Gabrielle, Goddess of Frustration
Xena and Gabrielle had just finished supper -- honey glazed ham, fresh peaches, brown bread with dates and dried grapes, and semi-sweet wine. Created with a wave of Gabrielle's hand.
But before they could relax, they were set upon by five robbers, thinking the two women would be easy pickings. Two of the thugs were knocked unconscious by Xena before Gabrielle realized what was happening. When she did, she thrust both hands out in front of her and two more were thrown backward by a black swirling cloud shooting from the tips of her fingers.
Xena threw her Chakram at the last man. Seeing it, Gabrielle realized it was about to slash his throat. The Chakram was only a hand's width from his throat when it's forward motion was stopped, yet it continued spinning and singing it's impending death song. The attacker's eyes were wide, watching it. He was holding his breath, afraid to move, in case it should continue its course.
Gabrielle walked over to the man. "You do realize I just saved you worthless life, don't you?"
The mugger could only manage a slight nod.
"If I let you live, do you promise to stop this life of crime and find useful employment?"
Again, the man nodded. Gabrielle waited a few moments, then told the would-be robber to leave, and to take his friends with him. As the five of them ran off into the woods, Xena's chakram returned to her, flying unnaturally slow, and she easily plucked it out of the air.
"I guess they won't be bothering honest folks any more," Gabrielle said, satisfied with her handiwork.
"Right," Xena answered, with irritation in her voice.
Ignoring the obviously angry tone, Gabrielle asked her, "You don't think they'll be back, do you?"
When Xena didn't answer, Gabrielle asked, "Is something wrong? Are you mad at me?"
"No, I'm not mad. But I can't believe you let them go like that. Surely you don't believe they're going to change just like that," she said, snapping her fingers.
"What was I supposed to do? I'm a Healer now. What kind of Healer would I be if I started taking lives?" Then a thought came to her. "That's it! You're mad because I interfered with your Chakram, aren't you? Just because I kept it from killing that man. "
Again, Xena didn't answer. Instead she banked the fire, lay down on her pallet, closed her eyes, turned away from Gabrielle, and pretended to go to sleep.
Gabrielle looked at her, waiting, until it was evident Xena had nothing more to say. With an angry flick of her hand, the leftover supper vanished. And she lay down as well. Neither one slept much that night, each deep in thought, their relationship was changing; had changed. But was it for the better?
The next morning Xena was up at the first sign of light. Sensing movement, Gabrielle opened one eye. "Are you up already? It's barely light."
"Thought I'd get an early start," Xena answered, as she saddled Argo.
More awake now, Gabrielle sat up, and saw that Xena was tying on her bedroll. "Are you going somewhere?" she asked.
"I thought I'd ride out for a while, see what's going on."
"You're leaving me?" Gabrielle was now wide-awake and becoming a little concerned.
"I won't be gone long."
"But why? Is it because of what happened last night? Is that why you're leaving?"
"Gabrielle," Xena started, as she fumbled for the right words. "It's not just about last night. It - it's a lot of little things. This past month has just been too easy. I don't hunt or fish because you provide all the food. You can eat all you want, and you won't gain any weight, but I'm not getting any exercise, and these clothes are getting too tight to be comfortable. All we do is ride from town to town while you do your Healing. And to be perfectly honest, I am bored, bored to tears. I feel like I'm losing my edge. I need to rough it for a while. I'll be back, don't worry. You can't get rid of me. But right now, I'd just like a little -- excitement."
"So you're going out looking for a fight?"
"No, I never LOOK for trouble. Well, almost never. But if any comes my way I'm certainly not going to run from it."
"You've made up your mind, then?"
"I told you, I'll be back, in a few days, or longer." Climbing into the saddle, Xena waved, and Argo took off at a gallop.
"You can ride out on me," Gabrielle said to the disappearing back of Xena, "but you can't hide from me. Like it or not, I'll be with you the whole time."
As Xena and Argo got farther and farther away, Gabrielle expanded her awareness to follow. As she did, she began to sense something else. She felt pain, fear, and unhappiness. But not from one person, but many. As she concentrated she realized it was coming from children, at least fifteen of them.
Still keeping Xena in her subconscious, Gabrielle let awareness lead her toward the children. And when she felt she was close to them, she willed herself to be there.
It was still early morning, and as yet no one was moving about in the small village she found herself in. Looking around, she saw she was in front of rather rundown house. She knew the children were inside. Marching up to the door she debated whether to just barge in, or knock like a civilized person and find out what was going on.
She decided to knock. It took a long while, but eventually a large angry man opened the door, still half asleep.
"What in Hades do you want?" he spat at her.
"I want to know what is wrong with the children inside. Why are they so frightened?"
"There ain't no children in here, just me and my old lady. Now get!"
"Don't tell me there aren't any children in there, I'm a Healer. I KNOW they're there. Are you going to let me in, or am I going to have to...."
"...To WHAT? This ain't your house. You got no right to come barging in here for no reason."
Gabrielle thought for a minute. The man was right, of course. But on the other hand, she knew there were frightened and possibly injured children inside; she could feel their pain.
"You say they aren't in there. Fine. I'll just go to the local magistrate, and when we return, then you'll let us in."
It took a lot of arguing before she could convince him that she knew what she was talking about, even though he swore the man and his wife were childless.
"All right, Missy. You say they got kids in there. We'll go have a look-see. But you better be right. 'Cause if you're wrong and he wants to sue you for false witness, you gonna spend some time in lock-up."
"I'm not worried about him. I KNOW they are in there."
As Gabrielle followed the sheriff to the house, she became aware that something wasn't right with Xena. Closing her eyes, images came to her. Argo, galloping along the ridge of a ravine and stumbling over a fallen tree. Xena was being thrown into a tree, grabbing one of the branches. But as she did, it broke and she was sliding and tumbling down the side of the ravine. Gabrielle could feel the rocks and saplings as Xena was jolted against them.
As Xena landed at the bottom, her head struck a large boulder, fracturing her skull. At the same time, Gabrielle cried out, went to her knees, grabbing her head.
"Missy. Are you all right?" the magistrate asked, kneeling down.
Recovering, Gabrielle let him help her up and said. "Yes, I'm fine, but my friend.... I have to go to her, she may be dying."
"Now wait a minute, here. First you say Atrius got kids in his house that are in danger. And now you say you got to go see about a friend. Something funny's going on here. Which is it? Them kids or your friend?"
Feeling pain from Xena, and yet feeling the pain and fear from the children, Gabrielle was at a loss of who needed her more. Then, from somewhere in her memory, she heard Xena saying something about "The Greater Good." She knew what she had to do.
"The children, of course, the children," Gabrielle told him.
As they continued toward the house, Gabrielle could feel Xena's life slipping away. ("Please, please, Xena, hold on just a little longer.") she silently pleaded.
The judge knocked on the door, waited, knocked again, and waited.
"You sure they're home?" he asked Gabrielle.
"YES! They're home, I know it!" ("Xena, please don't die!")
Just as the judge was about to knock again, the door slowly opened.
"Morning, Bela," the sheriff said. "I got this woman here who says you got a mess of kids inside."
"No. You know we got no kids. I ain't never had none."
"They're in there!" Gabrielle said as loudly as she could without shouting.
"Bela, you mind if we come in and have a look around?"
Bela looked back inside at Atrius, who nodded to her. "Come on in then."
As they entered the house, Gabrielle felt Xena sliding closer to death. She didn't have much time left. Pushing past the judge and Bela, Gabrielle walked into the room, then walked to look into the small bedroom. There were no children to be seen.
"Atrius, Bela, I'm sure sorry about this," the sheriff started to say. Xena was at death's door; Gabrielle couldn't wait for justice.
Closing her eyes for a few seconds, Gabrielle found them, and in a burst of reverse energy the wall of a hidden room exploded out, revealing the fifteen children, bound and gagged.
Before Atrius and Bela could move, twin black swirls threw them into the remaining wall.
"Xena!" Gabrielle shouted as she disappeared in a shower of golden sparks with silver trails, leaving the judge with his mouth hanging open. Gabrielle instantly was with Xena at the bottom of the ravine, her arms around her dying friend, a deep Royal purple glow surrounding them.
Straining, trembling, Gabrielle used all the power she could muster, slowly pulling her Soulmate from the Abyss of Death. As Gabrielle tightly embraced Xena, she could feel her life force gradually grow stronger, her heartbeat became regular, and her breathing was even and consistent.
As the violet glow faded, Xena slowly opened her eyes. When they focused, she was looking into Gabrielle's tear-stained face.
"We have to stop meeting like this," Xena whispered to her. "People will talk."
Gabrielle softly kissed Xena's forehead, pulled her closer, and whispered back, "Let them talk."