Between her and Nebula, they had made up a fairly shallow cover story that would hold water about as well as a bucket with a large hole in it, but if she stuck to the tale no one could out and out call her a liar. Though once Eponin compared notes with Malonda the truth of the situation could well become much clearer. She sighed heavily and then hurried on before Malonda could question her about what was wrong.

Chewing a lip she held a silent conversation with herself as she tried to steer through the possible pitfalls that questions could throw up. All she succeeded in doing was making herself feel more miserable, and felt like some poor prisoner heading voluntarily into the executioners arms.

- C'mon now, Eph! - she silently chided herself, - Get a grip! You're a grown woman. So what if you took a tumble with a man? -

Her mind screeched back at her, - So what?! So what?! That .. that .. man's a monster in human form and has done nothing but hurt two of your best friends! That's what! -

She tried to temporize with herself, - It meant nothing. In fact I really don't think I was in control of anything there. -

- Oh so that makes everything alright, does it? - she sneered at herself, - You didn't have an option, so it's not your problem! -

Sighing and drawing a sharp look from Malonda, Ephiny continued to ignore her escort as she concentrated on arguing with herself, - That's not what I meant and you know it. I couldn't help what happened, but I'll make damned sure it won't happen again. -

- How's that going to effect the plan? - demanded her argumentative self.

A frown appeared on her face as she replied to herself, - We'll work it out. It might work better in the long-run. -

- Oh yeah! And how are you going to explain the change in plan to Gabrielle and Poni? - she pressed herself relentlessly.

- I'll think of something, - she replied uncertainly, - I mean, Gabrielle's used to sudden changes in plan. Artemis' arrows! She's traveled with Xena for nearly four years! Of course she's used to plan changes. -

- But you're not Xena, and our Queen is not going to be intimidated by a cold look when you don't want to elaborate on your reasons for changing the plan, is she? Then of course there's Poni, who's going to take one look at you and know something's wrong, and that's without Hercules and the other men! - her mind told her flatly.

- Hera's Tits! - she swore at the taunting voice in her brain, - Can't you offer some constructive help, here? - And was rewarded with deafening silence.

"Great, just great!" she muttered.

"Eph?" inquired Malonda tentatively.

"Forget it, Loni!" growled the Regent. "Let's just get back to the palace as quick as we can, huh?"

The rest of the walk through the Roman streets was completed in silence. Ephiny's clear preference to avoid conversation was respected by the members of the Royal Guard, who followed along with grim faces as the blonde Regent's mood of dejection settled over all of them like some creeping miasma.

Upon gaining the sanctuary of her suite, the Regent was relieved to find it empty; in all likelihood, Eponin was down with the other Amazons, probably drilling them to make sure that they were as ready as they could be should it become necessary to fight their way out of Rome .. somehow .. while Gabrielle had already told her that she'd be spending some time with the men to try and get them not to kill each other as their tempers became frayed with the forced inactivity .. not that it was doing the bard's temper much good either.

The blonde stood in the room, running her fingers through her, always, unruly curls, mentally debating whether she should tackle her friends first, or take a hot relaxing bath so she could scrub all semblance of that man's scent from herself. The idea of the bath won after another silent argument, especially since no one else was around.

- What are you? An Amazon warrior or a chicken? - came the goading demand.

- Cluck! - she told the voice firmly, and headed determinedly for the bathroom, where she ran hot water into the tub, never ceasing to be amazed at the Roman ingenuity that designed such wonderful luxuries.

Deftly, she sorted through a variety of bath fragrances that were contained in small stoneware pots and sniffed delicately at each until she found the woodland scent that reminded her a little of the forests at home. Sprinkling the crystals into the hot water, she quickly proceeded to strip off her leathers before turning off the water and easing herself into the large marble tub.

Scooting across to the cleaning implements, she selected a rarely used scrubbing brush that had harsh horsehair bristles and began to scour her skin with it, applying diligent pressure across every inch of her flesh, determinedly intent on erasing any possible lingering trace of Julius Caesar.

She had just begun the process for about the third time when Eponin came storming through the suite and into the bathroom, her face doing a good impression of a thunder head as she confronted her Regent who looked like she intended to scrape herself raw, "Dammit Eph!" she yelled, "What happened?"

The blonde Amazon guiltily dropped the brush into the bath and sank up to her neck into the foamy water, "Happened?" she answered flustered, "What do you mean happened?" she asked sweetly knowing that her, admittedly rather flustered, act wasn't fooling anyone, let alone the irate Weapons Master.

"Loni just reported in and said that you came out of Caesar's place looking like you were mauled by a bear and, instead of coming back here you went all the way down to see Nebula at the docks. Then when you came out, you'd covered up most of the 'injuries' and proceeded to stalk back here pouting and sighing all the way. Now I find you in the bath looking like someone's taken one of Vallis' metal rasps to you. So, I'll ask again, what in Hades happened to you at Caesar's?"

Eponin's voice had steadily risen through the monologue so that by the end the words had become a thundering roar that made Ephiny wish she could sink fully beneath the bath water and never come up, "It's not what you think," she tried at last, her voice soft and hesitant.

"And just what is it you think that I think?" demanded the dark Amazon pugnaciously.

The Regent cleared her throat and replied calmly and with what dignity she could muster, "I wasn't raped, if that's what you were thinking. And please try to lower your voice just a bit, or everyone in Rome will hear you."

"The thought did pass through my mind," growled Eponin, "and I'm sorry I shouted, but I was .. am angry." She took a deep breath and sat down beside the tub, "So just what did happen."

The blonde ruler looked at her friend for a long moment before deciding that telling her the half baked story she'd concocted with Nebula just wouldn't be fair on her .. - Besides, - she told herself, - She'd never believe that anyway. - So she told her the sordid truth. She didn't go into descriptive detail, but she did make it plain that her body had been a willing, even eager, participant in the enthusiastic frolic, although her mind had screamed out that it was wrong and a betrayal of her friends, herself and, most importantly to her, Phantes' memory.

"Now you know, Poni," she said quietly, "Just don't tell Gabrielle ..."

"Don't tell Gabrielle what?" asked the bard smoothly from the place just outside the door where she had been listening to the entire account, having been attracted to the room by Eponin's yelling.

"What is this," muttered Ephiny irritably, "Is somebody selling tickets out there? I've had more privacy in a Council meeting."

The Queen of the Amazons ignored the comment and came in to sit next to Eponin, "Don't try to change the subject, Eph," she warned, "Besides I heard it all anyway .. so .. how are you feeling?" she asked concerned about her friend.

The Regent looked down at the water as she replied, "Like I've betrayed everyone and everything .. like I must have thrown all my good sense out of the door this morning .. like I have no business running the Amazons if I can't control my own passions .. like I'm going to lose some very dear friends who'll see me as a traitor for this," she answered miserably.

Gabrielle pursed her lips and nodded, making Ephiny feel like her worst fears were about to be realised. Eponin frowned at the bard but a small gesture from Gabrielle kept her silent as she turned her attention back to the blonde Amazon, "Ephiny, are you telling us that you want Caesar to keep Xena a prisoner?"

"No! Of course not!" objected the Regent a spark of her normal fire entering her tone.

"Are you going to hand me .. and Toris and the others .. over to Caesar?" she inquired mildly.

"Gabrielle!" came the indignant reply.

"So did you betray our plans to him in the heat of passion?" The bard watched as her Regent spluttered in frank disbelief that she could be asked such a question, "So then, what it boils down to is that you allowed Caesar's legendary attractions to effect you," she held up her hand for silence when the Amazon began to splutter again, "probably under the influence of one or more God." Gabrielle looked intently at her friend, "So tell me Eph, why do you think I'd blame you? If it was me in the same situation would you blame me? .. hate me?"

"No, but ..." the Regent tried to object

"No buts, Eph. I can't see any blame against you, here. I think you've been used, just like Xena was by Ares, and you should know that we're here for you if you need us." That got an affirmative nod from the Weapons Master's head as she agreed with her Queen. "Now I suggest that you get out of that bath before you turn into a prune," the bard suggested kindly, "Poni and I'll wait for you in the drawing room." She cast a look at the abraded skin that was showing, "Oh, and Eph! Leave the scrubbing brush alone now, or you won't have any skin left!"

With her mind in a tangle, Ephiny watched as her Queen led the other Amazon out of the bathroom to allow her to get out of the tub, dry off and join them. With her usual practised ease, Gabrielle had managed to allay a great deal of the concerns that she'd been building for herself. The one point that she hadn't dealt with had been her guilt over Phantes.

- Guess that's up to me, - she winced inwardly, - Gabrielle can't sort that out for me, I suppose I'll just have to try and put it into perspective .. somehow. -

Eponin followed the bard back into the main room and shook her head in disbelief at the ease with which her Queen had managed to defuse a potentially dangerous situation, - How does she do it? - she silently asked herself, - Where did this naive village kid get the smarts from to be able to put a woman at ease, who's intent on blaming herself for something she had little or no control over? -

"I get a lot of practice," Gabrielle told her quietly almost as if she'd read the Amazon's mind.

"How'd you know wh ..." began Poni as her jaw dropped.

"Don't worry Ep, I'm no mind reader. It was just plain on your face what you were thinking," explained the honey blonde.

"What did you mean by practice?" questioned the Weapons Master, intrigued.

"Xena's forever going around with the weight of the world on her shoulders. It sometimes seems that she blames herself for everything that's wrong. I get a lot of chances to make her understand that it's not her fault … understanding Ephiny's troubles was a snap compared with that."

She sat down and allowed her mind to drift off to her missing friend wondering, as she did a hundred times a day, just how Xena was coping. Oh she knew exactly what happened during each and every day for her friend. Nebula, Ephiny and even Autolycus had been able to construct a detailed itinerary of exactly how the Warrior Princess' time was filled.

Eponin didn't try to disturb her Queen's thoughts, she was thinking pretty hard herself, mainly about how long it would take a man to die if she broke every bone in his body and then gutted him with a dull knife. She was seething that Caesar had had the audacity to lay hands on Ephiny, - Even if she said her body had been fully co-operative with his desires. - The trouble was she knew that there was a long line of people ahead of her who had designs on dismantling the ruler of Rome's carcass, and at the head of that line stood Xena!

"Bet she could keep him alive long enough to feel all that excruciating pain," she muttered darkly.

"Did you say something, Poni?" asked Gabrielle, nudged from her reverie.

"Nothing important," the Weapons Master answered hiding her scowl as best she could. She knew that the bard would never condone taking anyone's life in cold blood and, at that moment, her blood was like ice.

Both women looked up as the Regent joined them from the bathroom. Ephiny had wrapped herself in one of the long linen robes that Pompey provided for his guest's use. It hid all of the damning marks that decorated her lithe and muscular body, making her feel a little better about things. She gave her friends a weak smile.

"You okay?" asked Poni gruffly.

"Been better," admitted the Regent, "but I'll live." She took a deep breath, "Thanks for being so understanding about all this."

"That's what friends are for, Eph. We'll always be there for you." Gabrielle told her warmly.