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"Damn! That meddlesome old man found them."
Aries was in a royal temper. Stomping back & forth across his suite, the god of war was once again ignoring the beautiful Aphrodite, lounging sensuously across his bed.
"Then why didn't you try & stop him before he reached them?"
Aphrodite was beginning to get mightily sick of Aries' inattention. Trying to distract him, Aphrodite sat forward and allowed her robe to gape open so he could see her breasts. Taking a deep breath, she watched as Aries became distracted by her cleavage, now on display.
Shaking himself as if coming out of a trance, Aries swiftly began to pace once again.
"I didn't stop him because you had distracted me. Or did you forget?"
Aphrodite only smiled & stretched like a well fed cat.
"Enough. I need to do something that will slow Xena down."
"And what would that be? A spell of slowness?"
Aphrodite's attempt at sarcasm went right past the brooding god.
"No. Xena is too magnificent to slow down like that. I do think that Xena needs a little combat practice, though. Wouldn't want her getting rusty, now would we?"
He's off in another would again, she thought. With a sigh of exasperation, Aphrodite fell back against the pillows.
"So what now, oh great one? An army of dead soldiers to stop Xena at salvations door?"
Aries once again ignored her sarcastic tone. Rubbing his bearded chin slowly, Aries startled the beautiful goddess with his reply.
"That's not such a bad idea."
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Mischief on Olympus, VIII
Xena & Gabrielle traveled north towards the land of the oak trees. Many days and many villages went by, but Xena & her friend continued on, anxious to reach their destination.
Whenever they ran short of supplies, Xena would stay at camp while Gabrielle went into town. She would be anxious whenever Gabrielle did this, worried something would happen to her friend & she wouldn't be there. But nothing ever occured, so they continued on their journey.
Walking across a high plateau late one day, Xena broke the silence of several hours with a question.
"Gabrielle,"
"Yes, Xena?"
"I've been trying to think why this would be happening, but I can't come up with a clue. Have you thought of anything?"
"Honestly, no. I can't imagine why Eros would do that to you."
"Something is missing. Some vital piece to this puzzle that may help. It doesn't make sense for Eros to curse me like that. I haven't done anything to anger him or Aphrodite."
"Not recently, at least."
"Gabrielle, I may have been bad, I may have slept around a little, but I know I didn't do anything Aphrodite & Eros wouldn't condone."
"A little?" Gabrielle teased.
"That my friend, you will never know."
Their laughter echoed across the rise.
Gabrielle's mind, always quick with association, suddenly wondered, "But isn't Aries a consort of Aphrodite?"
"Almost everyone's a consort of... wait. It was Aries who was trying to attack Athens. We stopped a critical war Aries had been planning right in it's tracks."
A gust of wind caught Gabrielle's hair, and with an impationt swipe, pulled her blonde locks out of hr face.
"It makes perfect sense. Aries was angry at you for stopping his war & was given assistance by Aphrodite to get his revenge. Since his plan against Athens put him in disfavor with many of the gods, he sought help to make it look like a generalized punishment. No one would know he was behind it."
"Well, at least we know. Now the hard part is getting out of it."
