Chapter 1 - Callisto in Illusia: Prologue & Scene 1


                                                 Callisto in Illusia

                                                    by Volpone

                                                      Prologue:

          The vision came swimming through her dreams. Her dreams were different, now that she was a
goddess. As a mortal, her dreams had been images that mocked her, tormented her, driving her on with
their visions of pain and desolation. But now that she was an immortal, her sleep wasn't quite sleep, and
her dreams were no longer the dreams of mortality... sometimes they no longer flayed her soul with their
images of destruction... sometimes they were portents.
          Tonight's had been such a vision. She had seen two women approach the entrance to a secret
chamber. Each woman pressed her hand to a symbol on the side of the doorway, and slowly,
ponderously, the massive portal had crept aside, until there, within the chamber, was the Tree. Its fruit
almost glowed in the subdued lighting. She knew that fruit well. It was the fruit of the Tree of Life.
          She had destroyed what she thought was the only Tree. Yet here was another Tree, greater than
the one she had burned. Then the vision changed, and the Tree burst into flame. Sounds came to her in
the vision, as if through water, far and ghostly. The sounds were the wailing of the gods.
          In what passed among the gods for sleep, the immortal Callisto smiled.
          Soon, she knew. Soon.

                                                        Scene 1:

          As the drizzle continued to fall on the travelers, Gabrielle thought, "You know, Argo may be a
pretty horse, but I'm sure getting tired of looking at his tail end."
          Xena had been riding ahead of her, silent and distracted, ever since that exhausted messenger
had delivered his cryptic message that morning. The message had spoken of "the green dragon".
          Gabrielle knew that "the green dragon"was Ming Tien, the despot of Chin who had almost been Xena's
undoing. She also knew that Xena had killed Ming Tien right before her eyes without her even being
aware of it. She had known ever since Solon, Xena's dead son, had helped to reconcile them by
transporting them to Illusia, a non-physical world where their minds had created a place where their
hearts could find resolution.
          But dead was still dead. What could draw Xena to this rendezvous simply by referring to a dead
ruler from half-a-world away?
          Xena reigned in. She nodded to a small plume of smoke rising from the copse of trees ahead.
          "That's most likely the place. Come on."
          As they approached the clearing, Xena dismounted, looking for a possible ambush. She dropped
Argo's reigns and slipped quietly nearer the small, cheery fire and the smell of camp cooking. Finally
looking back over her shoulder, she nodded to Gabrielle and stood up, then walked confidently into the
clearing with her friend at her back.
          At their entrance, the man tending the food rose up and smiled at them. His smile was warm,
genuine. He was about six-foot, somewhat attractive, fit without being muscle-bound, with long almost
white-blond hair (complete with two long plaited braids at the sides of his face), mustache and trim
beard, and friendly grey eyes. His age could have been as young as his late twenties to as old as his
forties. The leathers he wore were of a foreign design, and the heavy armlets at his biceps glinted in the
firelight. He had a belt dagger, but his spear was leaned against a nearby tree, and he seemed to have no
other weapons to hand. When he spoke, his voice carried a strong lilt to it which marked him as a
foreigner to Greece. Gabrielle decided she liked him.
          "Greetings, ladies!" He gave them a polite bow. "Please, come and share my fire. If you would
care to sup, I have prepared more than enough for three." He sat as Xena hunkered down onto her
haunches. "I offer you the warmth of my fire, the fare of my table, and the welcome of my house... such
as it is." The greeting had a ritual sound to it. "Do you partake of the custom of bread and salt?" As he
spoke, he held out in his fingers a small piece of bread on which he had sprinkled a bit of salt.
          Xena relaxed a bit further, nodded and accepted his offering. She took the bread, broke it in half
and gave the other piece to Gabrielle. She completed the ritual with, "We thank you for the hospitality of
your house." She sat on the ground, turned and whistled for Argo, who had obediently been waiting for
her signal. As she offered the bread to Gabrielle, her friend's puzzled look made Xena explain. "By
offering us bread and salt, he makes us the guests of his household. It's a form of oath. If anything
happens to us while his guests, his honor would be destroyed. He would die to prevent that happening,
and if he was killed, his clan would take up the oath until we were avenged. I've never heard of anyone
who uses the oath breaking it." She ate the bread with a smile, so Gabrielle followed suit. It was good to
be able to relax even slightly.
          Their host introduced himself. " I am called Fionn, from Hibernia. You may have heard it called
Eire."
          Xena tried to repeat the name. "Fin?" She pronounced it like the part of a fish.
          "No," Gabrielle corrected. "It's...", she pronounced it with care, "Fionn... right?" She added the
hint of the extra vowel, almost like "fee-uhn".
          He beamed at her broadly. "It's pleasant indeed to hear one's name said by such lovely lips."
          Gabrielle returned his smile, both flustered and flattered.
          "Oh, yeah," Xena added with a slight smirk, "you're Hibernian, all right."
          Fionn either didn't hear or chose to ignore the remark. "And unless I am sadly mistaken, you are
Xena, and you, her shield-sister Gabrielle. Your presence does honor to my house."
          Gabrielle commented, "'Shield-sister'. I like that."
          "Please, allow me." Fionn served them food from his fire, and Gabrielle was slightly surprised
that a man would serve them himself rather than requiring women to serve themselves.
          Xena asked, "Then you are the one who sent me a message?"
          "Indeed I am. And glad I am that it found you so quickly."
          She munched the crisp fish he offered her. If nothing else, he was a good cook. "Your message
spoke of the debt concerning 'the green dragon'. I've fulfilled that debt to the only one I owed. What else
is there to be done?"
          "Actually, your payment of the debt is why I'm here," he explained. "You arrived in Chin about a
fortnight before I could. As a result, when I arrived, I found the court of Ming in ruins, and the people
officially mourning the passing of their 'beloved young emperor', all the while privately celebrating
themselves into a state of unconsciousness."
          "So what does that have to do with you?"
          "The messengers sent to find me took too long, and so you alone performed the task which I
shared. So now, I find myself in the position of being unable to repay my debt to Lao Ma. And so, my
debt now falls to you."
          Xena looked at him carefully. "You were a pupil of Lao Ma's." He acknowledged with a silent
nod. She scrutinized him more carefully. "And something more than just a pupil." Again the nod.
          "You are perceptive. Lao Ma's husband, Lao Tsu, was invalid... a husband in name only."
          "I never had a chance to meet Lao Ma," said Gabrielle. "She was already... gone... by the time I
arrived in Chin."
          He smiled a sad smile of remembrance. "And you are the poorer thereby. She was the single
most remarkable woman I've ever met." Xena gave a barely perceptible nod of agreement.
          "She must have been, to inspire such loyalty even after death."
          Xena decided to change the tack of the conversation. "But the debt she laid on us is paid. It no
longer exists. Accept it as my gift to a fellow friend of Lao Ma."
          He shook his head slowly. "You know I cannot. Debts are paid, not forgiven."
          Xena was just a stubborn. "My debts are my own, to pay or refuse as I choose."
          "Ah, but that's just it. The debt is owed neither by you or even to you. You have simply inherited
it. My oath remains, and will be paid. Whether now or in a hundred years, by myself or by my
descendants, is of no importance." He relaxed back, smiling, as if it was settled, refusing to be upset by
her refusals.
          Gabrielle interrupted before Xena could become more insistent. "When were you in Chin? Was
it before or after Xena was there?"
          "I was there a short time after. I learned a great deal from Lao Ma while there, including much
about her star pupil Xena. However, it wasn't until I returned to Chin to 'make the green dragon small'
that I was able to question some of Ming's courtiers. I discovered that, not only had the debt been paid,
but that Xena now had a traveling companion. They said you were a woman of letters, yet I see that you
are more than just a simple scribe by the staff you bear."
          Gabrielle was surprised by Fionn's attention. Most men they encountered were drawn to Xena.
She found that she welcomed his attentions.
          He was already going on. "Being well-read, perhaps you might be able to help me." He reached
into his belt pouch and drew forth a small clay amulet inscribed with the figure of an owl. He offered it
to Gabrielle and asked, "Perhaps you could tell me the meaning behind this. I found it hung over the
point of my spear when I woke this morning, yet there was no sign of footprints leading to or from my
camp other than my own, and I'm a light sleeper. Do you recognize it?"
          Gabrielle barely glanced at it before responding. "You don't have to be well-read to know this
sign. This is the symbol of Athena."
          "Athena?" He was interested, but clearly not impressed by the foreign name he did not
recognize. "And who or where might that be?" He passed his wine skin to Xena.
          Xena replied, "Just the Goddess of Wisdom. She has a temple about a day and a half from here."
          He didn't drop the wine, but he was taken back by her statement. "It seems to me you have an
appointment."
          As Gabrielle handed the talisman back to Fionn, he asked, "Does this kind of thing happen often
around here? I mean, being summoned by the priests of local deities?"
          "Oh, I don't think that's from her priesthood." Xena was enjoying the fact that he could be
surprised. "You said yourself, no footprints. I think that's a summons from the goddess herself."
          "Surely not." When they looked back at him seriously, he asked,"You've actually met one of
these gods before?"
          Gabrielle reassured him. "Actually, we've met a number of the gods, but don't be too impressed.
Most of them aren't that spectacular."
          "No, most of them are petty, self-serving immortals who seem to take delight in causing
trouble," Xena added. "Like Ares, the God of War... now, there's a real piece of work. Vain, treacherous,
deceitful, the manners of a spoiled child with the powers of a deity. A real charmer."
          Gabrielle was quick to reassure Fionn. "But don't worry. As gods go, Athena is one of the best.
Her word is good, and while she may be vain, she is the Goddess of Wisdom."
          "I've received visitations from Brigit, the Bright Lady of my people, on a couple of occasions,
but always in visions or dreams, never in person. Is this common?" Now that he had gotten hold of the
idea, he seemed more curious than apprehensive.
          "Not exactly common. Most folk go their entire life without seeing a god. But pretty commonplace
when you're around Xena. On average, we probably run across one or another of the gods about
once every full moon or so."
          "A rather chatty bunch, are they?"
          Xena's disgusted tone told him more than her words. "It seems that, for some reason, they just
love interfering in the lives of mortals."
          Mentally dusting himself off, he addressed Gabrielle. "If I'm to meet with one of these gods,
perhaps I should learn as much about them as I can before proceeding. Would you care to instruct me in
the matter of your local gods?"
          Gabrielle smiled, pleased at the opportunity to speak more with this gentleman of the far west.
          "Of course. I'd be happy to."
          Xena said, unsaddling Argo and taking her bedroll, "Then if you wouldn't mind doing it quietly,
I'd like to get some sleep. We've got some distance to cover in the next day and a half."
          "You'll be accompanying me then?" He seemed pleased at the prospect.
          "When dealing with the gods, it's always best to have a local guide. We're heading in that
general direction anyway." She made up her bedroll. "Anyway, I admit to being curious as to why
Athena wants to talk to someone so new to the land.
          "In the mean time...", she lay down and pulled the covers over herself, "if you would keep your
narrative to a dull roar." Explaining to Fionn, she added, "Gabrielle tends to get a little carried away
when she starts telling her stories."
          He looked at the young blonde with raised eyebrows. "You're a bard as well?"
          She shrugged in a self-deprecating manner. "I like to talk."
          Xena's voice answered from under the covers. "You can say that again!"

