Chapter  377

XENOIS I hadn't planned to visit Xena's grave today. But after lunch, after watching Shawn try so hard to fit into a family he didn't quite believe wanted him, I felt the pull to come here. To the place where my sister rested, where I could talk to her without anyone else listening. The cemetery was quiet, tucked away on pack lands in a grove that had always been reserved for fallen pack members. Xena's headstone was simple----she would have hated anything ostentatious. Just her name, her dates, and the words "Beloved daughter, sister, and pack member." Five years. She'd been gone five years, and sometimes it still felt like yesterday that I'd gotten the call. That I'd found her body. That my world had shattered into pieces I was still trying to put back together. I knelt beside the grave, brushing away leaves that had accumulated since my last visit. "Hey, Xena," I said quietly. "Sorry it's been a few weeks. Things have been... complicated. There's a lot I need to tell you." I'd start