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Home Unknown	By : katecooley Category: S through Z > Xena Views: 15191 -:- 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
- 21
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- 23
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. Writer's block is an ugly houseguest. And fanfiction.net can cram it with walnuts.
Anything in // is mental discussion from here on in. Just to keep things from getting confusing. And I'm using as a source for information on the Egyptian gods.
Angst warning!!! You will not like Athena after this chapter.

***

Part 23 - Cretins

Whoever was supplying wine to the Corinthian king, he was more than earning his keep.
Joxer slowly sipped at the plain silver chalice, enjoying the slightly fruity vintage as it washed over his tongue. There was a nice lingering bitterness to it, but not enough to spoil it.
He and Ares, who was working on his third cup of the same wine as Joxer was nursing his first, were in an alcove, watching as King Iphicles worked very hard to not snatch himself bald with frustration. Joxer had been right. A contingent of ornately ornamented, Eastern-garbed delegates were occupying the king's full attention with some kind of embargo business. That was enough to keep anyone occupied.

But not only were the delegates insisting that the restrictions to outside trading be loosened, they wanted the import tax waived and had insisted that the Corinthian army be dispatched to patrol the trade route. As far as they were concerned, the way was fraught with all manner of highwaymen and murderers waiting to ambush them. Through gritted teeth, Iphicles had informed them that the small assignment of soldiers would suffice. He wasn't going to occupy all of his troops on that particular task.
"So, what do you think?" Ares asked, his voice unheard by the assembled mortals.
Joxer shrugged, taking another sip of wine. "It's not too bad. Once they're gone, it'll be back to business. He's got the extra men out on patrol to keep these stuffed-togas happy. When they leave, he'll be able to focus better on the big picture ." He snorted a small laugh into his cup, sending ripples across the surface. "In fact, I'm pretty sure they're gonna use the roads as a stalling technique to try and put the squeeze on him one last time."
"Most likely. That horde of barbarians I have on the way may not even be necessary," Ares chuckled a little. "But� we'll see how Iphy deals with them AND this lot."
Joxer nodded. A small skirmish wouldn't hurt anything, he supposed. And an army shouldn't be allowed to stagnate. That would lead to getting sloppy and THAT would be a bad thing, especially for such a high-profile city like Corinth. Once word got out that the army was slacking, every warlord and his mother would be making a play for control. No, this would be good. Keep Iphicles sharp� Joxer took another sip of wine and regarded the king. He'd known Iphicles for a while, had been in his court on numerous occasions, usually trailing behind Xena or Hercules. Quite a few times on his own, as well. But for some reason, today� He squinted and tilted his head to the side. Weird.
Joxer looked back at Ares to ask if something was different about the king and stopped before he could even speak. Then he turned back to the throne. And then back to Ares. Throne. Ares. Throne. Ares. Wow. How is it I missed THAT? "Say, I never noticed before, but� Iphicles looks a lot like you."
A deep chuckle/snicker and a wry grin came from the War God. "Well, he should."
Joxer's eyes widened a fraction. "Yeah?"
"A few generations removed, but�" Ares nodded. "He's one of mine."
"Wow. I guess that explains the whole thing between him and Herc."
"No, they managed that one all on their own. It probably helps that Iphy's a descendent of mine, but it's not the main factor in their� 'issues'. You know how brothers are."
Joxer nodded, all too familiar with the ways of siblings. He suspected Ares was no stranger to it, either. A deep sigh ran through the war god and he took another long drink of wine, following it with a dark chuckle. "Sisters aren't much of a picnic either."
"Athena."
"None other."
Joxer mulled over his next words carefully, not wanting to draw godly fire from any direction. "She's� certainly� a strong presence to deal with."
Although Joxer knew they were both shielded from mortal acknowledgment, he was sure Ares' loud bark of laughter could be heard for miles. "That is one way of putting it. So� I take it that means you've been graced with meeting her."
"Sort of. She� came by the Halls of War once when I was there."
"Shrieking and yowling about something like a wet cat, I'm sure." Ares snorted, picturing exactly the state his sister had shown up in. "She's never had much patience for me or mine."
Joxer wondered if he qualified as 'mine'. Athena had surely cut him no slack during her storming visit. "She does that a lot?"
"She does it enough." Ares' smirk dropped a fraction. They were skirting dangerously close to memories he didn't much enjoy visiting. But he had promised Joxer� "She's had to deal with The Boy King for a long time."

The Boy King. Joxer could remember her spouting off something about that, but his fury at her assessment of him had blocked it out. It had been in and among her endless railing against Ares - Joxer had tucked it away while weathering all her bitching, both general and specific. "She calls you that a lot."
"She knows I hate it. So, yes. Every chance she gets." Ares found the bottom of his cup to be rather enchanting, a graceful curve of silver that didn't reflect an awful lot. Definitely a benefit right now. He made the last skim of wine swirl around the bowl of the chalice slowly. "It's not enough that everyone already knows that I'm the first-born son of Zeus and Hera. She's got to spend eternity taking the piss out of me for it."
There was a long silence between them, and Joxer's stomach tweaked a little. He was torn between not wanting to hear the rest and needing to hear it. It would explain the acrimony between War and Intellect. It would definitely give him insight into his godly lover. But he could see the pain of whatever it was etching itself ever so subtly into Ares' face. Joxer supposed this was one of those things the immortal kept buried underneath his cocky façade. "Ares�" Joxer wasn't sure what he was going to say next, wasn't even sure how to form the right words, so he laid a reassuring hand on Ares' broad shoulder.
Being God of War, Ares took the advantage offered. Rather than give voice to the rest, he just let the imagery flow through that simple physical connection. He debated keeping it simple, quipping his way through an explanation. There were plenty of quips to be had. But he found it exceedingly easy to just let it flow with one simple declaration.
"Before me, Athena was the only God of War."
***
All of Joxer's senses knew he was still in Corinth, secreted away from mortal eyes by positioning and otherwordly power. He was standing there, hand on Ares' shoulder in a comforting touch, glass of phenomenal wine in his other hand. Iphicles was pondering mass murder of foreign dignitaries not twenty feet from them. But he wasn't there. Ares had mentally whisked him off to a time and place that the God of War would probably prefer forgotten.
And Joxer didn't blame him one bit.
He'd been to Crete twice in his life, both times to visit Jayce while his flamboyant triplet was performing there. It was very pastoral and pleasant, much like the scene before him� minus the devastation, of course. Bodies lay everywhere, smoking and smoldering heaps of former humanity laid to waste. The ground was burnt as well, scorched and cracked in great patches among the grass. There was a tension in the air that was palpable, a thick crackle of angry energy passing around in whirls. Joxer turned to ask Ares what was going on and realized that Ares wasn't there.
"You see, Zeus? This is what you get when you let The Boy King run things."
Even at a lower volume, Joxer recognized that voice, snide and snotty and superior. He turned slowly and then wished he hadn't.
Athena hadn't changed much in what Joxer assumed was a good few thousand years. She was still wearing a starched toga, her hair in a perfect upsweep with obedient curls at the top. She was still looking down her long, perfectly sculpted nose at the entire scene in front of her, arms folded across a breastplate that had never seen any battle action and probably never would. And she still looked pissed. She was addressing Zeus, who looked precisely as the King of the Gods had always been described - tall, imposing and yet grandfatherly and charming. Right now, disappointed also wove its way in there.
"You should have never let him ascend." Athena's eyes turned to the left and Joxer's heart broke as he followed her gaze. A boy, no more than nine or ten, stood shakily off to the side, struggling to handle a sword entirely too large for him to handle. He was dressed in a blood-spattered white and black leather pants and had unruly black curls� "He clearly has no place as the God of War."
"LIAR!" a childlike voice yelled out with a modicum of the authority it would one day hold. "You did this! You ruined everything! You've been controlling the troops! There's no way�" But even as he continued protesting, Joxer could see that it was over. Zeus, not giving his son any ear, nodded sadly.
"It is unfortunate, but perhaps we were too hasty."
"FATHER! NO!"
"He does require more training than we can give. Perhaps it's time to take Sekhmet

up on her offer."
"NO! YOU CAN'T!" And a faint tremble started on the boy's chin, despite his fierce composure.
"It's the only way," the haughty, smug tone in Athena's voice was unmistakable. "I'll contact her immediately." She cast one more triumphant look at the boy, who only bore daggers for her, before disappearing in a burst of pure-white light.
"Father, you can't send me away�" A lost note entered the boyish voice.
"Sekhmet and I are old friends. She'll take good care of you and give you proper instruction on the Business of War. Athena will resume the position until you return." And that was it. Zeus was gone without so much as a good-bye, leaving the boy by himself among the dead.
"Oh, Ares�" Joxer whispered, watching the child try and keep himself composed. He almost fell over when he got an answer.
"It's OK, Joxer," the young voice quavered, but didn't break and hands fisted unfallen tears away from dark eyes. "It was the best thing for me, really. Egypt is� interesting. Different, but in a real good way. And Sekhmet really knows her stuff. I learned more there than I ever could have here� about a lot of things."
"B-but� they sent you away."
"They couldn't have done it themselves. No one had the patience and if they'd left it up to Athena, I'd have never learned anything beyond being her spear-carrier."
"You were just a boy."
"Yeah." The child sniffed and turned, casting a watery but wicked smile over his shoulder at Joxer. "But you shoulda seen me when I got back�"
And then he did.
The scenery crimped and changed into tall pillars and shining gold - Joxer knew it was Olympus even though it was part of Olympus he hadn't seen yet. The gods milling around in tight cliques and the twelve thrones told him that it must be the Main Hall.
The murmuring that was rolling around the room stopped when Zeus and Hera materialized in their lush seats, looking regal but distant. Joxer expected that Ares wasn't overly depicting them that way. Slowly but surely, the nine others appeared in their appointed seats, one throne conspicuously absent. No one seemed to give its empty state a second thought.
Zeus opened his mouth to address the throng of immortals gathered in the hall when another voice wafted in around them.
"Forgive my intrusion, Oh Great King of the Gods."
Before the voice's echoing words finished sounding, a gold shimmer deposited a tall, willowy woman with fine burnished skin in front of the thrones. On her head was perched the head of a lion, shining and gold. Bangles encircled her upper arms and wide, kohl-rimmed eyes surveyed the panel of Greek godhood.
"Sekhmet." Zeus nodded his head in greeting. "I trust you bring word of my son's progress."
A deep-throated laugh was blocked by a long-fingered, strong-looking hand. "Yes, I suppose you could say that." She looked to the empty space next to her. "Little One?"
Another golden shimmer announced another arrival and from his good vantage point, Joxer could see that it was broader than the first. When the light gave way to a corporeal form, Joxer could feel his eyes widen and his mouth fall open.
Long ebony hair trailed down between broad, sculpted shoulders, raven waves of shiny curls that trailed down like spilled ink. A tawny, golden glow lit skin wherever it showed� and it showed a lot. Decked out in the garb of the land he'd arrived from, he was mostly undecked but for a long, decorative breechclout that was finely painted and embroidered, a few items of luxurious jewelry including earrings and an armlet around his thickly-muscled bicep. Joxer peripherally realized that he was ridiculously hard as he looked at his god as a young man back from a different land. A land that had treated and suited him well. He was tall and broad and sculpted and oiled and mostly naked and smirking in that way that set off all kinds of things inside Joxer's body and it was just a thin thread of self control keeping him from launching himself at Ares.
A girly shriek did a better job, though.
"HOLY SHIT! THAT'S ARES!" And a younger version of Aphrodite launched herself out of her pink and white throne, topped with cherubs that bore a striking resemblance to Bliss. She was barely dressed, as always, in her diaphanous garb and everything bounced and flounced as she dismounted the dais and headed straight for him, stopping just short of shoving him to the ground when she came to a halt. "Wow-ee! Aren't YOU all grown up!" A wink and a tweak of Ares' chin followed with much coquettish giggling. "You'll have to tell me allllll about what you've been up to�"
"My god�" Joxer breathed, chuckling a little to himself. Ares, still young and fresh from Egypt, turned his head toward the formal mortal and winked conspiratorially.
***
Almost as quickly as Crete and Olympus has appeared around him, the throne room in Corinth came back, Iphicles still weathering the ill disposition of the diplomats and Ares still secreted away with Joxer. Only they'd been paying less attention to the king's predicament than they'd initially intended.
"Ares, I�" Joxer examined the war god's face for any signs of turbulence and only found calm resignation. As if this were something he'd gotten used to.
"You'll do better than I did my first shot. That's all I wanted to say." Ares shifted uncomfortably. "You have plenty of support and we'll all have our eye on you." It didn't take an empath to see that Ares was ill at ease with those long-ago feelings and wanted little to do with them. Joxer took it as an honor that he was even allowed to see what had transpired. Ares laughed a little, not sounding very smug at all when he did it. "For better or worse."
"Thanks."
"Don't. It's our duty to make sure you're well-trained. If not, you'd be a liability to the pantheon."
Joxer took that for what it was worth - Ares closing off some of the baser, uglier things that he had to deal with. Maybe it was a long time ago, but he suspected that it was one of those things that lingered. He was familiar with ghosts like that himself. His hand still on the war god's shoulder, Joxer gave a cautious stroke with his thumb along the edge of the vest, barely grazing skin. He could feel the flex of muscles tighten and shift, the tension in them high. Were it his shoulders, Joxer knew how bad they'd knot from that kind of stress. It would go straight up his neck and right down his back and he'd be no use to anyone for a good while. He suspected Ares was the same, only exponentially more cranky.
A slight smile crooked Joxer's lips. Maybe he wasn't the most skilled god among them, but he wasn't without his talents. He squeezed Ares' shoulder lightly. "Let's get out of here."
"We're supposed to be observing Iphy's progress here�" Ares protested, though it only sounded half-hearted.
"It's not gonna change until the barbarians get here. And there are two regiments of soldiers less than a day away. He'll handle it. And just in case, we can watch through a pool or a mirror or something."
"I promised to show you how to do some god-things, too�"
"Yeah, well�" Joxer's grin broadened a little, a mischievous glint in his eyes that Ares definitely liked. "Maybe I have something to show you first."
Ares' eyebrows lofted a little and a hint of a smile returned. "Maybe at that."
-tbc-
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