Moon Thief

The tightness on Christian's wrists was unreal. He'd heard of death-grips before, but it seemed like an unlikely threat in the face of overall danger. Whatever it was that was used to bind his wrists wasn't gentle in the slightest, along with the grip of a woman who must have been almost a foot taller than him. They were so hidden in plain sight that Christian had never seen the ambush coming. From there on it was a blindfolded walk for him and Lennie, though his wrists were bound and hers were not.

By the time her blindfold was off they were behind walls. They were tall and wooden, clearly made more so for a barrier rather than actual protection. Lennie was quick to notice the theme of females only. They weren't as quite stereotypical as traditional amazons; some were short, some were tall, they were as diverse as a tribe of only women could be. Lennie thought it was quick to assume they were only women, but the amount of people she'd already seen were far too many to not notice a pattern.

Her blindfold was the only one off, Christian's was still on, and she was beginning to notice how the two variables mixed together. Her or Christian hadn't said a word to each other, they both knew it was a bad idea to stir up even more trouble. Still, Lennie wished she could convey what she was seeing somehow. If things were vice versa, Christian had a way to do so, but she wasn't of the same blood.

The solemn silence had changed, to many female voices conversing to one another. Some silences as they approached, some didn't. Kids could be heard playing, and as far as Lennie could tell, their domestic life wasn't so different from her own. It wasn't long after until they were brought into a clearing with nothing but a large wooden table, and several other figures. Two of them were blindfolded, standing on one side of the table. Lennie was fairly certain they were men. Two other girls stood on the other side of the table. Several women clearly belonging to the tribe circled the area, with one standing by the end of the table. The table was half filled with bronze-themed gear. Lennie could already tell it belonged to Greeks.

The amazonian women placed Lennie next to the other two girls, and placed Christian next to the other blindfolded subjects. Two instantly began to strip him of his gear like it was clockwork. The woman standing by the end of the table spoke up finally. She was a normal height, unlike the woman that had escorted Lennie. "Here's how we do things. You'll tell us why you were here and you get to keep half of the things on this table. We keep them." She gestured towards the three men before stopping entirely, leaving the floor open for whoever wanted to speak.

A heavy weight could be felt in the daughter of Zeus' chest as she stood there. From across the way there was her skating partner Niko and the son of Cymopoleia whom she had met through this whole quest thing to begin with. Beside her on her right was Lia which made that heavy weight placed on her even harder. It had only been a few days ago that she had assembled a team to go on this quest in the first place and now look where she had got the lot of them.

Nika couldn't help but have her pride a little damaged from the altercation. She was meant to be a leader and a good one at that. The the blonde felt as if she had let everyone down in this moment, she had so much confidence that she could do it, it just always felt like she was born to do it and now ever since her grandfather passed away a couple months ago it was as though all the parts of him she had adopted into her own life were slowly fading.

From the moment that they were gathered by the women that surrounded them now, the young girl had to fight off the urge to want to want to hit or scream or yell. It wasn't very often that she had physical contact with other humans and the fact that they were touching her to take her somewhere else made her insides feel like they were caving in on themselves. It took all the will power and strength that she could muster to not freak out and to not do anything to jeopardize the group any farther. This wasn't just her life on the line, it was all of theirs too. Just like everything else that had gone wrong in her life she had to try to forget it and bury it deep within herself so it wouldn't come back up again.

Time passed by very slowly, and there wasn't much she could do to make it speed up or to make this go any faster. The silence was eating away at her as there was no sound, but footsteps at this point. Only a few moments later a group of two was walked in. Another girl and another boy and they were split up much like her own group had been. When the moment came for the woman at the head of the table calling for an answer, Dominika knew she had to be the one to speak up and get her people out of this somehow.

Before the blonde could speak she was cut off by the girl beside her. Aurelia had been silent for way too long so once she was invited to speak she knew she had to take the chance and speak otherwise she was going to explode from remaining silent for so long. It wasn't normal for her to stand in silence, and maybe it would be a bad idea for her to speak, but maybe it wouldn't be. Lia wanted peace more than anyone she knew and maybe she could get everyone to see it her way.

"We are deeply sorry that we have invaded your space, we had no intention to at all, I swear my life on it. We didn't know that this place existed and we are not here to threaten you in any way. We are actually on a quest right now, a very important one at that and everyone is depending on us." Lia said in her typical ramble fashion. The girl wasn't sure how she could convince them of her true intentions, but she was hoping that maybe just maybe, they would have some trust in her. Someone had to see the good in others like her, right?

The red-haired girl's expression remained unchanged, it was an emotionless look. She listened to the pleas from the girl with the rainbow hair, and she considered them. There was a moment of silence, before the woman raised a single hand. Three women came to the side of the table with the men, grabbing them by their bound hands. Christian hated the feeling, but he knew that trying to fight back right now could get him killed, Lennie killed, and now at least one other stranger in their midst.

"Fear not, mystic haired-girl, mercy will be taken on you." The woman said. Her hands folded behind her back. She observed all of the gear on the table from the men. The women hadn't been stripped of their gear in the first place. It simply wasn't accustom to them to accost women any more than they absolutely had to. Xena felt it was lucky that these ones had been very cooperative for the most part, which was by no means the case they always had when they found others near their territory.

"Your intentions matter, but theirs do not. Their presence is a sin, and a deadly one at that. Actions have consequences, and in this case, their intentions do not factor in." She explained. "Their fate has been decided, but yours has not. Tell us of this quest, so that we may decide if your arrival here was by coincidence or by fate." She mused, simply.

Every single moment and movement was made for a reason and was slow. There wasn't much that Nika could do in this moment, Lia had taken the chance to speak before she could and part of her wasn't sure how it was going to go. The group of women seemed to be just that. A group of women and they had some kind of soft spot for fellow women. As fortunate as it felt to not be the one bound with rope and the likes of it, a weight was still placed on her shoulders knowing two members of her own were more than likely not to be let go of.

All of her options seemed bleak for getting Niko and Dimitri back into her hands. She could fight them, but she couldn't be certain the other girl foreign to her would fight with her, and Dominika knew Lia preferred peace no matter what the cost was and she would insist to do it her way. Nika knew Lia was right though, they had to try the peace route first, because attacking probably wasn't going to get them anywhere. Sure the daughter of Zeus was quite powerful, but there was just way too many of these women here and children could potentially be involved.

"I am all for solidarity and women power, but I trust you that these gentlemen meant no harm to you or your community. They have just the same intentions as we do, they didn't know either about where we are. Please, surely this is all just a misunderstanding." The blonde said and she was over analyzing everything in this moment and was grasping at straws. She wanted to try and make deals with them, but Dominika wasn't sure if that would work if they already had them in a tight bind. Her only other options were to use her powers for the wrong doing and even then her control wasn't the greatest and it could go very wrong, but it would get people to listen. For the moment she was going to try and do things the peaceful way, or as peaceful as she could make it.

"Besides no stripping the females of our weapons, how do we know we can trust you with our quest details? I need to be convinced that telling you is the right option. I hope you can understand why I feel this way." Nika said in a calm and relaxed tone. It was hard not to threaten in any way, but Dominika didn't want to leave her people with them.

Xena listened to the Russian girl speak. The curiosity in her eyes lit ever so slighty; she'd never heard a voice like it in her life. "You don't." She said simply, her shoulders shrugged to amplify her confidence in the situation. "You don't know that trusting us is the right decision. But you'll be without half the power you had before you walked in here either way, and if your quest holds the gravity you intended to display, then I think you would want help, no?" She proposed. "Details or not, you don't leave here with the men." Xena laid it on the table, her tone had become sharp to convey that she meant it and would not budge on it.

"We live by a code. I'm sure you, who has made it this far, has a code of your own?" She mused. "Men who enter these lands have broken a rule and committed the most corrupt of sins. Their intentions do not factor in, and I will not say it again." She said firmly. Lennie wanted to speak, but she knew right now it wasn't her place. She wished there was a way out, but there wasn't one that should could see. "Could it be, child, that you prioritize your people over your mission?"

"The call is yours, the scripture of today is for you to write. If you do not feel you should share your stories and tales, then I invite you to take half of the gear and leave. You won't be pursued further." She stated, blandly. "Perhaps you could take a lesson from your companion. She speaks from the heart. If you ever wish to have a new home, come find us again." She gave the rainbow-haired girl a nod, before turning back to the blonde. "What is your decision?"

The blonde wasn't surprised by the response she was given. It was typical, but also made the girl feel uneasy. The woman in front of her had a point in that the mission should carry more weight than the people, but it didn't matter. Dimitri and Niko were part of her team and were the same as her. They were her people and she would bet her life that this woman would do the same for her people. Of course that gave potential for her to lose her life as she didn't know the stranger.

"The Moon chariot has been stolen and we are trying to follow leads to locate it and retrieve it." Dominika stated simply and didn't give any more information than that. It took everything within herself not to make a remark, but the willpower wasn't strong enough. "Listen, maybe next time you could put up-" The blonde was cut off by the delicate hand resting on her shoulder. It stunned her in the moment and she had no words come out of her mouth.

"I think what she's trying to say is that, it's hard to know you've committed a crime in someone else's eyes. I know you are focused on us and you have said you aren't letting the men go, but I think it's just a little upsetting to us since there was no way any of us could know and it seems a little unfair to say they've committed a crime when they didn't even know it. Maybe for future reference some signs or some kind of warning may be helpful to prevent these situations. We aren't against help either, but we could do our mission with the people we know and have worked with for awhile. Forgive me if this sounds rude, but we do not know you or your capabilities. We are most comfortable with our people. "

"She is right though, we are trying to locate and rescue the moon chariot. Our leads led us this way and we were about to start looking a bit more for any other additional clues or anything really when you all showed up." Lia had spoken in her typical long winded rambles, but she managed to remain calm and not get too excited about things as she usually did. For the first time in a long time, Lia was confident that this was her role in quests and she was doing what she was meant to do.

Christian could feel hands on him still, despite what gear he had already being stripped from him. He felt panic; he knew what was coming next. There was nothing he could do to stop it, except stay obedient and hope for a miracle. The next moment proved to him that miracles didn't exist, when he felt a hand tap at the spot under his belt where he hid his painkillers. The hands reached under and removed it.

"Xena." A voice gently cooed from behind her, she handed Xena a small covered black canister, the same kind that you used to put film from disposable cameras in. "Painkillers, oxycodone and Vicodin." Xena let the girls leave her field of vision for a moment to acknowledge the voice. She held her hand out to accept the small canister, before placing it on a pouch hanging on her side. She gave a longing look to the girl who'd given her the pills, and an annoyed roll of her eyes as the rainbow-hair girl again made a plea. Xena had made herself clear that she wouldn't say it again, and so instead she made a move.

Xena waved her hand slightly in the air, before saying in a firm tone. "Bring them to the others." She ordered. Her people reacted, grabbing ahold of the three boys and walking them away. Lennie felt her heart drop at the sight of all of it. There was the painkillers, and now her only companion left was gone. That was to say, apparently the Greeks were after the same thing, and that made them and her in the same crew now. Lennie felt she could take control of the situation, but she wasn't ready to give anything away. If no one knew who she was, she still had some control in her hands.

"Your men are ours." She shrugged simply. "Your comfort, wants, or desires do not change that. Your advice on how to run things will not be considered; our mothers and their mothers had the wisdom- now, half." She repeated. "Half of what was theirs is now yours, so long as you siege the opportunity. Except you friend's painkillers. Those will be vital for us. Then, we'll help you."

Dominika's heart sunk as it seemed very obvious that the men were theirs. It was wrong, you couldn't just take people, you didn't own them, but that wasn't the reality that the blonde was living in at the moment. Nika could almost feel the tension in her head and the headache brewing from trying to think her way out of this one and the simple fact was that she couldn't. At this point her options seemed to be to accept her fate with losing Dimitri and Niko or she could try to fight for them. Although it may prove to be better to get their help first and then see about getting their men back, although it wasn't positive on what was going to happen with them. Were they going to be killed at one point or no?

"Can you at least tell us what is going to happen to them?" Lia asked accepting her fate with the whole thing. She could only feel the heavy weight in her chest as she realized there was nothing more she could do to try and plead with them or anything. She didn't like to assume things about anyone or anything, but she was hoping that Nika wasn't going to do anything risky or anything to jeopardize the help. Maybe after they could get their men back and the rainbow haired girl was hopeful at this point.

Dominika hated to see the fellow guys be taken away, but she knew at this point she was going to have to take half the stuff that was there. Nika took half of the stuff that was on the table from Niko and Dimitri's stuff and handed some of it over to Lia so they had the stuff. Hopefully at this point the Roman girl beside them had decided to do the same thing as them. She couldn't imagine what was going through Niko or Dimitri's head right now, this was the kind of stuff you read about in books. The blonde had gone through a lot in the passed few months and now this was almost like the cherry on top. 2018 wasn't going to be a great year, at least not the start of it, maybe she could have some hope like Lia did and the next half could be better.

There was a silence after Lia had asked her question. Xena looked back to a few people she trusted, to see how they felt. It was far from custom for them to share their ways and methods, but the rainbow-haired girl resembled a trait long forgotten by them and everyone they'd ever embraced. Her innocence was almost inspiring, but fell short into the category of sad, that Xena knew she would harden and survive, or stay soft and lose her life eventually. Luck ran out, and Xena knew everyone else besides the rainbow-haired girl knew it.

Lennie went straight for the handcuffs; they were part of Cohort Five for as long as she had traced back. It was the strongest reminder of why she needed to be strong and the closest thing to Christian she could possibly have. Taking them felt painful, it almost felt like she was taking them straight from Christian. Then to make it worse, her next choice was the pugio, something Christian hated. But that was also a part of Cohort Five, and beyond completing the mission, preserving these things was also part of her duty. She made the choice she knew Christian would want her to make, and the choice she'd want him to make if their roles were reversed. At this point she wished that they were.

"Yours won't make it very long." Xena solemnly admitted, pointing to the Roman. "Nobody would be carrying painkillers that strong and mixed together unless they needed them. Needed them for reasons besides their intended use or exactly for it- Once he needs what he doesn't have, well-" Xena left the floor open, before looking back to the Greeks. "Yours are strong, perhaps they have a chance." She left it at that. "Where does your lead take you?"

The girl with the rainbow hair had felt a little comfort in knowing about what would happen. They didn't give any details, but Lia knew when it was time to stop asking questions and this was one of those times. There was no way that they could have a chance of saving Niko and Dimitri right this second. Maybe they could go finish their quest and get the two, somehow some way, but part of the daughter of Hestia felt bad thinking about using the Amazon's for their resources and then coming back to stab them in the back. It wasn't how Lia liked to do things and the fact that she even had the thought scared her a little.

Dominika's arms folded over once she had put everything away that she had picked up from the table. Her arms folded over in the similar fashion that they always did and it was almost a trade mark of hers at this point. She didn't do it consciously, but it often separated her from others to signify that she wasn't really open to talking a whole lot of being of the friendly sort. The blonde could feel the heaviness sit in her chest and it wouldn't go away. Part of her wanted to take the oxygen particles out of the air to make them all suffocate and pass out for a little bit, but something was telling her it'd be a bad idea.

Nika wasn't the greatest at controlling her powers and it could work out against her in many ways, but she felt confident enough she could do it. Unfortunately, the daughter of Zeus had the words of the rainbow haired girl seared in the back of her mind. 'Don't burn any bridges before you've used them.' A lot of people were surprised when the girl had picked the one happy go lucky girl in camp that wouldn't hurt a fly to go with her on the quest, but in their time shared together she knew that the quirky girl would provide a few assets for her team.

"Our lead takes us north passed the border." Nika said getting straight to the point and not sharing more information than she had to give at this point. If the fellow woman in front of her was going to play the game of giving out very little information, so was she. Although, for Nika's case she really didn't have much other information to go off of other than that.

Lennie had been stuck in a suspended state of stillness. She couldn't believe this was happening; that she could be forced into a position like this. She wasn't regretful of the choice to remain still or silent, because Christian had taught her that the mission was more important. It was clear to all of them that the day could come when you could be the last person standing. It had happened to Corinne, who'd lost everyone on her last quest. Lennie could feel the sharp pain in her chest when she realized that her and Corinne were going to become more similar soon. "We believe a man by the name of Samuel Sinclair has the chariot, passed the border. He's had it for a few days now, and the mist isn't going to be able to handle this for another day." She said, holding her tongue. She wanted to threaten all of them, she wanted to tell them of the punishment they would receive.

Xena raised a hand in the air to confirm to her people, to which they stepped forward and took the supplies off of the table and carried them away from the meeting spot. Xena only offered a nod to the girls speaking. "We'll take you to the gate, and I will accompany you with two of my trusted warriors. We will retrieve the moon chariot." She decided, before disappearing into the amazonian village. Lennie felt a million emotions burst through her, but held it together. Whether she had help or not, she would find the moon chariot, if it was the last thing she did.

She gathered her gear, and waited for someone to show them the way, and they were left somewhat unattended at the gate. "Lennie Jackson, Optio of the Fifth Cohort of the Roman Legion." Her voice came out bitter, but still portrayed some form of pride to her title. "We weren't aware of any Greeks that knew about this."

The whole ordeal was stupid. It was all stupid. The fact that this lady took their people an decided that they could just own them. All the rage had just kept building up and up that the daughter of Zeus didn't know what to do and if she had to speak she probably would have nothing but harsh words to say, so when the Roman had begun to speak about who had stolen the chariot and where they were headed it gave the blonde a little bit of a sigh of relief knowing that she didn't have to speak and possibly ruin anything good that might come out of this situation. It was curious though that the Roman had a similar quest in receiving the moon chariot, word must have spread around fairly quickly.

When Xena had mentioned that she was going to offer up some of her warriors, it was a help to some degree, but Nika didn't feel comfortable around people she didn't know and to be honest Nika knew she was going to feel watched the whole time with the two warriors, but help was help no matter what and she would be thankful for it.

There was a moment where the group was left alone for awhile and Nika heard the introduction of the Roman in the room. Usually Lia would be quick to jump into introductions, but the daughter of Zeus took the lead. "Dominika Orlov, Cabin leader of the Zeus Cabin, Camp Half-blood." The girl stated and her arms slowly relaxed a little bit and out of the folded cross they had been in prior.

Aurelia Fairchild had always been keen on meeting new people and she loved to introduce herself, but the formality of this introduction seemed to make sense that the leader of their quest would go first. The daughter of Hestia extended her hand out to the Roman with a goofy grin on her face as her mouth opened to speak, "Lia Fairchild, daughter of Hestia! Pleasure to meet ya Lennie!"

"We weren't aware the Romans had the same kind of quest as we did, but maybe if we combine our knowledge together we can do this thing. Find this Samuel guy, get the chariot back and complete our jobs." Nika said, although the girl did want to mention that they would find a way to get their other companions back too, but she wasn't sure if they were being listened to or if anyone would overhear, it was hard to say, and honestly better not to say anything.

Lennie felt a new glimmer of sadness at the rainbow haired girl, she wondered what was wrong with her that she could be so trusting in the world. In truth, she'd never visited the Greek camp. Any spare time that had ever been granted to her for leave was spent with her friends, or voyaging to see her dad. Maybe they had it different on the east, surely they must have, for someone to have so much hope and life still inside of them. Lennie wondered why someone like this was even brought on a quest of importance, when so much was stacked on their shoulders. Still, Lennie decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. Lennie didn't know for sure what Lia was capable of.

She looked the daughter of Zeus up and down. She held an important and powerful position, and would make for an important ally. Lennie shook the hand of the rainbow haired girl, giving a tight grip as her father had taught her to. Lennie wasn't ecstatic, given where they had ended up, but she'd decided she'd make the most out of it. She'd already lost one person before this place, and now she'd lost Christian.

Lennie didn't give anything else to the conversation, because what was there to say? They all knew the situation they were in was bad. Not that they had time, before Xena re-approached with two tall women behind her. They were armed with spears and small arms, and Lennie hated how open they could be to be tricked. Her and Dominika could take them down outside the gate and use them as hostages in exchange for their own people. But glooming reality stuck with her, that any day the world would realize the moon was gone, and they didn't have time to waste.

"Follow, we have a passage way across the border where we won't be bothered." Xena declared. She walked proudly in front of the three, leading the way passed the gates that opened for her without so much as a question. The two amazons she had brought with her stuck behind the three, clearly, there was no trust from the start.

One thing the blonde hated the most was being wrong and being pushed into a corner on something, and in this moment it felt like both were happening. It was taking everything in her power not to wreck havoc down on the whole community, but as Lia had told her before it wasn't wise to act on any aggression or hatred. It was hard to sort your feelings out like that, but believe it or not Lia was good counsel, she knew most people wouldn't get it and in some ways people might reprimand her for bringing what people think to be a very fragile girl with her. There was a little hesitation at camp with Lia's older sister, but ultimately Lia had made her choice.

Aurelia felt the firm grip of the handshake and she smiled, "You know, people consider that a good interview handshake with what you got there! I am not sure what you plan to do after all of this, but I am sure you will get a lot of brownie points with employers!" The rainbow haired girl usually got distracted by everything and went off on tangents that people often couldn't understand, but it perfectly made sense in her mind. Most of what she was thinking came out in words, but not everything, that would have taken up so much talking and Lia was fairly sure she would be winded in that case.

When Xena came back with the two taller girls, both the Greeks turned their head to look them an size them up. The only thing running through Dominika's mind was how she could use Xena's own people against her, but she was sure it would be the wrong move at this point. Maybe on their way back from getting the moon chariot that's what she would do. Retrieve the moon chariot and take her people back and Lennie's partner back. Most times there was a lot of bad blood between the Greeks and the Romans, something Dominika nor Lia could understand, but Nika was more than willing to help Lennie out. No one should be left alone with all these strangers, it wasn't right. The daughter of Zeus had decided then that she was going to protect the Roman in whatever way she could, not because she felt the girl was incapable, but because at this point in the quest the girl could use someone on her side and someone to bring her back to her own people.

Atticus was asleep, far quicker than Lennie could have ever expected. He wasn't the most conventional choice, but given his former ties to Samuel and his obsession with the sun, stars, and moon, he was useful to have around with the current mission in mind. It left her and Christian in the dark woods, with only embers of a small fire to give them warmth and sight of one another. The pair looked to one another, Lennie had been friends with Christian for so long that it was one of the most comforting things in the world to have his presence.

"You've never told me, who's getting the handcuffs?" Lennie opened up the conversation without bothering to warm up with anything beforehand. Her arms crossed, but in a teasing manner as a grin came on her face. "Me, or Lauren? I hope you know that you're not allowed to play favorites." Lennie winked.

"Sometimes I wonder if you're trying to get me to say something bad about Lauren so that you have that to blackmail me with for the rest of my life." Christian replied, with an insistent head tilt afterwards.

"All two days of it?" Lennie giggled afterwards, leaving an unimpressed Christian to shrug off her comment. Momentarily after, she saw Christian taking the cuffs off of his belt and handing them to her.

"You know how I feel about Lauren. But she'd learned from a lot of people, sporadically. Corinne likes her too. But we both see who you are, you've always been there for anything I've needed. I know you'll always do the right thing, even if I'm gone, I think you'd do even better." Christian told her, handing her the cuffs, which Lennie accepted graciously. "It's an order, obviously, that you can't repeat that."

"Did you figure it out?" Lennie asked, after holding the cuffs in her hands like she was a child seeing a shiny toy. "Aspen's back from the dead, and I'm smart enough to know something happened on New Years." Lennie layed the luggage out slowly, she knew that was the last thing Christian wanted to think about, but sometimes talking was the only way to make things better for anyone.

"Come on, you've held the cuffs for all of forty seconds and you already think you're a pro-counselor. If you wanna counsel, you know Lauren likes to talk-" Christian was warming his tease up, before Lennie cut it down.

"Okay, I get it, Lauren is a battle and a half that we'd lose without you." She mocked, gently. "Guess you're good for something." She smiled at him, making sure he knew that she didn't mean a word of it.

-----

They'd crossed the border, and another night had passed. Luckily, it was so far so good, the mist held out another night, and as far as Lennie could tell from her eyes, the moon was in the sky. It was no surprise to Lennie that it was a full moon, again. Thanks a lot, mist.

The night sky brought a crisp cold in the northern land, and the amazons were bold to make a fire burn as high as it was. The three were sitting in their own area, away from the Greeks and Roman, but still awake. Even if they'd slept, Lennie was smart enough to know that slitting their throats was only putting the moon chariot at further risk. So, Lennie did the next best thing to hurt them without weapons.

"Who were they to you?" Lennie asked, with a sigh shortly after. She had Cohort Five's handcuffs clutched in her hands in front of the fire. Here she was again, but instead of talking about who she was, she was now talking about the elephant in the room. And she didn't care an ounce as to how much Xena heard.

The question came up as there had been silence previously filling the air. The words just echoed out through Nika's head and she could feel it swirl around and around as it picked up on the little nerves that had been in her mind the whole time. Every thought she had thought in the passed say or so had come back up to the surface and there wasn't a whole lot that she could do to stop it.

On the outside her composure stayed static and unchanging. She took a deep breath in as she tried to internally calm every emotion she had within herself, and she was trying to make it calm. Dominika was yet to answer the question and she decided to remain silent for the moment. Instead she heard Lia slowly start to speak and she was thankful for it. Conversation wasn't really Nika's forte with other people or really at all, some people had made it relatively easy, but in almost every other it was a little difficult.

"Niko and Dimitri are very nice people. At least from what I know. Dimitri has that southern accent that makes him inviting to be around and overall he's good company. Niko usually likes to make a lot of jokes even if they're poorly timed. I would say they are friends of mine. They aren't gone yet." Lia said with a warm smile placed on her face. She noticed the hand cuffs in the other girls hands. She had seen Lennie grab them earlier and her features softened a bit. "Were those his?"

Lennie listened intently to the rainbow-haired girl. What she said meant everything about who she was. Though, Lennie suspected that Lia looked for the good in anybody, no matter how much was or wasn't there. Still, it felt right to know that if she was going to die that Lennie would have someone to say something nice about her when people asked. And that meant something in the empty world she found herself in.

"They were his teacher's. Who were good people, though, too distracted and misguided to do the job right." Lennie said in response. "Then they were his, and then they were going to be mine too. Not too long from today." Lennie didn't want to share the cuff's long history. She could trace them far, passed even Corinne. It wasn't entirely clear what their purpose was. Some Centurions passed them down as a reminder that you'd always have another choice from killing a person. Another in-cohort myth was that it was used to perform an empathy link once, and that they would always find their way back to Cohort Five, so it was good luck to carry them. Lennie's favorite myth was that Jupiter gave them to his daughter as a gift, so that her extreme tendencies of electricity from her fingers could be conducted from wrist to wrist. In order to protect her friends and family outside of battle, she would always wear the cuffs on her wrists.

"Then, one day, I'd give them to whatever student I felt deserved them the most." She finished. "I couldn't have left them behind even if the choice was these or water, and I was running on empty."

Aurelia Fairchild had listened to the girl who held the handcuffs. It was an interesting concept and Lia felt that it had been really warming to hear. She wondered what it would be like to be trusted and thought to be so deserving of a gift that had been passed down for however long. Instead in her family there was just a drug trade business that had been handed down through the family. That wasn't something that Lia ever wanted to get passed down to her, luckily it would probably go to her cousin Heath or her older sister Ari at one point, but even Ari wasn't very likely to get it.

"I understand. They have a value that just can't be brought back. I would have taken them too." Lia spoke softly as the smile formed on her face. The rainbow haired girl began to dig in her bag and then she rummaged around before her hands wrapped around it and she pulled it out of her bag and extended her arm out to Lennie offering it up. "Here, this might be able to cheer you up a little." In her hand was a chocolate bar. Most people thought it wasn't necessary to carry chocolate bars with you, but to Lia they were a good pick me up when you were down and a good way to get sugar in your body.

Dominika had remained silent the whole time just stewing in her thoughts. She didn't know what to say and she didn't know how to open her mouth and speak without showing a sense of weakness. The blonde eventually brought herself to say something, "I've known Niko since I was nine. Before we ever attended camp. We got paired up together for our sport and from there we spent a lot of time together training. We've gone to the world championships a few times, but we have yet to be considered for the Olympics, that was our goal." It wasn't long before she continued, "Dimitri, he was one of the first people I met at camp. I was always cold and distant towards him, I didn't mean to be. We slowly became friends though and every summer when I would go to camp we would hang out at least a couple of times."

Lennie felt a sense of curiosity as the girl offered her chocolate. It almost made her forget about the situation that she was in, if only for a moment. She didn't feel hungry, or even in particular feel a craving for the chocolate. But she knew Lia was trying to be nice, and Lennie didn't have the heart to turn down an act like that. She was like that herself to so many of the people in Cohort Five. But seeing that in the mirror almost made Lennie feel like she'd been punched in the stomach.

"The Olympics." Lennie repeated aloud. Lennie couldn't even imagine a life where she could see her dad on the weekends, let alone reach for something as extrodinary as the Olympics. She wondered what that sort of life entailed, what sort of bond her and Niko must have shared. Surely they were as close as two humans could be. "Sounds like you two must have been close." Lennie commented the obvious; but someone had to.

"Tomorrow morning is when we'll probably find this guy. He used to be Roman. The definition of harmless, at least, from what any of us could tell." Lennie said. "Then I think about everyone I've lost- we've lost just to stop this timid jerk, and I remember that life has never been fair." Lennie concluded.

"We are very close." Dominika confirmed nodding her head. It was true, when you trained with someone for the same duration of time you would spend in a full time job plus more house and worked so closely you ended up getting very close. Her craft was a little difficult, you had to be in sync with your partner the whole time because if you take one misstep or you don't have the correct form you aren't going to look well put together. Not to mention they had been so close they had previously dated for a year, but broke up due to a fair amount of reasons.

It wasn't long until Lennie started to describe the guy that they were after. It always seemed it was those you never thought would be possible of such grand things to be the ones to surprise you. Sometimes Dominika wondered if Lia would ever surprise her one day, but for the most part the blonde was sure that wasn't going to happen.

"Well if he stole the moon chariot, I don't think I would call him completely harmless." She replied and continued to think on what this guy was like and what she would do to take him down. Hopefully they would get this all over with within the next day and restore the moon chariot back to where it belongs. After that she needed to devise a plan to get Niko and Dimitri back along with the Roman guy.

Lennie gave a shrug, her head tilted at the thought of what life he must have lived to lead him to this moment here. "Everyone is born completely harmless." Lennie said. "Even Xena." She hated to make any conclusion that humanized the woman who was over at her own campfire with her own people, because of everything she had done. "Then something happens that changes you. Whether it's over twenty years or twenty seconds. Someone makes you who you are." Lennie concluded. She wondered how she'd change when she found out for sure that Christian was dead. She wondered how Dominika would change when she found out two people she clearly cared for were gone too. Worst of all, she wondered how Lia would feel seeing the deaths. It was all on Samuel Sinclair, and maybe those who made him who he was.

Lennie didn't want Lia to change; because she reminded her so much of her former self. "You're very caring, Lia. That's the trait many of our leaders look for to hand the future to. Have you ever wanted to be a mother?" She questioned. She wasn't sure if she really truly cared for the answer, or if she wanted to avoid the talk on the other subject.

"We are a product of our circumstance, choices, and surroundings. This much is true. I'm sure at one point he was a completely harmless guy, doesn't mean what he is doing now is harmless." Dominika put simply, she wasn't disagreeing with the Roman in front of her, mostly just in a longer way saying she agreed with her. The blonde had a different approach to things than what most usually had.

Her eyes looked over to the flames instead to watch them dance and flicker around. All she could think about was what was happening with Niko and Dimitri in the moment and if they were okay. Hopefully even if she couldn't get them out, they could get themselves out, but even if they did, what did they have to fight with against a bunch of women with weapons?

The rainbow haired girl had listened to what the Roman had to say, and for what seemed like a long time, it seemed like someone sort of understood her values and what she stood for when Lennie talked about people being born completely harmless. It was why Lia was so focused on giving people multiple chances in life, because maybe it wasn't their fault why they were grumpy or maybe it wasn't their fault that they had a hatred for the world, something dark had to happen to turn someone's once blue sky to grey.

"Considered being a mom? Sure I mean, I have thought about it a few times. I have been told a few times that I should be one and I have also been told a few times that I shouldn't be one. I will let things happen as they should, I can not force anything in life to go the way I want, but I would love to be a mother, I guess for the most part I considered myself to probably end up a single mom if I ever did have a child, but maybe I wont have to be now that -" For once the daughter of Hestia was able to cut herself off before she said anything. A colour of pink flushed into her cheeks as she realized she was about to bring Robert up. Lia wasn't embarrassed of him, but she didn't usually talk about these kinds of things with other people as she was a little shy about it at times. The rainbow haired girl felt it was more of a private matter than anything.

"No, it doesn't." Lennie agreed with Dominika. "But it does mean that beating yourself up over not finding it sooner is the wrong answer." Lennie made her point using a rare tone of authority. Not that she was looking to challenge the few people left that she could even possibly call allies. "He was one of us just a week ago, and I'd have died for him back then. Feeling wrong for that just makes you go mad." Lennie concluded, before returning to Lia.

Lia's embarrassment was cute. The fact that anyone had that sort of innocence this long was nothing short of a miracle. "In this world, you need to do things to live. If you're one of us, anyway. That's how things go." Lennie gave Dominika a glance; she felt that it was likely the daughter of Zeus had to do things to make it this far as well. "I think you'd make a wonderful mother, Lia, because I think you'd teach your children to be someone we couldn't be. But I also think you need to think about where's safe to raise a baby."

Lennie stood up, before hushing her tone. "Christian is dead." She said. "So, tomorrow after we find the chariot and get it back, I get to kill Xena. Then I'll help you free your people." On the inside, she felt broken admitting what she had. But on the outside she played the act of the girl she needed to be, before positioning herself on her makeshift bunk. "Goodnight." She plainly said.

Nika nodded in agreement, but she didn't say anything further. She didn't have much to say in the moment and everyone was going to have their opinion. Dominika's arms folded into their typical fashion that they had before when she removed herself from the conversation. The daughter of Zeus tilted her head back to look up into the sky and look at the multiple different stars that were out, she never looked into what the different constellations were and she wished that she had, because it would make looking up at them a lot more interesting.

"Thank you!" Lia said with a big grin on her face when Lennie commented on that she would make a great mother and it had meant a lot to her, one day she really did want to have a kid and to be a mother, but she knew what Lennie was saying would be true. The Greeks didn't even have a place like the Romans did where they could raise a family and be safe, it just wasn't something available to them, but Lia was sure that she could find somewhere safe, wherever that would be. She was hopeful that her and Robert would stay together and maybe eventually they could, but she also knew things didn't work out that way.

"If you need help, I got you." Dominika said quietly to the Roman girl before getting up and going to her own bed for sleep.

"So, what do you think?" Lennie asked. She kept pace with Christian next to the stream they were following. If they kept north they were projected to find the moon chariot, or where they were lead to believe Samuel had taken it, anyway. They were close to squaring all of it away.

"About what?" Christian asked, throwing a glance her way with a raised eyebrow.

"Water. More or less monsters?" She asked.

"Well, monsters in theory need to drink." Christian answered. "But, I don't know, I've never seen it happen. I don't even know if they need to eat, and if they do, if they attack wildlife or mortals as preference." Christian admitted.

"It'd be nice to get those answers someday." Lennie mused. "Maybe when we get back-" Lennie froze midspeech, hearing rustling from a tree behind them. She looked to Christian who was looking back when they both turned back to it.

"Hands on your head and maybe you get to live!" A voice screamed.

-----

"We leave now." Xena declared at some ridiculous hour before the sun had begun to rise, though Lennie was already awake. "Your trail leads further by not much." Her and her amazons were already at point, and Lennie mused the division would continue until Xena spoke. "Lia, please come join us at the point of the group." She requested.

Lennie immediately shot a look at Dominika. There was something else going on there.