Disclaimer: Characters belong to Ren Pictures, no copyright infringements intended.
The Poem
The fire had burnt down and the logs glowed orange throwing eerie lights onto the faroff walls of the temple. Gabrielle was sitting crosslegged on the floor with her eyes closed.
"You just got to do it, Xena."
Xena shifted uneasy: "Well," she stretched the word as long as she possibly could. But she still had no clue what else she could say.
"A poem for Athena," Gabrielle reminded her patiently.
"Ahem. Thank you Athena for saving my friend," said Xena and pulled at Gabrielles sleeve.
"What was this?" Gabrielles eyes popped open.
"That's a poem," Xena spat, "Can we go now?"
"That's not a poem, this is a sentence. A poem ought to have at least…," Gabrielle searched for a proper number, "four lines." For four, was the first number that came to her mind.
But Xena interrupted her:
"Thank you,
Athena.
For saving
my friend."
Xena continued with a smile on his face: "See four lines"
Gabrielle shot an angry glance at her friend. "Okay, warrior princess, let me define for you what a poem is!"
I don't need a definition –as far as I'm concerned, that was as good a poem as any."
Gabrielle sighed exasperated and helt onto herself not to stomp with her foot: "You promised it to Athena – the goddess of war."
"Well, you made me, remember?" Xena knew of course that she was being unreasonable, but it was easy to be unreasonable with Gabrielle around.
"I did not make you," Gabrielle sounded indignant, but she had at the same time started to clench her teeth to prevent herself from laughing out loud.
Xena though felt anger rise in her: "You were just lying there and I thought you would, you would..."
"Well?" Gabrielle pressed on, "what?"
But Xena did not continue. She returned to the task at hand, finding it still way more difficult to handle her feelings about Gabrielle, than stringing a few little words together.
"So give me that definition, if you must!" she bubbled at Gabrielle.
"A poem," says Wiki Pedus, " is a piece of art in which language is used for its aesthetic quality, in addition to its ostensible meaning."
Xena looked quizzically at her companion, she had no idea, what Gabrielle was talking about. But Gabrielle was not so easily put off. She continued, wagging her index finger at Xena: "Which means it usually carries an underlying emotional context."
Xena raised a pencil sharp brow: "an underlying emotional context, hugh?" She pushed to her feet.
"Oh yeah, that's much better, poems should be offered standing."
Xena snorted: " I just decided to kill some dear instead of making up a poem." And she started to march off.
Gabrielle quickly changed tactics: "You are scared – well you really a great warrior princess – afraid of a few little words."
"I am not scared," Xena roared, turning around, "but a quill is not my weapon."
Gabrielle sighed: "Nobody said it was easy, Xena. But you promised it to Athena and you can not just walk away and change your mind. That is not very warrior like."
Xena walked back and forth wrecking her brain for a few words. It did not seem right to have her tongue on her sleeve. Throwing words around with underlying meaning was for the bards like Sappho, like Gabrielle, but a warriors words had to be to the point.
"It does not have to rhyme," Gabrielle tried to make it easier for her friend, but for Xena it was just as well rhymed or not rhymed.
"Why did you promise Athena a poem in the first place?" Gabrielle asked. Xena, who had just thought the same thought scoffed: "I don't know." In fact, she must have been really out of her mind, but the more pressing question for Xena was now: Why, just why was Gabrielle so determined to pull this thing trough?
"What happened?"
"Hugh?" Xena was startled out of her thoughts.
"Why did you promise a poem to Athena, what happened?"
Gabrielle took Xena's hands. "Close your eyes," she commanded. Xena felt silly but she surrendered to the seducing voice of her lover.
"Now tell me, what happened!"
And Xena remembered:
"The battle was over, the warriors left.
I found you beneath a charred tree,
Blood stained your dress, your face was so pale.
The sky became dark, my hands became cold.
Dark and cold was all I could think of.
I'd promised anything to keep you –
Even a poem.
I still hear Athena laughing – mischievous.
And then you opened your eyes."
Xena slowly returned to the present. She opened her eyes and looked at Gabrielle. A wave of thankfulness rolled over her, as she realized that their fingers were still locked.
"Come," said Gabrielle and Xena left the temple on her hand. They did not speak for a long time.
As they sat by the fire Xena sharpened her sword and Gabrielle scribbled something on her ever present piece of parchment.
"Thanks, that you let me off the hook. I would have never managed to make up a real poem," Xena admitted.
Gabrielle only smiled and passed the parchment to her companion: "But you did!"