“You don’t get a lot of news around here, do you?”

“Not much.”

“Well, I guess I should start when you and Perdicus got married and left. Right after that Xena and I went looking for Callisto.”

“Xena took you with her to find Callisto?” Gabrielle asked, incredulous.

“Well, she didn’t actually TAKE me. The horse I borrowed must have had a thing for Xena’s horse, because wherever she went, he followed. That’s how I found the cave where Callisto had Xena tied up in some kind of throne-looking chair.”

“Xena was captured by Callisto? I find that hard to believe.”

“Didn’t Xena tell you about it? I know she must have come to see you.”

“Joxer, I’ve seen Xena ONCE since Perdicus and I got married! She showed up about ten days after my birthday. I was so glad to see her! We sat up half the night just talking and laughing, so Callisto never came up. And from the way she acted, I thought she would spend at least a half a month here. But when I got up the next morning, she was packed up and ready to go.”

“That’s odd.”

“Don’t I know it! And she wouldn't say why she had to leave so suddenly. But just before she rode off, she and Perdicus exchanged very hard looks. I don’t have any proof, but I think Perdicus said something to Xena to make her leave.”

“Why would he do that?”

“I think he was worried I might change my mind about being married to him and would leave with Xena.”

“Would you?”

“No! Not then, anyway. Joxer, it’s been eight months and I haven’t heard a word from her since she left.”

“What did you mean you wouldn’t leave then? Does that mean you want to leave now?”

Gabrielle looked down at her hands, not answering him.

“Gabrielle, is everything between you and Perdicus all right?”

Gabrielle looked up at Joxer, tears beginning to pour from her eyes.

“No,” she cried. “Things are NOT all right, they’re terrible!”

Suddenly, Joxer felt rather uncomfortable and he didn’t know what to say.

“But you were so happy, weren’t you?” he finally said.

“Yes! Or – I thought we were. But – it seemed like the longer we were married, the unhappier Perdicus became.”

“Do you know why?”

“I – I think so.” Gabrielle looked down, as if ashamed of what she was about to say. “I think it’s because I haven’t been able to get pregnant. Lila says it might be Perdicus, but I don’t know. Father says I’m being punished by the goddess Hestia for all the ‘un-womanly’ fighting I did while I was with Xena.”

Now Joxer was really uncomfortable! But he stayed silent, hoping she’d talk about something else.

“I should have had a baby by now, or at least be expecting one! But whenever my moon time would come, Perdicus would get angry and withdrawn and then he’d go away for a few days. But whenever I’d ask him where he was, he’d always say he was hunting.”

“But he never brought home anything?”

“Only the smell of another woman,” Gabrielle said.

“Is that where he is now?”

“Probably. But it’s no one in Poteidaia, that’s too close to home. Since he’s usually gone two or three days at a time, then she has to live in another village.”

“What are you going to do?”

Gabrielle shook her head slowly, looking down at the table.

Then she looked up at Joxer again. “Joxer, I was a good wife, as good as I could be! I did everything I could to please him. I never refused his needs. Look around! I keep a clean house, and the garden is thriving. No woman could have done more. But it wasn’t enough.”

“When is Perdicus coming back? Maybe I can talk to him.”

Gabrielle shrugged her shoulders, her head dropping down again. "He'll be back when he comes back."

tbc