Chapter Text
It's been very difficult for me to research throughout this series and to follow a somewhat accurate timeline. As usual at the end of every story in this series, I've included blurbs of some of the historical events/characters at the end of this chapter.
Continue this epic journey in part 4 (The Lieutenant)
Enjoy and thank you for reading everyone!
Epilogue
Four Years Later
They sent me daughters when I asked for sons
Xena leaned on a table and used a long pointer to guide her way through a map set up on an easel. She was roped into teaching a class about weapons and their uses and where they originated from. Gabrielle's school was built in a year and all children from the ages of four and above were allowed to attend. Everyone was welcome, but Xena was really starting to hate this job.
She whacked the map with her pointing stick and all of the young boys and girls flinched. Farah's boys, Aman, Aladar, and Edemen sat in the front together. Issik and Muqan sat together and were not very interested in today's lesson at all. Muqan was the same age as Farah's youngest sons and he was super distracted all the time, unable to focus, and constantly needed to be fidgeting with something to keep his mind occupied.
"Let's try this again. Where does a scimitar come from?" she asked the class.
Aman raised his hand eagerly and she sighed. The twin princes always knew the answers to everything and sometimes blurted out the answers but Xena put a stop to that when she whacked them with the stick in the first week of classes. Now they at least raised their hands.
"Someone other than Aman…" she said and looked around at the class. She smiled at Oran's littlest son. "Muqan," she picked him out and the fair-skinned boy lifted his black eyes. "Where does the scimitar originate from?"
He twiddled his thumbs and looked at his older brother, Issik. "Um…I…I donno."
She pinched the bridge of her nose and Aman waved his hand in the air, lifting off the ground. "Fine, Aman, what is the answer?"
"Persia!"
"Correct," she said and pointed to the location. She tapped the stick against her palms. "What about the shamshir? Anyone?"
Aladar and Aman both raised their hands and she grimaced at them. "Not you two. I know you know the answer." She hissed and they lowered their arms. She caught Edemen snoozing and kicked his boot. He awoke and his little brothers giggled. "Edemen, where does the shamshir come from?"
"Oh uh," he rubbed his head. "Arabia?" he guessed.
"That's correct. Don't fall asleep in my class." She warned him of the consequences to be held. She set the stick down on the table and folded her arms. "Alright, get out of here. We're done for today."
All of the children quickly ran out of the classroom and Gabrielle stepped out of the way as she was nearly stampeded by tiny students. When the room was cleared she walked in, smiling at her wife. "How was class today?"
Xena took the map off the easel and rolled it up. "Terrible. Farah's boys are too smart to be in this class and nobody pays attention. I think Muqan has a learning problem. He's so distracted by everything. A butterfly could pass by and he watches it for an hour!"
"Welcome to my life. Teaching isn't easy. You have to make it fun for them otherwise they'll think it's boring."
"Weapons aren't fun! They're dangerous and they are not play toys."
Gabrielle crossed her arms, wagging her head. "Xena, they're children, not soldiers. Try a different approach next time. Nobody wants to learn about how a sword is made or where it originated from. They just want to see the sword stab through the enemy." She made spurting sounds with her mouth and pumped her fist.
Xena cringed in slight disgust. "How am I going to keep them interested?"
"I'm sure you'll think of something. You can be very creative when you want to."
Xena raised her eyebrow and set her supplies into a chest and head out of the room, closing the door behind her. They walked out of the school together and saw Arielle with a horde of young women, mostly teenagers, running all together with Arielle leading the way ahead of the group. Xena's eyes widened and she gripped the key in her fist.
"What the hell is this?!" she yelled.
Gabrielle cringed slapped a hand over her eyes.
Xena had been training Arielle over the last four years and while her granddaughter picked up cues quickly, she was skeptical and this one of the reasons. An army of women was not something she wanted and Arielle yelled at the girls to keep up in their jogging horde.
She marched onto the field and pushed a few men out of the way who were ogling the women wearing cropped tops and long skin-tight pants. She stood in front of the path and Arielle skid to a stop and raised her hand. All of the girls ran into each other and some fell on top of one another.
Arielle swung her long curly ponytail out of her face and rested her hands on her hips, breathing in and out heavily. "Grandma," she smiled. "We're going for a morning run. Would you like to join us?"
Xena frowned. "No thank you. Arielle, what is this? Are you training girls to be in the army?"
"Why not? Women have a right to join too. We have plenty of able-bodied girls here. I took a survey a month ago and they all wanted to train with me. Do you have a problem with that?"
"Now that you mention it; yes I do."
Arielle looked back at the girl trainees. "I'd love to talk but not now, okay? We have to make two more laps around the field. See you later!" she smiled and waved her hand for the horde of girls to continue jogging with her.
"Arielle!" she yelled. She turned her eyes to a couple of young boys, gawking at the half-dressed girls. She grabbed a staff leaning on a yurt, used for stirring laundry in a hot bin, and whacked the back of their heads with it.
Gabrielle covered her mouth at the disgruntled young men and they walked off, rubbing the backs of their heads. "Well, she is ambitious. You have to give her that."
"I did not approve this."
"Are you against women joining the army?"
Xena groaned. "She should be training the recruits we already have, not spend her time conditioning girls who have no background in combat."
The governor smiled. "I have faith in her. You should too." She slapped the back of her wife's thigh and Xena gasped. "Soon she won't even need your permission to do anything!"
Bayan rode into Pannonia carrying Aurora in front of him on the saddle. He searched for Arielle and saw her screaming at a bunch of women and pushing people to the ground. Aurora looked over and he put his hand over her eyes and jumped off the horse. He grabbed his daughter and lifted her off the horse.
Aurora spat some of her long wavy locks out of her mouth and adjusted her scrunched blouse. He tried to fix her hair and she immediately whined and shoved him away. Bayan put up his hands and backed away from his incredibly fussy daughter.
"Where's mommy?" she asked.
"She's um, she's a little busy right now."
"Why now?" Aurora ran in front of the horse and saw her mother screaming at the female trainees. The princess widened her big green eyes and batted her long eyelashes. "Why's she so mad?"
Bayan panicked and led his daughter away from the commotion and pulled her into his arms and ran up the stairs into the Adame. She kept looking over his shoulder and rubbed her tired eyes, yawning deeply. Given that Arielle stayed in Pannonia training to be commander they decided to split up their parenting and exchange Aurora back and forth several times out of the year.
It worked for a while but now Bayan was growing tired of coming back to Pannonia every couple of months to drop off Aurora. He desperately needed to talk to Arielle and tell her this arrangement wasn't working anymore.
Anastasia came downstairs and Aurora gasped. She wiggled out of her father's arms and ran up the stairs. Ana smiled and her granddaughter crashed into her. She ran her fingers through Aurora's light brown hair which was only a shade darker than her olive skin. The girl truly looked hardly anything like Arielle and she was a strange girl. She liked to bring in reptiles from outside and apparently Bayan let her keep a giant snake in the bedroom back in Harran. It was quite a funny sight to see when Farah's boys run in horror from the reptiles Aurora brought to the Adame.
Anastasia, not trusting the girl, quickly pat her down for any strange animals she might be hiding in her pockets or boots.
Xena stormed into the Adame and glared at her daughter. "Anastasia! We must talk about Arielle. She just –" she paused when Aurora turned around. She forced a smile. "Aurora, you're here."
"I'm tired…" Aurora said softly.
Ana picked her up and kissed her forehead. "Mother can you take her?" she asked and Xena knitted her brows. "Please?" she begged. Her mother narrowed her eyes but took Aurora into her arms and wrapped a hand around the girl's head.
Aurora yawned and rest her head on Xena's shoulder, trying to keep her eyes open to listen in on the adults' conversations but sleep was giving in. Xena whispered, covering the child's ears. "You tell Arielle to come see me when she's available."
"I'll make sure to tell her," said Ana. She then glared at Bayan and walked outside to go grab her daughter to discuss other things besides whatever her mother wanted her for.
Gabrielle waited in the bedroom for her wife to return from tucking in Aurora. Xena arrived and closed the door quietly and let out a huge sigh. "Rough day, huh?" she teased.
"That girl says she's tired but she won't ever go to sleep. She wanted me to tell her a story and we all know I'm not good at those."
"Sure you are…sometimes. If you leave the blood and killing out, your tales are remarkable!" Gabrielle laughed wholeheartedly.
"You must think you're so funny," Xena walked over to the table and snatched the bottle of wine, and poured a large helping for herself. "How was your Latin class? Hopefully better than my class."
The governor sat back in the chair and propped her boots on the table. "It was very good actually but I have it easy. I got all of the older children. Did you know Talat and Tolan are really good calligraphers? Farah would be very impressed. I told them if they could write a page, they can show Ursula."
Xena smiled and sipped the wine generously. "Who knew Ebnedzar's boys were good at writing. There's hope for them yet."
"I got a letter from Csaba. He and Ernak are busy at the border fighting with Justinian."
"Romans," Xena snarled. "Nothing will ever kill that man. He's like a bug that you can never squish with the underside of your boot." She clenched her fist tightly, turning her knuckles bright white.
Gabrielle could never quite get over her wife's vengeance for all Romans. "Yes…a bug," she clears her throat and continues, "Ernak is doing a great job keeping Justinian's men out of Banat but with the rate of his expanding empire, I fear that we'll never be rid of him."
"More work for Arielle in the future," she saluted with her glass and grinned.
"Are you still upset that she is training the young women of Pannonia?"
Xena shrugged her shoulder, choosing not to answer. The less focused she was on Arielle's ambitions, the calmer she was.
"Well, I for one think it's a great idea! This generation will change the empire forever. Fresh faces can be a good thing and Arielle hasn't disappointed you yet in the last four years. You have to admit that she's very good at being a commander."
"She has a lot to learn." Xena picked out a fruit fly in her wine and flicked it into the fireplace behind her. "The real test is when she has to actually enter a battlefield. Plans don't always work out the way you want them to in a war. She will have to think quickly and strategize accordingly."
Gabrielle nodded, agreeing with that. There were several times when plans went awry and Xena had to think on her feet and come up with a solution. Constantinople was one of those times when they were stuck on the wall for days on end, threatening to surrender.
"I believe in her and I know you do too." She hinted and tapped her wife's hand. "Come on, I want to hear you say it." She leaned on the table with a big smile.
Xena grumbled. "Fine. I believe she will be a great commander. Does that satisfy you?"
She reached over and pecked her lips. "Yes, it does. Thank you."
Bayan paced around the suite, unsure how to approach the subject of changing the dynamics of his marriage. He didn't want to keep going back and forth from Assyria to Pannonia just for the sake of Aurora. He wanted Arielle to come home but now that she has taken the role of commander, he knew this was never going to work and he couldn't be absent from Harran for long periods of time.
Arielle slipped into the room, going unnoticed by her husband. She stripped herself of her cropped blouse, pants, and boots. She let down her long curly hair and slowly crept behind him. Suddenly, she jumped onto his back and wrapped her legs around his waist.
Being away for a few months wasn't so bad, she thought. She knew they worked better when they weren't at each other's throats all the time. She enjoyed his return to Pannonia every two months when he brought their daughter back with him.
He grabbed her fleshy thigh and widened his eyes, realizing she was completely naked. She jumped off him and came round to face him. His eyes traveled down to her breasts and tapered waist, showing off her lean abdominal muscles.
She grabbed his arm and threw him on the bed and climbed on top of him. Bayan gasped, staring into her hungry blue eyes. "Where's Aurora?" she asked in a breathy voice.
He stammered, "she –she's in bed. Your grandmother took her."
"Good." She kissed his neck and ripped open his shirt and her lips trailed down his bare chest. He closed his eyes, trying not to let her wandering mouth distract him although it was difficult. She smelled of sweat and dirt from being in the field all day.
She lifted her eyes and laid her body against his. She pinched his chin and his eyes shot wide open. She laughed at his coyness and he half-smiled. "Are you not happy to see me?"
"I'm always happy to see you but we should talk first."
She rolled off of him and he gawked at her toned body. He threw a blanket at her. "But please cover yourself. I can't talk with you looking like that."
Arielle grinned mischievously and wrapped the blanket around herself and cuddled close to him. He sighed and wishes she wouldn't do that. It was making this conversation a lot harder than it needed to be.
"You know I wanted to talk to you too," she said and he raised his thick brows. "We should have a baby. I can still do all my training until the birth. Aurora would be so happy to have a little brother or sister. I know you asked two years ago but I just wasn't ready. I was too busy at the time but now Aurora is older. What do you think?"
He lowered his eyes and got off the bed, pacing around again. "Arielle, we can't do that."
"How come? I thought you wanted to have more children."
"Yes…"
"So…?"
He ran his hand across his face. "Arielle, I met someone else in an excursion across the Mongolian Steppes," he blurted out. The sheer shock crossed her face and she furrowed her eyebrows. "Her name is Sarnai."
She stayed quiet and got off the bed and walked over to grab a towel to bathe, refusing to acknowledge his presence. She wrapped a silk robe around her body and heard him sigh heavily in the background.
"Get rid of her," she says.
Bayan frowned. "I can't do that."
"Then I'll do it!" she turned around swiftly with fiery eyes. "Tell me where she is so I can rip her throat out."
"Arielle, I can't! She's carrying my child."
Her eyes widened and she ran towards him and slammed him into the door, knocking it open. They fell onto the floor in the hallway. She tried to pin his arms to the ground but his strength far beyond her and he flipped her over, now on top of her. She kneed his groin and he hissed, biting his tongue but still held her arms to the floor.
The two squabbled and squirmed on the floor like a pair of rats fighting over the leftover flesh of a dead animal. "Arielle! Stop it!" he pleaded and she was able to get one hand free and pushed his face away from hers.
In the middle of Gabrielle reading quietly and her wife, sharpening a sword, they heard a lot of thumping on the second floor above them. Gabrielle looked at the ceiling and the chandelier in their room swayed gently.
Xena raised her eyebrow and the yelling from above was not to be misheard. She set her sword aside and ran outside. Aurora came out of her room and Xena rushed over to her, begging her to go back into her bedroom.
"Aurora, go back to bed." She said and then heard Arielle calling Bayan foul names. The girl's mouth gaped. "Just go." She wasn't taking no for an answer and closed the door.
Gabrielle ran to her side. "Was that Arielle?"
"I think so."
They ran up the stairs and were horrified to see husband and wife, beating each other up. It was more of Arielle beating Bayan while he tried to evade her legs, knees, and elbows to the ribs. Xena ran over and grabbed her granddaughter's arms and pried her off Bayan and held her in a bear hug.
"Enough!" she yelled and Arielle breathed heavily, blowing hair away from her face. "I said enough!" she squeezed the young commander until Arielle winced.
Bayan rose from the floor and rolled his neck and shoulders. Gabrielle cautiously approached and put up her hands. "What is going on?" she asked.
"He fucked a Mongolian whore!" Arielle spat.
Xena glared at him and released her granddaughter to continue attacking him. Gabrielle stepped in between them and put her hands on Arielle's shoulders. "No! There will be no more of this! Understand?" she said and Arielle was ready to attack her husband. "Understand?!"
Arielle lifted her chin and fixed her ruffled hair and smoothed down her sleeves. "I suggest…you find somewhere else to sleep."
She stormed back into the suite and slammed the door. Bayan sighed and rubbed his aching neck then caught his wife's grandmother glaring at him, ready to kill him at any moment. He questioned his ability to take her on even though he was much younger than her. He silently walked off down the hall and skipped down the stairs.
Gabrielle set her hands on her hips and exhaled. "I can't believe he'd do that to her."
"Believe it, Gabrielle."
Anastasia enjoyed her life better now than she ever did. She did miss Ellac and she definitely missed exchanging letters with Navaz but she hadn't spoken to him a lot in the last four years. Safiya was still very upset as she should be. Now that Farah was in charge of the majority of the empire, Anastasia lived a life of leisure and was able to do more things for herself.
This included tending to the khatun whose health had deteriorated over the years. She was hardly able to stand on her own and spoke hoarsely due to the rapidly spreading infection in her lungs. It was difficult to see as Kreka had been so strong for so long and now her hair had gone completely silver, void of its famous black sheen. Her skin pale and body thin compared to her slender physique which exuded such power.
Ana entered the khatun's room and set down a tray of soup, water, and juice. She saw the khatun on her back, sleeping soundly. She half smiled and swung open the curtains to the windows and tied the tassels around the thick curtains.
"Kurt is taking Gabrielle's Latin class," she spoke aloud and received no response. She walked over and opened the other curtains to let the sunlight in. "He says he hates it but he loves Farah's math class. He says it's very helpful to his blacksmithing."
She frowned and turned around, staring at the silent khatun who had yet to awaken. Ana let the curtains slip from her hands and slowly tread to the bed. "Kreka?" she whispered. She held her breath and paddled the queen mother's thigh to wake her up.
Kreka's arm fell limp off her chest and flung over the side of the bed. Anastasia gasped and took a step back. She took a few moments to gather herself and then bravely grabbed the khatun's cold hand and felt her wrist. She snatched her hand away and put a hand over her mouth.
She figured that the khatun passed in her sleep last night as she was wide awake yesterday, talking to Nisa and her grandsons. Anastasia grabbed the khatun's arm and gently set it over her chest and backed away.
Anastasia closed the door on her way out and leaned against the wall for a few moments. Nisa came with fresh linen from the laundry to change her mother-in-law's sheets. "Is she awake? I have new sheets."
Ana lifted her wet eyes and Nisa furrowed her eyebrows then eyed the closed doors. She dropped the sheets and rushed into the room and Ana heard Nisa's cries from inside. She walked away from the room to keep her distance.
When the news of the khatun's death spread around the camp; many people came to the Adame to bring gifts. Ernak was away with Csaba but when he was to return, he was going to be devastated. He loved his mother and now he had both his parents ripped away from him as well as Bakkah and two older brothers. He'd only have Ebnedzar left as a part of his immediate family.
The maids dressed Kreka in one of her finest dresses and her infamous burgundy headdress known to everyone. After Utiger, Kurt and Nisa were able to spend time with her while she lay in bed, Xena came in last. She didn't want to at first but convinced herself to after everyone left and it was after dark.
She stood over the bed, staring at the lifeless queen mother. She tapped Kreka's shiny boots gingerly and fixed her collar that was a bit lopsided. Xena never thought that Kreka would be the one to die before she did. She always thought she'd be the first to go and Kreka would live much longer than her, perhaps another twenty years, but that wasn't the case.
She looked behind her at the closed doors and sat on the bed next to the khatun. Smiling, she adjusted the headdress. "Perfect," she says softly.
She knew how stingy the khatun could be when it came to dressing well. She always looked very polished and illuminated beauty even during the worst of times. Xena had seen death many times but never had it hurt her so much to see her longtime friend's body before her. She was tempted to look away but she couldn't.
Gabrielle mentioned several times that she kept her feelings bottled up a lot. She knew that was true and she never truly grieved properly for anyone of her loved ones who passed. Talking. Gabrielle was good at talking.
"So," she began, "who am I supposed to call 'dragon lady' now?" she playfully joked with a smile. She was expecting the khatun to reach over and slap her or come back with an insult. Xena frowned sadly and buried her face in her hands.
Gabrielle searched for her wife for a while and had an idea of where she might be. She creaked open the door to Kreka's bedroom and saw Xena on the bed like a dark shadow, looming over the queen mother's body. She cracked a soft smile and closed the door quietly.
Three days after Kreka Khatun's funeral and Xena performed a dirge for her departure since the queen liked her voice so much, Anastasia was gifted a black kozak. She looked into her mother's eyes that stood afar on the field near the stairs of the Adame.
Farah, being the only other queen here, had to distribute the kozak. Anastasia averts her eyes back to Farah and she bent her knees slightly. The black headdress was placed on her head and Farah adjusted the veil to frame her chiseled face.
Everyone standing in the crowd reluctantly clapped and the atmosphere was dark and tense. The air still smelt of burning ashes and embers from the funeral days earlier. Ana put on a face and smiled gently at the citizens and thanked Farah for her help distributing the kozak. The people began to disperse and Ana descended down the stairs to greet her mother and Gabrielle.
The governor gripped the queen's shoulder briefly. Xena folded her arms, staring at her daughter's elaborate headdress which she normally did not wear on a daily basis. Kreka wore one religiously and hardly anyone ever saw her long hair hidden beneath it.
"I feel weird."
Xena remembered those exact words when her daughter was a child. She was trying on dresses for the first time in her life and those were the words she spoke long ago. She also had the same expression on her face; clueless, dazed, and confused.
"Does this mean we have to call you Anastasia Khatun now?" Xena teased.
"I'd rather you not."
Gabrielle admired the beaded headdress and nodded. "You deserve the title, Ana. You're the queen mother now. Anything you say will be set in stone," she tried to make light of the situation.
"It doesn't feel right to take her title. I don't think I am worthy of it."
Xena tilted her head, giving her daughter a disapproving look. "Don't doubt yourself. You're a great queen and she'd want you to do her title justice."
The newly crowned khatun nodded. She felt somewhat reassured of her new position and lifted her black dress to head back up the stairs.
Gabrielle turned to her wife who watched Anastasia disappear into the wooden palace. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm alright." She squeezed the governor's hand. "That bitch will always be watching me anyway," she joked and Gabrielle punched her bicep. "What? She loves my little jabs at her. I'm sure she's fuming mad right now as we speak. Perhaps I should expect her to haunt my dreams." She wiggled her fingers.
"I hope she does!" Gabrielle rolled her eyes and walked towards the Adame.
Xena snickered and then felt a cold chill against her shoulder. She spun around and gripped her shoulder, eyeing the empty field surrounding her. Her eyes roamed the area and then looked at the bright blue sky above. She frowned and cautiously walked backward due to her suspicious nature of all things spiritual.
"Gabrielle!" she cried out and darted across the field.
Arielle was finishing unpacking her daughter's clothes and angrily stuffing them into the drawers. She slammed each drawer shut before opening another. She hadn't seen or spoken to Bayan in a week and with Kreka's unexpected death, she didn't know how her life was going to pan out anymore. She thought she had a good marriage with Bayan despite the long-distance but now everything changed and it only took a second of him blurting out he got his whore pregnant. Now she knew why Ku had ignored her letters and hadn't written back to her.
She missed Ku a lot but thought it'd be better if she stayed in Harran since Aurora made frequent visits. When she stopped receiving letters from Ku she wondered if the woman had gotten terribly busy but everything made sense now.
Aurora sat on the bed, playing with a toy. She eyed her mother who was obviously in a bad mood. She was too young to understand the death of a person and hardly knew Kreka so the funeral was a bit jarring to her.
"Mommy, did you find Esen?"
Arielle paused and turned to her daughter with red puffy eyes. "What?"
"Esen," she repeated.
"Oh," Arielle searched through the chest of clothes that Bayan sent with their daughter. Esen was a blanket that Ku made for Aurora and she always had it with her on the bed. She struggled to find the said blanket and slapped her knees.
"Sorry, tatli kiz, I can't seem to find Esen. You must have left him back in Harran."
The princess gasped. "But, but I need him!"
Arielle smiled softly. "I know. I can write Ku and ask her to send it to us because you won't be going back to Harran."
"I won't?"
She grabbed the little princess and held her in her lap on the bed. "No, you're going to stay with me here in Pannonia. You like it here right?" she asks and Aurora nodded while still playing with the toy.
"Is daddy staying too?"
Arielle pursed her mouth and she didn't want to disappoint her daughter. She knew Aurora loved Bayan and aside from his recent affairs, he had been a very good father. She lied instead, "No, he has to go back."
The princess nodded, accepting her life the way it had been since she was born. "'Cause war stuff?"
"Yes," the commander grinned sadly. "War stuff." She picked up her daughter and set her on the floor and bent over to her eye level. "Hey, I have to go train. I'll take you to see your grandmother. Would you like that?"
The girl grinned. "Yeah! Will she take me to the river again? I like that place."
Anastasia stood off to the side in a hallway, watching Cera and Mirac paint a mural together in the ballroom. She was very protective over her youngest child especially after what happened with Csaba and Arielle. She never had to worry about Csaba as she knew he was very grounded and smart. He and Farah hardly knew each other but they'd been married for almost ten years now and lived happily.
Arielle was another story entirely but now that she was older and had a child of her own, Ana didn't worry about her as much. Arielle drove herself to the highest limits and often overwhelmed herself but she liked the stress; it was invigorating to her. Ana saw much of her mother in Arielle especially now that Arielle was almost twenty-two years old. They liked to take extreme risks and didn't think about other people who were affected around them. It was an admirable skill sometimes. Anastasia sometimes wished she was more like her mother and daughter in that respect.
Gabrielle surprised the queen mother and looked on with her at Cera and Mirac. This arranged relationship was perhaps the only one to actually work as the teenagers respected one another and had a lot in common. Gabrielle figured that Mirac was so infatuated with Cera that he loved anything she did. He came back and forth between Kazakhstan and Pannonia several times over the course of the last four years. He definitely wasn't the little boy who gifted Cera jewelry anymore.
Cera was so unlike her siblings, it was strange. She was very kind and sweet compared to Csaba and Arielle who could be a little hotheaded and stubborn at times –more so Arielle than Csaba. The redheaded princess had grown into a beautiful young woman who was now taller than Arielle and her mother but met her brother's height and Mirac's. It was lucky that Mirac was tall.
"He really loves her. I can tell he'd do anything for her," the governor remarked.
Anastasia smiled and touched the black kozak veil gently. "Yes, he would. More than I can say for Bayan." She says bitterly.
"Arielle told you what happened."
"Yes and I'm shocked Bayan would do that to my daughter. He is a great father to Aurora but a poor husband. He reminds me of Attila –never satisfied with one woman. Arielle told me that she wanted another child," she whispered.
Gabrielle hung her head and sighed. "Maybe she will forgive him."
"I doubt that. She's been occupying herself in her training for two weeks to bottle up her feelings."
"Are you going to talk to her?"
Ana waved her hand with a small smile. "I've learned to stay away. If she wants to talk to me she will. Mother was right. Arielle will never change who she is and I should've accepted that a long time ago. She follows no one's rules. They are more alike than I thought."
The governor nodded, agreeing entirely. Their cover was blown when Cera and Mirac turned around. They slipped away from the doorway and grinned at one another. Mirac could be heard telling Cera about Anastasia's indiscreet spying.
"They've caught us," she told Gabrielle with mirth in her blue eyes.
"Are you going to announce the wedding? We could use some good news around here," Gabrielle implied that Kreka's passing was really draining for the entire camp and empire as a whole.
Ana peered into the ballroom at her daughter and knitted her brows. She wasn't opposed to her and Mirac getting married and god knows that his father was bugging her about it for the last year. She hated to let go of her last child. She naively thought that she could hold onto Cera forever thinking she'd never grow up and remain her baby. But at seventeen, Cera was not a child anymore and she had a far more stable life than Csaba and Arielle ever did.
"I'll talk with Cera and ask if that's what she wants to do. I don't want to pressure her."
Gabrielle was skeptical of that. Cera had been asking her mother for a year to marry Mirac. "Ana, you can't keep her here for the rest of her life."
"Why not?" she teased.
"She'll be fine on her own. You raised her well."
Ana exhaled heavily and folded her arms, eyeing Mirac help with the mural as best as he could, given that he wasn't a good artist. "If she gets married she will have to move to Kazakhstan and it could be a year or longer before I see her again."
"There's always letters. You won't have to worry about Cera. She's very smart. Kreka left her tribe to marry Attila and I think she did pretty well for herself," Gabrielle smiles, remembering the headstrong khatun.
"You make a good argument, Gabrielle," she turned with a sparkling smile. "Where's my mother?"
Gabrielle rolled her eyes. "She's teaching her class right now."
"She's not used to teaching children. I'm sure she's going stir crazy."
The retired commander tried to approach her young students with her usual geography lesson but it wasn't easy keeping a group of thirty children from ages four to thirteen interested in the history of weaponry. The children were bored and Aurora was a latecomer to the class. She was more interested in a huge spider she found behind the school and none of the other children wanted to be around her.
Xena decided to gather up all of her students and bring them to the courtyard in front of the school. She organized them by age and height and put them in three rows of ten facing her. Gabrielle said to make the lessons more fun and she forgot that children were not soldiers and their attention span was that of a fly. She took her wife's suggestion into consideration and acted upon it.
She took some red paint from Cera's art room and smeared the paint on each child's face individually and they all were instantly more awake than when they were in the classroom earlier. They eagerly looked at one another and didn't know what was happening but they didn't care. The paint was far more intriguing than sitting in a boring history class.
Xena walked back to the front and stared at all the painted faces and smirked. They looked ridiculous but they were having fun at least. Even all three of Csaba's sons who pride in looking their best enjoyed being dirty and even smeared the paint in their trimmed slicked back locks.
She set the mood. "Alright, all of you have red painted faces and you're on a mission. Mind you, this is a stealth mission," she explained and all the children eagerly waited for more. "Colors are very important to stealth missions. So, if you're covered in red paint, where would you be on the map?"
Muqan, who was usually distracted and quiet, blurted out, "the desert!"
"Right," she nodded with a satisfied smile. "But which desert?"
Edemen scoffed. "Arabia of course."
"That desert is brown!" Aman yelled up at his older brother. "It will be Tunis 'cause of the mountains," he says proudly with a cheeky grin and Edemen rolled his eyes. "Stupid," he muttered.
"We don't call soldiers names, Aman. We're all part of the same team," she reminded the prince and he shamefully turned away from all his classmates' stares. "Now, if you were all paying attention in class; what kind of weapon would you use for this mission?"
Again Muqan said, "scimitar!" he cheered with big black eyes and Xena raised her eyebrow at the quiet Gokturk prince. She was surprised he was so focused.
Gabrielle walked up, confused as to why there was an entire class outside of the school. She waltzed over to the front of the group and stared at the children's red-painted faces. "Uh…Xena what is going on?"
"We're on a stealth mission in Tunis," she explained and the governor furrowed her puzzled brows. "You said to make the lessons fun so here we are."
"I see…" she couldn't help but smile at all the bright faces around her. "Are you all having a good time?" she asks the children and they nodded, throwing their arms in the air, yelling loudly. She cringed and covered her ears briefly.
"Wow, you have such eager pupils," she adds and pulls her wife aside away from the children. "Ana decided to announce Cera's wedding to Mirac."
Xena looked disappointed and a hint of sadness crossed her face. She hated to see Cera leave Pannonia but it was inevitable. She was glad that Mirac wasn't a piece of shit like some other men. Her mind drifted to Bayan and he was already long gone back to Harran to be with his pregnant Mongolian mistress.
"I will miss her."
Gabrielle nods. "I know. Me too. Someone else will have to take over her class when she leaves."
"Do not ask me to teach an art class."
"I wasn't," she chuckled. "You can't draw to save your life." She rubbed her chin and her wife nudged her roughly. "I'm sure we can find someone."
Aurora held a simple garden snake in her hand that she found in the courtyard and showed her squeamish cousins. Aman and Aladar screamed and made disgusted faces. "It's just a snake!" she says and shoves the animal in their faces.
"Aurora, stop! You're so gross!" yells Aladar.
"Yeah! You're not a normal girl!" the twin brother agrees.
Both Xena and Gabrielle cracked up at the grossed-out twin princes. Aurora was desperately trying to show them the harmless snake and they ran away to hide behind Edemen but that obviously didn't stop her. The boys screamed in horror acting like it was some venomous snake that was ready to strike at any moment.
"He's cute!" Aurora said with a big grin, getting a kick out of her cousins' fears. "Come on! Just look at his face! He won't bite!"
"Something is wrong with that child," muttered Gabrielle.
Xena sneakily smiled. "Are you afraid of snakes, Gabrielle?"
"Me? Nope."
"Yeah? Then why don't you go touch it?" She shoved her wife forward.
"Xena!"
A couple of months later Ernak and Csaba returned from battling against Justinian's army in lower Banat. They were victorious only because Justinian pulled back his army for now. He'd surely return for more but until then, the army came back in good spirits. All was well until Ernak was told by Anastasia that his mother passed two months ago.
His reaction was expected to be horrible just as Ana predicted. He was completely heartbroken that he missed his mother's death and funeral. He felt more a failure as a son and now he was more alone than ever. He lost two of his brothers and mother in a short amount of time. In the back of his mind, he thought his mother's health was fading quickly but he refused to believe it. She was always so good at hiding her pain and suffering but this time he wished she wouldn't have done that.
It was her slow painful death that hurt him the most. He couldn't do anything to help her and she was so stubborn that she refused the help. Anastasia told him that she tended to Kreka during the last few months before her death. That somewhat comforted him to know that his mother wasn't ever alone. She was surrounded by her family. He made a promise to both his deceased parents that he'd be the best king of the empire when he was a child. Now, he had to fulfill that promise. He didn't want to let either one of them down.
Bayan's infidelity reached Csaba as soon as he set foot on Pannonian soil. Instead of going into a fit of rage over his brother-in-law's affair, he felt sorry for his little sister. He really wanted the best for her and now her marriage was basically over and done with. He knew that Arielle would never forgive Bayan for what he had done. He only suggested to her that Bayan be allowed to see Aurora only because he knew what life was like without a father when he was that young.
Aside from the horrible news upon the two kings' return, the only good piece of news was Cera's wedding. Mirac's entire family came to Pannonia. He had five brothers and two sisters, all of who were married and a lot older than him. All of the rooms in the Adame were filled and it was very busy all around.
A lot of his siblings had children of their own and were able to play with all of the royal children. Everyone was occupied with something. Ursula offered to make the wedding dress and told Anastasia that she needed help. She offered to teach the new khatun how to sew again. She figured that Cera's dress was important and that Ana be a part of the process despite her lack of sewing skills.
Gabrielle was in the mailroom organizing all of the letters that went in and out of the empire. The messenger came to her and handed her a letter from Navaz. She immediately stopped what she was doing to read it.
She regretted reading the letter and sighed heavily. She knew this news was going to ruin everyone's good spirits but she had to relay the message. On her way out she headed to Ana's quarters where her wife and Ursula were working on Cera's dress.
She interrupted the session and Cera was standing on a stool while Ursula was pinning the bottom of the gown. Gabrielle immediately went to her wife's side and handed her the letter in silence. Xena stepped to the side so she was not to upset her daughter or anyone else in the room.
Anastasia caught on and eyed her mother's look of dread. She hated seeing that expression and it was bad news –it had to be. "Why are you two huddled in a desolate corner?"
Xena looked at her concerned wife and approached the khatun. "Persians are going to attack Balaam and Mongolia. Navaz asked for a commander," she says and Ana's face paled. "He wants Arielle to lead the front."
Arielle read her father's request and lifted her eyes to her grandmother, mother, and Gabrielle all gawking at her. She threw the letter down on the table and waved her hand. "Of course I will go. It's not like I have much of a choice."
"Arielle, this will be your first time in the field without my help. I want to make sure that you are ready," said Xena.
"Grandma, you've trained me for four years. I think I know what I'm doing. I haven't disappointed you yet, have I?"
Xena frowned. "It isn't about you disappointing me. It's about you coming back alive and in one piece. I'm not going to be behind you, shouting out commands of what to do next. This isn't a training exercise. This is a real war."
"I'm not stupid. I know that you won't be there physically. I can do this!" she said, slamming her fists on the armrests. Her mother looked at her skeptically and Gabrielle covered her mouth, unsure what to say. She had a pensive look about her.
She added, "You don't think I can do it, can you?" Arielle looked at all three women.
Gabrielle intervened. "It's not that we think you can't do it, Arielle. War is different. Everything is unexpected and you don't always know what your enemy is going to do next. It may start off predictable but that's what the Persians expect."
"Balash and his army are going to expect me to be leading the army but I won't be there. You'll take them by surprise. You're fresh meat, Arielle. You are inexperienced in war. You may be great at commanding on the field with no enemies shooting hundreds of arrows at your men, but you have no idea what's going to happen." Xena advised her granddaughter.
At this point, Arielle was getting annoyed and she stood up, glaring at her three mentors. "All of your training isn't going to go to waste. I'm going and I will not end up on a funeral pyre," she emits determination and all three women lowered their eyes.
"I'll write Ku and tell her to come here. She can take care of Aurora while I'm away. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to talk to my brother and convince him to give me half his men." She snatched her headdress and stormed out.
Weeks after Cera's wedding, she left with Mirac to Kazakhstan and probably wouldn't return to Pannonia for a year or so. She promised everyone that she'd write and sure enough after a month, she sent out dozens of letters to everyone. She did miss every single person in her family but she really loved her new home with Mirac.
It was like she never left home in a way. There were a lot of children in Mirac's family and he had so many siblings and other family members that treated Cera really well upon her arrival. They were obligated to because she was a princess of the entire empire and Kerem kept a promise to Anastasia that he'd spy on Madhiya for her. His spying had not been fruitful for a while and that concerned him only because Madhiya had gone off the radar.
Anastasia received news that the widow of Bleda had left her area and relocated her tribe elsewhere. The new location was unknown but she thought that was very strange.
Arielle gathered up her brother's men and Ernak's as well. She was ready to head to Balaam in full armor and even had a special helmet that had silver chains along the sides to frame her face. The day she was to leave she was accosted by her mother, grandmother, and Gabrielle. It was just like their meeting a month ago.
She didn't feel nervous a month ago when she was determined to help her father against the new Persian Shah but now she felt like she was going to vomit. Xena smiled at her and fixed her helmet atop her head.
"You look very adorable in your armor."
Arielle grimaced. "Grandma, I'm supposed to look menacing and strong. Not adorable!"
"Sorry. You look menacingly adorable. Better?"
The young commander rolled her eyes and walked over to the governor who had a hard time keeping a smile on her face. "Gabrielle, I wanted to thank you for helping me. You taught me so much and I know that I've been…a pain in the past so I want to apologize. I promise my daughter isn't like me. In fact, she's so far off from me that I don't even know who that girl is sometimes. I hope you can teach her everything that you've taught me. She won't give you a hard time, hopefully…"
"As long as she doesn't bring any spiders or snakes in my classroom I think I can teach her," Gabrielle joked. Arielle blushed and sighed deeply. She leaned over and kissed the commander's cheek. "I'll teach her everything I know, I promise."
Arielle stepped over to her mother and looked into her eyes which were oddly dry and void of tears. She gave a tight-lipped smile, unsure of what to say. Anastasia hadn't been very receptive over the last month and had a difficult time letting her daughter go on a mission that she may never come back from.
She wrapped her arms around her slender daughter and squeezed tightly. She didn't want to let go. Arielle gasped for air but soon returned the embrace.
"Come back in one piece, please."
Arielle nodded and pulled away. "I will. I promise." she tried to go to her horse but her mother's grip prevented her. "Mom, I have to go!" she says lightly with a smile.
Anastasia frowned sadly and let go of her daughter's hand finally. She watched Arielle mount her horse and call out to the soldiers waiting for the signal to depart from Pannonia. She inhaled deeply and held in her emotions only to wait until her daughter and army had left the encampment entirely.
Xena folded her arms and narrowed her eyes, staring at Arielle ride out, leading the army to the border. When Arielle was out of her view, she turned to her wife who was staring at the army as well.
"Should we follow her?"
Gabrielle raised her eyebrow and smiled, shaking her head. "Xena, she needs to do this by herself. You're not always going to be there for her."
"But nobody ever said I shouldn't be there for her…" she dances with words.
"She's never going to learn if you're always there to pick her up off her feet. Just let her be." She remained focused on watching the army drift further and further away from the border.
She sighed and turned around to find her wife gone. Spinning around, she heard horse hooves, and then Xena rode past her then made a swift turn to come back around. Gabrielle fixed her winded hair and folded her arms.
Xena smiled deviously and extended her hand. "You're not going to let me do this alone, are you?"
Gokturk Empire: Issik, eldest son of Oran and Yeter and second ruler of the Gokturks, established good relations with the White Huns for years. Oran and his wife had two younger sons, Muqan and Taspar, who later became the khans of the Gokturks and Pannonian Avars. The Gokturks and Hun hybrids, called Pannonian Avars, remained allies and friends with the White Huns until the second son, Muqan, became khan and blocked the borders between the two lands.
Queen Boareks: Unfortunately, this woman was the cause of a massive wipe out of Huns with the help from Emperor Justinian. Her sons were unsuccessful at obtaining their positions and died in battle. Her cause of death is unknown but her empire rose and fell quickly after her death.
Prince Csaba: A fierce warrior and from the royal line of Attila, sired three sons, Edemen and twin sons, Aladar and Aman. His sons were the last rulers of the Huns and thus brought the extinction of Attila's empire. Csaba remained prince of the Huns as well as conqueror and king of the Szekelys.
Prince Ernak: The most successful king in the empire after his father. Sharing the empire with Csaba, they split the empire in half and ruled in unison. Ernak continued campaigns against Emperor Justinian. He was the only brother out of all four who sired the most heirs. He and his wife had four sons and three daughters.
White Hun Empire: After the deaths of Attila's sons, the empire dwindled and weakened over the years and fell at one point. Two decades later, the empire regained strength under a king unrelated to Khushnavaz. He wasn't able to remain allies with the Gokturks and thus his empire fell and the Gokturks took over. Once the Gokturks claimed the last bit of Hun land, the Persian Empire emerged again and the Gokturk Empire was taken over by Persian Shahs, distant cousins of Hormizd and Peroz.
Pannonian Avars: The Hun Empire collapsed and the remaining Huns were forced to procreate with Gokturks and Sabirs to continue their line throughout the Steppes and Balkans. The Pannonian Avars remained enemies with Byzantium and continued to have numerous wars over decades. They were saved several times from the Gokturks during war until Gokturk prince, Muqan, became khan.
Princess Arielle: Based off a Pannonian Avar Khatun who married Bayan, the Khan of the Avars. She fought in several wars beside her husband to protect her Hun heritage. She was able to unite the remaining Hun tribes and new Huns were able to establish the old tribes; Ashina, Onogur and Bulgur. She and her stepson, Bayan II, fought against the tyrannical Gokturk Khans for decades.
Xena Warrior Princess Characters: Xena, Gabrielle, Borias, Lyceus, Toris
Original Characters: Anastasia, Cera II, Soran, Talat, Tolan, Rabia, Handan, Safiya, Pirro, Ditron, Xander, Tuya, Busra
Characters Based off historical people: Shamaness Ursula, Oran, Yeter, Leila, Arielle, Farah, Malka, Erzibet, Nisa, Fairuza, Madhiya
Historical Characters (Over the series)
Huns: Attila, Bleda, Kreka (Herekan) Khatun, Ellac, Ernak, Dengizich, Bakkah, Kurt, Utigur, Ebnedzar, Edemen, Aman, Aladar, Bayan, Bayan II, Csaba, Khushnavaz, Basil, Cera I, Ildiko, Kriemhild, Erp, Etil, Kandik, Bolgaris, Mirac
Romans: Anastasius, Valentinian, Aetius, Honoria, Placida, Zeno, Theodosius, Petronius, Odoacer, Basilius, Mundus, Justinian, Empress Theodora, Magnus, Priscus
Persians: Peroz, Hormizd, Balash, Yazghard
Goths/Franks: Ragnachar, Theodoric, Alaric
Scythians/Magyars: Tomiri, Arpad
Sabirs: Boareks, Balmaq, Kutilzis, Iliger
Gokturks: Issik, Muqan, Taspar
Chinese: Emperor Liu, Empress Dowager Shen, Empress Zhenfeng, Princess Bosi, Princess Boyuan
Szekely: Czar Danut