Chapter 8: Preparations
Lysandra distributed the king's plans as soon as the sun peaked over the horizon. The staff were put into groups, each working on a specific part of the layout. Since they only had one day left now, there was no room for error.
The king and his lady were disturbed by a hard knock on the door. Both of their eyes jerked open. Ulysses got out of bed with a frown on his face, confused at the violent beating. When he cracked the door slightly, he saw the prince standing there with an annoyed look on his face. The prince tried to peep around the king to see what he was doing, but the king kept the door pulled against his body.
Son, what brings you here at this hour?" the king asked, irritably.
"I should be asking you why you're still sleeping at this hour when there is still so much to do," the prince replied, tapping his foot.
Ulysses sighed as he felt himself becoming increasingly tired of his son trying to command him around.
"I appreciate your concern, son, but I am capable of making my own decisions. You will realize I am the king around here now, and not just by title."
With a frown, Telemachus reluctantly backed away from the door, realizing that his father was not going to be swayed. Ulysses closed the door with a soft click and returned back to bed. He pulled Xena back into his embrace.
"What did he want?" She asked.
"Ah, he thinks he's in charge of me, telling me I need to get up and prepare for tomorrow's activities," Ulysses replied with a sigh.
"Well, he's right, you know. We need to run through everything to make sure it goes smoothly tomorrow." Ulysses smirked.
"What would I do without you?"
"Be still stuck at sea," she joked, and they both burst into laughter. As she got out of bed, he escorted her to the door and kissed her tenderly before she left the room.
Xena headed towards the dining hall, ready for breakfast. Gabrielle met her, and they freely discussed the day's events. The king and prince walked in, both with angered expressions on their faces. Xena rose to meet the king, taking him by the hand and asking him what was wrong. He casually glanced over at the prince and said nothing.
"Lady Xena," the prince called for her attention, "we would like to start breakfast now." Xena's jaw tensed. She didn't want to cause a scene, but before she could say anything, the king spoke up.
"Son! If I have to remind you again about being disrespectful towards my guest, there will be consequences," the king warned sternly. The prince looked at the king with defiant eyes.
"Your guest or your...whore?" Loud gasps echoed across the room. One staff member even dropped and broke a dish she was carrying. The king grabbed the prince by the neck with a strong arm and locked eyes with him. The prince stared back with a blank expression. The king squeezed harder around the prince's neck. Xena softly placed her hand on Ulysses' arm.
"This is your last warning, or I will have you locked up," the king angrily said. The staff, although trying not to stare, couldn't help but watch. They had never witnessed anything like this before.
The king released his grip once the prince's face started to change colors. Gabrielle watched the exchange with a concerned expression. She was disappointed with how the prince was handling himself with the king when it came to Xena. Once the prince was freed from the king's grasp, he sat by Gabrielle with a reddened face. She looked at him, but he was too embarrassed to meet her gaze.
"Hey, that was way out of line, what you said," Gabrielle said gently. The prince, still refusing to look at her, muttered,
"I don't want to talk about it." The king returned to Xena, straightened his attire, and gave her a hug. He whispered in her ear,
"Please forgive my son, he didn't mean that." Xena whispered back,
"I know, that's why he's still alive." He kissed her cheek and said,
"Let's eat." Then, he threw his arm in the air, signaling the staff to continue their preparations so they could all sit down to eat.
Xena sat on a stone bench in the palace's garden. The palace was so busy and loud, she desired to clear her mind and stay of out everyone's way. Every corner she turned, there were a group of people preparing for the homecoming. The garden was clearly neglected, along with the rest of the palace. She didn't understand how Telemachus seemed so passionate of hating her, as if she was trying to take something from him. Only if he had put that passion into running this palace, everything wouldn't be in ruins. She closed her eyes, trying to imagine how the garden used to be.
"I've never let my garden look this way," came Ulysses soft voice. He whispered in Xena's ear from behind.
"I hope I didn't frighten you," he asked while he took a seat on the bench next to her.
"Nope, heard you coming as soon as you stepped from inside the palace." He smiled tenderly at her. She turned to face him.
"Shouldn't you be inside helping them prepare for tomorrow?"
"I'm actually trying to hide from everyone right now," he embarrassingly admitted while running his fingers through his hair. Xena loved how honest he was.
"Truth is, I'm tired of it all. They have been calling my name all day, pulling me in all directions, needing advice for this and for that, and I'm just ready for it all to be over." He slid closer to her, wrapping his arm around her waist as she leaned her head on his shoulder.
"Well, tomorrow is your big day, and they just want everything to be perfect."
"All I need is you by my side and it's perfect." She raised her head and gave him her soft smile. He leaned in for a kiss when a group of staff called his name urgently.
"My king, my king, are you out here?" They quickly located him, and he sighed heavily. He quickly kissed her on the lips and rose to his feet.
"Yes, I'm over here, what is needed?" he asked as he quickly followed them back into the palace. Xena smiled as she shook her head. She rose to her feet and strolled the rest of the garden. In the distance, she saw a bush that held one single rose on it. She slowly walked towards it to get a better look. It was a black rose, the only one in the garden. She picked it up and brought it to her nose. Her mind drifted back to her younger days with...him.
"You were amazing out there my sweet," Ares said as he walked into her tent. She smiled brightly at him, her body still covered in her enemy's blood. He walked over to her and placed a single black rose on the side of her hair. She took it out, smelled it, and threw it over her head. He smirked and wrapped his arms tightly around her body, kissing her wildly. He moved lower down her neck, mixing his spit with the blood already on her skin. She moaned underneath his touches. The guard that stood watch at her tent knew not to turn around, he would be dead in an instant. But based on the noises he was hearing; he knew where things were headed. Their love making, if you could even call it that, was the loudest whenever she won a battle under his name. And he had to stand guard and listen to it all, without having a peep. At first, it was torture of curiosity, listening to Ares' growls and Xena's moans. But now over the years, it just disgusted him. They disgusted him. If they weren't having sex, they were fighting.
"My lady, we were hoping we get could your input on the tryouts for the entertainment." One of the chambermaids walked up to her, interrupting her thoughts. She tucked the rose between her boobs and turned around confusedly.
"What did you say, Olympia?" Olympia turned her head to the side slightly. She wasn't sure how Xena didn't hear her since she was standing no less than 12 inches away from her. The only sounds in the garden were the sounds of nature. Letting it go, she just repeated herself.
"Tryouts?" she asked unamused. Olympia shook her head eagerly. Xena groaned inwardly and agreed to the request. She did not recall discussing entertainment tryouts the night before. As she followed her to the main hall, Xena saw a line of people with all kinds of instruments and customs anxiously looking around awaiting for their turn. Olympia led Xena to the head seat and she announced that the tryouts were ready to begin. Xena pulled her by the arm and whispered,
"Why can't we use the same people that plays the music for dinner every night?" Olympia leaned over towards Xena's ear and said,
"The staff we use for dinner is strictly for dinner. The entertainment will need to be able to play for long hours. We do not want to put that type of strain on our regular staff." Xena gave her a tighten smile.
"Where is Gabrielle? Maybe she could help us?"
"Us? No my lady, you are the only judge. Your friend has went walking with the prince. I'm not sure when they will return."
Just great, Xena thought to herself. She was the only one going to be tortured the next few hours trying to survive entertainment tryouts.
"The first person, begin." She said loudly, very unamused. Slumping down into her seat, she leaned over onto her elbow and rested her chin ontop of her hand. An hour went by and all she said in her head over and over was kill me now. There was still a line curved outside of the main hall of anxious people waiting their turn. Time seemed to drag as slowly as possible as each violin screeched, and trumpet squealed. Ulysses walked in eagerly, eyes widen at the horrid sounds that were coming from the room. He immediately walked to Xena and asked what was going on.
"Well, I was drafted to select the entertainment for tomorrow. Yay, me," she sarcastically replied.
"I don't remember that being apart of our plans. Who came and got you?"
"Olympia." Ulysses hastily walked into the hallway and called for Olympia. Once she appeared, he told her to finalize the music selections and provide the results to Lysandra. No further approval was needed. He then grabbed Xena's hand and they both scurried out the room. He pulled Xena into one of the darker corners in the hallways, where there was minimum activity. Before she could say anything, he kissed her eagerly, his body pressed against hers. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him even closer, and they deepened their kiss. Various staff members passed by, whispering unknown words about the couple, making sure to keep their voices low enough to not disturb them.
"I've missed you greatly," he said as he pulled back from her.
"Already?" she teasingly replied. Ulysses tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as he stared into her eyes.
"Xena, I don't care if you get tired of hearing this but by the gods, you are beautiful." She continued smiling at him.
"My king, my lady, we need your help." They both groaned lowly and sighed within their embrace. Ulysses turned to face her and Xena looked over his shoulder. She hoped it wasn't anything as dreadful as picking out that entertainment.
"What is it Syrenia?"
"Various chefs have prepared samples dishes and each are waiting on your feedback so we can finalize the menu for tomorrow."
"Very well, that sounds easy enough. I've actually worked up quite an appetite."
"Me too," Xena said where only the king could hear her.
"Lead the way," he gestured and took Xena by the hand. The couple slowly walked through the halls, speaking to everyone along the way. The staff eagerly spoke back to them, each wearing a smile on their face. Once they reached the kitchen, their mouths dropped. There were at least 40 different dishes all lined up.
Ulysses picked up the spoon from the first dish, sampled it, and then passed the spoon to Xena so she could taste it. Right then, the couple made the decision on if an item should be kept and discarded. They agreed to only the best dishes, with some being favored more by Xena than Ulysses. When the taste testing was over, they were stuffed. When they got ready to leave, Syrenia stopped them again.
"We also need you to do the same thing for the wine. The chefs also brought in large imports of wine with them, and we need help deciding what to serve and who to serve it to."
Xena took a sip of the first wine and wrinkled her nose in disgust. "This tastes like vinegar!" she exclaimed, making a face. Ulysses laughed and replied,
"Well, I suppose we can cross that one off the list." As they progressed through the list of wines, Xena reached for another glass, but she accidentally knocked it over, causing wine to spill across the table.
"Oops," she said sheepishly, glancing at Ulysses with a guilty grin. Ulysses laughed, grabbing a napkin to help clean up the mess. But as he wiped up the spilled wine, he knocked over another glass in the process.
"Looks like we're off to a rocky start," he playfully remarked, wiping down the table. As they reached the end of the selection, they found themselves in fits of laughter over their clumsy antics.
"Well, I suppose we've narrowed it down," Xena said with a grin, tasting the last remaining glass of wine. Ulysses nodded, raising his glass in agreement.
"To finding the perfect wine, even if it means making a mess along the way," he toasted, and they clinked their glasses together, laughing and enjoying each other's company. Syrenia made note of the food and wine that made the cuts and reported the information to the kitchen staff and another copy to Lysandra.
As Xena and Ulysses stumbled down the hallway, giggling at nothing really, Olympia advised them that she completed the music selection. He and Xena burst out into laughter. Olympia didn't understand what was so funny however, she just smiled, bowed her head, and made her way to Lysandra.
"Xena, I'm going to try to sleep off some of this wine, I'll see you later, okay?" Ulysses picked up her hand and placed a soft kiss on the back. She shook her head and watched him disappear from her sight. She decided that sleeping some of the wine off was actually a good idea for her too.
