Last Updated: 4/22/2022
This is kind of an adaptation of the first episode (Sins of the Past), almost like a novelization (although it's much shorter than a novel ... more like a novella-ization) where I try to get inside the characters' heads and flesh out some of the scenes. I used the dialogue from the episode (and some cut scenes from the shooting script I found over at Whoosh), adding my own interpretation of what the characters might be thinking or feeling throughout the story. I also added some new scenes to fill in some gaps, especially near the end with Xena, Gabrielle, and Cyrene. Sins of the Past is one of my favourite episodes (top five!), so I hope I can do it justice.
Moirai is the Greek name for the Fates. I love Melissa Good's Solstice story "It Came Upon a Solstice Clear" (no matter how many times I read it, that last line always gets me!), so I thought I'd take my own stab at writing about Xena and Gabi's first Solstice together. I started thinking about Christmas-themed stories and for some reason, Gift of the Magi was the first thing that popped into my head. I set this shortly after Athens City Academy of the Performing Bards (based on Xena's remark in The Execution that Gabi attended the Academy "last winter"). I figured that episode probably happened close to Solstice, and I thought the new closeness we saw between Xena and Gabi would be a good lead-in to this story.
This is a short piece set after The Execution that deals with Xena and Gabi's burgeoning romance. I feel like Xena fell for Gabi first (as we can see in the early 2nd season episodes) culminating in that kiss in The Quest, which I think was Xena's way of letting Gabi know how she felt. Naturally Gabi (being who she is) had to mull that over for a while, but by the latter part of the season, I think she's definitely returning Xena's feelings. But it seems to me by then that Gabi's more invested in the relationship than Xena is (telling Vidalis in Blind Faith that she's in love with someone, her obvious jealousy in Ulysses), almost like Xena pulled back from it a bit. I think Xena still loves Gabi, she's just afraid of hurting her. But knowing Gabi, she'd initiate a conversation about it and this story is how I imagine that conversation might have gone.
This is a story that popped into my head a while back and I felt like I should share it. It's set early in the first season (before The Reckoning) when Xena and Gabi are still getting to know and trust each other.
This story shows my idea of what Xena was doing while Gabi was in Poteidaia in "The Prodigal". I believe Xena and Gabi were heading for Amphipolis at the beginning of that episode (if you want to know my reasoning for that, check out my post on Xena Season 1 Geography on my blog: Xena Season 1 Geography and Chronology - The Eruditegorilla ), so I figure Xena went there on her own and was probably feeling pretty miserable until she got some good advice from her mother.
This story is set mid-first season, after Hooves and Harlots but before Gabi gets really good with her staff. It's based on the scene in Is There a Doctor in the House where Gabi is brought in terribly wounded and Galen points out that she could've killed her attacker if she'd hit him an inch lower; Xena's reply was "She knew that, that's why he's still alive." So I figured Xena must've taught Gabi where the lethal strikes were on the body, just so Gabi could avoid killing someone (on purpose or by accident).
This story was inspired by Gabi mentioning a "Test Day" in Warrior ... Princess (and by how she assumed Xena was testing her in Warrior ... Priestess ... Tramp). I figure Xena is teaching Gabi her many skills in between episodes and probably tests her periodically to make sure the lessons are getting through. Xena probably throws in surprise Test Days (like pop quizzes) to make sure Gabi's always ready for anything. This story is about a Test Day that goes off the rails a bit; it's set early in the second season (before Return of Callisto), so I feel like Xena is definitely in love with Gabi at this point, but Gabi still hasn't quite figured that out yet.
This story is set about a year after A Friend in Need and is about how Gabi brings Xena back from the dead. I don't hate Friend in Need as much as some fans do (technically, it's quite well done and does bring both Xena and Gabi's character arcs to logical conclusions), but I do hate the fact that Xena and Gabi don't get a happy ending ... they certainly earned one. But I read somewhere that the creators were planning on doing a series of Xena movies after the show ended, which must mean they were planning on bringing Xena back somehow. So if the creators were thinking about it, that makes it (almost) Canon as far as I'm concerned. Gabi's mention of going to Egypt made me think of the Egyptian Book of the Dead and how souls/hearts were judged in the afterlife, which I thought would make a great way to bring Xena back.
This short tale is set just after Chariots of War and deals with Xena's feelings about family and her growing realization of how important Gabi has become to her.