"Xena, we're out of water again!"

Xena sighed as she worked to pack up her side of the camp. "Alright, alright, I guess it's my turn anyway."

Gabrielle smirked as she loaded up her stuff onto her horse before Xena did. "Yeah, considering the last two…three….four times was it…?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Xena interjected, finally managing to tie up her bedroll into a sufficiently compact size.

"…that I was the one who had to get it," Gabrielle helpfully continued. "So, you know, you owe me two."

Xena bounded up to Gabrielle and grabbed the water flask from her saddle. "One," she corrected, pointing the bottle at Gabrielle. The bard raised her arms in surrender. "And take care of the rest of that, would you?" Xena called behind herself as she disappeared into the brush. Gabrielle stood there, staring at Xena's half packed belongings and narrowed her eyes. "Well played, 'Warrior Princess'."

Xena hummed to herself, contented with her minor domestic victory over her friend, as she made her way down to the lake they passed last evening. Carrying a bundle of water flasks, Xena popped the top off of each in turn and, with a sigh, began to fill them up one by one. This summer had been brutal so far, and they were going through water like fish. Just as she began to fill their fifth and final flask, a rustle in the bushes captured her attention. Xena paused. Dropping the flask beside the water, she narrowed her eyes and quietly drew her sword.

She padded up silently to the source of the rustling. The rushes shook violently every now and then, causing her to pause, but finally, once close enough, she slowly spread the tall grasses and was surprised to find a swan staring back at her. The swan stood up and honked loudly at her and Xena frowned. Until, that is, she looked just between the swan's feet and spotted two, shining eggs. "Breakfast…" Xena murmured to herself, and carefully knelt down to try and sneak the eggs out from underneath the beast. The goose, realizing its future offspring were under threat, began snapping at Xena's hand viciously in defense of its eggs. Finally managing to nip Xena on the side of the hand, she pulled her arm back with a suppressed cry of pain. Xena pondered the problem and, looking at her sword, realized there was no other way.

"What took you so long?" Gabrielle queried, working to heat up a good fire for their breakfast. Xena threw down a dead swan and the cluster of water flasks down next to it. "I got us some breakfast."

Gabrielle looked down at the quarry in surprise as Xena walked up to her and shoved two eggs in her hand as well. "So you have!" she answered.

Xena plopped down on the ground and grinned eagerly at her traveling companion. "You know, since you were so kind in packing up the rest of my stuff for me. I thought we'd have a nice breakfast this morning."

"Ahh," Gabrielle began, starting to laugh, "but who's gonna cook all this stuff?" she said, weighing the eggs in her hand and glancing at the freshly killed bird. Xena merely grinned at her from across the fire. As the smile fell from Gabrielle's lips, she sighed. "Alright," she said, pointing the hand with the eggs at the gloating warrior. "But if I cook, you pluck and gut. Got it?"

Xena fidgeted but soon gave in. "Alright," she agreed, rising to her feet. Stepping over to her offerings she picked up the cluster of water flasks first and separated three from the bunch. "Oh, and here are yours, Gabrielle."

"Thank you!" she said, taking them and tying them to her saddle as she rummaged around for a frying pan. Xena smile in return and, taking her own bottle in hand, popped the top and began to take a sip.

"Plucking and gutting, Xena!" she heard the girl cry from across the camp as the sizzle and smell of eggs filled the air. Xena wiped her mouth and replaced the flask onto her steed. "Yes, ma'am."

Xena and Gabrielle had been on the road for hours. Nothing eventful had come of it.

"So where shall we go?" Gabrielle asked, looking back at her friend. Xena appeared miles away. "Xena?"

"Oh," she replied lamely, looking back at Gabrielle with a smile, "Oh, I don't know. Who've we not seen lately?"

"Not sure," Gabrielle replied thoughtfully. "Being gone for twenty-five years changed so much. Who knows who's still around…or if we wouldn't kill them with the shock at seeing us again."

Xena scoffed. "Nah, word's gotten out by now, right? I don't think we're liable to give anyone a heart attack."

They grinned, riding on in silence.

"How about Athens?" Gabrielle proposed.

"Why Athens?"

"Well….we could really catch up on some news there. I could buy new scrolls as well. We'd be able to really refresh our supplies…."

"And you could go see one of Euripides's plays," Xena finished for her with a sly smile. Gabrielle nodded cautiously trying not to smile.

"Yeah…yeah we could do that…" she looked back at her friend. "If you want."

"You mean if you want," Xena said kindly.

Gabrielle let out a moan and rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, ok, busted, I want to go and see my friend's play. Xena, can we? Please?" the bard begged.

Xena clicked her tongue and became preoccupied with the treetops above them. "I dunno, Gabrielle. I mean we've so much to do- I'm sure we'll run into a village that needs saving in the next half mile. Or maybe we should just go south to Egypt instead- I hear they're in need of a girl with a chakram," she giggled.

"Xena!" Gabrielle scolded. "You would pick a place as far from Athens as you could get."

Xena laughed. "Ok, ok, let's go to Egypt," she said seriously.

"Xena!"

"I mean Athens."

"Thank you, Xena!" she cried, and as the blonde turned around to smile at her friend, Xena could almost see a spark of the old Gabrielle there looking back at her and her smile turned genuine.

"Anything for you, Gabrielle."

Night fell, and another days' ride would take them to the outskirts of Athens.

"Another hot one today," Gabrielle said, as she considered whether or not to start their camp fire just yet.

"Uh-huh," replied Xena, taking a deep swig from her water flask.

"I'm not sure we really need the fire tonight. I mean, we've still got plenty of swan jerky…," she said, contemplating the firewood in her hands as she reluctantly began to set up a fire. Even if they didn't light it, at least it would be at the ready.

Xena sat down on her bedroll. "Delicious swan jerky," she said, and took a large bite out of some she'd taken out of a leather pouch. Gabrielle rolled her eyes and looked incredulously at her friend.

"Well, leave enough for us to get to Athens on. That way we don't have to stop to hunt," she chided, rising to her feet and dusting her hands off. Xena gave a half-hearted salute and took another swig from her flask. Gabrielle added a bit too much salt to that meat for her liking.

Xena settled down into her bed roll and watched as Gabrielle took out her last blank scroll and began to write. Listening to the gentle scraping of the quill on fresh parchment, Xena silently drifted off to sleep.

"XENA! Xena, wake up!"

"Huh?" Xena rolled around in her covers.

"I figure if we leave now, we'll be able to reach Athens by midnight!"

"What?" Xena said groggily, wiping a hand at her eyes. "Gabrielle, what do you mean, leave?"

Gabrielle sighed and tied her bedroll to her saddle. "Leaving for Athens, remember? Supplies? Proper news scrolls? Plays?" she said exasperatedly.

Xena propped herself up on her hands. "Gabrielle, are you kidding? We can't leave yet. Not until we've freed Eve."

Gabrielle stopped everything. "Xena?" she said tentatively, peering at her friend. "You're not sleep-talking again, are you?"

"No, I mean it," she said, rising to her feet. "You said you'd talk to the Amazon council today." Xena walked across the camp towards Gabrielle and held her shoulders in her hands. "You promise me- promise me you'll say whatever you have to to get Eve off. I don't want to fight them- Ares would like that too much."

Gabrielle turned to meet Xena's concerned gaze and shook her head lightly. "Xena, what are you talking about? Nobody has Eve."

Xena tightened her grip as her brow furrowed. "What?"

"Xena, that was months ago. Nobody has Eve. Eve is free." Gabrielle tried to look up at Xena as the warrior lowered her gaze in confusion. "You do remember that, right?"

"Yes!" Xena quickly shot back defensively. "At least…at least I think so, I…" Xena's voice cracked as she moved back to stare panicked into the fire. "I don't remember at all."


A/N: Right, so, notebook still not found. Let's go on a detour instead. This will span a couple chapters and may change rating and/or character listing, so watch out for that and don't forget to share your thoughts with me along the way. Strap in and let's go!

P.S.: After having written several chapters of this fic already, I've decided to update once a week, every Monday JST. Not sure how many chapters there'll be yet, but I'd say we're in for a respectable amount. So please, follow along- this story actually *will* get finished.