by Christine Francis

     Doctor Julian Bashir had known pain, he had known suffering, he had known fear, and he had known madness; but never in his young life, had he known such complete and utter misery.  As he squatted in a ramshackle hovel, stirring a feeble fire that attracted him with it's warmth while repelling him with it's peat mossy stench, feeling live and very parasitic insects crawl over portions of his body best described as intimate, he pondered the circumstances that brought him to this lowly and really disgusting situation.
     It started three days ago.  Bajoren scientists had sent excited messages to DS9, inviting Federation scientists to come observe an anomaly on the far side of the farthest point of Bajor's orbit.  Eager to take advantage of the opportunity to both chart something new, and solidify relations with the Bajorens, Federation leaders encouraged Benjamin Sisko to send his brightest and best to gather data and rub elbows.  It was to be a junket, pure and simple; almost a vacation.  Jadzia invited Worf along as sort of a second honeymoon (except they never really had a first one).  Kira came for the fresh hasperat.  Julian accepted the invitation for the change of scenery, and a change of scenery he got.
     It had been Dax's idea (of course) to take their runabout up and get a closer look at the pulsing miasma that appeared in the Bajoren night sky.  In the few days since it had appeared, the mass seemed more or less stable and stationary.  Probes had flown close, and even right through, without exciting a reaction.  The data gathered by those probes, though, were far from adequate.  In fact, all they could offer was evidence of some kind of displacement of matter and light.  That was what piqued Dax's curiosity.  What, besides a Black Hole (which this definitely was not) could displace (displace, mind you, not refract) light?  So up they went.
     The rest was pretty blurry in Julian's memory.  The last thing he remembered is seeing tendrils shoot out from the mass, then he woke up in this impossible place.  No one else remembered much more, though Worf did say the last thing he saw in the view screen looked oddly like the inside of the wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant.
     "Would that be better, or worse?"  Julian wondered aloud, absently scratching his armpit.  The fire looked hot enough.  Dragging over a rack, he hooked a pot filled with water above the fire.  Next, he dragged over a bag and began pulling out leaves.  These he carefully twisted, then tossed into the pot.  His tricorder had confirmed the herbs held the chemicals to produce the desired effect, just as their new friends had claimed.  Their new friends.  What about that?
     "None of this is really happening,"  he assured himself.
     "I wish that were true,"  Jadzia sighed, from across the room.
     "You're awake,"  Julian got up and walked over to the pile of straw that served as a bed.  "I'm whipping up a little something, that should make you feel a lot better."
     "Julian, all I really need is a simple antihistamine."
     "Jadzia, we're in Star Fleet.  We live on a Space Station.  Cases of Hay Fever are very rare.  If I'd known we would be crashing on an alien planet,-"
     "OK, OK, it's not your fault,"  she pressed her fingers into her eyes.  "At least we know we're not hallucinating.   Hallucinations don't usually make me sneeze."
     "It's so odd that you were the only one affected."  Going back to his potion, he stirred up the leaves and added a few more.
     "Not really.  It's all this Earth flora.  Something about willow trees just gets to me."
     "Then why isn't Kira affected?"
     "Who knows?!"  Dax snapped.  "You're the doctor, not me!"  Rubbing her temples, she winced at the pain in her head her outburst caused.  "Sorry.  I know it's not your fault.  I just feel like I want to gouge my eyes out and drill a hole in my head to let the pressure out."
     "Well,"  Julian sighed, "If this potion doesn't work, that would be our next step."
     Dax's eyes flew open.
     "Just kidding,"  he assured her, smiling his "charming" smile.  That smile always worked.  If it didn't charm women, it at least convinced them he was about as threatening as a puppy.  That is, it had always worked up till a few days ago.
     When the crew of the runabout awoke, they had awoken to the horrible fact that wherever they were, they would be stranded for a while.  After a quick survey of the atmosphere, they opened the hatch and let some of the lingering smoke clear out.  That's when Dax had started sneezing.  After taking full tally of the situation, they set up a shelter and set about the business of survival.  Dax, however, had gone downhill pretty fast.  That's what drove Julian and Kira out to search for help, as soon as the sun rose on the second day.  They were about a half click from the runabout, when a mob of ragged, nasty, dentally impaired men fell from the trees and attacked.  They were in the process of beating Julian and Kira senseless while taking everything they could lay hands on, when a piercing  ululating cry split the air.
     She leaped into the fray in a blur of motion.  Julian never really got a good look at her, till later.  After her, a blonde woman wielding a mean stick came; laying waste to whatever vagrant was unlucky enough to cross her path.  With the odds so improved, Kira joined the battle with a strange fierce light in her eyes.  Julian did what he could, but something hit his head and turned his lights out.  Later, he woke to a sight he'd often dreamed of.  Three women; one blonde, one brunette, and one a redhead, were crowded around him and touching him.  Only when Kira spoke his name, did the illusion of promise fade and reality rudely intrude.
     "I'm convinced,"  the brunette, dressed in what looked like leather gladiator garb, scoffed.  "Gods and messengers of gods don't usually get knocked out so easily."
     "Be still,"  Kira urged, cutting off whatever protest might be forming in his addled mind.  "You have a nasty cut on your head.
     "But if they aren't supernatural,"  the blonde asked the brunette, "what are they?"
     Again, Kira took the initiative.  She stood, and put on her best no-nonsense face.  "We're travelers from another world."
     Julian moaned; not from pain, but dismay.  Obviously, the major had little to no experience with First Contact Protocol.
     "And what world would that be?"  the brunette sneered, obviously not buying it.
     Kira wisely abandoned that whole riff.  "You're obviously a very strong and powerful warrior, here.  You seem pretty smart, too."
     The blonde snorted, then put on an innocent smile when the brunette glared at her.
     "Anyway,"  Kira went on, "those men stole some very important items from us.  Items that would enable them, once they learned how to use them, to defeat any number of foes in the blink of an eye- including you."
     "In the hands of mortals?"  Again, the brunette scoffed.  "I'd have to see that, to believe it."
     "I can show you, with our remaining weapons,"  Kira blurted, causing Julian to cough most vociferously.
     But Kira did have a plan.  The two women, the brunette calling herself Xena and the blonde Gabriella, helped them find their way back to the runabout.  There, Kira took one of the remaining phasers, and put on a quick demonstration.
     "A weapon which makes a man into a god!"  Xena whispered, looking at the smoking spot a rock once was.
     "No,"  Kira explained, opening the housing of the phaser, "only a device.  A device, though, which will give our friends an unfair advantage."
     Xena nodded.  "Ares would stand behind any mortal who possessed this."
     "It kills?"  Gabriella asked.
     "Worse,"  Kira read the girl's type, easily.  "It disintegrates.  It kills with pain."
     "Xena?"  Gabriella looked up at her friend.
     "If we get it back for you,"  Xena asked, "you'll leave?"
     Kira started to nod, then stopped.  "It's not that simple.  Our ship is damaged, and-"
     "No problem,"  Xena blurted, "I'm friends with Dictys, the sailor.  He owes me a favor.  He can repair your ship."
     "It's... not that kind of ship,"  Kira said, glancing at the runabout.  Taking Xena's hand, she led the women inside.
     "This is not from our world,"  Gabriella insisted, staring around with wonder.
     Dax, knee deep in the guts of the ship, sneezed and moaned.
     Julian grabbed his medical kit, and found the Trill suffered from a sinus infection.  Antibiotics were easy to come by, as well as pain killers and fever reducers, but there just wasn't anything to relieve her allergic reaction.
     "You're a healer?"  Xena asked.
     "I do what I can,"  Julian confirmed, digging through his supplies despite his knowledge that there simply wasn't anything there.  A strong hand on his shoulder, put an end to his rifling.
     "Some friends of mine have the Black Death.  Can you help?"
     Julian looked up into Xena's eyes.  There was a hardness there, but it was tempered by an empathy that was learned and cultivated, rather than natural.  "We once had a disease by that name, in the world I'm from.  If it's the same thing, then yes, I can help."
     Xena nodded, as if it was all settled.  "You cure my friends, and I'll get your weapons back."
     "No, don't,"  Dax whispered at a spot in the shadows.
     Xena was up and holding out her sword in a blur of speed.
     "I must,"  Worf's low voice growled, then he emerged from the shadows.  "What is to say, she will not take the phasers for herself?"
     Gabriella gasped, at the sight of the Klingon.
     "A Minotaur,"  Xena said, though her voice and eyes betrayed her uncertainty.  Her sword never wavered.
     "I am Worf, of Qo'noS,"  he introduced himself.  "I will accompany you on this mission."
     "I am Xena, of Amphipolis," she replied, "And I work alone."
     Worf took a few steps toward her.  "I am stronger than you."
     "I wouldn't count on that,"  she answered, straightening up.  "Besides, I know the area."
     "Perhaps,"  Worf mused, remembering female warriors from his past, "but I am bigger."
     "Not by much."
     "I am a warrior."
     "And I'm a warrior princess."  Xena smiled.  "And I'm better looking."
     Worf's eyes narrowed.  "But I know exactly what it is we are looking for, and exactly what it can do."
     Xena looked aside, chewing her lip.
     "He's got you, there,"  Gabriella shrugged.
     Xena shot her friend an evil look, then looked back at Worf.  "I don't trust Minatours.  They'll say anything."
     "I am not a Minatour, I am a Klingon."
     "To what?"  Gabriella asked.
     "What?"  Worf asked her.
     "Well,"  Gabriella held her hands out, "What is it you cling to?"
     "We're wasting time!"  Kira interrupted.  "They could be anywhere, by now!"
     "I know where their camp is,"  Xena assured her.  "First, the healer takes care of my friends.  Then, we'll go pay Lapithae and his henchmen a visit."
     Kira nodded.  "Fine.  Dax and Julian, you'll stay in the village where the plague is, and Worf and I will go with Xena to get back the phasers and tricorders."
     "I always get the glamour gigs,"  Julian groused.
     Dax might have said something similar, but she was too busy sneezing.
     So Julian spent the night tending plague victims (luckily, the infection was easily stemmed, and people began to improve almost instantly) and working on Dax.  By the morning of their third day in gods-know-where, the people were on the mend and the retrieval team was on the road.  That left Julian brewing up something suggested by the local medicine man, fighting exhaustion as he stirred and listened to Dax snort and snark and sneeze.  It was a side of her, he never really wanted to see.
     One more scan for toxins with a tricorder, and he ladled some of the concoction into a gourd bowl.  "Now go easy at first, this stuff is hot."
     "You're sure it's not toxic to Trills?"  Jadzia asked.
     "Trills?  Oh, darn.  I forgot to check."  The lack-luster way he delivered that line gave it enough of a sarcastic tone to silence the patient, as she accepted the potion and obediently sipped.  "Good?"  he asked.
     "Awful,"  she replied, "but I was afraid you'd bite my head off, if I said anything."
     Julian frowned a bit.  "Sorry.  It's just... I'm really exhausted."
     "Take a nap.  I think I can manage."
     "Are you sure?"  he asked, hopefully.
     "Darn.  I don't know,"  she replied in a monotone.
     He smiled.  "I deserved that."
     "Yes, you did.  How often do you get the chance to save a whole village from the Black Death?"  She took another sip of her potion.  "Go on, get some rest.  Before you know it, the others will be back and we'll have to figure out how to get out of here."
     He nodded, rubbing his eyes.  "You talked me into it,"  he said, fluffing up another pile of straw and laying down.  In moments, he was snoring softly.
.............

     "We still have no idea where we are,"  Worf whispered to Kira, "nor how to get back to where we belong."
     "One problem at a time, Worf,"  Kira waved him off.
     "What's it like, where you're from?"  Gabriella asked Worf.  "Wherever it is, I can tell it's very different from here."
     Worf fought inwardly with Prime Directives and First Contact protocols.   Chances were, he reasoned, this place didn't even exist in their version of reality.  On the other hand, rules were rules.  He was almost firm on his decision to give some Star Fleet approved answer, when he turned his eyes to her expectant blue ones.  He looked up in the still bright sky.  "At night, when you see bright points of light in the sky, what do you think those are?"
     "The stars?  Those are put there by the gods; sometimes in patterns to honor heroes."
     Better judgement screamed for him to shut up, but some other instinct told him it was all right.  "Beyond those stars, and even around some of them, are other worlds.  Many of them.  Some are like this one, and some are quite different.  Some are barren, and some are filled with people of every sort.  One of them, is where my people reside.  Another, is where there are a whole race of people like Major Kira.  Dax is from yet another, and Doctor Bashir is from another still.  All of us are from worlds where the people travel from one world to the next, like you travel from one city to the next."
     Gabriella was fascinated.  "And on which world do the gods live?"
     Worf frowned.  "I do not know,"  he replied, taking the easy way out.  "I have not met your gods."
     "Worlds beyond the stars,"  Xena scoffed quietly.
     Kira decided to let it pass.
     "It makes for a pretty good story,"  Gabriella shrugged.  "You have to admit that."
     Xena shook her head.  "I know there's more to the world than what we can see, but I'm not about to believe every fairytale some Minatour tells me.  What happened to your horns, Minatour?"
     "I buried them in your-"
     "Worf!"  Kira cut him off, then said "Shhh!  I think I heard something."
     The four warriors froze and listened.  Worf sniffed a few times, then whispered "cook fires."
     "You're right,"  Xena whispered back, then crouched low and proceeded forward.  Before long, they found the outer edge of an encampment.  Farther into the clearing, several men examined their booty; the phasers included.
     "Can you see if they're still on stun?"  Kira whispered to Worf.
     Worf peered at the phasers.  "Too far.  We will have to chance it."  To Xena he asked "How many?"
     "Lapithae never travels light,"  she answered.  "For each one you see, there's probably ten more in or behind the tents."
     Kira and Worf nodded to each other, and checked their phaser settings.
     "We'll go in from the left side,"  Xena began, "so the others will have to go around the tents to get to us.  Then-"
     She was cut off by a high pitched warbling sound.  A beam of light emitted from the weapons Kira and Worf held, and the men in the clearing fell to the ground.  Xena was too stunned to move, but only for a second.  As she and Gabriella caught up and helped gather stolen belongings, she surreptitiously checked pulses.  "All alive,"  she whispered to Gabriella.  "The weapon only made them sleep!"
     "You saw that,"  Gabriella answered, "and yet you can't believe in worlds beyond the stars?"
     "Come on!"  Kira said, after she was sure they had everything.
     They were almost away, when a motley looking patrol caught sight of them.  They were in the fray, before Worf or Kira could get off a single shot.
     Using low branches to her advantage, Xena swung out of reach while raining kicks upon the chests and heads of her enemies.  Once she ran out of branches, she dropped to the ground and pulled out her sword.
     Gabriella was having a hard time using her stick in close quarters, but when Kira came to cover her back, things started to go much more easily.
     Worf pulled his batlh'etlh from behind his back, and began moving through thieves like the winnowing scythe of Death itself.  What his blade did not do, his roar did, as bandits began to flee from that fierce warrior in short order.  Soon enough, there were no sounds of battle; only the sounds of frantic retreat.
     "All in a day's work,"  Xena said, barely out of breath.  Leaning over, she grabbed a handful of grass, and cleaned her blade.
     "You fight well,"  Worf said, doing the same.
     Xena stood back up, looking at him over her shoulder.  "You're not so bad, either.  In fact, if it weren't for the sacrificial virgins, I'd actually respect you."
     "Virgins?"
     Gabriella tapped Worf's elbow.  "Minatours frequently terrify villages, until they get sacrificial virgins."
     "I assure you,"  Worf protested, "I have never taken a virgin in my life."
     "I'm sure Dax'll be happy to hear that,"  Kira joked, then looked around.  "They'll be going to get others.  We should get out of here."
     Xena nodded.  "This way."
     Victorious, the four head back to the stricken village, as the sky began to dim and dusk approached.
............

     Julian woke with a start, then noticed he was alone with a dying fire.  As he got up, he noticed the pot of potion was empty.  He'd slept in his boots and clothes (afraid of what might crawl in them, should he leave them unattended), so nothing stopped him from getting right up and walking outside.
     People were busily moving around from place to place, working and catching up on things neglected during their illness.  It was nearly full dark, but they did not slow down; not just because there was so much to do, but for the shear joy of being able to do for themselves.  Each face that turned toward him offered a smile.  There were thanks, and handshakes, and even embraces.  Over and over, though, he asked "Have you seen my friend?"
     Through the crowd, the one named Xena came.  "Come on,"  she said, "I'll take you to the others.  He followed her, and found the rest of the crew working on the runabout.
     "Feeling better, I see,"  he observed Dax both with his eyes, and with his tricorder.
     "Much!"  she said, very busy in the guts of the ship.  "And now that I can think, I see what the problem is.  The inertial dampers were misaligned by the plasma intake valve, when-"  Seeing the glazed look in his eyes, she just stopped and smiled.  "Anyway, if I keep working, we should be able to take off in about six hours."
     "Did you drink all of the...?"
     "No, I put the rest in a gourd and brought it along."  With a shrug, she went back to work.  "That stuff works like a miracle."
     Julian nodded, then turned to Xena.  "Thanks.  I mean, I know she would have gotten better on her own, but-"
     "No, thank you,"  Xena insisted.  "Those people were as good as dead, and you completely cured them."
     "Well, um... in our... land,..."
     "I know, beyond the stars."
     Julian gawked at her, then decided this outing had been so botched from the very beginning, a little more couldn't hurt.  "Yes, that's right.  Speaking of the stars,-"  He interrupted Kira and Worf.  "We should really compare the stars to the charts we have on file."
     "Agreed,"  Worf said, picking up a tricorder.
     When they went outside, though, the trees blocked a good deal of their view.  Xena, who had followed out of curiosity, offered to take them to a hill not far away, where they could see more of the sky.  Worf agreed, Julian wanted to go along to stretch his legs a bit more, and Kira decided to stay behind and lend Dax a hand where she could.  Xena told Gabriella to stand guard, and set out immediately.
     Not even half way up the hill, once they could see through the topmost boughs of the trees, Julian gasped at a familiar sight.
     "That?"  Xena said, as they commented on the pulsing miasma in the sky.  "That's Orion's cape.  See it flutter?  Ares set it there, during the festival of Diana.  It's a bit of a suck-up, but that's the gods for you."
     "Orions...?"  Julian peered up at the stars.  "Worf,"
     "I see,"  the Klingon answered.  Though he spent his early years on a settlement far from Earth, he visited that planet enough to become familiar with her night sky.  "But how can it be possible?"
     "Mirror universe?  Alternate reality?  You've traveled the stars far more than I have; you tell me."
     Worf shook his head, staring at the sky in wonder.  "There are days when life is as real and solid as your sword in your hand.  And then, there are days when it seems anything can be possible."
     "Tell me about it,"  Xena said, glancing at the Klingon, then looking back at the sky.
...........

     In the bright sunlight of the fourth day, the runabout was finally ready to go.  As they said their good byes, Worf and Dax seemed to be arguing about something.  From what Julian could see, Dax pulled some final coup de gras, and won the argument.  That done, the two of them came forward.
     "Kira, Julian,"  Dax began, "Can I get your opinion on something?"
     The others resisted her idea at first, anxious to get home as quickly as possible; but Kira changed her mind.  After a bit more arguing, they decided.  Worf was chosen to deliver the invitation.
     "We would like,"  he said to Xena and Gabriella, "to offer you a ride, before we go."
     "In that?!"  Xena scoffed.  "I don't think so."
     "Oh, come on, Xena!"  Gabriella urged her companion.  "It'll be fun!"
     "Fun?  You saw what their light beams can do.  Somehow I don't think getting in that thing will be "fun"."
     "I understand,"  Worf nodded.  "I do not blame you for being afraid."
     Xena's chin lifted, and her teeth were set.  "Afraid?"  she scoffed, then trotted up the ramp into the small ship.
     "Thanks!"  Gabriella clapped her hands, then gave one of Worf's arms a squeeze.  "Whoa!"  she whispered, giving the arm another squeeze.  Grinning sheepishly, she took her hand away and scurried up the ramp.
     In almost no time, the ground was far below.  Land spread out like an ornate and detailed map.  The horizon seemed to take on a definite curve.  Smiling at their guests' gasps of astonishment, Dax took them for a quick spin around the planet.  Oceans and land turned dark as pitch, and the night sky was once again above.
     "See, Xena?"  Gabriella grabbed her friend's arm.  "If night can be hiding behind day, why not worlds hiding beyond the stars?"
     "I feel like my head's going to explode,"  Xena mumbled.
     Dax, hearing this, decided maybe a complete orbit wasn't necessary.   Taking a quick 180, she took them back into daylight.  In almost no time at all, they landed in the same spot they'd left.
     Now it was time to say the final good byes, and time to face the uncertain future.  Xena finally admitted perhaps Worf was not a Minatour, and Worf accepted her words in the spirit which they were spoken.  Again, the women thanked Julian for curing the plagued village, and Dax thanked them back for their elixir.  This done, the women were told to stand clear.  It was time.
     With an air of relief and hope, the crew of the runabout took their craft back up.  Heading back around to the night side, Dax set course for "Orion's Cape", reasoning that the anomaly should take them back to their own universe.  The tendrils of the miasma reached for them, the ship began to shake, and-
     A golden light appeared in the cabin.  In moments, a dark bearded man stood among them.  By reflex, Kira and Worf drew their phasers.
     "Please,"  the man scoffed, sneering at their weapons.
     "Who are you?"  Kira demanded, while Dax pulled the ship back from the anomaly.
     "My name is Ares,"  he responded.
     "Xena mentioned an Ares,"  Julian remembered.  "She said he was responsible for the anomaly."
     "The cape?"  Ares lifted one eyebrow, "Yeah, that was me; as much good as it did.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to be a god?  We hold their hands, and wipe their chins, and do everything for them- but do we get any of the credit?  Of course not!  We get blamed, when things go wrong, but everything that goes right, the mortals take credit for themselves."  He lifted a booted foot and set it on a counter, then leaned and rested his forearms on his thigh.  "I don't know why I even bother."
     "Are you from the Q Continuum?"  Worf asked.
     "That sloppy bunch of losers?"  Ares scoffed.  "I told you, I'm a god.  The god of war, to be precise.  Don't you have gods, where you're from?"
     Worf smiled toothily.  "We did,"  he answered, "but we killed them."
     Ares startled for a moment, then shook his head.  "That's mortals for you.  That's the kind of thanks we get.  Create a race nurture it, inspire it, and they kick you in the head.  It's almost enough to make any god just walk out on the whole thing."
     "You created this... rift?"  Kira asked.  "Why?"
     The god of war chewed on that one for a moment, not sure what he wanted to say.  In the end, he decided there wasn't any risk in telling the truth.  "Ran out of ideas.  This bunch is due for some kind of advancement, so instead of coming up with something ourselves, I decided to throw out a net and see what I could catch."  Letting that sink in, he shrugged.  "You were supposed to leave some small trinket or device behind, to inspire them."
     Kira nodded, smiling derisively.  "In other words, do your job."
     "In a manner of speaking."
     "And let you take the credit."
     "Hey,"  he shrugged, "Can I help it if a bunch of misguided mortals get the wrong idea?  Anyway, you guys have got to be the most prissy bunch in your universe.  You picked up everything.  Not one gadget, or gizmo, or trinket, or token left behind.  Now that I see what you travel in, it makes sense.  You seem to have a real obsession with neatness."
     "Are you going to stop us from leaving?"  Worf demanded to know.
     Ares gave the Klingon an uncomfortable look.  "I thought about it, but I guess not.  You people look like the type who would be bad for business.  All that hand holding, peace loving, mushy-mushy stuff; all wrapped up in an antiseptic package.  Nope, I think I'm glad to get rid of you.  A weapon or two would have been nice, but the cost is too high."  He took his foot off the counter and straightened up.  "Good-bye, and good riddance."  In a shower of gold, he was gone.
     The crew exchanged glances for exactly one heart beat, before they said in one voice "Let's go home."
     Once again, the tendrils reached out.  Once again, the crew lost consciousness.  This time, they awoke while adrift in space.  When they were hailed by the scientists on Bajor, a mighty cheer went up.  They were home.
.........

     Xena and Gabriella sat by an open fire, under the night sky.  Gabriella stared up at the stars, her mind filled with legends and possibilities.  Xena frowned slightly, tossing dried leaves at the fire.  Each one lifted, spun, then fell into the flames.
     "I know you don't want to talk about it,"  Gabriella began, "And I know it's a little scary to think about, but you have to admit the past few days have been pretty astounding."
     Xena half grunted, still tossing leaves.
     "I mean, imagine the implications.  New worlds, and new people, out there, just waiting for us.  Imagine the wonders.  Imagine the stories!"
     Again, Xena only grunted, then sighed.
     Gabriella stared at the stars some more, letting silence cloak them like a warm blanket.  Then she shook off the spell, and pulled a real blanket out of her bedroll.  It was time to get some sleep.  "I know I'll never forget what happened.  I'll never forget what we saw."
     "Mm-hm,"  Xena agreed, then seemed to wake out of her stupor.  "Gabby, have you noticed that when I toss leaves at the fire, something makes them lift up?"
     "What?"
     "Look,"  she did it again, getting the leaf to dance in the air.  "What does that?  Is it the smoke?  Is it the fire?  It's like a wind catches them, but there is no wind."
     "I don't know,"  Gabriella shrugged, a little annoyed.  She was tired of yapping away all evening, and now Xena wanted to talk?
     "And what makes them sail in the first place?  Is it because the leaves are flat?  Or because they are so light?  Could we... I don't know, make a big flat thing to fly with?"
     Gabriella yawned.  "Prometheus flew on wings of wax and feathers, then fell to his death when he flew too close to the sun and melted the wax."
     Xena rolled her eyes.  "So we won't use wax."
     "I dunno.  I guess it could be possible."
     "Can you imagine what could be done, if we could fly?"  Xena changed her position, turning to face Gabriella.  "No army could gather secretly, for fear of being observed.  We could travel in moments, over land that would take us days on foot!  Messages could be delivered and replies sent in a fraction of the time it takes now."
     "Xena,"  Gabriella, teased, "if the gods had meant us to fly, they would have made us with wings."
     Xena's excited look faded.  "I suppose so,"  she conceded.
     "Let's get some sleep, OK?"
     "Sure."  She watched Gabriella roll over.  Heaving a sigh, Xena turned back toward the fire.  Chewing her lip thoughtfully, she tossed another leaf...
     Apparently, something had been left behind.

THE END