Title: Family Obligations
Summary: Things are almost back to normal after Callisto’s second rampage and subsequent body swap. But there’s one thing Gabrielle must go back to Potidaea to do, and this time Xena’s coming along. Takes place after S2E08, “Ten Little Warlords.”
Tags: F/F, Xena/Gabrielle
Notes: When I wrote this, I’d only seen up to s3e02. These are the first three chapters, altogether around 9k words.
Chapter One: The Road Home
After dispatching Sisyphus and his warlords and welcoming Xena back to her own body, she, Joxer, and Gabrielle made their way back to the coastal village where they’d started. Finding some extremely sheepish villagers at the dock, the trio reassured them that Ares’ absence had incited the embarrassing violence around town and that it was now over. They were too grateful for the excuse to doubt it, and they ran off to spread the word after directing their saviors to what they insisted was the coziest tavern.
“OOuufgh.” Joxer flopped onto a crooked stool, back to the room, as Xena and Gabrielle sat across the table from him. “I’m beat. Monster-slaying really takes it out of you!”
Gabrielle deadpanned at him. “You slew spinning wood. With another piece of wood.”
“The hunting was the hard part! We rowed over there, tracked and hunted and fought our way through the castle in sheer ter- in a rush of heroic exertion, and then had to row back.”
Gabrielle couldn’t argue, for once. The night before Xena left to help Ares get his sword back, Gabrielle had barely slept through her fog of rage, and sustaining all that anger through their island adventure had really sapped her energy.
Joxer continued, “Dealing with you was no picnic, either, oh tiny Queen of Wrath.”
“Hey! You lost your mind over a fly!”
“Ease up, you two. I’ll buy you dinner, and you can sleep all this,” Xena vaguely gestured between Gabrielle and Joxer, “off.” She nodded to a serving girl that was looking their way and asked for three ales and three of whatever food was fresh. Then she smiled too-sweetly at her friends. “You only got so worked up because you’re so innocent and peaceful at heart.”
Gabrielle scowled, and Joxer loudly protested about his stout warrior heart. Xena just laughed at them, and after a moment, Gabrielle relaxed and smiled at her a little, too. Having her body back was the first thing she or any of them had to be happy about in a while. And even that was just fixing one of the many things Callisto had ruined. It was good to see Xena be a little giddy over it.
A rich stew did a great deal to improve Joxer’s mood, and the complex flavor of the accompanying ale made Xena smile even more. But she kept glancing at Gabrielle, and halfway through the meal, she finally turned to her with concern.
“Are you all right? You’re hardly eating.” Xena pressed the back of her hands to Gabrielle’s and her own forehead. “You’ve never been so tired you can’t eat, and you’re not feverish.”
“I’m fine! Just not as hungry as I thought.”
Xena gave her an extremely skeptical look, then grabbed her face and pushed her own cheek against Gabrielle’s brow.
Gabrielle felt the blush bloom from her neck up and started squirming.
Xena hummed and mumbled, “You do feel warmer than a second ago,” before finally letting Gabrielle go.
“That was adorable.” A smarmy grin wafted over with Joxer’s words, earning him a fresh glare. “Warlord or fretting fishwife? Which am I looking at?”
Xena’s glare joined Gabrielle’s for a moment before she turned back to the blonde and opened her mouth to speak.
Gabrielle cut her off, “I’m not sick! I just feel… guilty.” The admission deflated her even further.
Xena frowned. “Gabrielle, I told you I’m proud of you for not hurting anyone after we realized what was happening to everyone’s emotions.”
Gabrielle was already shaking her head. “Nothing to do with that, Xena. I’ve been avoiding something I need to do. Can we go to Potidaea? Just for a few days? I haven’t been since before…” My wedding. My widowing. By the light of her husband’s funeral pyre, she’d written a stilted, shocked missive to her family and his, then sent it off while she went to avenge him. It wasn’t nearly enough. Would that they could have brought his body home, at least, but even if they hadn’t been so far away, the danger was too great and the need to track Callisto too urgent. If she had continued to hunt Gabrielle, a cart hauling a corpse was too easy a target. If she hadn’t, Gabrielle could never have caught up to her, and at the time, that was unacceptable to even consider.
A pall came over the whole table.
“Oh.” Xena’s tone gentled. “Yes, of course. We can head that way tomorrow.”
“And you’ll come all the way to town with me?” Gabrielle hated how vulnerable she sounded. She wasn’t this delicate all the time, truly, but she was tired, and her emotional control was all burnt out.
“Of course... if that’s what you want.” Xena laid a hand on her arm.
Suddenly feeling the need to lighten the mood, Gabrielle asked, “Are you in, Joxer?” She gave him a sad, teasing smile. “The people in my town will probably believe everything you tell them.”
All brashness and smarm gone, he ruefully chuckled. “It’s nice of you to ask. Really. But I’ve got business east of here. Give Perdicus’ parents an extra hug for me, will you? I stood for him at your wedding, so we’re nearly family.”
* * * * *
Days later, Xena and Gabrielle breezed along a well-used road, chatting, playing road games, and occasionally drawing Argo away from from especially enticing clumps of grass. She was still healing and had the appetite to show it, even though they didn’t have her carrying anything but supplies for this journey.
The women also shared long stretches of comfortable silence, but when that went on too long, or when Xena otherwise noticed Gabrielle turning in on herself too much, she just reached out and touched her arm or patted her shoulder. They would share a smile, and Xena would ask her about something or other. Food, stories, anything to set the discussion off again.
Until recently, when Xena wore Callisto’s body, she had never realized how much she touched Gabrielle. Then, suddenly, it was only when Gabrielle was specifically paying attention to her that Xena could casually lay a hand on her without a problem. There was no stiffness or antsiness Xena could sense after the first day; Gabrielle would just seek out her eyes and then act normally. But Xena could absolutely not sneak up on her or draw her attention with a touch without garnering a jump at the least. The variety of squeaks and yelps she’d heard before she’d stopped trying would have been funny if they hadn’t hurt so much.
So now, back in her own skin, she indulged her craving for touch. Gabrielle’s specifically. She’d almost lost it three ways over - to Perdicus and Potidaea, to Hades, and to the prison of Callisto’s body. So why not use innocent, supportive gestures if it was helping to keep Gabrielle’s gloom at bay? There would be plenty for her to worry over in town. No sense getting sick about it on the way.
In early afternoon, the wind shifted, and a sound actually worth worrying over met her ear.
“Gabrielle, something’s going on up ahead. Come on.”
They ran and crested a hill. At the bottom, five club-wielding men in threadbare clothing menaced another man and his donkey-drawn wagon.
“I said you can fill our bags, or we can take the donkey to eat tonight! Now choose!”
Xena and Gabrielle barely paused. Xena ululated and used the height of the hill to somersault atop the wagon. “That,” she pointed at the donkey, “isn’t the ass you should be worried about.”
As all six men stared up at her, dumbfounded, Gabrielle reached them and started walloping the nearest bandits from behind with her staff. Two were down by the time Xena flipped off the back and went to work on the rearmost bandits. The women threw or herded all five into the ditch, with Xena kicking the last one in the rear end as she dodged his final attempt at a punch.
“Told you.” She let them groan and all roll over to face her. Honestly, they were pitiful. Their clothes were too thin for the cooling weather, and clubs were a pretty sorry weapon even for country bandits. She saw most had a knife, but they were not much longer than what they might use for cooking and eating.
“I got more than you that time, Xena,” Gabrielle teased.
“That’ll teach me to show off.”
The bandits whispered “Xena?!” and looked at one another, and she could almost see their stomachs dropping.
She took out her chakram and toyed with it, directing a too satisfied smile in the men’s direction. A little extra white in her eyes completed the picture, and by their cowering, she knew they would be no trouble for the few minutes it would take to sort this out.
Meanwhile, behind her, she could hear Gabrielle checking on the wagon-owner.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, thanks to you two.” A pause. “Gabrielle?”
“Yeah. Hi. Aetius, right?”
“Yes. You look… different!”
Xena interrupted, “Do you know these men?”
“No. The next village over had their cartwright fall ill, so I was just minding my business, taking some parts and tools over to look for extra work, and those five came screaming out of the treeline. They wanted to steal my tools and eat my donkey!”
A bandit cried out, “One, not both! Please, don’t kill us! We’re just hungry!”
Xena put her chakram away. “We are surrounded by farming settlements, and it’s the autumn harvest. Go ask for honest work, and you’ll probably find it.”
“We will! We promise!” All of them nodded. And they did look gaunt. Xena sighed. “Gabrielle, get them something to eat. We’re just a few hours from town anyway.”
“Already started.” Argo had finally caught up to them, and Gabrielle was reaching into the saddle bags and pulling out the remains of their food to share. She and Xena helped the men out of the ditch while the cartwright sputtered.
Gabrielle finally turned to him. “Aetius, did they hit you?”
“Well, no…”
“We beat them up, and now they're all muddy out in this wind. Do you feel like marching them to the next town for a trial?”
The man sighed. “I suppose not. But if you boys had asked, I'd have shared what I have.”
The bandits looked suitably miserable, so Xena clapped the nearest one on the shoulder and said, “Good. You boys get a second chance. But we’ll be watching and listening.”
Gabrielle added, “If we hear of any of you robbing anyone again, when we come back through here, we will find you. Get it?”
“Yeah… sorry.”
“Then scram!” They did.
* * * * *
“Scram?” Xena was teasing Gabrielle over her tough routine with the bandits. “That one poor man ran away so fast, he fell back into the ditch. They're never getting all that mud out of their clothes.”
“I guess I could have been nicer. Maybe we instead of giving them leftover fish, we should have taught them to fish bare-handed like you did for me?”
Xena was silent so long, Gabrielle turned to look back at her - and was immediately pounced-upon and wrestled into a headlock.
Xena patted Gabrielle’s head. “Your joke privileges are withheld until I say so, bard.”
“You can talk, with your donkey puns!” When wriggling around did Gabrielle no good, she attempted to tickle around Xena's armor, failed to get through the leather, and went for the back of her knee instead.
The pair fell out laughing and eventually got back to walking. It would take a few hours yet to get to her family's farm on the edge of Potidaea. Xena kept up her transparent efforts to keep Gabrielle distracted, which she appreciated, but it was fruitless. Thinking about Perdicus and their families was inevitable, considering her plans for this trip.
Her guilt over him, besides being heavy in general, had more than one facet. Besides the obvious - marrying him away from their families and failing to protect him or even bring him home whole - her reaction to it all compounded everything.
The day-to-day struggle was not as difficult as she had expected or seen from other widows. Perdicus was her childhood friend, her husband, her lover… but they’d had so little time together as a couple. In the months before she’d left Potidaea over a year ago, she spent as much time avoiding him as courting him. Her claustrophobia, born of staring down a straight, narrow life-path in the village where she’d been born, walking beside the first boy she’d ever liked - it honestly made her callous and short with him.
“Did you see the guy they want me to marry?”
It hurt their lifelong friendship, and her shame at that was no small part of what kept her from visiting home for so long that first time. Then she’d spent about one dramatic day with him in Troy, only for him to wander off with Helen - not that she’d protested, confused as she was.
Still, later, she thought the rest of the time they both spent traveling separately had prepared them to finally settle down. She had found other flirtations, incredible adventures, new skills, steadfast new friends, and even some scars. His scars were even deeper, his mien more mature than ever, and yet he seemed to need her so badly! She gave him what peace and love she could and was still grateful for the opportunity.
But while he had remained on her mind during her preceding travels, he wasn’t part of them. He was the disruption, not the habit. Now, just over two weeks later, he already wasn’t what she thought of when she got up in the morning. The first thing she saw each day was still the remains of a fire or a canopy of trees or Xena’s smirking face, after all. She didn’t miss the feel of his arms at night, because how well did she even know them? Traveling just felt so much more like her real life than her marriage or even her life of farming had.
Thoughts of Perdicus were gut punches - random and incapacitating, but not constant. Just something else to feel guilty about, along with putting down her staff when she knew Callisto was on the loose and then being caught unawares. If she had been holding her own, even for a minute, maybe he would have been behind her, or maybe Xena could have protected them both... Some Amazon she was. Gabrielle sighed, and this time, Xena silently laid a hand on Gabrielle’s head, tugged so they were walking closer together, and put her arm around her shoulders. Gabrielle reflexively wrapped an arm around Xena’s waist to better feel her gait, and they walked in step for a minute. It was slower, but the warm weight of Xena's arm left Gabrielle feeling calm and safe.
“I want you to know I really respect you doing this.”
“Really? I feel like I should have done this weeks ago.”
“And yet there’s nothing making you do it at all. You just know it’s the right thing, and you’re doing it. At your age, I was not so responsible with family obligations.”
Gabrielle finally smiled. “Yeah, I guess you weren’t. Thank you.” She squeezed Xena’s waist and got a squeeze in return, Xena’s cheek briefly pressing into her head. They finally let go and finished walking to a wooded section of road outside of town.
“There’s a shortcut to the house through here,” Gabrielle said, pointing into the woods.
“But the town inn and stables are straight ahead, right? When would you like to meet?”
Gabrielle blinked, nonplussed. “Inn and stables? Xena, did you forget my family has a farm? We have plenty of space for you both.”
Xena looked uncomfortable. “I didn't want to assume I should intrude on your reunion and your house.”
“...There have been half a dozen times where you pointed me at a random family’s hut and told me to stay with them while you went off and did something dangerous. Total strangers. And you’re being weird about coming to my family’s house?”
Xena smiled ruefully. “That’s different. You’re cute and persuasive. I know when you smile and offer to help with chores, the biggest danger from a village family is that they try to adopt you before I get back. Families are as likely to offer me a warlord’s tribute as let me in the door - and that’s when I haven’t kidnapped one of their daughters first.” Was she nervous? Xena? Nervous?
“They know you didn’t kidnap me! Probably.”
Xena stared at her.
Gabrielle smiled and held out a hand. “Come on, please. My parents may not know it yet, but you - and Argo - are family. You’ll stay with us.”
At those words, Xena’s tension melted away, relaxing her shoulders and revealing a warm, rakish smile. “All right, fine. But I’ll let you tell them that, if it’s all the same.” She walked forward and let Gabrielle pull her by the elbow toward the farmhouse.
Light and warmth emanated from it through the twilight, but as they reached the door, Gabrielle paused. It took a few deep breaths to get herself to actually open it.
The clatter of plates and chatter went still as Gabrielle’s parents and sister looked up.
“...Hey. It’s been a while!”
Chapter Two: Rocky Start
“...Hey. It’s been a while!”
Xena watched Gabrielle’s father, mother, and sister drag her through their front door and cling to her. After a moment of watching Gabrielle’s fruitless flailing, Xena followed her into the home, gave Argo one last longing look, and shut the door. It was already awful domestic inside.
“Sweetheart, we are so sorry,” soothed Gabrielle’s mother.
Her father assured her, “We always knew Perdicus was a fine man. We’re glad you found each other again…. Would that the gods gave you more time.”
Both of them fussed over how they’d missed Gabrielle until she fought free of them, fled back to Xena, and grabbed her by the shoulder and elbow to shove her forward. “Mother, Father, Lila, you remember Xena? We travel together. Xena, these are my parents, Herodotus and Hecuba, and my sister, Lila.”
Feeling distinctly like a human shield, Xena forced a polite smile toward three faces - two older, guarded ones and one younger one performing a knowing eye-roll. She towered over all three. “How do you do.” When her greeting was returned somewhat awkwardly, she cleared her throat and continued. “Gabrielle is like… it’s a pleasure to travel with her. And I’m sorry we aren’t here under happier circumstances.”
Gabrielle added, “And I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner. Not just sooner after what happened a few weeks ago but just sooner so I could see you again. I did try once…”
Hecuba reassured her, “We know. Lila told us about what you and Meleager the Mighty did for the village last time. Bad timing, with us away at market. Though you could have waited…”
Gabrielle grimaced and proceeded to lie, “I didn’t have the extra time; I’m sorry. I had plans to catch up with Xena on a certain day.”
Xena turned her head so Gabrielle could see her raised eyebrow, but Gabrielle just jabbed her in the back.
“Uh, yeah, I felt terrible when I heard what happened. But when we met up again, we had an urgent summons well north of here.”
Lila asked, “Do you get a lot of those? We can’t even get a letter to you unless you tell us where to send one in advance.”
This time, Xena’s smile was rueful. “More than you’d think.”
Gabrielle finally stepped up beside her again and put on a thoughtful face, tapping her chin. “It is eerie how often people find us in the woods at night, in the dark. But they’re actively hunting news of us from town to town. And I guess our campfire gets them the rest of the way there.”
Stiffly, Herodotus interrupted, “Well, Xena, thank you for taking care of her. I know you didn’t invite her along, but after all this time, she’s safe, and she looks…” he paused and seemed to startle himself, boggling when he took a closer look at his daughter, “healthy.”
Hecuba was more direct. “Gabrielle, what in Demeter’s name are you wearing?”
Xena and Gabrielle both looked down to the latter’s bare midriff, down further to her less-than-demure skirt, and then back at the family.
Lila sniggered, drawing a glare from her sister. Undeterred, she joked, “Aren’t you cold in this weather?” Sure enough, she and her parents sported long skirts and pants and full sleeves.
“We move around a lot! All day, traveling and practicing and fighting and stuff. We have cloaks if it’s too cold...”
Hecuba stated, “With you in that and her in the leather, you look like her concubine.”
“MOTHER.” Gabrielle seemed too horrified to respond beyond that.
Xena couldn’t think of a single thing to say or do that wouldn’t make it worse. Lila was quietly dying of laughter behind her parents.
“And fighting?” Herodotus asked. “If you’ve been fighting, why don’t you have armor?” He looked suspiciously at Xena, doubtless thinking her some feckless taskmaster who was under-outfitting her companion. Before Xena could respond to the implication, Gabrielle explained in stilted exclamations.
“Guys, I’m not a warrior; I’m a bard. I don’t carry a sword, and I don’t wear armor. Those things make you a target just by having them on. When there’s trouble, I mean. But I do fight when I need to, so… so I went with something practical that’s like what the Amazons wear. They don’t wear armor, either, you know, and they’re great fighters, and this lets me fit in with them better.”
It took a few moments for the farmers to process the pivot in conversation, but Herodotus finally tried to follow it. “You spend a lot of time with the Amazons? I guess... Xena’s an Amazon?”
It seemed Gabrielle was leaving a lot out of her letters.
Xena saw their logic but decided not to hold up this particular sham. She smiled. “Oh, no, I’m no Amazon. I’m just the champion of the nearest tribe’s princess.” She fixed a significant gaze on the princess at her side.
“What… what does that mean?”
Gabrielle looked up at Xena, but rather than glaring, her chagrined expression showed she knew this bombshell was her fault. She looked back at her family. “...I’m an Amazon princess?”
Stunned silence followed.
Xena helpfully commented, “Oh that’s how she informed me, too. I left her alone with them for a few hours and came back to this.”
Herodotus pressed, “But how? We’ve no Amazon blood. What does that mean? What do they make you do?”
Gabrielle stammered with wide eyes, “I just...It’s… It’s a long story.” She sighed and seemed to deflate, dropping her head into her hand and covering her eyes.
Xena’s smug humor drained with Gabrielle’s energy. Winding her up into silly arguments was typically a good way to cheer them both up, but there were limits.
Gabrielle’s father stepped up to put his hands on her shoulders. “...You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you, sweetheart? Why don’t we get you two fed and talk more tomorrow?”
“...Yeah, okay, that sounds really good. I missed your cooking.”
Herodotus looked up at Xena, still holding onto his daughter. “Thank you for bringing her home safe. We were afraid we’d never have her back where she belongs. You’re welcome to rest here a few days before you go, of course.”
Both travelers froze.
Gabrielle looked up. “Father, I’m not… I’m going to keep traveling with Xena after I visit with you and pay my respects to Perdicus’ parents.”
Dismayed, Hecuba asked, “But.. weren’t you going to settle back here with Perdicus and take over the farm together? Your letter said you were on the way home when he...”
“Well, yeah, I-” Gabrielle’s voice cracked, and she sniffled. “We were going to. But he’s gone. That’s not what I want to do now.”
Herodotus stepped back, and the parents eyed the travelers with shades of betrayal.
Hecuba reasoned, “But what’s different, other than him being gone? If you’re ready to settle back at home, there’s no reason to wait. We’re here for you; it’s okay to be here with us alone for now.”
A sudden protective instinct nearly made Xena step in front of Gabrielle.
Gabrielle spoke softly and slowly at first, as if coming to the conclusions as she said them. “I’m not. Ready. I may never be ready. Perdicus was ready - he was broken from being so ready, and he needed me, so I was coming back for him.” Her voice grew firm, if not unkind. “But I’m not staying now.”
Hecuba straightened and put her hands on her hips. “Young lady, you aren’t a child anymore, but your parents still have some wisdom your lofty travels haven’t taught you. You’ll think about it while you’re here, and you’ll see where you belong.”
Unable to hold back any longer, Xena snarled, “Gabrielle isn’t staying anywhere she doesn’t want to be.” All eyes on her, she let up on her growl but continued, “It’s her choice. And in my experience, what you’re doing is no good way to change her mind.”
A calming hand came to rest on Xena’s back, and she turned again to look into grateful green eyes.
Gently, Gabrielle asked, “Xena, why don’t you let Lila show you where to put Argo?”
“...All right.” Xena clapped a hand onto Gabrielle’s shoulder before she left, tossing one final glare back at her parents. She may have gone too far, but she couldn’t manage to care.
Lila seemed as grateful to be out of the house as Xena was, both of them taking calming breaths of the cooling evening air.
“I’m sorry about my parents. And I’m glad you’re- oh my goodness, who is this! Are you Argo? Xena, she’s beautiful!”
They made polite conversation and got the travel bags and Argo squared away. Occasional shouts emanated from the house, which they tried to ignore.
“...too good for...?”
Mostly.
“...visit or a trial..?!”
Okay, it grated on Xena to listen and not do anything. She did not typically fret about Gabrielle debating with people - it was practically a hobby of hers - but her already being vulnerable and then subject to this stress from her own family riled a mile-wide protective streak. It was only because Gabrielle as much as asked them not to interfere that Xena didn’t drop everything to go back inside and do or say something dramatic. At least she got the sense that Lila understood her sister. Not fully, not enough to really explain Gabrielle’s choices if pressed on the matter, but she saw the value of them for Gabrielle and was willing to trust her judgment. Xena liked her for that and for the way she absolutely doted on Argo.
As they approached the door of the home again, they heard one last bit of argument.
“You have no idea what she’s done for me or done to protect me. Don’t assume you do.”
Xena and Lila paused until Lila made the executive decision to butt in before the next jag of arguing could ensue. Cold silence followed as everyone sat at the table and Hecuba filled it out with apples and cured sausage to accommodate the extra mouths.
Eating into the stores of a couple who evidently held her personally responsible for corrupting their firstborn was not Xena’s first choice of evening plans; she would just as soon have gone hungry in the dark woods to be away from it. Not to mention the ire radiating off the couple. Most of her life, she’d only brooked that kind of attitude from prisoners or particularly useful lieutenants; these days she just left any place she found it. But she’d agreed to come, and all she had to do was look at the warring worry and stubbornness on Gabrielle’s face to reaffirm that she should stay. A supportive presence was the least she could offer her. Especially after hearing her stand up to her parents and state she would be leaving with Xena, no hesitation or doubt.
Eventually, Hecuba asked in a tight voice, “Is Gabrielle a lot of trouble? We… couldn’t keep her out of it when she was little.”
Lila quickly expounded, “She once led the other children too far into the woods and got lost for two days.” At least the sister was on board. Gabrielle must have talked Xena up a lot on her last visit.
After swallowing more than just food, Xena managed a small smirk. “Is she trouble? A little, but not as much as me. Gabrielle more than pulls her own weight.”
“Oh?” Herodotus asked without looking up.
Aha, an opening. Xena nodded. “I can trust her to defend innocent people if I need to go off somewhere more dangerous. Or to hold our allies steady if they get antsy on us in the middle of a plan. Or help me tend to wounded. And you must have taught her how to bargain, because I certainly didn’t.”
“You can bargain, Xena; you just don’t have the patience for it most of the time.” Gabrielle turned to her parents with a tentative smile. “If she can’t glare her way to a fair price, she’ll walk two days out of her way to find it someplace else.”
Herodotus’ expression softened for the first time all meal. “We didn’t teach her that, either. She’s always been that way, ever since she learned the value of a dinar.”
It wasn’t much, but it cracked the rime off the icy room. The rest of the evening passed in quiet, merely chilly politeness until they pulled out Gabrielle’s old bed and laid a spare straw pallet on the floor next to it.
Once her parents had retreated to the bedroom, Gabrielle insisted Xena take the bed; Xena insisted Gabrielle should enjoy her own bed at home. Relaxed bickering ensued.
“Xena, you’re a guest.”
“No, I’m an invader.” She widened her eyes crazily and poked Gabrielle’s stomach to make her smile. “So don’t think I won’t put you in that bed and sit on you until you fall asleep.”
“I’d stay up out of spite.”
“You would fall asleep in ten minutes. You once fell asleep while Joxer was singing by our fire.”
Gabrielle laughed for the first time all evening. “That was self defense.”
“I was so jealous I almost woke you up with a waterskin by ‘accident.’”
“Okay, you can have the floor then.”
Lila offered, “She can have my bed.”
“No!” replied two voices.
Once all three were situated, Lila offered, “Gabrielle, I’m glad you came home again. I missed you.”
“I missed you, too, Lila.”
“I wish you were sticking around, but… I can tell you’re sure about what you want to do. Our parents just can’t see it yet. And they’re pretty upset they know so little about what you get up to.” Xena heard her shift, probably propping herself on her side to better look at Gabrielle. “We hear stories, sometimes, you know. They don’t always mention you by name, but when we hear about Xena’s friend getting kidnapped by a warlord or something, it’s hard not to freak out.”
“Yeah… I did get better about writing home after my last visit, though, right? So you know I’m still alive?”
“Yeah. It’s not the same as watching you ‘finish growing up,’ as they put it, though. They’re real confused, Gabrielle.”
Xena finally spoke up from the floor, “Maybe you can tell them some of your stories? It’ll be different, hearing it from you in person, in detail.”
“Maybe?”
“Just... not the Mitoan-Thessalian war. Or that incident with the Bacchae.”
“Hmm, you’re probably right…”
Xena added, “And probably not anything where you got thrown in jail.”
“Jail?” Lila asked with dawning glee.
“If we’re counting warlord jail and evil king jail, this list is getting awfully short.”
“Your parents hate me enough without hearing about how often being with me gets you thrown in jail.”
“That much jail?!” Lila was scandalized and delighted.
“Why don’t you just tell them how you became an Amazon? They’re already curious about it.”
“Your pick is the one where I threw myself in front of a hail of arrows?”
Xena groaned. “...Maybe you should make something up.”
Chapter Three: Obligations
When an unfamiliar sound flung Xena from sleep into a sitting position, she reached out for her (absent) sword and immediately focused on nearby movement - the flickering of a candle illuminating the pre-dawn gloom of the building. It was held, of course, by Gabrielle’s mother and trailed by her father, both of whom locked startled eyes with her.
“Not real sluggish first thing, are you?” Hecuba said mildly.
Xena shook her head and got up, wide awake. “Comes with the work. Though I can’t seem to teach your daughter that part.”
As Herodotus took the candle and began to light the hearth, his wife hummed to herself as if conflicted, then fussed, “Oh, don’t get up. You two have been traveling, and you’ve come here to rest. Sleep in.” She shook Lila to wake her and then stepped over to Gabrielle to run a hand over the side of her sleeping face. A sad smile softened her features. “The gods know she deserves her simple pleasures right now. And sleeping is one of her favorites.”
Xena smiled at the motherly affection, suddenly wistful for all the lost time between her and her own mother. Cyrene had comforted her much the same way when she’d been stuck in Callisto’s body. “Thank you. But I’m awake now, and anyway if you’re putting me up, I can make myself useful. Whatever you’re working on this morning, I’ll help.”
Not unkindly but in a tone that brooked no argument, Hecuba responded, “That’s very nice of you; you can help after lunch.” She evidently took some pride in her treatment of guests, even uninvited ones.
Herodotus offered, “But maybe then you and Gabrielle can help me with some of my fruit trees. The height gets troublesome as I get older.”
“Of course.” Xena pondered what to do with her morning as the family bustled through their routine. “By any chance, do you know a good fishing spot nearby?”
* * * * *
Gabrielle woke in a completely empty house with a hearth of dimming coals. A brief investigation revealed water waiting to be boiled for tea and a simple but strange breakfast on the table. Amongst the bread and cheese was a thin slice of cheese carved into a crude fish shape. Xena’s initial was etched into where its gills would have been. The rest of the slice was gone, presumably eaten by the culprit. Gabrielle stared until her brain gathered enough energy to puzzle it out.
“Xena went fishing?” she asked herself. “Why wouldn’t she just leave a note?” She supposed this was probably faster than searching for paper, quills, and ink in an unfamiliar place, unless Xena wanted to dig into Gabrielle’s things.
Gabrielle shook her head in amazement at her deadly goofball of a friend and proceeded to linger over a relaxing morning in her old home. A warm drink, local cheese, the smell of yeast and flour coming from the evening’s rising bread, and the play of the light over mismatched bottles of her sister’s spice blends all brought her a measure of peace. She needed it. Today, she meant to visit Perdicus’ family while they were in from the fields for lunch. But there was a fair amount of time to kill until then.
A visit with Argo revealed an already-pampered, happy horse, and an effort to do chores in the house ended after a simple sweep and some tidying. So, she thought she might as well see who was at the market on a harvest morning.
Later, leaning on her staff, she sighed at the meager selection of tradesmen milling about. Of course, while these people needed to be available to sharpen, repair, or replace any tools that fell to the harvest effort, everyone else with working arms, backs, and farming implements was out in the fields at this hour. Even purveyors of luxuries would often take on practical work at this time of year, in the employ of their neighbors.
Gabrielle socialized in a subdued fashion, politely inquiring about people’s families and accepting condolences that left her feeling strangely embarrassed. Again, she couldn’t help but compare herself to the other widows she’d known in town. Be they young like her or a decade and a half older, it wasn’t unusual to go back into the care of their parents or brothers for a time, often with children in tow. Or for that support system to move in with them and take over part of the home she’d shared with her husband. It was always an enormous life upheaval on top of the pain of mourning. And older women went into the care of their children, who by then were finding spouses of their own to move into the family house. Yet there Gabrielle was, just resuming her nomadic life with her best friend, no children or men around unless you counted Joxer’s occasional presence. Carefree wisecracking at the campfire, breathless battles at high noon, and new faces all the time.
She wasn’t sure if she felt more guilty or just… antsy to leave, all of a sudden. She loved Potidaea and always would, but the claustrophobia was seeping in again.
Just before she left the square to go to Perdicus’ family farm, she spotted furtive movement behind an empty stall. She’d been in enough big cities to recognize a young thief at fifty paces. After a few incidents of lost dinars, most of which Xena had been able to retrieve, Gabrielle had gotten quite good at guarding her money from them. But since when did Potidaea have street urchins? It barely had streets. Everyone knew one another, and orphans or struggling farms were managed one way or another so that no children were starving.
With the haze of worry and guilt cleared from her eyes, Gabrielle looked back at everyone to whom she’d spoken and noticed how gaunt they looked. They were the kind of skinny she usually only saw after a rough winter. How were they skinny in the height of autumn harvest, after a summer of crops, hunting, and regular fish deliveries from the nearest dock settlement?
She grumbled to herself and promised to look into it later. For now, she had an appointment to keep.
* * * * *
Xena returned to Gabrielle’s family farm with a basket full of cleaned fish and edible roots. Some alone time in the outdoors had calmed her, and she turned the ingredients over to Hecuba with a real smile.
The woman didn’t seem to know what to make of it, so she fell into reflexive, measured politeness. “Thank you. This is quite a bounty; I’ll put it all in the pot to stew for supper.” After a moment, the awkwardness of accepting gifts from her daughter’s worst influence faded enough to add, “You really caught all these yourself and had time to go digging for roots? Gabrielle didn’t go with you?”
Xena’s subdued her smile. “It was just me. I expect Gabrielle’s at Perdicus’ like she meant to be. I just have a lot of practice fishing.”
“I suppose you do, don’t you? Well, lunch will be soon. I’m just managing tonight’s stew and bread first. Can’t be waiting on the bread to bake when it’s time to go back out to the field after lunch.”
Xena nodded and decided to work on cleaning her armor. The women toiled silently until Lila and Herodotus traipsed in, sweating and stretching.
“Soon, you pair of vultures.” With companionable reproach, Hecuba cut off her family as they opened their mouths to speak. “You won’t starve today.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Herodotus kissed his wife on the cheek, and she pushed him away with mock disgust at his sweat. Hard work seemed to have eased the sternness from his demeanor. He grinned unabashedly at her, and for a moment it was easy to see that he and Gabrielle shared blood.
* * * * *
Gabrielle knocked on the door and, when it opened, fell into another pile of hugs and condolences. Perdicus’ family had known her for her entire life.
* * * * *
Xena scrubbed at the last stubborn bit of rust on a buckle and let her thoughts wander to her traveling companion for the fiftieth time that day. She was sure Gabrielle was having an emotional time and just as sure it was for a good reason, but it left a hopeless feeling in Xena’s chest. Again, Gabrielle had returned to Potidaea because of something Xena couldn’t help her with. But this time, she’d asked Xena along, so there was that. She intended to spend the afternoon pushing Gabrielle hard in either farmwork or staffwork. Strenuous effort made it hard to be morose.
* * * * *
After turning over some of Perdicus’ effects and ashes and apologizing for missing his memorial, Gabrielle found herself fielding a rather traditional offer from his younger brother - to marry her in place of him.
“No!” The vehemence startled everyone in the room, including her. She struggled to salvage things. “No, thank you. That’s… very sweet, but I’m not ready to replace Perdicus. Or even stay here in the village, honestly. A wandering wife’s not a good match for you. Right?”
When that earned some gentle queries, she clarified, “Perdicus and I both - had a bit of a wanderlust, you know. He wore his out before we married, but without him, I…” She shook her head.
His older sister cleared her throat. “We didn’t really understand his wanderlust. Not as long as he took out there with it. Any one of us might like to see Athens one day, but… It was like something started eating him the day you left.” The accusation in her voice must have been unintentional, because she rushed to add, “The day after Damon’s men tried to take us all away. He felt powerless and ‘provincial,’ so he said.”
“What did he do when you saw him?” the matriarch asked. “What was he like out there? When he found a scribe to write us a letter, he said very little.”
Gabrielle smiled sadly at the needy eyes around her. She was ready for this part. Any closeness, any context she could provide these people for their dead family member, she would. “I’ll tell you everything I know. I sing a song of Perdicus...”
* * * * *
“Xena?” Lila asked as she set up the table for lunch, “What exactly do you and Gabrielle do every day?” Unseen by her parents, she was looking at Xena but gesturing at them. Did she think this would help them bond with Xena or something? Then again, wouldn’t she know, being their kid?
“Walk, mostly.” Xena tried not to laugh when Lila threw up her hands at the obtuse response. She had everyone’s attention all the same. “Or ride Argo. We camp most of the time, so that takes up a lot of daylight - foraging, building a fire, that sort of thing. Most days, we practice with our weapons.” Xena sat at the table with the family and noticed the parents’ flinch at the mention of weapons.
She pressed on, “Sometimes, we take a day to relax in nice weather and swim, or else we hole up from rain. If we’re in a town, we usually shop and go to the tavern. Sometimes we can sell or trade medicines, game, fish, or pelts at the market. Gabrielle tells her stories at the taverns in the evening, and if the owner is smart, they let us stay for a few free nights so she can bring in extra business. She earns us some dinars at the same time.”
“She really is a working bard?” Hecuba asked as she sat at the table with everyone. Her pride shone when Xena nodded her response, and lunch began in earnest.
“She writes in her scrolls a lot, too. Stories, mostly.” Xena noted the hunger for details in her audience and thought she may have let her sidekick’s family corner her.
Herodotus asked, “But what about all the fighting? Do you find trouble, or does it find you?”
There it was. Xena considered how to respond. “Remember how we met? If you travel enough, then, much like I did that night, you will walk into every kind of bad situation. Or you will find rumors that lead you to them. Otherwise, people just find us and ask for our help. Mostly villagers, sometimes royalty.”
Herodotus pressed, “So you’re fighters for hire?”
Xena grimaced. She’d taken enough wealth from innocents in her past; the thought of doing it anymore left a bad taste in her mouth. “We rarely take money from someone who needs our help. If it’s royalty, sure, but usually if we take down a warlord or some bandits, we try to return whatever they stole. We will accept supplies from villagers from time to time - or lodging, or favors like repairing our boots.”
* * * * *
Perdicus’ father seemed to take some comfort in what a good soldier he had been. He would rather have had his son at home, of course, but it seemed any type of success brought pride to the family.
“He fought on his own terms and lived to retire. Not many can say that, can they?”
“No, they can’t. The last time he fought, he helped Xena and I defend a village being sacked by the warlord Callisto’s men. After that, he sold his sword for good, and we got married.”
“How long were you married?” asked his mother.
“...Less than a full day.” The whole room sank.
“What happened?”
Gabrielle’s stomach clenched. But she would tell what she could.
* * * * *
Hecuba asked with surprising gentleness, “And one of those warlords… killed Perdicus?”
Xena blinked, taken aback, and the other woman added, “We don’t want to press Gabrielle on it, but we would like to know what really happened.”
“Yes,” Xena answered. If she could do this for Gabrielle, save her from this talk, she would. No holding back. “Callisto was a warlord who I... harmed many years ago. She was obsessed with me and incredibly dangerous. Gabrielle and I had sent her to prison once before, but she broke free and came after me again. Just before we heard about it, Perdicus found us and proposed to Gabrielle. You knew he took up the soldier’s life?”
Everyone nodded.
“Well, he’d had a bellyful of war and became sick of it. He wanted to trade it for the life he and Gabrielle originally meant to have here. Gabrielle almost told him no, but she was thinking about it still, and I gave her my blessing.”
The family seemed taken aback at that, even a little insulted.
Xena tried to clarify, “She already had yours. But we’re a team, and she feels responsible for me, even though I don’t try to encourage it.” She cleared her throat. “Anyway, when she agreed, I... well, I can’t say I was happy to see her leave, but all I want is for her to be happy. If she chooses to do that safe and away from me, I would never stop her.”
A faraway expression came over Xena’s face, and she spoke with an aching tone. “She was a beautiful bride. I wove flowers into her hair, and she was radiant in white. When she left the temple with Perdicus, above all, I thought she would be safe with him, away from Callisto.” She sighed and lowered her voice, bitterness seeping in. “I was wrong. By the time I tracked down Callisto’s army, Callisto herself had gone hunting for Gabrielle.”
* * * * *
“...Callisto came after me. We were being blind and stupid on the road, not a single weapon between us. He had an excuse, but I should have had my staff. I knew she was out there. Still, he tried to protect me. He stood between me and the deadliest warlord I’ve ever seen...”
* * * * *
Horrified, Lila asked, “Why Gabrielle?”
“She’s important to me,” Xena said simply. Three sources of silent scrutiny led her to frown and press on. “Callisto knew hurting her would hurt me, so she hunted her. My mother was going to be next. Anyway, they were unarmed. Perdicus had sold his sword and armor, and Gabrielle had laid her staff to the side for the time being. They were just newlyweds on a road… Callisto beat Perdicus and tossed him aside, and then I was barely in time to save Gabrielle. I fought Callisto off and stood between her and Gabrielle, but then Perdicus just stood up and stumbled into her path.” Xena shook her head. “There was nothing I could do. Callisto murdered him out of hand, in cold blood, in front of us both.”
“...Would… would Gabrielle have even been safe if she was here? If she came home before Callisto escaped prison?”
“I… don’t know.”
* * * * *
“...Xena saved me, but Perdicus… gods, she wasn’t after him in the first place, but Callisto killed him anyway. He was unsteady on his feet, just trying to get back to me, and she killed him. There was nothing either of us could do. They were too far away from us, and after, his wounds were too severe. I just held him.”
The were all in tears, but Gabrielle wasn’t done. She pulled herself together enough to say, “I’m sorry. I should have protected him better. But Callisto is gone now. And I will never, ever be caught without my staff again.”
* * * * *
Seeing as she was admitting her fault in Perdicus’ death, Xena expected reproach or even rage from the family. He had lived through multiple wars only to die just for being part of her minuscule social circle. Sadness and fascination was all she saw, however.
Herodotus said, “We heard of Callisto’s death even out here. Did you two kill her?”
Xena shook her head. “She’s dead, yes, but Hecuba, Herodotus, your daughter isn’t a killer.” This evidently came as something of a surprise to the blinking faces before her. She repeated, “Gabrielle does not kill. Frankly, she would lose fewer fights if she did. But she is determined not to kill anyone with that staff of hers, even accidentally by an unlucky crack to the side of the head. So sometimes they get back up. I don’t follow her code, but I respect it.”
Hecuba touched Xena’s arm in comfort or thanks. Xena wasn’t sure which, but it made her ramble further.
“Look, I can’t promise you her safety. Our work is dangerous and unpredictable. Just traveling in this world is dangerous. But as long as I breathe, I will do everything in my power to protect her and look out for her interests as much as she allows me to. The life suits her, and if she wants to live it with me, I cannot actually stop her; I can only be there for her. Just like she is there for me.”
Herodotus sounded pained when he spoke. “I see you don’t mean her any harm, Xena, but think about it from where we sit. Our daughter, running around with you - it’s like watching your child play with a lion. In woods thick with wolves.”
After a beat, Xena came back with, “What if it turned out you were raising a leopard all along?”
* * * * *
Passing back through town after her meeting with Perdicus’ family, Gabrielle felt thoroughly wrung out. They were bewildered by every choice he and she had made since that day Damon’s men came to town, and Gabrielle thought some of them blamed her for Perdicus leaving town in the first place, but they appreciated the words and objects she brought them. Their son and brother had been strong and died protecting his wife; that they could understand. They didn’t seem to know what to do with that wife’s guilt in thinking that she, of all people, should have protected him, but they appreciated that as well. They’d plied her with food and drink but not, she noticed, requests that she visit again in the future.
As she trudged through town, metal glinted from down the street, and a closer look revealed four men in studded leather armor. She counted two swords, two maces, and a crossbow between them. Were these freelance thugs, or had some new warlord darkened their quiet peninsula? She had to pass by them to get home, and they appeared to be menacing a village elder, so she would find out.
“I’m telling you, we can’t give any more! We don’t have all our crops in, and we need most of them to make it through winter. Don’t you see how much you’ve taken?!”
“Don’t you see how badly your collection of hovels needs our protection?” sneered the tallest thug. “Lord Denys can’t defend your roads for free.”
“Defend the roads?” Gabrielle exclaimed from behind them, somewhat involuntarily. “I just ran into bandits less than half a day’s walk outside of town.”
All four men turned to face her, and she instinctively raised her staff in a defensive pose.
“See, old man? We’re running low on resources already. Bandits robbed this little woman here.”
Gabrielle’s eyes narrowed. “You’re charging Potidaea protection money?”
“Money?” One of the thugs made sure to look scandalized. “No, that would be vulgar. We just take a share of the goods these good people produce. It’s a fair trade.”
Gabrielle thought back on the gaunt tradesmen she’d seen, as well as the skinny bandits. “If you take too much, people can’t afford what’s left,” she realized aloud. “There’s not enough to go around. You’re making bandits, not stopping them! You need to stop.”
“Go home, child,” yelled the elder behind the thugs, beginning to panic for her.
“Too late. If this tiny tiger thinks she can stop Lord Denys, we’d best make an example of her.”
Gabrielle was already backing away when the crossbowman sent a bolt flying at her chest. She blocked it with her staff and stared at it, as did all five men. “I did it again!”
The rest of the thugs drew their weapons and ran at her.