This was originally supposed to be a combination role-play and tag story (or 'train story,' a term which also might be appropriate here). It sort of is, but its grown and changed a lot over time, since its inception. For those of you who have read the earlier version, it will look familiar, but we guarantee this is a ride youll never regret. Humor and sadness, but life is both, so we figured everyone could handle it. Two old friends Dinah Rion and FurryTittums contributed whenever they could help out, and heartfelt thanks goes out to them, wherever they are, for their past efforts. Bethany Heard contributed the beautiful collages. Lady Aeolusia created the graphics, acquired the ancient-statue photos (appropriate credits for these and everything else will appear on our 'Bibliography/Musiology' page) and handled the web pages. She and I filled in the rest of this considerable body of work, which of course included a lot of story discussion, editing and final proofreading. And at this point, we are quite a ways from being done!
Dont let the story's length discourage you. It should probably be at least three stories; so forgive us, but it was hard to decide where to put the TBC, and not have everyone eagerly awaiting the next installment.
In any case, Hide & Seek is our very first attempt at creating a full-length novel suitable for archiving on the Web--an exciting project! Lady Aeolusia also tends to be a perfectionist, therefore we have both been working long and hard to craft a story that will properly honor the two most wonderful heroes of all time...and a cast of many others, heroes and villains alike. If you have a favorite, he or she is probably in here somewhere.
Thank goodness, everyone can sing, although neither Lady Aeolusia or I have the connections to get the real voices as part of the story (and unfortunately, one is deceased, and neither of us wanted to go to Heaven to look him up, to see if he would be willing to sing. He was a great person with a great singing voice, and I am sure he would happily have done so for this project.) You will just have to imagine the appropriate person singing the appropriate song. All songs remain the property of their respective authors, and are properly credited to them, so no copyright infringement is intended. The same with the HTLJ/Xena characters.
It is our hope that whoever cares to read our story will feel and understand the great love which lies at the core of it all.
The story rating is PG13 and it takes a few liberties with series canon, but we explain it all (Hey, creative license, cant keep a good character dead.) So sit back and enjoy the read.