The Girls of Lesvos,
Or a Funny Thing Happened on The Way to The Renaissance.

 

 

Lyric Poetry Copyrighted
Sappho c. 600 B.C.E.
and
L. J. Thompson c. 2000 -2008 C.E.

 

 

 

Except in the higher elevations, the snow fell seldom on the coast of Lesvos.  So when a foot had accumulated and more was falling, Xena and Gabriel were having second thoughts about the wisdom of the trip.

 

"Tell me again, Gabrielle.  We left Argo in Greece and boarded a ship to cross the sea to be snowed on?  We could have done that back home. Or do you think it was a  special joy to watch you throw-up when the sea got rough?   Tell me again, Gabrielle, why ARE we here."

 

"I want to meet a friend."

 

"A woman friend?"

 

"N ... I mean Yes.

 

"A close friend?"

 

"Not that close."

 

"How close, Gabrielle?"

 

"I've heard of her by reputation."

 

"So you haven't actually met her."

 

"Not face to face, but I feel I know her from her poetry."

 

"Poetry?  We're going to meet a poet?"  The Warrior Princess pretended to frown.

 

"The greatest poet of our time, Xena."

 

"And what time might that be?"

 

"Today, tomorrow, our time."

 

"Ah, I see, Gabrielle, we're off to see a poet.  Is she greater than the Amazon Bard?"

 

"My words are a poor script compared to hers, Xena."

 

"And where, just where would this great poet be, Gabrielle, that made it necessary for us to go on this luxurious sea voyage?"

 

"Her academy is somewhere on this island. She lives here on Lesvos."

 

"Perhaps you are right, babe.  We had best get started towards Mytilene, then."

 

"Mytilene?"

 

"Sappho told me her place was near Mytilene.  Sappho is the one you want to meet, isn't she?"

 

"Yes, but ...  When did you ...?"

 

"Did I ever tell about the time my Army was encamped in southern Greece?  Sappho was performing at the local alcove.  One night, having nothing better to do,  I went to hear her."

 

"Just hear her?  Knowing you, I find that hard to believe, Xena."

 

"And then a few drinks at the Inn."

 

"Just a few drinks, Xena?"

 

"The Inn was smoky and crowded so we got a room where we could talk."

 

"Talk."

 

"Yes talk. We talked for several hours .... then she leaned over and kissed me.   She asked if I was bothered by the kiss.

 

"And you told her ... ?"

 

"No.  A kiss is just a kiss.   She said 'good, you have a nice body, you know', and kissed me again.  One thing led to another but I doubt if she even remembers me now.  I was quite young, eager but inexperienced at the time. Clumsy.  And I was dusty from the road and sweaty from the heat.  I would think our meeting would be something Sappho would forget quite easily."

 

"Somehow I can't picture anyone every forgetting you, Xena.  Not with that 'nice body,' not with that nice, sweaty, hot body."

 

"You will have to ask her, Gabrielle."

 

"Not with that nice, sweaty, enthusiastic body of yours and your single minded focus on the task at hand."

 

"Like I said, you'll have to ask her.  She probably barely remembers me."

 

"Or remembers you barely."

 

Xena faked glaring at Gabrielle then broke out laughing.

 

"She might remember that too."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The hills formed a natural amphitheater for the crowd watching the woman playing the lyre.  Her voice carried across the theater and drifted into the surrounding countryside.  The music and the lyrics blending into one.

 

 

 

The Moon has gone,
The Pleiades too,
In the middle of the night
Time Passes on,
I lie alone.

 

 

 

When she finished, the audience gathered around her, hoping a moments notice or a word or two.  The woman looked as if she were used to this, looked as if she were searching for an exit line when she noticed the tall dark woman and her blonde companion standing in the back, away from the crowd.

 

"Xena!  When you said you would look me up, I thought you meant sooner than 10 years!"

 

Gabrielle glanced sideways at the Warrior Princess.

 

"Not going to remember, huh?  What exactly did you do with her?"

 

"Later, Gabrielle." Xena turned back to the singer.  "Sappho!  You have time for an old friend?"

 

"I always have time for you, Xena."

 

Gabrielle shook her head and followed Xena through the crowd to meet Sappho.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cutting through a crowd was never a problem for the Warrior Princess.  Her reputation preceded her, even on Lesvos.  The crowd quickly parted, forming a clear corridor to where Sappho waited.   As Xena, with Gabrielle at her side, got closer to the poet, the young Amazon whispered sotto voce

 

"I was expecting her to be better looking."

 

"Her beauty is in her lyrics, Gabrielle."

 

"And she's short, shorter than I am."

 

"Be good, Gabrielle. Give her a chance."

 

"I will, I just didn't expect her to be so dark."

 

Xena shook her head, continued down the last few steps, and greeted Sappho.

 

"Hey, we were in the neighborhood and ..."

 

Gabrielle took a deep breath and sighed as Sappho embraced the Warrior Princess and whispered something in Dark One's ear that cause her to laugh.  Releasing Xena, Sappho turned to the bard.

 

"You must be Gabrielle.  I heard much about your scrolls.   Do you have some with you?  You can read them to me after dinner.  You are coming to dinner, aren't you?"

 

Sappho turned to Xena.

 

"You are, aren't you?  You must!  We have so much to catch up on, Xena."

 

Sappho slipped between Xena and Gabrielle and took each by the arm.  "My estate isn't far and I always have enough for friends who drop in for dinner.  Do you still fancy sweet, sticky deserts, Xena?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A statue of Aphrodite dominated the dining area.  The long wooded table was filled with various fruits and nuts, a plate of large dark mushrooms, cured olives, and pungent dry cheese, a platter of smoked game hens, and a large pitcher of deep red wine.  Apparently this was not Sappho's first spontaneous after performance party.  Candles and lamps of precious oil gave light.

 

As the dinner progressed, Sappho and Xena filled in bits and pieces of their past decade, Xena growing bored describing battles and noticeably more enthusiastic when recounting her life with Gabrielle.  Gabrielle found herself drawn into the conversation and took great glee in telling tales of Xena's and her adventures.

 

When the meal was about finished, Xena asked Sappho if she would sing some of her lyrics.   As the poet took up her instrument and tuned the strings, Xena put her arm around Gabrielle who leaned against her. 

 

Sappho began to sing, her voice a deep contralto that echoed through the night.

 

 

 

May night's kindness find you resting
On some tender girlfriend's breast

May the moon shine full and bright
As you breathe her musk-filled scent

May two strong arms surround you
To hold you in her dreams

May dawn's gold rays inflame you
When you wake in sweet embrace

When Sappho finished, Gabrielle asked for another.

This morning,
While the earth was still wet with night,
I picked a rose
To bring to you,
And then remembered
You were not here
And I slept alone.
I held the rose
Until the world grew warm
And dried the tears
That clung to me.

 

 

Which Sappho merged in a medley into

 

 

 

I sit on her porch,
Watching the tide come slowly,
And wonder how far it will reach.
I listen to the seabirds,
Noticing how the ocean wave
Washes my footprints from the beach.
I wait,
And think of her,
Somewhere out at sea.

 

 

 

There was a moment of silence when the poet finished, broken finally by Gabrielle.

 

"That was wonderful, Sappho."

 

"The goddess is kind to me, Gabrielle." The tenth muse looked to Xena.  "Are the two of you ready for desert yet?"

 

Xena laughed, "Gabrielle and I are always ready for dessert."

 

"Fine, follow me then."

 

As the Warrior and the Bard rose to follow Sappho, Gabrielle called after her.

 

"You have a separate room for dessert?"

 

Sappho's laugher tumbled off the high ceiling and even Aphrodite seemed to smile.

 

"No, I don't Gabrielle, but I do have a bedroom."

 

 

 

 

 

The bedroom air was filled with sandlewood mingling with the ocean breeze.  Sappho carefully lit perhaps a dozen candles before looking at Gabrielle, smiling sweetly, and then blowing the taper out.

 

"Come here, poet girl."

 

Gabrielle glanced at Xena before walking hesitantly towards the older woman.

 

"You aren't scared of me, are you, Gabrielle?"

 

"No."

 

"In awe?"

 

"N ..., a little."

 

"Don't be. I'm just a woman like you, living my life for a few dozens of years.  Do you and Xena still like hot tubs?"

 

As Gabrielle's eyes grew wide in amazement, Xena smiled.

 

"I guess we are better known than we think, Gabrielle."

 

Sappho almost supressed a smile.

 

"Almost as well known as me, Xena.  Well, do you and Gabrielle still like hot tubs or will this bed do for now?"

 

"I'll leave it up to, Gabrielle.  What do you want, babe, hot tub or warm bed?"

 

"I...."

 

"Have you ever been in a triad, Gabrielle?  

 

Gabrielle's eyes widened.

 

"Don't be nervous, you'll like it.   Xena always did."

 

Gabrielle gaze shifted to Xena then back to Sappho.

 

"Xena's been ...?"

 

"She never mentioned any of them to you? Hasn't she told you ... "

 

"Them?"

 

Gabrielle and Sappho turned as one to the Warrior Princess:

 

"Xena?"

 

"Subject never came up."

 

"You didn't mention Doricha?"

 

"Nope."

 

"Irana?"

 

"Irana was a pain, but no."

 

"Atthis, sweet Atthis? Surely you mentioned her."

 

"I didn't mention any of them, Saph."

 

"None of the young girls you watched picking flowers?"

 

"Xena didn't even mention you, Sappho."

 

The Poet stared at Xena.

 

"You never told Gabrielle about me?"

 

"She never mentioned you until we got to Lesvos, Sappho."

 

"Never?"

 

"Not once did she ever mention she even knew the greatest poet in Greece, or even that I wasn't her first poet."

 

Sappho shook her head and took Gabrielle by the hand.

 

"I thought I made a stronger impression than that. Come to my bed, Gabrielle, let me show you what Xena has forgotten to tell you."

 

As the two women moved toward the bed, Sappho looked over her shoulder towards the Warrior Princess.

 

"Hang your leathers over on the wall, Xena, and come join us when you are ready.  I promise you both that you will remember me this time."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Candles flicker in the evening breeze.  Body touch and twist as tongues flick one then another.  Fingers slip as lips caress.  Arms and legs and backs, wet with movement, glisten in the candlelight.  Mouths take breasts gently in, to play with nipples suddenly erect.  Hands explore smooth bellies, circling belly buttons and tracing the sweet softness below.  Voices echo, bodies moaning, voices crying out as what is hidden is found and fingers seek and capture dark secrets before pushing deeper yet to fill body and soul.  She yells, bites, tumbles as one.  The night passes, no one is alone.  The moon rises to glance unseen off women caught in the ocean's flow, first one, then another, then still another, rising and falling again and again until they lay exhausted, arm in arm on the poet's bed.

 

When the sound of hearts and breath grew silent, Sappho's spoke quietly.

 

"You ready for that hot tub yet, Gabrielle?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Do you always use all these candles?"

 

Candle fire sparkled through the steam rising from the tub, glittered off the water surrounding the three women.   Sappho washed Xena's back as Gabrielle looked on.

 

"Only when my friends are over, Gabrielle."

 

Gabrielle slid beneath the water, then stood facing the Poet, water dripping from her breasts.

 

"If I lived here, I don't think I would ever leave.  This is much too relaxing."

 

The Warrior Princess looked over at the younger woman.

 

"There's such a thing as too much relaxing, Gabrielle."

 

As Gabrielle slid farther into the water, Sappho smiled.

 

"Of all the places I have been in the world, I am most myself here in Mytilene where I was born.  Lesvos is home, but Mytilene is my soul.  I leave only with reluctance."

 

The Poet's eyes passed slowly over the Warrior Princess who relaxed, eyes closed in the bath.

 

"Xena?"

 

"hmmm?" Not opening an eye.

 

"Would you and Gabrielle accompany me to Sicily?"

 

Xena's eyes opened.

 

"What's in Sicily?"

 

"Syracuse.  I'm to attend a celebration in my honor.  It would make very happy if the two of you would come with me."

 

Xena raised an eyebrow to Gabrielle who nodded. A smile was on both their faces.

 

"Sure.  We'll come with you.  I don't think we've ever been to Sicily."

 

"I was exiled there once.  This will be a much happier occasion."

 

Gabrielle stared at Sappho.

 

"I can't believe that anyone would exile you."

 

Sappho shrugged. 

 

"I will tell you the story on the voyage over, and you can tell me some more stories about you and Xena." 

 

Sappho leaned over and kissed first Xena, then Gabrielle.

 

"You too can play here a while longer -- there's some scented oils near the massage table -- but I have to go tell the ship's master that you will be coming with us tomorrow."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The streets of Mytilene lead waterward to the ocean docks where a thousand men work loading and unloading the ships of trade.  Sappho had booked passage on the Herculean Quest anchored at the end of a dilapidated wooden pier.   The Quest was a ship of the old school, it's timbers weathered by the sea and proven in a decade of voyages between coast and island.  A screaming gull flew overhead as a damp morning breeze rolled over the water's edge.

 

The ship was still taking on supplies when the three women arrived at the dock. Gabrielle gravitated to the shops along the wharves as Sappho and Xena settle final details with the Captain of the ship.  The smell of fresh bread and burning meat filled the air.  Fruit sellers shouted their wares only to be drowned out by the sound of seamen returning to their ships from a night in the inns of Mytilene.

 

Gabrielle returned eating fresh figs and grapes.

 

"You two want some fruit?  I have more than enough, and I bought some parchment for scrolls."

 

Xena shook her head at the food and found herself laughing.

 

"What great adventures do you expect to write about on a wooden ship, Gabrielle?"

 

"You never know, Xena.  Perhaps the gods will bring a great storm upon us."

 

"More likely we used up our quota of last night," Xena turned to Sappho, "Isn't that right,  Sappho?"

 

"Aphrodite will protect us, Gabrielle.  She watches over me." Sappho looked at the fruit in Gabrielle's basket.  "I will have some of those figs, though."

 

The Poet bit into a fig,  then wiped its milky juices from her lips.  "In any event, we had better get aboard.  We sail at high tide."

 

 

 

 

 

 

The moonlight drifted on and off the waves as the women stood along the ship's railing, watching the stars and exchanging stories.

 

"So, Sappho, are you going to tell me about your exile in Syracuse?"

 

"Not much of story to tell, Gabrielle, you sure you want to hear it?"

 

"Let Xena and I be the judge of how good the story is."

 

Sappho shrugged.

 

"Once upon a time, not the most glorious time in our history, there was a tyrant on Lesvos named Pittacus.  He thought that women were created solely for the pleasure of men."

 

Xena snorted, causing Sappho to glare at her before continuing.

 

"I disagreed.  When he said the gods had told him it was thus, I suggested that either he had poor hearing or the gods had been drunk at the time and knew not what they said."

 

Sappho took a sip of wine.

 

"Pittacus gave me a choice of silence or exile.  I chose exile rather than to pretend to believe what is obviously not true.  When he died, I returned to my home outside Mytilene, but only after spending three years in Sicily.  In the end, I won: my songs will last forever while Pittacus is already forgotten.  The people of Syracuse treated me well, I remember them and they, me.  I'm only too happy to return for a visit."

 

Sappho looked at Gabrielle.

 

"Now it's your turn, Poet Girl, tell me a tale of Xena, The Warrior Princess, and her Amazon Bard."

 

As Gabrielle started to speak, Xena rolled her eyes towards the heavens.

 

"Not that one again, Gabrielle!"

 

"It was only one day, Xena."

 

"But the day kept going and going and going ..."

 

"It was only one day." Gabrielle looked at Sappho.  "Xena and I, an entire village actually, got caught in a time loop where we would wake up each morning and live out the remainder of the day over and over again."

 

"Sounds excitingly boring."

 

"Well actually ...."

 

Gabrielle continued to tell the story, exagerating the many ineptitudes of Joxer for comic effect, finishing with

 

" When the rooster crowed, the instance the cock opened his beak, Xena threw her chakram!  It bounced off walls, ricocheted off roof tops and flagpoles, and flew across the entire city until if finally reached the girl, cracked the vial before she drank it, and ended our stay in the city on the edge of forever."

 

Sappho applauded.

 

"You are as good a bard as rumor has it."

 

Gabrielle deflected the complement.

 

"But not as good as you, Sappho.  Would you tell us another, please."

 

Sappho paused, running through her memory of  stories and tales.

 

"I have one, it's a very old tale, but sometimes those are the best."

 

After the three women refilled their wine glasses, they sat down on the deck with the moon high overhead.  When they had all settled, Xena's back against the bow, Gabrielle resting on the Warrior's breast, Sappho began.  The shipped rocked gently beneath them.

 

"Long ago, some say a few hundred years, others a thousand or more, there was man who gathered great crowds as he talked among the people.  Some say he was a god, others the son of one.  He claimed neither.  There was a rumor that he was a magician.  He didn't deny it."

 

"Some say his name was Yeshu, others say he was Apollo.  He was born out of wedlock and his there were stories, rather nasty ones, that his father was a passing soldier who took advantage of his mother when she was fourteen and still a virgin."

 

"He was fire burning in the night, showering comets and meteors on the darkness and the people came to him in small groups and thousands."

 

"I like to think he was from Lesvos, or at least that he was Greek, but he could just have easily been Sicilian or from the City of Troy, or, perhaps, Atlantis.  They said that he saw the great mystery, that he knew the hidden; that he recovered the knowledge of all the times before the flood.  I don't know.  Perhaps Yeshu did journey beyond the distant -- who is to say which story is correct and which is myth?  Sometimes the myth becomes reality."

 

"The more famous he became, the larger the crowds grew.  At first he performed simple slight of hand, multiplying breads and pulling coins from people's ears.  When he started raising people from the dead ,,,"

 

Xena interjected.

 

"We've been dead before.  It's high over rated."

 

"...helping the blind to see, and the deaf to hear ..."

 

Gabrielle's turn.

 

"I've seen Xena do that."

 

Sappho frowned.

 

"May I continue now?"

 

Gabrielle snuggled back into Xena's Arms.

 

" .... the crowds grew.  Sometimes they were rowdy, attracting the attention of City Administrators.  Other times they just came to hear the sound of his voice.  Yeshu was becoming famous for being Yeshu."

 

"Yeshu drew the lower classes to him.  The unfortunate and unforgiven, the hungry and unlanded.  Soon the Magician had a army of the unwashed willing to follow him into battle.   He promised them peace of mind, they wanted the world."

 

"The authorities, there are always authorities, became worried when the Magician approached the forum of the capital city, Yeshu and a thousand true believers, magician groupies, and excited rabblerousers.  Yeshu was maintaining control until the authorities sent a hundred armed men to seize him.  Rather than cause a riot, he surrendered without a struggle."

 

"What happened then is murky and lost in the ages.   Some say he had a trial, some say he staged the whole thing, having grown tired of the demands of celebrity and looking for way out.  Whatever happened, Yeshu soon disappeared, his body was never found."

 

"The true believers claimed the authorities put him to death.   The record is unclear on this.  They say that when Yeshu died, the skies roared with thunder and the earth heaved, that darkness came and stillness hung like death over the face of the earth.  Again, this is not what the authorities saw.  Women certainly weeped that they could touch the Magician no more, but Yeshu could not be found.  If anyone knows where his body was buried, no one ever admitted it."

 

"There were simultaneous reports that he was seen in Carthage and Ur.  Others that he was holding class in Athens or India.  None of this was substantiated.  Those who believed, believed; those who did not amused themselves with tales of other magicians and life went on.  When the heat died and the fires went, the plains turned to ash and all that remained of the great magician were stories of his magic and the rumors of his birth."

 

The Poet's story ended, Xena and Gabrielle remained silent until Gabrielle asked

 

"Was Yeshu real, or was it all a myth?"

 

"Honestly, I don't know, but it is still good story and one I am going to bed on.  We need to get some sleep, we'll be in Syracuse in the morning and things will really we need to be ready."

 

As Sappho began to walk to the sleeping area, Gabrielle rose from beside Xena and began to follow.

 

"You coming, Xena?"

 

"You get some sleep, Gabrielle.  I'm going to stay out here and watch the moon for a while."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Syracuse, still a few hours away, rose from the Ionian coast still partially covered by the morning fog.  Even at that distance, the Temple of Apollo could be seen.  Sappho and Gabrielle watched the approaching landfall from the bow of The Quest while Xena still slept in her bedding.  Dolphins chased the ship's wake.

 

"Syracuse was founded by the Corinthians, Gabrielle, I think you will like it.  There is a freshwater Spring of Arethusa and everywhere, just everywhere, there is quail.  Have you had quail?"

 

Gabrielle shook her head.

 

"The Temple of Apollo is magnificent.  We'll have to visit it.  I'll be performing at the amphitheater on Terminite Hill.  It's literally carved out of solid rock.   Archimedes does design work for the city -- I guess you've heard of him -- the fortifications are mostly his, I believe."

 

Sappho turned to Gabrielle.

 

"I must be boring you no end.  I apologize.  Syracuse is my second home and sometimes I get carried away."

 

"I'm not bored at all, Sappho, not at all."

 

"So you say," Sappho grinned, "but you had better go wake the slumbering warrior, Gabrielle. You know how grumpy she gets if you let her oversleep."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The crowds waiting for the Poet's return filled the shoreline. Men, women, and children, especially the women, were chanting her name as the ship tied up to the dock.  Xena cast a wary eye on the crowd.

 

"Wonder who told them I was coming.  I didn't expect this Xena."

 

"Are you sure this is safe, Sappho?"

 

"Safe?  I don't know.  Exciting, definitely. You'd think I was a goddess or at least queen."

 

"Well you are ...

 

"... the greatest poet in the world.  Just because people say that, Gabrielle, doesn't mean that I believe it.  That wasn't a poet who made love to and Xena the other night.  I'm only a woman, single and alone, a singer of pretty good songs who occasionally gets lucky.  I don't deserve all this."

 

Xena put her arm around Sappho's shoulder.

 

"You deserve everything they will give you, Sappho.  You've given them a great gift and they are just showing their appreciation.   I still don't like the size of the crowd, though, and especially not the rowdy atmosphere.  Gabrielle and I will stay close to you until we are safely in the house where you will be staying.  There's no telling who is in that crowd."

 

Xena turned to the Bard.

 

"Gabrielle, go make sure our weapons are ready while I help our poet here get ready to meet her fans."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The crowds waited at the end of dock, surging forward and cheering when the saw Sappho at the ship's rail. 

 

"The last time I entered Syracuse, no one was here to greet me, Xena, and now ..."

 

"And now, you have too many people greeting you."

 

Sappho laughed. 

 

"I guess you could look at it that way.  Are you ready for fame, Gabrielle?"

 

"I'm not famous."

 

"Not yet, but you will be.  Just be sure that you are ready for it, Gabrielle, because once fame finds you it's not that easy to go back to being girl from Poteideia. No matter how hard you might try, once things change, they change forever."

 

Xena motioned to the Poet who stood hesitantly at the top of the ramp.

 

"Sappho, follow me and stay close.  Gabrielle, take the rear.  Hopefully we can get through this crowd in one piece."  Xena smiled and shook her head.  "What I really want is a hot bath and a bed that only moves when I do."

 

"I'll tell the crowd, Xena. Maybe they just go away if I do." 

 

"Yeah, right, Gabrielle."

 

"Hey, sometimes the magic works."

 

Xena began to move down the ramp, slowly at first and then faster as they reached the docks. The crowd grew more boisterous as the three began to move through them.  Hands reaching out to touch the Poet.  Women shouting her name.  Here and there the occasional deep voice clamoring that she should go back to Lesvos and be among her own kind.

 

"This is bedlam."

 

Continuing to shoulder her way through the crowd as it pushed its way towards Sappho, the Warrior Princess checked to make sure that the Poet was still close behind.  Suddenly there was a shout from in front.   A sword flashed. Xena cried out a warning.

 

"Gabrielle!  Get Sappho to safety."

 

Xena drew her own sword.

 

"NOW!"

 

Gabrielle's hands went to her sais and she drew close to Sappho, whispering.

 

"We're going to make a run for it."

 

"Not quite the entrance I had planned, Gabrielle, but lead the way."

 

A second sword moved towards Sappho only to be stopped by Gabrielle.

 

As the two women began to move quickly threw the crowd, Xena turned to fight the remaining soldiers.  Sword on the left, sunlight glistens. Downward slice of  blood and steel.  Parry and back swing, bodies scattered.  Chakram off statue to disarm another. One, two, three swords down, a fourth fleeing down the alley, Xena in pursuit.

 

A young man, not more than 20, his back against the alley wall.

 

"Drop your sword."  Deep Xena warrior voice.

 

"Why should I?  It will only make it easier for you to kill me."

 

"Don't flatter yourself.  If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already.  Now drop the sword and tell me who you are."

 

"I'm the son of Pittacus."

 

"The Tyrant? What's your name, boy?"

 

"Pindar. My father wasn't a tyrant."

 

Xena shrugged.

 

"I've been called worst things than a tyrant, before.  Still that doesn't given you reason to try to kill someone."

 

"Sappho made my father look like a fool and now she is getting a hero's welcome back into Syracuse."

 

"Your father was a fool of the worst kind, Pindar, he thought half the human race was inferior to him."

 

Xena moved closer to where the boy stood trembling.

 

"Are you going to kill me now?

 

"Drop your sword and I won't have to."

 

Steel clatters against cobblestone as the Warrior Princess puts her hand firmly on the boy's shoulders.

 

"Don't try to run or I will have to show you exactly how far I can throw a Chakram."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Amphitheater was cut from solid stone and held several thousand people, but such was Archimede's design, that Sappho's voice could be heard clearly high in the back.

 

 

I don't know what to do
I say yes--and then no

the waves lap at my feet
splashing white water over my toes
and pulling the sand
from beneath me

grain by grain
the sand tumbles back into the sea
only to wash again
along another shore line

my desire for you is constant
it is my own fear
that makes tremble
and cling to my eroding beach

 

 

Gabrielle hugged Sappho as she came off stage.

 

"You sure you don't want to recite something, Gabrielle?  I know the audience would be appreciative."

 

Gabrielle smiled and demurred.

 

"Maybe in ten years, maybe in ten years I will be ready, but not now."

 

"Well, what then shall we do, the evening is till young, Xena."

 

"Is the water still clear at Arethusa Springs?"

 

"Yes, still clear, why?"

 

"I was thinking that Gabrielle was about ready for another hot tub.  I know I am, Sappho."

 

"I'll send a runner ahead to start heating the waters, but we can't spend too long in the bath.  I have plans for the three of us later this evening and we have to get up early to attend a horse race in Palermo tomorrow."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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