Ancient Greece, Thursday Fandom Time
"So, this Eli guy. He's the one who taught you all that 'love your enemy' stuff?"
"For the thousandth time, yes."
. . . if it hadn't been a distinctly violent thing to do, Gabrielle could have killed Xena for waiting until they were well on their way to tell Amarice exactly where they were going. Amarice hadn't stopped complaining about it since.
"Xena! Why do we have to go see a preacher when there are battles to fight and butts to kick?"
Like that. Actually, just "accidentally" pushing her off the dock into the water was becoming very, very tempting.
"Because," Xena replied with oh-so-exaggerated patience, "whatever Gabrielle wants, Gabrielle gets."
Gabrielle did not want an ambush by half a dozen greasy bandits; that was what she got anyway. As usual she stayed out of the fight, which was a little easier to do with an extra Amazon around, although at one point, when two of the bandits had Amarice cornered she did trip them up with one of the coils of rope lying around on the dock.
She told herself it hadn't really hurt them, and anyway, now she was even with Amarice for saving her life back at the Amazon village.
Xena corralled the ringleader of the little gang and put the pinch on him, earning a wince from Gabrielle, but that was a mild reaction in comparison to finding out that Caesar had put a bounty of six million dinars on Xena's head.
"That explains the last three ambushes too, huh?" Amarice muttered, and got a warning look of shut up from Gabrielle. "That's quite a temptation -- not for me! For every killer in Europe."
"So it's come to this," Xena remarked in the cold, relentless tone that usually defined her voice when Julius Caesar was the subject of discussion. "Caesar wants me out of the way so bad, he's willing to deplete his fortune to do it. Well."
She looked at Gabrielle and Amarice and gave them a vicious little smile. "I think it's time I put an end to this little feud between Caesar and me, hmm?"
Talk about understatements. Xena and Caesar had been bitter adversaries for over a decade.
"You're not gonna try to make peace with that slime, are you?" Amarice blurted out.
"No." Xena looked right at Gabrielle. No envoy had come to follow up on the treaty Gabrielle had offered by way of Brutus, and this answered the question of whether they should keep waiting for one. The look on Xena's face, though -- that answered Amarice's question clearly even before Xena spoke again. "I'm gonna kill him."
Not even Amarice, always eager for a fight as she was, could take that calmly, but it was Gabrielle who protested. "Xena, you can't just walk into Rome and kill Caesar!"
"It's an opportunity to kill a lot of Romans," Amarice interjected, and apparently she'd been surprised for a completely different reason than Gabrielle had hoped. "I say we do it."
"We're not doing anything," Xena cut her off. "I'm going to Rome, not you. Gabrielle, I can't take you, not after that vision."
"What vision?" Amarice demanded while Gabrielle sighed exasperatedly.
"I had a vision--"
"We both did," Gabrielle cut in.
"-- that Gabrielle and I would die at the hands of Roman soldiers. It's bad enough we can run into them anywhere, but if we both go . . ."
Gabrielle closed her eyes and ran both hands over her face. "Okay, well, what if I ask you not to do this?"
"Gabrielle, he's an evil man, and he's trying to kill me. I have to take him out or die trying." That was Xena's path, as much as the Way of Love was the one Gabrielle had chosen. She believed it was her path to redemption, and as much as Gabrielle disagreed with it she couldn't take that away from her.
Amarice glanced at her. "Was I in this vision? No? Then I should go with you."
"No. You're staying here with Gabrielle." You didn't argue with Xena when she took that tone.
"What? As her bodyguard?" Unless you were Amarice.
"As her friend," Xena said pointedly, and went on despite Amarice's eyeroll, "You could learn something if you listened to her once in a while. Promise you won't follow me?" she asked, this time of Gabrielle, who'd done it too often before for her to assume otherwise.
Gabrielle nodded. "I promise." The look she gave Amarice said she fully expected that promise to hold true for both of them.
***
Amarice grumbled the whole trip after that; as worried as she was about Xena Gabrielle really wanted to go see Eli now, and the constant stream of complaints was not going to dissuade her.
They found Eli in a clearing in the woods just outside Athens, surrounded by followers he'd picked up in his travels and a few curious onlookers, as well as people hoping to be healed. Gabrielle was glad to see that he wasn't running away from his gifts any more; he actually seemed to have embraced his calling, and even looked happy about it.
She was a little jealous, to tell the truth.
"I've been trying to meditate like you taught me, but I haven't gotten very far," she confessed to Eli later, while they relaxed in the clearing and passed around a basket of fruit one of his followers had brought. (Well, everyone but Amarice relaxed. She, mostly, prowled around the edges of the clearing looking annoyed and restless. But to her credit, she was doing as Xena had asked.) "Is there something I'm missing? Something you haven't taught me?"
Eli shook his head. "I can't teach you that. All I can do is teach you how to love. But if you love with all your heart and soul, then you'll understand. Then you can heal."
"Why is love the key, anyway?" Gabrielle had to ask.
"Selfless, pure love is the only expression of divine perfection we have in this world," Eli explained. "It's the greatest power one can possess."
Gabrielle nodded. She'd always believed that; just, most of her life she hadn't expected that to extend so far as healing.
"Oh, come on," Amarice grumbled. "The only real power's at the end of a sword."
Eli looked at her with something that wasn't quite pity, but was much more patient than Gabrielle could manage most of the time; Gabrielle glanced at him as if to say she's young, she doesn't understand yet.
"Wait." Amarice tensed and put her hand on the hilt of her sword, but before Gabrielle could protest she started toward a nearby bush. "Did you hear that?"
"What?" Old habits died hard, and Gabrielle was instantly on alert.
"Boots," Amarice answered -- but before she could draw her sword, found herself backing away from the points of half a dozen thrusting through the leaves toward her throat.
"And if the other side has more swords?" Eli asked calmly. (How could he be that calm about this?)
"If you can love your way out of this one, be my guest," she snapped back.
The leader of the swordsmen stepped out from behind a bush, and Gabrielle's heart sank. "Brutus."
He looked . . . not as awkward as she'd thought he might. Cool, businesslike. Detached, even. "Hello, Gabrielle."
She was incredibly disappointed in him. "You're doing Caesar's bidding again?"
"Caesar believes Xena's trying to kill him. He has to protect himself." Did Brutus sound defensive about that? Interesting.
But still, Gabrielle's stomach twisted. "With me. I understand." She didn't have to like it. Xena should be in Rome by now, and if she were to fall into Roman hands herself it was one step closer to that vision coming true. "Let these people go."
Brutus hesitated, then steeled himself. "My orders are to arrest you, Eli, and his followers. You'll be taken hostage against Xena killing Caesar. Caesar's promised me no one will be hurt."
Gabrielle stared at him incredulously. "And you believe him."
"Our friends are at war, Gabrielle," he countered. "I'm sorry this brings us into conflict, but it's inevitable."
She'd meant it as a rhetorical reply, but it felt much more like resigning herself to the truth when she said it. "Of course it is." If she tried to escape, she would only put Xena's life in danger, and she wouldn't risk Eli's followers to the Romans' retribution if she did.
Eli and his followers wouldn't resist, she knew, and a couple of the bigger soldiers had already taken custody of Amarice. Quietly, Gabrielle held her hands out and let him bind her wrists.
[OOC: NFI/NFB, OOC okay. TBC. Adapted from X:WP 4x21, "The Ides of March." Contains some mild violence.]
"For the thousandth time, yes."
. . . if it hadn't been a distinctly violent thing to do, Gabrielle could have killed Xena for waiting until they were well on their way to tell Amarice exactly where they were going. Amarice hadn't stopped complaining about it since.
"Xena! Why do we have to go see a preacher when there are battles to fight and butts to kick?"
Like that. Actually, just "accidentally" pushing her off the dock into the water was becoming very, very tempting.
"Because," Xena replied with oh-so-exaggerated patience, "whatever Gabrielle wants, Gabrielle gets."
Gabrielle did not want an ambush by half a dozen greasy bandits; that was what she got anyway. As usual she stayed out of the fight, which was a little easier to do with an extra Amazon around, although at one point, when two of the bandits had Amarice cornered she did trip them up with one of the coils of rope lying around on the dock.
She told herself it hadn't really hurt them, and anyway, now she was even with Amarice for saving her life back at the Amazon village.
Xena corralled the ringleader of the little gang and put the pinch on him, earning a wince from Gabrielle, but that was a mild reaction in comparison to finding out that Caesar had put a bounty of six million dinars on Xena's head.
"That explains the last three ambushes too, huh?" Amarice muttered, and got a warning look of shut up from Gabrielle. "That's quite a temptation -- not for me! For every killer in Europe."
"So it's come to this," Xena remarked in the cold, relentless tone that usually defined her voice when Julius Caesar was the subject of discussion. "Caesar wants me out of the way so bad, he's willing to deplete his fortune to do it. Well."
She looked at Gabrielle and Amarice and gave them a vicious little smile. "I think it's time I put an end to this little feud between Caesar and me, hmm?"
Talk about understatements. Xena and Caesar had been bitter adversaries for over a decade.
"You're not gonna try to make peace with that slime, are you?" Amarice blurted out.
"No." Xena looked right at Gabrielle. No envoy had come to follow up on the treaty Gabrielle had offered by way of Brutus, and this answered the question of whether they should keep waiting for one. The look on Xena's face, though -- that answered Amarice's question clearly even before Xena spoke again. "I'm gonna kill him."
Not even Amarice, always eager for a fight as she was, could take that calmly, but it was Gabrielle who protested. "Xena, you can't just walk into Rome and kill Caesar!"
"It's an opportunity to kill a lot of Romans," Amarice interjected, and apparently she'd been surprised for a completely different reason than Gabrielle had hoped. "I say we do it."
"We're not doing anything," Xena cut her off. "I'm going to Rome, not you. Gabrielle, I can't take you, not after that vision."
"What vision?" Amarice demanded while Gabrielle sighed exasperatedly.
"I had a vision--"
"We both did," Gabrielle cut in.
"-- that Gabrielle and I would die at the hands of Roman soldiers. It's bad enough we can run into them anywhere, but if we both go . . ."
Gabrielle closed her eyes and ran both hands over her face. "Okay, well, what if I ask you not to do this?"
"Gabrielle, he's an evil man, and he's trying to kill me. I have to take him out or die trying." That was Xena's path, as much as the Way of Love was the one Gabrielle had chosen. She believed it was her path to redemption, and as much as Gabrielle disagreed with it she couldn't take that away from her.
Amarice glanced at her. "Was I in this vision? No? Then I should go with you."
"No. You're staying here with Gabrielle." You didn't argue with Xena when she took that tone.
"What? As her bodyguard?" Unless you were Amarice.
"As her friend," Xena said pointedly, and went on despite Amarice's eyeroll, "You could learn something if you listened to her once in a while. Promise you won't follow me?" she asked, this time of Gabrielle, who'd done it too often before for her to assume otherwise.
Gabrielle nodded. "I promise." The look she gave Amarice said she fully expected that promise to hold true for both of them.
***
Amarice grumbled the whole trip after that; as worried as she was about Xena Gabrielle really wanted to go see Eli now, and the constant stream of complaints was not going to dissuade her.
They found Eli in a clearing in the woods just outside Athens, surrounded by followers he'd picked up in his travels and a few curious onlookers, as well as people hoping to be healed. Gabrielle was glad to see that he wasn't running away from his gifts any more; he actually seemed to have embraced his calling, and even looked happy about it.
She was a little jealous, to tell the truth.
"I've been trying to meditate like you taught me, but I haven't gotten very far," she confessed to Eli later, while they relaxed in the clearing and passed around a basket of fruit one of his followers had brought. (Well, everyone but Amarice relaxed. She, mostly, prowled around the edges of the clearing looking annoyed and restless. But to her credit, she was doing as Xena had asked.) "Is there something I'm missing? Something you haven't taught me?"
Eli shook his head. "I can't teach you that. All I can do is teach you how to love. But if you love with all your heart and soul, then you'll understand. Then you can heal."
"Why is love the key, anyway?" Gabrielle had to ask.
"Selfless, pure love is the only expression of divine perfection we have in this world," Eli explained. "It's the greatest power one can possess."
Gabrielle nodded. She'd always believed that; just, most of her life she hadn't expected that to extend so far as healing.
"Oh, come on," Amarice grumbled. "The only real power's at the end of a sword."
Eli looked at her with something that wasn't quite pity, but was much more patient than Gabrielle could manage most of the time; Gabrielle glanced at him as if to say she's young, she doesn't understand yet.
"Wait." Amarice tensed and put her hand on the hilt of her sword, but before Gabrielle could protest she started toward a nearby bush. "Did you hear that?"
"What?" Old habits died hard, and Gabrielle was instantly on alert.
"Boots," Amarice answered -- but before she could draw her sword, found herself backing away from the points of half a dozen thrusting through the leaves toward her throat.
"And if the other side has more swords?" Eli asked calmly. (How could he be that calm about this?)
"If you can love your way out of this one, be my guest," she snapped back.
The leader of the swordsmen stepped out from behind a bush, and Gabrielle's heart sank. "Brutus."
He looked . . . not as awkward as she'd thought he might. Cool, businesslike. Detached, even. "Hello, Gabrielle."
She was incredibly disappointed in him. "You're doing Caesar's bidding again?"
"Caesar believes Xena's trying to kill him. He has to protect himself." Did Brutus sound defensive about that? Interesting.
But still, Gabrielle's stomach twisted. "With me. I understand." She didn't have to like it. Xena should be in Rome by now, and if she were to fall into Roman hands herself it was one step closer to that vision coming true. "Let these people go."
Brutus hesitated, then steeled himself. "My orders are to arrest you, Eli, and his followers. You'll be taken hostage against Xena killing Caesar. Caesar's promised me no one will be hurt."
Gabrielle stared at him incredulously. "And you believe him."
"Our friends are at war, Gabrielle," he countered. "I'm sorry this brings us into conflict, but it's inevitable."
She'd meant it as a rhetorical reply, but it felt much more like resigning herself to the truth when she said it. "Of course it is." If she tried to escape, she would only put Xena's life in danger, and she wouldn't risk Eli's followers to the Romans' retribution if she did.
Eli and his followers wouldn't resist, she knew, and a couple of the bigger soldiers had already taken custody of Amarice. Quietly, Gabrielle held her hands out and let him bind her wrists.
[OOC: NFI/NFB, OOC okay. TBC. Adapted from X:WP 4x21, "The Ides of March." Contains some mild violence.]