Gabrielle and Aphrodite's Night on the Town
Xena and Gabrielle were sitting around the campfire, neither having much to say, both lost in thought. Once in a while their eyes would meet, they would give each other a half-hearted smile, then return to staring into the fire.
Finally, Gabrielle said, "Well, this certainly is an exciting night for conversation."
Xena only grunted her agreement.
"Anything wrong?" Gabrielle asked.
Xena shrugged her shoulders. "No, not really. I was just thinking about Eve. It seems like it's been so long since I've heard from her, I was just wondering where she was and how she's doing."
"That's no problem," Gabrielle said as she closed her eyes. And letting her mind expand outward, Gabrielle concentrated her focus on Eve in an ever-widening circle.
"Found her," Gabrielle said.
"Where is she?" Xena asked. "Is she all right?"
"Just outside of Sparta, in a small stand of trees. She's meditating. It seems like her efforts to spread the Word of Eli isn't going too well. I think she's having a small crisis of faith."
"I'm not surprised. Those Spartans are pretty fanatical. They were the only ones my army and I made sure we avoided completely."
"That surprises me," Gabrielle said, "I didn't think you were afraid of ANY army, you even took on the Romans."
"I wasn't afraid of them, I just didn't want to see my army wiped out. They were ... Spartans! They don't know fear. To them, war is a way of life. Ares loves them, of course, but then, he would."
"Maybe a visit from Mother would help," Gabrielle suggested.
"I think you're right," Xena answered, "You wouldn't mind sending me over to see her, would you? Just for a day or so?"
"Of course I wouldn't."
"It's not like I don't want you to come along, but I think a little one on one might be good for both of us."
"Don't worry about it. In fact, I was thinking about maybe spending a little time with Aphrodite. She seemed a bit disappointed when I wouldn't settle down, or is it up? on Mt. Olympus with her."
"A little goddess to goddess intercourse, huh?"
"A little WHAT?"
"Interaction! I meant interaction! You know -- like woman to woman chit chat."
"Okay. That's better!" Gabrielle said trying not to laugh.
"Why don't we get some sleep, or I will, anyway, and the first thing tomorrow morning you can zap me over to Eve."
The next morning, Xena got her bedroll and a few other items ready to go.
"Tell Eve I said hello," Gabrielle said.
"I will. Just one more thing," Xena said, and the two women embraced. "Tell Aphrodite I said hello."
"I will. Ready?"
"See you in a couple of days."
Gabrielle snapped her fingers and Xena disappeared in a brief shower of dark red sparks.
When Xena reappeared, she was standing opposite a smoldering camp fire from Eve, who was kneeling and praying, or chanting, barely loud enough to be heard. Xena stood quietly, not wanting to interrupt.
After a short while, Eve became aware of another presence and cautiously opened her eyes. She wasn't afraid -- her years as Livia had given her the training and fearlessness to easily defeat any bandit, but she didn't want to fight if she didn't have to.
It took a moment before she realized she was staring into the smiling face of Xena. She was instantly up and bounded over the fire into her mother's arms. As they held each other both realized how much they missed the other.
Slowly they backed away, but stayed close enough to keep touching. Xena put her hands on both sides of Eve's face and kissed her. "Missed you," she said.
Eve hugged her again. "Me too."
As soon as Xena was gone, Gabrielle waved her hand and the campfire was gone. Another wave and all traces of their being there was gone.
Closing her eyes again, Gabrielle located Aphrodite, willed it, and in less than a heartbeat, she was standing next to the Goddess of Love, who was watching her latest handiwork -- an elderly couple, both long widowed, was discovering the joys of new love.
"That's sweet," Gabrielle said.
"Gabby!"Aphrodite shouted, and hugged her only real friend. "It's so good to SEE you! Xena's not here?"
After returning the hug, Gabrielle said, "Not this time. She and Eve have some catching up to do. So I thought this would be a good time for you and me to visit. Not busy are you?"
"Not that much. The busiest time is in the spring. You know -- everyone wants to fall in love and have that early summer wedding. So how have you been? Doing lots of Healing?"
"Well, it's kind of slow for me, too. All the winter colds are long gone. And the summer heat isn't that bad yet, so I've had it pretty easy here lately. Soooo, what's there to do for a couple of goddesses with time on their hands?"
"Gosh, I don't know. Let me think. We both like Sappho, but she's not performing anywhere right now. It's too early for any midsummer festivals. There are a few warlords celebrating their victories, but we certainly don't want any part of THAT!"
"Come on, 'Dite, surely you can think of SOMETHING!"
"Well, what about you? You and Xena have been traveling around. Don't you know of anything?"
"If I did, I wouldn't have had to ask YOU."
"Okay, okay, let's not bicker. What about a trip to Mt. Olympus? It's been a while since you were there. I'm sure we could find something to do."
"Like what? No one's there."
The two goddesses just looked at each other, waiting and hoping the other would come up with a suggestion.
"Well this is really stupid," Gabrielle finally said. "I can't believe that in all of Greece there is nothing for us to do!"
"We could travel," Aphrodite suggested. "Maybe we could go to Italia, or Egyptos, or to the Northlands."
"I don't know," Gabrielle said, discouraged. "Traveling doesn't really appeal to me."
"Well, we COULD disguise ourselves as mortal women and go to Athens. I hear they have a pretty lively night life. You know, lots of drinking and gambling and fornication."
"You'd know all about that, wouldn't you? The fornication part."
"Hey! It's all part of love."
"Yeah. I hear a lot of drunken soldiers love to fornicate," Gabrielle said, a slightly wicked smile on her face.
"Sober ones too," Aphrodite replied, returning the leer. "So, want to try it?"
"Sure, why not? But if we're going to pretend to be mortals -- no magic unless it's absolutely necessary."
"Of course not! Wouldn't have it any other way!"
"Things not going like you hoped?" Xena asked, as she and Eve shared a simple breakfast.
"No. There are times when I know I'm making a difference. But when I come up against people like these Spartans, I feel like a failure."
"Eve, you've got to understand, Spartans are unlike any other Grecians. Or any other people for that matter. Surely all the time you were fighting for Rome, you knew about Sparta."
"Of course I did. But I never knew they could be so ... stubborn! Once they realized why I came, they wouldn't even let me inside the city walls. I don't know what to do."
"You could just leave."
"No. That's not an option. It is my duty, my calling, to bring the Word of Eli to every living soul. I can't just turn away because it seems like an impossible task. The HAS to be a way to get to them."
Xena smiled a small humorless smile. "Eve, there have been attempts to 'get to' the Spartans for many years. It won't work, they are too set in their ways. Even though there are Roman troops here, even they mostly leave them alone. There are other villages around, why not concentrate on them, instead?"
"You don't understand, if I can convert Sparta, the rest of the region will follow along."
"The first thing we're going to have to do, is look like ordinary women," Gabrielle said. "Which means you're going to have to dress down -- WAY down."
"How far down?"
"All the way down -- clothes, jewelry, and hair."
"I have to lose my 'do?"
"If we want to look like ordinary women we have to. If we look too rich, then we might have to worry about being robbed."
"Oh, like THAT could happen!"
"Aphrodite, remember? No magic."
"Oh all right," she replied, pouting. "Even when I became mortal I still looked like me," she muttered.
While waiting for the small tantrum to be over, Gabrielle changed her clothes into those of a peasant girl, much like she wore when she first met Xena -- a simple blouse, a long skirt, and calf skin shoes. Her hair was long again, and added a scarf to cover it.
"Well, I guess you don't look TOO bad," Aphrodite said, and with a snap of her fingers was wearing the same kind of garb -- but a little more colorful, and she kept her hair up.
Then she snapped again and she and Gabrielle were outside the city gates of Athens.
As they walked through the bustling streets of Athens, with vendors lining the sides of each avenue and selling almost anything one could think of, they would stop momentarily to look over the wares, whether it was crude likenesses of the gods or the finest silks from the Far East. But neither intended to buy anything. Anything they might have wanted they could just create out of nothingness.
They were waiting for the sun to set, when the taverns and inns would be crowded with men and women looking for an evening of drinking, and laughing, and carousing.
"So?" Gabrielle asked, "Try this one?"
"Sure. It's as good as any."
And the two goddesses walked through the front door of the tavern, music and laughter and loud voices made it almost impossible to talk. Everywhere they looked men and women were hanging on each other, and drinking and eating, and drinking some more.
They made their way to a counter where Aphrodite pointed at a bottle of wine, then at herself and Gabrielle. The bartender poured wine into two copper goblets and waited to be paid. Aphrodite, making sure Gabrielle wasn't looking, materialized two brand new, shiny gold dinars and handed them over. Impressed, the bartender took out a new bottle, uncorked it and passed it to Aphrodite.
"Let's find somewhere to sit," she said to Gabrielle. She didn't need to yell over the noise, her voice magically was quite easy to understand.
They found a table with four chairs, but two of them were taken by two very big men. Smiling at them, Aphrodite sat down. Not knowing what else to do, Gabrielle sat also. After the introductions, Aphrodite poured some of her wine into the cups of the two men. Aphrodite talked, and joked, and laughed with them, but Gabrielle, not used to picking up men, was a more than a little uncomfortable.
Aphrodite got up to dance with one of the men, and Gabrielle was felt it was only fair to dance with the other one. But she really didn't like being held so tightly against him, and making sure Aphrodite wasn't looking, she gave him just enough of a stomach ache that he decided he'd rather sit than dance.
But when they got back to their table, four large men, either off-duty soldiers or farmers, had taken over their table. Of course, an argument ensued, which turned into a brawl. Which eventually involved almost every man there, and at least half the women.
"I think it's time to go." Gabrielle said. "We can come back later to see if anyone is seriously hurt."
"Okay," Aphrodite said, pouting a little. "Just when it was getting to be fun."
"Maybe we can find a different kind of fun somewhere else."
And they walked on down the busy avenue, looking for "fun."
"You know, Eve, I'm kind of surprised at your tactics."
"What do you mean? My 'tactics.' "
"I guess you've been 'Eve' so long you're starting to forget everything you learned as 'Livia.' "
"Mother, will you please get to the point?"
"When I had my army and came up against a really tough opponent, the last thing I'd do is attack it head on. I'd study it, looking for it's weaknesses. And THAT's what I would go after. It's the same thing here. You're trying to convert Sparta thinking when that's done, the rest will fall inline. But if you convert all the surrounding cities first, then the Spartans, being completely surrounded by followers of Eli, and knowing they depend on them for food and support, will almost HAVE to do the same."
Eve smiled and gently touched her mother's cheek.
"What would I do without a mother who is an older, wiser and more experienced ... warrior?"
Xena smiled back. "Sometimes even the worst things in our past can help do some good in the present."
Eve laughed out loud. "You're sounding more and more like Gabrielle."
"Why, thank you. I'll be sure to let her know. She'll be happy to hear it."
"Well, we've been in more taverns and inns than I can count," Gabrielle said. "And so far I'm not having much fun."
"You really HAVE led a sheltered life, haven't you?" Aphrodite answered, half serious and half joking.
"I just was never one to spend an entire night drinking and fighting."
"Well, you're the one who wanted to pretend to be mortal and ...."
"Excuse me? If I'm not mistaken, YOU were the one who suggested we disguise ourselves and sample Athens' night life."
"I was, wasn't I? Oh well, at least we got to spend some time together."
"You're right," Gabrielle said, softening a little. "That was nice. Next time we get together we'll do whatever god-thing you want to do."
"All RIGHT! Now you're talking!"
"But, I see dawn is breaking, and if I know Xena, she'll be up and ready for breakfast. I think I'll pop on over there and say hello to Eve."
"You tell them both I said hello and I will see you another time."
The two goddesses embraced then looked into each other's eyes, savoring their friendship, then both disappeared.
Gabrielle appeared just as Xena was stretching the night's sleep away. Eve was awake but hadn't gotten up yet.
"So, who's up for a nice big breakfast?" Gabrielle asked.
"You're in a good mood." Xena commented. "I guess you and Aphrodite had yourselves a pretty good time."
"It was okay. We went to Athens to sample the nightlife. Not really my cup of ale. But we got to spend some time together. So what about you two? Get things worked out?"
Xena and Eve exchanged glances.
"I think so, don't you?" Xena asked Eve.
"Yes, I believe we did. I got some good, motherly, advice."
"By the way, I believe someone mentioned breakfast," Eve continued. "I don't suppose duck eggs, pork strips and nut bread are on the menu, are they?"
"Funny you should ask," Gabrielle said, "Just what I had in mind."