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Home Unknown	By : katecooley Category: S through Z > Xena Views: 15190 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Xena, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 20
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- 22
See part one for all the semi-legal song and dance. I'm so glad you guys are patient. I've had a hell of a time updating.

Anything in // is mental discussion from here on in. Just to keep things from getting confusing.

***

Part 22 - Power Play

"Wow. I've never seen it THIS bad before."

They'd hardly materialized when something kicked Joxer square in the glutes, making him start examining the land around them. They'd popped in just inside of Corinth's city walls and Ares assumed that the former mortal's godhood trying to give him a push in the right direction.

"I mean, it's been a while, but�" Joxer strode away from the war god and examined the road itself. "What's Iphicles doing around here anyway?" He stooped and poked at the cobbled stone that was coming loose. "Why would he let the road fall into disrepair like this?"

Ares opened his mouth to answer - well, really to make a poke at Hercules, because now was as good a time as any - but Joxer cut him off by heading up the street toward the main city. "And weeds! I never remember there EVER being weeds! Who's taking care of this� HOLY HADES' BALLS! The Stuck Boar is gone!"

Rather than try to keep up, Ares simply pooft over to the boarded-up building that Joxer had skidded to a halt in front of. It was just outside the city proper and it looked as if it had once been a garrison. Joxer touched the unforgiving gray stone almost lovingly. "Should I leave you two alone?" Ares smirked gently, watching the fond look mingle with sadness on Joxer's face.

"Yes. Come back in a few decades." The newly minted god pressed his face up against the slats nailed to a window, trying to peer inside. "Gods! This place was around forever! And there was always music playing� people laughing and singing� Arkus was behind the bar, polishing this one glass over and over and over� I can't believe it's all closed up." He lifted his face and turned it to Ares, a smudge of dust on his forehead. "I don't get it. Why would The Boar be closed? This was where the� Oh."

"Yeah." Ares nodded.

"So, we need to�"

"Yep."

Joxer's stomach twisted a little. Strange that it would act up now, after a lifetime of trying to improve his more war-like qualities. Yeah, but I never got in on the ground floor of a war before. I never started one... not intentionally, anyway.

Ares couldn't miss the look of distress on Joxer's face, twisting the features that had burned themselves into his memory in the most upsetting way. And he knew what it was from. "It's not unusual." Ares scuffed at the loose stones near his feet. "We'll give them a nudge, get things back on track."

Joxer took a deep breath and let it out slowly, nodding. It made sense. A little trouble to get everyone back in line. He just didn't like the thought of war landing on the doorstep of his former home. He liked the thought of causing it even less. "It's just� I like Iphicles. He's always treated me like I wasn't a galloping idiot and he's a good king. He genuinely loves Corinth."

"I know. Which is why he's still there. And he'll be there tomorrow, too. We're not going to raze the countryside, just give him a little wake-up call." Ares gave Joxer's shoulder a friendly slap. "Besides, you didn't think I was just going to toss you into the deep end straight off, did you?" The chuckle that followed sent a warm sensation up Joxer's back and through his belly.

"I guess not." Relief was a welcome sensation. He'd been seeing visions of a spectacular disaster starting to form. Joxer brought his gaze back to his god. "So, what's the plan?"

Ares shrugged his shoulders, half a grin still in place. "Don't quite know yet. We should probably head into town and see what's got Iphy so occupied these days."

"Ambassadors." Joxer blurted out, though he knew somehow he was right.

"Possibly. But we should�"

"Well, yeah. It'd be foolish not to. But I'd bet anything that it's some contingent of foreign diplomats making his life Tartarus on Earth." The new god nodded, more sure of himself by the second. "I've seen it before. They throw off his whole stride if they're not cooperating. Then, he gets that stubborn look and hunkers down until it's resolved. Everything else be damned." Joxer cast a look toward town and snickered. "He is Herc's brother, after all."

A short laugh barked out of Ares and the war god slapped Joxer's back. "Yeah, he is, isn't he. A little more sensible than ol' Do-goodly there, but still as obstinate as a constipated mule."

Joxer smiled, remembering that look of unwavering resolve on the king's face and a similar one on Hercules' visage. "Yeah� but they're not so bad." A snort came from Ares, giving his opinion on that. "Not to me, anyway. I mean, Herc's a little pig-headed and Iphicles is a little stand-offish, but they were both always nice to me. I think they got it." Joxer scuffed his feet on the loose cobblestones again, nudging them around. "I mean, every guy's had an awkward phase, right? Too much arm and leg, voice like a rusty gate, too tall� too clumsy�"

"Too shy�" Ares added, catching himself with a cough and plastering a smile on his face. "And then there's Alcemene following you to the Academy with a bag lunch."

Joxer sputtered out a laugh, imagining Hercules' mother showing up to Chairon's training grounds with a lovely little lunch for her wonderful son. Joxer could just about see Herc blushing and wishing he was somewhere else. He could relate, though not to the doting mother part. Jacinda had been too involved in being the picture of a warlord's wife to dote on any of her sons, Joxer in particular. But he could remember the feeling, the wish to suddenly find yourself far, far away�

A hand clapped down on his shoulder hard, not painfully but firmly enough to shake him out of his daydreaming. "Easy there, Jox. If you don't know where you're going, it'll be hard to me to find you again." Joxer looked at Ares and then down at himself, more than a little shocked to see that he was sparkling with energy. Had he just almost�

"OK, practice begins now," Ares chuckled, giving Joxer's narrow shoulder a squeeze. "See if you can get yourself inside the palace. I'll follow your aura."

"How� can you show me that? The aura thing." Joxer turned to his god and fixed him with an inquisitive look. "It sounds like it could be a good thing to know."

"It is. And I will. But there are many things you need to get a handle on before you tackle that particular trick." Ares caught the defeated, disappointed look in Joxer's eyes - he'd have to have been in Macedonia to miss that one. A lifetime of being fobbed off and ignored and patronized in there. "Give me your hand."

Obediently, the former mortal held out his hand, letting Ares take it and move it within a hair's breadth of his chest. Then, the war god flexed his power and Joxer yelped at the shock of energy that raced along his palm. "Harnessing the energy that fuels our powers isn't an easy task. Even if I showed you, it wouldn't be sufficient. We all have to" he cleared his throat and smiled, a fond shade to it "train at the master's knee, as it were. And you will."

Joxer nodded, placated a little by the explanation. He supposed it made sense to have the god most skilled in a particular task do the schooling. And Ares wasn't just brushing him off because he didn't care, so he guessed he was OK with it.

"Right now, let's see about getting over to Iphy's pad, hm? Think you can make yourself invisible?"

Joxer's eyes widened a hair. There was a question. He'd often wished he could be invisible, especially after managing some unintended mayhem. Sometimes he was treated as if he were invisible, remembering years of being overlooked in his father's house. But actually becoming invisible? "I don't know� How�?"

"Just touch yourself and think 'Clear'." Ares demonstrated on himself, making himself disappear before Joxer's eyes. "Of course, you can do it so you're just invisible to mortals, too. Mortal Clear for that one." Ares shimmered back into view before him.

"That's it? Just think 'clear'?"

"A lot of things you're going to learn first aren't going to be complicated. It's just practice and perception."

Joxer was quiet for a moment. "You mean like thinking about being far away and sending myself there."

"Something like that." Ares watched as Joxer worried his bottom lip with his teeth, tossing it all around in his mind. He could tell the younger man was still having issues with the whole 'godhood thing' and probably would for a while. He'll fit in just fine, Ares mumbled to himself. "To the castle?"

"Sure." Joxer nodded determinedly, torn between wanting to try out every new thing he might be able to do and not wanting to look like a giddy ass for it. "OK. Power of positive thinking. I can do this." He touched his own hand to his chest and paused, looking to the source of his ruminating standing before him patiently. Too shy� Ares? It doesn't jive, but then, it does� Joxer kept his thought small, lest he broadcast that one right to the war god. He wondered about Ares, about Ares as a young man. It was hard to picture - there were no statues of him that looked any different than he did right now. As if the God of War had only existed in this state. Yet, Joxer knew snippets of stories, gleaned over the years through careful listening and furtive reading, that opposed that. Flew in the face of the eternal image. "Ares?"

"I'll be right behind you. You won't get lost." Ares smirked fondly. "Besides, it's Corinth. Even if I blindfolded you, you could find the center, I'm sure."

"No, that's not it." He furrowed his brow, contemplating the wisdom of even broaching the subject. Days ago, he'd almost stumbled on something and with today, it made sense. "Could you tell me about� Crete?"

Ares' grin faded a little, but fortunately, not into rage. Every muscle tightened once and a dark look passed over the god's face. He was quiet for a long minute or two, causing Joxer more worry. Now that the chance for fireballing him into next month had passed, the thought of causing Ares any discomfort made Joxer uneasy.

"Let's get to the castle." Ares said in a quiet voice that sounded a million miles away in thought.

"Sure." Joxer nodded again, about to 'clear' himself and see if that actually worked. Ares' voice stopped him cold for a second as the god made himself slip from sight.

"I think Iphicles still has that vintner in his coterie. If I'm telling you about Crete, I'm gonna need a few stiff belts first."

***

Strife plastered himself against the dark side of the pillar, keeping one eye on that ever-present pest of a priest that just wouldn't want to leave. Didn't the guy ever have to take a leak or something? He'd use his powers to make him have to, but as a high priest to a god, he'd know the influence of a god when he got whammied, so that was out. The best the God of Mischief could do was wait.

He sighed quietly to himself as the elderly abbot took his time dusting and polishing the ornate carving on the front of the altar. The old man's smirk was completely hidden to the concealed god, as was the fact that the mischief inherent in sneaking around someone else's temple was producing a veritable swarm of white-blue sparkles around that one column. Veritas had been an attendant for a great many years in this temple, serving his god dutifully since he'd been cloistered as a young man. The appearance of other gods was nothing new to him. The appearance of Strife was nothing new to him. Strife hiding behind a pillar� nothing new. And since Veritas himself wasn't new, he played along. Better to let the godling think he was putting one over than to invite an angry Mischief God to smite you.

So he polished, as if the altar would ever be allowed to be less than perfect. As if keeping it gleaming was not a task given to the newest of acolytes trying to impress both high priest and god. As if he himself would ever let it dim. And he waited, as he dutifully ran his cloth over the marble, knowing that by the time he heard�

"Aw, f'r the luvva ZEUS!" came the mumbled frustration, just hardly out of earshot. Veritas gave his task one final rub and then stood, his ancient back creaking as he straightened up. Age was not a friend, though it did allow him the advanced wisdom and experience to know� things. Like that Artemis wasn't really a virgin anymore. Like that Persephone wasn't really very put out by having to spend time with an eternally young and virile Lord of the Underworld. And that Strife was wishing and hoping that he would leave the main chamber. If he tarried any longer, he was sure the young god, who still had a century or two over him but was young nonetheless, would pick him up by the back of his robe and 'escort' him elsewhere. With a chuckle over the impatience of youth, the old priest shuffled his way out of the large room, full well feeling the icy-blue eyes boring a hole through his back. A gentle something pushed at him, the barest flicker of godly power helping him along. Ah, to be young�

Strife was sure he'd aged six years in the time it took the priest to leave. It seemed like the old man was going in reverse there for a minute. A slight shove moved things along just enough to get him out. Once the audience chamber was clear, Strife whipped a force field around the whole place to keep him from being interrupted. He wouldn't be here long enough for anyone to get suspicious anyway.

Without an audience, Strife hurried up to the large backless throne carved out of ivory and resisted sticking his face in the cushion and inhaling. As much as he would have enjoyed it, he was really more focused on that weird box mortals had been cramming petitions into. The priests had emptied it just a little while ago, so his would be the only one in there now. It wouldn't get lost in the mix of other missives. Which was good and bad. Good because he'd spent a long time toiling over just the right wording. Even pestering a Muse or two into helping him, forswearing them to secrecy on pain of chigger infestation. And bad because� there'd be no way to deny it later. Or hope that it got lost in the shuffle. He was never one for indecisiveness, but� Well, he was glad for the box. If he'd been doing this box-less, he'd have had to do it face-to-face and that just wasn't going to happen. As it was, he blushed all over himself just thinking about it.

Taking a deep breath, Strife forced his hand over to the slot carved in the top of the large oblong box, carved with the symbols and honorifics of the House of Love. It took a second or two for his fingers to actually loosen and drop the scroll inside.

His breath let out shakily. "There ya go. Ball's in your court, Cupe."

-tbc-
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