From the Hands of Rome
By Absinthe
For Disclaimers seePart 1
Part Three:
They knew before they even left Egypt that the country would suffer famine that year. The Nile had failed to rise the necessary cubits, and the life-giving substances in the water did not reach the fields of the farmers. The royal granaries would have to be opened to the people later, when private stocks ran low.
Cleopatra's worries over the state of her country were nearly abolished by the novelty of the Nubian people. Their variety was astounding. They were an amazingly graceful, beautiful race. There seemed to be, however, precisely two dominant body types among them; unbelievably tall and thin, and very short and stocky. Iras, Cleopatra's Nubian maid, was mystified by the upper Nubian dialect which she hadn't heard since her early childhood. Fortunately, the Kandake had supplied them with a guide and servants that all spoke Greek as well as their native language.
The Kandake herself greeted them at the landing. She emerged in a stately fashion from her litter. Her legs were like the trunks of great trees, and she dwarfed Mardian back at the palace in Alexandria. Unfortunately, the deepening twilight made it difficult to get a good look at her without obviously staring.
State greetings were exchanged, and the Kandake welcomed the Egyptian party formally to her country. The two rulers left together for a private meeting while the remaining Egyptians were taken to their quarters to settle in.
Xena and Gabrielle were given luxurious quarters adjacent to the Queen's, and Gabrielle immediately set about gather information from the servants. The Nubians were apparently snickering at Cleopatra behind their hands because she was "too puny" to be a queen at all. The Kandake was expected to be huge, and to wear symbolic representations of enemy nations on the bottom of her shoes. All this to be symbolically squashing them with her every step, and to build her stature and status in the eyes of her people.
Later that night, Cleopatra returned and sent Iras to bring the pair to see her.
"How'd it go?" Gabrielle asked, familiarly.
"The impostor was clearly just that," the Queen sighed and sipped the fine Pramnian wine, "Even an impostor of an impostor."
"What?" Xena asked, suddenly on the defensive.
"The Kandake wished to make a proposal."
"Ah. She found a fake impostor to draw you here? Couldn't' she just have sent you a message?" The warrior replied, "This doesn't sound right to me."
"No," Cleopatra smiled at her friend's paranoia, "No it's nothing like that, we're perfectly safe here. She wishes an alliance. An alliance of women, to be ruled from here in Africa and begin an empire that will expand into the west and balance the Roman empire. Maybe eventually, to absorb it."
Xena and Gabrielle exchanged an anxious gaze. Xena remained silent, waiting for the Queen to cue them in to her decision. A word against Caesar now could either help sway the Queen towards this plan or away from it.
"It is folly. She thinks the only way to save us all from the Romans is to go west and prepare. With Egypt as part of this coalition of women, they might stand a chance, but I have already procured safety for my people. We are a friend and ally to Rome. I have no desire to create war."
"Ah."
"Tell me about the Kandake? What was she like?" Gabrielle asked, after a heavy pause.
When they finally left the Queen to return to their own room, Gabrielle was, as usual, the first to speak.
"So?"
"So what?"
"So do you think she's doing the right thing?"
"I don't know Gabrielle," Xena replied as she unlaced a boot, "It's possible that the Kandake's idea is crazy. The Republic is well established, Caesar is a ruthless and capable leader. But fighting against Egypt... All they need Cleopatra for is her money and her grain. She's feeding their army, and without that, they could be easy picking. But there are other sources of food to be had."
"What would you do?"
"Do you really need to ask that?"
"No," Gabrielle tied her long hair up in a ponytail for the night, "Thank you Xena."
"For what?"
"For coming here. I know this isn't your kind of thing, this whole royalty bit," the bard crawled up the bed and under the thing silken sheets.
"Mhmm," the warrior soon joined her.
"Good night, Love."
Part 4
Author's Note: Cleopatra, one of the most personally powerful, cunning women in history got hung up on Caesar, the most powerful man in the world, right? But suppose she'd followed her head and not her heart and fought Rome? With her money, the strategic location of Egypt, and all of Northern Africa backing her, might she have defeated the mighty Roman army?
I don't know. I like to think she would have. It's hard to imagine what our society would have turned out to be like, maybe we would have had to have a men's lib instead of women's, but that's purely wishful thinking I'm sure.
If you want to yell at me or discuss this further, I'd love to hear from you.
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Email: absinthe@earthling.net