DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Xena, Warrior Princess
Gabrielle, the Bard of Poteidaia, Queen of the Amazons, Xena's best friend
Joxer, the Mighty, would-be hero
Philo, captain of the Cradle of Hermes
Eponin, Amazon leader
Lysis, a young Amazon
Coronis, another young Amazon, Lysis's best friend
Phye, tall Amazon of martial inclinations
Bromos, a travelling merchant
Briariades, a dairy farmer of Olynthus
Diala, his wife
Carissa, their daughter
Corylaus, their son
Hippocrates of Kos, famous healer
Sappho, Plato's "Tenth Muse", lyric poet of Aeolic Lesbos
Atthis, one of Sappho's students
Nesson, a champion arm-wrestler
Artemis, Virgin Goddess of the Hunt
Phaeron, King of Lydia
Cyro, one of his sons
Ishtavan, a captain of the king's guard
Trabo, one of the king's Guides, a very skilled scout
Danon, a slaver
Himmit, Danon's minion
Ukkaster, another minion, the whipmaster
Merides, Crown Prince of Lydia
Leontissa, a storyteller
Glaucus, a guard on Delos
Iglasios, a singer
Argo, Xena's wonder horse
Thessie, a heifer
Joxer's mother
Amazons
Students of Hippocrates
citizens of Mytilene, Sappho's home town
girls attending Sappho's academy
more of Danon's minions
slaves
members of Phaeron's court
Lydian soldiers
slave traders
more of Phaeron's children
assorted guards, merchants, bandits, sailors, etc.
dancers and other revelers
a pelican

Rating: R.
Genres: Xena: Warrior Princess, action/adventure, romance.
Violence: Slavers act in their usual brutal manner. Xena kills some of them. Other minor fighting occurs. A man commits suicide.
Sex: Some hugging and kissing. Joxer appears naked, and Amazons bathe him.
Language: Moderate expletives. Xena is called a "bitch."
Subtext: Sappho appears in this story, so draw your own conclusions.
Spoilers: Here She Comes...Miss Amphipolis.

The strawberry blonde clutching an Amazon staff was arguing with her companion, a tall warrior woman. It was an old argument; the warrior pretended not to pay any attention, and watched her horse roam freely near the road.

"Come on, Xena, why don't you stop and smell the flowers once in a while? It's not like we're in a hurry or anything."

Shrugging, Xena decided to answer this sally. "Gabrielle, you know I don't like to lose my focus. It may be safe here, but farther on it may be very different."

"I'm not asking you not to be alert. I'm staying alert, too." Xena nodded, and Gabrielle continued: "It's just that you've shut yourself off from joy most of your life. I know how easy it is to do that, ever since Britannia..." Xena moved over to her best friend and gave her shoulders a squeeze.

"You fought your way back from it. It's that light inside you. The light you gave me."

"There's always been a light inside you, Xena. You had it the day you came to Poteidaia. Let it shine through." The Warrior Princess found herself unable to respond to this. Her eyes softened as she negotiated a maze of conflicting emotions. One in particular was unfamiliar. When she seized upon it, Gabrielle saw it in her face and nodded in understanding.

"You're afraid, Xena? But why... oh, I get it. If you loosen up, something might happen to me."

"Yes," her beloved friend agreed. "I need you, Gabrielle. When you grabbed Hope and pulled her into the pit with you I thought my light would die too. Just like in that war with the Thessalians and Mitoans."

The bard gave her an ironic smile. "Look, Xena, I'm a big girl now. I can take care of myself. The gods know you can. Even when I was away your light never went out. You were able to share it with the Amazons on the steppes, weren't you? I need you, too. But just because we can always depend on each other doesn't mean we have to be dependent on each other."

"You're right, Gabrielle," Xena replied softly. She could not say more, so she opened her arms and the two friends wrapped each other in a tight embrace.

"So what do you want to do just for fun?" Gabrielle asked when they had separated.

Xena thought about this for a few moments. "I'd like to practice some flips with you. We haven't had a chance these past couple of weeks."

"Oh, Xena, that's work and you know it."

"But it's fun, too. There's something I want to try that you'll like. Anyway, I picked up a lesson from Lao Ma about acrobatics. There's a certain kind of serenity, of joy, when you're moving through the air, even if it only lasts a second or so. It makes me feel good. Do it with me, and then you pick something you think is fun and I'll do that with you."

"You're handing me a blank letter of credit," Gabrielle warned.

"I trust you." In seconds, they were somersaulting over the grass. Xena held out Gabrielle's staff and the bard ran at it, gripped it strongly and used it for leverage to flip high into the air. Retaining the staff as she flew, Gabrielle landed on her feet, her knees properly bent to take the shock. Then Xena flipped backwards, catching the staff and matching Gabrielle's maneuver. They used the staff as a pivot point next, each using her momentum to propel her partner up and over, ready to kick imaginary opponents on the downward arc. After this, Xena made wide swings with the staff as Gabrielle alternately jumped over it and ducked under it; then they reversed positions. It was strenuous, but both women were used to the exercise.

Xena's right again, Gabrielle realized. This is fun!

The tumbling over, they rubbed each other down. "Now it's your turn," Xena said, smiling.

"Well...I saw a lot of daisies in that meadow over there." Gabrielle indicated the spot. "Race you!" And she was off. The bard was no slouch in the running department, but not surprisingly Xena got there first, only to be tackled by Gabrielle. They rolled around in the thickly strewn flowers. The Warrior Princess took revenge by tickling her friend until she surrendered. They sat up, and Gabrielle took some daisies in her hands. "These would look great in your hair," she said.

Xena's mouth flew open in surprise. "You're kidding!" she finally managed. "Who do you think I am, Lila?"

"Why not?" Gabrielle laughed. "You're as much my sister as she is. And you did say you'd do something I thought was fun."

Giving her a dour look, Xena submitted to the bard's relentless logic and Gabrielle began to braid her friend's long black hair, weaving daisies into the silken locks. To her surprise, Xena found this relaxing, and let her thoughts go back to when she was a little girl. She remembered her mother, Cyrene, weaving flowers into her hair, and how her brothers had laughed - until she threw them into the lake. Almost unconsciously, Xena reached for some of the daisies and started to make a garland for Gabrielle's head.

"It's funny," Gabrielle said. "I don't remember climbing out of that pit after I tried to kill Hope, but now I remember there were some dried-out daisies at the edge. Just a little bunch, like Joxer gives me every so often."

"Joxer put them there. He changed them whenever he could. You missed him somehow."

"That was sweet of him. Poor guy, he couldn't say he loved me unless he was in a spot where he thought I wouldn't be able to laugh at him. I don't blame him. I thought he didn't love me, either, just another one of those stray arrows of Cupid's. Even when he finally admitted it in front of me, I was an inanimate object!"

"You didn't laugh at him when he said it again after you recovered."

"No, but I won't string him along, either."

"You'd better not," Xena warned, but not severely. "He's too nice a guy to be hurt like that."

"I know. He understands, too. I wonder what he's up to. He's supposed to be finding himself right now. My idea."

"You weren't trying to get rid of him, were you?"

"No, nothing like that," Gabrielle laughed again. "He's growing up a little, and he needs to discover what he wants out of life besides being 'Joxer the Mighty.' I don't think he could do that if he were looking soulfully at me all the time."

At that moment, Joxer was in Corinth, having taken his leave of Salmoneus, who had hired him as a guard on the trip there. It had been some months since his last visit home, and he bounded up familiar streets to a small house not far from the agora. There he spotted his mother through the window. She was kneading bread, and the rich smells of baking made his mouth water. Although he tried to sneak up on her to surprise her, his armor wasn't exactly made for stealth, and she looked up before he had taken three steps toward her. A bright smile spread over her face.

"Joxer!" she cried.

"Mom!" He ran to the house, tripping over the doorstep and flying inside. As though she had been used to doing this for years - which she was - she caught him with one arm and steadied him on his feet. They hugged.

"Did you get a chance to see Jett and your father?" she asked after he divested himself of armor and travel-stained clothes, changing into a comfortable tunic and trews.

"Yes, Mom. Jett sends his love. I assume Father's grunts meant the same. He's still not talking to me because I helped Xena put Jett in prison."

"I'm not very happy about that myself, Joxer. Are you still in love with that blonde sidekick of hers?"

"Gabrielle's not a sidekick, she's her partner. Yes, Mom, I still love her. Look at what she and Xena gave me." He showed off his new lute.

"That's a good one. I'm glad you kept up with your playing. It almost makes up for not following the family profession."

"Aw, Mom, you know I'm a warrior."

"But you're not trying to become a warlord like your father." Her face grew stern. "And then you have to fight and defeat a warlord instead of joining his army?"

"Oh, you heard about Aralaus."

"Yes, I did, for all you tried to keep it from me. Fighting alongside Xena, of all people. You should be ashamed."

Joxer stood his ground. "No, Mom, I shouldn't. I'm proud of what I did."

She studied him carefully. "It must be the blonde," she decided. "I never thought it would take a woman to make a man out of you. Well, you're still my son, and I love you no matter what. Pull up a chair and start peeling those roots over there," she directed. He did so, and his mother began to catch him up on the news, starting with his brother Jace's latest mishaps.

Just beyond the ridge at the opposite side of the meadow, four ruffians watched the two women as they wove daisy chains.

"It doesn't make sense," one whispered. "She looks like Xena, but she's got flowers in her hair!"

"You think maybe it's a couple of wannabes playing make-believe?" another asked.

"Beats me," the leader said. "They're a pretty pair, anyway, and their gear will fetch a dinar or two after we've had a kiss or two, and maybe a little more, eh? Let's get to it!"

The men stood and ran over the ridge toward the companions. The meadow muffled the pounding of their feet, and it seemed the women were taking no notice at all. As they reached their goal and one grabbed at Gabrielle from behind, he suddenly screamed in pain as the bard nonchalantly picked up her staff and jabbed one end into his groin. Swinging it around, she swept a second off his feet, the third narrowly avoiding the same fate by backpedaling. The heroines stood up to continue their counterattack.

Xena threw a handful of flowers into the leader's face, followed by her fist, which knocked him down. Gabrielle caught her second assailant on the side of his head with her staff as he tried to rise, and with the backstroke knocked the wind out of the third man, doubling him over. In a matter of seconds, it was all over. Xena whistled for Argo, and soon the four men were tied together and being led behind the mare.

"Leave it to you to have your kind of fun in the middle of my game," Gabrielle mock-complained. Then she giggled.

"Well, the boys did want to play," Xena replied brightly.

"Men," Gabrielle observed with a sigh. "You think they'd realize that women picking flowers aren't helpless. Your armor should have been a dead giveaway."

"Say, Gabrielle, why don't we put flowers in their hair, too?"

The bandit leader groaned.

"I don't think it would make them look any prettier," the bard said.

"You were the one who said I should have some fun!" The women dissolved into laughter, which grew more and more uncontrollable as they wove several more daisy chains and made the captives wear them. Argo acquired some flowers as well, and looked equally uncomfortable. The mare tried to catch them in her teeth.

"Please don't eat the daisies," Gabrielle pleaded, finally distracting Argo with one of the carrots she had acquired from Joxer, who always seemed to have a ready supply for the golden palomino.

"This is great, Gabrielle! I haven't enjoyed myself this much in years!" Xena told her friend happily. "Thanks!"

"What are friends for?" the bard replied.

The prisoners remained sullen as Xena and Gabrielle continued to march them toward the next town, where they would be turned over to the authorities.

Joxer's father had provided well for his family, being able to afford an estate outside the city as well as the town house, which he had bought shortly before Joxer and Jett were born. Though they had servants, Joxer's mother still liked to putter around the kitchen, remembering days when she was "the warlord's woman" and roasted meals over many a campfire.

Those had been good days for her, and while she loved her three sons dearly, she missed the wandering life. In a way, she envied Joxer, in that he was out and about, free, while she had to maintain a home base and both the husband she loved and the son of whom she was most proud languished in prison. She hardly approved of Gabrielle, who was far too "goody-goody" for her and had helped jail Jett besides, but if her boy had finally found a woman he could travel with, then she wouldn't discourage him.

If only the girl didn't hang with Xena. Oh, well...

"Joxer, don't you remember what I told you? Wash those radishes more carefully before you slice them. No telling where they've been."

"Okay, Mom." As he obeyed, bits and pieces of things he had learned about cooking from watching his mother came back to him. After a couple of disastrous culinary forays with Xena, he had asked Gabrielle for some help, too. When the bard realized he was serious, she shrugged - teaching Joxer was never easy - but showed him how to make meals that would stay down and were at least palatable. This proved to be a blessing on those rare occasions when Gabrielle was ill, or too tired to cook, and it deepened their friendship. "So where's Jace now?" he asked. "Still... well, you know..."

"Yes," she sighed. "He's gone to Athens to throw some more money at the Sophists and try to get one of them to spring your father on some legal technicality."

"Some legal what?"

"A fancy point of law, dear."

"I hope he can do it. You love Father so much."

She grew a little misty-eyed. "I miss him terribly. I went with him everywhere before you were born, you know. But I wasn't allowed to follow him when they took him away. I think I understand how you feel about... Gabrielle. There. I said her name. You'd even become a do-goody weakling to be with her, wouldn't you?" She shrugged. "Maybe the two of you will figure out a way to get your father out of prison. I'd even put up with Xena if you managed that."

"Xena's changed, Mom. She could have blown me off, but she became my friend instead. You'd like her now."

"No, Joxer. Let's not talk about her. I'm going to stuff you like a roast boar tonight. You're all skin and bones!"

Over dinner, his mother was as good as her word.

During the next few days, Joxer sought for a trading party that might be heading out, but it didn't appear there would be any prospects for several weeks. Salmoneus was busy lining up seamstresses for his "little black dress" scheme, so all Joxer got from that source was an IOU for twenty-five dinars and a promise of profits to be delivered to his mother. He did land a night watchman's job in the jeweler's quarter, and between that and a little lute-playing - without singing - in the taverns, he earned enough to continue his wanderings.

Sadly, he took leave of his mother.

"You won't wait for Jace to get back?"

"I should, but I need to get on with this 'finding myself' thing. I heard that if you bathe in the river Selemnus it eases heartache. Maybe it'll help me think more clearly."

"All right, Joxer." She gave him a kiss and a tremendous hug. "Try to stay out of trouble, will you?"

"Trouble is my middle name!"

"I thought 'the' was your middle name."

"What?"

"You do call yourself 'Joxer the Mighty,' don't you?"

"Oh."

Here also was the shipyard for a great navy. The biremes and triremes of Athens guarded the precious cargoes of wheat, patrolling the Aegean against the depredations of pirates and foreign powers. A mighty Persian fleet had been caught and destroyed by the free sailors of Athens and her allies near the island of Salamis, separated from the Piraeus only by a narrow strait.

Ports have smells all their own, not all of them pleasant. The odor of fish is always present, whether from the fresh - and not so fresh - catch in the market, or drying on racks, or pickling in barrels. To this, add tar and sawdust, draft animals, the unwashed bodies of seamen and cargo handlers, salt spray and the more congenial aromas of cooking from the waterfront taverns.

Poteidaia was a port town, too, as were many Greek poleis, and the smells reminded Gabrielle of her childhood. Sometimes as a special treat, her father would take the family to the docks. There she and Lila would shyly hide behind their mother's skirts from the rough sailors, and they could see all the fascinating wares from distant cities and foreign lands. There were bolts of fancy cloth the merchants would let the little girls finger, fine wooden carvings, blocks of marble from the islands, sometimes all the way from Italia, and pretty pottery from Athens. Her mother Hecuba still treasured the special olive oil jar, painted with a scene of Athena establishing the courts of her city, which Herodotus gave her. For him that day Hecuba had picked out a bowl for mixing wine; it bore Hermes bestowing the alphabet. Herodotus rarely talked about the days when he had been a soldier before returning home to Poteidaia and settling down for good; he preferred peaceful designs on his Athenian pottery. He liked this piece so much that he had even used it to teach his daughters their letters.

There was always a feast of excellent fish chowder on those excursions - Gabrielle never forgot a good meal - and something truly unforgettable, like sesame candy from Asia Minor, or the little pearl bestowed on her one day. It was so round and smooth, so iridescent and soothing...Lila had received one just like it. "My pretty girls should always have something pretty to keep with them," her father said. Both sisters still had their pearls, Gabrielle's residing in her keepsake box. In the box were a few other simple items, like the feather she had thought would help her fly when she was a very little girl. Recently she had thought to transfer to the box a necklace Joxer had given her, but it didn't fit, so she settled for placing the necklace and the silk bag she had made for it into a leather pouch she had picked up in Athens. The pouch bore a rose hand-tooled into the leather, which was quite appropriate as Joxer had bought the necklace on Aphrodite's advice.At the time, this act had caused Gabrielle a great deal of trouble, but it wasn't his fault. Another pouch held the figure of Xena he gave her not long ago.

To Xena the port's smells brought back memories of many a raid, and a few more recent trips with Gabrielle, some happy but mostly bittersweet. Gabrielle, prone to seasickness, barely tolerated short ferry rides, and was always apprehensive about the sea. Several of the most devastating events in her life had been preceded or followed by a voyage such as this. As curious as the bard was, if she couldn't walk there she didn't want to go.

With Xena, however, Gabrielle would go anywhere, and so it was that she found herself on a dock once more, as Xena sought passage to the various islands of the Aegean.

"'Cradle of Hermes.' Sounds like a good name for a trading ship," Xena remarked. "Gabrielle, why don't you make sure we have everything we need while I dicker for our fare?" Setting down a heavy bag, the Warrior Princess went straight to the captain, whose name turned out to be Philo.

Gabrielle counted items on her fingers as Xena began to bargain. "Candles, new scrolls, quills, ink, frying pan, knives, olive oil..."

"Eighty dinars apiece for a working passage? You're mad. Thirty, no work."

"Garn! This ain't a cruise ship, y'know. Seventy, and you both work."

"...whetstone, leather soap, thread, new flint..."

"Thirty-five, and Gabrielle and I split the work. You're visiting enough islands for a cruise."

"Sixty-five, and split the work. Yer cutting into the bone, you are."

"...comfrey, goldenseal, linseed root..."

"You'll be making plenty of profit, and you know it. Forty."

"Done. Bring yer stuff aboard." They clasped hands, and Philo turned to other business. Xena rejoined Gabrielle.

"...that's everything. Xena, couldn't we just go by the Hellespont again?"

"You've never seen most of the islands before, Gabrielle. Just remember your pressure points. Think about it. When we reach Lesbos, you'll get to meet Sappho - and she gets to meet you."

"Yeah," Gabrielle replied, happy that Xena should recognize her talent with words. Then the bard's face clouded a bit. "You think she'll make a pass at me? You've heard her hymn where Aphrodite tells her:
She may flee you now, yet she will soon pursue you;
She may not take your gifts, yet she will give them;
She may not love you, yet she surely will love you, even unwilling.'"

"If she's that way," Xena replied. "If I were a man I'd make a pass at you."

"Oh, Xena." Gabrielle gathered up her staff, shoulder bag and a large sack, then walked resignedly up the gangplank. Xena lifted the other bag and followed.

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