Her questioner
looked doubtful. "Whatever you say," he agreed.
She forced herself to relax: "Now, answer my question."
"Oh, the one about losing our powers?" inquired Strife. "It's only
temporary, I assure you. When we died our Godly powers were scattered
to the winds. In here those energies slowly come back to us and restore
our strength. If we leave too early we won't get the rest our powers
back, and I for one need all the power I can recover.
"My turn again, beautiful. When you get out, what are you going to do?"
"What do you mean? I'm going after Xee-nah of course." she replied
hotly.
"You don't get it do you precious?" wondered the Olympian. "It'll take
centuries to get our powers back fully. Well, not so long for you,
since you're only a Goddess because of the ambrosia. For you, only a
few decades. By then, Xena will be too old, probably dead even."
"Decades?" she echoed hollowly. "I can't wait that long! You said we
could get out early. Tell me how!"
"Are you as daft as you look woman," queried her companion with
disbelief. "You'll have no powers! Heck, I don't even know if you'll be
able to get through the portal alive with no powers."
"Maybe, maybe not," she mused. "But I had more than just ambrosia-given
powers. I was immortal too. I wonder if I still am?"
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With that, she
drew her dagger and sliced open the palm of her hand. Only it didn't
work, the cut healed almost instantly.
"Oh ho! You learn something new every century," commented Strife. "I
guess you have a chance then. But the portal drains a bit of power from
a God as payment. Your immortality may not be enough, and you'll
certainly lose that little power you still have."
"I don't care! Xee-nah is out there and I *will* go after her, no
matter what the cost!" she said a little too shrilly.
"Hey! Cool it, hot pants," suggested the almost powerless God. "You can
reach the portal by picturing it, you'll feel the direction where it
lays. Here, I'll put the image in your mind -- I've recovered a little
bit of my power since I arrived here."
An image appeared in her mind. She immediately felt for the direction
of the portal and started walking towards it.
"Wait a minute baby!" yelled Strife. "I have one more question!"
She abruptly stopped and glared at him, waiting for his last question.
"Cool!" said Strife. "What I want to know most is: when's the last time
you did it?"
With a snort of disgust, Callisto turned around and walked away without
answering the God.
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