"Block."

The sword whipped around towards Gabrielle's knees, so quickly she barely flipped the sai down to block it in time.

"Again."

This time the sword cut headed for her side and at the last minute angled straight up toward her face. Again she barely caught it, at an awkward angle that wrenched her wrist so badly she almost lost her grip on the sai.

"Block."

No, maybe I'll just stand here and let myself get cut in two. What do you think I am? Stupid? she thought furiously. The next cut came from above, and she crossed the sai and caught the blade between them. The sword withdrew.

"Focus, little one."

Gabrielle thought she might scream. I hate it when he calls me "little one". I just fucking hate it...

And the blade whipped up unexpectedly under her raised arms. It tapped her on one wrist, on the other, then the point deftly landed upon her heart. "A shame," Suleiman said. "You have no hands, and also you are dead."

Gabrielle sighed, shoulders slumped in defeat--and in anticipation of the lecture that was about to follow. "How many times have I told you, little one?" Suleiman chided. "Emotion has no place in a fight. You must put all out of your head and focus only on the battle."

"I'm not emotional."

"You've been distracted all day."

"I'm not emotional, and I'm not distracted," Gabrielle assured him, a tinge of irritation creeping into her voice. She liked Suleiman--his calm, dignified air reminded her of her father, and she was learning a lot from both working with him and from these individual training sessions--but sometimes the paternal bit got just a little hard to take. If she wanted people reading her mind, she'd go let Xena lecture her. "Let's try again."

"No, enough for today." Suleiman wiped off his sword as carefully as if it had been actually used. He paused a moment before slipping it back into its scabbard. "Gabrielle, have you thought more about--"

"About switching over to a sword," Gabrielle finished for him, "no, thank you. I prefer the sai. They're more balanced."

"But not useful in all situations. As we've just seen." Suleiman's ivory-hilted sword was an exquisite example of the basic Sumerian weapon--a long, single-edged, slightly curved blade that required two hands to wield properly, well-suited to the tall Sumerians with their long-range fencing style--but Gabrielle's sai worked best in close, and she still hadn't figured out a technique for getting in close without getting dead first.

"I'll figure something out, sooner or later." She wiped the blades of her sai clean in turn, one after the other, already wondering where she'd gone wrong, what she could try the next time. Part of the problem was Suleiman was almost as good a fighter as Xena, and he could probably defeat her with nothing more than an olive and a cloak pin. Most of the other guards were keeping a disdainful distance from Nebula's new foreign and female assistants, so there was little chance of getting someone of lesser ability to spar with. Maybe someone else, had to be someone tall, someone not highly skilled, someone like--She ran her thumb too close to the tip of the sai and punctured it. "Ow!"

"So," Suleiman said, amused, "you are not distracted?"

"No," Gabrielle snarled.

"Focus in the little things as well. That is the point of cleaning off your weapons. It helps to calm and clear the mind after the excitement of battle."

"I thought the point was so that they didn't rust."

"That is also a benefit," he said, straight-faced.

Gabrielle prepared to say something, then caught herself and sighed. "I shouldn't have snapped. I apologize."

"No need." Suleiman walked over and sat down on one of the plain stone benches placed along the edges of the training yard. The high walls cast long shadows in the late afternoon sun, and the sea breeze was picking up, the smell of the ocean and the cries of gulls wafting through the air. He closed his eyes and tilted his greying head up, listening. "It is a wonderful afternoon," he said.

"They're all wonderful here," Gabrielle said. "This is really such a lovely city."

"Yes, it is. How is your friend?"

"My fr--Oh. Joxer." Gabrielle turned away and repolished one of the sai, scrubbing it hard with the cloth. "He's fine."

"I was a little surprised you have not taken time off since he arrived. I thought you would wish to catch up with him."

"Can't turn back on my duty." Gabrielle scrubbed harder. "Besides...besides, Xena says he still needs to rest up. He's probably been in bed all day. I'll talk to him tonight, before the banquet."

"Ah," said Suleiman. "You know, if you clean that any more, you may break it in two."

"It won't break," Gabrielle said through gritted teeth. Focus. Just like Suleiman said, just like Xena said. All she needed to do...was...focus. "Trust me. It won't break. I've tried."

"Ah," said Suleiman again. "I see."

Tired and sweaty, but with amazingly clean sai, Gabrielle trudged down the last of the seemingly endless corridors to her room. She need a wash, and a nap, but she had to attend the banquet tonight and keep an eye on an endless parade of supercilious, hostile nobles as they milled around the room and glared at Nebula. What incredible fun. Stifling a sigh, she pushed the door open. Xena was sitting on the couch with Joxer, holding Eve in her lap. "How'd the training go today?" she asked.

"Fine. Hi, Joxer. How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good."

"Been out some today?"

"Yeah." He'd shed the dashiki a few days earlier in favor of the loose linen shirt and pants that were usually only worn by servants. It was a much more comfortable outfit to those used to civilized clothing, though. Gabrielle wore one of the shirts herself when she could get away with it. Tonight was not going to be one of those times. "A little bit," he added, and instead of elaborating on the statement cooed at Eve and tickled her so that she laughed.

So Joxer didn't want to continue the awkward conversation any more than she did. Relieved, Gabrielle walked to her own private alcove. "I've got to get changed for tonight," she said before realizing it might have been tactless.

The look Xena shot her confirmed it. "We have to go to a state banquet tonight," she told Joxer. "Stand watch over Nebula. It should be incredibly dull. You're welcome to come, of course, if you want."

"Oh, I'm already going. Nebula invited me."

"Nebula?" Gabrielle hadn't meant to speak aloud, but she did.

"Yeah, when I had breakfast with her, right after I got here, she invited me to come and sit with her tonight. She said the same thing about it being dull, but we'll see." He shrugged.

"Well," said Xena. "Well...that's good, then." She glanced at Gabrielle. "Isn't it, Gabrielle?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it's...fine." Gabrielle tried to think of something to say and could not. "I...I've got to get dressed." She pulled aside the curtain and stepped inside, allowing it to fall shut behind her.

Okay, so Joxer was going to be at the banquet. No big deal. He'd be with Nebula, so he wouldn't be any trouble. With Nebula? Well, anyway. Well, he must be feeling better if he felt he could go out tonight, and she and Xena could keep an eye on him and see if he was getting too tired and send him back to lie down or something, did he say "sit with her"? Well, anyway. Well, she'd better get dressed, and it was good Joxer was going to be there, really, it was...She accidentally stabbed herself in the finger again with one of the sai as she was laying them aside, yelped and swore like an Athenian fishwife for a lot longer than such a little prick would seem to require.

She finally managed to wrestle into her ceremonial armor, a process which put her in a bad mood all by herself, and walked in silence behind Xena and Joxer as they made their way to the banquet hall. She didn't want to lose her temper and snap when there was no good reason for it. Not when there were always so many good reasons with Nebula around. The armor was one of them. Required by custom and ritual for formal occasions, it swathed her in so much leather and metal and bright draperies she felt she could barely move. Suleiman agreed with this, and wore simple leathers only--but then Suleiman was head of the Guard and thus could do as he pleased, while she was a foreigner and a woman and had best stick to traditions. Aggravating as they might be, she thought, pulling at a breastpiece that was shaped for a man and pinched annoyingly. Xena was equally annoyed by the poor fit, but as Xena said it was a good sight better than the formal dress the court women wore. As they walked down the long corridors, they passed knots of the court women shuffling slowly along in order to avoid tripping on the brightly-colored toga-like wraps they wore over the layers of underclothing that fashion decreed need be long enough to drag along the floor in front and back. They wore dozens of strings of beads and multiple bangles that weighed down their arms, clanking and rattling like so many tinkers' carts as they crept along.

No, the standard female outfit was nothing to envy. Eve was somebody to envy, riding happily in the special pack Xena had made up, clinging to her mother's back like a monkey's child and laughing at all the bright colors and new sounds. Eve was somebody to envy and for that matter, so was Joxer. He didn't come anywhere near filling out the shirt or pants but he was tall enough that they fit reasonably well, and although it was a lot plainer than anything else they'd see in the banquet hall at least it wasn't tight. That breastpiece was pinching again. Gabrielle turned her attention from Joxer back to that aggravating strap, and started fiddling with it.

Joxer kept almost walking into her or Xena or the wall, his attention continually diverted by things that caught his eye or people they passed. Once they passed a pair of guards, in the same ceremonial armor, long swords sheathed at their sides. The guards glared at them, challenging; Xena glared back and they dropped their gaze and went on by. Joxer twisted his head around, watching them go. "Who was that?"

"Some of the House Guard."

"They don't seem to like you much."

"We're women," Xena said simply.

"So's Nebula."

"They don't like that either. Fortunately the tradition of protecting the monarch is stronger than the tradition of keeping women in their place."

Gabrielle, forgetting herself, rolled her eyes and spoke. "I am so sick of hearing about the Sumerian traditions."

Joxer started to say something, hesitated, and said, "But it looks like Nebula's turning them to her advantage. I mean, protecting the monarch outweighing the monarch being a man, and all."

"Exactly," Xena said. "Nebula's a tricky one. But growing up in this vipers' nest, I'm not surprised." She nodded at a group up ahead; brightly dressed men, wearing those long tunics or shorter and more maneuverable versions of the same wraps the women wore. "In Nebula's clan alone, there are half-a-dozen males with a claim to the throne. And most of the noble families also lay claim to it, with varying degrees of legitimacy. If Nebula hadn't taken the throne after her brother died, this country would have been knee-deep in blood. And in that kind of situation, it's never the people causing it who are the ones to die. This way," she said abruptly and turned down a small side corridor. "Back way in."

The corridor was small and dark and Gabrielle, bringing up the rear, saw Joxer instinctively ducking his head to avoid the low ceiling. "This palace is full of these passages," she advised him. "It's like a rabbit warren. Be careful you don't go down any by accident, you could get lost for weeks."

"I get lost just going out the front door."

"Like this is news?" Gabrielle said. Suddenly they were talking easily again, as they always had.

"Hey. I got here, didn't I?"

And just as suddenly they weren't. Gabrielle tried to think of some light offhand answer and couldn't, and then they entered a brightly-lit anteroom. Suleiman was there, and so was Nebula. In defiance of the dress code, she was wearing a simple saffron-colored gown, and the hammered bangles around her neck and arms were pure gold. She looked every inch a queen, if wolves had queens, and she grinned and clapped her hands together and said, "Now that we're all here, let the boredom begin."

Suleiman shook his head and sighed, and led the way thorough a curtained doorway. Xena preceded Nebula, and Gabrielle took up the rear. What do we do with Joxer? she wondered to herself, but Nebula answered that question by linking her arm through his. "You're with me," she said.

"Whatever you say, Your Highness," he said, lightly flirtatious. That strap was still bugging Gabrielle and she gave it one more fierce tug before they stepped out into the hall.