The room was lined in white marble, and the light from the multiple torches set along the wall reflected off the walls and floor, sparkling here and there from large chunks of raw diamond and emerald set into the floor at carefully random intervals to look as if they had been carelessly scattered beneath everyone's feet. They entered at the head of the room, right behind a large, intricately carved table that stood on a slightly raised dais looking out over the room. Nebula went to sit at the head table and motioned for Joxer to sit next to her. Suleiman took up his post standing at one end of the table, and Gabrielle stood at the other. Xena stood behind Nebula, and the room was open before them.

Servants put platters on the table, roast meats and fowls, stews bright with pumpkin, piles of that good bread, and hot hot sauce for dipping. Joxer slid over a little so that Xena could reach, but she shook her head. "We'll eat later. We're on duty. You go ahead."

So, following Nebula's lead, he did. People came up on the dais in twos and threes to pay their respects, making small talk. Nebula asked them questions about new babies, business reversals, sons gone abroad, husbands purchased for daughters. She seemed not only to know every single person in the room but all about them, never failing to speak of some personal interest to even one of them. Joxer, whose memory had large holes in it at the best of times, was extremely impressed. When his father had held court for a much smaller number of supplicants, he'd had slaves with the details written down on scrolls to prompt himself with. Nebula was doing this all by herself. It was a talent he didn't know she had, and one he could see would be incredibly useful for a queen. He looked out over the crowd and thought to himself if he could learn one name tonight that he wouldn't forget by the morning, he'd be satisfied.

The colors were dazzling. The Sumerians were fond of bright colors and mixed them with aplomb, and the sight reminded Joxer of the birds he'd seen in the garden. They milled about in much the same fashion, moving here or there at random, feeding from the bowls and platters set out on long tables down each side of the room, then flitting off back into the crowd. He and Nebula sat on the only chairs in the room. Everyone else was standing, and moving about, and the colors continually changed and shifted. "How beautiful," he said aloud.

Xena snorted. "So's an asp," she said. "Speaking of which."

Joxer recognized her tone. Danger. He saw a man and a woman approaching the dais, and even without Xena's warning he felt his spine stiffen.

The couple stepped up onto the dais with an easy grace that bordered on insolence. The man was tall and elegant, his flawless skin a smooth dark brown. His clothing was the same saffron-color of Nebula's, and he also wore the same hammered-gold ornaments around his neck and arms. The woman was devastating. Devastating in a dangerous way, like Xena, like Callisto, the kind of hard-edged beauty that a man could slice himself to ribbons on. Her skin was such a deep brown as to be almost black, and despite the heavy wrap she moved smoothly as a snake. Her almond-shaped eyes looked him over. "Ooh," she said, in a voice of warm honey, "it's so pale. Is it even human? You have very strange tastes, Nebula."

"Funny," Nebula said. She leaned her elbows on the table and grinned the wolf grin. "I was just thinking the same thing about Khalil."

"Yes, it is nice to see you too, sister," the man said. He did not even try to put any sincerity into his tone.

"Half-sister," Nebula explained to Joxer. "The right half, that is. See, poor Khalil expected to ascend the throne when my full brother Gilgamesh died, but sadly he was only half-blood and it was not to be."

Khalil smiled, and suddenly the resemblance between him and Nebula was apparent. He too was a wolf. "But of course I am totally supportive of you, dear ...half-sister. As always." He now looked at Joxer and nodded appraisingly. "Despite your unusual hobbies."

The hackles on the back of Joxer's neck prickled. Khalil was looking him over the way he might look over a horse he intended to buy while his hand idly fingered the handle of the large dagger stuck through his belt, a gilded hilt that ended in a lion's head. Khalil drew his thumb over the lion's head as if he knew Joxer was watching; the lion, the symbol of the royal house of Sumeria. Joxer instinctively moved his hand toward his sword hilt--and remembered. He no longer had his sword. He no longer had his sword, his dagger, or even so much as a small meat-knife. He felt suddenly naked and exposed, and Khalil's eyes raked over him again, seeing the weakness. "You know," he said conversationally, "my cousin Hassim said he'd picked up a slave much like this one in Egypt. The same pale, hairless skin. He thought he could get a good price for it from a dealer in exotica, but it jumped overboard in the harbor and was lost. A shame."

"It would have been a great shame," Nebula agreed, "if Hassim was trafficking in slaves and would have to face charges for it. But then we all know it is against the law."

"Just as it is against the law to steal a slave and not return him to his rightful owner," Khalil agreed. He shrugged elaborately. "Ah, politics. I pay little attention, as you know. That is Nyosa's silly little pastime."

The woman--Nyosa--smiled broadly. "You should really be more careful about picking up strays, Nebula. You don't know where they've been."

"As long as they've not been anywhere near you, I should be fine," Nebula said. She eyed Khalil, and the wolves bared their fangs at each other in the semblance of smiles. Then Khalil said, "Well, it is a fine banquet, sister, as always. I will see you later." He turned and looked Joxer directly in the eye. "And you too, softskin."

Nyosa laughed, a tinkling sound like something irreplaceable breaking. She and Khalil sauntered off the dais insultingly slowly, until Suleiman gave them a hard look and they moved away and disappeared into the crowd.

Xena nodded after them. "There's an enemy," she said.

"Nyosa? Oh, yes. She wants to be attached to the person in power and she doesn't care who it is. I know Khalil. He's too damn lazy to want to be King. I'm sure he's only giving me a hard time because she's working on him, and I'll bet he's not the only one in my clan on her project list. She's even got her hooks into some of the Guard."

"You have to get rid of her."

"I can't just take her out and lop her head off. I don't rule like that. Besides." Nebula pulled off a piece of bread and scooped up a generous amount of the fiery red sauce, swallowing the whole thing with relish. "The game is more fun this way."

Xena sighed. "It's not a game."

"Politics is a game. It's the greatest game of all. Isn't that right, Athens-boy?" She nudged Joxer with an elbow. "I...Joxer? What's wrong?"

Joxer was sitting up stiffly in his chair, his face chalk-white, staring straight ahead. "Joxer?" Xena asked, alarmed.

He twitched slightly at the sound of her voice and shook his head. "Nothing," he said.

"Bullshit."

Suleiman, alerted, looked over. "Gods. Not poison?..."

"No," Joxer said loudly. "No, I'm fine. It's just..." He paused and Xena touched him lightly on the shoulder in a questioning gesture. Gabrielle, unnoticed on the other side of the table, stood tense as a drawn bowstring, listening. "That guy. He called me...that name." He shook his head slightly, as if trying to clear it. "'Softskin'. That's what the captain on the ship called me."

"So," Nebula said after a moment. "It was Hassim's ship." She fingered another piece of bread and put it down. "I'll bring him to trial."

"Your Highness, is that wise?" Suleiman said. "He's part of your clan, he's in line for the throne. The Houses will..."

"The Houses will learn that the law is the law," Nebula said sharply. "And they will learn that I mean what I say."

Xena, her voice cold and hard, said, "I want to meet this Hassim."

"No."

"I said--"

"No," Nebula said firmly. "We'll bring him to trial. Trust me, he'll suffer longer and harder that way." She looked at Joxer. "Can you identify Hassim?"

"Oh, yes."

"That's what we'll do, then. You okay there, studmuffin?"

"I told you. I'm fine."

"Atta boy." Nebula thumped him on the shoulder. "Sit back and enjoy the rest of the evening, and don't worry about a thing."

"I wasn't," Joxer said in a slightly sharp tone, but Nebula ruffled his hair. "We'll have musicians in later. Do you dance?"

"Very well," said Joxer, which was true. Often when he was distracted by listening to the music he forgot to trip.

"Then dance we will. Once we get more of this bread. Hey, you over there...the Queen wants bread."

The air of tension Nyosa and Khalil had left behind them dissolved, and everyone relaxed. Everyone save Gabrielle, who could not for the life of her think of anything to say, and for some reason was unable to take her eyes off Nebula's hand as it rested on Joxer's shoulder. Suddenly she realized she had to make a circuit of the hall and check to make sure everything was all right, and so she did.

She wove among the tall, dark, elegant Sumerians, feeling their eyes on her--short, washed-out, shaggy and pale, totally unable to emulate their languid glamour. She kept her gaze averted, trying to see what was going on without actually looking at anyone, overhearing snatches of conversation, walking around knots of people at an unthreatening distance. She paused at the end of one of the long buffet tables and saw Suleiman at the other, apparently patrolling as she was. Feeling a little more confident to see a friendly face, she made her way across the floor and joined him.

"Taking a walk, little one?" he greeted her.

"Just checking the room out. It's hard to see everything from the front." She gestured with her chin toward the dais, a mistake because it allowed her to see Joxer and Nebula, heads close together, discussing something. She quickly looked away and became interested in the wall.

Suleiman was not fooled. "Be calm, little one," he said. "The Queen does not bite. Badly."

"It's not that," Gabrielle said firmly. "It's... That thing with Khalil makes me nervous."

Suleiman nodded gravely. "It is serious," he said. "Khalil has much support behind him, and if Nebula goes ahead with her plan to bring one of the royal family up on charges..." He looked to the table as well, not hiding his concern. "I fear for not only her position, but for her life. We had best all tread warily."

Gabrielle nodded. "I'll stay back here for a while, listen to the gossip. See if I hear anything worth following up on."

"An excellent idea. Tell me what you find."

"Of course." Suleiman returned to the head of the room to take up his post once again by Nebula, and Gabrielle felt guilty for agreeing. She didn't particularly want to tell Suleiman what people were talking about, because most of them she'd overheard were talking about that man at the table with Nebula, and she had to stop herself several times from butting into conversations and setting some people straight about some things. Gods, Gabrielle thought. What a night. I hope to hell Nebula gives up and goes to bed soon, I need to...

She wasn't sure what she needed, actually, and then she turned around and Xena was there. "Okay," Xena said. "What's wrong?"

"I'm tired and my feet hurt and I need to sleep for about three days, I think."

"Okay. What's really wrong?"

Gabrielle took a deep breath. No point at all in trying to put anything over on Xena, not now, not ever. "That woman," she said.

"Nyosa?"

"No," she growled, irritated at being forced to spell it out, "the other one."

"What's wrong this time?"

"She's deliberately trying to drive me crazy." Gabrielle glared at the head table. "And it's working."

Xena followed her glance. "Ah. She's poaching on your territory."

"No," Gabrielle said loudly. "It's not that."

"If you say so."

"It's not. It's just that--" Gabrielle watched, and seethed. "She doesn't understand Joxer. Didn't she see how upset he was about Khalil's cousin? How can she ask him to just, just walk right up to him or whatever she intends to do, and..."

"Easy there," Xena said. "I don't like it either, and I'd much rather take care of that bastard myself. But it's Nebula's kingdom, and Nebula's laws. And she didn't pressure Joxer into anything he didn't want to do. He's a lot tougher than he looks, you know that."

"Yeah." Gabrielle folded her arms and leaned against the wall, watching him. "But I also know he's worth more than just some, some bargaining chip to push through a political point."

"So do I."

"But does she?"

Xena studied the scene on the dais. "I don't know," she said finally. "Nebula's always been very hard to read."

"What if she--" Gabrielle didn't finish the sentence because she wasn't sure what she was asking. Xena understood this. "Whatever it is," she answered, "we'll be able to take care of it. Don't worry on that part."

"Yeah," Gabrielle said again. Xena was right, of course. Nothing to worry about, but still she watched the table, and still she worried.

Joxer was feeling a little better now. He was good at shoving away things he didn't want to think about, and the ship captain was definitely in that category. Khalil and Nyosa hadn't made a move to approach the table again, and although he kept an eye on them they were far enough away for comfort. He was starting to relax, and once again the room was dazzling, the bright colors entrancing, and the people fascinating. He loved people-watching, and it seemed from his limited experience that at a court you spent almost all your time doing that. "Why did you leave all this?" he asked aloud.

"Mnh?" Nebula looked up from her drink.

"Why did you become a pirate? Why not stay here, with all this?"

Nebula nodded in Nyosa's direction. "To get away from that."

"To get away from Nyosa?"

"To get away from becoming Nyosa. Look at her."

Joxer looked, not sure what he was supposed to see. "She's very pretty," he said finally.

"And she's very intelligent and very ambitious. And what can she do with all that? Nothing. She's a woman." Nebula almost spat the last word. "She can't do anything for herself and if she wants anything she has to manipulate some man into getting it for her. I know Greece is no prize, I know there women and slaves don't count for much--but here in Sumeria they don't count at all. And I swore I wouldn't allow myself to be nothing, get married off at thirteen to Khalil or someone like him and spend my life being bred like a brood sow, I..." She stopped suddenly and took a deep breath. "...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go off like that."

"It's okay. I understand."

"No, you don't," Nebula said tiredly. She leaned her chin on her hand and gazed out over the room.

"Not exactly, no. But I know what it's like when everybody wants you to be something you can't be, and they don't leave you any choice."

Nebula didn't sit up, but she turned her head and looked at him. "You're an odd one, Joxer."

People kept telling him that and he wasn't sure if it was a compliment or not. "Thanks," Nebula added after a moment.

"I didn't do anything."

"You tried to understand. That's more than most people around here do. The one other great thing about being a pirate was it was a lot easier. You just hit people until they did what you wanted. Court, on the other hand--" She stood up and stretched the kinks out of her back. "Ah, I've had enough of this for tonight. I think I'll go back to my chambers, have a drink or two, and go to bed. Suleiman, let everyone know."

He nodded. "I'll send a guard."

Nebula looked at Joxer. "You up for a couple of games of dogs-and-jackals?"

"Sure."

"Then come with me. Don't worry, I'll have somebody walk you home afterwards."

"Very funny." Joxer stood up and offered her his arm. "Shall we?"

"I'd be delighted." Nebula took his elbow and led him back through the heavy curtain, leaving the bright room behind.