The following is a bit of alternative fiction based on certain characters from the Xenaverse. It is not meant to infringe on anyone else's rights. If you don't agree or disapprove, please go read something else.
The Feast was held outdoors. Colorful decorations and fresh flowers created a happy ambiance. Amazon drummers and bardic musicians provided the rhythm and song for the evening. Of course, Gabrielle was given a place of honor at the head of one huge table that seated all of her candidates. To her right was seated a tall blonde Amazon who was introduced as Arete and to her left was the young Kalai.
Xena was seated much farther down the table. She was too far to talk to, too far away to touch or anything, and simply much too far away in Gabrielle's estimation. She'd noticed how breathtaking Xena looked and had struggled to stifle the urge to move Xena closer. But the warrior had winked at her and had sent the message with her body language that all was well, so Gabrielle decided to trust her love's instincts.
The saving grace was that her present companions were easy to talk to, though the blonde one had to be dragged into the conversation a bit. At first Arete blushed every time the Queen's attention was on her, but after a little while she got into the cadence of the conversation and she contributed her own witty dialog. Their discussion ranged in topics, from the personal ("It wasn't that I didn't want to, it's just the timing wasn't right. I had to let her go so I could go on, you know what I mean?" "Yeah, Kalai, but it's different when you are your age. It's something you can," "Different? Let me tell you about different.") to the political ("It's not just our lands being affected by that decision, but the results of the trade hasn't been all that good. If I had to make the selection I would go with . . ." ) to the hysterically morbid ("God's Kalai I can't believe you said that! I'm trying to eat here.") and funny ("Oh you should've seen Xena's face. I mean I laughed so hard I didn't see her heading in my direction until it was too late. I didn't even have a chance to run before she caught me and dumped me in the vat. I was purple for days." "Breathe, Kalai, breathe.")
For Arete's part she was grateful that Gabrielle didn't seem to hold her indiscretion against her. She wasn't hurt that at the beginning of dinner, when everyone was being introduced, Xena's eyes seemed to skip right past her and on to Gabrielle, that was how it should be. Any acknowledgement, other than in private or in the most general sense, might have been embarrassing and there was no need for it. Inside, she praised Xena's wisdom. Meanwhile, Arete found the Amazon Queen charming, kind, intelligent, and dazzlingly beautiful and she knew, that despite Xena's earlier protests to the contrary, Gabrielle was more than just a friend, for she saw the way the two lovers looked at each other during dinner. There seemed to be no tears or worries in either pair of eyes and Arete's easy going heart could only be glad they had worked out the problem.
She was also enjoying young Kalai's presence. She found her political reasoning astute and her cautioning words to the Queen quite practical. And her face was so expressive. Arete found the brown eyed girl fascinating in her own right and was happy to get to know her better. Just because most everyone knew each other's names in the Amazon circles, didn't mean that they knew each other well. It was easy to get caught up in a small band of friends and to stay there. Besides, the memory of that morning now held a warm spot in her heart, even though Kalai started teasing her almost immediately for going in the opposite of her intended direction. That was okay, Arete knew she had to compensate a lot when finding her bearings. It was why she usually hunted with a friend when out of home territory. If she were home, she simply learned all the markers and found her way by learning the familiar.
And Kalai? Well Kalai was practically in Elysius, with Gabrielle meeting all her expectations and exceeding them with a deft humor and compassion that thrilled the young woman beyond words. And my, but the Queen was comely. The outfit for the night did everything for her, highlighting her skin and her lovely red gold hair in the firelight. Kalai did nothing to hide her admiration, but Gabrielle took it in stride and that only made the Amazon appreciate her more.
Kalai had been surprised too, by Arete's wisdom, though she still maintained that her youth didn't make her experiences in love's arena less painful, but otherwise she had been impressed. Sometimes it was good to get to know an Amazon better. She found herself liking Arete more and more as the evening passed and accepted the muscular blonde's amiable teasing in good humor. The evening seemed to fly by.
Xena, meanwhile, chatted easily with the company around her. She was surrounded by two good-looking and supportive Amazons (just because she loved Gabrielle didn't mean she didn't notice other people's attractiveness, but we knew that already.) and a couple of male warriors, one of which was kind of seedy looking, but his conversation was more intellectual. They got into discussions about armor and weaponry ("I've found that if you put a little oil on the blades it has less of a tendency to rust." "Fool, a blade isn't a cook pan. You should try. . ."), politics ("Athens is the last place I'd want to be right now. I understand the senate has been debating . . .") and somewhat ribald topics ("And there she was, naked as the day she was born, sitting on top of the largest. . .")
After dinner, but before the evening was over, Xena took the time to charm information out of some of the candidates. The Amazon reasoning for their participation was pretty straight forward, they were there to insure the safety of the nation and the Queen should Xena miss the mark (she was touched by their confidence and understood the necessity completely.) Her main concern was about the male candidates, but she found that most of them were simply there because they were invited by Cherise. There was one fellow who, despite his obvious physical attributes (strong shoulders, full lips, dark eyes, brown hair), she found distasteful because of his ego and his apparent dislike of women. If what Eponin said about tomorrow was true, then Xena planned on taking this one out of the competition early. It was her opinion that he shouldn't have even been invited, but since she wasn't the one who had a say in the matter, there was no room for her to complain. The only thing she could do was troubleshoot (and if she had an arrow handy. . ., she glared inconspicuously at the man).
Joxer for some reason was given a bowl of extra extra extra spicy stew for dinner. He was lucky to survive the evening with his mouth intact and he would swear for weeks that he couldn't really taste anything (when he was eating food that is. He seemed to have no problem tasting other things.) Fortunately bread was handy to soothe the fire in his mouth and he was able to hold his own in conversation. Later that night he would discuss the mystery with Toris and they would decide together that maybe it was time to talk to Meg about the whole thing.
The judges of the event spent the evening observing the contestants, jotting notes, comparing results and eating. Iolaus thought he noticed the makings of another pairing (an Amazon and a male warrior seemed to be hitting it off very well). Cherise praised him for his insight. Hecuba and Cyrene were sharing daughter stories and comparing recipes (something they'd pretty much been doing the whole time, except when they were plotting and sending off invitations).
By the time the evening was over and night had fallen, most of the candidates were ready to go to their rooms and sleep (good food and a long day). They formally excused themselves by walking to Gabrielle's seat, bowing before her and wishing her a good night. Gabrielle was gracious to them all, but waited expectantly for her lover, who did not disappoint. Xena's smile was provocative and her good night was a luscious purr that caught Gabrielle in an erotic snare. The bard had a difficult time composing herself for the next suitor, but somehow managed it. She couldn't wait to get back to her room now.
Almost everyone slept well that night, except Eponin, who had to deal with that weird shift between the deepest dark and the earliest light. Her compensation though was a delightful early morning breakfast hand delivered by her friend Solari. It was going to be a good day.