See Part One for Disclaimers

Part Two

They left the small town early the next morning.  Salmoneus made a face over his dwindling resources as he secured his coin pouch after breakfast.  About an hour out of town, Ariana handed him a second small leather pouch.  He stopped walking and talking as he looked from it to her.  "What is this?"

"You were worried about funds running low."

"Ariana, you don't have any funds."

"No."

"Where did you get this?"

"I took it."

"You took it?  From who?  Where?" He tried to think back through the morning to figure out when she could have gotten money from someone.  It suddenly dawned on him she had literally taken it, stolen it from someone on their way out of town.  He looked at the bag like it was going to bite him.  "You stole it."

Ariana looked confused.  Of course, she had stolen it.  How else would she have gotten it?  Something in the way he was looking at her, in his entire stance, told her he wasn't happy about this.  "I guess I could take it back."

Salmoneus considered this.  "No."  He decided.  Taking it back would just make more trouble.  He started to toss the bag away, and reconsidered.  He emptied the half dozen coins into his hand, tossed the bag and added the coins to his own.  It wasn't honest.  He knew that.  But he was low on funds and he had no intention of going back to such an unprofitable town.  On the other hand, he launched into a long lecture on why Ariana shouldn't do this again.  She didn't look particularly contrite about her action, but agreed that as long as she was in his company, she would refrain from removing coins or other items from owners who didn't keep a good grip on their belongings.

Part of Ariana wanted to rip into Salmoneus for being a hypocrite, for daring to lecture her when survival was at stake.  Yet there was something that held her back, something that admitted the justification for the lecture, something that responded to the honesty expressed.  She recognized Salmoneus as an opportunist, but a controlled one.  She admired his eloquence.  She was aware of depths beneath his almost continual chatter.  She wondered if who she had been before would have been so perceptive.  Having a nearly empty mind seemed to engender observation.  Only, how empty could it be to perceive that there was a great deal more to Salmoneus than met the eye on cursory examination.  She found his companionship reassuring, a human touch in a cold, inhuman world.  She watched his emotions chase each other across his mobile face and wondered if she had always been as cold and measured as she felt.  She wanted to reach out to him, to touch his reality, his warm solidness; to reassure herself that this was not some peculiar dream from which she would awaken suddenly with only misty recollections that faded as she tried to grasp them.

Salmoneus stopped lecturing as he realized that only part of his companion's attention was on what he was saying.  Her face could have been carved alabaster for all the emotion she showed, yet her eyes were dark with some deep seated pain it seemed.  He touched her shoulder.  "Are you all right?"

She looked into his clear blue gaze and saw only a reflection of what he knew of her there.  There was no judgement, no fear, no hate.  Salmoneus found himself holding her again, her arms wrapped around him as though holding on for life itself as she shook and trembled.  Not knowing what else to do, he held her until the oddly silent storm passed.

She was still finally.  She drew in a shaky breath and pulled back, but not away, so she could look at him again.  With no warning she kissed him.  It

was a kiss of need and a kiss of promise.  He understood that it touched her

as deeply as it touched him.  Then they were apart, a warm, happy smile on both their faces.  There were no words needed for what they had just told each other.  They resumed their walk, Salmoneus oddly silent, yet feeling somehow taller and more confident than he had felt in some time.  Love can hit people that way.

Over the next two weeks, Salmoneus and Ariana explored the parameters of their new relationship and learned about each other.  He found her a surprisingly good listener when he had an idea.  Unlike others, she didn't immediately look exasperated at his need to find a way to get ahead.  On the other hand, she had a good head for detail and caught things his immediate enthusiasms might have over looked.  Her silence was not a bar to communication, but helped it.  On the other hand, bandits learned that trying to take from Salmoneus was somewhat like trying to deal with a hydra, not a good idea unless you're Hercules.  As none of them were that legendary hero, Salmoneus remained unharmed and unrelieved of his goods.  Several of the bandits would trouble no one else.

They stopped at the seaport of Pireaus for a few days.  Salmoneus was exploring the idea of becoming a matchmaker.  Having found a woman who loved him -- he kept stumbling around that one -- he had discovered a desire to see if he could facilitate the equal happiness of others, for a small fee, of course.  Or a sliding scale, depending on the ease and availability of suitable partners in the area.  And the farther afield he had to go, the more it would cost.  And there was the expense of specific desires being fulfilled, and -- long walks and lots of fresh sea air, even with the fishy smell, seemed to keep the ideas coming, so he walked a lot when he wasn't with Ariana.

His expansion on the arena of matchmaking amused his companion.  Still, it was capable of being a lucrative business for someone with the patience and knowledge.  What he needed was a data base.  She frowned at the thought.  It sounded foreign, yet correct.  Instead of worrying about it, Ariana found

them a place to live for a few days that wasn't a room over a tavern.  Having

displayed a fine hand for cooking over an open fire and a knowledge of non-poisonous vegetation which had both pleased and astounded her companion, she took over the house keeping and cooking, proving that she could do just as

well in town as in the open countryside.  She had also discovered that she

could sew fairly well and was building herself a small wardrobe of traveling

clothes and items designed to raise her companion's eyebrows as well as his

interest.  When she was out shopping for the day's meals, Salmoneus found

himself at loose ends and taking long walks.  When he wasn't enlarging on his

matchmaking ideas, he was daydreaming about Ariana.

On this day, he had wandered down to the docks and was watching a ship

maneuver in when he recognized one of the men on board.  Only one man

Salmoneus knew could lower and furl a sail by himself.

"Hercules!" he yelled and waved to the hero he hadn't seen in a while.  A big grin creased his face.  He was really happy to see his adventurous friend.  Then it hit him.  This could be his big break.  Both Iolaus and Hercules were widowers and both were shy about committing themselves to new relationships due to the unhappy circumstances of their losses and to being busy heroes.  If he could find the perfect matches for the two of them -- what an advertising coup!

"Salmoneus," the big man identified the voice without turning around.  He looked to the helm where his friend Iolaus stood keeping them on course.  Iolaus rolled his eyes indicating he too had heard and identified the voice.  They both laughed.  After several weeks at sea, it would be good to have dry land underfoot and Salmoneus, for all his enterprising burble, would be good company.

"I wonder what he's up to now," Iolaus muttered as they tied up to the dock.  He was surprised that the peddler stayed well back while they docked and came ashore.

Both Hercules and Iolaus noticed a change in their friend.  He seemed more confident?  Somehow, that wasn't exactly right.  But he wasn't bouncing and burbling in his usual manner.  Only, that wasn't exactly it, either.  He was bouncing and burbling, but it was greetings and "what have you been up tos" rather than telling them all about his latest idea for profit before they had a chance to get a word in edgeways.  They shook hands all around and Iolaus filled Salmoneus in on their last adventure together.  Salmoneus took it all in, said it would make a good addition to his book and invited them to dinner.

"Come on."  He wanted to tell them about his idea, but the timing didn't seem quite right, so he turned and led the way back to his house.

Hercules and Iolaus looked at each other and then at Salmoneus' retreating back.  Salmoneus realised they weren't following and turned back to gesture for them to follow him.  With nearly identical shrugs they followed.  Salmoneus apologized for the length of the walk, which wasn't long.  He apologised for the size of the house, which was of normal size.  Then he smacked his forehead with his hand and said he'd better find Ariana and let her know they had company for dinner.  Hercules and Iolaus both looked as though maybe they now had an explanation for his changes.

"Go on in and make yourselves comfortable.  It should just be a few minutes."  He waved them toward the house and turned to head toward the market when Ariana passed two men on the street and came into sight on her way home.  He broke into a smile and waved.  The smile froze as he watched her stop and look at Hercules and Iolaus.  There was something in the look that worried him.  He turned back to the two men to make a preliminary introduction.  What he saw in their faces confirmed that there was trouble on the way.  Iolaus had moved away from Hercules' side, a look of pure anger on his face.  Hercules looked puzzled and disturbed.

"You."  The word burst from Iolaus as though he wanted to hurl himself at Ariana, but was also stunned to see her at all.

She walked up, a basket with dinner items in her arms.  Her face was a mask as she looked from one man to the other.

"You look surprised," she responded softly.  Nothing in her voice reflected the massive conflicting emotions and reactions flooding her mind.  Suddenly she was whole again.  She knew these men.  She had threatened both and fought against them.  She also knew that they were friends of the man at her side.  Salmoneus looked bewildered and hurt.  The look was like a dagger in her heart.  Yet she could not deny what the others knew and what she had done.  Her problem was to keep the animosity from escalating and catching Salmoneus in it's wake.

"This is Hercules.  And his friend, Iolaus," Salmoneus found himself introducing them lamely.  Ariana looked at him.  For a moment, there was a terrifying stranger in her face.  Then she softened and smiled at him.  He almost breathed a sigh of relief.  It was all right.  His love and his friends would be all right.  He hoped.  Iolaus didn't look particularly friendly.

"I invited them for dinner," he added diffidently.

"Then it's a good thing I got more than usual," she told him, the smile in her eyes just for him, nodded to the other two and entered the house.

Hercules and Iolaus exchanged another look as Salmoneus turned back to them, his normal big grin fading a little.  Two sets of concerned blue eyes met his own.  The slightly wary look he was getting from Salmoneus bothered Hercules.  But so did the presence of the woman who had nearly killed Iolaus and had delivered Hercules himself into the hands of Hera's servants.

Yet her dealings with Salmoneus suggested there was more to her than the murderous assassin they had known.  Uncertain of just how to deal with the

situation, he decided not to make trouble just yet.  With a faint nod, Hercules smiled at his newer friend.  Iolaus looked away, but accepted whatever decision

Hercules had made.  Together, they entered the house of Salmoneus.

Conversation over dinner was strained.  Iolaus had reservations about eating at all, but followed his friend's lead until he discovered that the food was delicious.  He consoled himself with the thought that anything tastes good when you come in off the water.  His mouth told him differently.  The woman Salmoneus called Ariana was an exceptional cook.

"Ariana.  That's a nice name," Hercules commented as dinner wound down.  It was not the name she had used three weeks earlier.

"Salmoneus gave it to me."  There was nothing contrite in her attitude as she met his gaze squarely.  If there was any regret for her previous actions, it didn't show.

"Why?" Iolaus wanted to know.

"She, uh, couldn't remember her name when I met her," Salmoneus explained uneasily.

"Oh.  Well.  I can see telling him that."  The cut was directed at Ariana.

"It wasn't like that --" Salmoneus started to object.

Hercules could see and hear the uncomprehending hurt in the man.  He could also see that Iolaus was not about to back down.  Ariana's shadowed gaze met his across the table.  What he saw there was not the woman he had met before.  There was a plea there for his help in stopping Iolaus before he went too far.

"Iolaus."

The smaller man's head snapped around so he could look at his friend.  There was a note in Hercules' voice that he hadn't expected to hear.  Hercules wanted him to back off for some reason.  Here was a woman more treacherous than Xena when he first met her, a woman who had nearly killed both of them not a month earlier, and he wanted to let her get her claws into Salmoneus?  While Iolaus had found the peddler a nuisance and annoying, he wouldn't wish that on anyone.  What was Hercules thinking?  He knew that slight frown between Hercules' brows too well to demand answers now.

"I think I'll go for a walk.  Make sure the boat's secure."

"You do that," Hercules agreed.

Ariana started gathering up the dishes.  Salmoneus moved to help her and was waved off.  "Sit and talk to your friend.  I can handle this.  It's all right," she assured him as she finished collecting things and left the room.

A long silence developed between the two men.  Hercules couldn't figure out what to say and Salmoneus really didn't want to ask.  Salmoneus found himself in a place he had seldom been, two people he cared about, really cared about, were unhappy with each other and he didn't know what to do about it.  There wasn't a joke he could make to pass it off because he didn't know the extent of the problem.  He knew he loved Ariana, but he didn't want to lose the friendship he had developed with the hero.  He had learned a great deal about himself in the past few years since he and Hercules had met.  He wasn't heroic himself, he had always known that.  But he was useful and resourceful.  You couldn't survive being friends with men like Hercules, like there was anyone else quite like Hercules, without being a just a little bit capable on your own.

But he loved Ariana.  He could think of little she could have done that would make him stop loving her.  Maybe if she'd killed Hercules.  But she hadn't.  He was sitting across the table from Hercules who was alive and well and had a problem with Ariana.  Salmoneus was beginning to wonder if his thoughts were ever going to run in anything but circles again.

"Salmoneus," Hercules began.  Looking into the other man's face, he couldn't just make the statements he wanted to make.  Your new love is a murderer and a thief and nearly killed both Iolaus and myself.  It just wouldn't come out.  "Where did you meet Ariana?"

"In the woods.  Outside -- you know, I don't think we ever did figure out just which town it was.  She was -- she was hurt and I thought she'd been attacked by bandits or something."

"So you took her to the town."

"Yeah.  Only nobody knew her there."

"And she didn't know anybody."

"No."  Salmoneus frowned as he thought about that first meeting.  "She didn't recognize your name."

"She didn't?"

"No.  I -- I heard her before I saw her."

"And you announced that --"

"We were friends."  He thought for a moment before continuing.  "She didn't know.  She wasn't -- she wasn't just pretending."

Hercules thought about what he was seeing in Salmoneus' face as well as what he was saying.  The differences between the woman he had dealt with and her actions now were great enough to make him believe what Salmoneus believed.  Something had happened between the time Hera's temple collapsed and Salmoneus finding her in the woods.

"What was she wearing?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Well, dirt and a little blood from the wound on her head, but otherwise, nothing."

"A wound?" He remembered seeing one of the temple guards take a swing at her as she was leaving.  The wound would have been in her side, not her head.  In the collapsing masonry, a chunk might have hit her.  She was certainly gone by the time he and Iolaus had gotten out and away from the debris pile.  He tried to recall how close to any wooded area the temple had been.  Then there was the question of a road leading away from Thrace and eventually toward Piraeus.  The distances weren't making any sense.  Unless there had been some intervention.  He remembered a whirlwind trip and long fall to which he had once been treated courtesy of his stepmother Hera.  Could someone else have survived a punishment like that?

"What happened?" Salmoneus cut into his thoughts.  "It's like that time Iolaus and Xena --"

"I know.  It's not quite as bad as what lay between them.  She used Iolaus to get to me, but not to try to fight me.  She succeeded where Xena didn't."

"You're alive."

"We fought our way out of one of Hera's major temples."

"Ah."  There didn't seem to be anything else to say.

"Salmoneus, she's -- she's not like she was when we were dealing with her.  Either you've had a really changing effect on her, or there's been some other reason for her to change.  It doesn't feel the same."  Both of them knew he wasn't trying to apologize for the reserve he had shown since meeting Ariana this day, yet he was trying to find a reason for the differences in her behavior.  And there was a difference now that he really thought about it.

.

He met the other man's concerned look again.  "I don't know.  A month ago she was trying to kill me.  Now -- now the threat's no longer there.  Look, tell her I can -- I can't forgive what she did to Iolaus, but I can refrain from making trouble between the two of you.  I saw how she looks at you."  There was a longing in his own look, a pain of remembrance for the woman he had loved and lost.  "I won't try to change that."

There was an understanding silence between them.  Both stood and then shook hands as friends.

"I'd better go find Iolaus," he said with a faint smile and left.

Ariana came back into the room and put her arms around Salmoneus.  "He's very nice."

"Yeah.  Ariana --" She let him turn to face her.

"Why?  Was it true?  Yes.  I remember now."  She focussed on the v-neck of his tunic, not quite wanting to watch his face as she spoke.  "I -- I needed something very badly.  Or thought I did.  Hera said she could accomplish this thing.  I guess I didn't really believe her by the time I was finished.  But I had gone so far, done so much that -- that couldn't really be justified -- I couldn't tell them.  I just had to follow through as though I still believed."

"You were going to kill Hercules?" There was disbelief and hurt in his voice.

"No.  I was to bring him to her temple.  When she insisted I kill him and showed no sign of keeping her part of the bargain, I - facilitated part of his escape."

"Tell him."

"No."

He cupped a hand under her chin and tilted her head up until he could look into her eyes.  They were bright with unshed tears.  "Tell him."

"I can't.  He might believe, but not Iolaus.  I hurt him.  I would have killed him if I'd had to do so.  Don't make excuses.  I won't lie to you.  I don't even think I was crazy enough for that to be an excuse.  I was obsessed.  I'm not any more.  Well, a little," she ended with a mischievous smile.  It faded as she met his gaze.

"I know.  It makes it difficult for you."  She kissed him gently and let go.  "I -- I don't know what to do or say.  I can't undo what I've done.  I can't ask for them to forgive me.  I wouldn't.  But I don't want them to stay away from you because I'm here."

"They won't."

"Maybe."

He took her in his arms and held her.  He felt as thought his heart would burst.  Hercules was his friend.  He was an understanding friend who liked him in spite of his foibles and occasional hot air.  Ariana was his love.  He felt for her as he could not recall having felt about another.  She was beautiful, and intelligent, and like no other woman he had ever admired or lusted after.  She loved him.  And that was different from most of the others for whom he had ever felt anything.

"We'll talk about it in the morning."

She looked at him in a way calculated to drive almost all intelligent thought out of his brain.  "OK."

He was still sleeping soundly with a pleased smile on his face when the sun rose.  Ariana, her decision on a course of action already made, slipped from the bed they shared, dressed and left as silently as a shadow.  She made her way down to the port where Iolaus was waking up from sleeping on the boat.  Spotting him from a distance, Ariana hurried on to the beach instead of booking passage on one of the boats outbound.  She didn't want Salmoneus being able to find her.

Down the beach there was a wave sculpted outcropping of rock.  She stopped behind it, on the seaward side and settled down to wait.  If the tide came in, as the rock indicated it did, she'd just float out on the tide.  She blinked back the tears she wanted to shed.  Life seemed very unfair right now.  But sufficient thought had shown her that staying with Salmoneus could deprive him of more than the occasional companionship of a demi-god and his friend.

Hercules might not know that she had broken her bargain with Hera, but Hera did.  The goddess might not have enough power to do what she had originally promised, but she did have enough to make her life very interesting.  Given what Salmoneus had told her about Hercules, and what she had put together while hunting the son of Zeus, anyone she got close to could become the target of Hera's rage.  She had seen too many good friends and lovers precede her in death.  She accepted that this happened.  But she refused to paint a bull's eye on someone she loved.

The tide started inching in.  Soon it would lift the ragged line of beached fishing boats that lay like abandoned toys on the sand.  She sat and waited.  Patience was something she had learned long ago.

Hercules stopped by the house to say goodbye to Salmoneus.  He and Iolaus had decided not to extend their stay in Piraeus.  After some discussion, they had decided to go visit Alcmene and Jason whom they hadn't seen in several months.  Salmoneus was disappointed, but understood.

"She -- Well, she didn't exactly give me a blow by blow description, but she told me about -- "

"She did."

"Yeah.  I understand.  Xena changed.  Ariana changed.  You have that effect on people."

Hercules grinned and laughed at that.  "It could be an interesting trend," he agreed.  They exchanged a heart-felt hand grip and parted.

It took only a few minutes for Hercules to get to the dock.  The tide was coming in strong.  Soon he and Iolaus would be back out on the water and headed for his brother's kingdom.

"You said good-bye."

"I told him the change would take some getting used to."

"She hasn't changed."

"Iolaus --"

"I saw her this morning.  She was staring holes in my back when I got up."

"Iolaus -- that doesn't make any sense."

"We could ask her."

"I don't think Salmoneus would like that."

Continued

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