’d be happy to check it out for you. Give me a couple of days, maybe a week and I should at least be able to point you in the right direction.”
“Great!” Sarah said, happy with the man’s confidence. “If you need us to help you out, just let us know.”
“Actually, I’m afraid only Eve would be able to help.” He said, and elaborated after seeing the confusion on Sarah’s face. “Only Amazons are allowed to touch the sacred scrolls. Eve is an Amazon by direct birth, you however we have no records of, so you’ll either have to become an Amazon or sit out the research.”
Burying herself in Ancient Amazon scrolls for days did not sound like Sarah’s idea of fun after all she’d been through; she decided to leave that to the professional.
“No problem.” She said. “I don’t mind waiting around while you guys take care of all the fun stuff.”
“Alright then,” Anthony said, “It’s settled. Eve you can help me start looking through the scrolls first thing tomorrow morning.”
Eve was more than happy to help and Sarah was more than happy to have a couple of days off just to relax. They said their goodbyes to the instructor, and then started to walk out of the hut before Sarah realized something. Turning back she spoke to the professor once more.
“Hey, I just thought of something.” She said. “If you’re able to take care of the scrolls does that make you…”
“An Amazon?” He finished her sentence, and then gave her a look of mild amusement. “Yep, I’m afraid I have the incredibly emasculating honor of being the first initiated male Amazon. Feel free to hold your laughter until after you’ve cleared the exit.”
Sarah gave off a small smirk, and then clapped the man on the shoulder.
“I thought having to deal with the Amazons would be bad enough for you, I didn’t expect you to actually be one.” She said, in a mock way of consolation, and then walked off after Eve. “See ya later, Anthony!”
“I’ve got to get out of this camp.” He said to nothing more than the roof of the hut, then gathered the rest of his things and went about his day.
As day turned to night the festivities started to commence. There was a huge feast laid out for the new guests consisting of all kinds of vegetables, fruits and a large wild boar. Wine was flowing freely and everyone’s spirits were very high. Varia had started things off with a toast to Eve and Sarah before everyone was allowed to dig in. Then after a few drinks and a full belly, Sarah decided to go talk to the stoic Queen while Eve was involved with a detailed description of the history of the Elisians to a group of Amazons.
“Mind if I join you?” She asked.
“No, of course not.” Varia said as she sipped at her wine and stared at the young messenger.
“You better watch that one.” Sarah said, jokingly. “She might convert your Amazons over to the path of love.”
Varia chuckled. “Not that particular group. They’re too young and ornery to step away from the thrill of battle. I think they are taken by her beauty.”
“Doesn’t seem like they’re the only ones.” Sarah said, taking a sip from her own cup. “You’ve barely taken your eyes off of her all night.”
“If you’re going to make accusations I’d prefer you just come right out and say them.” Varia said, pulling her eyes away from Eve so she could shoot daggers from them at Sarah.
“I was under the impression I was simply making an observation; accusations are used against people who are generally up to no good.” She rolled her eyes. “Jeez, you Amazons are touchy.”
“Either way, it’s none of your business.” Varia said.
“Honey, you wouldn’t believe the things I’ve jumped into that were absolutely none of my business. I’m a pro in this arena.” Sarah joked.
“Well why are you jumping into this one?” Varia asked; she was growing impatient.
“Because you’re torturing her and I don’t even think you know it.” Sarah said.
“Is that what she said?” Varia asked, alarmed.
“Nope, that’s another one of my observations.” Sarah said. “Look, I’m not going to beat around the bush here. I know your history with Eve, and it’s a fucking shame that things went that way. But you have got to know that she feels terrible about what she did to your sister.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Varia asked. “You’re not the only one who’s so perceptive. I see her face every time she looks at me. It’s like the very sight of me instills so much pain inside her.”
“Does she instill pain in you?” Sarah asked.
“I wish she did.” Varia said in a defeated tone. “That would make things so much simpler. But the truth is when I look at her I see a beautiful woman trying so hard, with every fiber of her being, to atone for a horrific past. If I walked up to her right now and demanded her life for what she did to my sister she would gladly give it to me.” She looked down at her hands in her lap. “What she won’t give me is the chance to be anything more than cordial with her. The slightest step into kindness and she shuts down.”
“Have you ever thought about forcing her to hear you out?” Sarah asked. “She’s the daughter of Xena and Gabrielle. Eve has enough stubbornness in her to drag this out for the rest of her life. Do you really want to wait that long?”
Varia looked at her as if she were starting to make sense, then shook her head and looked away.
“I don’t even know what I can give her with our past experiences looming in the background. It would probably never work.” Varia said.
“You could be right.” Sarah offered up, taking another sip. “But you’ll never know until you try. Don’t you at least owe yourself that?”
“But my sister…” Varia said, going off to a dark place.
“Your sister was killed by Livia, and as stupid as this may sound, that woman is dead. Eve killed her. She is not the one who murdered your sister anymore; she’s the one who avenged her death.” Sarah paused. “She also mourns it every day of her life.”
Varia looked again at the messenger, and thought for a few moments before letting out a very small chuckle. “You must be related to them. You’re completely unrelenting.”
Sarah smiled; she had won.
“Yep.” She said, stretching out in victory. “We were born with heavy amounts of the stubborn gene. So what are you gonna do?”
“I think I’m gonna pull her away from those Amazons for a private conversation before they get a little too well acquainted with each other.” Varia said; standing and offering her hand to Sarah. “Thank you for having this conversation with me. Of course you know if it doesn’t turn out well I’ll have every right to kill you according to Amazon law.”
Sarah took the offered forearm. “Sweetie, I’d like to see you try.” She said, keeping her seat until Varia had escorted Eve safely back to her hut.
“Now, that’s what you call a wingman.” Sarah said as she tipped back the rest of the contents of her cup and standing to go meet up with her new friends.
contents here.
“Hey.” Eve said.
“Hey, did you get everything squared away with Varia?” Sarah asked, still not sure what the two might have been discussing.
“Um yeah, everything’s fine.” The messenger said solemnly.
Sarah noticed the tone. “Have you always been this bad at lying?” She asked.
“What are you talking about?” Eve asked, knowing already she’d been caught.
“Well you look like your dog died and your best friend ran off with your wife. Add a little whiskey and banjo playing to the mix and you’ve got yourself a country song.” Sarah said.
Eve sighed. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Sarah stopped in her tracks and crossed her arms.
“What are you doing?” Eve asked.
“Waiting for you to stop being bullheaded and tell me what’s going on.” She said.
“Ugghhh. You are so annoying sometimes!” The messenger growled at her. “Look, things are just complicated with Varia right now, that’s all.”
“Complicated how?” Sarah asked.
“Complicated in the way that I killed someone very dear to her and she wants to talk about it.” Eve said.
“So talk about it. Don’t you think you owe that to her?” Sarah asked.
“Can you even try, just for a second, to put yourself in my position?” Eve said, moving closer. “I have some pretty damn strong feelings for her that I can’t possibly act on because in the back of her mind she’s always going to know that I’m a monster.”
“But you’re not a monster anymore, Eve.” Sarah said. “The things you did in the past are tormenting you. That doesn’t happen to monsters; they don’t have regrets.”
“You don’t understand; every time I’m near her I feel such…” She sighed. “Such longing and despair.”
“Yet you’re the one who suggested we stay a little longer to help them out with their problem. The good must somehow be overpowering the bad. Either that or you’re way more masochistic than I had imagined.” Sarah said.
“That was when I thought that the tension between us was still there because she hated me.” Eve said, shaking her head and ignoring the joke at the end of Sarah’s comments. “Now it’s different.”
“How’s it different?” Sarah asked.
“I think she was coming on to me.” Eve said. “She thought that you and I might have been together and she seemed unhappy about it. Then when she found out it wasn’t true she seemed relieved.”
“God, I’m so confused.” Sarah said, adjusting the hat on her head. “Shouldn’t you be happy about that?”
“No!” Eve persisted. “She deserves to hate me, and I deserve her hatred. I can’t even imagine how tortured she would be if she fell in love with someone who had done such terrible things to her family.”
“Eve, let me know if I’m wrong here, but isn’t one of Eli’s big platforms all about forgiveness?” Sarah asked.
Eve just stood there and looked at her for a second. She knew Sarah was right, but it still didn’t change the way she felt.
“Not for me.” She told the time traveler. “Now, please, just drop it. We have more important things to do and I just don’t feel like dealing with this right now.”
Sarah looked at her and decided she’d been through enough. The subject was tabled for the time being and with a nod they both headed toward the lesson tent to meet the historian.
What they didn’t expect to see was a very tall black man teaching the Amazon children. Both of them stared on in awe.
“Don’t these crazy bitches kill men if they come in the camp?” Sarah whispered to Eve as to not interrupt the lesson.
“They used to.” Eve said; just as confused as Sarah.
They looked on at the scene. The man at the head of a class of nearly twenty pre-pubescent Amazons spoke slowly and with purpose. Sarah placed him around twenty five years of age. He had a sturdy frame and sometimes spoke with his hands. At the moment he seemed to be teaching about Socrates.
“So, you can see Socrates’ problem was that he was an intelligent idiot. He was constantly asking all of his students to broaden their minds and think outside the box when, in the end, his unwavering devotion to a state that hated him would cause his mortal undoing.” He paced as she spoke and looked mostly at the floor before asking for questions. “Now we don’t have much time left and I think I’ve covered just about everything for the day, so does anyone have any questions?”
A dark haired, spunky looking Amazon on the right side of the room raised her hand and stood to address the teacher. She was grinning mischievously as she paused to figure out how she was going to ask the question she’d formed. A group of girls around her were snickering softly.
“Master Anthony.” She started.
“Yes, Pyra, go ahead.” He addressed her.
“Are you a virgin?” She asked.
As soon as the last word of the sentence exited her mouth nearly the entire class burst into uncontrollable giggles, as did Sarah who received a soft slap from Eve. They waited to see how the instructor would handle the situation. He simply stood there for a few seconds contemplating his next move and right when he opened his mouth to speak he was interrupted by a student from the left side of the room.
“Pyra, you’re as dumb as a Cyclops. Of course he’s not a virgin.” Said the lithe looking brunette who was standing strong, hands balled up in fists on the table. Everyone’s attention, including the instructor’s, on her.
“First of all, Master Anthony studied in Egypt!” She said, and Anthony decided to let her continue just to see what might come next.
“Second of all,” She said putting one of her fists in the air with two fingers sticking out. “Master Anthony is a tall, black man!”
Sarah’s jaw hit the ground and Eve’s eyes seemed like they were going to pop out of her head, but the instructor remained calm, still waiting to see how this was going to end.
“And third…” She said raising a third finger and putting emphasis on her next words. “Master Anthony studied in Egypt!”
She then slammed her fist down on the table as if she’d just proven her point even though two of her examples were exactly the same. The entire class was silent and Sarah now had a hand over her mouth to fight the laughter that was just dying to get out. After a few seconds the room shifted their attention to the instructor, without a clue as to how he would address these claims. Anthony simply smiled and stood up.
“You know…” He paused briefly to look around the room. “I think we’re done for the day. Why don’t you guys go harass the weapons instructor, now?”
As the girls shuffled quickly out of the room to attend their favorite class of the day, Sarah and Eve moved in to speak with the teacher.
“Um, hi.” Sarah said to him as he was gathering his scrolls.
“Hello.” He said, looking up. “Can I help you with something?”
“I hope so.” Sarah said. “My name is Sarah, and this is Eve, daughter of Xena and Gabrielle.”
“Oh, wow, I’ve read about you.” He said to Eve, and she hung her head in shame. “I’m kind of Amazed you’ve come back to camp after all that has happened with you trying to kill the Amazons, then the Amazons trying to kill you.”
“You know, that’s funny. We were just talking about how weird it was for you to be in the camp being that the Amazons aren’t too fond of living with men.” Sarah said hastily. She was starting to realize that she was becoming a lot more protective of Eve than she ever thought she would.
“Yeah, neither one of us are exactly characters that fit in around here, huh?” He said before smiling and offering up his hand to both of them. “My name is Anthony and I’m a runaway from Egypt. The Amazons took me in because I saved the life of one of their sisters.”
Eve took the offered hand and issued a genuine greeting as she clasped the forearm. “It’s nice to meet you Anthony. I’d love to hear the whole story at some point during our stay.”
He nodded then looked over to Sarah who did the same. “Same here.”
“Well I assume that that’s not the only reason you came to see me, unless you wanted to know more about Socrates that is.” He said, getting to the point.
“No, actually it isn’t.” Sarah said. “We were told that you were in charge of keeping up the Amazonian historical scrolls and were hoping you could help us find some information on a green stone given to the Amazons by Xena over 25 years ago. It was supposed to be hidden and kept safe.”
“Hmm.” He said, truly interested in the task. “What was the stone’s purpose?”
“Uhhh. Don’t know.” Sarah said, hoping he could still find it without that much information being divulged. “It was pretty big though. About the size of the palm of your hand, green in color, and she would have brought it here on a visit without Queen Gabrielle. Is that enough information to get you started?”
“I’m not sure.” He said, the wheels already turning in his head. “I haven’t read a lot of the scrolls from that far back, especially if they didn’t have to do with some sort of conflict, but I’d be happy to check it out for you. Give me a couple of days, maybe a week and I should at least be able to point you in the right direction.”
“Great!” Sarah said, happy with the man’s confidence. “If you need us to help you out, just let us know.”
“Actually, I’m afraid only Eve would be able to help.” He said, and elaborated after seeing the confusion on Sarah’s face. “Only Amazons are allowed to touch the sacred scrolls. Eve is an Amazon by direct birth, you however we have no records of, so you’ll either have to become an Amazon or sit out the research.”
Burying herself in Ancient Amazon scrolls for days did not sound like Sarah’s idea of fun after all she’d been through; she decided to leave that to the professional.
“No problem.” She said. “I don’t mind waiting around while you guys take care of all the fun stuff.”
“Alright then,” Anthony said, “It’s settled. Eve you can help me start looking through the scrolls first thing tomorrow morning.”
Eve was more than happy to help and Sarah was more than happy to have a couple of days off just to relax. They said their goodbyes to the instructor, and then started to walk out of the hut before Sarah realized something. Turning back she spoke to the professor once more.
“Hey, I just thought of something.” She said. “If you’re able to take care of the scrolls does that make you…”
“An Amazon?” He finished her sentence, and then gave her a look of mild amusement. “Yep, I’m afraid I have the incredibly emasculating honor of being the first initiated male Amazon. Feel free to hold your laughter until after you’ve cleared the exit.”
Sarah gave off a small smirk, and then clapped the man on the shoulder.
“I thought having to deal with the Amazons would be bad enough for you, I didn’t expect you to actually be one.” She said, in a mock way of consolation, and then walked off after Eve. “See ya later, Anthony!”
“I’ve got to get out of this camp.” He said to nothing more than the roof of the hut, then gathered the rest of his things and went about his day.
As day turned to night the festivities started to commence. There was a huge feast laid out for the new guests consisting of all kinds of vegetables, fruits and a large wild boar. Wine was flowing freely and everyone’s spirits were very high. Varia had started things off with a toast to Eve and Sarah before everyone was allowed to dig in. Then after a few drinks and a full belly, Sarah decided to go talk to the stoic Queen while Eve was involved with a detailed description of the history of the Elisians to a group of Amazons.
“Mind if I join you?” She asked.
“No, of course not.” Varia said as she sipped at her wine and stared at the young messenger.
“You better watch that one.” Sarah said, jokingly. “She might convert your Amazons over to the path of love.”
Varia chuckled. “Not that particular group. They’re too young and ornery to step away from the thrill of battle. I think they are taken by her beauty.”
“Doesn’t seem like they’re the only ones.” Sarah said, taking a sip from her own cup. “You’ve barely taken your eyes off of her all night.”
“If you’re going to make accusations I’d prefer you just come right out and say them.” Varia said, pulling her eyes away from Eve so she could shoot daggers from them at Sarah.
“I was under the impression I was simply making an observation; accusations are used against people who are generally up to no good.” She rolled her eyes. “Jeez, you Amazons are touchy.”
“Either way, it’s none of your business.” Varia said.
“Honey, you wouldn’t believe the things I’ve jumped into that were absolutely none of my business. I’m a pro in this arena.” Sarah joked.
“Well why are you jumping into this one?” Varia asked; she was growing impatient.
“Because you’re torturing her and I don’t even think you know it.” Sarah said.
“Is that what she said?” Varia asked, alarmed.
“Nope, that’s another one of my observations.” Sarah said. “Look, I’m not going to beat around the bush here. I know your history with Eve, and it’s a fucking shame that things went that way. But you have got to know that she feels terrible about what she did to your sister.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Varia asked. “You’re not the only one who’s so perceptive. I see her face every time she looks at me. It’s like the very sight of me instills so much pain inside her.”
“Does she instill pain in you?” Sarah asked.
“I wish she did.” Varia said in a defeated tone. “That would make things so much simpler. But the truth is when I look at her I see a beautiful woman trying so hard, with every fiber of her being, to atone for a horrific past. If I walked up to her right now and demanded her life for what she did to my sister she would gladly give it to me.” She looked down at her hands in her lap. “What she won’t give me is the chance to be anything more than cordial with her. The slightest step into kindness and she shuts down.”
“Have you ever thought about forcing her to hear you out?” Sarah asked. “She’s the daughter of Xena and Gabrielle. Eve has enough stubbornness in her to drag this out for the rest of her life. Do you really want to wait that long?”
Varia looked at her as if she were starting to make sense, then shook her head and looked away.
“I don’t even know what I can give her with our past experiences looming in the background. It would probably never work.” Varia said.
“You could be right.” Sarah offered up, taking another sip. “But you’ll never know until you try. Don’t you at least owe yourself that?”
“But my sister…” Varia said, going off to a dark place.
“Your sister was killed by Livia, and as stupid as this may sound, that woman is dead. Eve killed her. She is not the one who murdered your sister anymore; she’s the one who avenged her death.” Sarah paused. “She also mourns it every day of her life.”
Varia looked again at the messenger, and thought for a few moments before letting out a very small chuckle. “You must be related to them. You’re completely unrelenting.”
Sarah smiled; she had won.
“Yep.” She said, stretching out in victory. “We were born with heavy amounts of the stubborn gene. So what are you gonna do?”
“I think I’m gonna pull her away from those Amazons for a private conversation before they get a little too well acquainted with each other.” Varia said; standing and offering her hand to Sarah. “Thank you for having this conversation with me. Of course you know if it doesn’t turn out well I’ll have every right to kill you according to Amazon law.”
Sarah took the offered forearm. “Sweetie, I’d like to see you try.” She said, keeping her seat until Varia had escorted Eve safely back to her hut.
“Now, that’s what you call a wingman.” Sarah said as she tipped back the rest of the contents of her cup and standing to go meet up with her new friends.
contents here.