Obviously easy in each other's company, the pair were a stark contrast to each other in so many ways. The smaller woman had a lightness to her features that spoke eloquently of a sunny disposition, and an animation to her movements that was currently being expressed by expansive hand gestures, illustrating some point she had made to her friend. The warrior, however, displayed a dour expression as she listened to her companion's incessant chattering. Apart from the fluid strength of her movement, the most notable things about her were the ice blue of her eyes, that appeared to burn with an inner fire, and the certain awareness that an explosive power lurked close below a placid seeming surface.

"Is he dead?" questioned the blonde woman as she thought about the problem her friend had set her.

"No," came the terse reply.

"Hrrrmphh!" snorted the third member of the group; a golden horse that trailed lazily behind the two women on a loosely held rein.

"That's no help, Argo," proclaimed the blonde with a smile. She glanced at her friend who almost seemed lost in thought. The smile deepened. Even on a peaceful day, with no one to save and no battles to fight, Xena found it impossible to relax. Gabrielle knew that her friend was listening intently to every sound around them; analyzing them to see if they were out of place or a likely source of danger. There was a slight crease to her brow, however, which was a tell-tale sign that something was worrying the warrior. She decided to broach the subject, "What's up?" she asked gently.

"Oh, I don't know," came the prompt reply with something of a mischievous gleam in the eyes. An expression that very few people ever got to see, "Could be the sky, or a bird or the sun. There are just so many possibilities."

The crease disappeared immediately and the light answer was enough to confirm to the bard that her friend had something on her mind, "Ha, ha!" responded the honey blonde, her tone heavy with sarcasm. - Okay, - she thought, - she doesn't want to talk about it yet. Give her some slack and she'll get round to it eventually . -

"You ready to give up?" asked Xena with a slightly smug look settling onto her features.

"Ummm ... How about Cecrops?" she hazarded, without much hope of success.

"Nope." came the laconic reply that gave no clues to tell the bard if she was even close to the right answer.

The name game was one of their favorites for passing the time on the endless leagues between villages, especially when they were in no hurry to reach a destination. Now was such an occasion. It made a change for them to have some time to themselves; it seemed that they had been chasing around, moving from one fight to another with no time to draw breath, since they had returned from Rome. Gabrielle determinedly put those memories, along with many that had happened after, out of her mind; she still had trouble reconciling her actions there with her conscience.

Frowning the bard tried to concentrate on the game, whilst enjoying the brilliance of a wonderful summer's day. They dawdled unhurriedly along the road, that led to the village of Menassos, kicking up swirls of clinging dust that bore mute testimony to the parched dryness of the long summer. Normally the bard in Gabrielle would have used the time to compose new verse, allowing the almost idyllic setting to soothe her into a gentle passage of poetry, which she could scribe out at their evening stop. Today, however, her agile intelligence was fully occupied with solving the mystery identity of the person in their game. It was fun and she felt it was necessary to try and relax Xena so that she could eventually coax out whatever was worrying her warrior friend.

As the time and distance passed, fields began to replace the more forested areas, indicating that their destination was drawing near. Gabriel tried another question in the game, "Did you know him before you met me?"

"Yup," came the oh so informative reply.

Gabrielle looked hard at the warrior, "You know you're so frustrating," she breathed under her breath, "Well, have I met him?"

"Yup," agreed Xena once again and allowed a brief smile to flicker across her lips, "At this rate you're gonna use up all your questions," she told the bard.

"I'll get the answer long before then," retorted the blonde quickly as she started to re-examine all the information she had learned, speaking out loud as she tried to fix a logical sequence to possible events in the established criteria, and so work her way to the answer. The trouble was that Gabrielle had the habit of speaking quite loudly to herself and also used big gestures to emphasise points she was making.

Xena arched an indulgent eyebrow at her friend as she allowed the conversation to wash past her awareness and into a relegated background noise. However much she tried to relax, her senses were always alert to possible dangers. It was part of her nature and in suddenly dangerous situations her reflexes tended to take over without conscious thought on her part. It made her rather unpredictable and appear like an over wound spring, but it had saved her life, and Gabrielle's, too often for her to ever think of trying to subdue it.

Another faint trace of a smile almost made it to the Warrior Princess's features as she watched the bard chew her lip in concentration, working on the problem at hand, "Give up?" she questioned mischievously, knowing that Gabrielle would rather go without lunch than admit defeat. She noted that the blonde's stomach chose that moment to rumble loudly, and silently amended to herself, - Well maybe! -

The bard scowled at her in that stubborn manner that Xena recognised so well and stated in no uncertain terms, "No way!", almost scandalized to think that anyone, let alone her best friend, would expect her to give in so easily, "I'll work it out," she assured passionately, "just give me some time!"

Xena glanced around with sharp interest as she recognised that slight smoky haze that always seemed to hang over a village, "Yeah well, there's Menassos," she told the bard as they rounded a turn in the road, "and I'm hungry," she admitted as her own stomach chose that moment to protest, "so what say we suspend the game until after we've had some lunch?"

Gabriel tried to judge the distance to the village before saying, "Plenty of time yet, you just don't want me to get the answer."

Xena sighed in mock exasperation as she gave Gabrielle a light, two handed, shove to get her moving down the road once more, "Please yourself," she told her.

"It could be Draco," tried the bard looking closely at her friend trying to judge if she was right, and then before Xena could speak she changed her mind, "No wait a minute, it's Niklios!"

Xena's sardonic look confirmed her failure to guess right before she said, "Wrong on both counts," and dazzled her with a smug smile that really irritated the bard.

Scowling again, Gabrielle suddenly poked her tongue out and went cross-eyed at the big warrior. Xena allowed a spontaneous laugh to escape her, a sound that was so easy and natural, and so very rare, it soon had the bard joining in. "Okay," she said when she got her breath back, "that narrows the field down .. a bit anyway." and she went back to loudly working out who that left for the answer.

- Well she is a bard, - thought Xena irreverently as she watched the smaller woman, - She must like to hear herself talk, and the gestures are a part of the trade. -

The road was beginning to pick up other travelers, local people, farmers and a few merchants heading for the village, or back to their homes. More frequently the pair began to attract startled looks; the tall, darkly menacing warrior, and the small blonde who was lost in a world of her own, speaking random thoughts and wildly animating the conversation with sweeping gestures. Those who foolishly gaped for too long, found themselves the recipients of an icy stare, a look that chilled to the bone and quickly cleared the path for the oddly matched pair and their horse.

Upon reaching the centre of the village, Xena selected a likely looking tavern. She carefully avoided those that looked like they attracted some of the rougher elements in the area, even though she knew Gabrielle raved about the ambience of such establishments, opting for one where the wafting smells of cooking seemed good enough to tempt even her.

Throwing Argo's reigns over the hitching post, she rubbed the mare's neck affectionately and told her softly, "Stay put girl, we'll only be a short while." When she looked up, she spotted Gabrielle some distance further up the dusty street still talking to herself. Xena was unable to keep a sardonic half smile from her face as she sent out a loud, piercing whistle to attract the girl's attention and called, "Hey! The food's this way!"

Gabrielle stopped dead in the street suddenly very aware of the looks that she was getting from the villagers who surrounded her, "Ahh ..." she began with an embarrassed laugh, her thoughts racing furiously, "It's not what you think ..." she tried desperately, "not that I know what you could be thinking really," she struggled wondering what she could give as a convincing explanation of her actions. She tried for the truth, "You see, my friend and I were playing this game." The faces surrounding her looked back blankly and she desperately turned to indicate the place where Xena was standing, only to find her gone. "Well, umm ... she must've got hungry," she smiled reassuringly at the local population as she silently promised herself, - I'll get you for this, Xena. - She shrugged in embarrassment and laughed uneasily again as she started backing down the street to the tavern where Argo stood waiting, "Well, ummmm ..., I've got to be going now." she nervously giggled as she ducked into the tavern, relief filling her to be away from the stares of the villagers.

As she made her way to the booth that Xena had appropriated, her fertile mind was creating several scenarios in which she was able to make the Warrior Princess very sorry for the humiliation she had just put her through. She noted that the booth had a view of both of the tavern doors and that her friend had already purchased the drinks.

"Thanks a lot," growled Gabrielle as she slid onto the bench opposite the warrior. She noticed that slightly distracted frown on Xena's brow again and wondered whether she should venture an opinion on it.

Before Gabrielle could say anything, however, Xena waded in with a distraction, "Hey you're the talker. I was sure you'd find the right words to convince those villagers that you weren't the raving lunatic they thought you were."

"That's not funny, Xena," growled the bard swallowing the bait along with a mouthful of the cider from the flagon before her. "I promise I'll find a way to get you back for that."

One of those superior, smug smiles crept onto the warrior's face as she almost purred, "You're welcome to try ... anytime you feel lucky."

Gabrielle looked at her friend belligerently. It was one thing to make such a promise and quite another to execute it. - It just wasn't that easy to catch Xena with her guard down ... what was she thinking! ... it was downright impossible. - Her usual attempts at getting her own back, normally ended with her getting very wet or suffering some equally unpleasant form of discomfort and humiliation. It really wasn't fair. She sighed and mentally chalked up another debt to be collected at some indefinite time in the future.

As Xena ordered two servings of whatever was the tavern's dish of the day, the bard tried to work out how she was going to tackle whatever was worrying her friend. She was fairly certain of the cause, but getting Xena to talk about it might require a lot of work. She thought about it for a while longer as she drank another, longer, draft of the cider, "S'good," she declared, happy to wash away some of the trail dust from her throat, "If the food's as good I think I might be persuaded to forgive you for helping me to make a fool of myself out there on the street."

Xena smiled sweetly, "You didn't need my help for that, Gabrielle."

"I'll get you for that crack too," grinned the bard getting a raised, quizzical eyebrow in return. "I will too, Xena," she responded sensing the challenge, "One of these days I'm definitely gonna catch you with your guard down."

"Never happen," Xena told her with a feral grin that oozed confidence.