She bends down at the waist until her face is even with yours. In a light voice she speaks. "Do you see that woman over there?" She's pointing at a reddish blonde woman with a beautiful green top on and a short brown skirt that shows off her well muscled legs. You nod, for you do indeed see the woman she is referring to. "She's Gabrielle -- the most beautiful, most sexy, and most brilliant woman ever..." Now her voice has taken on a bit of a bored tone. You don't understand what exactly this tirade has to do with you, but fearing the round sharp thing you just saw her hand reach for, you nod quickly. "...and I bow to her each and every day and kiss the ground she walks on." With that, the woman straightens up again and quickly moves in the direction of the very woman she was just talking about.

You would've never guess that Xena, Warrior Princess, had just lost a bet and that the person she lost the bet to was me, the reddish blonde, would you?

When people first meet her, they never really get a complete picture of Xena. More than likely, she would come across as being completely serious and stoic. But, if people would get to know her better, they would find her sense of humor, which was completely amazing.

The tale at the beginning of this scroll really did happen. She bet me that I could go an entire day without talking to a stranger. She had this entire theory that focused on my ability to find someone to talk to wherever we went.

"You could walk into a tavern full of thieves and murders and still manage to strike up a conversation with one of them," she told me, her hands gesturing widely as she spoke. "I'll bet you that you can't go an entire day talking only to me, and not anyone else. And, when I win, you have to clean my armor and stuff every night for a whole moon"

"What do I get if I win?"

She thought about this, her eyebrows coming together as she tried to come up with a suitable reward for me. I know I probably grinned when I saw that little indication. She looked too cute. Of course, I couldn't tell her that, she'd get annoyed and tell me that she was NOT cute.

Finally, she looked at me again. "If you can go an entire day without talking to anyone, other than me, then you get to decide what I have to do in return."

I thought this was an excellent idea and I began to think of all the things I would have Xena do. A few that I knew she wouldn't go for included running naked through a tavern or singing bawdy drunken songs in the middle of Aphrodite's temple. I was so busy that day thinking of all the things I could make her do that I didn't get the chance to talk to anyone. I could tell that Xena was trying to egg me on. She took us through more villages that day then ever before. And in each village she steered us through the market area. But I persevered and won.

That night, we stopped at a small village and ate at the tavern in town. Since it was time for me to name my punishment, I quietly got Xena's attention away from the plate in front of her.

"See that man over there?" I pointed to the ugliest man in the room. He was small and very dirty, his hair sticking out in all directions, his chin wet with his own saliva.

"Yeah..." she said hesitantly. I know she probably thought I was going to make her go over and kiss him or something, but since I knew who would be kissing her tonight, why would I want to bring that kind of thing on myself?

I handed her a scroll. "Go over there and tell him everything that's written in this scroll."

Opening the scroll her eyes narrowed as she read. "I am not telling him that you're a tiger in bed." Her voice had reached that growling feature she was famous for. Fortunately, it had no affect on me. I had already figured that she wasn't going to go for that one.

"But you tell me that all the time," I said innocently.

"Gab-rie-elle..." She drew out my name syllable by syllable.

She knew what that did to me. Sure enough, I felt a warm shiver flow up and down my spine. "Okay, okay, you can leave that part out." A crowded tavern was not a good time for me to start fantasizing, and I wasn't going to let it continue until I knew that her part of the bet was fulfilled.

Glancing again at the scroll, she read it and then rolled it back up. Looking at me with one eyebrow raised, she put the scroll into her cleavage and then turned toward the man I'd pointed to.

It wasn't the first time that one of us had lost a bet to the other and was made to do humiliating things. Xena had quite an imagination when I was the loser. Like cleaning her armor and weapons would have turned into cleaning her armor and weapons naked. Not that it wasn't enjoyable feeling her eyes on me as I did these tasks, but once I did drop her chakram while cleaning it because I was too busy watching her watching me. Needless to say, I haven't had to do that particular task in quiet a while.

Most of the laughter we shared was focused on each other. Playing tricks on the other person while we traveled was a way to make it less miserable. Although sometimes Xena pushed it too far. I tried not to do anything that would stink or make a huge mess, but when Xena decided to get me, she would go all out.

For instance, there was one time, before we were lovers, that she filled my boot with Argo dirt (I should explain, Argo dirt is manure produced by Argo. I just thought that Argo dirt sounded better than Argo poo.) and then woke me out of a sound sleep to tell me that we were under attack. I spent the better part of that day cleaning my boot out. I swear it still stank after repeated washings.

No, I tried not to get involved with anything that was going to make travelling unpleasant for me. Although, there was one time when I was really wanting to get Xena and I put thorns in her bed roll. She woke up the next morning with tiny scratches covering her body from head to toe. I don't think she talked to me the entire day, but it wasn't until that night that I found out that the scratches had been infected with something that was already on the thorns. My poor warrior hadn't said anything all day because she refused to give me the satisfaction. I did laugh about it quiet a bit though, and so did she later...much, MUCH later.

THE END