© Copyright 1998 by Rebekah

© Copyright 1998 "The Legend of the Lady in the Moon" by F.S.

Xena: Warrior Princess and the names, titles, and backstory used in "No Doubt" are the sole property of Universal. The author intends no copyright infringement through the writing of this fan fiction.

This story may not be sold and may be archived at public sites only with direct permission from the author. Any archive must carry this entire copyright statement.

Surprised, Tik Li blurted, "There are a few known thieves, not usually violent. A couple of them are from a band of cutthroats that terrorized travelers a while back. One repeat murderer, Chu ..."

"Great name," Xena scowled. "Do you know these people by sight?" At the courtier's nod, she said, "Cautiously now, point them out to me and tell me who they are and what they've done. Show me the murderer first." After getting the information from Tik Li and giving him some brief instructions, she turned casually to the waiting group as he left.

"Xena, no ... you're not strong enough to take anybody on!" Gabrielle felt her panic shine through her words, and she didn't care.

"Easy, now ... they're all in worse shape than I am ... and I do have that newly minted reputation to work with." Gabrielle was startled to see a slight wink and the hint of a grin coming from her friend, and began to feel a tiny bit better as she realized that Xena, too, was feeling a tiny bit better.

"Can ... can you do ... that ... again? What you did to the palace?" Gabrielle looked into the clear blue of Xena's eyes and knew the answer before the warrior spoke it.

"No, Gabrielle ... not now." Xena shook her head ruefully. "Someday, perhaps again, but not now." She sighed as she held up her hand to forestall the questions she saw ready in Gabrielle's eyes. "We have a lot to talk about, don't we?" She put a hand on the suddenly bowed head. "Such as, however did you learn so much Chin so quickly?" Her mouth quirked in concert with an eyebrow as Gabrielle looked up sharply.

"Oh ... uh ... on the ship I traded ..." Gabrielle stopped and started over, recognizing the question to be a rhetorical attempt to lighten her mood. "Well ... I've always been good at languages." She tried to adopt Xena's tone and succeeded well enough to elicit a chuckle from the warrior. "I did OK, I guess ..." she winced when she thought again of WHAT it was that she'd done so well. "... but I don't know THAT much ... when YOU talk, I can just barely follow ..."

"Ah, that's because I speak a rather lowbrow variation and somehow you learned high, formal Chin." She smiled broadly as both of the girl's eyebrows shot up. "Well, I can speak that, too," she confessed. "I'll have to teach you some good words that the nobility never use," she whispered wickedly, getting the hoped-for chuckle out of Gabrielle. Suddenly, she swayed a bit and Gabrielle grabbed both arms to steady her.

"Thanks," she murmured. "We gotta get this over with NOW, I think."

"No, Xena ... this just proves my point ... you can't do this. You just admitted ..."

"Yes, but they don't know that," Xena pointed out reasonably as she turned once again toward the milling knot of people. Gabrielle hung back until the warrior turned around and held out her hand.

"Hey, I don't feel THAT good ... c'mon, I need you to make sure I don't fall on my face in the middle of my big speech." Xena winked again at the astonished bard. "It would ruin the effect, doncha think?" Holding her friend's hand in a deceptively negligent grip, she assumed her warlord demeanor and turned once again to the group.

"So, former prisoners of Ming Tien ..." The low, smooth, hardness of her voice poured over the crowd, quieting it while leaving it tense and wary of the sardonic Great One before it.

"You have been given a great gift ... your freedom ... and a chance to begin your lives again." She stared at them coldly, letting them think about her words and about her person. As she did so, she quietly translated her words for Gabrielle, and continued to do so throughout her speech.

"Most of you are political prisoners or innocents who simply got in Ming Tien's way ..." She stopped again, feeling light-headed, and leaned subtly into Gabrielle, who just as subtly braced her back and legs and offered all her strength for Xena to use. The warrior used it, and continued. "... but SOME of you have committed real crimes again your people."

She watched the men and women pointed out to her by Tik Li and saw the tense shifting of their muscles as some prepared to take flight, even in their weakened state. Chu made no move at all.

"I am no one to say that bad people should not get a second chance ..." she drawled, "... or even a third or fourth one -- even if they don't deserve them." She paused. "I stand before you today because I have been given MANY such chances by many good people ... and I didn't deSERve ANY of them." Gabrielle, after hearing her translation of this last comment, poked her gently in the ribs.

"Most of them, anyway," Xena corrected, squeezing Gabrielle's hand and feeling a tiny squeeze in return.

"I stand before you because I have learned the reality of forgiveness ... and for a few minutes, at least, I knew the way."

After translating, she ignored the bard's audible gasp and stood staring as if seeing something other than the people before her. Finally, she felt Gabrielle questioning her through body signals, and shook off her daze.

"I know the criminals among you. If you will come to me and give me your word -- one bad person to another -- that you will work to mend your ways, you may leave with the others." She eyed the crowd, which was segregating itself from the obviously well-known criminal element in its midst.

"I warn you, this path is not an easy one. You will falter more than once. I have." Once again, as she translated she squeezed her friend's hand. "But even though I don't deserve it, I've been blessed by many good friends who are there to lend me their bravery and strength ... and love ... when mine fails." She felt Gabrielle go rigid, then relax a little.

"Come to me and make your vow," she encouraged. A young, emaciated woman, one of the thieves, came before her and began to kneel. "No, stand before me like the strong, free woman you are," said Xena.

The woman stood and looked Xena in the eye. "Great One ..."

"Xena ... my name is Xena," the warrior corrected her mildly.

"Tsi Na." The woman let the unfamiliar sounds roll over her tongue, then began again. "Tsi Na, I swear to you by my ancestors and my son that I will work to change my ways."

"Promise yourself as well," Xena replied, putting a hand on the woman's shoulder with much effort. "Don't try to do this alone ... and don't get discouraged and quit when you find you ... aren't as successful as you'd like to be." Gabrielle, who was beginning to understand the rhythm and speech patterns of Xena's version of Chin, looked up in amazement even before Xena finished translating, but remained silent. The woman nodded and hobbled away.

One after another, the criminals came before the ex-warlord and swore by whatever they held sacred. One after another, she encouraged them and sent them on their way. A few, the road bandits in particular, she knew to be lying. Still, she let them go after telling them that she saw through their deception and threatening them in her most terrifying manner.

Now, only Chu was left.

"We're gonna be fine," she soothed. "Just be ready."

"So, Warrior ..." he sneered, "... I liked you better without clothes."

"On the other hand," Xena replied with no emotion, "I'm rather relieved to see that you have something on at last. I was embarrassed at your lack of substantial ... equipment."

The vacant eyes finally flared with some feeling -- clear hatred.

"I'm not about to abase myself to a foreigner ... and a woman, at that ... because a few panty-waist noblemen say she threw balls of fire."

"Nor should you. I never asked any of you to abase yourselves. There's been too much of that in the land of Chin."

"What makes YOU so high and mighty? You're nothing NEAR the soul of goodness! I lived in a village your army razed many years ago. You PERSONALLY killed everything that moved ..."

"No?" Both eyebrows went up. "What game DO you play, then? "

"I PLAY NO GAME, WOMAN!"

"I suppose now -- Chu, is it? Odd name, that -- you're going to tell me some sad tale of being driven to a criminal existence because I ... visited ... your village, hmm?"

"Nah ... you did me a great favor." He grinned savagely as Xena's eyes registered real surprise. "Yeah ... there'd been a series of ... incidents ... in my village in the months before you showed up. Things were closing in on me that very day ... you could say you rescued me from a rather nasty situation."

"Fine," Xena breathed. "Do you intend to show your gratitude by trying to mend your ways so that you may live in peace among your people?"

"There is nothing BROKEN about my ways, so they do not need mending!" Chu bellowed. "I intend to walk out of this courtyard and continue the life that I thought was lost to me." Suddenly the man seemed very calm.

"After I'm finished with her ... I'm gonna kill what's left of YOU ... slowly."

"Get ready," Xena muttered out of the corner of her mouth, smiling inwardly as she felt Gabrielle coiling her body for action. At the edges of her vision, she saw movement.

"Y'know ... I was wrong, Chu," Xena said in a bored tone. "Pig isn't such an odd name for you, after all."

Without preparation, she launched herself and Gabrielle directly into the body of the startled madman. Off balance, he fell backward into the waiting arms of Tik Li, several noblemen, and some of the freed prisoners. Clumsily, the courtiers wrestled the murderer to the ground and held him there while the former prisoners locked one of the prison yokes around his neck.

A cold howl chilled everyone within its hearing.

"I will kill you slowly and painfully, Tsi Na!" Chu screamed. "I will kill you all!"

Gabrielle, who was already standing, looked quickly at the enraged man, then at Xena, who was still lying on the ground, completely spent from this last effort. She leaned down, grasped the warrior under each arm, and hauled her to her feet. Xena looked at her wryly, then turned to the maniac in the body yoke.

"Perhaps you WILL try to kill me, Chu," Xena rasped painfully. "I think these people have a prior claim on your time, though." She nodded toward the wary men surrounding the now-powerless, still-dangerous, man.

"He is a convicted, unrepentant criminal, already condemned to death by your laws," she said slowly to Tik Li. "But I have a request."

"Name it, Tsi Na," Tik Li said as he drew closer.

"Make his execution quick and painless."

Tik Li and the others did nothing to hide their surprise at this strange petition.

"It will be done as you ask, Warrior," said the man from Lao, "... but why? He would not do the same for you. He has threatened you and your friend with terrible deaths!"

"Because I am learning ... slowly ... that revenge and hatred have a dreadful price," Xena's voice broke as she felt Gabrielle's startled gasp. "You ... are different from Chu. You owe yourselves the luxury of showing at least a little mercy where he ... would ... not." Her voice gave out at last , but she gazed levelly at the crowd before her.

Tik Li looked at his friends and at the freed prisoners, nodded, and turned once again to Xena and Gabrielle.

"It will be done as you ask ..." he smiled and added, quite deliberately, as he bowed, "... Great One."

"Thank you, Tik Li," Gabrielle responded at Xena's slight nod. "I hope we see you soon in the village ..." She paused. "I think ..." The warrior nodded again. "... Xena wants to speak with you further, when she has rested and recovered herself somewhat ... tomorrow, perhaps?"

Tik Li nodded uncertainly, amazed at the understanding between these two women and all the more confused by recent events.

Gabrielle held onto Xena as they finally made the climb over the great stone blocking the gateway to the palace grounds.

Gabrielle couldn't keep from smiling a little at the whispered question, even as she thought how badly she felt.

"You're kidding, right?" Slowly, carefully, they were making their way down the worn footpath that wound from the high palace grounds to the small village below.

"Well ... no," Xena said quietly. "But I do see why you might think so." Gabrielle looked up in time to catch the barest hint of a twinkle in Xena's tired eyes.

"Um, it depends on what you mean," Gabrielle replied, scanning the huts ahead for the one Tik Li said they could use. "If you mean, did I break anything during our little leap into the void back there, then I'm OK." Catching sight of the right hut, she headed off the path toward it. As she shifted her hands, trying to maintain a grip on her bag, her staff, and Xena, she felt a deep chuckle flow through the warrior. "You gave me enough warning ... of course, all those guys creeping up behind Chu was another clue ... I was wondering where Tik Li had gotten to!"

"You were right, Gabrielle ... I was in no shape to take that guy one-on-one," Xena admitted. "Well, I would have if I'd had to, but ..." she winced as her back and shoulders protested the past several days. "... let's just say I'm glad I didn't have to."

"Me, too," Gabrielle said quietly as they reached the opening in the hut. "But ... you ... you ARE feeling a little bit better, aren't you? I mean, you seem a little more ..."

"Yes, actually, I'm MUCH better ... it's amazing what a little food and water ..." Xena suddenly stopped talking as she felt her friend's body quiver. "Gabrielle, no ... don't do this to yo..."

"That's the point, though, isn't it?" The anger and disappointment in Gabrielle's voice shocked Xena.

"What are you saying?" Xena tugged at the bard, who was beginning to steer her into the hut.

"I'm SAYING that I did this," Gabrielle growled as she moved them slowly forward. "All of this. I DID THIS!" She stopped, feeling an awful bitterness in her mouth. "I was so SURE ... so SURE I was right! Everything seemed so clear! I was so ... sure ..." Her voice faded as she came to herself, suddenly realizing that she was still supporting Xena, who very much needed to get off her feet.

"Gabrielle?" Xena spoke softly as they moved into the semi-darkness of the hut. "Gabrielle? Can you hear me? Gabrielle?" A little snap of golden hair in her direction relieved the warrior. "Gabrielle, listen to me ... you WERE right."

Only Gabrielle's determination to settle her precious burden onto the sleeping pallet at one side of the small hut kept her from stopping dead in her tracks.

"So you said back in the throne room." Carefully, she helped Xena sit down and wrapped a blanket around her. She straightened to go back outside to build up the cooking fire, but Xena grabbed her hand.

"You WERE right," she repeated.

"How can you sit there and say that? You're sick and hurt because of what *I* did, because of choices *I* made!"

"Yes." Xena's blunt agreement made the young woman flinch. "Of course, I'm also here because of decisions ... and mistakes ... *I* made, Gabrielle ..."

"Mistakes YOU made."

"C'mon, Gabrielle ... neither of us would be where we are today if I hadn't deliberately decided to cross the world on a long journey with the specific purpose of committing cold-blooded murder." She closed her eyes briefly and smiled when she opened her eyes and saw the realization on Gabrielle's face. "You'd forgotten that. It's easy, even convenient, to forget whole parts of the story that don't fit when you're beating yourself up about something, isn't it?"

"Ye-e-a-ah," Gabrielle said uncertainly. She fidgeted a little with Xena's blanket. "C'mon, let me go find something for your neck." She rose as Xena released her hand.

"OK, as long as you keep talking."

"Huh! There was a time when you'd never have believed that something like that would come out of your mouth."

"There are STILL times when ..."

"Hey! Watch it!" Gabrielle began looking into the small pots and jars next to the sacks of supplies.

"THERE you are!"

Gabrielle looked back across the hut, trying to figure out who had entered the structure without her knowledge. "There WHO is?"

"You, Gabrielle," Xena replied quietly. "I was afraid I might have lost you somewhere back in that rubble."